If this is you, you certainly aren’t alone – it’s pretty common place to hear small business owners tell us that they are too busy working in the business to work on it.  

As the year comes to a close and another looms, we’d suggest taking a moment to reflect on when you last review all your HR documents, policies and systems.  

• Are they still up to date?  

• Do they actually reflect what is currently happening in your business?  

• Have you been meaning to put them in place, but things have been ticking along okay so they keep getting pushed to the bottom of the pile?  

Again, you wouldn’t be alone here, however, a proactive approach to managing your HR means that it can be used as a strategic tool for your business growth, development and success rather than as simply an administrative and reactive tool to address problems.  

At EASI NZ we will be there for businesses if they find themselves in crisis (the proverbial ambulance at the bottom of the cliff) but we’d rather be at the top keeping you safe – not just as a safety net, but rather, a safe and enjoyable walking path where really the only chance of going off the cliff is if the weather gets really gnarly or if someone recklessly ignores the path, the signs and the safety net! 

Whilst we can help in a crisis (and despite best efforts, they do happen sometimes) it is far easier and less stressful for everyone involved if the correct documentation, processes and systems exist to enable a clear and well-defined process to take place. We also find that if businesses can make the shift from using HR reactively, to using it strategically, they are far more likely to avoid crises and to progress towards their business goals.

To use HR strategically means that you know what you are trying to achieve in your business, you are clear in your values, and you use this to guide your staffing decisions, whether it's your staffing structure, what each role looks like, your staff learning and development or your succession plan. All these should tie in and make sense as part of your pathway to your business goals.

Your HR documentation, process and systems need to closely tie in with your business goals and values. Although first, to stop that tumble from the cliff, it’s important to ensure that they are compliant and up to date with current employment law. Once that hurdle is met, it’s important that they are tailored to work in practice for your business – there’s no sense in having a bunch of documents that sit in a drawer or make doing business difficult.

At EASI NZ we support business through an HR Audit process, where we look at what you have in place – no judgement here! The process looks a bit like this:

1. Checking your documents are compliant, 
2. Looking at them in conjunction with your business goals and values, and
3. Looking at any business pain points and how it is used in practice, to make sure you have a suit of HR resources which will support your business to maximise your people to achieve business success.  

So, if your ducks have a tendency to wander, if you don’t know where they are, or if they are even ducks, we’d love you to get in touch – we can have a chat (no judgement!) and see if we can get things in order and freshened up for the New Year.

You can get hold of Cherilyn at EAZI NZ by going to our professional services section and clicking on Easi NZ