There are only so many people working in a startup- no clearly defined roles and responsibilities and job descriptions- more often than not. While this might work for the first few months, as the startup progresses, they will need a proper structure of onboarding people and clearly defined job roles.
Role of an HR in a Startup
- HR Departments are supposed to ensure that there is a proper hierarchical structure followed in terms of authority and responsibility.
- The startup will be able to retain the talent they need and filter out the ones who don’t suit their needs.
- Ensuring the company is working within their country’s legal boundaries.
- Define the job vacancies and what persona fits in them. It also includes smoothly onboarding and training them.
- Facilitate policy creation for the company in addition to the company policy.
The Fundamental Requirements
There are some simple questions you should answer at the time of hiring human resource personnel. We will list some of them you shouldn’t miss out on:
- Is the person capable of building a safe and comfortable working environment?
- Is he or she correctly incentivizing the employees and giving good benefits and pay packages?
- Will this person negate risks, help grow the team and bring about positive changes? This includes a good understanding of the law.
- Will they be able to take the pressure and deliver the expected results?
What Policies Need to be Made?
To begin with, the HR personnel should simply focus on establishing the following:
- The number of sick leaves, paid or unpaid.
- If the company can afford vacation leaves or especially arrange them for the employees
- The kind of employee benefits to offer, how much and to whom
- Ensuring that there is a company culture in place so that there are effective company values.
The problem arises since the saying comes easier than the doing. The HR team also needs to make the process highly cost-efficient, for obvious reasons. In today’s environment, people are working in a remote environment which makes the job of HR even more difficult. To top it all, everything needs to be done from scratch.
Challenge Highlights
Hopefully, these notes will help you focus on the smallest details without missing the bigger picture. There is always much more than what meets the eye.
– Always record and manage the data and preferably, use the latest tools and techniques to do so.
– Not working on developing positive employee morale and retention right from the beginning.
– Try developing a positive company culture and policies at an early stage.
– Don’t refrain from employee benefits, consider it a long-term investment.
– Undertaking professional hiring and training practices.
– Providing genuine feedback wherever necessary.
– And finally, undermining the value of HR requirements due to ‘we are still in our early establishment phase’.
Biggest Challenge Of Recruitment
The biggest challenge which HR face in a startup is the recruitment phase of new employees. Because most of the startups have not enough financials to recruit high potential employees. The reason behind this is that startups face difficulty in pitching their ideas and because of this difficulty they are unable to find high income investors which can invest in the salary of the employees.
Another reason behind recruitment challenges is that the value of the organization is not present in the minds of the individuals and they are somehow hesitant about how the company will treat them. Most of the individuals don’t have confidence in the organization and this is also an important reason why most of the experienced individuals and one with the high experience are reluctant to go into startups.
Evolving with the Times
Apart from the administrative and legal duties, most companies nowadays have started focusing on improving the environment they make for their employees. The HR team will need to make the employees feel valued and comfortable. They need to continuously renovate how they make their packages better and motivate them to strive harder. This means finding solutions as the team grows stronger and bigger.
They need to feel like they can rely on the company- there has to be a sense of belonging and stability. It all adds to taking care of the employees and retaining them, without worrying the founders about the budget and time constraints.
