A common question that companies ask themselves is if their business needs HR support.

The answer to this question is simple. If you have employees you need HR Support. When you own a business and you employ people (regardless of the number of employees you have), there are employment laws and regulations that you have to be concerned with. Of course there are federal laws that you have to abide by if you have 15 or more employees, but don’t think just because you have less than 15 employees you are exempt from abiding by some laws – you are not.

Depending on the size of your company it may more cost effective to utilize the services of an HR Consultant vs. hiring a full time person to manage your human resources needs.

For those that are still on the fence and are not “sold” on the idea of why an HR Consultant is important to your business here are a few perks of having HR support.

  1. An HR Consultant will keep you updated on employment laws. Laws are constantly changing and HR Consultants will keep up to date on employment trends and topics and inform you of items that may affect your business. For example how knowledgeable are you on the new FLSA guidelines that go into effect on December 1, 2016 that increases the minimum wage for salaried associates?
  1. An HR Consultant is available when you need a sounding board. Any time you have employees there will be occasions where you have tricky situations that you have to deal with. Whenever you are faced with a complicated employee situation or even a termination it is a good idea to talk it thru first with an HR Consultant to determine the risks involved with the decision that you want to make.
  1. Established HR practices help your business to run smoothly. HR Consultants can help you create employee policies and procedures for your company. This ensures your employees are aware of what is expected of them and what your company stands for which promotes a professional environment. This will minimize time wasted dealing with issues that occur when policies are ambiguous or not documented.
  1. HR Consultants can help mediate employee issues. Often times when you work in an environment with the same people day to day it can be hard to see things from a different perspective. Having an HR Consultant handle your employee issues allows for a neutral 3rd party to investigate issues, which can be reassuring for your employees.
  1. Having an HR Consultant allows you to focus on what you do best. Your business! Once you allow an HR Consultant to handle your HR issues and concerns you can continue focus on managing your business while the HR functions of your company are still running smoothly.