When is a good time to start planning your HR requirements?  This is a question we are often asked, and our general answer is that it depends on the many factors namely company size, industry, management skill / resources, etc.   As a very general guide, companies usually start to think about HR more, once they reach 40 – 50 employees as at this point there is a requirement for more structure within the business, consistent working practices and some form of central resource due to the sheer numbers of HR issues that need to be dealt with on a day-to day basis.

Let us help you decide if you are ready by seeing how many No reponses do you get to the questions below?

1. Do your employee contracts protect your business?

• Are your contracts of employment more than just statements of the employees benefits?
• Do your contracts protect your business against an employee leaving the business and taking an important customer with them or setting up in competition?
• Do your contracts give the company the flexibility to alter employees’ duties without consultation?
• Do your contracts allow you to make a deduction from an employee’s salary? For example if employees have been overpaid perhaps because they have not come in to the office due to the snow

2. Are you dealing with your under-performing employees?

• Is everyone in the business doing their job as well as they could?
• Do you deal with employees pulling suspicious sickies?
• Is everyone in the department efficient at their work?
• Do all your managers deal with issues promptly and fairly, or do they hope they will go away?  Carrying underperforming employees upsets good employees and can change the culture of a business.

• If your company has had to reduce its headcount or re-organise over the past year, is everyone fully competent in their current roles?
• Is the work in your company organised in the most efficient way?
• Are people fully utilised in the work they do?
• Does your company structure support the business needs?

• Are staff fully trained in the new roles, if you have altered your product range or service to cope with a change in demand?
• Have you carried out a skills audit on employees recently to see where the gaps are?

• Does your bonus scheme reward in the best interests of the business?
• Are your rewards focused or targeted on the areas the Company has deemed as important or necessary for business growth?

• Do you have a set of employment policies that you consistently use?
• Are you confident that your employment practices will not result in an employee taking the company to an employment tribunal, before long?
• Are you proactive rather than reactive to what happens in the business?

In2HR
1 Jones House
High Street
Bray
Berkshire
SL6 2AH
Tel +44 (0) 1628 622722

We can help you hire and retain the best employees, manage your employees more successfully, and improve employee motivation. Whatever your HR outsourcing needs, In2HR can assist any company within the Thames Valley areas, including Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxon and Surrey. So why not contact us today.