As a business grows, a business owner needs to make many decisions to help the company continue to thrive. One of the biggest decisions he or she will need to make is whether to hire support staff, including a human resources person.
The decision to hire an HR specialist involves much more than writing up an ad to put in the paper. Does the business actually need an HR person? Can the position be part time instead of full time? What will he or she do? Answering these questions will help the business owner decide whether hiring a human resources person is right for the company’s future.
Find Out If the Business Could Use an HR Specialist
How many times a year has someone had to leave tasks unfinished to place ads, field calls, read resumes, check references, hold interviews, find paperwork, fill out paperwork and provide orientation for new employees? What about managing health insurance problems or workman’s comp issues? Who makes sure that employee contact info is up to date? Those are just a few of the things the new HR staff could take over.
Next, add up the amount of time the business owner or employees spend doing all of these tasks. It will probably be a pretty large chunk of time. Will hiring a human resources person to handle the tasks mean that the business owner and the other employees will be freed up to do tasks that actually increase the company’s revenue? If so, and if the increased revenue will cover the cost of the HR specialist’s salary, adding an HR person to the staff is probably a smart idea.
Human Resources Staff Can Handle Much More Than Hiring and Firing
One reason many business owners hesitate when they think about adding a human resources specialist to their staff is that they are afraid the HR person won’t have anything to do when the company isn’t recruiting new staff. However, this position can really be expanded by a motivated employee. Some of the extra projects an HR specialist may take on during slow times include:
Creating a staff handbook that covers everything from orientation to the procedures to be followed if disciplinary action is required.
Putting together a staff intraweb for posting hours, seeing how much sick leave or vacation leave remains, etc.
Writing job descriptions for each staff member, which helps staff understand what each job entails and is a useful guide during the hiring process.
Helping people figure out benefit info.
Acting as a mediator when staff members disagree or a boss has a problem with an employee’s behavior.
Once the business owner decides to hire an HR person, he or she will easily be able to delegate the task of interviewing and hiring a staff member to the HR specialist.
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