What does a HR consultancy do?

If you’re looking into what a HR Consultancy does, then you probably fall into one of these two categories:

1)    You work in an organisation which is unable to fulfil its human resource obligations

2)    You work in an organisation where your current human resource support limits you in growth or expansion possibilities

Now these could come as a result of a number of factors; limited available financial resources, understaffing, rapid growth, geographical difficulties, change in industry regulations and so on. We’re not here to judge! We’re here to help.

The outcome of whatever issues you are going through is that you’ve identified a need for professional support from a source outside of your current HR provision to nurture, retain, develop and grow your organisation and workforce.

That’s where a HR consultancy comes in.

In this blog we’ll help you understand the role and values of HR consultancies like ours, what you might expect from a service supporting your staff, strategy and people management needs and hopefully, also convince you we’re the right team for the job!

Sections:

• What is a HR Consultancy?

• Key Functions

• Business Needs

• Types of Services

• How we operate

• Questions to ask before hiring

What is HR Consultancy?

So, let’s start at the beginning with what the definition of a HR consultancy should be.

A HR consultancy can be defined as: ‘a form of management consulting that specifically addresses human resource management tasks and decisions.  It includes specialist advice and services provided by an organisation outside of the host to help the business maximise the efficiency of their HR operations.

‘HR consultants can be brought in to address a specific problem or deliver ongoing organisational change.’

If you want to read up more on human resource consulting basics, the Society for Human Resource Management provides a toolkit that you can look through at your own pace (subscription may be required).

The Key Functions of HR Consultancies

If you have any personal experience of managing a human resource department, or being involved in the day-to-day HR concerns of the business, you’ll know the potential list of responsibilities can be seemingly endless.

Rather than break down each individual task (which could make this blog a lengthy read!) we’re instead going to focus on what are the core responsibilities that we address when we support your HR operations:

• Strategic HR Planning
  
  Strategy is vital in so many aspects of working life and yet is overlooked so often due to time constraints. Why would you waste time doing the ‘planning’ when you can get straight down to business with the ‘doing’? No doubt your inbox is full enough already.
  
  That’s why HR consultants can be so useful in generating a clear path for your HR efforts without taking up your own busy schedule. By using external support, we can help align your HR strategy with your business goals and set in place programmes for recruitment, retention, training and development, compliance and so on that have come from proven results over years of experience – rather than trying to trial new initiatives on your own with no retained knowledge.
  

• Recruitment and Talent Acquisition
  
  The retained experienced mentioned above also successfully contributes to the strategies we can put in place for your recruitment and talent acquisition needs. Whether your business is actively growing or simply experiencing staff turnover, you need to be prepared to bring new talent into your business in a way that doesn’t obstruct your existing success.
  
  By using a HR consultancy you alleviate the immediate pressure of developing job specifications, going out to market, managing applicants and screening candidates, while also benefitting from professional experience of recognising how certain candidates suit your staff requirements and business values better for an improved personal output and extended employee retention.
  
  While we don’t individually highlight the important role HR consultancies like Dolen can play in employee retention in this blog, a number of the sections below contribute towards improving that goal.
  

• Training and Development
  
  One of the core HR responsibilities that can often get pushed aside when time is tight is employee development. In some cases this can lead to a reduction in training budgets, an outsourcing of all training programmes and a neglect of the personal development plans.
  
  A successful HR consultancy will play a key role in designing and implementing training programs to upskill your employees to negate these issues. By committing our time to developing bespoke training plans for your staff – relevant to both their roles and career desires, we can not only improve performance for your business but also job satisfaction within employees who see progress in their roles.
  

• Performance Management
  
  Equally, just like training and development, performance management plans can quickly be pushed aside when resources are stretched, the organisation hits a ‘busy’ period or work priorities take precedence over long-term employee analysis.
  
  By hiring a HR consultancy you can benefit from professional assistance in developing systems to evaluate and improve your employee performance and actively tie these in to regular reporting periods and benefit packages – unique to your organisation.
  
  This responsibility, including staff appraisals, can in some cases be fully outsourced to the HR consultancy which fully frees up your time to focus on the tasks in hand. Safe in the knowledge that a review of your employees performance will be available to you direct from a professional team.
  

• Employee Relations
  
  This is one task that we know many HR managers aren’t keen to perform because, yes, it includes employee conflict resolution.
  
  Outsourcing difficult employee relations may seem like an ideal use for a HR consultant (and it is), but what we are also able to provide is the structures in place to ensure a fair and compliant treatment of all situations, which prevents you from wasting time and potentially incurring legal costs should you take the wrong path in sensitive discussions.
  
  Alongside managing any conflicts, we can also help improve employee engagement and develop communication strategies to instil collaboration and team values across your organisation.
  

• Compliance and Legal Guidance
  
  We mentioned it in the section above, but how aware are you of all of the legislative requirements for your organisation? Getting HR wrong from a legal perspective can be a damaging and expensive experience. Using a HR consultant alleviates the pressure of managing your business and industry regulatory needs.
  
