Human Resources for Your Small Business: What You Need To Know

As a small business owner, you might not see the need of having a member of staff that is dedicated to Human Resources (HR) within your business. With a small number of employees, a lot of small business owners manage to do what they need to do without an expert in that area. But if you are finding that things like that can take up a lot of your time, your business is expanding, and you’re taking on more employees, then it could time to think again, if only on a freelance basis at least. But what is HR?

A lot of people will know that HR handles the tasks relating to recruitment and payroll, as well as employment policies and other benefits. In some instances, they act as a go-between for staff and managers when there are issues or questions around things like sickness pay or maternity leave. They can also be important to business success, as they can work with management to develop some long-term strategies for business growth and development, and can play a part in training and other procedures.

If you already have an HR person or an HR team, then making sure that they are trained and kept up to date is important too. A process like SuccessFactors could help, as they can work with HR teams to make sure that things are aligning as they should. However, if you don’t already have an HR team or person, then here are some of the indicators that you should.

You not able to keep on top of any changes to employment law

The law can change quickly, especially when it comes to employment law. Only in recent years have we seen different changes to employment law, from pensions to benefits around childcare. Not only that, with the COVID-19 pandemic, employment and contacts has changed massively. That is where a person in charge of HR can make a difference, as it is their job to keep on top of it all, not yours. 

You’re treating freelancers like employees

A lot of businesses will hire freelancers and contractors to help them take care of labour needs. They might even rely on them in the long term. However, contractors are not employees and treating them as such can muddy the waters legally, meaning they may be able to argue that they’re entitled to the benefits an employee would be. Subcontractor management software can make it a lot easier to organise your freelance labour separately from your employees. Know your employment law when it comes to freelancers to make sure you’re not blurring the line.

Employee disputes are getting more common

When you have more employees, then the statistics are there that there will be more risk of employee disputes, from pay problems to reports of unfair treatment or harassment coming up. If these things aren’t dealt with well, then they can be costly for your business, as well as for your business reputation. Having an employee or a freelancer working for you, that works specifically in HR means that they are in charge of handling any conflicts in the workplace and can help with mediation. 

Personnel issues are taking up too much time

A number of small businesses are putting off hiring someone to work in HR because of the costs involved, but if it means that you as a business owner have to deal with it, then it could be some money well spent, as your expertise is needed in other areas of the business. If you want to think more about growing your business, then looking more into HR could benefit your business in a number of ways.