How small is too small?
Steve Rockey asks: When does a growing business need HR?
Last week I was at a networking event for leaders in the hospitality sector. I was getting ready to walk around and mingle with industry peers when a gentleman resolutely strode across the room towards me.
“How small is too small?” he asked.
For a moment I was taken aback. Was this a personal question, or a Freudian slip?
Then I realised he was asking me the question I tend to be asked the most at networking do’s, having found myself specialising in small entrepreneurial business HR over the past few years.
At what stage of growth does a business need HR? Is there a perfect size? The right time? A sign that you need to start thinking about ‘people things’?
HR to the rescue
I answered him using my favourite sailing metaphor: If you think it’s time to change the sails, then it’s probably too late.
In a small business, the moment us HR folk are summoned is usually when something bad has happened. A grievance, perhaps. Maybe a tribunal. Or their strongest team member has just left for a rival organisation.
And so they decide HR must come to the rescue.
Sadly, this is the type of response that has given rise to the view that small business HR are the ‘tissues and issues’ people. We hire, they tire, then we fire.
It’s the bolted-on department that recruits, deals with employee issues and dishes out the hankies when required.
But failing to consider a strategic approach to HR – or as I prefer to call it, ‘people’ – in small businesses can cause fundamental, long term damage.
For me, this is why the role of ‘people’ is more critical – and more exciting – in a small organisation than in a bigger corporate.
Make mistakes, learn fast
Small, growing businesses need someone who can help shape the culture, the context and the values right from the word go. There is no other time in a business life span where it is truer that ‘people work for people’.
Having someone in place who gets the importance of people, will challenge the board on their perception of people strategy and can connect with every level of the workforce is vital to the growth of small organisations.
It’s why, despite working for the likes of Compass Group and Gondola Holdings (Pizza Express, Zizzi and ASK Italian), I still find myself drawn to smaller organisations.
Small businesses are exciting, new and very rough around the edges. You can move quickly, make mistakes and learn fast.
You’re not just a People Manager, you’re a business leader.
Not your typical HR
Sure, you may not get paid as much as those in the big corporates. But you’re a fundamental component in the wheel of growth. Plus if your dedication and commitment pays off, you never know where the ride could take you.
In a small business you have to be clever, innovative, creative and have the ability to think on your feet. You’ll be a world away from the typical ‘HR professionals’ churned out by the CIPD.
You haven’t got the resources or the budget to buy in the best engagement consultants, or top-notch software.
Instead your role is about really working out what makes your brand tick and developing a culture that amplifies this USP. It’s about quick, original strategies delivered by people who share beliefs and ride the rollercoaster together.
Despite this, it seems the voice of the small business people person is a muted one. Business leaders aren’t that interested in hearing our viewpoint. The media wants to speak to big businesses with big budgets, where people ‘aspire to be’.
But currently, the Government believes (and we all know) that growing small businesses is the key to long-term sustainable economic prosperity in the UK.
Small business people strategy is the lynch pin to making this all happen. We’re the way forward – so maybe we should get a little bit more vociferous.
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