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    The HR Guidebook for Small Businesses
    The HR Guidebook for Small Businesses
    The HR Guidebook for Small Businesses
    Ebook214 pages1 hour

    The HR Guidebook for Small Businesses

    By Elaine Yin-Tantouri

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    About this ebook

    Many small businesses need direction in human resources management. Small businesses generally are not large enough to hire their own Human Resources Manager, but are still in need of human resource information and tools. In some cases with smaller companies, this responsibility is the burden of the owner, a “senior” staff member who is not trained in Human Resources (HR) or in a worst case scenario, no one.
    With these in mind, this is the main objective of this Human Resource Guidebook. This Guidebook is an informational kit to help small businesses deal with the key human resources activities. It is also designed to provide these small business owners and managers with tools and techniques to develop their HR skills.
    This Guidebook will provide an overview and importance of each of the key HR activity as well as the processes involved. It contains components which are aimed at providing both essential information and additional support for small businesses. Understanding that you may be busy, this Guidebook is also structured to get to the point and provide you with quick information as well as templates and forms which you can easily amend to suit your business needs.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHi-Life Hub
    Release dateJan 25, 2015
    ISBN9781310896859
    The HR Guidebook for Small Businesses

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      Book preview

      The HR Guidebook for Small Businesses - Elaine Yin-Tantouri

      HR Guidebook for Small Businesses

      Copyright 2015 Elaine Yin-Tantouri

      Published by Elaine Yin-Tantouri

      Edition License Notes

      Thank you for downloading this e-book. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for your support and respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Contents

      About This Book

      Introduction

      Chapter One - Recruitment

      Chapter Two - Orientation & Induction

      Chapter Three - Performance Appraisal

      Chapter Four - Coaching

      Chapter Five - Counseling & Discipline

      Chapter Six - Termination

      About Elaine Yin-Tantouri

      Connect with Elaine Yin-Tantouri

      About This Book

      Thank you for purchasing one of Hi-Life Hub’s collection. Hi-Life Hub series aims to improve the performance of individuals and businesses. We believe that for any improvement in performance, we need to look at 3 performance levels – individual (job), process and organization; and 3 performance needs – goals, design and management. This way, there will be alignment throughout for a more holistic system.

      This is a resource for business owners and line managers who wants to make significant changes to your business by focusing on what is important - your people and how to go about managing and motivating them. This book is not meant to be long and exhaustive. It aims to get straight to the point and guide your thoughts and processes.

      Introduction

      Many small businesses need direction in human resources management. Small businesses generally are not large enough to hire their own Human Resources Manager, but are still in need of human resource information and tools. In some cases with smaller companies, this responsibility is the burden of the owner, a senior staff member who is not trained in Human Resources (HR) or in a worst case scenario, no one.

      With these in mind, this is the main objective of this Human Resource Guidebook. This Guidebook is an informational kit to help small businesses deal with the key human resources activities. It is also designed to provide these small business owners and managers with tools and techniques to develop their HR skills.

      This Guidebook will provide an overview and importance of each of the key HR activity as well as the processes involved. It contains components which are aimed at providing both essential information and additional support for small businesses. Focus will be placed on the following key HR areas:

      - Recruitment

      - Orientation and Induction

      - Performance Appraisal

      - Coaching

      - Counseling and Discipline

      - Termination

      Understanding that you may be busy, this Guidebook is also structured to get to the point and provide you with quick information as well as templates and forms which you can easily amend to suit your business needs.

      Chapter One

      Recruitment

      Companies need employees to work to meet its business objectives. Recruitment is the activity of employing new members to fill vacancies or new positions. Recruitment is the process of seeking and attracting a pool of qualified applicants from which candidates for job vacancies are selected.

      In other words, the function of recruitment is to ensure that the company is adequately and effectively staffed at all times. Its purpose is to attract suitable people to apply for employment vacancies, by making them aware that such vacancies exist. It involves matching the applicant with the criteria of the job and eventually making a selection decision.

      Some possible reasons why companies need to recruit to fill these vacancies are that:

      - People leave their jobs due to personal reasons like marriage, relocation with family, to look after kids or parents, etc.

      - People leave their jobs due to new job opportunities, retirement or leave their jobs temporarily for long unpaid leave, maternity leave, travel, etc.

