HR is one of those business functions that can sometimes get overlooked. We all know that manufacturing is the department that gives us the products to sell, marketing drives sales, and that customer service keeps customers happy and ensures they come back to us. But why is HR so important? And why would you shell out for a consultant?
A lot of the functions carried out by HR are things that you don’t notice at all until they aren’t there. A good HR department will, of course, ensure that you are in compliance with employment law and that your payroll is filed correctly. They will also help you to improve productivity and performance and cut your costs.
HR consultants give you all of the benefits of a good HR department at a much lower cost because you aren’t taking on a whole department of full-time staff. They also have access to a huge range of information and expert advice which you can benefit from.
Improve productivity
HR professionals aren’t only experts in things like employment law and payroll. HR is closely linked with psychology which means that HR professionals have an understanding of the way that the minds of your employees are likely to be working. They have a focus on the things that employers can do in order to keep their workforce happy and productive.
Just some of the ways that your HR consultant may help you to improve productivity are:
●
Bonus and incentive schemes. Your HR team will
be able to research and implement the bonus and incentive schemes that are
likely to be the most impactful for your business while at the same time being
cost-effective.
●
Workstation set up. Spending a little time
ensuring that everyone’s workstations are set up in an ergonomic way is
important for employee health and wellbeing. HR consultants can provide
guidelines on how to do this.
●
Education and training. Employees who are able
to access education and training feel more motivated, and they become more
skilled and valuable to the employer. HR consultants can provide advice on the
best types of training for your worker base.
●
Promotion of work-life balance. People who
feel that they have a good work-life balance are more likely to feel satisfied
in their jobs. Your HR department can help you to implement initiatives that
will help to promote this, including arranging things like flexible working.
Streamline payroll
Did you know that the average small business spends almost 5 hours per pay period calculating, filing, and paying their payroll taxes? In total, this equates to around 21 hours of time over the course of a year!
It’s natural that payroll would take a long time. It’s a complex process, and it’s important that business owners get it right; otherwise, they can face serious consequences.
However, it is possible to streamline your payroll processes if you have the right guidance. There are a lot of software options out there that will allow you to almost completely automate your payroll procedures. This saves you time, of course, and it also ensures that your payroll is error-free.
HR consultants can advise you on selecting the best payroll software for your business type and budget and also on how to design a robust wider payroll process.
Provide expert guidance
HR consultants will have years of experience in the field, and they will be working alongside other HR professionals from different business areas. What this means is that when you hire an HR consultant, you benefit not only from their own experience but from the experience of all of the other professionals in their team too.
Each state will have its own laws and regulations about how businesses need to manage their employees, so it’s a good idea to work with an HR consultant who has experience in your area and who has a local presence so that you can speak with them easily.
It’s possible to work with HR consultancies that have both a local and a national presence. For example, G&A Partners offer HR services Salt Lake City, but they also have offices in Austin and Denver. This means that you can benefit from local expertise, but you can also access experts in other parts of the country should you need to.
HR consultants have made their reputation by being trusted experts in their field, so it’s in their interest to do an excellent job for you.
Save you time
One of the major arguments for working with an HR consultancy is the amount of time it will save you. By outsourcing HR, it means that you can feel safe in the knowledge that your HR function is in the hands of experts and that you don’t need to spend any of your time on it.
This means that you are freer to focus on the areas of your business that are going to allow you to grow in the way that you want to.
One of the most challenging things for small business owners, in particular, is the need to keep switching between tasks. Most of us actually aren’t good at multi-tasking, and it takes a while for our brains to process the shift. This means that by outsourcing the tasks that can be undertaken by other people, you are freeing up a considerable amount of time to work on the things that are important.
Cut costs
A lot of HR consultancies will allow you to outsource all or part of your HR function to them for a fixed monthly cost. Usually, this monthly cost will be considerably lower than the cost of running an HR team which is a cost-saving.
It also helps you to maintain a level of predictability which isn’t possible when you manage an in-house team.
Every time a staff member leaves and you need to replace them, there is an associated cost in recruitment, training, and lost productivity in the interim period.
It’s estimated that the average cost of hiring anew employee is just over $4,000, and it usually takes around 42 days to fill a vacant position. If you work with a consultancy, the cost and recruitment process for new HR staff will be handled by them, leaving you free to worry about running the rest of your business.
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