Managing Human Resources- Without a Director

Most Solution Providers go into business because they love technology. The problem is, running a technology business is often more about managing the business than managing the technology. Human resources is a perfect illustration of this point. The average entrepreneurial solution provider doesn’t have a lot of experience in creating a job description; but you can’t get too far along in your business before you need to put one together. Once your staff is on board, they will likely have what seems to be an endless number of questions about what you expect of them. What appears to be a simple task, writing a job description may uncover many additional queries, such as:

• How do I write a job offer?


• How do I legally protect myself?


• What is fair compensation?


• What should I include in a benefit package?


• Do I need my employees to sign a confidentiality agreement?

The list of questions is endless… This is likely not what you intended to spend your time and resources on when you started a technology business.

As a CompTIA member, you have a number of resources available at anytime to tackle business issues like this. For example, you can use the CompTIA Customizable Employee Handbook and create your personalized guide, which will end employee confusion about what they can and cannot do while on the job. This interactive tool is available free to members and allows you to create a guide detailing your company’s policies and procedures, based on the answers you provide to a number of online questions. The handbook can also help you avoid future headaches by addressing questions and issues that may not have come up yet with your current employees. If your business doesn’t have an employee handbook, or could just use an update to ensure compliance with all the latest state and federal regulations, invest a few minutes to review the tool and see how easy it is.

CompTIA Legal Resources is another tool (also FREE to members!) that you can use to address HR questions. If you’re hiring, this hub is the place to find out which questions will get you into trouble when asked during an interview. You can also use Legal Resources to generate a non-compete agreement, customized to your specific business needs or to answer questions you have about outsourcing or monitoring employees.  Go to http://www.comptia.org/members/legal.aspx to learn more about these available resources and what they can do to help your business.

Looking for a good field engineer or developer but can’t seem to find the time to create a job description? You’ll find a number of different job posting forms covering common IT industry positions on the Member Resource Center, each which can be quickly modified to describe your particular employee needs.

Are you looking to network and learn from other small business owners or would you like to suggest other tools or resources that would be beneficial for CompTIA to create? Then join the conversation in CompTIA’s Small Business Owners Community, where you can expand your key industry relationships and contribute to the planning of resources we will build for the industry. If you’re interested in learning more about this group, please send an email to communities@comptia.org.

Looking for additional information to help you manage your business?
Monitoring employees: http://www.comptia.org/members/legal/maintain/faq/10-04-27/Are_there_specific_laws_on_monitoring_employees.aspx
Outsourcing: http://www.comptia.org/members/legal/maintain/articles/10-04-28/Outsourcing_A_Quick_Legal_and_Contract_Overview-659219355.aspx
Interviewing:
http://www.comptia.org/members/legal/start/faq/10-04-27/I_run_a_small_business_and_was_wondering_what_are_some_of_the_grey_areas_to_avoid_when_interviewing_potential_employees.aspx
Job posting templates: http://www.comptia.org/members/tools/education/hr.aspx