Outsourced HR improves your organization from the top down. Employees benefit from accessible HR expertise and a refined employee experience. Meanwhile, leadership gets more engaged workers and behind-the-scenes coverage to keep their company compliant. Those benefits rang true for Horizons for Youth, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization.
Small businesses often neglect HR until it’s too late. Sometimes that’s due to cost, and other times it’s because they think they can do it themselves. However, operating without HR is like sailing the Atlantic without a compass.
As such, Horizons for Youth’s executive director, Greg Borkowski, identified the need for more focused HR guidance. Horizons for Youth is a nonprofit organization that provides educational services for Chicago-based students. Their work is essential, so they needed organizational stability and cohesion to maintain it.
“We’re a relatively small organization, but that doesn’t mean our HR needs are less present or easier to manage. In fact, as a small organization, it’s even more important that we have expert attention and guidance,” he said.
The trick was identifying a solution that made sense for them. Enter ADDA’s outsourced HR services. In this blog, we’ll take a look at how ADDA’s HR expertise benefitted Horizons for Youth’s team.
How they handled HR before ADDA
As with many other smaller organizations, Horizons for Youth did their best with what they had. Employees wore multiple hats, including HR, and worked hard to keep things running smoothly. However, HR is complicated, so their results were predictably mixed.
“Prior to ADDA, we had internal employees managing issues that were outside their fields of expertise and impossible to manage in terms of necessary results, industry best practices, and compliance,” said Borkowski.
Essentially, they were in the middle of a temporary and shaky HR solution that had wobbled well past its conclusion. As a result, their employees needed expert human resources support, so they could lock in on the critical work they came to do.
Several options were available to them. First, they considered hiring in-house HR. While in-house HR is effective, it comes at a hefty cost. On top of the financial investment, recruiting and onboarding the new employee would take considerable time.
They also weighed software services to simplify the HR processes, but that didn’t quite go far enough toward solving their problem. While software would make for a great compliment to an HR team, they still needed the team.
So what does an organization do when they need an experienced human resources team without the costs of developing one in-house? In this case, they outsourced HR.
How outsourced HR “demystified the process”
Horizons for Youth’s employees immediately felt the impact of ADDA’s HR guidance. Our consultants swooped in, taking on the human resource workload that weighed down their staff.
“We’ve been able to appropriately allocate roles and responsibilities, freeing up time and reducing stress,” said Borkowski. That clarity made everyone’s lives easier, which translated into better performance. They had already put together a talented team, and now they all got to shine in their roles.
Additionally, ADDA’s outsourced HR experts contributed to a culture of trust and comfort at Horizons for Youth. Our team became a welcomed part of theirs.
“Our employees also have more trust in our HR process because they know they’re talking to experts. We’ve demystified the process,” Borkowski explained.
Outsourced HR provides your business with professionals who are ready to rock from day one. It’s cost-effective and time efficient. But what works for one company might not work for yours. That’s where the approach of your vendor makes all the difference. Executive Director Borkowski would agree.
“Most importantly, ADDA took time to understand our needs. Nothing is a bigger red flag than vendors who offer solutions they don’t know or understand. The resource provided is objectively superior, but the approach is foundational and essential.”
What small businesses need to know about outsourced HR
Outsourced HR could take you to the next level if you’re a small business or nonprofit organization. At the very least, it can keep your business safe and secure while you get there. Of course, the primary variable at play is finding the right vendor. In the spirit of that search, Borkowski offered three pieces of advice:
“1 – Don’t assume you can do it yourself or “manage” issues just because they may not happen frequently.
2- Be ready to articulate your needs to a potential partner. Sell them on you rather than the reverse.
3- Recognize the cost efficiency in having your leadership consult with HR expertise instead of accepting trial and error in figuring out an inherently challenging field.”
He’s right; human resources is challenging. It encompasses all of compliance, payroll, benefits, employee relations, and talent acquisition and management. That’s a lot to handle, especially without hands-on industry experience guiding your strategy.
Finding your HR solution, however, helps everyone in your organization. Even businesses with in-house HR staff benefit! In-house teams are often undersized. Therefore, outsourced HR consultants can fill in the gaps at a reasonable cost.
For example, HR Dive found that 54% of internal HR departments outsource benefits work, and 53% outsource payroll. Those are just the leading tasks too; there are plenty of opportunities beyond payroll and benefits. Instead of recruiting, hiring, and training an internal specialist for certain HR functions, your team can save money and time by working with HR consultants.
Whether you follow in the footsteps of Horizons for Youth or take your own route, make HR a priority. Your people will thank you.
ADDA can help you too!
Outsourced HR benefits businesses of every size. From HR administration to talent acquisition and everything in between, HR consultants boost those operations quickly. If your HR needs help, schedule a call with us today.
