SMEs In Focus: 4 HR Mistakes Made By SMEs
Small-to-medium enterprises or SMEs form the backbone of any economy. SMEs are usually managed directly by their owners who are also involved in day-to-day operations. Thus, in this episode of SMEs in Focus, we look at 4 HR mistakes made by SMEs.
Without a doubt the ability to multi-task is valued in any organization. As SMEs are usually newly formed organizations with small budgets, employees are often required to play several different roles within the organization. For example, a finance manager in an SME may also be required to fulfill the responsibilities of a HR manager.
For a short period of time, this is a great arrangement for both the employee and employer as the employee is able to develop a wider set of skills while the employer is able to reduce costs from hiring an additional staff. However, as the SME grows in size and expands its operations, the lack of focus will prove to be detrimental as employees will not able to hone their current skills further as they are overburdened with their current responsibilities.
Consequently, the quality of work produced by employees suffers because the organization is left with employees who have dabbled in many skills but lack true expertise in any one skill.
Another HR mistake that SMEs tend to make is neglecting to clearly state an employee’s roles and responsibilities. Most of the time, the recruitment process in most SMEs involves interviewing the employee and providing a brief description of the employee’s responsibilities and the organization’s expectations.
Consequently, this leaves employees with a rather limited understanding of the organization’s expectations and the role that they play within the organization. This inculcates a culture of passing the buck in which employees and the subsequent lack of accountability only serves to discourage high performing employees and reduces efficiency.
Instead of leaving employee’s in a lurch, the organization needs to ensure that its goals are aligned together with its employees. This can be done by communicating the organization’s vision and mission clearly to all employees. Also, training and briefing sessions can help employees better understand their roles and responsibilities within the organization.
A good onboarding program ensures that new employees are well-versed with the organization, its culture and practices and reduces the anxiety faced by new employees during their first few weeks while helping them acclimatize to their n.w.organization.
Thus it is rather unfortunate that most SMEs tend to overlook the benefits of investing in a solid onboarding program. In most SMEs, little thought is given to the onboarding practice. Instead, new employees are left to their own devices and are expected to find their own way in the organization.
Not only is this a horrible experience for any new joiner, but it is also detrimental to the organization. Firstly, this haphazard practice is very inefficient as it takes a much longer time for the new employee to acclimatize and secondly, time is wasted providing additional training to the new employee.
Instead, SMEs should invest in a solid onboarding program which can be a simple affair of conducting a simple orientation briefing for the new employee and assigning a buddy or mentor to him/her out. The briefing session ideally should cover topics like the employee’s roles and responsibilities and also the organization’s policies and practices. Following this, the HR department should consistently follow-up with the employee for a time period of 2-3 months after the employee has joined the organization to render any assistance and obtain feedback.
HR management is one aspect of running a business that is usually not given much thought by the typical SME owner. Instead, most SME owners are concerned with aspects like cash flow and business development. Thus rather unfortunately, HR management is usually overlooked by SME owners which is rather unfortunate as good HR management is crucial to the success of any organization.
Most SMEs tend to adopt a “come as you are” approach towards HR management which means that most problems are dealt with as and when they appear. Thus, issues like proper documentation and practices tend to be ignored which severely curtails the organization’s ability to efficiently manage its staff.
For example, organization A is looking to terminate employee B who has a long history of disciplinary issues like frequent absences and tardiness. After terminating employee B, the organization was faced with a lawsuit from employee B for a wrongful termination of employment. Unfortunately, organization A failed to properly document employee B’s disciplinary issues and was forced to pay compensation to employee B.
All of this can be avoided by employing a dedicated HR manager to oversee all HR affairs and also by conducting regular training and HR audits to ensure that the organization is compliant with the latest procedures and practices. Running a SME is no simple task as most entrepreneurs have only themselves to rely on. Thus, these simple tips can make the road to success that is much smoother.
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