Imagine your business running like a well oiled machine, why strong HR foundations are essential for your business and not having them leads to high staff turnover, legal woes and a toxic culture.

Running a business comes with many advantages, that’s why many of us choose to leave the corporate world and take the leap into going it alone.  However, it isn’t just about providing great products and services, if you have scaled up your business and need to employ staff to help you grow and provide skills or support that you don’t have, or no longer have time to do, this comes with a whole new list of things to think about.  Your business is doing well, which is great and now you are suddenly responsible for paying other people.  The fact is though that there is more to employing people than just making sure you can pay them.  As an employer you have a lot of responsibilities and you are now trusting other people with your customer service, sales, supplier management, finances, insert whatever task required.  And you also need to recruitment them.

Building a team and workplace culture which drives success is the dream but for many business owners it can turn into a nightmare.  That great hire turns out to be nothing like the person you interviewed.  Your employees, turn up late, phone in sick constantly, or don’t do the job you hired them to do.  All these things have a knock-on effect on your business.  It will be costing you money if you have high turnover, high absence or if things aren’t getting done.  On top of that it will affect your brand if it causes issues with customer service, your ability to deliver your product or service and your ability to recruit.  We live in a world where people can review online whether that is about your product or what its like to work for your business.

What can you do?  Well having strong HR foundations is key to overcoming and dealing with employee issues.  So, here’s what solid HR foundations look like and how they can benefit your business.

Complying with employment law.  In the UK there are numerous employment laws which employers of all sizes must adhere to.  As an example, all employees must have an employment contract and this must include  job title, salary, when they get paid, location etc.  All business must have a disciplinary, grievance and Health and Safety policy.  Employment law can be a minefield and failing to understand or stay on top of changes can be costly.

It is essential to have clear policies and procedures.  After all you want your employees to understand what is expected of them when they are at work and what will happen if these boundaries are crossed.  It is easy to think that people should just know how to behave at work after all we are all adults, the fact is though that things can and do go wrong.  Clear policies and procedures prevent misunderstandings and promote consistency and fairness.

Having a good workplace culture.  As a business owner you (hopefully) want your team to enjoy coming to work and want to do their best.  Whilst they aren’t going to love your business like you do, if you have built an environment or trust, respect, fairness, consistency and purpose, employees will go the extra mile.  Conversely a toxic workplace, leads to disengaged employees, poor performance and high absence and attrition.

Effective recruitment and onboarding.  Hiring the right person is critical to growth and success.  A bad hire can cause issues in a team, cost you money and time.  Make sure you are clear in your job description about what the job entails.  Have a robust interview process and remember skills can be taught whereas a bad attitude is unlikely to change.  Onboarding is key as you want your new hire to feel part of the team from the moment you make the offer, in addition they should have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities.

Performance management and development.  Employees who have a supportive and engaged manager are more likely to stay with your business and perform better.  In addition, your employees should be really clear on what their job is.  Sounds obvious right?  However, there are many businesses who don’t provide their employees with job descriptions, don’t let them know how what they do contributes to the overall business goals, don’t give them clear guidance on their goals and objectives.  Make sure your managers are capable of managing their team.  Often people are promoted without any support around managing staff, training is key. 

Is your people strategy aligned to your business goals?  Have you got those strong foundations in place to support your business?  Imagine if your team understood what was expected of them and came to work with a sense of purpose.  You can put all those HR foundations in place, contact me at bev@bdhr.co.uk to discuss how I can help you.