Your business is doing fine, you can get all the legal advice that you need from Google or ACAS, and to be honest, you do a just fine job of managing your people without some know-it-all coming in, telling you to do things differently and charging you money for the privilege.

Which can all be good points to be fair.

So, what can an HR consultant bring to the party?

If you haven’t worked with anyone from HR for a while, or indeed ever, your views on what we do may well be influenced by the less than complimentary portrayals of us on TV. Who can forget the ineffective Philippa Moorcroft (Celia Imrie) from Dinnerladies, the people hating Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) from Up in the Air, or more recently the pyjama-Friday introducing Maya Benshaw (Rakhee Thakra) from Rules of the Game (although to be honest, that series was full of so many stereotypes, it’s difficult to pick only on the HR character)?

I can promise you; the reality is very different. So, where are the key areas we can help?

The Legal Stuff
Yes, you can probably find out most of the ‘rules’ from the internet or from ACAS. But really, do you have the time? Wading through pages and pages of internet searches, trying to work out which bits apply to you, which bits don’t, and how to put the darned things into practice are all areas where a Consultant can help.

Most business owners want to be compliant, but it’s easy for bits of legislation to pass you by. My job is to make sure that my clients know about upcoming legislation changes in advance, and what they need to do about it.

This saves them:
1) missing it altogether
2) spending hours looking it up and
3) working out the best way to implement it in their organisation.

One of the most common things I see from a policies viewpoint is that they were written and published in all their glory several years ago, but the enthusiasm soon died away, more pressing business needs took over and they quickly got out of date.

The other common thing is that they were written based on Google searches. And they read like it.

Your policies and handbook can be a great way to promote your business and your culture. Or they can be dull, unloved, and uninspiring documents that never see the light of day…

Working with people is rarely straightforward, and each case will have its own nuances and considerations that need to be worked through before you decide on a course of action to take.

Getting this wrong can be expensive. According to the British Chamber of Commerce, the average cost of an Employment Tribunal is £8,500, with awards ranging from a few weeks’ pay, up to a maximum basic award for unfair dismissal being £17,130, compensatory award up to £93,878 and unlimited awards on discrimination, whistleblowing and carrying out H&S activities. Average awards for unfair dismissal are around £11,000.

Ouch!

The Dreaded HR Procedures

I know, I’m supposed to be selling the idea of an HR Consultant, then I go and mention HR Procedures. It’s what we’re known for. Procedures. More and more procedures. Complicated ones.

That can indeed be true. I’ve worked in businesses that had procedures that even had HR pulling their hair out.

But.

Implemented properly they work.

The trick is making sure that you only implement procedures that either ensure you are compliant or add value to your business. You know, ones that your managers understand. Ones that they see the point to. Ones that serve a genuine purpose.

Some processes you legally need – checking new starters for their right to work, disciplinary, grievance etc. Others help you to keep records, see where things are going well (or not so well) in your organisation, and ensure that your business is fair and open in the way it treats your employees. Whether it’s recruitment, appraisals, or pay reviews, having a straightforward and easy to follow procedure can actually save you time, money and build engagement. And that’s where we come in – it’s one of our areas of expertise, and we can help.

When Things go Wrong

Grievances, disciplineries, absence cases, redundancies, business restructuring, your HR Consultant is the expert on how to handle it. Coming from an outside viewpoint, they can give you the advice that you need to deal with the situation at hand, and in terms of the first few points, help you in ensuring it doesn’t happen again. We don’t have any axes to grind, but we do have your business as our priority – even if that means telling you that the thing that has gone wrong is actually you.

Training & Development

Believe it or not, we love to get involved in the good stuff too! Many businesses have managers who were promoted because they are very good at what they do and are therefore expected to be good at managing other people doing it. And many businesses are surprised when they fail.

People management is a skill all of its own. It’s very rare that someone promoted into a management role isn’t trying to do the best job – they often just haven’t been given the tools to do it. Again, this is where your friendly HR consultant comes in. We can spend time with your managers, find out where their knowledge is less than it could be, and find the best way to address it. Whether that’s one to one, small groups or large training sessions – whatever fits with your business.

A Trusted Business Partner

Long gone are the days when we called ourselves Personnel and were seen as the tea and sympathy brigade. Your HR consultant is a business expert who happens to focus on people. And as we all know, people are your most expensive and most valuable business asset.

So, some questions to ask yourself:

• Has your business outgrown your current structure, but you don’t know how to change it?
• Are your employees lacking motivation, but you don’t know why?
• Are you paying out on bonuses but not seeing the performance improvements that you expect?
• Are you struggling to recruit the right people?

If the answer to any of these is yes, then your HR Consultant can take a wider view of your business, see what’s going well and what isn’t, and provide you with advice and guidance on how to improve things, and probably save you time and money at the same time.

So, why work with an HR Consultant?

Hopefully, all of the points above have answered the question. A good HR Consultant is an investment in the most important part of your business.

Get in touch to see how we can help right now?