Small business owners usually try to deal with HR issues themselves. Business News Daily suggests that fledgling businesses usually do HR internally or outsource it to a third-party firm. However, HR isn’t the most riveting of departments, and business owners typically decide to spend time on other things. Sales and marketing tend to take up much of small business owners’ available time, so much so that HR gets neglected. This neglect can lead to discontent and potential employee termination issues.
Luckily, small business owners can delegate their HR responsibilities to someone on their team. Occasionally, this might mean hiring someone completely new to deal with HR issues. Doing so early can help the business have personnel in place when it starts to grow. For a small-business owner, the first step in making their way to having a dedicated HR department is knowing when to delegate.
How to Know When to Delegate
Small Business Trends notes that most small business owners dedicate a significant portion of their time and money to making their business profitable. It’s not because they have nothing better to do with that time or money, but because they feel personal responsibility. While this gives small business owners a vested interest in the business’s success, without proper delegation, they will face burnout much sooner than their peers.
The point in time you should start delegating isn’t when you hire your first employee. It’s when you have employees skilled enough to make good decisions so you can better invest your time elsewhere. Delegating your HR is crucial to ensuring that you have personnel in place to deal with everything from tax compliance to employee administration.
Some small businesses hire consultants, but this stops being feasible once the company has ten workers. At that point, the search should move internally to find the right person to delegate to.
Finding the Right Person
Who’s the most personable individual on staff? Who can lay down the law when it needs to be done? Who plays by the rules as much as possible? That’s your potential HR liaison. The business needs someone who can operate independently and make decisions on behalf of the company. However, the enterprise also requires an individual who can be firm when the need arises. Once you find the right person, you still need to train them.
Tying It All Together
Once you have your potential HR delegate selected, you have to train them on how you’ve done the HR job up to this point. They might ask for clarification or suggest ways to make the system more efficient. In delegating, as the business owner, you should accept their way of doing things may be different, but not necessarily wrong. Hear them out and see if their implementation helps things. Showing a delegate the ropes prepares them to make the decisions you would have to, allowing you to free up your time for places that need you more.
Developing a delegate to work as an HR person is a necessity once the company starts growing. While some small business owners can manage HR administration up to ten and even fifteen employees, the more hires the company has, the more complex and tedious it becomes.
The solution of a third-party HR consultant is useful, but only as a stopgap measure. It’s essential to have someone on staff who has some skills and training in HR management. Your HR delegate should be able to add to your strategic thinking and not just do the department’s practical work.
You’re training an HR manager, not an HR functionary. That person will be your go-to point-person for HR decisions and help you ensure you’re always compliant, and your employees will remain happy.
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