How Big Should Our HR Team Be for a 200-Person E-commerce Company?

Hi, we are in the E-commerce industry, and our current company's strength is 200+ employees. I want to know what the exact size of the HR team should be for 200 employees, including a Recruiter.

Dear Sir,

As stated above, there is no written rule. It depends on the assigned role of HR in the organization, labor turnover (employee turnover), and the system of maintaining records, i.e., manual or computerized, etc. In normal circumstances, I prefer to have 1+3.

I agree with other posters. Apart from the above factors, having HRMS Software can tremendously reduce your HR team size. There are new ones on the cloud available these days for a fraction of the cost. Being in the e-commerce industry, you must be familiar with technology. If you are interested, we use beehivesoftware.in for our operations, which has significantly reduced our administrative workload. However, there is no substitute for a good HR team and efficient processes.

Hi,

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. For all statutory compliance, we have outsourced to a consultant. We also have HR software that automatically calculates working days and sends reports to the consultant. HR has very minimal work in payroll. I am asking this because we have 6-7 people in the HR team.

Dear Mr. Raghunathan,

Thank you for your reply. Five of them are recruiters, and after having five recruiters, most of my recruitment is done by consultants. So I'm not sure what they are doing. One is an HR Manager, and the other one is an HR Executive. As I mentioned, all my payroll has been outsourced to consultants. TDS calculation has been done by a Chartered Accountant. Therefore, the major HR work has been handled by the vendor.

Hi, normally, industries will prefer to have 1 HR for every 100 employees. Since you have 200 employees, you can consider having one Manager/Assistant Manager HR and 1 HR executive for the HR Team.

With Regards,
Nandini

There's no thumb rule for the HR strength vis-a-vis employee strength. It depends a lot on various factors. I have seen companies where the HR vs. company strength ratios are 1:200 and also, like your situation, 1:50. As other members mentioned, automating your HR operations reduces the headcount a lot... but it's NOT the headcount you need to focus on BUT the quality of those with you. Quite often, one person would be able to handle the workload of 3-4 persons... provided he/she is able [which is where your hiring/selection process comes into the picture].

In a lighter vein, why not hire our services... if ALL your hiring is through the consultant, then I guess your consultant is ripping you apart :-)

Without sounding apprehensive, have you checked IF there's any underhand dealing between your recruiters & the consultant? OR is it that the recruiters are able to get away with such a slipshod performance—in which case, it says a lot about the culture you have? It's time for the top management to ACT... not just think about it like a Govt. Dept.

Payroll can easily be handled with an HRMS... save on what the consultant is charging you for this. TDS may either be handled by your finance team OR continue with the CA... unless the CA charges on a per-deduction basis [which would be actually atrocious]. I fail to understand what your finance team is doing IF even the TDS has to be handled by the CA.

Regarding the Recruiters, put clear-cut targets to the recruiters... 1 closure per week/month or whatever you think is reasonable in your situation. IF he/she doesn't do it, begin the process of firing [First Verbal Warning, then a Show-cause Letter followed by a clear time-bound performance watch letter... IF he/she doesn't improve, then fire him/her].

A Word of Caution

Many times the failure of the recruiters can be a consequence of a weak technical team OR their interviewing skills. Check out this angle before you focus directly on the recruiters. I know of many technical interviewers who ask the candidates questions based on what he/she knows AND NOT to find out what the candidate knows. IF this indeed is the case, train the recruiters to ASK for detailed JDs even before they start their work.

Since you have not mentioned the number of hirings you do per month on average, I wouldn't be able to give clear suggestions here... but going by the general norms and your company strength of 200, my guess is that your hirings/month would be 4-6 persons at best. Please correct me if not. If yes, I don't see any reason for more than 2 recruiters. UNLESS your attrition rates are horrible... which would be a different issue altogether... OR your technical panel has lacunae.

I am sure you would need to discuss this with your management... not sure of your designation/level. But suggest making a comparative table of what the recruiter salaries are per month and what you are paying the consultant. I am sure you can arrive at a logical and convincing argument to push through the firing of excess recruiters.

Also, before suggesting regarding any HRMS, evaluate a few HRMS software vis-a-vis the features and costs before you suggest this.

All the Best.

Regards,
TS

Dear Friend,

I agree with all opinions, but I would like to suggest that you may appoint three well-experienced HR members (HR Manager, HR Executive, and Computer Operator cum Office Assistant) and pay a good salary.

Because someone said:
"If you fulfill the wishes of your employees, the employees will fulfill your visions."