Whether you’re a small business without an internal HR department or a medium-sized business that needs assistance with a complex HR issue, you might be considering hiring a specialist consultant to help. A HR consultant can assist you with specific projects, offer tailored advice on an ad-hoc basis or create legally compliant documentation for your company.
In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about HR consulting so you can decide if hiring a consultant is the best decision to help your business progress and reach its full potential. This blog includes:
- What is an HR consultant?
- What does an HR consultant do?
- Why hire an HR consultant?
- Benefits of hiring an HR consultant
What is an HR consultant?
Unlike an internal HR manager, an external Human Resources consultant is usually hired on a contractual or ad hoc basis. They’ll typically work with a wide range of clients, offering temporary solutions or long-term support, depending on the company’s needs. An HR practice might be hired to conduct a pay review, offer advice on a potential issue, or oversee day-to-day HR needs.
What does an HR consultant do?
HR professionals offer a wide range of services for small and medium-sized businesses, including creating employee contracts and absence management. Consulting practices can offer expert advice on a short project or help businesses create tailored HR policies that are effective in the long term. An HR consulting business might focus on one specific area of HR or offer widespread human resources management services.
Here’s an overview of typical services an HR consulting firm might offer:
- Legally compliant employee contracts
- Tailored employee handbooks
- Absence management
- Performance management
- Change management
- Development and skills masterclasses
- Employee wellbeing
- Conflict resolution
Ultimately, HR consultants offer tailored solutions to their clients that offer sustained long-term value, providing expert advice, assistance, and documents according to their clients’ unique needs.
Why hire an HR consultant?
You might be unsure why a company would hire an HR consultant, especially if they have their own internal HR department.
There are a few reasons why a company might rely on a consultant: they don’t have an internal HR team, they have a small or inexperienced HR team, or they need help with a complex project or HR issue that their internal team does not have the time, experience or resources to oversee. Larger companies might also hire an external HR consultant to give them an outside perspective on their HR policies and processes or use their expert problem-solving skills for a complex case.
They are often also used when a company wants to introduce changes that impact employees’ roles, referred to as organisational design and development.
So, it’s important not to think that HR consultants are only for small companies without an HR department, as this is simply not the case.
Benefits of hiring an HR consultant
Employees are one of the most valuable assets to any organisation, so it’s essential that you have adequate policies in place to manage your staff and invest in human capital management. Here’s an overview of the main benefits of hiring an HR consultant for your organisation.
Professional expertise
Hiring an external consultant means you’ll benefit from their years of experience and HR expertise. They’ll have the qualifications, knowledge and skills to offer the HR advice, recommendations, and guidance that your company requires to grow. An HR consultant can create or streamline your existing HR policies to ensure they’re legally compliant and align with your organisation’s goals.
Cost-effective
Hiring an HR consultant is often a more cost-effective solution than hiring an in-house HR team, especially for small businesses. You can pay for their services on an ad-hoc basis, as and when you require them, or on a contractual, retainer basis if you know you’ll need ongoing support.
Hiring an HR consultant also ensures that your company fully complies with all relevant legislation to avoid costly penalties and reputational damage.
Create tailored solutions
An HR consultant can create bespoke solutions that meet your business plan, needs and requirements. If your business requirements change in the future, for example, as your company expands, the solutions offered can be changed to reflect that. Hiring a consultant on an ad hoc basis means you can request additional support for a pay review or busy recruitment period when needed.
Streamline HR processes
By creating or streamlining your company’s HR processes, policies and documentation, a consultant ensures they are legally compliant and as effective as possible. Whether through performance management or employee well-being, this can help your company reach its full potential.
Grow your business
By handling complex and time-consuming HR tasks, like employee documentation, an external HR consultant gives you time to focus on core business activities and management skills. This allows your management team to achieve long-term goals and objectives more quickly.
Protect your company
An HR consultant can handle employee complaints or grievances legally, mediate workplace disputes or conflicts, and advise on redundancies and terminations to ensure that your company is fully protected from legal issues.
Professional HR Consulting by Trusted HR
If your business needs help with an HR issue, problem or project, our team of professional HR consultants can help. Our team members are fully qualified, up to CIPD Level 7, with many years of experience, and can help you manage your case to its successful conclusion.
Whether you need short, medium or long-term support, our HR consultancy service is the perfect solution. Trusted HR provides valuable, professional consultancy to a range of organisations across the UK. Our team can assist you with various projects, such as a pay review, TUPE or redundancy, offering guidance, advice and recommendations to help your business grow. If you require ongoing assistance, we also offer three levels of retainer HR support.
We know that every company is unique; therefore, everything we do is tailored to our clients. Our HR consultants focus on your organisation’s values and goals to create bespoke HR documentation and personalised recommendations.
We can help with:
- Employee Contracts and Handbooks
- Change Management
- Organisation Design and Development
- Employee Wellbeing
- Absence and Performance Management
- Conflict Resolution
- Managing Conduct
- Management and Leadership Development
Request a consultation to learn more about how our consultancy service can help your organisation succeed. Trusted HR offers a free, 45-minute, no-obligation consultation on any HR issue to help you get started.
