Business HR (if you’re not an HR pro)

For a small business, particularly a start-up, the people you employ can mean the difference between make or break. But without a dedicated HR team to manage your personnel it can be anyone from the secretary, to the MD who takes on responsibility for making sure your company gets the most from its staff.

Alyson Pellowe, founder of HR consultancy People Vision, shares her top tips for non-HR managers.

Keep up to date with the law

All who take on HR duties have a lot to remember when it comes to effective people management. Employment law is changing rapidly at national and, more frequently, at European level.

Get acquainted with the legislation

For example, wage entitlements and holiday pay, notice periods, leave for public duties, redundancy pay and the right to time off to look for another job in a redundancy situation are all subject to strict law. 

Equal opportunities legislation is also far-reaching and covers issues such as preventing discrimination on the grounds of gender, race, religion or belief, sexuality or pregnancy.

Handle with care

There are inherent difficulties attached to managing human relationships. It can be an incredibly sensitive task and grievances can occur which need careful handling. Even the best intentioned of managers can make the situation worse. 

Workforce planning means success.

Take a strategic approach and align recruitment with your overall business goals, making sure they have the right people in place to deliver long-term plans.

Interview right - recruit right.

Recruitment can be an expensive process, so it’s essential that the selection decision is right. When it comes to interviews it’s not just the candidates who need to prepare.  Interviewers need to work out what they need to know and how they will get to that information. 

A set of standard questions put to all candidates should help differentiate between them, and it can be helpful to prepare a form to record responses. But interviewers shouldn’t stick rigidly to their script. 

An interview should be more like a conversation than an interrogation. Explore interesting ideas and pieces of information that come to light in the course of the discussion. 

Don’t forget the legislation.

Yes we’ve mentioned this one before, but it’s easy to forget that anti-discrimination legislation comes into interviews too. Legally, you can’t ask about marital status, number of children, or social activities.

And be mindful of the Data Protection Act, which allows any candidate to see written comments, interviewers should be careful about what they note down during and after the interview.

Inductions.

Ensure that a proper induction process is in place. This introduces new members of staff to the company, its policies and procedures, and the people they will be working with. After the induction the individual should truly understand what the company does and what his or her contribution will be.

Communication is key.

Newsletters, bulletins, notice boards can all keep staff informed. You should also consider how you communicate with individuals, particularity in sensitive situations:  certain information is better presented face to face, rather than in emails.

It’s all about the money – or is it? Pay and benefits form a considerable proportion of most organisation’s costs and is one of the main attractions for job-seekers. 

It’s also a prime motivator for existing employees, so companies need to make sure that it doesn’t become a de-motivator. Conscious efforts should be made to ensure benefits do not remain static, and pay reviews are regular.

Employee development.

It is beneficial to the organisation to ensure that the skill-set of its employees are up to date and in line with business needs. A strong training and development plan will help form a workforce that is able to take on the new challenges inevitable in today’s business.

Talent retention.

Small businesses need talented staff to grow. The so-called ‘war for talent’ means that talent management strategies are becoming increasing important.

You need to be able to recruit high-flying individuals, identify potential stars within your organisation, and establish how best to nurture and encourage that potential, for example coaching and mentoring schemes.

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By Alyson Pellowe  on   Jul 10,2008

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Keywords

employment law    employee development    perks    staff communication    staff development   

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