Introduction
With an expanding company, employee management can get quite complicated. There is a time commitment associated with the hiring of new employees and keeping records of their employment, as well as dealing with absences and keeping current with changing employment needs. In smaller companies, these roles can be shared by an owner/manager who is already handling sales and operations, and customer relationships.
HR support providers can assist companies arrange these tasks and create more standard procedures as their staff grows. This can range from HR outsourced services, HR software, payroll, recruitment, employee benefits and workplace wellbeing.
There’s no one size fits all answer. As an employer’s size increases, they may require specialist counsel on employment-related issues, or a small employer may require software to cut back administration or professional support in recruiting. The following five providers have proven their ability to provide HR and workforce related support of varying types that are worth considering by the needs of the UK businesses as they evolve.
1. Avensure – H&S, HR & Employment Law
Avensure offers Health & Safety, HR and Employment Law solutions to UK employers, tailored to the needs of businesses in order to manage employee responsibilities and workplace compliance. The firm claims to have been helping UK SMEs for over 14 years, and that it is used by over 7,000 UK businesses.
One of the realities is of a growing business is how to handle employee issues consistently. Avensure offers assistance on a day to day basis on all HR related matters including sickness absence, paid leave, grievances, disciplinary action, performance management and employee relations. It also offers help and advice on more complicated issues such as redundancies, dismissals, ACAS early conciliation, employment tribunal support and workplace discrimination issues.
It can also help with employment contracts, staff handbooks, HR policies and procedures, workplace investigations and advice on maternity and paternity leave. This is especially beneficial for companies without a human resource office, but which require expert advice and guidance regarding their employment related duties. If a completely standardized service isn’t what employees are seeking, then Avensure can provide a tailored HR package that suits specific business needs. Its packages may incorporate HR, Employment Law and Health & Safety support, a choice of HR Protect, H&S Protect and Total Protect.
The company’s bespoke HR packages also cover the use of its PeopleCloud platform, which includes tools for employee information management, leave and absence management, HR documentation, tasks, reporting, shift and rota management, overtime and time-keeping.
The combination of expert guidance and people-management technology can provide for expanding employers a systematic approach to their people responsibilities and enable them to focus on their broader business activities.
2. Employment Hero – HR, Payroll and Workforce Management.
Employment Hero is a one-stop solution for HR, payroll, recruitment and employee experience for UK businesses. It offers HR features that are geared towards collecting all of employee data and automating several common HR procedures that may otherwise require spreadsheets, email correspondence and manual administration.
It offers HR capabilities such as HR management, time and attendance, document management, leave management, onboarding, performance processes, and HR reporting. Employment Hero platform can be adopted by businesses to store employee data in a single place, and provide employees with the ability to perform some HR-related tasks via employee self-service. UK Payroll Software that is HMRC recognized is also available through Employment Hero. It has payroll integration that can be used for automatic RTI submissions, statutory payments and pension processes and timesheets and attendance data can be synced to payroll.
The platform also features recruitment capabilities, which can be beneficial for businesses experiencing growth in their staff. Vacancy management, candidate management, interview and onboarding, applicant tracking and salary benchmarking are some features that can assist in recruitment process, while employers can manage vacancies, candidates, interview and onboarding. (Employment Hero)
Employee experience is another aspect of Employment Hero. It has perks and benefits, earned wage access and other employee-centric features on its platform. This allows companies to have one system for various stages of the employment process instead of each one as a distinct administrative task recruitment, HR, payroll, and employee benefits.
When an SME is growing, consolidating employee data and streamlining repetitive tasks in the office can make the administration of the workforce easier. Depending on the processes and the size of the organization, as well as what functions it would like to combine, the platform will be appropriate to the organization.
3. Sage – Payroll and HR Administration
Sage is a long-standing accounting, payroll and HR software company, offering solutions to different sized businesses. The UK based payroll services cater to companies to ensure payroll processing, statutory deductions and compliance with payroll related obligations.
Sage Payroll can be used for small businesses for pay runs, tax and National Insurance calculations, workplace pension processes, payslips, P60s and payroll reporting. The software is HMRC-recognized and also has the capability of sending Real Time Information to HMRC.
Also available is Sage HR, the system that can be utilized for the core HR and leave management. There are other modules available including performance management, shift scheduling, timesheets, expenses and recruitment. It may also be possible to provide some information to employees via employee self-service, so that it does not have to be referred to a manager or administrator every time.
