HR in a Startup!!

Recently one of my meetings with a young entrepreneur made me reflect back on last couple of years when I have been working in start up space. Working with highly ambitious first generation entrepreneurs is like walking on a tight rope. At one place where they have vision to take their enterprises to next level , human resources still remains to be there perpetual pain.

Human resources no matter how easy it sounds is actually a mix of complex behaviors  along with unexpected ambiguity .The two together not just sound confusing but are equally daunting to handle. Most of the startups at the initial stage don’t realize the need of Human Resources and those who even do are limited to only hiring. So here is what startup can do to manage their Human Resources

Cherry pick your Talent: It’s important not to rush into hiring but to onboard only those people who would be excited to work with start-ups and would sink in the culture where work is irrespective of hierarchy or job description. While doing the leadership hiring for such companies , it’s important to hire people who come with entrepreneurial mindset and are looking forward to take the ownership and run the show .

Who would do what: It’s important to identify all the roles in the organization and accordingly align then with the business. Clarity here would not only help in driving business decisions but also contributes towards apt hiring.

The minimum applicable compliance: Since most of the new organizations have limited staff and also would be doing first time hiring, it’s better that they understand what all is applicable on them and prepare themselves with it. Getting some advice via local consultant would be a good idea than getting into problem of being non-compliant.

Keep minimal policies and open work environment: Most people join startup for they want freedom to think, express and implement. Too many policies might just create too many restrictions. Keeping a lean framework on reporting with simple and lesser policies will help towards creating a culture of ownership and innovation.

Invest in creating a culture: Treat them like a big family where they look forward to work and grow with organization. Remember that working in startups is considered high risk but equally higher gains. Hence valuing the choice which the employee made, company should not let the employee down and  make sure that the employee grows in tandem with organization’s growth.

Process transparency: If all the above are handled judiciously getting into exit management would not be a required but by in large a clarity on that process should be defined both for voluntary and involuntary attrition. Infact, smaller the organisations higher should be the transparency which also gets everything in ‘DIY’ mode.

To make the long story short Hire Right, Get Compliant with minimum required policies, engage with the brand and also keep the entry and exit process transparent is what the start ups should focus on till such time they cross a minimum of 100 people in an organization.

 Photo credit – tnooz.com