You might not need an internal HR team, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need any HR support.
So when do you need to outsource HR?
And why is it so important?
That’s what we’re covering now.
Let’s get started.
Timing
- “What size do I need to get to before I outsource HR?”
- “How can I justify the cost?”
- “Can’t I do it myself?”
- “How hard can it be?”
- “I’ve got a great relationship with my team, so I don’t see any need?”
These are all common questions business owners have.
So if you’re wondering any of the above, it’s completely normal.
And here’s my answer to all of the above: any business with a team needs HR support
Why? Because you don’t realise you need it until it’s too late.
It’s so important to get it right early.
Think of it this way…
HR is quite like insurance
Everyone has home and car insurance.
You wouldn’t dream of not having them. Why? You pay your insurance premiums to cover you if something goes wrong.
You hope you never have to use any of the insurance policies you take out, but when you need to – you’re glad it’s there.
And that’s the same for HR support too.
Once you need HR support, you really need it.
Except there’s one main difference between HR and insurance – with unused insurance, you’re paying for something you never use – but when you pay for HR, you get so much out of it.
By investing in HR:
- Your team are happier and more productive, making you money and saving you a lot of stress.
- You’re not just covering yourself if something goes wrong, you’re making it far less likely anything ever would.
- You’re setting yourself up for the best possible chance of success.
Can’t you just call me if something goes wrong?
If something goes wrong, you can call a HR professional to help.
For example, I help with:
- Conflict resolution
- Grievance investigations
- Disciplinary issues
But – and this is a big but – hiring a HR professional to help with all of these things is a lot more expensive than working with us on an ongoing basis.
Why? It’s not to profiteer. It’s because if something has happened, I have a lot of work to do to put everything right.
Things like conflict resolutions and grievance investigations throw up all sorts of other issues.
There is rarely one person completely at fault.
Things have degenerated over time and come to a head – so I must spend the time getting up to speed with everything that’s happened to:
A – Fix the problem
B – Put measures in place so it doesn’t happen again
Don’t think an issue is your fault? Of course you don’t.
But in over twenty years as HR expert, I’ve never investigated something where there hasn’t been fault on both sides.
Like anything, the truth is usually a mix of both sides of a story.
Outsourcing your HR is proactive
In most cases when something has gone wrong, if I’d been called six months prior, we could have avoided the conflict.
In the past, I’ve had clients cancel my retainer services only to call me in nine months when the shit has hit the fan. All of that could have been avoided should we have continued working together.
Taking a proactive approach means things can be resolved informally. I can only do that if I get to know your business and the people in it.
It’s about culture and psychological safety (stuff I talk about in my other blogs all the time!)
The problem is, how do you justify the cost when you don’t have an issue?
Think of it this way. Would you like:
- Your best staff members to leave?
- Your team becoming demotivated?
- Your standards starting to slip?
- Customers complaining?
- Customers going elsewhere?
- Not knowing how to fix things?
- Hiring new members of staff but finding the same problems persist?
- Not being able to regain the good company culture you once had?
This might sound dramatic, but I’ve seen it happen so many times.
All of my clients more than survived Covid. While I’d love to take the credit, I can’t take it all.
But I believe I definitely helped. Why? I make sure my clients understand that their people are the most important element of their business.
Nothing is unique in today’s business world, but your people are.
Look after them.
Ignoring your people is an expensive mistake
In today’s business world, you have to pivot, keep an eye on cash, manage your pipeline, and do 1,000 other jobs.
Inevitably, if things appear okay with your team, people management and development can slide.
But you cannot afford to let it slide.
Will you have problems tomorrow?
Probably not.
But the worst thing is, the problems will set in so slowly that you won’t recognize them.
Until it all kicks off.
Then you’ll need HR support whether you like it or not.
Do you need to outsource your HR?
Let’s put a plan in place to develop a happy, healthy, productive team who love coming to work.
We’ll make your team’s best day their everyday.
Email me now at alison.reynolds@reynolds-hr.com
