If your company is small, you haven’t really needed to worry about maintaining a manual HR system. However, if you are starting to grow and the projections for your organization are to grow exponentially in the next three years. This would be a good time to invest in an HR software program before you are too overwhelmed with paperwork and messy files.
There are many benefits for investing in an HR software program. These include:
1• Reduced time spent in tracking down and filing paperwork. This includes being able to quickly find time-off accrual balances, benefit information, or performance evaluations for current employees and to answer job verification calls regarding former employees.
2• An organized system for keeping your data with an automatic backup system to ensure your data is not lost. The backup system of your employee personnel files should be kept as part of your disaster planning efforts.
3• Managers can be more effective by contributing and updating information directly to their department’s employees’ personnel files, which reduces the amount of time spent keeping the information up-to-date and current. Managers should be able to go into the HR system to add entries for vacation time used and performance evaluations.
4• The system can be set up for reminders of I-9 forms due dates, benefit eligibility, certification expiration dates, next performance evaluation dates, and more.
When you start looking at HR software, it is best to look long-term. Determine how the program can benefit your organization not only now, but in the future when your staff is larger and you have less time to devote to a manual system.
The time spent tracking down paperwork and filing it will increase as the number of employees increase. Additionally, your managers will have less time to devote to managing employees if your recordkeeping system is still manual and cumbersome. You must ask yourself “Do I want to spend a couple of weeks evaluating and implementing HR software now? Or, years wishing I had?”
HR software can be easy and affordable. Download a free trial version of Staff Files HR software here and try it...
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Showing posts with label Consultants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Consultants. Show all posts
December 24, 2008
July 5, 2008
When is the Right Time for an HR Expert?
For many companies, who have experienced rapid growth, Human Resources is an after thought. You start out with two employees and before you know it, you've grown to over 25. Life in the office goes from being fairly simple to highly complex.
When you are a small company, it is easy to operate on the fly. In fact some employees find it thrilling to work in an environment where everything is informal. Unfortunately, there are many others who have a difficult time operating in an organization where the only thing that is predictable is change.
Like it or not, it may very well be time to formalize HR processes and procedures in your organization. No need to panic. You can easily accomplish this by hiring an HR Expert.
What's the role of an HR Expert?
Think of an HR Expert like you would a VP of HR. Only you don't have to provide this person with a fancy office and a big salary. The services of an HR expert vary depending on the company's needs and the consultant's depth of experience. Just-in-time services range from writing an employee handbook to helping guide you through complex HR issues.
Like most things in life, you get what you pay for. When evaluating consultants, focus on the value they can bring to your organization. A small decrease in turnover or an increase in productivity will more than pay for this investment.
So how do you know when it's the right time to hire an outside HR Expert? Here are some clues:
You no longer know right from wrong - When you first started your business you were feeling pretty comfortable addressing HR issues in your organization. After all, how hard could it be making up policies, such as vacation time, as you needed them? Now was it Bob or Mary that you promised an additional week of paid vacation? If you can't remember, ask either one of them. They know exactly what the other one has.
You are having a difficult time keeping up with all the rules and regulations-Some leaders find it hard to let go, so they try to manage everything. This requires a great deal of reading and a terrific memory. Before you enroll in a three-day seminar on the fundamentals of HR management, ask yourself if this time would be better spent dramatically improving your product and enhancing your market position.
You believe you can do it all in house - Why hire an expert when you can use software to automate all of HR? Take employee handbooks. For a few hundred dollars you can do it yourself. Or can you? You probably could if you had the knowledge that it took to answer the series of questions that need responses. But if you could do this, then why would you need to buy the software?
Save yourself the money and aggravation. Hire an expert who can get the work done right the first time and in a way that works for your company. Then cross this important item off of your long list of things to do.
You are not Atlas - When you are experiencing rapid growth, it's easy to forget that you need a strong foundation to support your company's growth. Imagine what would happen if you decided to build a 5,000 square foot house on a foundation that is meant to support a 2,000 square foot home. Your house will eventually collapse.
The same is true for organizations that have grown rapidly and have not established a strong base. Through luck, or by throwing out huge sums of money, you might have attracted star players to your team. But few people will stay once they realize that they have joined a squad that is experiencing lots of growing pains. Invest in your infrastructure beforehand, to ensure you retain those valuable resources.
