5 steps to getting HR in place in your business (without spending a fortune!)

Is HR something you know is important, but your time and budget mean it never quite makes it off your to-do list?

Do you worry you don't have the HR policies you need in place legally?

You're not alone. With these 5 steps, you can get what you need in place.

1. The Paperwork

The employment contract

This is a legal requirement from day one. ACAS will tell you what you need to include, when you need to issue it, and how to change what you've written. They even provide a template you can use here. You can of course use your own template, or get something more suited to your business from an HR consultant, an employment lawyer, or sometimes even your accountant, but these are likely to cost money.

Policies/Handbook

You do not need a handbook. In fact, I'd discourage using your own custom policies (rather than statutory ones, thanks ACAS!) until you either want to enhance them, or until you go over 10-15 employees.

Policies that you need in place legally are:

1.      Health & Safety (if you have more than 5 employees)

2.      Disciplinary

3.      Grievance

Policies in my opinion you should have are:

4.      Equal Opportunities

5.      Social Media

6.      Use of Technology

7.      Data Protection (including a privacy notice)

You can find these policies quite easily online, or if you want to make sure they're up to date, compliant, and customised for your business, reach out to an HR consultancy or law firm that can provide all of them, plus the contract, for a reasonable sum.

Finally, you need a job description template so you can outline to your employees what's required of them, both technically and behaviourally, which leads nicely into...

2. Company Values (the behaviours and beliefs you want people to have) & Mission

Ideally, you want these in place before you even think about hiring. What does your business stand for? What behaviours should your employees hold? And why are they there – what is your mission as a company?

The good news is that this is your business, and you can decide your values. The even better news is you can change your mind as time goes on. Sit down and do this today; if you haven’t already! And you don’t need to do it alone or spend a fortune on it. There’s a number of articles available to guide you through and a quick google to see other companies’ values can be useful too.

Once you have your values in place, define the behaviours you'd expect your staff to demonstrate as a result.

Let's take a value of Trust as an example. Behaviours under Trust could be:

  • Communicating effectively with colleagues and customers

  • Listening to all opinions and input

  • Showing empathy and compassion

  • Acknowledging and learning from mistakes

These behaviours should be reflected in your job descriptions, and your values should show up in everything you do and how you do it. There's no point having a value of Trust pinned on your wall if you then proceed to micromanage your staff.

3. Data Storage

This is important, but it doesn’t have to be scary. Your Data Protection policy and Privacy Notice will set out how you handle and use data, so you just need to make sure you follow what they say.

Make sure you look at the ICO who have some great resources for small employers here.

A simple spreadsheet will suffice initially for storing your employee data, but as you grow, make sure you invest in an HR system to make things easier for everyone.

4. Onboarding, Development, Engagement and Wellbeing

You've found the perfect candidates. Now you need to make sure you let them add value. Here are my top tips:

  • Communicate: before they start, on day one, and forever after. Effective communication is proven to increase engagement.

  • Orientate them: make them feel welcome by telling them everything they might need to know, from the door code to where to find the printer paper.

  • Develop them: people like to learn, and it's a great way to keep them engaged. Use the fantastic job description you've already got in place to work out how to develop them against the criteria, and hold regular meetings to discuss progress.

  • Check on their wellbeing: check in with them after a week or so, and make sure they're doing okay. Then keep doing this for the rest of their time with you. The more you care, the more engaged they'll be.

Don’t forget to make sure your onboarding reflects your values.  For more detail have a look at my onboarding blog.

For more insight on whether your employees are engaged, join my resource library to access the engagement temperature check.

5. Payroll and Benefits

I think we can all agree that getting paid is fairly high up on an employee's list of basic needs, and one you don't want to get wrong. You have a few options when it comes to paying your employees:

1.      Process it internally

2.      Use your accountant

3.      Use a payroll provider

The latter two obviously come with costs, but will likely make your life easier and help with auto-enrolment into a pension, which is a legal requirement. It's worth spending a bit of time looking into your options, because as this article points out, it becomes one less thing to worry about.

When it comes to benefits, you don't need to provide anything fancy. Once you have auto-enrolment in place, you've met your obligations. But that doesn't mean you can't offer a few things that don't cost much. The best benefits are the ones your employees actually want, but here are some examples:

  • Free fruit (just fill the fruit bowl once a week for people to help themselves)

  • One late start a week (so they can attend a fitness class of their choosing)

  • A day off for their birthday

  • Time off for school plays, sports day, or similar important events

In Summary

You can be both a compliant and great employer pretty easily by following these 5 steps. These fundamentals will get you legally covered and give your business a solid HR foundation.

But foundations are just the start. As your business grows, so will your HR needs, and that's where ongoing, tailored support makes the real difference.

If you're ready for more ongoing support as you grow, a Fractional HR Director can help. Whether that's a one-off audit, a start-up package to get everything in place, or continued guidance as your team expands. Get in touch and let's talk about what's right for your business.

Fiona Colliver