If you’re a small business owner seeking HR tips for your business, you aren’t alone. A study by Automatic Data Processing Inc. found that 70 percent of small businesses have an ad hoc HR manager, and 54 percent of those are the business owner.
An HR department is crucial for boosting employee engagement and ensuring compliance with occupational laws. Here’s an introduction to human resource management and five essential HR tips for small business owners.
What Is Human Resource Management?
Your human resources are the employees at your company. Therefore, human resource management covers all the ways your company interacts with your employees.
Topics that make up human resource management include payroll, performance monitoring, work environment safety, the interview process, and more. Your HR department is the source of all rules, training, and administration related to these topics.
What Are the Benefits of HR Practices?
Safe and satisfied employees are central to the health of any company. This is why human resource management should be a core part of your business strategy. HR promotes worker satisfaction by maintaining a safe work environment and making employees feel heard.
HR practice ensures that your business complies with discrimination laws, wage laws, workplace safety laws, and more. Understanding a few human resources tips now can help your company avoid liability in the future.
If you’re a small business owner trying to manage all HR activities yourself, you can streamline your business by developing an HR department or consulting with HR professionals. This will allow you to hand off your HR practice and focus on running your company.
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HR Tips for Small Business Owner
Whether you’re a new business owner or you have years of experience with employee relations, a few simple human resources tips and tricks may help you improve your approach.
1. Invest in Human Resource Planning
Human Resource Planning is the process of assigning employees to jobs that best suit their strengths according to your anticipated business goals. In other words, you’re continuously placing employees where you need them most.
Human Resource Planning is a proactive investment that ensures you will have quality talent for whatever needs may arise. HR professionals analyze your current labor supply and predicted labor demands to develop a sound HR Planning strategy.
In addition to Human Resource Planning development, an HR professional can help you monitor your results once your plan is in place. Monitoring allows you to adapt your plan when you aren’t reaching your business goals.
2. Create Clear Guidelines for Employees
Clear guidelines let every employee know what is expected of them in their work environment. Transparent guidelines promote an inviting company culture and make receiving feedback easier, so you can respond quickly to employee needs. Every employee in your company should have access to an employee handbook that lays out workplace guidelines in clear language.
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3. Develop an Employee Benefits Package
A benefits package shows how much you value your human resources, the most valuable assets in your company. Many people find benefits just as compelling as compensation when seeking jobs. A comprehensive benefits package could be the difference between an overlooked job listing and one that is shared through word of mouth and social media.
4. Keep an Organized Records System
Employee documentation is a necessary part of HR. An organized documentation system is essential to keep a record of employment history and comply with state and federal regulations.
Disposing of employee documentation too soon may violate local statutes of limitation on HR paperwork. Conversely, keeping records too long can expose your company to legal liability. Organizing employee documents helps you keep only the HR paperwork required by law.
5. Consult With HR Professionals
HR professionals rely on a broad range of skills to manage the complexities of human resources. HR managers must stay current with changing workplace laws and regulations. They are also responsible for daily HR interactions and compliance concerns.
Consulting can be a lifeline for small businesses without the resources to hire an in-house HR team. Human resources professionals develop advanced software tools and provide support to
HR consulting professionals manage services such as benefits administration, payroll, and business insurance. Perhaps the greatest benefit of consulting is having an HR manager or support agent on-call to help you resolve issues instantly.
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Teamworks Group Makes HR Easier
We hope these HR tips and advice can help you improve your organization’s human resources strategy. If your business is in need of HR support, Teamworks Group offers easy-to-use business admin software that simplifies HR, time tracking, reputation management, and more. We also offer comprehensive PEO services if you’re seeking a managed HR solution. To get started, request a free demo today.