To help! I am in charge of human resources: what will I do now?

Out of the blue, in addition to his other responsibilities, he’s been put in charge of Human Resources. This happens within many small businesses as they begin to grow. Someone is given a title, perhaps with a comment: “I know you will do well.” Do not panic. You are not alone. And, fortunately, there are resources available to you. . . and you’ll probably do just fine.

You should take human resources seriously, but not to the point where you are immobilized like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car. As he gathers his wits and begins to make plans, there are two main areas for him to consider: legal issues and improving his workforce. Actually, he considers the two main areas plus the budget. The longer you’re involved with HR, the more you’ll know, and since there are about four dozen HR categories for training, you should realize that there are a lot of things to learn, but as a beginner, there are only a few basics you need. to learn. cover

Legal Matters:

hiring and firing

Respectful Workplace: Harassment – Disabilities – Diversity

Improve your workforce:

management leadership

Teamwork

Communications

Customer service

Learning more about legal matters will protect you and your organization. This is the best place to start. When hiring and firing there are some things you can do and some things you can’t do. There are training videos that will take you step-by-step through the hiring interview process so you hire someone who meets your qualifications. One of the best training videos for this is a product called More Than a Gut Feeling. This program has been around for years and has been repeatedly updated. The video comes with a training guide as well as the book, More Than a Gut Feeling.

Package training points include:

How to plan a logical and structured interview that includes pre-planned interview questions

How to use interview techniques that allow interviewer control

How to Recognize Why Some Questions Can’t Legally Be Asked in the Interview Process

As you can see, the package gives you a good foundation of information to help you select the best candidate and also gives you information on the type of questions not to ask. Before you start firing someone, you should also look into the legal issues of firing, but hiring is probably your first need.

Every worker has the right to expect that they will work in a safe and respectful workplace. This is why every organization has an obligation to be aware of harassment issues (harassment, sexual harassment, and workplace bullying), the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), and acceptance of diversity. It is essential to have a policy that encompasses the prevention of violence and harassment in the workplace along with respectful treatment. There are many products to help you develop your own policy manual and many even come with a blank form for you to fill out.

Once the legal aspects of employment have been addressed, you can move on to training. There are special assessments you can purchase to address your training needs as a whole, as well as the needs of individuals within the organization, but as a novice HR Director, I would recommend that you simply get together with your co-workers and do a brainstorm training and education. needs. The more you communicate with your employees, the better understanding you’ll develop with them about their skills.

Possibly the best place to start training is in the areas of team building and communications. If your organization isn’t working as a team, it makes management more difficult, and if communications aren’t working, it makes most aspects of working together nearly impossible.

Training videos can cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a thousand dollars or more. Many of John Cleese’s business training tapes cost around $870, while Jamie Oliver’s (from the Food Channel) new tapes cost a little over a thousand dollars to buy. Renting is an option, but I follow the “better to own the cow” philosophy. John Cleese’s videos use a lot of humor to illustrate his points and Jamie Oliver is very popular, so both factors make these training videos worthwhile.

There are more inexpensive tools available, however. There are pre-packaged workshops for out-of-the-box training that contain scripts, handouts, and slides (all in reproducible .pdf files) AND an illustrative video to accompany the presentation, all for less than $400. You can adapt the script to present a half-day workshop or as much as a two-day workshop. You can instantly put the workshop on your schedule and then bring it back for review (and new hires) a year or two later. And of course, the second time you use the package, there is no additional charge.

You can also buy three-ring binders that contain simple activities that can be used over and over again. Activity collections are available for many HR training categories and cost around $140.

I recommend that you plan a budget that will allow you to start stocking a library of products. You can add and share them with co-workers and managers. As you share programs and your desire to improve your organization, you should be able to find co-workers to help and assist you.

You can start your HR career by starting your own training programs, hiring HR trainers to mentor you and possibly run programs you can run next time, or hiring professionals at every level of training. Employee needs and your budget should be your guiding light.

Human resources should be fun and challenging. Enjoy.