As a small business owner, you might be tempted to cut costs and eliminate your HR function. After all; your managers can probably hire, terminate and discipline their employees without assistance from HR – especially if you only have a small team. Right?
Wrong. There’s a lot more to human resources than hiring and firing; there’s payroll, benefits, performance reviews and much, much more and you have to make sure you’re doing all of that in compliance and following employment law.
So – does your small business really need HR? Absolutely. Here are a few reasons why:
Hiring and on-boarding
Hiring and on-boarding a new employee can take a lot of time; time that as a small business owner, you don’t have. If you have positions that need to be filled (and growing companies often do), you need someone who can dedicate their time to hiring and everything that it involves. That means recruiting, sifting through cvs, screening applications, setting up interviews, selecting candidates and more. Hiring new employees is incredibly important for your business – you want to find the best talent and the best fit the first time around, so you don’t end up wasting time or money. And to do that, you need HR.
Employment Law
Another reason you need a HR professional; they know the ins and outs of employment law, all it takes is one mistake when hiring or terminating an employee, and you could end up in a tribunal. If you don’t know employment law, you could be putting yourself, your business and your reputation at risk.
Employee documents
All businesses collect data relating to their employees – their HR records – including personal information such as pay, sickness absence, or hours worked. HR records should be stored hard copy or electronically, but it’s important for businesses to keep information well organised and in an appropriate system, so that it complies with relevant legislation and can be easily accessed, especially in light of the General Data Protection Regulation coming into effect in May.
Employee handbooks
Do you have an employee handbook? If not, it’s definitely advisable, take a look at our ready to use handbook template. Even if you only have a few employees, you still need a manual or handbook to lay out the rules, regulations and expectations you have for your employees. Handbooks make it easier for employees to know exactly what’s expected of them, but they can also be used to cover your back in case of employee disputes.
HR on a small business budget
The bottom line? Every business, however small needs some kind of HR presence, there are a number of things that HR professionals can do for a business that other employees just can’t. It will save time – and likely money – in the long run by using HR from the start and outsourcing could be the solution you have been looking for.
If you would like to discuss how Outsourced HR can help your business give us a call.
