As small business owners, we should all consider HR and #iAlso100 2021 Bina Briggs, founder of Plain Talking HR, recently hosted a session all about why we need to be HR savvy as small business owners.
It was a brilliant session filled with so many tips and insights – a huge thank you Bina for hosting for us. Please find some of Bina’s wisdom here!
Working Practices
Do you advocate good working practices within your business?
- Procedures
- Specifications
- Requirements
- Guidelines
- Rules
Your business practices typically define how your business runs and how work is performed.
Employing People
What about working practices you follow when you employ people to work in your business?
- Employees
- Agency staff
- Contractors
- Freelancers
- IR35 regulations
In this case, your practices define how your relationship with your people works.
As an employer, you know what you expect of your employees?
- Do they know what is expected of them?
- Do they know what they can expect of you?
There s a real importance for communication between employees and the employer. As a partnership between the two, it’s important for the employee and employer to have a flow of information between them. It is the employer’s duty to ensure that they keep the employee informed of what’s expected of them, starting with induction or onboarding process. This is the time when the employer must inform the employee of standards, ethics, etiquette, the company culture, conduct, standard of communication with colleagues, suppliers, clients, business partners.
This is also the time to explain what is expected of the employer so that the employee feels welcomed and has an understanding of their rights as an employee of the company. Again, explain their T&C, Contract of Employment, compliances and working within the legislation.
It’s called Human Resources ….
It is all about human relationships, and how we connect with and treat each other.
- How you behave with your employees
- How your employees behave with and represent you and your business
- Embedded in your company culture
This is all about relationships of how we treat each other in the workplace. It starts from the employer as the employer sets the scene and standards, ethics, etiquette, the company culture, conduct, standard of communication with colleagues, suppliers, clients, business partners. This should happen from the time the business owner starts their business and the first employee or freelancer taken on board,. It is much easier to lay the foundation so it then become the blueprint as the business develops and grows in size.
It is up to the employer to make sure that it happens. This also applies to any contracts or freelancers working for the employer because they will be representing the employer to the outside world when they are working on behalf of the employer.
The Employment Cycle with Company Culture, Fairness, Compliance and Wellbeing as a central core in everything undertaken.
Recruitment, Onboarding, Development, Retention and Exit, the employment cycle of an employee. At each of these stages, to treat employees as people, have the communication flowing between the two parties and ensuring that everyone buys into the vision of the company, works with the goals and objectives of the company. This can be achieved by the company understanding the value of being a good employer because it is paid back in loyalty and commitment by the employees.
The processes are in place to ensure that there is consistency and fairness in all actions taken and that the employees are treated equally.
