You Need HR Services – Here’s Why

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |HR Services|You Need HR Services - Here's WhyDid you know that there are over 30 million businesses in the US right now that hire almost 60 million people? Small businesses are popping up all over the place and those small businesses are employing people to work within their walls. While large enterprises are still sweeping through and making a name for themselves, it’s smaller businesses that need some help with human resource issues as they crop up.

Small businesses are facing some of the biggest challenges in-house than bigger businesses, and they are often on a very steep learning curve. Outsourcing issues you might have with contracts and employee separation agreements is important and you will find that HR issues like payroll disputes are often better left to experts. An outsourced agency could be the support you need, and understanding what they can do for you will help. If you are operating a small business, the best thing that you could do is to check out whether you need outsourced HR services in the first place. You might not even think that you need a human resources department, but if you’re hiring people, you need someone to manage them. You’re the owner and you should be considering keeping up with your regular business practices.

The last thing that you want to do is leave things up to chance. Your employees can be your best asset and below, we’ve got a list of reasons you need to have HR services to help your business.

    1. Reducing your overheads. Did you know that a HR department can help you to reduce your overheads? HR departments often increase your staff, which means that you have to have more desks, more technology and more space for documents. If you outsource your HR services, you’re going to save on this and still get an excellent service. Great HR departments outside your business are going to help you to save money in the long term. The costs can vary when you pay an agency, so shop around and get the right one.
    2. Attracting employees. A big red flag for the best talent out there is a business that has no regular processes in place to make sure they are protected. A HR department is one that will ensure that your staff are happy, protected and able to continue their work. If you’re not experienced in recruitment, you don’t have to be. You can have the experts doing the job for you and this will help you to attract the best talent. Their onboarding processes are going to be targeted, too, which will help you to bring on the best people.
    3. Training. You know that your business works with you at the helm; it’s why you’re the owner. If you want to ensure that your business training and education works well with your employees, contact a HR agency outside the business. Training may not even be a huge part of your business but it also doesn’t have to be. It can pay to outsource this as training isn’t cheap!
    4. Policy development. It’s not easy to develop a range of employee policies, especially if you’re not aware of the law. You can hire an expert to do this for you, though, and they can work with you to come up with employee separation agreements and working contracts that will be used across all departments. The right HR services can help you to develop policies that suit your business and what you need.
    5. Coping with risks. There are some things that can be a liability in businesses and you might not know all of them. It’s okay if you don’t; that’s why you have external HR resources to help. You might not know much about labor laws, but your HR expert will. There are plenty of laws like this that are out there and these change all of the time. The best thing to do here is to have a trained professional handle it all for you and keep up with them – so you don’t have to.
    6. Payroll issues. One of the biggest HR issues is payroll! People not getting paid, people not getting the right perks and benefits and trying to get what they are contracted to get is important. Your HR service can handle this for you because you don’t need to let this slip through the cracks. You have to stop what you’re doing so that you can deal with difficult issues, but if you hire a HR expert, you’re going to be able to avoid this and let someone else handle it. There’s nothing wrong with stepping aside and asking someone else to take over; you just have to be brave enough to ask for help!
    7. Health insurance. A HR service is going to be the best place to look for the best health plans out there and with the right service, you’re going to be able to offer your employees the best. Going with an outside HR company will help you to have access to a range of benefits that you wouldn’t normally get, too. These are the benefits you want to look for for your staff.
    8. Insurance management. Did you know that your human resource department can work with you to set up the right insurances? There are so many different types of insurance out there that you have to understand, and there are HR experts to handle it all. There are liability insurances and workers’ compensation insurances, professional liability and commercial insurance. It’s a lot, but you are one person and you don’t have to worry about understanding it all.

Human resource experts are out there looking after businesses. You will never have to worry about your business being without an expert in people if you hire a great HR service to work with you. Your whole business is going to be built on the people who work for you – make sure that they are as looked after as possible and don’t skimp on this expense.

