When your business grows, your HR requirements become more complex. Your human resources department will face a huge challenge as they attempt to attract, engage, and retain an expanding team.
HR can actually become a bottleneck that stifles your growth unless you have human resources experts to help you scale up. Fortunately, it is possible to expand your capacity by bringing in an Operational HR consultant who can lend you their HR expertise.
What is an Operational HR consultant?
Foundational HR covers the day-to-day basics: payroll, benefits, administration, and paperwork. Operational HR is a step up from that, helping you to run your human resources team as efficiently as possible.
Your Operational HR consultant can perform complex human capital-related tasks, including strategy and policy work. They can also provide support and leadership to your HR admin team. Businesses usually bring in an Operational HR consultant when they are:
- Scaling up: The consultant can help with large-scale recruitment and onboarding drives.
- Making improvements: A consultant can help implement a major new process, such as a new HRIS system.
- Addressing employee experience issues: Operational HR consultants can help tackle issues relating to employee engagement and staff turnover.
Operational HR consultants can bring real value to your team by providing you with:
- HR Expertise: Operational HR consultants have a deep reservoir of practical experience to draw from. They can teach you best practices, identify operational efficiencies, and help you understand compliance requirements.
- Rapid response: A consultant can join your team much more quickly than a full-time hire, and they will start delivering results right away.
- Flexibility: You can agree terms that suit your needs with your Operational HR consultant. For instance, if you have a temporary need for additional HR expertise, you can hire a consultant on a short-term contract.
- Fresh perspective: Sometimes, a fresh pair of eyes can make all the difference. A consultant can flag up problems and identify efficiencies that your in-house team might have missed.
Consultants bring a great level of HR expertise that can help your business grow. Let’s take a closer look at the things that Operational HR can deliver.
5 ways your business benefits from HR expertise
So, what can an Operational HR consultant deliver for your business? That depends on who you hire, their background and experience, and the terms of your engagement.
Here are some of the things that the right HR consultant can do for you:
1. Optimize your hiring process
A great hiring process will help you attract and retain the candidates you need for your team. Operational consultants can help by:
- Working with stakeholders to define job requirements
- Finding the smartest way to organize and structure interviews
- Making use of technology to reduce time-to-hire
- Overseeing and delivering the onboarding program
Your HR consultant will work with you to build a process that always puts the right person in the right vacancy.
2. Deliver employee career paths
Career paths are a key part of your total rewards strategy. When employees have a defined career path with professional development milestones, they’re likely to deliver more and stay with your organization for longer. An operational HR consultant can help here by:
- Developing individual career paths
- Organizing professional development programs
- Helping leaders manage employee career paths
Operational HR consultants will also think about diversity, equity, and inclusion in career pathing, and ensure that everyone is equally included.
3. Develop employee relations
HR’s ultimate goal is to strengthen employee relationships, helping build a team that will thrive. Operational HR consultants can help here in a number of ways, including:
- Monitoring employee engagement
- Assisting in voluntary and involuntary separations
- Overseeing performance management programs
A high-functioning HR team can spot potential employee issues before they become serious problems. This helps increase engagement and, ultimately, reduces staff turnover.
4. Implement policies and procedures
HR is often responsible for putting organizational policy into practice. Your consultant can help roll out new protocols, such as a respectful workplace policy or improved cybersecurity procedures. They do this by:
- Communicating with employees and educating them on policy details
- Monitoring engagement to ensure that everyone has received the training they need
- Dealing with any breaches or other subsequent issues
Changes in procedures can have an impact on employee engagement. A consultant with the right HR expertise can help you avoid potential pitfalls.
5. Get the most from technology
Technology plays a vital role in HR and the overall employee experience. You might sometimes need extra HR expertise to help you with things like:
- Rolling out new systems to users
- Developing internal processes that make the most of technology
- Supporting people with queries about IT
HR consulting partners can help you choose, install, integrate and optimize your new HRIS system to offer the maximum return on investment.
Get some extra HR expertise today
Operational HR is the ideal solution when you need high-level HR expertise right away. But it's important to choose an HR Outsourcing partner that understands your business and supports your goals.
Helios HR has been helping companies in the Greater D.C. area for over 20 years. If you'd like to avail of our HR expertise, why not book a no-obligation consultation call with Helios HR today.
