By Patrick Metzger, CEO & Founder at The Greenhouse
As a business coach, helping small to medium-sized businesses around the nation grow and scale is my passion. One of the most glaring and neglected functions I consistently see within organizations that prevents this from happening, however, is the lack of a strong HR presence. Whether it is a lack of policies and procedures, or an enormous loss in productivity and efficiency because your HR person isn’t qualified to tackle the enormous beast that HR truly is, your small business probably lacks a strong human resources function. And it’s ultimately a key factor in holding you back from becoming more successful.
So why is it so important?
Delegation
What is the one thing you wish you had more of as a business leader? If I had to guess your answer, I’m betting it’s time or money, right? As you already know, Time = Money, BUT, did you realize having more time will free you up to do what you’re best at, actually allowing you to make MORE money? By far, the biggest reason to outsource your HR to a high-quality partner is because of the time saved through delegating tasks done by those best suited to do so.
When your employees are spending time on items they have little interest in, aren’t completely qualified to handle or are wasting time chasing down answers, or at worst, just doing what they think is right or best, they are going to be inefficient and unproductive, maybe even putting you in a precarious position from a legal standpoint. Many items like safety training, WSI and benefits administration are better off left to a partner that can implement them fully and correctly within your business.
Legal Liability
Have you ever had that nightmare employee that you wish you HADN’T hired? The one that isn’t a values fit, pushes every button and maybe evens threaten your way of life or culture within the business? I’m guessing you have. I encourage you to think about how that one poor hire can be an absolute legal nightmare if you aren’t up to par with policies and procedures that will protect your business from as many angles as possible. Having a partner that will not only take the preventative measures around this, but to also take this liability off your plate, is invaluable, to say the least!
Tap Into Better Benefits
If you’re a small business owner and offer benefits, you know how expensive and challenging it can be to provide them to your employees. Outsourcing your HR to a comprehensive partner frequently allows you to tap into better insurance rates, better medical benefits and beyond because they have so many more people tied into their pool. Many times, in fact, the money you spend to bring on an HR partner will pay for itself in cost savings right here alone!
Expertise
You know that person in your office that you call an HR Generalist? Or maybe it’s an admin playing the role and function of HR? The truth of it is that they only know a fraction of what HR all encompasses, from procedures and policies to legal and regulation. Having a experienced partner allows you to tap into experts within every level of human resources. Have a termination issue? Call your partner and they’ll take care of it. Questions around benefits? They’ll walk your employees through the details. Get into legal trouble? Their legal counsel will shoulder the entire load. Why struggle through trying to figure it out when there’s somebody that already knows exactly how to do it AND will take it off your plate?
Heavy Lifting
Hiring…Firing…Hairy employee issues… Why are you still trying to tackle them yourself? Imagine if somebody were able to just step in and take care of those biggest issues, challenges and uncomfortable situations FOR YOU! A strong HR partner will do exactly such. And since they’re trained experts in those specific areas, you know it’s going to be done at an extremely high level and in accordance to what is required.
Policies and Procedures
My wife once worked at a business that had no procedures related to maternity leave when it came time to adopt our child. Nor did the business have a policy around paying out sick days upon leaving the business. Now, we were lucky they were willing work with us on this, but it could’ve been quite the issue and challenge from the business’s perspective.
Keeping Personal Issues Personal
We’ve all been in an office where a personal issue stays far from personal. Before you know it, someone’s personal life is blabbed around the office and everybody thinks they know what happened. Having your HR outsourced allows you to have that confidential and unbiased perspective of everything involving your people. Plus, while you’re growing and maturing as a business, your employees are more comfortable approaching an outside source with personal or employee issues.
Greater Value
Do the math on this one for me. You have a general HR-related function within your business that is full-time making $50K/year plus benefits. What if you could spend a fraction of that total to receive ALL the responsibilities from that person PLUS so much more? The difference you can invest into actually growing your company and making it more efficient and profitable. Maybe you invest in coaching to help take your business next level?! (shameless plug!) 😉 It just makes sense to take the HR off your plate, doesn’t it?
Technology Efficiencies
Dealing with small headaches daily are probably some of your biggest pains and time sucks. Not to mention, they build up into a larger issue many times. Imagine how slick it would be to have your employees able to check benefits and retirement at the click of a button or swipe of their own phone screen. Or to clock in and put in for PTO without having to bother anyone else. How many less emails would that be in YOUR inbox?! A top-notch HR partner will bring new technologies that will streamline these basic processes and enhance the employee experience, equaling higher retainment.
Focus On Training and Development
Let’s be honest. In your small business, you wish you could put more effort, energy and focus into developing your people. Ultimately, it’s a huge chunk of what is going to allow you to scale for growth, but you haven’t prioritized it yet. Now, imagine your business with a role and function solely focused on that purpose, rather than running payroll, dealing with employee issues and hiring and onboarding. Some would call that a dream, but you’ll call it a reality once you pull the trigger.
In the businesses I work with where we’ve identified an HR function that could be outsourced, it’s been an absolute game changer for them. Those companies have increased revenue and profit, jumped ahead of their goals and clarified their vision to get more from their business.
Picture taking all that workload off your plate…The money saved…The issues solved…The opportunities it will open you up to… Makes sense, doesn’t it? Sound like a pipedream? It’s not. But it IS on you to make it happen.
CONTACT US to learn more about how we can help your business and people grow to the next stage.