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6 Common HR Mistakes Made By Startups

When you want your startup to do well, you need to have a team that is dedicated, experienced and competent. This is where the human resource team steps up and recruits people who have the potential to work together and are skillful enough to bring something to the table.

The HR is also responsible for training and retaining the team as well as proactively strategizing the solutions for sustaining the team productivity that will be the force of your startup. There are various other reasons that make HR an integral part of any startup.

Therefore you need to avoid some commonly made mistakes when dealing with the HR part of your startup.

1- Not Hiring an HR Expert

To cut costs, many startups end up hiring people with no significant experience as the members of their core HR team. They fail to understand the complexities of HR work and therefore make the decision of hiring just about anyone for the role.

While it may look easy, the work that an HR does is complicated and requires some amount of knowledge and experience. Therefore, be careful when selecting your HR team and only hire the most competent.

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2- Not Making an Employee Handbook

It is always better to specify your employee expectations beforehand to ensure the people you are hiring are on the same page as you. Many startups don’t have an employee handbook specifying the dos and don’ts of their organization and this creates confusion on a later stage.

To avoid conflicts with your employees, prepare an employee handbook and make your employees sign an agreement form where they agree to all the policies beforehand.

3- Not Giving Your Employees Proper Classification

When you are hiring people, there are many times you will like to hire someone on a temporary basis or on a training period like an intern before making them permanent. It is important to classify them properly when they are hired and when they are transitioning from a temporary to a permanent position.

This will help set boundaries and establish the capacity in which the employees are working on. You can take help from Bizneo.com to keep track of your employees and their classification to avoid any confusion later on.

4- Not Handling Payroll Properly

When you are just starting out, it is easier to fall behind on financial matters like the payroll. If you make mistakes, you might own the government more money than what you planned and might have to pay penalties to the IRS. Don’t take this responsibility if you can’t handle it and let your HR team take care of financial matters like your payroll, tax payments, worker compensation and tax documentation.

5- Neglecting the Development of Your Employees

Any functioning startup needs capable employees who are willing to learn and use their skills in the betterment of the startup. This is why you need to pay attention to employee development and offer training opportunities to make your employees realize their full potential.

The first day of your employees should include training along with their orientation. This way they will be motivated to learn new skills and this will ultimately benefit your startup. It has been proven that the professional development of your employees will make your business grow.

6- Not Holding the Team Accountable

An HR also checks and balances the work of your employees and makes sure everyone is working to their full potential. When you don’t hold the people working for you accountable for their mistakes, you are actually doing them and your startup a huge disservice.

When your employees are conscious of their mistakes, they work better and utilize their skills properly. This also helps them grow and get better at their job and therefore it is important to given constructive criticism whenever required.

The above were some common HR mistakes that we hope you will avoid to make your startup grow in the direction you want.

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