Starting An HR Department In A Private School In South Africa

Hello everyone,
I see that Lara put up a similar post a few months ago but I cannot see any specific answer to her question regarding starting an HR department from scratch in a school environment. I am faced with the same challenge and I would love some input from anyone who currently runs HR in a school.
I cannot find any link to a school in SA that has an HR department and am guessing that this will be a first? (Guessing is not really my thing) So please could you let me know if you are aware of any SA school with an HR dept.
Thanks,
Lee-Ann

Greetings,

On the periphery you would need the HR Functions including recruitment , payroll, performance management, training and development and the statutory ones. Education sector per-se requires greater focus in training. Recruitment would be aligned to market standards with salary and grades similar to what is offered by the other schools. Performance management would be yearly with quarterly reviews and mentoring.

You are best to set the process map, given that only you would know which functions need not be elaborate. The policy and procedures would be best defined if you list your requirement to what is followed in the sector. Suppose there are 22 days leaves offered by the schools, and the encashment is only at the time of separation. You may have a different requirement for your teachers, while taking leaves. So you may either consider to credit the balance at the end of the year or encash the remaining balance annually.

You may not consider a bell-curve , if you are managing performance appraisal for a small team. Hikes can be considered on market revision and performance. Forms and formats are largely similar, unless you have a statutory standard to maintain.

As you shared, you are managing this for the first time, please consider hiring a Consultant to manage your statutory requirements. Build your knowledge and over a period of time, you would be good to handle it.

Please consider an audit at the end of each implementation. It would avoid the errors in the process. Repeatative process will settle with time, however training and recruitment are likely to remain fresh for long. Involve your team as you implement each process. Active participation and feedbacks will keep the system live.

I look forward to hear from you. Allow us to guide you as you work further. Wish you all the best !

Thanks (Cite Contribution) for your response.
I am looking for some material that I could read through on the inception of HR in education facilities (Schools) specifically. I have vast experience in HR but have never worked in a school environment.
I have found two publications on HRM in schools in the south african context but both focus on public (government) schooling.
The HRM in this school would be starting out but the school has been running for several years and employs about 200 people in total.
Please keep your comments coming in.
Lee-Ann