What to Do When Your Company Has a Growth Spurt

Despite (or perhaps in some areas, because of) the global pandemic, many businesses are seeing high levels of growth. We’re not going to even attempt to try and list sectors and industries as there’s not many sweeping generalizations to be made here, but thanks to increased globalization and the advent of business technologies, organizations are increasingly able to scale more efficiently than ever before.

But if expansion and growth has suddenly found its way to your small to mid-sized enterprise, as an HR department, how can you help your organization handle it, particularly in regards to hiring more people?

When you need to recruit on a grand scale it can be seriously overwhelming. And very different to the type of general recruitment you do on an ‘as needed’ basis.

That’s why it’s far better to have a plan in place to be able to scale your recruitment operations in a sustainable fashion rather than going at breakneck speed and risk running into issues you simply aren’t prepared for.

Moving quickly while simultaneously planning ahead for bumps in the road is key.

But the good news is, there are ways and means that your Human Resources team can support your organization - even if it’s hurtling towards previously unimaginable growth.

Let’s take a look at them.

What to do in HR when your company has a growth spurt

As HR you’re most likely to be caught up in the maelstrom of activity when it comes to scaling for growth - especially if it’s on a global scale. It can be stressful and overwhelming but to try and counteract that, we’re going to break it down into bite sized chunks! 

Approach recruitment carefully

If you’re suddenly tasked with dealing with recruitment at warp-speed it can feel somewhat terrifying. The key is approaching it with a measured attitude and not just throwing up job adverts and hiring the first person who comes along.

Not that we think you’d do that anyway.

But what you do need to ensure is that you’re interviewing prospective hires who are enthusiastic and inspired by the direction your company is taking.

Now you may be doing the hiring, or it may be your managers, and it might be a combination of the both. But what you really need to do in your capacity as HR is to ensure that your leaders - anyone responsible for hiring new staff - is to instill in other leaders how to hire with this in mind.

Of course, you may well be hiring internally and giving existing employees the opportunity to advance their career within your organization as more positions open up. Don’t forget to acknowledge dedicated people who have helped you get to this position the chance to grow alongside you.  

You’re clearly doing something right to be growing so exponentially - but you need to be very careful that you maintain the integrity of your company culture by hiring the right people. Don’t let frantic growth throw you off track!

Don’t lose focus on employee engagement

We’ve spoken before about the importance of creating and enhancing employee engagement - it’s crucial whatever stage your business is at. And a period of growth is absolutely no different. After all, you want your loyal employees to come along for the ride with you.

Losing sight of what made those employees happy and productive in the first place won’t do you any favors when it comes to growing successfully and sustainably. 

If your people feel like the business leaders and HR are too focused on growth and have lost interest in the wellbeing and satisfaction of the employees, they’re going to start looking elsewhere for employment.

Your businesses’ ability to successfully scale is dependent upon how engaged your teams are so it’s well worth taking the time to consider what you are doing to ensure that your people are as engaged and happy as they’ve always been. The last thing you want them to do is to feel stressed and burnt out and quitting en masse, leaving you in the lurch.

Scale your tools and solutions along with your growth

Chances are some of the ways you work may need to change as you enter a period of rapid expansion. As humans, many of us are not particularly fond of change so you need to ensure that everyone understands why systems or strategies might need to be adapted.

People are far more open to adopting a new approach - be it a new piece of software, a different form to fill in, or the introduction of a new policy - if they understand the reasons behind the change.

Handling unexpected change in the workplace can be tricky for a lot of people and as HR you need to ensure that the right tools - both technical and emotional - are in place to help them adapt.

You need to provide solutions that make it easier for your employees to remain as productive as they always have been but that also help them cope with changing processes or practices.

Take a look at your current procedures and policies and see if there is anything that could be improved upon, paying particular attention to the fact that you may now have considerably more employees, clients or suppliers than you did when those were first implemented.

For example, do you need a new HRIS software solution that will be able to better handle more employees wanting to book time off? Have you outgrown the current chat app you use and need to look for a new platform that can handle more users in different time zones?

Would a Human Resources Information System that facilitates Employee Self Service (ESS) save you time in HR now that you’ve got so many more people to deal with? 

And, crucially, do you need to implement different technologies or ways of doing things, to avoid employee burnout as you scale?

What to do when your company has a growth spurt: conclusion

Entering a period of rapid growth is exciting but you also need to keep a tight hold on the reins to make sure your business and its people don’t careen out of control.

Paying attention to the points above should help you stay on the right track. As will an HRIS solution such as Hezum!

If you’d like to find out how our 360 degree approach to running a more streamlined Human Resources department can help your company handle growth, get in touch with us and book your free demo now.