  Whether this comes from ‘baking in’ water-tight structures and clauses to your contracts, employee terms and other documentation, or by updating you with the latest employment law changes and upcoming requirements, a HR consultancy can be your ears on the ground – keeping you a step ahead of any difficulties.
  

• Compensation and Benefits
  
  Our final core responsibility is the establishment of competitive compensation packages and benefits plans for your employees.
  
  Each organisation is different in the structure they have at their business and the resources it has available to provide benefits to their staff, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore celebrating your staff’s achievements just because you don’t ‘fit the norm’.
  
  A good HR consultancy has years of experience designing compensation packages that meet the needs for a range of business types. With this support you can improve employee satisfaction and retention rates without needing to break the bank – all while remaining consistent and fair across your entire organisation.

Why HR Consultancy is important for small businesses

In this blog we’ve already looked at the key ways a HR consultancy can influence the operation of human resources through each core responsibility regardless of the organisation’s size and scope. But, since our focus is on supporting SMEs we wanted to breakdown the four main reasons a HR consultancy like Dolen can benefit the smaller businesses in Wales:

• Expertise and Experience
  
  In a smaller business it is less likely you’ll be able to cover all the specialised knowledge required to help your organisation grow. Even if your HR Manager is an expert, they may not have certain specialisms or experience in all areas of human resource management in the same way a fully outsourced team is able to call upon other team members to provide specific inputs when required.
  

• Cost-Effectiveness
  
  Hiring a consultancy can be more cost-effective than maintaining an in-house HR team, especially for small businesses. While a small team may be able to cope with ‘standard’ HR needs, as soon as the situation changes – including organisational growth, the requirements to hire more HR staff and develop new processes or documentation etc can provide an additional financial burden.
  
  Boardroom Advisors provides a fair breakdown on the potential cost-savings and calculation involved in their analytical article on Outsourcing HR here if you want to read more.
  

• Objectivity
  
  One of the most over-looked aspects of utilising a HR consultancy is the advantage of having an external perspective on HR issues.
  
  Sometimes this relates to the experience we mentioned above, but often it also simply comes down to having a second expert opinion – especially one that is free from internal bias or previous experience in “this is how we’ve always done it”.
  

• Focus on Core Business
  
  Finally, small businesses are the most guilty organisations in focusing on ‘fire-fighting’. In most cases we see, the HR department is stretched to simply deal with the day-to-day requirements of keeping the organisational ship afloat.
  
  By hiring external support through a HR consultant, it allows you to focus your time on your core operations while the complex and strategic HR tasks can be handled by our team of professionals.

Different Types of HR Consultancy Services

As alluded to in the introduction, the role of a HR consultant isn’t limited to one format of operation or contract type, but can be utilised in a range of fashions. These often boil down to one of three main types:

1. Full-service HR Consultancies (that address needs across all human resource disciplines)

2. Specialist HR Consultancies (that focus on single areas like recruitment or training)

3. Industry-specific HR Consultancies (that operate in a single industry, often where there are unique or complex regulatory challenges)

You may also find two other types of less common HR consultancy types are mentioned some conversations. These are; Interim HR Consultants and Project-Based HR Consultants. As their name suggests, these groups focus on providing either temporary HR leadership for an organisation in transition, or support on short-term projects where additional coverage is required like restructuring, mergers or HR audits.

Dolen is a full-service HR consultancy, but can provide bespoke, flexible HR support depending on your needs as we’ve identified this as a priority for the number of small businesses in operation around the North Wales region.

How Dolen HR can support your business

So how does it all work with our team at Dolen HR?

We work primarily across Wales to help small and medium-sized businesses upgrade their human resources operation in a flexible manner that gives you the most cost-effective support for your business.

We work in collaboration with your existing team to provide a personalised service whether you choose a fully outsourced service, flexible solution or pay-as-you-go support.

In particular we focus on five key attributes to help us stand out against national HR firms:

1. Tailored solutions: We understand every organisation is unique so the service we provide to you is always specific to your industry, needs and business size.

2. Personalised documentation: We do the work so you won’t receive any generic document templates, but receive HR materials that are unique to your business.

3. In-the-room support: We’re here when you need us most and commit to being available in-person for consultations, hearings or simple face-to-face meetings.

4. Time-saving: We handle all the paperwork and administrative tasks so you can do what you do best – managing and growing your business

5. Support your entire team: Our service covers your entire team which means your staff can contact us at any time with their questions and concerns

What questions should I ask before hiring a HR consultancy?

As a final additional section prior to signing off on this blog, we thought we’d add a few helpful questions you might want to use when deciding who to hire to fulfil your HR needs.

These questions (below) focus on highlighting the following key factors that should help demonstrate their fit for your organisation: experience, specialisations, evidence of success, cultural fit.

1. What experience do you have in my industry?

2. What specific HR services do you specialise in, and how do they align with my current needs?

3. How do you measure success, and what key performance indicators (KPIs) will you use?

4. Can you provide references or testimonials from previous clients?

5. What is your approach to communication and collaboration with our in-house team?

If you’re still interested in bringing in some external HR support for your business we’d love to throw our name into the hat. To start the conversation with us, simply get in touch with the Dolen team and we’ll run through your needs with you to arrange a cost-effective solution for your business.