HR for Small Businesses with Jacqui Mann
Jacqui Mann takes us on a trip into organisational culture by talking about HR for small businesses. She has clients all over the country with Inverness being the furthest client!
HR for small businesses
Both Kevin and Graham run small businesses - but what are the things that you need to know about HR? Owners of small businesses, after all, aren't HR managers of a small business. However, they do have HR responsibilities.
Jacqui recommends getting the foundations sorted first. Often it starts as a nice honeymoon-holiday and descends into a bit of a nightmare; people have been hired by friends or connections and a contract hasn't been put in place, etc. Not having a contract is the worst thing to do.
HR, contracts and small businesses
At the moment, people can be employed for up to eight weeks before a contract must be put in place. However, the government have put together a programme called 'The Good Work Plan'; supposedly being implemented next year, this will make sure a contract is put in place from day 1 of being employed.
The thing with an employment contract is that it is there to protect you and your employee. It is there so both parties know what they have signed up for. Now there are aspects of a contract that must be made clear - sick pay, wages and working hours for example. But what Jacqui does for her clients is look at the business itself and add additional clauses that protect the business or are things that have not been thought about thoroughly.
http://thenext100days.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Roles-and-Responsibilities.mp4
The Handbook is best to start on day 1 as well. Normally, you would tie the handbook and the contract together as it shows how you would manage discipline and absence too.
You might think there are behaviours or actions that you wouldn't need to explain to someone: "it's just common sense to not do that." However, as Jacqui suggests, there are a lot of people out there with little to no common sense. It is best to state everything in the handbook so you can direct your employees to what you are specifying.
Creating work culture
We've spoken a lot on legislation and legislating to create a certain environment. Gone are the days where you can get a pint in your lunch break or stub out your fourteenth cigarette of the day in the office.
But legislation doesn't create a work culture. How can you create a culture that is right for your small business?
This is Jacqui's passion when it comes to small businesses. She wants to make every business a great place to work. After all, most people spend most of their life at work.
Now, having a great place to work doesn't mean you have free food and bean bags and that sort of thing - this is what a lot of people think of when the think of a good work environment and work culture. For Jacqui things like free food is a perk. It isn't what the company culture is.
Reflect on your small business, now
Jacqui gets her clients to think about their business:
What is the purpose of your business?
Do you know what you are trying to achieve?
What are the values of the business?
Once those questions are answered, Jacqui helps businesses embed those things into everything that they do.
How do you implement your business values?
First of all, you start with what Jacqui calls 'The People Foundation'. This is about how you recruit people, your contracts and all your policies and procedures. It doesn't matter whether these are heavy manuals with lots of pages or it is one side of an A4 sheet - everyone is different. However, you want to make sure that everything loops round to your core values through these documents.
That way, when you're making a decision and your values are really clear, it is easy to question whether decisions and actions really fit in with what you're trying to do as a small business.
You will also recruit people who fit nicely with th...
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