Your average HR department spend their days spinning many plates – and sometimes those plates are on fire!  A team of outsourced HR consultants is no different, it just means that the plates are all different brands and the flammable substances on them are many & varied; one size fire extinguisher will most definitely not fit all!

All joking aside, an HR team, be they internal or outsourced, is responsible for ensuring that every individual and asset is well-managed, strategically utilised and of course, engaged in a legally compliant way – allowing for key business goals to be achieved.

Traditionally when you think of HR, you might just think of ‘the people that deal with employee welfare’. Although welfare is extremely important to good HR professionals (and we all love the workplace health kick that involves awkward lunch time yoga!) there is actually much more that the role encompasses.

One of the elements a HR department normally manages is the employee ‘life cycle’ – from the initial stage of identifying the need for a new role to be created, right through to the recruitment, induction, development, training, maybe even the odd disciplinary (we won’t talk about last year’s Christmas party!), and finally the separation of an employee from the business.

The HR department also takes on the huge responsibility of the legalities that come with employment. This includes contracting with employees, managing salaries, holiday time, break time, sickness, employee data management and health and safety in the workplace.

Some of the other elements which is the HR department’s responsibility include:

• In conjunction with health and safety, HR often have the responsibility to ensure that where you work is safe. Unfortunately, when it comes to sitting at a desk all week, some employees will experience back pain so HR will ensure that an employee’s chair, screen and foot rest are adjusted to the correct height or that the factory worker has all the correct protective clothing.
• Ensuring equal pay and equal opportunities are a key requirement of a HR professional’s role. A good HR professional will make sure that everyone is treated equally and whatever their personal characteristics, these will not affect treatment at work.
• Sometimes an employee may just need somebody to listen to them or be that voice of reassurance. It can be good to let HR know if you are finding work challenging so that you can be supported.
• Some people just rub each other up the wrong way. This can be difficult when this is with a colleague that you spend all your working week with. HR staff can act as a facilitator to enable this sort of situation to be diffused.
• Overseeing training to ensure employees are legally compliant, or there may be an opportunity to upskill, develop and grow within the company throughout your employment.

HR is a management function with overall responsibilities of the goals, welfare and growth of an entire organisation, through its people.

So, why would you outsource this key function?!

Here are our top four reasons:

1. Staying in the know – Employment is a complicated area of law which is constantly changing. We understand that your focus is your business, not keeping tabs on every change in HR practice, that’s our job.  So let us do our job, so we can help you to do yours.
2. Time saving – because we’re always up to date with the most frequently asked questions in HR, we can save you valuable time otherwise wasted trying to find answers. A quick email or call to our experienced team can have you up to date and on your way again in just a few minutes, with written advice to follow-up as standard.
3. Save money – hiring an equivalent HR employee with our combined expertise would cost in excess of 20 times more per year than our average retainer value. And, new for 2022, as we celebrate our 15^th year of serving Cornish small businesses, we’re offering 15% off for any new client engaging a retainer contract with us this year.  Now that’s value for money!
4. Independence – our clients often tell us that having us on their team helps them to demonstrate to their employees that they are listening, and hearing, their points of view. We offer as much, or as little, hand-holding as required to ensure that you do things right, and maintain a professional approach to difficult situations.  No office politics here, just sound advice and unwavering support.