HR departments as small as one face big challenges. Here’s a program especially designed to help them.
The recent brouhaha in Washington over whether a raise in the minimum wage should include special tax breaks for small business brought up again, in our minds, the issue of the smaller HR department.
In countless businesses, usually with fewer than 100 workers, the HR “department” is just one person, or one with an administrative aide or two. As if HR wasn’t complex enough, the person may have additional responsibilities, as well. HR managers often also serve as bookkeepers or office managers, and sometimes have to deal with safety and other matters as well.
This is a major issue in compliance, if not any other area. The government doesn’t care if you’re General Electric or JustUandMe, Inc. All businesses have to follow essentially the same mind-bending rules, and file the same reports.
Even where there are exemptions for smaller companies, such as requiring Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance only for organizations above 15 employees, state law sometimes lowers that threshold to just one. With changes in Congress, this may be a trend at the federal level as well. One of the proposed changes for the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), an acknowledged paperwork monster, would drop its current compliance threshold from 50 employees to perhaps as low as 10.
An additional challenge is that many HR managers in smaller companies are holding their first full-scale management positions in the profession. While a few may have stepped up from handling just one HR function, others have had no HR experience at all.
These challenges caused us to consult with our editors about whether anything they offer provides special help to the smaller—or even singular—HR office. It turns out that there is such a special program, called Managing an HR Department of One. Other publishers may offer similar materials, but whichever you consider, our editors advise that you make sure that these features are included:
–-Discussion of how HR supports organizational goals. This should include how to probe for what your CEO and senior management really want, and how to build credibility in your ability to deliver it.
–Overview of compliance responsibilities. The BLR book contains a really useful two-page chart of 21 separate laws HR needs to comply with. These range from the well-known Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), FMLA, and ADA to lesser known, but equally critical rules such as Executive Order 11246. Also included are both federal and state posting requirements. Proper postings are among the first things a visiting labor department inspector looks for.
–Training guidelines. No matter what your company size, expect to have to do some training. Some of it—in safety compliance, especially—is required by law. Other topics just make good business sense. Your reference should walk you through how to train most efficiently for the least cost in time and money. Chances are you have little of either.
–-Prewritten forms, policies, and checklists. These are enormous work-savers! Managing an HR Department of One has 46 such forms, from job apps and background check sheets to performance appraisals and leave requests, in both paper and on CD, in Word format. The CD lets you easily customize any form with your company’s name and specifics.
If you’d like to take a look at all Managing an HR Department of One covers, click the Table of Contents link below. Or better yet, take a look at the entire program. We’ll send it to you for up to 30 days’ evaluation in your own office with no obligation to buy. Click the link below and we’ll be happy to make the arrangements.
Work in a Small HR Department?
Then you need special help, and we’ve got it! All the compliance info, prewritten forms, quick reading guidance you need, all designed for a department as small as one. That’s why we call our program, Managing an HR Department of One. Try it free for 30 days! Read More.