What is “HR” and what value does it offer SME businesses?
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For many small business owners, “HR” is seen as a swear word and always the elephant in the room. But what is “HR” really? HR is essentially human resources who are the people who work for your business. Human resource management, or what I call people management, is really staff management with an emphasis on those staff as an asset or capital of the business. It is essentially the process of how you effectively manage the people capital within your business.
As a business owner you wear many hats and have a few balls to juggle and at times it is a struggle to keep them all in the air. One of those balls could be around people management and it is this one ball that usually tends to get dropped and once it rolls away, it is soon forgotten about. However, how many business owners take the time to understand the value that it can add to their business.
As we know, people are the heart of any business. They are the ones who ensure clients are kept happy; they are the ones who ensure that your business is promoted by providing good customer service. Without any employees, have you given thought as to what would happen to your business? They can be viewed as one of the assets you have within your business.
As a business owner, your ultimate objective is to make a profit; however at times it would be difficult to achieve this without the people you have in the business. They are the ones who help and assist to ensure by getting repeat and new clients, being on the leading edge of the market, you are able to turn over a profit. They add value to your business. In order to continue to add value to your business, they need parameters to work within, have their levels of expectations managed and know what the guidelines are that they need to adhere to, whether it is a health and safety procedure or any other process or procedure.
You might be asking yourself the question, so how can People Management add value to my business? It can assist by becoming an integral part of your business and assist in helping you drive forward the objectives of your strategic business goals. Ask yourself the following questions:
- How many of your staff know what your vision for your business is?
- How many of your staff know what goals have you set for the business for this year?
- Have you determined objectives for them to achieve and is it linked to your business objectives?
- Are you measuring your business performance and your staff performance against your business strategy?
- Are you sure they have the right skill set to drive your business forward?
- Are they motivated to help you drive your business forward?
By applying your people management processes proactively and integrating it as part of your business drivers, it can be an important and beneficial component of your business. Ultimately your people management process will be there to assist you to reduce risks which could be costly for your business and assisting you to understand your legal obligations to your staff to ensure they are treated fairly.
By having the necessary procedures in place, it will protect you from those employees who are taking chances, by being able to manage them proactively as well as efficiently and effectively which in the end will assist you in saving time and cost.
By investing the time to train, engage, manage and motivate your staff, in the long run you will be able to see an increase in productivity, decrease in absenteeism and a more motivated work force which means reduced cost and time for you.
If you want to know more about the value that the people management process can bring to your business and help you increase profits and save time, then call me on 07922532645 to arrange a discussion.
Visit my website at www.constantiaconsulting.com to complete a free HR Audit Questionnaire and get a free detailed feedback report.
