Your business is growing, but your HR department is Bob. Like, it’s just a guy named Bob. When you started, with just three employees in a coworking space, he was more than up to managing your workforce. Now, however, you’re trying to scale your business at a lightning pace, and Bob is rapidly hiring his own team of HR employees. That’s significantly insufficient to keep up with your company since you raised your Series A.
To help Bob — or whoever’s behind your HR team — you need scalable systems built to handle growth. You can’t depend on outdated software, a spiral-bound training manual, and that weird filing cabinet full of new-hire paperwork. You’ll be ready for each successive funding round with the right combination of digital tools, outsourced talent, and internal systems.
How to Scale Your Business
Here are some of the easiest, most efficient ways to scale your business without overwhelming your HR team.
1. Use Automation and Analytics
When you close your eyes and picture a human resources department, what are some of the things that come to mind? If you said paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork, you’re starting to understand the difficulties of scaling from HR’s perspective. Every new hire or expansion creates new layers of complexity in hiring, onboarding, and more. That’s why, if you’re a key decision maker, you should offer HR a tech stack upgrade before you scale.
The right software can automate repetitive tasks and core business functions that traditionally consume your HR department’s time and energy. It can automate payroll, manage benefits, simplify time tracking, and even manage risk and compliance. A solid platform should also offer HR analytics to help you make better business decisions. It can give you insight into employee engagement and development, helping you reduce turnover and boost productivity.
2. Outsource to a PEO
If your business grows faster than your HR department can keep up with, consider contracting with a professional employer. Working with a PEO gives you access to a wide range of HR functions, minus the part where you have to hire and train for them. A PEO will also already have software and systems to manage payroll, time tracking, and other complex business functions.
While the upfront cost can be high, working with a PEO can ultimately save on software, hiring costs, and more. Plus, outsourcing the most tedious administrative HR functions to a PEO frees up your existing HR team members. With the extra time and flexibility, they can focus on real growth initiatives like developing talent and ensuring employee engagement. The end result could be a better, more productive company culture that strengthens as you scale.
3. Use Freelancers and Contractors
One of the most cost-effective ways to decrease HR’s workload is to work with contractors and freelancers where you don’t need full-time employees. Since freelancers and contractors pay their own taxes and benefits, they don’t require as much administrative HR work. Freelancers and contractors aren’t usually subject to the same employment laws, so there isn’t as much compliance load. They’re also easier and cheaper to offboard in case you make a bad hire.
One downside to freelancers and contractors, when it comes to HR workload, is that payment is often project-based. Time tracking and payments can get complicated, as freelancers may not always submit their invoices on schedule or up to code. Onboarding can be less complex since freelancers don’t need to train in all the skills required for a given role. However, other tasks — like setting them up with the right software accounts — can run into hiccups and hurdles.
4. Use Referrals and Internal Hires
Another cost-effective way to eliminate many HR headaches is to scale from the inside out. In other words, prepare your current hires to take on new roles, then hire internally instead of investing in recruiting. Hiring internally removes time-consuming steps from HR processes—there’s less of a need for extensive interviewing, onboarding, or background-checking. It also helps establish a strong company culture and increases engagement in the company’s future.
If you need more talent than you can feasibly squeeze out of your existing staff, you can still turn to them for help. Create a referral program, incentivizing current employees to take some of the recruitment burden off HR. Offer clear, consistent perks when you schedule an interview or hire a new employee based on a referral. Cash bonuses, store gift cards, travel vouchers, and extra vacation days make great referral incentives.
5. Make Your Training Scalable
If your HR department is still directly training employees in person, you could waste time and resources. The same goes for long, unnecessary intro meetings and calls that could be drilled down to digital training. With new training tools that rely on up-and-coming new technologies, there’s no reason it ever has to be a meeting. Instead, you can give new hires the digital tools they need to prepare themselves for the job with a bit less oversight.
You can use learning management systems that let HR make and monitor training modules for more comprehensive training. These programs allow you to create multimedia programs like any other online course. Some eLearning tools let HR create games, leaderboards, and quizzes for an interactive take. It’s even possible to develop augmented and virtual reality training — beneficial for physical laborers and frontline workers.
The Right Combination
In the age of AI, automation, and augmented reality, it’s easier than ever to let technology take over your workflows. However, an adaptable, scalable HR department should still put the human in human resources. As you upgrade your tech stack, don’t forget to consider how better communication, training, and protocols can help you scale your business efficiently. Look to your bright, clever human resources — your employees — for the best improvement ideas.
