Effective HR for Small Business

Running a small business without a full time HR department is challenging, especially during a tight labor market where businesses may be short staffed. Larger businesses will always have an advantage over small businesses when it comes to HR management, but there are several ways to compensate for this to maximize the impact in your workplace.

Of course, outsourcing the more complicated HR tasks and responsibilities to Infinium HR is the first step, but there is more that can be done. Here are a few tips to better organize your workplace to make HR work.

Employee Handbook. The first step is to define your company policies and have an employee handbook that every employee receives, reads and understands. This is a living, breathing document and should be updated periodically to be sure the laws are up to date. Infinium HR is your resource for this.

Designate someone for HR. This may be the owner of a company for very small businesses, but if possible, its best to assign someone to handle the basic administrative role to manage onboarding, employee changes, benefits, complaints, employee issues and just an overall responsibility over your workforce. Be sure to define exactly what these roles are, and that all employees understand.

HR Training. If you have managers, they should be trained in basic HR 101 and how to lead and manager people. Infinium HR offers Harassment Prevention, HR 101 and Leadership training to its clients at no additional cost. These simple training modules can help equip manager to be the hands and feet of workforce management. (Our HR 101 and Leadership training courses are being updated and will be ready shortly)

Employee complaint channel. Employees should have a method to express their concerns to management, free of bias or intimidation. Whether its harassment complaints, operational complaints or general HR issues, make sure your employees know how to make their voices heard. Once you have that input, ensure you respond appropriately and promptly.

Clear lines of communication. Having effective communication across your organization is critical for operational and morale goals. Ensure employees are communicating as individuals and as a team. Learn to spot communication breakdowns and fix them immediately. Be open with your employees and listen to them, acknowledge their input and follow-up consistently.

Focus on your culture. The company culture is ever more important in today’s world with so many changes and outside forces affecting every employee. Be sure to define, express and live out your culture. A good way to define your culture if it hasn’t been done, is to work with the employees to create an outline of what’s important and what sort of concepts are going to define your culture.

Create a strong hiring process. Poor hires can be costly in the long term. Be sure anyone responsible for hiring is trained in recruiting, interviewing and assessment requirements. Also, know that old methods of hiring simply don’t work any longer, candidates that are technically savvy will respond far better to a process that is easy to work with. Infinium can help you automate hiring and create a control point from ad posting through onboarding.

Automate your time tracking. One way to maximize the impact of your small team HR, is to automate whatever you can to lessen your administrative load. Not only can this help you gain more time and control, but it is also critical that you properly document start and end times, meal breaks, overtime, and time off requests. Automating your timekeeping will facilitate these tasks.

Be prepared for terminations. Firing someone is never pleasant. However, being prepared in advance can save you headaches and lesson employer liability. First be sure you have thought the process through and done all due diligence during the disciplinary process. (don’t forget to get help from Infinium HR). Secondly, take the termination seriously – know what and how it will happen, keep emotion and debate out of the process, and prepare for contingencies. Always have that final check ready!

Final thoughts

Even if your small business doesn't have an HR department, you still have to prioritize every responsibility that an HR professional covers. Well-managed HR functions can ensure your employees are productive, and your business is compliant with laws. The success of your company and the satisfaction of your employees will depend on it.

If you feel you’re lacking in any area, please contact the pros at Infinium HR at hrsupport@infiniumhr.com.