You can no longer look around the office and call each employee by their name - If you've reached this point, then you probably should have hired an expert several years ago. That being said, it is not too late. Now where are those name tags kept?
Despite what you might have heard, there is no magic formula for deciding when it is time to bring in an HR Expert. The right time is when you are serious about decreasing your legal exposure, enhancing employee engagement and dramatically increasing productivity and profitability.*** If you like the articles from this blog subscribe to RSS Feed or via email
When you are a small company, it is easy to operate on the fly. In fact some employees find it thrilling to work in an environment where everything is informal. Unfortunately, there are many others who have a difficult time operating in an organization where the only thing that is predictable is change.
Like it or not, it may very well be time to formalize HR processes and procedures in your organization. No need to panic. You can easily accomplish this by hiring an HR Expert.
What's the role of an HR Expert?
Think of an HR Expert like you would a VP of HR. Only you don't have to provide this person with a fancy office and a big salary. The services of an HR expert vary depending on the company's needs and the consultant's depth of experience. Just-in-time services range from writing an employee handbook to helping guide you through complex HR issues.
Like most things in life, you get what you pay for. When evaluating consultants, focus on the value they can bring to your organization. A small decrease in turnover or an increase in productivity will more than pay for this investment.
So how do you know when it's the right time to hire an outside HR Expert? Here are some clues:
You no longer know right from wrong - When you first started your business you were feeling pretty comfortable addressing HR issues in your organization. After all, how hard could it be making up policies, such as vacation time, as you needed them? Now was it Bob or Mary that you promised an additional week of paid vacation? If you can't remember, ask either one of them. They know exactly what the other one has.
You are having a difficult time keeping up with all the rules and regulations-Some leaders find it hard to let go, so they try to manage everything. This requires a great deal of reading and a terrific memory. Before you enroll in a three-day seminar on the fundamentals of HR management, ask yourself if this time would be better spent dramatically improving your product and enhancing your market position.
You believe you can do it all in house - Why hire an expert when you can use software to automate all of HR? Take employee handbooks. For a few hundred dollars you can do it yourself. Or can you? You probably could if you had the knowledge that it took to answer the series of questions that need responses. But if you could do this, then why would you need to buy the software?
Save yourself the money and aggravation. Hire an expert who can get the work done right the first time and in a way that works for your company. Then cross this important item off of your long list of things to do.
You are not Atlas - When you are experiencing rapid growth, it's easy to forget that you need a strong foundation to support your company's growth. Imagine what would happen if you decided to build a 5,000 square foot house on a foundation that is meant to support a 2,000 square foot home. Your house will eventually collapse.
The same is true for organizations that have grown rapidly and have not established a strong base. Through luck, or by throwing out huge sums of money, you might have attracted star players to your team. But few people will stay once they realize that they have joined a squad that is experiencing lots of growing pains. Invest in your infrastructure beforehand, to ensure you retain those valuable resources.
You can no longer look around the office and call each employee by their name - If you've reached this point, then you probably should have hired an expert several years ago. That being said, it is not too late. Now where are those name tags kept?
Despite what you might have heard, there is no magic formula for deciding when it is time to bring in an HR Expert. The right time is when you are serious about decreasing your legal exposure, enhancing employee engagement and dramatically increasing productivity and profitability.*** If you like the articles from this blog subscribe to RSS Feed or via email
May 6, 2008
Top Ten Corporate HR Bloggers
The following bloggers are familiar with the HR industry as it pertains to the corporate world.
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- Beyond HR: On this blog, a professional HR talent researcher shares his secrets.
- Breakout Performance: Breakout Performance is a blog that shares its author’s innovative approach to analyzing human management and balancing social and business strategies in the workplace.
- Dr. John Sullivan & Associates: This corporate advisor publishes articles about everything related to HR: college recruiting, employee screening and assessment tests, training, and new hire orientation.
- Evil HR Lady: This humorous blog is all about one woman’s experiences as the “Evil HR Lady” in a corporate office.
- HR and Strategies: This grad student combines human resources philosophies with hard news.
- HR Daily Advisor: This is a fantastic resource for any HR professional. Find entries about HR policy and ethics, as well as payroll and religious issues.
- HR Metrics: HR Metrics is an organization that helps companies maximize their HR potential. Learn new tricks and tips on their informative blog.
- HR Web Cafe: This is an excellent blog devoted to all things HR. Here, you can read articles about benefits, office politics, employment trends, and more.
