ce are weak; turnover and absenteeism are high; and workplace accidents and employee complaints are frequent. Organizations that invest in developing the leadership skills of their supervisors reap tremendous rewards. At DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant, it’s the supervisors who shoulder the typical HR functions and that brings them closer to their staff. At the Lincoln Home, the lack of an HR department has fostered a tight working relationship between the staff and managers. Without the buGreat Human Resource professionals add value to any organization. Recruiting and retaining star performers, building a productive workforce, coaching managers to perform at higher levels, ensuring that the organization stays compliant, and raising the bar on performance are what HR brings to the table. HR can be the difference between success and failure in an organization. But what can an organization do if they don’t have an HR professional on staff? This is the predicament faced by many companies. Anne Craigs of the YWCA of Central Maine understands the value of HR from her days in banking and would love to have a HR professional on staff, but size and affordability precludes that possibility for now. So Anne and her managers must do it all.

Without HR, managers must recruit, retain, pay, and develop their employees. Nearly all organizations assign the administrative aspects to a finance person who manages the benefits and keeps the records, but that’s where the similarities in approach end.

So how can businesses successfully manage without a formal HR group? Here are 5 tips:

1. Delegate the HR responsibilities to your managers, but train them first—and give them the authority to make people decisions. Strong supervision is indispensable in building and maintaining a productive work environment. Good supervisors can be the eyes, ears and voice of the organization. But if they are not properly trained, they can expose the organization to morale problems and lawsuits.

Most small organizations fall short in developing their supervisors. Too often the good, reliable technician is anointed supervisor one day and little attention is given to whether she has the skills or desire to manage a staff of people. Couple this with little or no supervisory training and coaching and you have created a potentially explosive situation. When supervisors are not trained, you will find organizations where productivity, quality and service are weak; turnover and absenteeism are high; and workplace accidents and employee complaints are frequent. Organizations that invest in developing the leadership skills of their supervisors reap tremendous rewards. At DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant, it’s the supervisors who shoulder the typical HR functions and that brings them closer to their staff. At the Lincoln Home, the lack of an HR department has fostered a tight working relationship between the staff and managers. Without the buf

y companies. Anne Craigs of the YWCA of Central Maine understands the value of HR from her days in banking and would love to have a HR professional on staff, but size and affordability precludes that possibility for now. So Anne and her managers must do it all.

Without HR, managers must recruit, retain, pay, and develop their employees. Nearly all organizations assign the administrative aspects to a finance person who manages the benefits and keeps the records, but that’s where the similarities in approach end.

So how can businesses successfully manage without a formal HR group? Here are 5 tips:

1. Delegate the HR responsibilities to your managers, but train them first—and give them the authority to make people decisions. Strong supervision is indispensable in building and maintaining a productive work environment. Good supervisors can be the eyes, ears and voice of the organization. But if they are not properly trained, they can expose the organization to morale problems and lawsuits.

Most small organizations fall short in developing their supervisors. Too often the good, reliable technician is anointed supervisor one day and little attention is given to whether she has the skills or desire to manage a staff of people. Couple this with little or no supervisory training and coaching and you have created a potentially explosive situation. When supervisors are not trained, you will find organizations where productivity, quality and service are weak; turnover and absenteeism are high; and workplace accidents and employee complaints are frequent. Organizations that invest in developing the leadership skills of their supervisors reap tremendous rewards. At DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant, it’s the supervisors who shoulder the typical HR functions and that brings them closer to their staff. At the Lincoln Home, the lack of an HR department has fostered a tight working relationship between the staff and managers. Without the bu

imilarities in approach end.

So how can businesses successfully manage without a formal HR group? Here are 5 tips:

1. Delegate the HR responsibilities to your managers, but train them first—and give them the authority to make people decisions. Strong supervision is indispensable in building and maintaining a productive work environment. Good supervisors can be the eyes, ears and voice of the organization. But if they are not properly trained, they can expose the organization to morale problems and lawsuits.

Most small organizations fall short in developing their supervisors. Too often the good, reliable technician is anointed supervisor one day and little attention is given to whether she has the skills or desire to manage a staff of people. Couple this with little or no supervisory training and coaching and you have created a potentially explosive situation. When supervisors are not trained, you will find organizations where productivity, quality and service are weak; turnover and absenteeism are high; and workplace accidents and employee complaints are frequent. Organizations that invest in developing the leadership skills of their supervisors reap tremendous rewards. At DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant, it’s the supervisors who shoulder the typical HR functions and that brings them closer to their staff. At the Lincoln Home, the lack of an HR department has fostered a tight working relationship between the staff and managers. Without the bu

morale problems and lawsuits.

Most small organizations fall short in developing their supervisors. Too often the good, reliable technician is anointed supervisor one day and little attention is given to whether she has the skills or desire to manage a staff of people. Couple this with little or no supervisory training and coaching and you have created a potentially explosive situation. When supervisors are not trained, you will find organizations where productivity, quality and service are weak; turnover and absenteeism are high; and workplace accidents and employee complaints are frequent. Organizations that invest in developing the leadership skills of their supervisors reap tremendous rewards. At DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant, it’s the supervisors who shoulder the typical HR functions and that brings them closer to their staff. At the Lincoln Home, the lack of an HR department has fostered a tight working relationship between the staff and managers. Without the bu

ce are weak; turnover and absenteeism are high; and workplace accidents and employee complaints are frequent. Organizations that invest in developing the leadership skills of their supervisors reap tremendous rewards. At DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant, it’s the supervisors who shoulder the typical HR functions and that brings them closer to their staff. At the Lincoln Home, the lack of an HR department has fostered a tight working relationship between the staff and managers. Without the buffer of HR, supervisors have become more accountable for recruitment and management of their people. When you’re responsible for hiring the person, you can’t blame anyone else when things don’t work out. This strategy works at Lincoln Home where turnover is well below industry average.

2. Develop systems that promote consistency because without it productivity and morale will plummet. Whether it is workplace rules, establishing pay plans or granting time off, many organizations fall short here. When organizations begin with a handful of employees and the owner has his hands on everything that happens, then informality may work. But as the organization grows and employees are added, structure and systems become essential.

At Huston & Company, an organization of eight employees, owner Bill Huston realizes that the days of no systems, policies or procedures will soon be over. Though there is the desire to cling to the days when decisions could be made as situations occur, he also understands that the risk of inconsistency can result in misunderstandings or worse. As organizations grow, more turn to outside consultants for help in developing policies and employee handbooks.

Determining what to pay people is a trickier task. Employers are sensitive to the need to pay people fairly, but few have formal pay systems. Many are unsure what and how to pay their people and often set wages based upon what they hear from applicants and employees. Others depend on industry groups who provide them wage surveys. David Geary of D.L. Geary Brewery uses a strong knowledge of his industry and the market to ensure that he pays his people competitively.

3. Know the law: state and federal laws change frequently. Have an outside expert regularly brief you on regulations that can impact your workplace. Without HR expertise, employers are most vulnerable to compliance and employee issues. It is nearly impossible to understand and keep up with ch