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There is a multitude of reasons going well beyond the “people are our most important asset” concept. Here are just a few:

  • Better selection
  • Lower turnover
  • Greater employee engagement
  • Better communications and teamwork
  • Resolution of roadblocks
  • Higher productivity
  • Improved bottom line, sometimes dramatically

Small wonder then that the median salary for an HR manager (in the North West of England) is £43K. Add employment costs onto that and you are looking at over £50K.

That is a big outlay for a small to medium sized business and yet the evidence (citied by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, CIPD) is that there is a move away from the traditional “contract of employment” method of managing people. Instead progressive small firms across the economy are seeking employee engagement and creating jobs with meaning. As we show below, the rewards can be rich.

The traditional answer

For SMEs this has been to utilise HR services on a project and as required basis. Many prominent firms, and increasingly legal firms, provide this; although their emphasis tends to be on the old “command and control” approach to management. In adopting this solution care should be taken over the type and length of contract you make with your provider. Some contracts be easy to get into (sometimes a relief from persistent lobbying) and very much harder to get out of! Other matters you may want to consider include:

  • When you have an issue, will you speak to someone immediately (or will they call you back later)
  • Will it be the same person you speak to every time
  • Will they offer a tailored or off-the-shelf solution to the challenges you face
  • Will they recognise your culture, your way of doing things
  • How will they update policies – do they do this for you or just inform you what is needed?
  • Do they help you to assess risk of a particular action or is “no-risk” a condition of their service

A 21st Century solution

Specialist HR professionals are an excellent solution for the small to medium sized business and this approach is provided by Employer Solutions, among others. In addition all the points above, in choosing a provider of HR professionals you should consider the following:

  • The expertise, qualifications and HR experience of the professionals
  • How their services are available, for example per hour, per day, or per project
  • Are they provided on the phone, by email and in person
  • How you want them to contribute because they can:
  1. Vastly improve your selection of employees and especially key workers
  2. Thus lower your turnover – more time for you to spend on your business
  3. Improve the whole functioning of your team
  4. Create greater engagement of employees
  5. Make you an employer of choice, enhance your reputation
  6. Improve your bottom line

The evidence

The  CIPD  puts the cost of recruiting the wrong person at 2.5 times their annual salary, taking into account factors such as wasted salary and benefits, severance package and money spent on training and induction – without considering the added cost of having to go through the recruitment process yet again. The “wrong person” is invariably a question of organisational “fit”.

A recent report from the “Engage for Success” movement showed that “the annual net income of the top 25% of ‘engaged’ organisations was twice that of the lowest 25%”.

Studies by Sheffield University report that 19% of the variation in profitability between companies is related to people management practices.

Action

Call or email Employer Solutions. We will welcome the opportunity to come to see you to understand your aspirations and enable you to see how our HR expertise can help you to realise them.