- JimStroud.com: Jim Stroud is the go-to recruiting guru on the Web. Check out his blog for the latest news and trends in human resources.
- PayScale Blog: Catch up on the latest HR news and trends, from profit sharing to technology advances.
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April 23, 2008
Outsourcing Your Payroll Processing
A Great Way To Save Valuable Time And Money
Outsourcing your payroll is one of the most used solutions to companies that are looking for an economical payroll solution. The basic concept is that by utilizing a payroll processing company you are using an expert group of payroll professionals to manage your company payroll needs. Accuracy and reliability are the minimum requirements of a payroll processing organization.
Outsourcing your payroll will allow companies the opportunity to concentrate on developing other departments and concentrate on marketing and product development. By relieving companies the burden of having to staff an in-house payroll department and the expense software that is required to maintain their records.
Outsourcing your payroll to a reliable, professional company will ensure timely employee checks and deposits of federal payroll taxes. Managing and processing payroll includes, court required payments, pension contributions, employee record management and accurate payroll reports. In addition, most processing company's mange the timely filing of your payroll tax obligations to the IRS for federal payroll reporting, by keeping track of deadlines and constantly changing laws and reporting requirements.
Proper communication and set with the service company will avoid confusion from the start and throughout their service time. Most payroll processing services are flexible and easily integrate themselves into your business easily. Utilizing an outsourced payroll processing service allows a number of options that would otherwise not be available to your employees, such as payroll debit cards, online reporting and the ability to store and maintain their paycheck stubs.
Many payroll processing services use custom software that is capable of generating payroll checks, reports processing taxes, calculating deductions as soon as the payroll is entered into their system. Payroll taxes are deposited into the appropriate accounts right away, so you will not have to worry about them getting paid on time and will avoid costly penalties and possible fines.
With the advancements in technology and the internet, several companies have begun to offer online processing of payroll. A web-based system allows users to securely and accurately process their payroll and print reports and paychecks in there our office.
Processing your payroll using an online portal provides a great deal of flexibility for the employer. You can maintain your employee records online, manage your payroll taxes, monitor your expenses and even print checks right from your own computer. All without additional software to purchase processing your payroll online makes great business sense.
When it comes to outsourcing your payroll, by either utilizing a company online or not, there is a good possibility that you will save a lot of time not to mention money. Money that is better on the bottom line.
Article source: Article Cafe by Thomas Bladecki
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January 9, 2008
Trainers | The Consultant’s Friend
Consultants are brought into organizations to solve problems, change approaches, increase sales, reduce costs, improve quality; find opportunity; and generally improve the organization’s ability to grow and prosper for all of its constituencies—employees, shareholders, customers, and society; Wow! Change for the better. Isn’t that what we in training are all about? Preparing for and implementing change, helping those kinds of changes take place more effectively, and building healthy, robust organizations.
Consultants come in all sizes and shapes: solos, small firms, big firms, and technical, management, marketing, manufacturing, engineering, communications, teambuilding, Six Sigma. Consultants also work in so many ways: assignments, on retainer, as evaluators, as recommenders, implementing, training, learning, and performance. How else do we as individuals and organizations implement change, adapt, adopt, and grow?
Here is a starter list of just some of the ways that workplace learning and performance professionals uniquely and specifically can help organizations leverage the use of consultants.
Let management know that we can help them find consultants. We know who they are, where they are, and how they have performed elsewhere. Or at least we know how to find out through peers, directories, previous experiences, other consultants, and associations—such as ASTD and ASAE, Gale Directory of Consultants, industry-niche magazines, and search engines on the Web,
Ask management to let us get involved in the selection process (perhaps with HR)—not as approvers, but as an additional available and valuable resource to provide input to help make the best possible choices. We can help determine a consultant’s ability to fit, understand, and advise, and we can check references. We can also prep a consultant to increase the likelihood that he or she will deliver optimum performance.
Many consultants will want to train the training staff to implement specific recommendations. That’s only natural. We can assist with facilities and training materials, as well as help coordinate, prepare, determine learning outcomes, and present effectively. After all, we’ve been training our folks all along. Working with a consultant is no different; just the content will be different. In every sense of the word, the consultant, in this role, becomes an integral part of our learning activity.
