Meet this computer, it's your new HR person

I often think about all of these new HR platforms and software programs being rolled out to small businesses.  These programs tout many amazing things like the fact that employers will be able to handle administration with a click of a button, or that insurance/payroll/hr can be automated to the point where you won't need someone in those roles.  I'm actually surprised that these systems don't say that they'll generate top-line revenue for your company (maybe some day they will).

Aside from administration being a total pain in the ass, I do believe that it serves a useful purpose.  Young folks entering into the HR field these days will gain valuable experience filling out forms and documents.  It's not the act of filling out documents, but understanding other crucial elements of "document completion" which includes:

1.  Why the documents are being filled out;
2.  Who requires the documents to be filled out:
2.  Where can I take shortcuts and where can I definitely not take shortcuts;
3.  What happens if the documents aren't filled out the right way;
4.  What are the consequences of an incorrectly filled out form;
5.  What happens in those weird, one-off instances where the system doesn't know what to do;
6.  When an employee signs something and I sign something, what does that really mean?

Here's an example. I used to handle HR administration back in the days of Third Eye Blind and Crystal Pepsi, and one of the things that I did was complete an I9 and go over it with employees.  I knew I9's inside and out, so well in fact that I went to a training session put on by an HR executive and an immigration attorney and left feeling like I could teach class to other HR folks.  It was incredibly informative, but it was put on by a lawyer, and we all know how I feel about lawyers.  I learned a lot of great information at that session. I learned potential pitfalls, what to do in strange circumstances, and even the intricacies of collecting identification documents. I know. I was a nerd.

Fast forward to today, where many companies are using HRIS platforms, benefit systems, and online document completion.  I was talking to friend of mine who owns a small engineering firm about how they complete I9's and he just replied with "The system does it."  The hair on the back of my neck stood up a little, but I didn't bristle.  I then asked how the system handled remote employees.  The response again was "I just click a box and the system handles the rest."   At this point I didn't argue (although I thought about sending him in the direction of the closest Immigration Attorney) but told him to be careful in case he ever has an I9 audit.

I'm not saying that companies need to hire a person just to handle I9's. And I'm also not saying that they shouldn't use I9 software or automation. What I am saying is that anyone signing an I9 should be aware of the proper way to complete the document. They should also be aware of the consequences for not completing an I9 correctly.  Most of the individuals signing I9's don't even realize that they're signing them under the penalty of perjury.  And if things go badly, and a Notice of Inspection hits your mailbox, you better be sure that "The system handles my I9's" is not going to be looked at with any sympathy.

HR needs to figure out business before boldness

The other day I stumbled onto a post on LinkedIn that seems to be making it's way around various HR circles.  After reading the article I figured I'd weigh in on its main argument that HR needs to be more bold.  It's not that I disagree with being bold or that I think being bold is a bad idea, it's just that being bold is a small piece of what HR practitioners really need to be. Sure, HR needs to be risk takers, gutsy, and all of those other exciting words that make your heart pump faster. But at the end of the day, what HR really needs to be is better businessmen and businesswomen.

HR has relied on scare tactics, fear, and "compliance" to push their agenda for too long.  Yes the DOL, EEOC, and all of those other spooky government agencies are huge pains in the ass, but they're a necessary evil. And to be honest, many business leaders look at HR as a necessary evil too.  So stop approaching the HR function in a vacuum; HR is an important component of a business but at the end of the day it exists for the same two reasons that every job in a company exists:  Increase revenue and decrease expenses. Forget that and you should just pack your shit up, leave the office, and go home for the rest of the month (or year).

My advice for those of you who are currently in HR or who plan on going into HR is to sear the following ideas into your brain:

1.  Embrace Bold Finance:   You have to do this in our current business environment.  The minute that we start caring more about being loud and gutsy than about earnings and revenue is the minute that we'll change this heading to Embrace Bold HR. But don't hold your breath. Instead, get a firm grasp of income and expenses. know how to interpret and unpack financial statements, and understand the critical impact that revenue has on a business.  Use your problem-solving brain to learn a little more about A/P, A/R, forecasting, budgeting, and taxes.  Hell, payroll tax should be near and dear to your heart if you plan on being in HR for the long haul.

2. Salespeople are Weirdos:  Weird like a fox.  You may think of salespeople as being flashy, arrogant, fake, or phony.  It's the department that spends money like water, dresses way too nice, and will waterboard their own mother for an opportunity to bump their commission check up by $50. The bottom line is that these folks bring in the dollars that pay everyone's salary, including yours.  Sales isn't easy, and while these employees have greater earning potential than other non-sales employees, they can also be around one day and gone the next.  HR needs to learn how to embrace the sales culture and figure out how to use it to their company's advantage.

