HR advice from the Professionals

According to Croner, the UK’s leading workplace information and consultancy providers, have highlighted the potential cost of mismanagement of redundancies. Employers who are looking to cut costs by making redundancies run the risk of facing further costs as a result of employees raising tribunal claims against them. They recommend that businesses seek professional help to put the right plans in place and be able to implement those fairly and minimise the risk of claims. You can read the full article at Redundancy Not the end to employers’ problems.

Recently we have been advising clients on managing redundancy in their businesses. Our advice has been centred around the following principles:

1. Have a defined policy and procedure to follow that meets the current and future needs of your business.
2. Take every step to follow statutory process and best practice.
3. Consider the implications for those who are chosen for redundancy and for those who remain.
4. Offer support for all involved in the process - it can be very emotional especially in a small business where team members are close and have an emotional involvement with each other and the business.
5. Communicate clearly at every step and stick to the stated communication plan - be careful of casual asides.

It is not an easy process to manage and the emotional cost can be high, but it is really important to ensure that you do not add to the cost by incurring further financial exposure by getting it wrong and open yourself up to an employment tribunal claim. Seek independent advice early and follow the advice.

And this is not going away, over 50% of organisations are planning to make job cuts according to the KPMG National Business Confidence Survey - which you can read at KPMG - quarterly national survey.

I recently came across information from a company called VONQ and thought their concept is very good for small to medium sized recruiting businesses, that do not have huge recruitment budgets. Posting your own advert on a job board is generally cheaper than going through an agency and having to pay agency fees. Rather than posting your advert on one Job site, VONQ offers discount packages which allow you to advertise on 4 or more job boards (under your company name and branding) for what appears to be a reasonable cost. Therefore when you are considering placing an advert on a job board it may be worth looking at the packages VONQ offer.

How they work:

• VONQ post your vacancy to a combination of the best job sites tailored to the role
• VONQ post your vacancy under your name (or the client’s) or branding
• VONQ will review / filter every CV and only forward those that meet your requirements
• You only pay for the vacancy advertising. (No recruitment fees or other costs)

For further information have a look on their company website www.vonq.co.uk

… and let me know if you think this would work for your business or contact me if you want more information on this or any other recruitment queries.

The arrival of our 2nd year accounts from the accountant has lead to some reflection of how the business has grown and speculation on where we should go from here. I thought I would share my learning from the “early years” and perhaps this will lead to words of wisdom and inspiration from out there in the ether. So if you are interested in how we got going and have some ideas that would keep us growing - please read on and then reply.

1. We have stuck to what we know and do best - we have not tried to do anything that we can not excel at and have always delivered the promise.
2. We have gone out of our way to understand the client and what they need - perhaps not what they want - and then over time have demonstrated how they can benefit from following our advice.
3. We have tried to have fun - HR can be quite dry and can be perceived as an necessary evil (sometimes an unnecessary evil) - but if you can bring some passion, some life and some common sense to what you do it is much more palatable. We are not shiny and brash - we have kept our real identity.
4. The team is important - having a good team fit and all understanding where you fit in is really important for them and for the client.
5. Keeping close eye on costs - working within a low cost base, investing in what is essential and not extending the finances has allowed to maintain a positive cash flow
6. Building on word of mouth - positive referrals has been very important in our growth. This way introductions are meaningful, proposals are effective and lead time to getting work relatively short because there is a platform of trust already created.
7. Invest in good advice - I have invested in trusted IT support; accountancy and legal advice and built good working relationships with other professionals and it has paid dividends.

Where do we go now?

Next steps are to analyse our cost structure; identify profitable sectors and avenues to open discussions with key players. We need to build our IT infrastructure to ensure we have the best systems to manage and protect data. We need to develop our own skills and knowledge to keep ahead of the market. Most importantly we must work hard at maintaining effective working relationships with our clients, move our services up the food chain so that we can influence strategically and deliver effectively at the operational level.

And at all time - we must enjoy, have fun and have a sense of achievement!

What do you think we should be doing?

Margery