What is Human Resource Management?
Human Resource Management is used to describe the strategies that manage various aspects associated with employees within a business. These human resource management systems are designed to enhance the productivity of the business by optimizing the talents and productivity of the employees. A human resource management team typically provides staffing, employee compensation, and job designation services for businesses of all sizes. Human Resource Management firms focus on providing solutions for three main needs:
1. Individual Needs: It’s important for workers to understand their own strengths and weaknesses in order for them to understand how they can resolve their shortcomings and celebrate their skills. Every individual has unique talents that can benefit the company as a whole and human resource management firms work to discover these talents and utilize them.
2. Company Needs: The ultimate goal of human resource management services is to benefit the overall goals of the company. HR teams work to create a system that drives the workforce towards the same goal as the business.
3. Career Needs: It’s important for workers to feel as though they have a future at the company. HR management teams develop a system in which individuals can progress their own skills and talents, as well as to ensure that individuals are placed in the correct positions.
The Importance of Human Resource Management
The most important part of any company is the workforce. Without the right talent, and the right systems in place to manage the talent, a company’s operational system would fail. In order for a company to grow and achieve long-term success the objectives and strategies of the workforce must coalign with the strategies and objectives of the company. Human Resource Management firms work with companies to find solutions and systems that enhance a workforce’s efficiency and effectiveness in order to enhance the company’s overall efficiency and effectiveness.
Human Resource Services
Human resource specialists provide a variety of services that are often specifically tailored to the individual business. The size of the business and the type of the business both influence what kind of human resource services are needed.
Payroll & Payroll Tax Services
An important part of managing a workforce involves managing how they are paid. HR management firms can provide services that both prepare the payroll each pay period, as well as handle tax and legal issues involved with it.
Workers’ Compensation Insurance & Claims Management Services
Prevention is key to protecting a company from legal battles. HR firms ensure that the workforce operate in a safe environment to prevent injuries and minimize risk. Should a workers’ compensation claim arise, HR firms are able to work with both the employer and the employee to protect them both and help reach the perfect outcome.
Workplace Safety Services
There are a number of safety regulations that companies must follow in order to protect their workforce and themselves from legal issues. Ensuring that the workplace is in accordance to these regulations can be complicated and time consuming. That’s why HR firms work with businesses to create programs, manuals, and training guides to ensure that the workforce is operating safely.
Benefits Administration Services
HR firms help to determine what the best benefits for employees are to help a company retain talented workers. Often, these benefits include health insurance, savings plans, life insurance, and disability insurance.
Retirement Management Services
One way to retain a good workforce is to offer retirement plans that provide benefits for employees the longer they stay with the company. Providing an employee with financial security is also a great way to motivate them to work harder for the company.
Staffing Services
Finding the right talent to match your business often takes a lot of time and research into the background of different individuals. HR companies who provide staffing services work as a middle man, performing background checks and detailed inquiries about an employee’s’ talent to determine which company they can be most beneficial for.
Small Businesses vs. Large Businesses
What businesses can benefit from human resource management? Some think that hiring human resource experts is only necessary for large businesses with a large workforce. However, small businesses can also benefit greatly from a human resource management team. Any business owner, no matter the size of their business, understands how difficult it can be to manage the administrative and logistical requirements associated with employees. Providing HR services, handling payroll, keeping the workplace safe, and providing proper benefits can be a lot to handle whether you have 3 employees or 300. Hiring human resource management professionals can help business owners focus on growing their business, and prevent them from becoming stuck in administrative tasks.
What industries can benefit from HR Management Services?
Businesses in any industry can benefit from HR Management. If a business has employees it can benefit from hiring human resource management experts. Certain industries could benefit more from specific human resource services than others though. For example, a manufacturing plant might be more concerned about workforce safety than an accounting firm would be, while an accounting firm would be more concerned with retirement plans to keep their employees long-term. The services that each business needs the most emphasis on may change, but the need to properly support and protect employees is universal across all industries.
Types of Human Resource Management Opportunities
Hiring In-House HR Personnel
One option to managing human resource needs within a company is to hire individual human resource workers as in-house personnel. These individuals are employees of the company and provide very company specific HR solutions. An issue with hiring In-house HR personnel is that there are so many day-to-day tasks and issues that one HR employee would find difficult to handle on their own. Hiring many In-House HR personnel would help solve this issue, but can be very expensive for a company. Hiring multiple In-House HR personnel also poses the issue of these personnel not agreeing on solutions that should be implemented within the workforce and thus hindering the effectiveness of the human resource team.
Using Multiple Outsourced Vendors
There are so many different aspects of Human Resourcing that some companies feel as though it is best to outsource different tasks to different vendors. For example, one vendor would handle payroll and tax needs while another vendor handles workers compensation issues. This provides the business with less stress in handling HR needs themselves, however, working with multiple outsourced vendors can still be stressful. Keeping track of which company is responsible for what, as well as ensuring that each outsourced vendor fully understands the objectives of the business, is difficult. In the long-run, outsourcing to multiple vendors may not actually save businesses time or money.
Partnering with a PEO
A PEO (Professional Employer Organization) is an organization that provides complete HR support for businesses. These types of organizations provide a team of expert HR specialists to businesses of any size in order to provide effective HR solutions in an affordable way. PEO’s are often cheaper than in-house HR personnel and less complicated than hiring multiple vendors and can support a company with any and all of their employee management tasks.
What is a PEO?
A PEO, professional employer organization, is the most commonly used form of human resource outsourcing today. PEO vendors take on the liability associated with employees causing the PEO to become “co-employers” with their clients. PEO vendors take on the responsibility for hiring, firing, and employee salaries while providing the advantage of economies of scale. Because PEO’s manage employees for many clients, they have a better bargaining advantage than most small businesses when it comes to items such as benefits packages.
How to find the right PEO
Who is responsible for what?
Before you sign to work with a PEO, make sure you understand which party is responsible for certain tasks. Different PEO’s offer different services and take on varying forms of liability, so make sure you understand exactly what the PEO firm is offering before you sign anything. Also consider how the cancellation process works. Only a few companies, like UniqueHR, allow you to cancel at anytime with only a 30-day notice. That means you won’t be stuck with a contract/company that may not be right for you.
Look for references!
Don’t be afraid to ask the PEO for client references. A good PEO will provide you client references to help you understand the pros and cons of their processes.
Check out their history
Make sure the PEO has a history of ethical behavior. Check to see if they are accredited by the ESAC for their ethical, operational, and financial practices.
Staff Qualifications
Research the qualifications of the staff of the PEO, and make sure they have the proper certifications and knowledge to provide you with expert services.
Do your employees like their services?
If the PEO is going to serve your employees, make sure your employees are happy with the services they are offering. For example, do your employees like the benefits package?
About UniqueHR
You Take Care of Your Customers. THEY Take Care of Your Employees.
Since their inception almost 4 decades ago, UniqueHR has grown to become the premiere leader in the Professional Employer Organization (PEO) industry. Backed by their economies of scale and resources, UniqueHR is the trusted advisor and total human resource solution for small and medium-sized businesses. They focus on identifying and mitigating employment-related risk exposure, thus reducing employer-related liabilities and controlling associated costs. This allows their clients to focus on the core competencies which grow their business.
