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Interim is not the only solution though. Mary De'Arth is human resources manager for rapidly growing City PR company, Mantra. She's one of a new breed of freelance HR professionals available on a semi-permanent but long-term basis. At Mantra she has been working four days a month (one day a week) since last October. Strategising the top level work (graduate training, direction, company culture) really does mean a secretary runs the day-to-day administration side of HR. "I started my HR career at Forte," says De'Arth "but when I moved to a small ISP, I realised SMEs had a need for a part-time person."
De'Arth currently has six clients all employing between 15-100 people with a day rate of 300-500 depending on the type of work she will be devising. For a fraction of the cost, clients have her experience in working with different companies and knowing what works and what doesn't. "My advantage is that I'm totally objective," she says. "I don't get involved in office politics, I get on with the task in hand."
She also says by having the same person over a prolonged length of time there are none of the consistency problems firms face by having an interim HR presence and someone who may simply disappear once the initial set up phase is complete. "I stay here, but I don't overstay my welcome," she says. "There will be a time when I may have to sever my ties with a firm because it has grown too large and they need a permanent HR manager, but this will be no bad thing. In the meantime they are all very happy having my input as and when they need it."
All of which means you can have HR, you need HR, but you don't always have to pay over the odds for it. The secret is fairly simple. Plan your business growth and plan what level of person you want to take care of it.
Buying specific HR people for administrative purposes is not money well spent. Going for strategy can be more expensive, but in the long run might be better value. If you can buy CIPD qualified people, all the better, but remember it's experience that counts. There is a healthy market out there for good HR people who have done their 25 year's service and want to keep active with a little bit of consultancy. Before getting someone permanent, these people are a very good buy indeed.
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