In House HR vs HR Consultant

If you own a business with even one extra team member, HR becomes instantly relevant. And if there’s more than one, you no doubt have felt the pressure and additional demands on your time and energy.

Contracts, payroll, pensions and other requirements need to be in place, and your team members need to feel supported and seen. There are training and development considerations, performance management and absence cases, reward and benefits strategies and regular reviews and appraisals. All this can get overwhelming, fast. Which is where HR comes in.

But what’s the best way to go about it?

It’s all about size

One option is to employ an HR person who will be your HR Department. After all, this leaves you with a certain amount of control and a faster response time should anything happen.

Right?

Well, not quite. What it really boils down to is the size of your company. Big corporations require big HR teams who have a range of skills and expertise. But when it comes to small businesses, how do you manage the range of skills needed within one person?

Expertise and time management

As a broad field with many responsibilities, HR professionals’ benefit from working in a team, with a mix of skillsets such as recruitment, training, reward, administration, etc.

You may need a strategic approach to HR to help your business grow and move forwards, but there could be a significant amount of administration to keep up with and finding someone who is capable of both and happy to do both can be challenging.

There’s also the problem that if your single HR person takes a holiday or sick leave, there’s no one else who can deal with a potential crisis.

And speaking of emergencies, if one should hit, your lone HR team member will have to put everything else on hold to put out the fire and this can often lead to a sense of overwhelm.

What if you only need (and have the budget for) someone part-time? What do you do when a crisis occurs or you urgently need a contract something to be picked up?

This is where HR consultants come in.

We’re there to help you from the point you recruit your first person and as you grow our support can grow with you. We can flex to the needs of the business and cover everything from strategy and projects through to day-to-day advice and administration.

If you use a consultancy like ours with our own team members and associates, you are guaranteed year-round cover and access to experts in particular fields so you know you are getting the best advice and support.

You also get the benefit of our experience of working with multiple small businesses because it means we understand trends and changes that are taking place, and we can share ideas and approaches which have worked for other similar businesses.

What’s more, you don’t have the cost of holidays, sickness, taxes, pensions and benefits so for a fixed cost you know exactly what you are getting each month and can budget easily around that.

If using an HR consultant to support your team is something you’re considering, then let’s have a chat about how it could work. We offer a free initial 1-hour consultation where we can discuss the best way forward for you and your business. Just email us on [email protected]. We’re always happy to help!

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