How Should Leaders Promote Healthier Workplaces?

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article | How Should Leaders Promote Healthier Workplaces?

The food industry is an industry that always has its discussions around the topic of health, but this is something that we don’t always consider within small to medium-sized businesses. While there’s a lot of talk on health well-being and mental health, common physical health is just as important. So when it comes to being an effective leader for a business, we’ve got to learn how to promote workplace health but also make sure that we promote a healthy lifestyle. So how can we do this?

Implement Healthy Practices in the Workplace

It’s about leading by example, if we are shown to have healthier practices, this will begin to slowly seep into our employees’ mindset. It’s important to have certain touchstones of health dotted around the office. A good example would be a juice bar or juicing machine. Juicing is a great way to detoxify and energize us, which can have a massive impact on productivity. You can use this link to take a deep dive into juicing and see if it works for your employees. But also, it’s about slowly getting rid of those unhealthy practices that we’ve come to rely on. A very common example is having doughnuts or pizza at the end of the working week. If you want to decrease productivity, this is the best way to do it! While not many people would like you for swapping pizza or doughnuts for fruits, you can find tastier and healthier choices.

Focus on Prevention

Prevention is much easier than cure, and it’s also much cheaper! Everybody is more focused on health than ever, and if you want to focus on general preventive health, you could bring a doctor into the workplace and speak to your employees about certain health issues. But you can also incorporate this into the perks of the job. For example, you could offer rebates for arranging flu vaccinations. You could also look at rebates on health insurance or provide more incentives. These are all little things that can help you in the long run because they will reduce sick leave, and make for a healthier workplace environment.

Encouraging More Physical Exercise

Physical exercise is a great way to encourage better health, but it doesn’t need to be expensive. You might not want to start a running club, but if you are looking to encourage employees to be healthier, you may want to add standing desks, install bike racks in the car park, or provide allowances for public transport. Another unconventional approach could be to have walking meetings. You may think that you are part of The West Wing by doing this, but when you think about the benefits of walking, it could stop that lethargy that occurs during mid-afternoon meetings.

Creating Healthy Attitudes

This is something that will take a while to embed, but from a cultural perspective, healthy attitudes will improve productivity and well-being in the long run. It’s a very difficult thing to get right, but when we start to incorporate health as a priority, we have to remember that it should come from the employees. Healthy attitudes can come from well-being hours, allowing people to finish an hour earlier so they can focus on their well-being, but also providing implements around the office that can help. Of course, we should focus on improving our employees’ education as well. Sometimes, we don’t have the relevant knowledge to improve our health. And as things are changing so much in terms of exercise and attitudes to health, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest data. What we can do is facilitate discussions on the latest trends and how it impacts people in the workplace. We could encourage our employees to speak to a doctor or a practicing dietitian about certain concerns, and then help them to manifest ways to incorporate being healthy in the workplace. Many people find it difficult to be healthy in the workplace because of the temptations, but also a lack of time to prepare things before coming into the office. In which case, what we need to do is to bring healthier options into the working environment and encourage your employees to choose their best options.

Promoting health is something that doesn’t come easy because we have to find the right balance. Some people do not want to be told how to be healthy, but others merely need guidance. But we have to remember that for the benefit of productivity and workplace happiness, health should be a priority.

Guide to Throwing the Best Fall Party

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Best Fall Party|Guide to Throwing the Best Fall PartyBackyard parties are on the way out with the summer months. This is your last chance to throw the best backyard party to celebrate fall and make those fun memories before the cold comes in and sends everyone inside for months. In many ways, the cooling air will make it easier to plan the party.

All you really need is to make it feel cozy and warm and it will be a big hit. But, keep in mind that it is still warm enough for bugs so consult a professional about a mosquito and tick control and preventionplan before the party date.

Once these details are out of the way you can concentrate on the fun stuff. Food and invitations and decorating. Everyone who enjoys entertaining knows that it is so important to have the right food in the correct amounts at a party. It is better to have too much and send covered plates home with guests than to have to call for pizza halfway through the festivities.

