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When does a startup need to hire a HR Manager?

Identifying a tipping point in the growth of your startup that means you need to hire an HR manager can be tricky. It’s a common conundrum for smaller companies and new organisations that want to scale quickly, but keep costs low. 

Ultimately, every company will need a HR team at some point, to help them enhance company culture, save money, and improve their hiring strategy. But hiring a HR manager might not be a priority for your business straight away. A lot of startup leaders, particularly those that want to reduce operational costs and stay agile, manage HR processes themselves to begin with.

As your business grows, you may even avoid hiring an expert for longer, by choosing to outsource your HR processes to another organisation or freelancer. 

While there’s no one-size-fits-all “right time” to hire an HR manager, there are signs you can look for that indicate it might be time to take the next step.

When to hire a HR Manager: Signs to search for

Initially, most startup leaders will avoid hiring a HR manager straight away, or paying for outsourced support full-time. However, as your business grows in size and complexity, a HR manager will be critical to ensuring you can enhance talent acquisition and retention. 

Your Time and Focus is Needed Elsewhere

The leaders in most startup companies generally wear a lot of hats at once, sacrificing their time to keep costs low. Taking on HR responsibilities yourself can be a good way to save money initially, but over time, other tasks are likely to get in the way of your ability to constantly manage your employees, recruit new staff members, and address other HR efforts. 

If your responsibilities as an ad-hoc HR manager are getting in the way of other things, like developing products, working with investors, or even just running your company, this is a clear sign that it’s time to hire additional help. A HR manager will take over the tasks you don’t have time to do, so you can focus on what you do best. 

You’re struggling with compliance issues

The right HR talent doesn’t just help with growing your team and enhancing your company culture, they’re also crucial to ensuring you’re abiding by common labour and employment laws. Every company, in every industry has specific rules they need to follow when it comes to things like offering equal employment opportunities, and safeguarding staff members. 

Unfortunately, if you’re not a human resources expert, it can be easy to overlook regulations and rules, putting you at risk of significant fines and reputational damage. If you don’t want to deal with legal repercussions as a result of poor hiring practices, and your business is growing rapidly, then a HR manager could be essential to your operations. 

You need help building your team

Currently, unemployment rates are low, and skill shortages are high in every industry, making it increasingly difficult for organisations to attract and hire the right talent. With so many companies competing for the same experts, you need a comprehensive approach for figuring out how you’re going to connect with the staff members you need. 

Hiring a HR manager can help to boost your chances of filling talent gaps a lot faster. They can assist you with writing job descriptions, reaching candidates in various environments, and boosting your employer brand. They can even assist with optimising the candidate experience, developing onboarding strategies and interviewing processes that improve your reputation. 

You need help retaining talent

Even if you’re effective at attracting new talent to your team, you may struggle to keep your most important employees around if you’re not investing in constantly improving their experience with your company. Failure to provide employees with the right competitive compensation and benefits, or a poor approach to training and development can lead to rapid turnover in your organisation. 

The more you have to deal with replacing lost employees, the more your company’s productivity, reputation, and morale will suffer. HR Managers will help to manage the employee experience on your behalf. They’ll ensure team members are properly compensated, and recognised or rewarded for their hard work. They’ll help in-office and remote workers thrive by giving them access to the right tools and resources, and build comprehensive development plans for you. 

You’re prioritising company culture

Company culture is more than just a buzzword in today’s world, it’s crucial to attracting and retaining top talent, and boosting the productivity of your team. The right culture can help to optimise your workplace, and keep everyone motivated and engaged, boosting workplace performance. But creating and nurturing the right company culture isn’t easy alone. 

The right HR manager can help shape your company culture, and ensure it’s optimised for success. They can help to ensure you’re prioritising things like diversity, equity, and inclusion, and make sure your team members are familiar with your company’s value and vision. They can even assist in fostering morale, preserving employee wellbeing, and improving work-life balance.

You’re managing a transformational period

Finally, if you’re about to enter a transformational period in your startup’s growth, this is a clear sign that you could likely benefit from hiring a HR Manager. Ultimately, periods of transformation and rapid change are difficult for any team. Whether you’re introducing new products, merging with another company, hiring additional teams, or exploring new strategies, you need a plan of action.

A HR Manager can help to facilitate effective change management, ensuring all of your teams are kept aligned during your transitional period. They can reduce the risk of disengagement and poor morale during complex periods in your company’s evolution, helping to keep your business agile.

Is it time for you to hire a HR Manager?

Ultimately, there’s no predefined ideal time to hire a HR Manager. You’ll identify for yourself when it’s necessary to seek additional support with your HR strategy, by evaluating your current situation, your goals, and your overall approach to employee management. 

If you find that you need to direct your attention outside of HR responsibilities, want help boosting company culture, need to attract and retain more talent, or you simply want to avoid compliance issues and disruptions caused by rapid change, a HR manager can help.

Fortunately, we can help you find the right Manager for the role. At HR Talent we provide the comprehensive recruitment support companies need to track down the perfect HR experts for their organisations. Contact us today to take the next step.