Tips for Leveraging HR Consultants to Support Your Business Success
Understand the benefits of HR consulting services
Hiring HR consultants offers many advantages. First, an HR expert can ensure that you're hiring and firing people in line with the relevant legislation. For example, employment law varies drastically between the US and the UK. Running afoul of these rules can result in costly lawsuits and a bad business reputation.
A local HR consultant will be familiar with the rules in your jurisdiction, saving you the stress of potential legal troubles. Plus, they can draft legal paperwork like contracts in line with the appropriate guidelines.
HR consultants can also streamline and simplify your recruitment process. An expert could create a hiring matrix to streamline your recruiting, for example. These professionals can also oversee the process for you, posting job ads, hand-picking the best candidates, and even doing a first round of interviews.
All you have to do is meet the best contenders and pick your favourites for the position in question. It saves a lot of time and hassle for you as a business owner, allowing you to focus your energy on other elements of your company.
An external HR consultant can also provide valuable feedback to your organisation. For instance, if you're having trouble with employee retention, an HR pro can do an audit to see where the problem lies. Using an external party can make it easier to get honest answers from your workers. The HR professional can then create a report with suggestions for increasing employee satisfaction and improving retention rates. In the long run, better retention rates reduce HR costs, so this is definitely in your interests.
Know what to look for in an HR consultant
A staffing agency can help you build the right team—but the first step towards that goal is finding the right staffing agency! Do your due diligence. You can browse professional profiles via online work-for-hire experts, or you can hire a recruiter to connect you with HR consultants.
When selecting any type of consultant, whether in HR or another field, there are a few key traits to look for. Workable recommends assessing candidates on the basis of characteristics like their self-motivation, willingness to learn, and communication skills.
Take steps to make the most of your HR consultant's experience
Finding the right HR consultant is only half the battle. Once you've found a suitable professional, you want to leverage their expertise as best possible. MindTools provides guidance for effectively working with consultants, which is very different from working with in-house employees. For example, you need to help define the direction for your consultant.
Come up with SMART goals together, considering what objectives they should help you meet. Examples range from filling a certain role to improving employee retention.
It’s also a good idea to harness the power of reliable technology to help your HR consultant perform their job. Types of software that could help include a project management platform and a calendar app to track meetings and deadlines and coordinate with employees.
Good HR is critical to any business' success, whatever the company's size or industry. If you aren't an HR pro yourself but own a business, you can outsource this task to an external consultant. As the above guide shows, this can be advantageous in many ways.