HR and recruitment are some of the most important aspects of your business because your employees are your greatest asset. Hiring the right people and ensuring that they are well looked after is the only way to drive your business forward.
Using a Virtual Assistant is an effective way to improve your HR and recruitment processes, especially if you are a small business owner, and you already have a lot of other responsibilities to manage.
Why are HR and recruitment so important?
Without the right team behind you, your business can't grow. It doesn't matter how effective you are as a business owner. You cannot manage every aspect of the company on your own, so you need a reliable team.
Hiring the wrong candidate can be incredibly costly to your business, so you must have an effective recruitment process in place. It is estimated that the total cost of hiring and training a new employee is over £30,000, which means that you cannot afford to make mistakes.
It's not just the financial costs you have to consider either; you also need to think about how it will affect productivity. A lot of time and resources go into training a new employee, and that is all wasted time if you end up replacing them shortly afterward because they aren't a good fit.
Employee retention is equally important as an estimated 64% of people consider leaving their jobs in the next year. Although many people assume that salary is the driving force that encourages people to change jobs, that is not the case. Only 12% of employees leave a job for more money. It is more likely that people leave jobs because they are unhappy with the benefits they receive or have issues with the work environment. Your HR department manages things like benefits and holiday allocations, all of which are important factors in employee retention.
Training and development is another important HR process that helps to drive business growth. 74% of employees surveyed expressed a desire for more training at work. When you invest in training for your employees, the business benefits from the new skills they develop.
Managing workplace discrimination is also an important function of your HR department. Studies show that 3 out of 5 employees have witnessed discrimination based on age, race, gender, or sexual orientation.
Relevant: Listen to our podcast on Intersectionality in the workplace
As an employer, it is your responsibility to protect your employees from discrimination and put processes to deal with this kind of behavior. Your HR department should have a clear complaints procedure in place, so employees feel safe coming forward, and there are consequences for discrimination in the workplace.
All businesses run on their employees' strength, which is why HR and recruitment are so important. These processes allow you to source the best candidates, provide a smooth onboarding period, and ensure that your employees are happy and healthy, so they work productively.
Why do small businesses struggle with HR and recruitment?
Many small business owners feel that their HR and recruitment processes are not up to scratch, and this has a negative impact on the company. But why do so many small businesses struggle in this area?
Usually, it comes down to time management. When you first start the business, you may have one or two employees unless you are running the business alone. It's not too difficult to keep track of a very small number of employees, even if you have many other duties to manage.
However, as the business grows and your workload increases, it's easy to lose sight of HR and recruitment tasks and let them fall by the wayside. As a small business owner, you are trying to direct your business and develop new product ideas, manage your finances, handle marketing and sales, and motivate your team at the same time. Juggling HR and recruitment on top of all of that is so difficult, which is why most small business owners don't dedicate enough time to these important areas.
One potential solution to this is to hire more staff and create a large HR department, but that is not cost-effective. Many business owners are instead opting to use a Virtual Assistant to help them manage the HR workload. Virtalent matches business owners with skilled Virtual Assistants who can help with many tasks, including those involved in HR and recruitment processes.
How to use a virtual assistant to improve your HR and recruitment
If you have difficulty managing your HR and recruitment workload, hiring a Virtual Assistant is one of the most cost-effective ways to improve processes. These are some of the ways that a Virtual Assistant can help your business.
Screening candidate CVs to help you find top talent
Screening CVs is the most time-consuming aspect of the hiring process. When you have a business to run, you don't have time to filter through hundreds of CVs to find the best candidates.
Although there is screening software available, this only searches simple keywords, and it can screen out good candidates. However, a Virtual Assistant can search through all of the CVs for you and, based on your list of essential skills and qualities, pick the most suitable candidates for interview.
Arranging interviews and placing job ads
A Virtual Assistant can also help with some of the recruitment process's logistical aspects, like placing job ads and arranging interviews. Placing job ads involves contacting a lot of organizations and job boards.
Scheduling interviews can be a lengthy process because you need to balance the schedules of the candidates and the interviewers. A qualified Virtual Assistant can handle all of this admin on your behalf, so all you need to do is conduct the interview.
Orienting and onboarding new staff
Regardless of their experience, a new employee always requires some level of training and orientation when they start in a new position. There is paperwork to fill out and arrangements to be made for their first day.
A Virtual Assistant will conduct a follow-up call after the interview and discuss these details with the new employee. They can then send the contract and preside over the finalizing of the offer. Arranging all of these small details is time-consuming, but it is important to handle it correctly to ensure that you are compliant with employment laws.
If references and qualifications need to be checked before a formal offer can be made, a Virtual Assistant can do that as well.
Minimizing admin by managing leave and absences
Leave and absences are an unavoidable part of the business. Your employees are only human, and sometimes, they need time off work.
However, there is a lot of admin involved in tracking annual leave and absences. A Virtual Assistant can help you avoid admin overload by managing requests for annual leave and approving them, making the process much quicker for employees.
They can also create a detailed schedule, so you know exactly when employees are on holiday and can account for it. Your Virtual Assistant will file all of the necessary sickness paperwork and communicate with the accounts team so they can arrange for sick pay.
Coordinating training for you or new team members
Training is an essential part of business development, but it can be a logistical nightmare. Coordinating training sessions, whether for yourself or for your employees, requires a lot of admin and organization.
Many small business owners don't provide the training that their employees need because they simply don't have time to organize it. A virtual assistant can deal with the logistical side for you and set up training sessions, so you don't miss out on good opportunities for personal and business development.
Keeping on top of databases and recruitment software
Recruitment software and databases can be a huge asset during the hiring process. They allow you to collect candidate information and track the whole process from start to finish. They also include tools for screening CVs and posting job adverts too.
The problem is, managing a large database of candidates can be very labor intensive, even though it's easier than tracking things via email and spreadsheets.
If you want to get the most out of your recruitment software, you need somebody to dedicate a lot of time to it. A Virtual Assistant can be that person, and they can manage databases, so whenever you have a position to fill, they will be able to draw up a list of suitable candidates.
Conclusion
HR and recruitment are so important if you want your business to thrive, but many small business owners do not have the time to dedicate to these vital areas. However, a Virtual Assistant can help to manage that workload, so you don't have to make any sacrifices where your HR and recruitment processes are concerned.
When you use a Virtual Assistant to help with your HR and recruitment processes, you can make better hiring decisions and avoid costly mistakes, which helps to drive your business forward. You can rest easy in the knowledge that your employees are being looked after properly as well.
Finally, a reduced personal workload allows you to focus on other revenue-generating areas of the business. If you want to unlock your business's full potential, consider hiring a Virtual Assistant to manage your HR and recruitment right away.
