HR: An Island of One?
A Little About Myself
Since college, I’ve worked exclusively in the Atlanta technology startup world, growing my career from Office Manager/Executive Assistant to now being the Director of Human Resources. During this long journey, I have almost always been a team of one, wearing many hats and never quite knowing what I would be working on the next day, week, or even month.
I’m much more of a generalist in regards to human resources, but working at startups over the years has made me a specialist in more peculiar areas such as creating an incredibly fun culture through regular team events (weekly happy hours, a company team in a bocce ball league, 2-day whitewater rafting trips every summer, and a Thanksgiving potluck every year), being the designated “Swag Queen” who knows just the right items everyone will enjoy, and the all so important office beautification, which of course includes an entertainment/gaming area, espresso machines, and an oversized bean bag.
One trait I feel you must have while working at an early-stage company or startup is being resourceful. It’s important to be able to dig deep and find the inner workings and solutions for your company’s specific goals and roadblocks – sometimes regardless of whether it’s necessarily listed in your official “job responsibilities” or not.
My advice to you is to make an effort and be willing to go outside of your comfort zone to find what you truly enjoy doing and what you don’t. If you don’t like it and it’s not a part of your direct job responsibilities, draw that line in the sand. If you enjoy random responsibilities such as ordering swag, as I do, take that “Swag Queen” crown and wear it proudly!
Zero to Hero
Small companies, especially early-stage startups, don’t have the need or budget to build out an entire department dedicated to human resources, so the vast responsibilities of many usually fall on one person’s shoulders. If you’re the first HR hire at a startup like I was, you will most likely be tasked with building out the entire HR mechanism from the ground up because there is no existing foundation.
Obviously, this can get incredibly overwhelming, but please don’t panic! I will share a few tips and tricks that I’ve found helpful along the way.
Building Something from Nothing
On day one, it’s important to start getting employee buy-in, so I like to schedule 1-on-1’s with the leadership team, management, and long-term employees. These meetings are particularly important if your company is mostly or even partially remote since you likely won’t have much face-to-face time in the immediate future.
During these 1-on-1’s, the main focus is to learn about your coworkers: their current role at the company, their backgrounds, maybe a bit about their personal lives, and to share the same information about yourself. These meetings will help you to create positive relationships across the board in every department.
They will let your coworkers know that you’re genuinely interested in each individual’s growth and interested in the company, that you are actively interested in hearing their wants and needs, and that you are excited to start enacting positive changes within the company where desired and where necessary. They will also help give you a sense of where the company culture stands, what's working and what’s not, how everyone feels about transparency, the efficiency of the team’s communication, and the company's current path.
Employee Angst
Younger employees are incredibly important to technology startup companies because of their fresh ideas and IT skills. If you’re working with a younger, freshly graduated group of employees, their perspective is generally that HR professionals are intimidating and scary. An understandable perspective, given that our portrayal in the media shows us as only having the company’s interests in mind and that our sole purpose is to make strict rules and reprimand employees.
Your first job is going to be to change those perspectives! We are not here to make lives miserable. We are here to protect the company’s interests, yes. But we are first and foremost here to curate a positive company culture, keep employees happy and motivated, make sure everyone is playing fairly and being respectful to one another, and create the foundation of processes and policies to ensure that the company is working intelligently and efficiently.
How I typically go about disarming myself and reshaping those preconceived notions about my role at the company is by getting on their level. Whether it be the generally shy computer “nerds”, to the “sports bros” – I find out what their interests and passions are, and I either find a way to relate to those topics personally or let them know that I’m interested in learning more, and ask lots of questions.
The important thing here is to truly LISTEN! People love to share their passions with others, and it’s an incredibly effective, fun, and positive way to make meaningful connections. And if all else fails, I have a myriad of incredibly cute photos of my dogs that I’m ready to whip out at any moment. And really, who doesn’t like pictures of adorable animals?
Next Steps
Another thing I would suggest is an audit of all company-wide software being used. For instance, whether there’s an HRIS / HRMS / HCM in place (and if it’s working efficiently), whether an org chart exists, and who handles recruiting, offer letters, payroll, tracking of hours, expense reports, approval process, etc. Everyone has their preferred way of handling each of these items, so it’s entirely up to you and the leadership team to decide what works best for you and the company and what, if anything, you’d like to change.
Then comes some people’s least favorite thing to tackle: company-wide policies and processes. In my experience, especially in the startup world, early-stage startups often have little or nothing documented. Sometimes important processes or company-wide policies have never been verbalized or even thought of at all.
The good news is that once you have the lay of the land and buy-in from the important stakeholders, you’ll be able to map out which projects you’ll need to tackle first. I’m a weirdo and actually enjoy making checklists and spreadsheets that help keep me organized and visualize my priorities. But you do you. This is now your circus and your monkeys. Do it the way that works for you!
How to Tackle Being Overwhelmed
I recently undertook the daunting task of creating an entire employee handbook from scratch. I’ve helped create employee handbooks in the past, but also had the help of several colleagues in putting the document together. This time around, however, I was on my own and fairly overwhelmed by the scope of the project. I knew I just had to start with a simple framework and go from there.
After collecting several examples of top-notch employee handbooks, I started by drafting a simple table of contents. Remember: there is no need to completely reinvent the wheel – just tailor existing resources to meet your needs.
Once I knew exactly which sections I wanted to be included and in which order, I started compiling each section one by one. My original table of contents shifted and morphed along the way, but that was the original backbone that kept the project together (and kept me mentally sane). Everything then started falling into place, piece by piece.
After several weeks and many many hours of staring at documents on my computer screen, my employee handbook started taking shape. At long last, it was completed – all 42 pages of it!
Positive Outlook
All of that to say, if you start with positive relationships and a good roadmap of where you want to go, you can figure out how you want to get there. Just remember to start small, don’t get overwhelmed by the big picture, enlist the help of others, and use the resources you (and others) already have on hand.
It may feel like you’re in this alone, but you’re not the first one to create a human resources department, and it’s not cheating to responsibly use materials that are already out there in the public forum. Obviously, don’t go around copying and pasting word-for-word, but get ideas and language from those before you and create content tailored to your company’s needs. In other words, work smarter not harder – you’re not going to reinvent the wheel, no matter how much time you spend trying.
Good luck!