If you run a small business, you will appreciate the importance of good staff, but good staff means having effective systems in place, and one system that you should not overlook is your organisation’s human resources function. Put simply, you cannot hope to develop an effective team within your organisation in the absence of an HR department.
To get an idea of just how important an HR department is for a business, consider some of the key tasks for which it is responsible. These tasks include: recruitment, training, performance appraisals, communicating with staff, health and safety in the workplace, as well as compliance with other legal requirements as they pertain to employees and compensation and employee benefits.
Key tips for running an effective HR department include:
• Have an HR mission statement:
An HR mission statement should align with the overall mission statement of your business and set out how HR will help the business attain its goals.
• Strategy
If the mission of HR, in support of the overall mission of the business, is to succeed, then it must have objectives. In turn, those objectives should be strategic in nature, with the long-term growth and health of the business in mind.
• Support
An HR department is only as good as the support it receives. As a business owner/manager, the onus is on you to support your HR department, once your goals and its goals are aligned. HR professionals can bring a sense of objectivity to such issues as performance management and conflict resolution that business owners may sometimes lack, understandably, owing to how vested they have become in the success of the business.
Having an effective HR department means that you, as a business owner, can be kept appraised of the ways in which the modern workplace is changing. One way in which HR, in particular, is evolving is in respect of the status of those workers for which it is responsible, with many organisations choosing to use contractors rather than full-time, permanent staff.
In terms of outsourcing, the HR responsibilities of any business are considerable, and small businesses do not always have the resources needed to meet those responsibilities. A good option for a smaller business is to outsource its HR needs, thus ensuring full and effective compliance with HR responsibilities, legal and otherwise.
Accountancy for contractors is one of the ways in which contract services are being taken up by businesses, both small and large. The benefits of using contractors include savings on staff costs and ready access to professionals as and when your business requires it, allowing you to manage the peaks and troughs of the business cycle more effectively. Payroll and compensation is one area of a business that an owner/manager may not have either the expertise or resources to manage effectively, and using professional contractors ensures that staff are paid on time, leaving the owner to focus on what they do best.
As a small business owner, your focus may, understandably, be on the sales and marketing functions of your organisation, but do not overlook the critical importance of HR. Effective HR, through the proper management and motivation of staff, makes the smooth running of other aspects of your business possible.