Establishing Human Resource Systems In A Startup

As an entrepreneur, you may be used to handling many of the aspects of your business by yourself. In order to see your company grow, however, you are going to eventually need to bring other employees onboard with you in order to direct your focus on leading your organization. Hiring your first employees can be difficult, and getting them as motivated as you are can be even harder. As a small business owner, the human resources systems that you put in place for your company are one of the first tastes of your organization that new team members encounter. Because of this, there are a few essential items you can’t afford to miss.

Define Your Company’s Culture

From a human resources perspective, one of the first things that you need to do when starting your own business is to establish your company’s culture and define the various facets of how you envision it. Before getting your new business venture off of the ground, you likely put some serious thought into how you view the atmosphere around the office, and the core values that you feel are crucial for making business decisions and interactions between employees and with the public. By specifically defining your company’s culture, you’re able to convey this message to the new hires that will form your employee base. Your organization’s culture will be a major factor in determining the long-term success of your business, and getting everyone on the same page as you from day one will provide significant support for your dreams.

Creating An Employee Handbook

Too frequently, small business owners shrug off the idea of creating an employee handbook because they feel that it is something more fitting for a larger company. Sadly, this is one mistake that can become exponentially more troublesome as your company grows. Even for a new startup, an employee handbook defines the rules that govern all employees, and the processes that are in place to ensure the workplace operates smoothly and without trouble. Not having one, even for your first few employees, can mean everyone approaching aspects of your company and corporate culture differently. Create an employee handbook early on in your startup in order to prevent confusion and misunderstanding among employees as far as what you and your business expect from them.

Develop Personnel Files

Another area of human resources where many new business owners fail to properly establish systems is in regards to personnel files. Paperwork is never a fun part of being the boss, but it is vital to create organizational systems which not only provide information when needed, but protect your company in the event of firing an employee or other circumstances where proper documentation is key. Personnel files should be created for each and every employee on your roster, and should begin from the day they are hired.

All important documents related to your staff members should be stored in the files, including:

• Their initial resume or posting on job search engines
• Tax forms
• Signed acknowledgement of your company handbook
• Performance reviews
• Training documents
• Record of disciplinary actions

By establishing systems for your human resources department, the welcoming transition into your business will be much simpler for new hires. Starting off in the right way prevents confusion among employees as far as what you expect from them, and encourages the long-term success of your organization. Failing to set up proper systems, on the other hand, will make the initial growth of your company much more difficult to achieve.