You don’t wait for a flood to call a plumber. Maybe there’s a small leak, maybe you need a faucet installed, or maybe you need plumbing for a major renovation. You need the expertise; you call the expert. HR consulting can work the same way. You don’t need to wait for a major issue to get HR expertise.

Any organization at any size can benefit from external HR expertise. Businesses are always growing and changing and that growth can reveal gaps in processes that once worked well. A new leadership structure, expansion into another location, or a shift in how teams work together can reveal those gaps too.

Here are four times when HR consulting will benefit your business.

1. You’re too small for a dedicated HR person

There’s no magical number at which an organization needs to hire a dedicated HR person. But if a business has employees, a business has HR needs. On a day-to-day basis, these tasks can be handled by an owner or spread across a few roles. But if an employee has an HR issue, who do they go to? The office manager who onboarded them? The manager who hired them? The owner who handles performance reviews? These unknowns can lead to confusion for employees and management.

And as a business grows, more questions arise for leadership: Are our offer letters consistent? Who follows up after an employee raises a concern? Are new managers getting the guidance they need?

An HR consultant can help you answer these questions. From conducting HR system audits and implementations to stepping in as a neutral third party when an employee issue arises or providing fractional HR services, HR Compass can help fill the gaps your organization has today. And when you decide it’s time to hire someone in-house, we can help with that transition too.

In practice: A newly created professional services firm brought us on to support their initial hiring and onboarding. We provided ongoing fractional HR support, working alongside leadership on recruitment, employee relations, a handbook and performance management tools. As the business grew and took shape, we supported the introduction of an HR system and helped develop a more structured bonus process. Working with us gave the firm access to regular HR expertise and allowed us to put tools and processes in place as the firm’s needs evolved.

2. You have a dedicated HR person who needs access to senior expertise

Small businesses have small teams. And that often means that your internal HR department is a one-person army. But HR is a diverse field that can cover a wide scope of duties in the day-to-day and encompass much more strategic work in the bigger picture.

An HR coordinator or generalist can bring tremendous value to a business. They may be excellent at supporting employees, keeping processes moving, and managing the details that make HR work. Some situations, though, call for experience they have not yet had the chance to build. Maybe they need to support and guide the organization’s senior leadership and don’t have the seniority to do that independently. Maybe they’re handling a particularly complex employee issue and need someone to bounce ideas off of.

You don’t need to hire a second or more senior HR person: HR Compass can lend you our expertise. And in working alongside us, your internal HR team will gain experience and become more equipped to handle these things in the future.

In practice: A company had an in-house HR generalist who was well-equipped to handle their day-to-day. They were dealing with a sensitive employee issue that required more nuanced expertise, so HR Compass was brought on to provide a senior perspective. We worked alongside the HR person to assess the situation and determine next steps. We helped them navigate the issue and advise leadership. By keeping the internal HR person involved throughout, they were able to come away with a clearer approach and more experience in handling similar situations.

3. Your HR team needs more capacity

Your HR team is highly capable. You have a team that successfully manages recruitment and onboarding, handles employee questions and issues and takes care of the day-to-day seamlessly. But there is always a limit.

Your team might be at capacity when a regulatory shift creates a ton of extra work for them. Or a new location or office opening requires a lot of upfront HR work and your well-functioning HR department is suddenly stretched thin. HR consulting can help bridge this gap.

A seasoned HR consultant can slot in seamlessly as an addition to your internal HR team, helping push along the day-to-day while your team focuses elsewhere, or supporting directly with the changes that are creating the pinch. Our depth of experience means we can jump right in and start contributing quickly. And our help can scale up or down depending on what your business needs. Once we’re integrated with your business, we can help a little or a lot until the next change means you need more help.

In practice: We worked with a company that was implementing a new HR and payroll system. Their HR team still had their regular day-to-day duties, but had the added responsibilities of learning and implementing a new system and training employees on it. On top of that, their pay frequency was changing too. HR Compass was brought on and worked alongside the HR team to help support the implementation. Our support helped ensure a smooth transition to the new system, including employee training.

4. Your HR team needs help with strategic work or a special project

Your HR team, whether big or small, has a handle on the routine HR tasks. They have enough flexibility to adapt when changes happen and are doing exactly what they need to do for your organization. But having an HR team in place does not mean they need to do everything alone.

Even a capable HR team can benefit from getting specific expertise for specialized projects. HR Compass can help with developing a People Strategy, documenting processes, or building a learning and development program. Or maybe you need help with leadership development, coaching or team building. An HR consultant can bring the specialized knowledge and workflow needed to bring a specific project to life, without your internal team needing to spend their time developing expertise for a one-off project.

Your HR team understands your organization and its people. But by accessing this specialized expertise, you are augmenting your existing team, allowing them to focus on what they do best while laying the foundation for the work they will continue to do.

In practice: A company came to us because they were proactively planning for growth. They had an experienced HR team but wanted a more forward-looking approach to recruitment and workforce planning. HR Compass came in and facilitated workshops with the team, where we identified priorities, gaps and opportunities. Together, we built a roadmap that included immediate and longer-term initiatives, including workforce forecasting, early-career talent pipelines, succession planning and optimization of their existing HR system. The HR team came away with a clear direction and priorities they could take to leadership.