HR is relevant and necessary \u2013 even for startups. Many startup owners assume they don\u2019t have to worry about HR functions until later on, when they\u2019ve grown \u2013 but that\u2019s simply not true. When it\u2019s difficult to manage the paperwork and compliance forms, even something as (seemingly) simple as recruiting and hiring\u00a0becomes a burden.Let\u2019s examine exactly why you need HR processes, platforms, and personnel, even when you\u2019re tiny startup:<\/p>\n
Higher Retention Rates<\/strong><\/p>\n You want to keep the people you\u2019ve hired, right? With an HR team in place, you don\u2019t need to concentrate on tracking engagement anymore. HR can do that for you.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also important to note that many startups default to hiring friends and family \u2013 the people in\u00a0the\u00a0founders\u2019\u00a0personal networks.\u00a0An HR department will help draw appropriate boundaries while in the office.<\/p>\n An\u00a0HR team will\u00a0help reduce turnover due to personal conflicts. Plus, HR personnel\u00a0would be able to source, attract, and hire individuals who have the credentials \u2013 not just the relationships \u2013 necessary for the job.<\/p>\n Compensation, Termination, and More<\/strong><\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s payroll, conflict resolution, performance management, or a\u00a0variety of other internal functions, an HR\u00a0professional can\u00a0take care of it. What some startups forget is that HR is more than just the people who send paychecks every week.<\/p>\n Over at the Houston Chronicle, writer Grace Ferguson\u00a0describes the various functions of HR like so:<\/p>\n 1. Recruitment and Selection:<\/em>\u00a0This is where tools like free and\u00a0low-cost applicant tracking systems come in. An ATS can\u00a0help HR departments at startups find elusive, highly-skilled candidates.<\/p>\n 2. Employee Benefits:<\/em>\u00a0Whether or not you already offer benefits, an HR professional can\u00a0help you outline what you would like to offer employees as part of their benefits or fringe benefits packages.<\/p>\n 3. Compensation and Evaluation:<\/em>\u00a0Do you conduct regular performance reviews? HR helps you regulate, standardize, and track this information so you can help improve employee performance.<\/p>\n 4. Training and Development:<\/em>\u00a0Considering that\u00a063 percent of employees\u00a0believe developing new skills is important to their career progression, it stands to reason that bringing an HR professional on board to manage training and development could help increase your retention rates<\/p>\n 5. Employee Incentives:\u00a0<\/em>An HR team would be able to effectively uncover and manage what keeps employees motivated in your office. We don\u2019t have a specific tool to measure incentives, but we do offer a\u00a010 percent referral bonus for new business or employees.<\/p>\n 6. Compliance:<\/em>\u00a0When you make any hire, you have a plethora of regulations to worry about. Hire\u00a0an HR professional to take care of this so you can focus on business strategy. Currently, our compliance issues are relatively simple, but we did invest in having an HR professional create an employee handbook for us.<\/p>\n 7. Termination:\u00a0<\/em>No one likes firing an employee.\u00a0Assembling an HR team will allow you to ensure\u00a0you follow all of the proper guidelines when it comes time for terminations. That way, you reduce your risk of litigation. One of the reasons we implemented a more formal review process was so we could\u00a0document performance plans for at-risk employees (if needed).<\/p>\n \u2013<\/p>\n Making the decision to add\u00a0an HR department (even if your \u201cdepartment\u201d is just one professional managing a series of platforms) to your small startup team is difficult. While you need someone to manage employee records, compensation, development, and the like, it\u2019s understandable that you\u2019d want to maintain control of your business brainchild.<\/p>\n Manager\u2019s Office UK<\/strong><\/p>\n HR Dept<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Curabitur lacinia metus vitae odio euismod, sit amet cursus ipsum tincidunt. Pellentesque consectetur scelerisque quam, id vestibulum odio<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n