Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late to Hire an HR Professional

When it comes to reasons why a company didn’t hire a human resources consultant, I’ve heard them all: a small business didn’t think they were big enough to warrant it, or the CFO didn’t want to spend the money, or Jane from accounting was taking care of the paperwork.

That “worked” until they were suddenly facing a crisis and needed help. Rather than having a dedicated team or person in place working to help, they were scrambling.

Here’s an example: Miki Agrawal, the CEO of underwear brand THINX, didn’t hire an HR person. Allegations from former and current employees around parental leave and bad management surfaced, and it turned into a PR nightmare.

Agrawal ended up apologizing and stepping down. She later admitted in a statement that it was a mistake not to hire a pro.

By taking a “wait until you need it” approach, I’ve seen organizations have to deal with:

• The fallout after payroll or benefits were incorrectly withheld from employees.
• A sexual harassment lawsuit from an employee that required intervention from high priced lawyers. You can read about that here.
• Dismal employee engagement and retention because people didn’t feel listened to or cared about.
• Poor financial performance due to a lack of procedures and policies in place to help train staff and prevent turnover.
• Uncertainty and turmoil after an owner or key leader left because there was no succession plan in place.

I don’t want to see that happen to any more companies, especially when there’s an affordable, easy way to prevent it: hire an HR professional!

I want you to understand that you need a human resources consultant as soon as you hire your first employee.

Here’s why:

• Employment rules differ from state to state, and even from city to city. If you want to stay on top of compliance, you need to hire an HR professional who will be on your side and who stays abreast of the laws.
  For example, the U.S. Department of Labor just announced a final rule to make 1.3 million American workers eligible for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). What does that mean for your organization?
• An HR consultant can help you understand the benefits and risks of making certain decisions, like hiring an employee versus a contractor. Want to fire someone but you aren’t sure if you’re within your rights? Unsure about maternity or paternity leave benefits? They can advise you.
• Employees need answers, often on a daily basis. Whether it’s a complaint about bullying or a question about dental coverage, if you don’t have an expert around who’s around to assist your staff, you’re doing them a disservice (and may very well be breaking the law).
• You need talent management and succession planning. Today’s employees want to know that you will help them develop their knowledge and skills so they can advance in their career. And you need to have a plan in place to assure that if someone on your team leaves, you have someone ready to step up and carry on.

Telling the courts you didn’t know about a certain law won’t work if you get sued. Neither will giving your employees excuses when they have a question about employment policies or their benefits.

And what especially won’t work? Hiring someone after the fact to try and desperately clean up a big, costly and time-sucking mess.

By hiring a human resources consultant now who can help you comply with labor laws, design performance management processes and hold management and employees accountable, you’ll save your company high costs and headaches. As an added bonus: your company culture and employee engagement will improve, too!

No matter what your reason for hiring⁠-or not hiring⁠-a human resources consultant for your organization, it’s time to make a change for the better. Contact me today to book a free consultation to learn more about how I can help.