Recruitment. Compliance. Performance management. There are 101 things to think about when you manage an SME, but help is at hand. A HR consultant can be a powerful and cost-effective way of bringing much needed specialist expertise into your business, as well as a vital fresh perspective.

Read on to see how a good HR consultant can benefit your SME.

Turn vision into reality

SMEs usually begin with a bold vision. But down the line, strategy work often gets lost in the day-to-day running of the business. An external HR consultant can be the perfect solution to bring your strategic vision into reality — from the initial phase of formulating and clarifying your vision, through communicating it well to your people and leading them through change.

Organisational change, when poorly handled, can lead to loss of morale. So it’s worth ensuring that you do it well. The expertise and perspective of a HR consultant will help turn vision into reality in a healthy, compliant and productive way.

Reduce risk

Whether you’re a marketing agency, coffee shop or plant nursery, there are various bits of legal compliance you need to get right simply to run your business.

A good HR consultant can do the legwork for you, making sure your SME is fully compliant with all the necessary rules and regulations, and putting systems in place to make sure you remain on the right side of them.

Their experience and subject knowledge can lead you through the necessary employment law, and specific regulations for your industry, giving you peace of mind to keep on doing what you do best.

Manage performance

We all want high-performing employees who are thriving in their role. But ongoing performance management is often lost in the day-to-day busy-ness of running an SME.

Allow a HR consultant to help manage performance of your people and teams. They will have access to the latest tools and learning to put in place meaningful and dynamic performance management that goes way beyond a dry annual review.

Good performance management leads to positive relationships, a culture of feedback and more motivated employees — and who wouldn’t want those?

Improve recruitment

A growing team is exciting — but the effort and time involved in recruitment can put unwelcome pressure on an SME. It’s estimated that it takes a new starter around 8 months to reach full productivity (Harvard Business Review), so making good decisions at this stage is vital. Involving an HR expert in the process of finding the right hire can save your business time and money, and safeguard future productivity.

A good HR consultant can support you throughout the recruitment process, from clarifying your requirements and advertising for the role, through to interviewing, shortlisting and decision making. They can also help you with systems to successfully onboard new starters and help them thrive in your SME.

Increase productivity

Increased productivity is a holy grail for SMEs. How can I ensure my team consistently produce their best work, and ensure profitability?

A good HR consultant can help you in a number of ways. They will have access to tools and systems to help establish your company culture, ensuring teams feel valued and their wellbeing is safeguarded. They’ll also have wisdom and expertise on how to best develop your employees and teams, and will be able to signpost training and growth opportunities to get the best out of your people.

Two ‘productivity drains’ within an SME are unresolved conflict and poorly managed time. An HR expert will be able to lead teams into healthy conflict resolution. They’ll also bring the best industry strategies on managing time effectively, allowing you to concentrate on the work at hand.

Don’t panic

If HR for your SME seems a daunting task, then don’t worry. At 1850 we specialise in providing SME-specific support to help you get the very best for and from your teams.

As one SME said, this support “has been instrumental in providing clarity for our business. We have found this has enormously improved morale and confidence.”

For a free 30 minute call to talk all things HR for your business, book in a call.