Why you should make HR a priority in your business. Often when people think about HR their minds jump straight to the idea of the people who do the hiring and firing within an organisation and whilst that is true it is only a small part of what HR brings to a business. A good HR team or processes can have a profound and positive impact on your business, but for many SMEs it is something that often gets overlooked. It’s a skilled job and as a business grows they may find they struggle with the people management side of things. So, what exactly does HR do?
Finding the right people
Recruitment isn’t just about filling a role, it’s about ensuring you find the right person, somebody who fits the culture of your company. A good HR team will ensure that you get the right people in the right jobs, this in turn can reduce absenteeism and staff turnover and increase productivity.
Training and development.
If you want a team to develop and experience professional and personal growth then training is essential, it can be called upon when you have a new starter, but also when people are transitioning into a new role within the company and/or as they are growing within their existing role. Training is usually carried out by or organised by HR and it’s their responsibility to stay up to date with best practices. Ensuring that the organisation is using effective training methods.
To resolve conflict among employees
It would be great if everybody could get along at work, but whether it be an employee that always returns from lunch 10 minutes late much to the frustration of colleagues or a manager who loves to micromanage, there will be conflicts. Where there is disagreement, you need HR. Conflict resolution should be taken seriously as it can change the whole working atmosphere. HR can help employees resolve their disagreements in the best way to minimise the fallout and costly litigation.
To enable an organisational culture
Company culture impacts the whole work environment and can include the shared behaviours and values of people working in a business. HR can help a business develop a positive organisational culture, this can be done via onboarding new staff or training those that are already there. A strong company culture can increase a company’s retention rate.
One of the things that can have the biggest impact on company culture is the promotion of work-life balance, this is something that should flow through the company – the people at the top should be demonstrating work-life balance in the way they work so not sending emails or calling their team out of work hours, sharing their own struggles and promoting taking steps to support their mental health. It is advisable to discourage a culture of people continually working late or coming into work when they are not well. Look at the culture of your company and ensure that people feel able to speak in confidence about how they are coping with work and life in general.
To carry out disciplinary actions
Nobody wants to issue disciplinary action but sometimes it has to happen and when it does effective HR support can be a great benefit. HR can handle any disciplinary actions in a delicate manner that takes into account the needs of the business and also understands the employees view and resolve to find a solution that works for all.
Keep people happy
A recent study by the HSE found that stress, depression, and anxiety accounted for 17.1 million days lost work in 2022/23. It is vitally important that employers take care of their staff’s well-being and support them. And this shouldn’t be something that is just a focus for one month of the year during stress awareness month but should be an on-going concern.
With 914,000 workers in 2021/22 in the UK reporting work related stress, depression and anxiety in the UK compared to 823,000 the previous year this is a real issue that needs to be addressed.
These stats highlight why keeping your team happy is important. Having a content team helps to keep staff turnover low. Also if the people are happy there will be less stress and in turn less absenteeism. According to statistics, work is one of the biggest causes of stress with 79% of people saying that they frequently feel stressed due to work. An effective HR team can help minimise this. There are a number of ways HR can help keep people happy including ensuring employees are getting adequate compensation, making sure health and wellbeing are a priority and making sure they talk to people in a way that lets them know they are heard and that their concerns are confidential and taken seriously.
Compliance, equality and diversity
A quality HR team will ensure that a company is following employment laws and that people in the organisation are not only treated equally, but also have equity. The HR team will also make sure that the business is inclusive and diverse not only in the way it recruits people, but in how it treats people once they have joined the team.
If HR is something that has been overlooked, maybe 2024 is the time to rectify that as your business and staff will benefit.
