Human Resources is a business fundamental, but can often seem out of reach of SMEs.
The people in your business are your most valuable asset and can make all the difference to the smooth running and profitability of the organisation. The everyday activity of running a business can, however, make it hard to manage, and so, get the best out of employees on an individual basis. This can be especially testing where there is no dedicated HR professional to manage the HR function, someone who is trained to deal with the wide array of employee relations issues who has a good knowledge of employment legislation, best practice and their practical application.
Even where there is a HR professional within the business, they often get drawn into day-to-day time-consuming people matters, likely involved in all types of generalist HR activity, including recruitment, training, management meetings and pay issues, pulling them away from proactive work.
Often the role of HR can be undervalued and misunderstood by business owners. It’s much more than keeping on the right side of employment law, it’s getting the best out of people.
Outsourcing HR is an ideal solution for small or medium businesses who may not have the budget, capacity or time to recruit an internal HR function. Outsourcing HR gives all the protection and advantages of an in-house HR team.
At advo, we believe passionately that HR is the heart of a well-run organisation. We tailor our advice depending on the level of experience of the individual we are supporting. We can advise in a broad range of areas, such as compliance with current employment legislation, performance management, training, organisational design, restructures, employee engagement, workforce planning and talent management – the list is considerable.
advo’s client HR support tackles three main areas. Firstly, as a retained service for SMEs, allowing them to effectively have their own internal HR function, without the large overheads typically involved with hiring an HR professional, supporting on the day-to-day issues that always arise, helping shape long-term goals around people strategies and aiding culture creation. Secondly, we support on a wide range of ‘adhoc’ projects, this can be the routine, mundane or complex, such as managing a face-to-face grievance journey or a multiple redundancy project. Lastly, we work can with larger organisations, who already have an HR function, across a wide range of areas, such supporting bespoke projects or just adding extra support.
Within our retained service, Clients are kept up to date with ever-changing legislation, employees have all the right documentation including employee handbooks and contracts of employment. We work closely from the beginning making sure the HR ‘people foundations’ are set and all documentation is legally compliant and works effectively for the business. In addition, and most importantly, management always have someone to reach out to, that can advise, support and guide through any of the myriad of staff issues.
The reasons why our clients use advo hr are many, but principally, apart from the considerable savings creating and running their own HR department, it’s for peace of mind. We act as a sounding board and guide businesses towards best practice, helping to make their staff more productive.
advo HR consultants are proactive in approach and all CIPD qualified. Their role is to add value to any relationship. Each client has a dedicated contact whose personable and professional approach will support businesses and their employees through problematical situations offering practical solutions. We get to know our clients, so we have a good understanding of how their business is run. This helps us take a pragmatic and commercial approach to any advice whilst keeping an eye on the legal position.
As part of advo’s service there is access to online technology with an interactive absence management platform available to all clients that includes staff portals, which can be extended to include employee benefits and payroll depending on what is needed as our HR support can work in partnership with advo-one’s employee benefits and payroll divisions, to deliver joined up employer services.
As an organisation advo practice what we preach as one of the few Investors in People Gold accredited employers in our sector having won many awards from our peers for the quality of advice and service we deliver as a group.
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