10 HR Tips for Small Business

When running a small business, not everyone has the ability to hire HR personnel to manage the employees. In most cases, the entrepreneur multitasks the responsibilities in his/her small business including those that are for the HR. As much as you want to generate more income, you also have to make sure that you are managing your people effectively.

Alexandra Walsh, Vice President of Association Vision, provided some HR tips for those running a small business. She mentioned in her article that as a small business, you?re only as good as your people. She also added that this means effectively managing your people is important than ever. You can read her full article in Water Well Journal entitled Top 10 HR Tips for Small Businesses.

I know that it is a tough job, as the entrepreneur, to look after the business as well as the people in the organization. However, you also have to understand that you are running a small business and if you have just started, then chances are you have limited financial resources in your cash flow. So it is advisable that you need to keep your overhead low at this point. To help you with your multitasking, below are the tips you will need to learn by heart.

1. Know what your legal employment obligations are.

Changes to employment take place frequently. If you are laying people off, then make sure you follow best practices and state and federal regulations in order to avoid costly unfair dismissal or discrimination claims.

Running a small business doesn?t exempt you from your legal obligations. This means that you have to abide the regulations being set including laying people off.

2. It?s not just about the money.

Financial rewards are only one way of rewarding and motivating staff, and research proves it is a relatively ineffective tool to do so. Studies have found the most important factors cited were interesting work, work-life balance, and the working environment.

One of the most common misconceptions about motivation is that people are motivated to work because of the salary. But as mentioned by Alexandra, studies have shown that it?s not just about the money. Other employees are motivated to work because they love what they are doing, or they

3. Make your employees feel valued.

Don?t underestimate the importance of new employee orientation. Even if you have only one employee, it is important to give all new workers an employee handbook that contains all the relevant information about the company and procedures in place. Involvement in team meetings from day one will ensure a culture of teamwork is fostered and strengthened.

Keeping your employee informed about your business, your goals, your mission, and your vision will let him/her realize that he/she belongs to your company. Being part of something motivates majority of the employees because it will make them feel important.

4. Communicate, communicate, communicate.

Talking to staff in a small company is just as important as in a big organization. Communication will foster a more open working environment where mutual respect between managers and employees can thrive. In addition, by consulting with employees you will give them a sense of feeling valued, of having their issues and concerns listened to, as well as tapping into a well of knowledge that could benefit your business. Making sure employees know what?s happening in their own organization and the wider industry is important, whatever the size of the company.

Even if you are handling one employee in your small business, you still have to talk to him/her on a regular basis. Through regular communication, you will be able to know your employee and what his/her issues are when it comes to working for you. Your employee will also feel comfortable talking to you if you are more open to him/her.

5. Be flexible.

A flexible organization will better meet the challenges facing it in these economically uncertain times. The benefits of a flexible approach are considerable?increased productivity, less absenteeism, increased loyalty to the organization, and improved staff well-being. Flexibility can reflect the structure of a company?s resources, such as having a core team supported by part-time or outsourced staff when the business needs it. You can implement flexible working practices such as part-time working or job-sharing. Introducing new technologies also enables small businesses to embrace the concept of flexibility.

You have to be flexible in your business, personally and operation-wise. You can set up rules for flexi-schedules or letting your employee make modest decisions. In this way, you can increase the loyalty of your employees to you and to your business because you are letting them become comfortable. However, it is important that you have rules and guidelines so that you follow the same path to your goal.

6. Get creative when competing with larger employers for good workers.

Even if you can?t compete monetarily with larger employers in the groundwater industry, you can get creative. Small companies have an advantage over larger companies because they can quickly and inexpensively introduce low-cost or no-cost creative perks. Consider allowing workers to extend their shifts in the summer so they ?earn? one or two Fridays off a month.

You may have a hard time competing with larger employers however you can be creative by providing benefits that are favorable to your employees. Benefits like allowing your employee to work on a flex schedule or a cumulative rest day. This will favor your employee especially if he/she has another job.

7. Be clear.

Be clear about the company?s business goals and expectations. Make sure workers clearly understand the organization?s rules, language, and culture.

In relation to communicating openly, it is important that you are clear with your business, your rules and policies, even the culture of the organization. This will make your employee more comfortable working with you and the rest of the organization.

8. Training, training, training.

Taking employees out of work for a training course can be difficult in a small business where people usually fulfill more than one role. But in most industries, and this includes the groundwater industry, training is essential if you want to keep up with your competitors.

Training is another motivating factor for employees. Through training, your employees will be kept informed and competitive. However for small businesses, in-house training can be done to your employees like introducing a separate task or responsibility to the other person.

9. Designate an HR ?go-to? person.

Very few small businesses can afford to employ a full-time human resources manager. But personnel issues are too important to leave up to chance. Every company should have a strategy to deal with areas such as training, keeping staff informed, health and safety, maternity cover, and pay awards.

You have to make sure that there is a contingency plan when one of the employees is out for a couple of days. This should work for the rest of the employees, not just for HR, which is why it is important that another person knows the responsibilities of the other. When you are running a small business, multitasking is not a new word, and this is something that each of your employee needs to understand.

10. Consider outsourcing.

According to the Small Business Administration, small business owners spend anywhere between 7% and 25% of their time handling employee-related paperwork. Not the most productive use of their time. But by outsourcing some or all of their employee-related functions?such as payroll, benefits, health care or recruitment and retention?small business owners can focus on what they do best.

In most small businesses, some tasks can be outsourced. This process will allow the owner to focus more on the core function of the business.

When running a small business some resources and capabilities are limited. You should be able to know and understand these limitations. The HR tips being provided by Alexandra Walsh should help you with your small business operation that despite of the boundaries, your venture can still function like a large company.

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