First HR Manager in an Established Company: How Do You Set Up and Prioritize Operations?

As the first HR manager in an established organization, how do you establish operations? What are the priorities? What is the recommended timeframe to be fully functional and in compliance? Thank you in advance.

Regards

Initial Processes for HR Operations

How big is your firm? The first few processes that you may need are hiring, new hire integration, payroll, employee database management, statutory and legal standards to be maintained, and exit procedures, if any.

Initially, aim for the basic processes and then build levels to expand. Avoid building dependencies. An audit is best when considered annually. Review the standards bi-annually.

Starting the processes might not take too much time, but perfecting them would. Designing it would be a continuous activity as you may need to revisit it as you work along.

Timeframe for Establishing Operations

Establishing the operations, if your firm is small to medium-sized, a quarter should be enough. If it's a bigger one, plan the implementation on a weekly basis and give it at least 5-6 months.

Thank you for responding. The company's size will be increasing from 225 to approximately 2,016 due to expansion within the next year. We currently have 15 geographically dispersed centers. Due to the expansion, this will increase to 70. My first thought was to conduct an audit. It would provide me with an assessment of the current state of HR operations. The outcome would help me establish a starting point.

Regards

It is surprising to note that you are the first HR manager in a company that already has 225 employees. They must have had an HR department and processes already. How did they manage until now?

Setting Up HR Operations

When setting up HR operations, you need to start with those that are already problematic, then move to potential issues, and finally to other areas that need streamlining or implementation. Generally, attendance and payroll will need to be taken care of. Without knowing the details of your current setup, it's difficult to say what you need to do.

Geographically Dispersed Model

But remember that you are moving to a geographically dispersed model. Therefore, new methods must be established for accurately recording attendance and validation. You will need to ensure there is a foolproof way to record attendance correctly or have someone trustworthy at the remote location to report any deviations and false attendance.

Leave Rules and Records

Leave rules and records are the second important consideration. After payroll, you need to establish job descriptions and the organizational structure (reporting patterns, responsibility matrix, etc.). Following that, proper employee records/files as well as appraisal methods need to be addressed.

Grievance Redressal Mechanism

A related task would be setting up a grievance redressal mechanism, including mandatory forums such as those for reporting sexual harassment and whistleblower policies.

HR processes, employee manuals, and related matters are next in line. There may be other tasks that you will need to add at various points in the process above.

Regards