If there’s one thing that I would have done sooner after opening a second location, it was this: Create a Human Resource position and fill it!
Actually, if I’m being honest, once you start nipping at $1 million in revenues, you should consider creating a human resource position, regardless of how many locations you have. After expanding into two locations, you will have twice the overhead and now twice as many chairs to staff. It’s safe to say you’ll have twice of a lot of stuff. A strong recruiting program and someone to drive it will no longer be a “nice to have”. It will quickly become a “need to have”.
On the surface, it might seem extravagant to have a human resource position. Right now you might be thinking, “Is there really enough work to warrant creating an entire position dedicated to human resources?”
Here’s just a few things to consider for a human resource manager:
1) Managing and coordinating all recruiting and interviewing activity between interview candidates, managers and the owner(s).
2) Oversee onboarding (and off boarding) activity, up to and including new hire paperwork, employee setup and orientation.
3) Administer company benefits, which can include health insurance participation, 401k participation, disability and paid time off.
4) Manage and oversee all payroll activities.
These are some of the main functions of a human resource manager. It’s clear with the four activities stated above, how these alone can easily fill a full time position. When we first created the position, I wasn’t sure how it would look, but I knew I needed help in this area of the business. At the time, I was doing everything. In doing so, I knew I wasn’t serving my company in the best way possible. As my company grew, I found myself being bogged down with all of these additional responsibilities. I knew that whoever was going to assume these responsibilities would have to be someone that I could trust and someone who was good with details.
Fortunately, I had just the guest care team member who immediately fit the profile. The name of this particular team member was Lilla and to this day she is still heading up this role for me. Incidentally, at the same time, this also created an opportunity for me to establish a career path for someone on my team who was a top performer. Since I was still figuring all of this out, I scheduled a meeting with Lilla and shared my intentions for creating a human resource position. I pointed out my initial thoughts around the responsibilities and together we set out to create a list of responsibilities for the position.
In the beginning, we decided to split up her time between her guest care responsibilities and the new position of Human Resource Director. As Lilla started transitioning into her new role, we started allocating more time for her human resource responsibilities. In other words, we sort of worked her into the position as we created the roles and responsibilities along the way. My point here is that it’s okay to start with a part time position while working your way into a full time position as you figure everything out.
Here is a job description for our Human Resource Manager position.
How about you? Do you have a dedicated position for human resources? How did the transition go in your company?
Bonus Material: Watch this webinar to learn how to Build A Recruiting Program With Evernote
Up Next: Part 4 – Keep Bookkeeping Simple
