Article: Requirement of HR as a function in SMEs

Strategic HR

Requirement of HR as a function in SMEs

HR can no longer be seen as an overhead. HR professionals play an integral role in creating the destiny of an organization.
Requirement of HR as a function in SMEs

We live in a world where we have a lot of choices today. The same holds true in talent market as well. Most of the SMEs resort to poaching key talent by offering them much better compensation than the market or by enticing them with bigger responsibilities. 

What gives birth to an organization? 

An idea backed up with a strong team

And what ensures its growth?

Sustained commitment from its people

While successful entrepreneurs start with a promising idea and a strong initial team, they need to build a robust talent pipeline to ensure sustained growth. Attracting, motivating, and engaging the right talent thus becomes an imperative. Only few people are naturally blessed with the skills to do so. We thus need support from experts who could help startups to do so. 

Creating an Employee Value Proposition (EVP)

In reality there is much more which keeps a successful SME ticking than these factors. Strong leadership, cohesive team culture, flexibility… The reasons can be different for different SMEs. HR as a function can help business to identify and propagate the EVP. HR can play an instrumental role in creating an employer brand which will eventually help in managing costs. 

Managing Recruitment

This is one of the most common needs for hiring HR professionals in an organization. Getting the right talent at the right cost to meet the ever-growing needs of SME is a critical role of HR. Often business finds that it has hired key talent from their competitors but they are unable to deliver to expectations. Successful performance in one culture does not guarantee the same level of performance in another. HR can facilitate competency and value based hiring to ensure identification of right talent. 

Being sorted from the beginning

Majority of SMEs do not have a compensation philosophy or internal compensation ranges which they could use for hiring. The impact of this is felt lesser with lower headcount. But as the organization keeps growing this becomes a big source of dissatisfaction for the employees. HR can help business have a point of view around compensation, performance management etc. 

Ensuring connect with people 

It is easy for founders to establish connect with all their people in the beginning. Accessibility of top leadership reduces with the growth in headcount. HR can certainly play a crucial role here and help drive employee engagement, build manager capabilities to work on people issues and foster a performance driven culture.  

Managing the transition

As the organization grows in size, the old ways of managing people need a change. There is a need to establish processes for better clarity and communication. Experts are required for designing and implementing HR processes. Having internal capability for same will not just reduce costs but will also ensure effective implementation. 

HR can no longer be seen as an overhead. HR professionals play an integral role in creating the destiny of an organization. 

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Topics: Strategic HR, Talent Management, #SMETalent

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