Managing holiday effectively can be tricky for many businesses and especially those who have seasonal peaks and troughs. It can feel dictatorial to tell your employee’s when they can and cannot take holiday and this approach can certainly have a negative effect of morale. An effective solution for managing holiday is to have a HR system which manages and maintains holiday requests across your team. Most HR systems allow blackout periods where holiday is not permitted, this approached backed up by a holiday policy which allows a set number of your team to take holiday at one time. This will encourage employees to book holiday well in advance and will allow the business to plan accordingly.

Outsourced HR costs will vary from consultancy to consultancy but the key thing to remember is that outsourcing HR should save the key people within your organisation a lot of time and help to ensure that you are compliant as an employer, which in turn reduces the risk of employment issues escalating into a costly tribunal case. The headline cost of outsourced HR can initially seem expensive but this is easily offset by the saving of productive hours and the reduced employment risks.

Performance management is often an overlooked tool within HR but it can really benefit the overall performance of an organisation and should therefore be a priority for all managers. If you have an employee who is underperforming, it is important to follow a set process in addressing your concerns, it is important to communicate these concerns in a pre-planned meeting and give clear instructions on what success looks like.

A grievance is when an employee raises concerns about a business’s conduct and specific treatment that they have experienced. A disciplinary is when an employer is raising concerns about the conduct or performance of an employee. The two are very different but are managed by similar processes including an investigation, hearing and appeal.

When you outsource your HR, it is likely that you will be gaining the benefit of a readymade HR function with several professionals within that team who have experience in different areas, for example HR strategy, employee relations, learning and development, compliance and processes.

Whilst the hourly cost can seem a lot compared to an employed hourly rate, it is worth bearing in mind that an outsourced HR provider will only charge for the time that they are working on your business, you are not paying for unproductive hours such as tea break, lunches, holiday, sickness etc… Overall businesses gain access to expert support and advice, at the fraction of the cost of employing a permanent HR Manager.

Outsourced HR generally works well for small to medium sized businesses, who have a team and who have regular HR matters that arise but don’t necessarily have a need for a full-time HR Manager. An effective Outsourced HR provider should become an extension of your team and work with you on operational HR matters, as well as providing strategic HR support.