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One of the best approaches to take is to hire an interim HR manager - someone who has many years of experience but provides temporary HR on a semi-consultative basis.
These professionals, sourced through interim agencies, set up the business plan, and rules and procedures for someone else more junior who can keep them ticking along after he or she is gone. A good interim HR manager might cost 1,000 per day, but will have everything set up ready for an HR administrator - the lowest position in the job ladder - to do ongoing housekeeping. It means this person might only cost 25,000 a year but will be running a professional set up.
Part of an interim's job will also be to identify cost savings like whether payroll can be outsourced to external suppliers - freeing you up to hire a more business minded HR brain for more strategic work.
"What we're definitely seeing," says McFarlane "is the HR profession promoting itself as the arbiter of everything from organisational development to organisational effectiveness. It's HR at the strategic rather
than the administrative level."
Just one of the providers in this space is 'thehrpeople.com' – which provides what it calls "Consulta-rim" services - a variation on the consultant/interim model. Founded by ex-boo.com HR manager, Tanya Sinclair
in 1999 it advises more than 60 businesses. specifically addressing the needs of SMEs. "We know an HR presence doesn't have such a high profile here because it this size of company it really is seen as a cost," says Sinclair.
"Most HR administrators just comment on HR rather than where the business is going, so we help by identifying the employer's value proposition. Once you know this, you know what level of HR person you need."
By bringing in high level advisors Sinclair says you get the business weight of a HR director without the salary this carries. A senior consultant might cost 1,200 per day working a day a week. It means for 14,000 developmental HR practices are set up. "You simply can't get away now without some HR function," she says "At the very minimum you need experts trained in employment law. An office manager is not equipped about statutory minimum requirements. The days when HR people grew out of being secretaries is finally dying out."
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