5 Considerations When You Start an HR Department
The driving force behind any organization’s success is its people. To bring the best people on, you’ll need a comprehensive HR strategy. If you’re just getting started, you might not see the need to establish an entire department dedicated to the recruitment, retention, and fulfillment of your employees. However, as your company continues to grow, it’s important to provide a foundation that enables it to attract top talent and handle internal issues that are bound to arise.
Depending on the needs and size of your business, that foundation can be built in a number of ways, but here are a few tips to help get you started.
1. Learn What Your Business Needs
When you first started at an organization, you may have learned what was expected of you based on a preliminary debriefing or job description. Regardless of your situation, it’s necessary to have a thorough understanding of the needs of all departments and the culture that shapes your organization. With this knowledge, you’ll be better equipped to identify suitable candidates and nurture their development. This might involve a series of meetings with different representatives from each department whose feedback you can use to help you develop a HR department plan.
2. Set Up Onboarding and Recruiting Procedures
Now that you have a better idea of what the ideal candidate looks like, you can start to consider how you’ll go about the hiring process. This might include considerations like where you’ll post your job ads, what the process will be to sort through candidates after they’ve been sourced, and what the onboarding process looks like once a candidate is employed. Once candidates are selected, you’ll want to make sure you’re covering all of your ground by having all necessary paperwork ready for them. Be sure to prepare an offer letter, I-9 Employment Verification, payroll and equity information, and any other agreements your organization might mandate (like a non-compete clause, for example). While this might seem overwhelming at first, the entire process can be guided and completed by intuitive recruiting and onboarding software.
3. Know When to Outsource or Automate
It’s not always necessary to recruit and designate a full-time resource to complete some of the more monotonous duties that can bog down processes. As you meet with various departments, look to see if there are any responsibilities that can potentially be outsourced or automated by business automation software. This type of software is great for tackling administrative duties like recordkeeping and creating reports, which can take precious time away from your employees. This time can then be spent to perform more important and creative responsibilities. If you decide to outsource, you can gain access to skilled expertise for a price that’s usually cheaper than it would cost to employ someone internally.
4. Outline Compensation and Benefits
Your organization’s compensation and benefit structures play a large role in what types of candidates you’ll be able to attract. Compensation should include salaries that are competitive and fair based on your market. It might also be based on an individual’s years of experience, education level, industry, location, and your need for their specific skill set. If you are unable to compensate as highly as the industry average, you may still be able to attract top talent by providing desirable perks, like flexible working hours or remote working arrangements.
5. Establish Workplace Policies and Regulations
Depending on where your office is located, you will have certain federal and state regulations that your organization will be required to follow. These regulations help dictate important safety and behavioral protocols to make sure your employees are protected. In general, your work environment should comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHAct), but you should also check the U.S. Department of Labor’s site periodically to make sure your office is satisfying your area’s workplace safety requirements.