      - The company has expanded and new positions need to be created

      - The job scope has expanded

      It is important for effective recruitment as the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Getting the right person for the job will ensure:

      - Lower staff turnover

      - Less time spent on training, counseling and coaching

      - Good team fit

      - Good company

      - No costly time consuming termination issues to address with a wrongly recruited candidate

      Drawbacks of ineffective recruitment:

      - Loss of time

      - Added pressure on the team (e.g. increased workload)

      - Impact of having no one in position for 4-6 months

      - Stressful for the manager

      - Disruption to business

      - Loss business opportunities

      - Loss of competitive advantage

      - Costly to the company (e.g. retraining)

      - High turnover loss of other key staff

      - Bad public relations and reputation (e.g. customers’ needs not met at a timely manner)

      Overall, it is essential to take specific action to get the right numbers and the appropriate types of employees doing the right work at the right time. Figure 1 below summaries the areas covered in this chapter.

      Figure 1: Recruitment Process

      PRE-RECRUITMENT

      Evaluate the Need for the Position

      Upon the identification of a vacancy either through staffing changes (e.g. secondment, resignation, termination, retirement, leave) and/or work requirement changes (e.g. creation of a new position, temporary additional workload), there are several points you should consider before recruitment takes place:

      - What is the purpose of the job? What is done; how and why is it done?

      - Is the job necessary? Does it fulfill its purposes? Does it need filling at all?

      - Does the current workload justify replacement or can the work be reallocated to remaining staff?

      - Is this workload likely to continue in the longer term?

      - Can the company afford to train a new employee, for example, if it proves difficult to recruit one who closely matches the job specification?

      - Is there anybody in the company who is qualified to be promoted to this position?

      - Can the job description be amended to make the job more attractive to a wider range of applicants, for example, by introducing job rotation, job enlargement or flexible working hours?

      - Would it be preferable to train and develop existing staff?

      - Is it preferable to outsource the work?

      - Is there an alternative such as overtime, outsourcing or job-sharing?

      Evaluate the Position: Review or Develop the Job Description

      Once the decision has been taken to fill a job vacancy, whether internally or externally, it is necessary to evaluate the position:

      - Define the roles and responsibilities of the position (Specify tasks, responsibilities, skills, knowledge and qualifications).

      - Review the roles and responsibilities for the replacement position (i.e. the position of the internal employee who is moving from) to ensure that these have not changed. If these have been changed, revise the job responsibilities as necessary. For a new position, determine the job requirements and formalize a Job Description accordingly.

      Reviewing Job Description

      - A very simple way to analyze the requirements of the job is to ask the current person doing the job. Ask them to list their tasks, responsibilities and duties. Compare these to the job description and add or change specific tasks and responsibilities as necessary.

      - Ask them to list the skills, knowledge and attributes they need to perform the job effectively. This will give you a framework for finding the most suitable candidate.

      Develop Job Description

      A Position or Job Description describes the tasks that are to be undertaken by an individual within the company, and can usually be regarded as part of the contract of employment since it provides evidence of the duties that the employee is required to perform. The skills, knowledge and attributes (person specification) listed in the job description will also provide the company with the key selection criteria for the position. In other words, the key selection criteria are those which are crucial to the successful conduct of the job. The job description is also a good reference document on which to base questions and provide information at the job interview. A job description may be given to applicants upon request, and should be provided as part of the successful applicant’s induction package.

      Information to be included in a job description:

      - What the employee is expected to do

      - Key objectives and main functions

      - People to whom the employee must report to

      - People who must report to the employee

      - Other working relationships

      - Priority of the tasks and responsibilities so the employee knows exactly what is most important

      - Deadlines to be met

      - What tools are used / maintained

      - Budgets required to perform to if necessary

      - Volume of work

      - Value of assets controlled

      - Where the work is located

      - Whether travel is required

      A sample job description template is shown in Figure 2. You may wish to change it to better suit your company’s needs. Please note that competencies are discussed further in the next section - Determine Essential and Desirable Criteria for Job.

      Figure 2: Job Description

      Determine Essential and Desirable Criteria for Job

      Once the job has been described, the next task is to draw up a description of the ideal applicant.

      Essential criteria are those which are essential to the performance of the job. These are the ‘must-have’ identified as absolutely necessary to undertake the duties. They may include formal qualifications, experience, communication and interpersonal skills.

      Desirable criteria, the ‘good-to-have’, are those which would greatly assist the applicant in performing the job. They are not vital for its performance but if present, it should enhance the incumbent’s performance and therefore benefit the company. Desirable criteria are often those which can be acquired during employment.

      Below are some considerations in developing selection criteria:

      - Ensure job specification is up-to-date and consistent with the requirements of the job.

      - Formulate selection criteria which are consistent with the job specifications. Only include skills, experiences, etc. that are required on a regular basis to carry out the duties of the position. E.g. Is dealing with the clients a crucial component?

      - Distinguish between essential criteria and desirable criteria. E.g. What an acceptable candidate MUST know? Will

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