We can make a consultant’s job easier, more effective, and better for the organization. Identify the training and people-related issues. Let the consultant know of previous successes and failures. Help him or her understand the culture, specific people, and the structure and way work is accomplished in the organization—and why some efforts have failed. No need for repetition.
We can offer to review reports, contribute to meetings designed to implement change, and help with problem solving because we training folks have an unusual, often uncanny, ability to relate to people—their skills and knowledge, and how they best learn and grow. That’s what we’re all about, and we often don’t have to be in the approval ioop. We just need to provide super-timely input to help management make even smarter and more informed business decisions.
We can alert consultants to those instances in which their recommendations might meet resistance, and why—and then how they might modify those recommendations to gain acceptance—enthusiastic acceptance—and smoother implementation. Helping consultants succeed is the same as helping the organization succeed.
We can provide consultants and management with an ongoing stream of timely communications designed to evaluate—which we’re expert at—and, more important, to fuel the progress and accomplishments brought about by the changes being recommended. And we can monitor them so we might adjust as needed.
Depending on the nature of the consulting assignment, people involved, and duration, the learning function can also take the initiative to manage the process, the relationship, and the negotiations. Just offering those options to senior management will always be welcomed and will reinforce the value of the learning function in the overall strategic planning for the organization.
The next time you hear the word “consultant,” think “friend.” Think partner. Think opportunity. Think growth, quality, and efficiency for the organization. And think of how valuable a role you can play.
_________
Author: Anver Suleiman, he is a trainer, consultant, marketer and investment banker
Consultants come in all sizes and shapes: solos, small firms, big firms, and technical, management, marketing, manufacturing, engineering, communications, teambuilding, Six Sigma. Consultants also work in so many ways: assignments, on retainer, as evaluators, as recommenders, implementing, training, learning, and performance. How else do we as individuals and organizations implement change, adapt, adopt, and grow?
Here is a starter list of just some of the ways that workplace learning and performance professionals uniquely and specifically can help organizations leverage the use of consultants.
Let management know that we can help them find consultants. We know who they are, where they are, and how they have performed elsewhere. Or at least we know how to find out through peers, directories, previous experiences, other consultants, and associations—such as ASTD and ASAE, Gale Directory of Consultants, industry-niche magazines, and search engines on the Web,
Ask management to let us get involved in the selection process (perhaps with HR)—not as approvers, but as an additional available and valuable resource to provide input to help make the best possible choices. We can help determine a consultant’s ability to fit, understand, and advise, and we can check references. We can also prep a consultant to increase the likelihood that he or she will deliver optimum performance.
Many consultants will want to train the training staff to implement specific recommendations. That’s only natural. We can assist with facilities and training materials, as well as help coordinate, prepare, determine learning outcomes, and present effectively. After all, we’ve been training our folks all along. Working with a consultant is no different; just the content will be different. In every sense of the word, the consultant, in this role, becomes an integral part of our learning activity.
We can make a consultant’s job easier, more effective, and better for the organization. Identify the training and people-related issues. Let the consultant know of previous successes and failures. Help him or her understand the culture, specific people, and the structure and way work is accomplished in the organization—and why some efforts have failed. No need for repetition.
We can offer to review reports, contribute to meetings designed to implement change, and help with problem solving because we training folks have an unusual, often uncanny, ability to relate to people—their skills and knowledge, and how they best learn and grow. That’s what we’re all about, and we often don’t have to be in the approval ioop. We just need to provide super-timely input to help management make even smarter and more informed business decisions.
We can alert consultants to those instances in which their recommendations might meet resistance, and why—and then how they might modify those recommendations to gain acceptance—enthusiastic acceptance—and smoother implementation. Helping consultants succeed is the same as helping the organization succeed.
We can provide consultants and management with an ongoing stream of timely communications designed to evaluate—which we’re expert at—and, more important, to fuel the progress and accomplishments brought about by the changes being recommended. And we can monitor them so we might adjust as needed.
Depending on the nature of the consulting assignment, people involved, and duration, the learning function can also take the initiative to manage the process, the relationship, and the negotiations. Just offering those options to senior management will always be welcomed and will reinforce the value of the learning function in the overall strategic planning for the organization.
The next time you hear the word “consultant,” think “friend.” Think partner. Think opportunity. Think growth, quality, and efficiency for the organization. And think of how valuable a role you can play.
_________
Author: Anver Suleiman, he is a trainer, consultant, marketer and investment banker
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