The stage has been set, managing HR in your business is about to get tougher. The first few months of the Labour administration have seen them present their Employment Rights Bill, and it is packed full of measures which will make life more complicated for you as a typical SME business owner.
It will not be an impossible landscape to navigate though, once the Bill is enacted. With the right knowledge and insight, you will be able to steer clear of the pitfalls and focus on running your business. Bringing in outsourced HR could be the perfect solution for you.
What are the benefits of outsourced HR?
If you employ people, HR is not an option but a necessity. It will be easier than ever to find yourself in front of an employment tribunal and losing, with many of the norms of the past decade thrown out of the window. You either try and make do yourself, hire someone in-house or outsource.
Trying to save money with a DIY approach will likely be counterproductive. And hiring in-house will be too expensive for many, and not without its other downsides, too. There are numerous ways, however, in which outsourced HR can meet your needs:
- A cost-effective solution – For a relatively low retained fee (far lower than hiring in-house), you can get unlimited access telephone and email HR support. It’s there for you to sense check your instincts, get advice where you are stuck, receive bespoke policies essential for managing staff correctly and provide templates of key documents you may need from time to time.
- Broad expertise – Rather than having a single person advising on HR, you get access to a wider team, who will have collectively encountered far more scenarios and hold higher professional qualifications. We also make it our business to stay up to date with all the rule changes, not just legislation that happens from year to year, but up to the minute case law that can turn things on their head.
- An uninterrupted service – An outsourced service is there for you every day, never suffering from sickness or needing to take annual leave.
- Operational improvements – Good HR is not just about legal compliance. By integrating the good practices which are recommended into your business, you can make gains on absence, performance, recruitment and retention – in fact anything people-related which can drive your business forwards.
- Freeing up time – Whether it is saving you hours trying to Google search the answers, streamlining regular admin like annual leave management or being available to run a one-off project such as a disciplinary process, having an outsourced HR service will free you up to spend more time on your core role.
- Tribunal indemnity insurance – If you follow our advice from the outset of an issue, you are also insured for the outcome of any tribunal should a case make it that far, giving you further peace of mind that you won’t be caught out by an HR issue.
What if I already have an HR lead in my business?
Many employers actually use us alongside some limited HR resource within their business, helping them with special projects, or being available when they go on holiday or are off sick. Outsourcing is scalable, making it easier to grow, or downsize if times are tough.
Find out more
If you would like to find out more about outsourcing HR to get you prepared for the challenging years ahead, please contact us and we can talk you through the attractive options we can offer.
