Outsourcing HR: a worthwhile investment for small businesses?

Ask a random selection of people the question “What are the differences between big business and small business?” and you’ll find response typically revolves around phrases such as “greater profits”, “higher revenue” and “number of employees”. Probe a little deeper and you may hear an accurate but far less commonly articulated response: “access to in-house human resources expertise”.  But is outsourcing HR a worthwhile investment for small businesses?

Big businesses are typically staffed by experts in each department: Finance, Marketing, Operations, Human Resources, Legal, IT, Procurement…the list of professionals is generally only limited by the size of the operation. Having access to subject matter expertise translates to accurate information on which to make sound corporate decisions and gain competitive advantage. But what about small and medium sized enterprises which represent approximately 98 percent of all businesses in Australia? Are these businesses any less in need of expert advice to help them compete?

Greg Bowmer, Director at Bare Bones Consulting believes not. As Greg explains, smaller businesses are generally built from the passion, commitment and knowledge of one or two owners: “Think about the typical restaurant or café operation as an example. Many of these businesses are not in a position to employ a full-time HR professional so often fail to comply with employment legislation. The possibility of an unfair dismissal claim being lodged by a disgruntled ex-employee is always more likely when you don’t have a process to manage this risk. Business owners tend to spend a great deal of time dealing with employee issues which in turn, takes them away from developing their core business. Without having access to an in-house ‘people expert’ many small businesses also miss out on great opportunities around keeping their staff engaged, actively representing their brand and competing effectively against their larger rivals.”

With over twenty years’ Australian and international senior HR experience across six industries, together with exposure to corporate, blue collar and FIFO HR environments, Greg has the expertise to back his claims. “Outsourcing certain elements of your business to a subject matter expert who gets to know your business simply makes sense. Bare Bones Consulting are genuine experts in human resources and we want to share this expertise to help you get ahead. We show you what documents you need for your business size and type, how to find the best people, techniques to retain your high performers and what you can do to ensure your team operate at optimal level for competitive advantage. We know what HR systems work, how to tailor these specifically to your business and we know the importance of keeping things simple. Small business has always had advantages over big business in innovation, the ability to readily adapt to changing business conditions and having one to one contact with customers. Bare Bones Consulting now offers all small and medium sized businesses the opportunity to level the playing field when it comes to access to expertise…at a fraction of the cost of hiring an in-house HR professional. It’s simple HR at work.”