An HR team might be one of the last things on your mind when you start a business. Instead, you’re worried about big-picture issues such as developing a business plan and finding investors. Most small businesses have someone assigned to HR duties by the time they start hiring employees, but when is the right time to change from “Bob does the HR paperwork” to “This is our new HR team”? We’ll break it down step by step.
Step 1: The Outside Experts
Before you have enough employees to justify a full-time HR person, you should consult with an employment attorney in your state to make sure your pay policies are legal. The Fair Labor Standards Actapplies to you as soon as you hire your first employee, so be careful here. Draft an employee handbook with vacation, sick time and nondiscrimination policies, as well.
When you’re recruiting, you probably don’t need an outside expert if your focus is particularly on people you’ve worked with before, but if you need to hire someone from outside your circle, consider hiring a recruiting firm to help you out.
To keep reading, click here: Is It Time to Build an HR Team?
I’m the only full-time HR person right now and really need an assistant. We’re at 110 employees and a little over half of them are subject to DOT commercial driver standards, which comes with a substantial due diligence and record keeping process. Right now I don’t have any buy in to either outsource some of that DOT burden OR to get an in-house assistant. It’s a frustrating spot.
Just outsource it.
We as technology vendors also see that solo HR shops at SMBs are struggling to get help from either inside or outside the company. It seems to be one of those burning issues that are not really supported by the management until something actually burns down.
This is true. It’s an unnecessary expense until suddenly it’s a lawsuit!