People in business – a hindrance or help? |
Two short articles from our new Business in Berkshire member, Colin Griffiths, HR-SA Limited People in business – a hindrance or help? I have heard many times that if it weren’t for people, running a business would be easy. I have also heard the comment that all of the employment legislation makes it too difficult to set up, run, expand or change a business. That has never been my view. I firmly believe that it is possible to work within these two constraints and make any business successful. The key thing we need to recognise is that the vast majority of employees just want to go to their workplace and do a good job, with acknowledgment of this being shown to them in fair and equitable treatment, with recognition of their contribution. If we recognise all of this, why do we have the raft of legislation we do? Because in many cases there was not the fair and equitable treatment employees were seeking. What we need to do is make sure that through adopting fair and equitable employment practices we can maximise the commitment of our employees and at the same time minimise the impact of employment legislation. It is only by doing this that we can all prosper. When do you call for help? We often decide that we can adopt the ‘DIY’ approach and do things ourselves as we have convinced ourselves this will save us money. I have done it myself in doing jobs around the house – but then found that the time it took and the total cost involved was more than if I had sought help from someone with more skills and experience in the task than I had. I have found that the same experience can be applied to the various people and employment issues which can surface out of nowhere. In the past I have had calls from managers who had adopted the ‘DIY’ approach, things had not gone the way they had expected them to, and they then found they had a bigger problem to deal with. They sought help, but the cost of overcoming the problem was more than if they had asked for that help at the outset. The biggest challenge was to get those managers to accept that whilst they were ‘experts’ in their own field and were doing a good job, they could not be all things to all people. To ask for help in particular circumstances was, in fact, a sign of their own development. The key principle we instilled in those managers was never to be too proud to ask for help or guidance. It worked and the incidence of problems diminished considerably. It became known as the ‘if in doubt – ask HR’ rule. www.businessinberkshire.co.uk/hrsa/ |
UK Social Media Business Awards
Enter Competition
Award Sponsor
Modern Selling
Award Sponsor
The Marketing Blog
Award Sponsor
