Human Resources
It’s likely that in the early stages of your idea you won’t need to think too much about human resources as you’ll need to build up a market of paying customers and have exhausted your capacity to deal with any further custom before investing in new employees.
Once you reach that tipping point however, you need to start thinking about Human Resource Management (HRM). HRM deals with your employees, from recruitment and performance management to benefits and payroll by implementing and governing the policies and regulations that govern how your employees should behave, perform and be rewarded. In essence the main areas of HRM are:
- Hiring and firing
- Performance management and employee reviews
- Employee development, motivation and training
- Safety and wellness
- Salary and benefits
- Setting guidelines for communication channels throughout the organisation
Human resource management therefore will have a significant impact on the culture of your organisation and you should think carefully about what staff policies and benefits etc you should put in place in order to be able to attract the right candidates to suit the nature and culture of the business you are running.
Legal documentation and Employee handbooks
Human resource management also has an important protective role to play for the organisation by maintaining paperwork to ensure your organisation is compliant with any related labor laws in the jurisdiction you operate in. In many jurisdictions there are certain rules and standard forms that need to be maintained and updated on a regular basis so it pays to be diligent when considering the volume and types of paperwork that will be required to ensure you comply with the law.
Aside from standard forms to comply with legislation it is also important from an HRM perspective to establish an employee handbook that sets the expectations of a new hire as they enter the business. Employee handbooks vary dependent on the nature of the organisation but can include areas such as the following:
- Code of conduct
- Anti-discrimination policy
- Non-disclosure agreement (if needed)
- Safety and security policies
- Job descriptions
- Organisational chart/ hierarchy
- Compensation and benefits descriptions
- Schedule, vacation, sick time, and leave policy
- Recruitment and hiring policy
- Discipline policy
The handbook essentially provides a foundation for your business from an employee perspective and acts as a guide for a new hire to understand what is expected of them and the rules that govern their activities.
Compliance
All of this documentation not only provides the foundation for your employees and guides them to adhere to the policies and culture of your business, but it also helps with another key factor, compliance. As you can see when we touched on the basics of commercial law there are plenty of legislative acts that your organsation needs to be aware of and abide by. From an HRM perspective the key ones are as follows:
- Anti-discrimination laws
- Wage and hour laws
- Leave laws
- Benefits laws
- Safety laws
- Union laws
So overall when we look at HRM there is a significant amount to cover. There are definitely templates and tools out there to help you on your way in developing something yourself from scratch, however as your organisation grows you may wish to look at employing a full time HR role or alternatively considering an outsourcing solution.
Key Takeaways
Once your Business grows, you will need to consider Human Resources
Once you reach a certain level of growth, your business will need to take on employees to function. This is where Human Resource Management comes in covering recruitment to performance management to benefits and payroll.
Human resources is routed in legality
Human resource management is covered by a number of compliance laws and your business will need to ensure they are in compliance or face the consequences.
Get your policies and legal documents sorted in advance
When taking on employees, you’ll need to set some rules e.g. Vacation, Sick pay, Salary, Disciplinary procedures etc and it pays to have these policies in place so you know what you expect and the prospective employee knows too.
Human resources governs company culture
Your policies will shape how your organization will run and it is up to you to instill an appropriate company culture that fosters innovation and job satisfaction whilst attracting and retaining the right candidates.