3.  IT is Crucial:  I'm not talking about the IT guy down the hall that sets up your computer and spills coffee on your keyboard while he's deleting Spotify from your machine.  I'm talking about Data and Information professionals who can read, write, and understand code.  Valuable IT employees grasp the notion of how software and hardware interact with one another, and you should too. Data is a critical component of business these days. Gathering data, creating data, storing data, securing data, and disseminating data is the lifeblood of business.  As more IT efforts head to the cloud and SaaS platforms, the people who manage these programs and areas will become essential to business (I'm looking in the direction of DevOps and TechOps).  Once you're able to talk intelligibly with these employees you'll be that much better of an HR professional, and you'll be respected a heck of a lot more.

4.  Lawyers are Assholes:  For the most part this is true. I know this because I work with a lawyer almost everyday.  He also gave me permission to write this sub-topic, but he remembered to remind me that his permission wasn't technically legal advice.   Rather than going too far down this rabbit hole let's just all agree that the good Doctors of "Jurisprudence" protect you and your company, and in turn that protects everyones paychecks.  Also, it's very important to recognize that you, as an HR professional are not a lawyer.  There are positives and negatives to this, but never confuse providing FMLA information to an employee as giving legal advice.

5.  Understand Your Business: I don't care if you work for a startup, a public company, a non-profit, or a government contractor.  You absolutely must know and understand how your company makes money, how they spend money, and what goes on in between these two points.  You can't be a good HR professional, a good co-worker, or a good employee if you don't understand how and what real success and failure looks like.  Real success and failure is defined by leadership, and more often than not it comes in the forms of numbers.  So as they say in rap songs, if you don't know you better ask somebody.

When you want to know how your HR job affects the big picture, here's an idea: go ask your boss about what you can personally do to have an impact on the top line and the bottom line.  Then GO DO IT.  If your boss doesn't have an answer for you, then go ask his or her boss.  Ambition goes a long way in this world. And the next time you're feeling bold, take a deep breath, open your web browser, and download a good book from Amazon.

Where HR and Legal Software Ends and Consulting Begins

Automation affords small businesses great power when addressing HR and legal issues. We know, because we run software for our clients that in turn makes our lives easier.

However, these useful tools have their limits when solving many out-of-the-box problems that small businesses face. We've thus dedicated this post to point out the price that many clients pay when using software solutions for HR and legal issues.

1. Software might not provide the security you need.

With many well designed software solutions, we are often shocked at the lack of security afforded to employee and company information. When walking through software with our tech clients--who are admittedly more knowledgeable on the technical aspects of data security--we often notice gaping holes.

For example, do you know that some of the links that software products create to store your employee and company information are simply not secure? In several instances, we've demonstrated software workarounds where sensitive information--financials, SSNs, salary, immigration compliance, tax filings, and employee identification--is only a click away with an open URL?

Moreover, software does not have the professional responsibilities that professionals, particularly attorneys, follow to protect their clients' confidential data? For example, a software program does not afford attorney-client privilege for compliance issues. An attorney does.

2. Software can leave you high and dry when it does not give you adequate insurance

We are fully supportive of the recent advances in technology that are disrupting the outdated insurance brokerage model. However, it rarely makes sense to leave insurance decisions up to an office manager or overburdened CEO. As cheap as most insurance policies are, we almost always find instances where businesses have spared a dime on insurance when better human guidance would provide them needed protection.

3. Employee agreements are often insufficient when an employer uses boilerplate offer letters

From an attorney and HR manager perspective, we are shocked at the gaping risks that employers leave on the table when they cut and paste an employee's name or contractor's name into an existing offer letter or independent contractor agreement. Yes, you're saving a few hundred dollars on lawyer fees by not drafting a unique agreement for each hire. But, you'd be wise to have an HR manager or attorney spend 20 minutes verifying that the agreement fits the proposed role.

This is just one example of a boilerplate document or process that creates risks for employers. We'll save things like employee handbooks, noncompetes, non-disclosures, compensation policies, and non-discrimination polices for another day. Suffice it to say that there is a middle ground between automated materials and partner-level legal drafting. 

4. A missing human touch leaves employees feeling cold

As much as we all think that we can rely solely on digital contact, the human touch still has a big role in the workplace. For instance, how do you bring your employees into your business? Do you simply have them log into your payroll software, fill out some forms, and start working?

While we don't recommend arduous intake processes, we do advocate for a personal touch in some practices. We find that a human approach up front goes a long way for communicating things like workplace culture, expectations, promotion policies, and an explanation of benefits.

We are constantly evaluating our use of technology with a keen eye on what software does best and what where we need to add a human face.