When does your organisation need HR support?

One of the biggest challenges growing businesses face are looking after the people who look after their business.

We’re consistently asked ‘How big should my firm be to employ an in-house HR team’ or ‘should I outsource my HR work?’ The answer isn’t straightforward, and every company is different. As soon as you employ one person, the need for HR management arises and thus, a degree of HR knowledge is required. Too often, this falls to you as the owner/director of the business, which draws your attention away from your core business goals. Outsourcing HR would alleviate the pressure and let you continue to focus on growing your business. So, what do different growing business require HR-wise?

A business in its infancy

Many smaller companies, typically with fewer than 50 employees, outsource their HR function to specialist consultants who are able to work closely with the management team. As the business grows, an in-house specialist may be employed to be the link between the organisational leaders and the outsourced team. This approach is a good one. Having a foundation of knowledge in house, with close-by support for the trickier things and also advice for structuring the business for future growth, has proven successful to many growing businesses. 

Rapidly growing business

Strategically though, you are thinking about the future. You want your business to keep growing and as 50 people become 75, your HR requirements will grow too - that’s when a full HR function should be considered. Employing additional internal staff to deal with the day-to-day people issues is a no-brainer. While they have on-hand advice and knowledge about for example, contracts and leave, you will find external experts are still best placed to deal with the issues that require an independent view point or hours of lengthy reading, here are some of the commonly outsourced issues;

 Disciplinary advice or conflict resolution – you will know more than anyone how emotion can blind decisions, even your HR team are human, so why risk an unfavourable outcome. Use an independent and impartial mediator in conflicts or workplace disputes.

• Recruitment – this is time consuming, especially that initial CV sift, so let an external expert do the leg work and find the best candidate for you to interview. 
• Employment law advice – as with any area of law, employment regulations get updated and amended regularly, to stay on top of this is a full-time job so utilise experts when needed to guide you through changes.

What are the benefits of outsourcing HR?

Apart from reduced cost and increased efficiency, there are many other potential benefits of outsourcing.  Our experience and networks have helped us identify the following;

• HR consultants are likely to have access to the best tools, helping them to streamline processes and improve efficiency.
• Improved management information
• As they tend to work with multiple clients across a variety of industries, they’re likely to be able to offer a broader range of expertise than an in-house team.
• Increased flexibility and speed of response
• Reduced risk.

Regardless of what HR support you go for, it is important to always think of the impact on your people. They underpin your business, and without HR support, the issues a business encounters won’t be resolved in the best way.  If you aren’t sure whether you should be hiring a whole band of HR employees or simply outsourcing issues as they come through, speak to our HR Consultancy team. We support organisations of all types and sizes by acting as an outsourced HR provider and even helping to recruit in-house HR teams. We work closely with our clients and mould our service to suit their needs. While, we have similar systems and procedures, the service offered to each of our clients is tailored to suit their needs. We operate a professional HR team which consists of colleagues with varying levels of experience. It is headed up by a Director who has extensive HR experience gained across most sectors within the UK. We also work with many US firms who have offices in the UK.