Business Partnerships: Outsourcing HR and Benefits

As we have come to learn, one individual cannot be the onsite expert in every aspect required to run their business.  As an enterprise grows from a micro business (less than five employees) to a large business (more than 50 employees), the entrepreneur has to grapple with issues about leadership, motivation, competitive benefits, and pay scales. They must also deal with financial decisions, capital projects, branding and customer service. At a certain point, all this means the business owner must seek outside help or hire it into their organization on multiple levels.

This can be especially true with matters related to human resources. Who among us really knows how to establish a profit-sharing program, for instance, or go about providing competitive benefits programs complete with life insurance, dental and disability? As an entrepreneur, this takes serious planning and research. Do you even have key person life insurance to protect your business from a potential loss of a key player within your organization?

If you are starting to have growing pains surrounding personnel issues – which may include job descriptions, performance reviews, pay scale and benefits – then maybe it’s time to engage a professional to help you. Hiring a Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) can get you started.

Hiring outside counsel in this arena is no different than hiring your lawyer or accountant at startup. You need to attract advice from a highly-specialized field of expertise. These are the people that can come in, review your operations with you and develop a plan for you to follow. It does not necessarily mean hiring a full-time in-house HR professional. While there are consulting fees associated with this type of arrangement, outsourcing your HR should prove less costly than hiring that full-time person, and may be thought of as a prerequisite to growth.

Having a professional in the wings at your beck and call can give you peace of mind on matters that until now have been foreign to you. This can help ensure that you remain competitive by attracting talent to your organization, with benefits that appeal to potential employees. Being competitive means you can hire the best and build your business’ reputation in your industry as a result.

Of course, if you are not expanding, or planning for sales growth, you can always just go with what you know – the status quo. But the question then becomes: how will you develop your competitive advantage in your marketplace?

Roger Downie is a Commercial Account Manager with BMO in Kamloops, B.C.