So, what does a HR consultant do?

For a business, people matter. Specifically, your people matter. 

For most organisations, employees represent the most significant cost and contributor to the current and future success of your organisation. 

So, it really is in the best interest of every organisation to get your house in order from the fundamentals through to the strategic direction and how your employees fit into that picture.

People are complex and managing them should keep you thinking. But you may also wonder what does a hr consultant do and how could they help me with my business? Whether you have a specific issue that you need support with, or you want to mature your current HR function and processes or you’re not even sure what you need exactly. By the end of this article you should know a little more about what a HR Consultant can do for your organisation. 

Where to start?

Engaging an HR Consultant can be a big decision, HR Consulting is a large industry and finding a suitable one can be overwhelming. Ideally you know somebody that can refer you to HR consulting services they may have used or have heard good things about. If you are starting from scratch, let's start with some things to look for to assess your options and find the best alignment for you and your business.

Take a good look through the clients that may be listed on their website - are there any that align to your own business? Having a look through case studies they may have on their site can give you an insight into some of the work and achievements the HR Consultants have done and could do for you.

What is an HR Consultant? 

An HR Consultant is a professional you might look to for expert HR advice or services. This could be at any stage of the employee lifecycle or stage of business maturity to help you navigate specific HR challenges, operational or strategic projects or to provide HR partnering for short or longer term engagements. As a bonus, engage through an HR consultancy and you will get the benefit of both the individual working with you as well as the expertise of the entire team! For instance, at HumanX we always deploy a team to any engagement we are working on and leverage the wide experience available to us. From Learning and Development to generalist HR capabilities.

How HR Consultants help you navigate through issues

HR practitioners mediate disputes, and work through conflicts between employees or investigate grievances. Bringing in an HR Consultant will ensure that you have the right professional with the expertise and objective perspective to help identify and address the issues while managing legal risk and liability for the organisation. 

HR Consultant can help review and ensure your HR policies, practices and procedures are relevant and legally compliant with applicable legislation and awards. No one wants to end up in the news or face reputational and financial damage! In an early business stage, this could be helping set up the HR governance frameworks – the HR fundamentals that align with your business, your mission and values to help you on your way. If your business is a little more established, you might consider an HR audit – which will involve a deep dive across your entire HR function, to assess HR maturity and evaluate potential issues, benchmark against best practice and make recommendations to manage risk, streamline or improve operations for the organisation and employees or even just a refresh. Having an expert third party run their eyes over your HR operations could prove invaluable for your success. 

If you have high employee turnover, HR Consultants can also help diagnose the root cause and provide strategic solutions to manage the issue. Going through some organisational change and restructuring? An HR Consultant with the right background can help you to manage organisational change initiatives aligned with the business values and goals.

Even when you engage an Outsourced HR firm for longer term engagements there are variable models to consider. For some, this may remain an ad-hoc ‘don’t call us, we’ll call you’ to have an HR Consultant only when required – this works for a number of smaller businesses that don’t need a dedicated resource but do need HR advice and services from time to time.

Do I need an HR Consultant?

Whether you are certain what you are looking for or still working it out, it is recommended to reach out and have a discussion. Have a conversation with your HR Consultant prospect or prospects to talk through your thoughts and ideas. During this discovery process, a seasoned HR Consultant can listen and help you to work through what you may be needing. Your experience during the discovery process is another great gauge to assess the right HR Consultant fit for you and your business – another vibe checkpoint!  Once you have reached out, you want a reasonably quick response. How comfortable did you feel talking to your prospective HR Consultant? During the process it is expected that you will have questions and pain points that you wish to discuss with them, but did the HR Consultant have questions for you? You want the HR expert to hear you, but you should also expect questions as well to help you both get a clear understanding of your requirements, propose ideas and recommend options in line with your asks. 

Short term engagements, like the HR Health Check or specific projects can be a great ‘taster’ to see how the HR Consultancy firm operates and allow you to assess your comfort and confidence in the skills, capabilities and business alignment. 

Engaging an HR Consultant provides that benefit from a professional drawing from experience across broad industries so you really do get that best of breed insight bespoke to your business. As the client, you maintain the option to engage in the way that best suits you and your organisation. You retain that flexibility of continuing, or not, to engage with the HR Consulting Services tailored to your needs and the requirements of the business.

Where to go from here?

Whatever your HR needs, there is an HR Consultant that can help you and your business from the fundamental frameworks, change management and strategic alignment of people and processes for your businesses. 

At HumanX, it is our business to listen to our clients and co-design customised solutions with and for your organisation. Our HR Consultants deep dive to understand your business needs, goals and aspirations to craft a unique path bespoke to you and your business to achieve your objectives. Our experienced HR Specialists help your business to navigate the twists and turns blending strategic and tactical HR solutions to deliver results, empower your leaders and align your teams.

Ready to have a conversation?

Reach out to HumanX and we can chat about your HR journey and what our HR Consultants can do to help you!

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