5 scary HR errors your startup can prevent by outsourcing

Does managing all things HR feel like a nightmare? Do the paper cuts, endless admin tasks and dizzying compliance nuances keep you awake at night? 

If you wish your PeopleOps to-do list would just disappear, you’re not alone!

For many small to midsize businesses, HR work is the biggest productivity buster their time-strapped team faces. That’s why nimble businesses choose to outsource these essential tasks. 

Curious what outsourcing can do for your business? Check out the 5 scariest HR errors you can cleverly avoid by outsourcing this crucial department:

1. Offering an ominous onboarding process

Onboarding should be simple, exciting, and informative for your new employees. After all, these first few days set the tone for your newest team member’s experience at your company. 

But when you oversee this process by yourself, you run the risk of overlooking a compliance task, missing a box on your onboarding checklist, or letting a crucial detail fall through the cracks. That’s no way to keep your top talent!

By outsourcing your onboarding process, you ensure your first impression is your best impression. With every document on file, every step complete, and every employee welcomed in from the moment they accept the role, your company gets even stronger — with every new hire who joins your team. 

2. Referencing a frightfully outdated or generic employee handbook

The average employee handbook is long, dense and dry. The 30-plus pages of policies and rules are hard enough to read as an employee — much less edit and update as a constantly busy business leader. 

And time and time again we see companies fill their handbooks with canned policies and copied clauses. But these generic, fuzzy rules leave both you and your employees at risk. 

When you outsource your employee handbook writing and updating, you can get a document that’s not only accurate, but is actually worth the read. By delegating this essential writing task, you’ll get a finalized resource that’s customized to your unique business, employees and company values. 

3. Hiring an applicant in disguise

We believe every person deserves the benefit of the doubt. But in today’s world of catfishing and Photoshop, running a routine background check on every new employee is essential for the safety and peace of mind of your company, staff and customers. 

Managing background checks on your own can slow down your team. The paperwork, the processing times and the back-and-forth can tempt you to skip this crucial hiring step entirely!  

But when you outsource your background checks, you can rest easy knowing you’re hiring the right person and creating a safe, transparent workspace. 

4. Letting employer-employee tensions lurk in the background

Poor employer-employee relations can be the downfall of even the strongest companies. And you can’t afford to let things get even more heated by asking these employees any of these seven dicey questions under the guide of improving relations..  

As executives and business owners become increasingly busy with the day-to-day requirements of running the company, they can begin to overlook things like proactive communication, feedback surveys and policy enforcement. 

Unfortunately, when communication between your leadership team and frontline employees turns sour, it’s often too late to repair.  

On the other hand, outsourcing your HR tasks ensures your communications are always clear and consistent. Having a third party available to help mediate between employers and employees also helps resolve issues quickly, fairly, and with as little disruption as possible. That contributes to a healthier, more productive workplace. 

5. Having a spookily short offboarding process

If you’re managing your HR and PeopleOps on your own, chances are, your offboarding and exit interview processes are less streamlined and thorough than they could be. But for companies looking to scale, grow their staff, and maintain a positive employer reputation, this process couldn’t be more important!  

A positive and comprehensive offboarding process benefits your business in a number of ways. By tying up the loose ends with your employees, there’s a greater chance they will leave with a positive impression of your company. 

And because disgruntled employees are the most likely to leave a poor review on sites like Glassdoor and LinkedIn, the more you can do to care for these existing employees, the better for your reputation in the long run. 

Additionally, a thorough offboarding process also gives you the opportunity to uncover areas of improvement — from pointing out potential weaknesses in the company, to revealing leaders who may need further development or repositioning. 

When you outsource your exit interview process, you gain critical feedback and insights you may never otherwise uncover. And having a third party conducting your employees’ exit interviews often leads to more honest and constructive answers than you could get on your own. 

Key takeaway

At first glance, outsourcing your PeopleOps may seem like it offers little return. But when you consider how essential every HR task is to the function and success of your business, the value becomes clear. 

With these spooky HR mistakes looming, ask yourself — would I rather take the risk, or enjoy the rewards?

Want more? In addition to HR, benefits, recruiting and payroll through its PeopleOps, Escalon’s Essential Business Services include FinOps (CFO services, bookkeeping and accounting) and Risk (business insurance). Talk to an expert today.