Don't fall into an HR trap!

Common HR mistakes that SMEs make..

Or to put it another way, the costs of trying to do your own HR and not getting it right. This post explores two of the most common things I find when clients try to do the right thing, but get it wrong.

Mistake Number One

Question: Do you know how much it costs your business if a manager, fee-earner or director spends all day, all week, or a weekend searching for employment law advice on Google? 

Answer: A lot more than you would pay me!

That's the first thing; the realisation that properly procured outsourcing is often the cheapest option. When you look at how much a director gets paid (which, let's face it, should reflect their value to the business) you are tying up incredibly valuable time on what is very often an administrative task. If you're searching on the Internet for employment law advice the other major factor at play is that you have no way of knowing whether the advice you find can be relied upon. 

Employment legislation usually changes in both April and October, with additional cases going to tribunal on a weekly basis, the decisions from which do sometimes affect law. Even lawyers have trouble keeping up with all this, so how can a business owner, with all their other responsibilities, possibly do it? 

Mistake Number Two

I come across this one a great deal. Many business owners, but particularly ones setting up a fledgling businesses, sometimes use HR documents and handbooks that they've 'liberated' from their previous company, you know what I mean. 

The danger of this, apart from the obvious breach of intellectual property law and possibly even theft, is the fact that it is almost certain that some of these documents are going to be out of date before you even begin to start using them. 

I recently came across the most poorly drafted employment contract I have ever seen in my career, and without naming names, it had been purloined from a national organisation. So much for bigger being better. 

In short, HR and employment law is far too important to leave to chance, or the Internet, or to rely on the stuff in the boot of your car which you 'accidentally' didn't give back when you resigned from your job.

If you want to know how much money I can save you, contact me to find out.