That will make your party memorable for all the wrong reasons. Sit down and start making a list of what you will need to make your party special so you can be sure to have a roaring good time.

Digital Invitations

You no longer need to go to the trouble of printing out matching invitations and finding envelopes and addresses etc. Those days of getting irritated with invitations are over. Now, you can design the best and most attractive invitation you could want online and send it out via social media.

You can even make one invitation and a Facebook group where you invite all your guests. They will see the invitation and can easily plan out who brings what and any ride-sharing arrangements in one convenient and easily accessible platform.

This is also a great avenue for conveniently informing everyone about the weather in your area. You can update the group easily about how to dress for the weather, the seating arrangements, and how you plan to occupy their children. They might be able to suggest better activities or volunteer babysitting duties on a schedule so everyone gets to have some fun and enjoy the food.

Get Enough Chairs

It might seem like an easy task to fulfill for the party but seating can be a hassle if you’re not careful. People use seating options to put down their stuff as well as settle their children and their supplies. If you have just enough seating for the exact number of people attending your party, you will have some grumpy people with nowhere to sit.

Look for multiple seating arrangements to accommodate tastes. Deck chairs are always popular but have some table seating as well for older folks who cannot hold a plate with one hand while eating with the other. These tables will also make it easier for any parents to feeds their children with less fuss and mess.

Make it Feel Cozy

Plenty of warm lighting is necessary for evoking that cozy and comfortable feel of fall. A great way to add some real warmth and amplify the coziness is to build a fire. This will be immensely popular with everyone from kids to adults. The appeal will skyrocket if you have plenty of supplies for making s’mores.

Make sure to have plenty of lighting even if you light a fire. A fire tends to draw so much attention that you may think it provides enough light to the backyard. But it will be surrounded by people and the glow will be dimmed. Lights outside the glow of the fire are necessary to make sure people see where they are stepping. Some people may also not be comfortable too close to the fire. They will appreciate a well-lit cozy area to enjoy the fire from afar.

Many Lighting Options

There are many types of lights that you can rent or even purchase for this and other uses. Fairy lights look great in a backyard and add a magical feel that children will love and appreciate. It is also a way to add some lighting to the trees and bushes without too much harshness.

People will be able to easily identify the trees and bushes and see if there are seating options, so they can sit there or avoid going towards those areas because there is clearly no well-lit seating. This is the best way you can ensure that no one trips and falls trying to wander around your garden.

Depending on the type of gathering you are planning, you may need some tents or large parasols as well. In some areas, it can rain towards the evening. If you do not want to be driven inside by a light shower, then some waterproof awnings are a necessity.You may need to find out if your patio has the room and load-bearing capacity for the numberof guests you want to have. This is one of those details that do not easily occur to someone till they hear the deck creaking from the number of people on it.

A party is fun because the party planner makes sure that everyone can concentrate on having fun. If all these details are too much for you, there is no harm in hiring an event planner to put it all together for you. That way, you can enjoy yourself at your party as well, without worrying about everyone else’s good time.

3 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Hiring Your First Employee

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Hiring a First Employee|3 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Hiring Your First EmployeeHiring your first employee is a big step for a new business. Things are going well and the workload is increasing so you think that now is the right time to start bringing more people on board, but that isn’t always the case. If you start expanding the business and hiring people too early, you might end up in a difficult financial situation and it could be the end of the business entirely. You may also find that you hire the wrong person if you rush into things without really thinking about it properly first. If you want to avoid getting it wrong, you need to ask yourself these 3 questions before you hire your first employee.

Why Are You Hiring Them?

