Business & Finance

People Power Your Small Business

Human Resources in Small Business

Your small business has unique people opportunities and challenges. Some are unique to small business. Others, you share with organizations of any size. The good news? Best practices exist. Proven solutions to the troublesome issues you face with your human resources programs, policies, and approaches are available.

I'll highlight some of the most important time investments and solutions for the small business. These also apply to start-ups, and provide a basic human resources framework for any business.

Hiring Employees for Success in Your Small Business

Your successful people choices can help you fire up your growth engine and build a productive, cordial, thriving company environment. After the product or service idea that your organization was founded to provide, the people you entrust with building the dream are your most important resource.

Your challenge, as a small business, is to build a strong pool of candidates - likely people who are currently successfully employed elsewhere. Recruit the most capable people you can find, people who are able to wear many hats and hit the ground running upon joining your organization.

You don't have a lot of time to train and develop people with potential, so hire the currently capable whenever possible for your foundational staff.

Use current staff to help you evaluate how well each potential candidate will "fit" in the existing organization culture. The right intermix of people is critical when you are small. Hire people who can perform multiple tasks and who thrive in an environment of self-direction, personal motivation, and too much to do - always.

Human Resources Recruiting and Staffing Assistance

Compensation and Benefits for Your Small Business

Know and understand the compensation packages offered for similar positions in your industry. Consider unusual benefit options that might compensate for salaries if you must pay below market value. But, in staffing, know that you get the people whose talent you are willing to purchase.

Pay the best salaries you can to attract the best and smartest talent to your organization. If you are a for-profit organization, share the after-tax profits on a fixed schedule. Make your sales, accounting, and profit numbers visible to your staff and make sure they understand their individual job performance impact on what they are seeing.

In establishing your staffing, your growth needs and specific positions are often hard to identify. Use interns and part-time staff to supplement your full-time staff as you grow. You can also use temporary employees, depending on your needs, but recognize this is a short-term solution. These employees are not as invested in your mutual success as your full-time regular staff. Make a commitment to them and see the change in their level of commitment to your small business.

Your compensation and benefits establish the foundation for your success with the people you employ. Within reason, of course, for your company's success, this is not the line item you want to economize on.

Human Resources Salary and Benefits Information

Orientation and Training for Your Small Business

New employee orientation helps your new employee become quickly productive and contributing. It helps the new employee feel valued and lays the groundwork for retaining needed staff.

Ongoing training and development, especially in areas desired by staff members for their own growth, is highly desirable. Education aids in retention when the employees perceive the seminar, conference, or course as an opportunity to help them work more effectively and attain important goals. Education is appreciated when work commitments can be met simultaneously.

Human Resources Orientation and Training Help

Now that you know about and have addressed hiring and selection, compensation and benefits, and new employee orientation and training, read more about additional ways to tap your people power in your small business.