Wearing Many Hats

Traditionally, organizations have tried to minimize the cost of support services internally as those are cost centers rather than profit centers. The result of these efforts is that employees and, sometimes, owners or general managers find themselves faced with doing work in an area where they have little or no expertise. Human Resources is one of those areas.

Organizations may have the human resources function done by an office manager, accounting manager, executive assistant, operations manager or the CEO. While this practice is more common in smaller companies, even larger companies may have all or parts of these included in the duties of many individuals. This practice allows employers to minimize the number of individuals who are not delivering direct service to customers or direct impact to the product being offered.

Over the time our country, state and area have been experiencing financial challenges, these individuals have had to take on more and more responsibilities which squeezes their time on any single area creating more opportunity to make potentially costly errors. Further complicating this in the area of human resources is the fact that many new legal requirements and changes have occurred over the past 18 – 24 months and busy professionals have little time to research, integrate and update in order to comply. Even large organizations have been challenged in this area.

Here are some tips on how you can manage all of that:

§  Understand your core business. You should have a strategic plan that focuses on exactly what you do best and find a way to get others to do the ones you don’t do well. For example, if you have facilities you must manage; consider outsourcing those tasks to a company that manages property for owners.

§  Match talent and interests of your employees. If you must keep a non-core function internal, then try to find the person or group where there is a natural affinity. A person who enjoys and has interest in a non-traditional area is more likely to actively find support systems and information to make the best decisions in that area.

§  Check to see what support systems you may already be paying for. In support areas, organizations frequently find that they are already paying for some support systems without being aware of it and are not taking advantage. For example, many CPA firms who do an employer’s tax filing may also offer some types of basic audits on cost savings, fiduciary review for your retirement plan, etc. for free or very low cost.

§  Strategically partner with companies who provide excellence in the areas you need to outsource. Many savvy organizations have found that outsourcing human resources either fully or for additional resources is much less expensive that hiring additional staff or paying high legal costs when something goes awry. TPO has developed very flexible systems to allow employers to get the level of outsourcing that benefits the organization for an excellent price.

§  Invest in training and technical support for those who manage such areas. Scrimping on the necessary training and support materials for individuals who are already stretched thin and dealing with programs or systems that are not their primary strength is false economy. These can make the difference in making the choice of doing the work internally smart vs. imprudent.

As organizations experience more affluent times again, these items do not become irrelevant. By putting these into practice during times when it is necessary, organizations can leverage growth in the areas of the business that will make them more profitable or meet the mission better.

At TPO, we are glad to partner with you on developing this kind of strategy.


TPO is an award-winning firm established in 1991 made up of a group of highly experienced, nationally certified HR experts and trainers. TPO is licensed by the State of California (PI-25638) to provide investigative services. For more information, please contact us at 800-277-8448 or visit our web site www.tpohr.com.


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2011 TPO Human Resource Management. No part of this article may be reproduced, excerpted or redistributed in any form without express written permission from TPO Human Resource Management.

Should you consider an HRIS?

I have so much information I have to keep track of and I just had to redo one of my spreadsheets because of an entry mistake.  Is there anything out there that will help me?

There is definitely a better way now and options that meet the needs of any size business. Many types and sizes of Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) are available now that were not even 5 years ago.

Dealing with the demand for information for both business reasons and compliance reasons has become a major portion of the job of a company's Human Resources people. In small and medium sized companies, it is not unusual for an employee to provide both human resources support and other duties ranging from office or facilities management to accounting and finance.

For many years, these employees have become "wizards" of the spreadsheet and/or database applications in order to meet their obligations. As this client points out, the problem is that it is easy to make an error on a spreadsheet that may or may not be detected immediately.

In addition, using spreadsheets or stand-alone database applications may require multiple points of data entry which creates opportunities for errors to creep into the data you are trying so hard to keep correctly.

The really good news is that, not only can a HRIS help protect data integrity, but it can also reduce the cost of the work. Here are a few ways companies can realize cost savings from implementing an HRIS:

•   Automation of Time-intensive Leave Tracking
•   Automation of Reports such as EEO-1
•   Integration with Payroll which eliminates double entry and checking
•   Accurate reports to review benefits costs

One of the major concerns employers have had regarding HRIS programs is the problem of implementation and then maintenance of the system. Now, many HRIS providers will either host the system or have a Web application that requires no IT assistance at the user end. Implementation can be supported by TPO or through the consulting services provided directly by the HRIS provider.

If you are interested in reviewing how an HRIS could help your business be more productive, call TPO and we will help you view some possible solutions that might be best for your organization.

TPO is an award-winning firm established in 1991 made up of a group of highly experienced, nationally certified HR experts and trainers. TPO is licensed by the State of California (PI-25638) to provide investigative services. For more information, please contact us at 800-277-8448 or visit our web site www.tpohr.com.

Contents 

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2011 TPO Human Resource Management. No part of this article may be reproduced, excerpted or redistributed in any form without express written permission from TPO Human Resource Management.

Should we have an employee handbook?

QUESTION:

I think having a handbook is more of a liability to my company. I want to keep things casual and informal so that I can make decisions when a situation arises. Not to mention, we only have 20 employees and we’re like a family, everyone knows the rules and we’ve never had any type of issues. Why should I have one in place for my organization?

ANSWER:

There is as much danger in saying too much as too little. In the absence of policies, past and present activities become policy through precedent. Because of a lack of consistency in application, many of these practices are, or can be, considered discriminatory. This might place the employer in greater danger of law suits and claims with government agencies than if they had carefully spelled out the organization’s expectations employees.

Here are some specific reasons to have an employee handbook in place:

§  INFORMS EMPLOYEES. An employee handbook represents a key component to any sound employee relations program. Handbooks communicate essential information about benefits, policies, and performances standards to all employees. Openly communicating with your employees results in enhanced morale, productivity, and loyalty.

§  REDUCES DISCRIMINATION AND LEGAL PROBLEMS. Handbooks promote fairness and consistency in the manner in which employees are treated, and thereby reduce the possibility of discrimination. Although written employment policies cannot completely shield an employer from legal problems, a properly drafted and implemented employee handbook gives an employer more favorable legal positioning. We recommend that all employees sign an Acknowledgement of Receipt form for the handbook which indicates the employee agrees not only to familiarize themselves with the contents, but to abide by the contents and ask for clarification as needed.

§  ASSISTS OWNERS AND MANAGERS. An employee handbook guides managers in making employment decisions, such as implementing corrective action, hiring, firing, and promoting.

§  SAVES TIME. Having your policies and standards set out in writing can be a real time-saver by eliminating the time taken by managers researching what the policies are and employees going to managers to ask questions that could be answered by a handbook.

Employee Handbooks represent a key component to any sound employee relations program. Call your TPO consultant to discuss the state of your employee handbook.

TPO is an award-winning firm established in 1991 made up of a group of highly experienced, nationally certified HR experts and trainers. TPO is licensed by the State of California (PI-25638) to provide investigative services. For more information, please contact us at 800-277-8448 or visit our web site www.tpohr.com.

Contents 

© 

2011 TPO Human Resource Management. No part of this article may be reproduced, excerpted or redistributed in any form without express written permission from TPO Human Resource Management.