Introducing The HR4SMB Advocate blog

Hi! We’re FitwellHR and The HR4SMB Advocate is our new blog.  At your service! 

Why HR4SMB? 

Simple really.  We’re all about HR for small and midsize businesses, abbreviated SMB. Definitions vary, but we keep it simple by saying fewer than 100 employees is small and 100-999 is midsize. Non-profits are definitely included as we have a special place in our hearts for these mission-driven employers.

We believe SMB owners, executives and managers (and their employees) deserve the same expertise and resources to help navigate people-related business issues typically only found in larger organizations. The problem is that owners and their executives often don’t know what resources exist, think it’s too expensive, or perhaps question the value.  Some are so busy and so focused on their product, service, technology, or social mission that attention to the people side is taken for granted.  

Our mission is to leverage top-notch HR talent in service to SMB organizations in a simplified, affordable manner and with unquestioned value.  Our firm, FitwellHR, and this blog exist to serve the HR-related needs of SMB owners, people managers, employees and the HR professionals who support them. 

Why us? 

In our 15 years serving SMB employers with HR outsourcing, consulting, and staffing needs, we’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of people issues.  We’ve seen businesses that thrive and grow and those that stagnate or fail.  We’ve seen broken relationships cause misery and helped restore them to peaceful co-existence and thriving harmony.  We’ve experienced processes and practices throughout the employment life cycle that work well, and those that should be avoided. We know that a skilled and effective People Manager (aka team leader, supervisor, manager, leader) is critical to bring out the best in each employee and we have trained and coached managers to increase their skills. We know that leadership can and should exist throughout the organization, not just with those who hold a management title. We know that organizational culture and leadership are a product of how well the organization’s human resources are managed, not how abundant or well managed the capital or financial resources are managed.  (Proof: Organizations with lots of cash and credit and state of the art equipment and technology routinely stagnate and fail when they don’t have aligned cultures and effective leadership. We bet you can name a few.)  

Connecting PEOPLE and PURPOSE for PROFIT 

Human capital is the most significant source of achievement, growth, resilience, and longevity in an organization.  People represent more challenge and more opportunity for upside potential than equipment, financing, and technology.  An organization’s human resources account for the greatest differentiating factor in that organization’s ability to create and sustain value over time. Healthy organizations outperform and outlast the competition. Period. It’s the reason the mantra “people are our greatest asset” has been so often used as to have become trite and cliché.   

Every organization has an origin story, a purpose for being.  Organizations of all types and forms of ownership have in common the goal of growing, thriving, and adapting in pursuit of their purpose for existing.  For-profit enterprises exist to create value for shareholders, public or private.  Non-profits must use their resources wisely to remain viable. After all, "no margin, no mission."  Entrepreneurs often need to create an organization to realize the potential of their new product, service or solution from the original idea of the Founder(s). 

The magic happens when people and purpose are connected.  The connections are formed and sustained in each step of the employment life cycle.  Recruiting, assessing, selecting, onboarding, deploying, managing, developing, rewarding and exiting people in an aligned and integrated manner in sight of the organization’s vision, goals and objectives.  This is the stuff of HR.  Our job as HR professionals is to bring strategies, processes, tools, and technologies together to achieve the organizational objectives.  HR work must be both strategic and tactical/operational in approach.  HR strategies must be derived from the organization’s strategies, mission, vision and values. These aligned HR strategies must then be incorporated into each step of the employment life cycle. The true value of HR leadership is evident to the extent we are skilled at diagnosing problems impeding performance, predicting outcomes based on people data analytics, and prescribing actions to hire, train, develop, and reward people accordingly.

Ask any great leader about the secret to success and you’ll always hear something like, “It’s the people.”

HR in the SMB space is not one size fits all 

How small is too small for HR?  At what size should we hire someone to handle HR? Our (insert Controller, COO, CFO, Office Manager, Bookkeeper…) is handling HR and it’s working well, why should we change? At what size should we get an HR system? What types of HR outsourcing options are out there? All great questions that we’ve heard over the years.  The answers vary by organization, but there is a right answer for each that results in value added at an affordable cost.  We can help find the right answer. 

What we’ll blog about 

With each blog post, you can expect to see real stories shared about HR practices that work and some to avoid.  We’ll share applied insights, dispel myths and offer tips, hacks, tools and best practices that work.  We’ll address the evolving HR profession and what’s needed form HR leaders into the future. Along the way we’ll share great reads, research highlights and showcase the successes of HR leaders who’ve gotten it right.

To your success!