Ginny Hridel knows the HR shuffle all too well. Along with handling all the advertising and promotions for Chagrin Falls-based Brewster & Stroud, she has been the company’s human resources manager for the better part of four years.
Lately, the family-owned furniture business has made some changes, with Hridel and the furniture retailer’s controller now splitting the chores as way to create a more formalized HR department.
But even after rewriting the employee handbook to address frequently asked questions, centralizing employee records at one of the company’s two Chagrin Falls locations and providing a number employees can call with HR questions, Hridel says supplying the personal touch is still a great deal of work.
“I find that the biggest challenge is when we do have to do (employee) meetings,” says Hridel, who must field questions from the company’s 55 employees not only at the Chagrin Falls facilities, but also at its Westlake showroom. “I think our communication levels are very strong, but in a lot of cases, people don’t think to ask questions until they see you. I think it’s important to be sure, as an individual, you’re visible in all three locations.”
Brewster & Stroud is not unlike other growing companies that have found a need to create more formalized HR processes as their businesses grow. In the HR white paper survey, conducted by the Employers Resource Council for SBN, more than half of the respondents reported their company had some sort of formal HR department, while 43 percent do not. Many of those which do not are smaller manufacturing firms, not unlike Willoughby-based GearTec Inc., which has a small yet solid core of a few dozen workers and no real need for a full-blown HR department.
“Turnover is very low, and as far as human resources, I sit down and go through paperwork with people when they’re hired,” explains GearTec controller Betty Herowitz. “I take care of the employee handbook, and when health insurance comes up for renewal, I work with that.”
Other business owners outsource their HR function. It is an industry that has grown annually by 30 percent in recent years, according to Rick Gucwa, executive vice president of The Reserve Network’s Human Resource Support Group.
But no matter how you deal with the issue, the bottom line is that if you don’t have a knowledgeable person handing your company’s HR functions, there is always the possibility of a misstep that could result in financial losses. And in these litigious times, Gucwa says, many small business owners discover that the hard way.
“Small companies absolutely need various HR functions,” he says. “The problem is, as a company begins in infancy and grows and grows, human resources tends to take a back seat to sales and everything else. And that’s one of the sad things, because a lot of times that will tend to come back and catch up with them if something bad happens.”
So how can you be sure you are not exposing your company to unnecessary legal risks? Gucwa suggests you start by taking a hard look at the employee handbook. If you don’t have one, you’d better start drafting one.
“That’s a good first step when going down the HR path,” says Gucwa. “It forces you to address the issues of what are your policies and procedures.”
After that, Gucwa says, the next logical step is taking an honest look at who is handling the HR function within your company. In some cases, the company owner or president delegates the responsibility to a trusted employee with no consideration of whether that person is right for the job.
If you feel comfortable with who is managing your HR ship, Gucwa suggests investing in formal training so the person is familiar with federal mandates such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family Medical Leave Act.
“In some cases, they don’t even know they have to comply and they accidentally do something wrong,” says Gucwa. “That can end up with some ugly things happening.”
How to reach: Brewster & Stroud, (440) 247-3355; GearTec Inc., (440) 953-3900; The Reserves Network, (440) 779-1400
Jim Vickers ([email protected]) is an associate editor at SBN.