This is important and it seems like an obvious question but a lot of people don’t actually think about this before they start hiring people. If your answer to this question is simply that you’re making more money and the business is getting a bit bigger so it seems like the right thing to do, you probably aren’t making the right choice. You should be hiring employees to help in specific areas where you’re struggling. For example, if you’re struggling to handle the volume of sales that you’re seeing and you need a sales rep to take on some of that workload, that’s fine. Or maybe you aren’t very good at digital marketing and you think that the company would benefit from having somebody with more experience do it, that’s a great reason to hire somebody. Before you jump into anything, consider how hiring a new employee will actually improve the business in a specific way. If you can’t think of anything, it’s not the right time to start hiring.

Can You Actually Pay Them?

A lot of people have a good month and then decide that they’re financially stable enough to pay an employee. Then they hire somebody and the following month sales dip again and they’re struggling to find the money. It’s best to wait until you’re seeing stable growth over a period of a few months before you decide to hire somebody, and try to put some money aside to cover their salary for a while.

You don’t just need to think about whether you can afford to pay them, you need to think about the actual process of paying them. In other words, do you have a payroll system in place? You’ll need some software to handle that for you and choosing the best payroll software for your business isn’t something that you can just do overnight. If you don’t understand how to deal with payroll yourself, that’s a big problem as well and you’ll need to hire somebody to do that first. If you rush into it and find that you can’t actually pay your employees, you’re going to have a big problem on your hands.

Do You Have A Clear Hiring Process?

Hiring an employee is a lot harder than you might realize. You’re going to get a lot of applications and you need to know how to narrow it down to a few candidates for interview and then choose the perfect person. If your process isn’t good, your first employee won’t be the right fit for the position and you’ll be wasting money. So, before you do anything, you need to sort your hiring process out and make sure that you know how to pick the right candidate.

If you can’t confidently answer all of these questions, it might be best to hold off for a while before hiring your first employee.

How To Build A Successful Team

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Build a successful team|How To Build A Successful TeamFor most small businesses, there will come a time when it needs to expand. It could be that bigger premises are required, or that new products should be introduced to the line. Or it could be that more staff are needed. It is at this point that, if the business owner is not very careful indeed, things can start to go wrong. Putting a team together is one thing; putting the right team together is quite another. Without the right team, a small business can vanish overnight. The right team can boost it to the next level – and, in fact, as far as it needs to go. Read on to find out more.

It’s Not What You Know

When it comes to employing your core business team, it’s definitely more like ‘it’s who you know’. If you can possibly do it, you should always hire people you already know. Not family and friends (not necessarily anyway – if they have the requisite skills, then it isn’t a problem), but those you have worked for in the past and found to be professional and good at what they do. This way, you can be sure that the foundations of your team are strong and that they know what they are doing. Training new team members is the last thing you want to do when you are also running a business, unless it is absolutely necessary.

Make Sure They Have Experience

If you don’t know anyone suitable, or if no one is available, you will need to broaden your search. This can be worrisome, but remember that you are looking for experience. That’s the key point. Don’t hire someone just out of university who, despite their excellent degree, hasn’t done anything like what you’ll be asking them to do before. That will just take more of your time, and it will slow the progress of the business down too. If you get things right at the beginning, the time will come when you can afford to hire those who are just starting out to give them a chance. That time is not when you are building your first team.

Sales And Marketing

If there is any part of the team you should be looking at first, it’s the sales and marketing part. Without them, nothing else matters. You could have the best company in the world, but if no one knows about you, what’s the point? Sales and marketing need to get acquainted with the business and how it all works as early on as possible. They should definitely be part of your core team.

Find The Passionate Ones

As well as people who know what they’re talking about, whether they’re experts in trailer reflective tape or which social media platform to use for marketing, or what kind of coffee is best in the waiting room, you want people who are passionate about your business and want to see it succeed. This is partly down to you as the business owner, as the person who can show them your vision and ask them to get behind it. It’s about the rest of the business too. If these people can also have experience, then you will have the best of both worlds.
Therefore, it is down to you to instill that passion in the people you want around you. They’ll stay for longer, and they’ll do a better job for you.