If a business already employs accounting software, then payroll integration can prove to be a useful tool, as it can help to minimize data duplication. For instance, Sage 50 Payroll integrates with Sage 50 Accounts, and provides reporting capabilities with the view to offering more visibility of the payroll information. As businesses grow, payroll isn’t just about calculating payroll. Employers must take into consideration tax, National Insurance, pension payments and payroll records. Many of these processes can be automated by software like Sage and a consistent system can be used to keep payroll information.
For smaller employers who may not have a full-time payroll department, there’s also the benefit of software that includes compliance changes and automatic calculations that minimize some of the manual workload in running payroll.
4. HR Consultants – Outsourced HR Support for Growing Businesses.
When businesses are growing, HR expertise can be a more valuable asset as there’s not enough work to warrant a full-time HR professional if it doesn’t exist. The HR Consultants is an HR outsourcing firm that specializes in HR support for businesses in the UK with 5-75 employees.
The consultancy provides practical assistance in day to day issues with employees, and more in-depth people-related projects. It provides services to clients, including CIPD-qualified consultants, who help with employee relations & employment law, general HR management, etc. According to the company, it has assisted over 500 companies. For a small or growing employer, it could mean that you can access expert advice without setting up a full-fledged HR team in-house. It can prove helpful when managers require advice on matters like grievances, disciplinary action, absence or performance issues, or alterations to employment conditions.
The HR Consultants also offer assistance beyond individual employee matters, for example, larger HR projects and guidance custom-made to the requirements of smaller organizations. It’s especially applicable to companies that are seeking HR professionals without letting go of their core business.
It can be useful to have an outside HR consultant to contact if the business owner or manager encounters situations they don’t know how to handle. Employers can use formal processes if they wish and have access to professional advice to establish more uniform practices for their workforce.
As an organization grows, its HR requirements are likely to change. Outsourced support may then be a solution for smaller employers to gain HR expertise and to decide when (or if) they require a larger in-house people function.
5. Perkbox – Employee benefits and Workplace wellbeing
The focus on employee benefit and wellbeing is now more than ever pertinent to employers who want to provide a positive employee experience. Perkbox offers an employee experience platform, combining benefits, discounts, wellbeing support, rewards and recognition.
Its wellbeing package includes mental, physical and financial wellbeing, and its platform includes employee assistance and other wellbeing resources, depending on the wellbeing package that the employer purchased. Perkbox also offer employee benefits and salary sacrifice schemes as well as discounts and rewards. The platform is built to allow employees to obtain access to the benefits they are eligible for all within one system, potentially simplifying employers’ accounts and communications of their employee offering.
Benefits can be included in the broader employee experience program, for a growing business. While pay is still a significant aspect of employment, it might be prudent for employers to consider what other support they can provide to their staff. Those kinds of resources, recognition and savings can be a part of that larger picture in the workplace.
Reward and recognition are also built into the Perkbox platform, so that businesses can give back for employee successes and milestones. The benefits and recognition functions in a central place can be helpful for managers to have a structure in which to communicate benefits and recognition throughout a workforce. As a business expands, there may be a need to re-evaluate a benefits package for employees from time to time. An effective package for a small team could need to change as the team grows or becomes more diverse.
Conclusion
However, HR support isn’t only for solving issues once they have arisen. For small to medium-scale enterprises, implementing the proper systems and processes at the start of their business can make workforce management more efficient as they get bigger. The kind of support that is needed will be determined by business. There may be a need for professional advice and guidance with employment law and Health & Safety for some employers. There may be other employees who require software to handle HR administration and payroll, support in recruitment or a formal employee wellbeing and benefits scheme.
Additionally, it’s essential to think about the links between various HR duties. HR administration, leave/attendance and employee reporting on the workforce all makes use of the employee information that went into the recruitment process, while payroll requires accurate employee information. But benefits and wellbeing programmes are a component of the broader employee experience.
The five providers included here are all in different aspects of HR and workforce management. Avensure specialize in outsourced HR, Employment Law and Health & Safety support, Employment Hero offers an integrated employment solution, Sage offer payroll and HR software, Hays specialize in recruitment and workforce planning and Perkbox specialize in employee benefits, wellbeing and engagement. The key for business owners and managers in the UK is to determine where there are the highest pressures today in the business. Recognizing need can help in deciding if outsourcing HR expertise, workforce technology, recruitment or employee based services would be the best, most practical help at the next phase of growth.
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