For small businesses, the need for a dedicated Human Resources team is often not there. A business owner tends to handle most of those tasks themselves. Once the company begins to grow, however, it can be more challenging for one person to manage all those tasks. As a company begins to grow, their needs change, leaving them unprepared to handle all of the mounting HR tasks. This leaves businesses, particularly small businesses, vulnerable. Some decide to outsource HR tasks, which can be costly. To avoid getting caught in this situation, it’s necessary to build an HR department.
It’s Time to Build an HR Department
Trying to grow a business is no easy task. There’s many jobs to attend to and more HR tasks than you might realize. From recruitment and onboarding, to creating policies and handling employee complaints, Human Resources plays a critical role for even the smallest company. Attending to these tasks may mean you’ll be struggling to catch up with your other business tasks. If you think your business needs HR, it probably does. Building an HR department will take work, but following these steps will make the entire process a little less stressful.
To properly build your company’s HR department, you have to start small. Keep these ideas in mind.
Intentionally work on culture first
Think about how you’d like the company culture to look. Choose your culture wisely – the culture you establish now will become the way employees and even customers view your company. Do you want to have a company culture that is fun, educated, and hard-working? You’ll need to think about these things before you establish your HR department and make goals, along with an action plan, accordingly.
Understand the company’s values
Set clear expectations for the HR team. Evaluating your company’s values will help guide the expectations you have for HR. Look for a few different people to attend to various HR tasks. One person might be well-versed in compliance, while another might be skilled in recruiting and retention. Set clear directives so that your HR team can succeed and lead the company properly while keeping company values in check.
Hire a consultant
Use a consultant to answer your questions. If you aren’t sure what you need or where to start, a consultant is the place to start. HR professionals are experts in their field for a reason. Don’t try to go it alone.
Focus on learning and professional development
By creating a learning culture from the beginning, you are not only offering a benefit to employees, you are also showing that you are in tune with the company’s needs and strengths. By activating a learning culture in the beginning, you can see challenges and meet them directly when they come up
Create an HR playbook to outline policies
How much time off will employees have? What sorts of disciplinary steps will be taken? How will employee performance be measured? Not only does this establish clear guidelines, it also builds consistency and standards for the entire company. You’ll want to also have someone who can handle employee issues as they come up. Employees with children tend to have different needs than those without kids. Employees who have children with special needs like athetoid cerebral palsy may need additional support at work.
Starting an HR department is not easy, but it’s important. Use this as a guide to start the process.
