Shawnee Love   •
November 29, 2017

Research into companies with HR indicate companies usually get a full time HR professional when they have around 80 people.   Before that size, employers do HR off the side of a desk, with tasks often handled or shared by the owner, a senior manager, the office manager, the executive assistant, and/or the safety rep.  However, high growth businesses need HR earlier than stable ones because their systems and beleaguered managers will not be able to keep up with the recruitment demands let alone handle the chaos an influx of people creates.

Aside from having HR to help with the various activities and initiatives outlined in our blogs HR for Start Ups and HR for Small Businesses, owners and managers in high growth companies will also value HR for:

• Assertively and continually recruiting not to mention conjuring up new ideas for how to source more talent for your organization,
• Building your employment brand,
• Finding people who fit the culture,
• Helping owners define and hold people accountable for the behaviours which support the culture (i.e., what the company stands for and won’t stand for),
• Onboarding and assimilating new hires,
• Training and advising managers in how to handle the various people problems which arise,
• Building tools and systems for performance reviews, onboarding, recruitment, compensation, training, etc.
• Managing employee information and files and perhaps even implementing associated software,
• Addressing complaints, and
• Advising the business on the people and culture considerations and impacts of future plans and initiatives.

Good HR makes a difference to the people, management team, owner and ultimately the bottom line.  And for fast growing companies, it can mean the difference between plateauing and continuing to grow.