Every business has confidential information, both in terms of their employees and their clients. Your small business is no exception. Here is what you can expect from an HR professional in terms of human resource confidentiality.

In August of 2017, an employee of an independent State Farm agent was facing multiple charges. It seems she was billing customers of their cash. The initial amount was $38,000.

As a customer-facing employee, the processing of premium payments is standard. And, some of her processing was gracing her checking account.

But, both she and the State Farm agent are not employees of the insurance giant. All agents are independent, and their employees are their responsibility.

The giant State Farm HR department does not work for Independent Agents. So, human resource confidentiality isn't a benefit for them. Soon after her arrest, the office shut down.

The confidential information employees often have access to can, for some, be tempting. And, it's not credit...

6 Small Business HR Nightmares You Should Try To Avoid At All Cost

Human resource errors can be costly, and some of them may even be completely out of your control as a startup owner. It helps to be on the lookout for situations that can turn into small business HR nightmares. Here are 6 situations you should try to avoid at any cost.

Small business HR can be a nightmarish experience. It's an area often wrought with legal issues and the potential to damage your hard-earned reputation.

Small businesses and startups don't usually have a huge HR team to help them. Rather, they're forced to navigate the complexities of workplace politics and legal requirements alone. They must rely on research or learning the hard way.

From hiring to firing and everything in between, a single error in the HR department could prove costly.

Don't let these six small business HR blunders become your worst mistakes:

Mistake #1: Not Prioritizing Your Small Business HR Needs

HR in small...

HR positions are among the fastest growing in America with an expected hike of 9% between 2016 and 2026.

This is due to the value a quality HR team can bring to a workplace. HR professionals are in charge of many administrative functions within companies. They oversee recruiting efforts, conduct interviews and are instrumental in the hiring process.

If you own or help manage a small business, one of the main questions you may have is how to incorporate a quality HR presence into your company in a cost-effective fashion.

A solution to this that many companies have explored is HR outsourcing services. By outsourcing HR, small businesses are able to delegate some or all essential HR functions to external parties.

The focus of this article is to discuss some of the advantages of HR outsourcing as well as some of its pitfalls to determine if it's right for you.

1) Consider The Size of Your Company

How many employees you have should inform your thought process when considering outsourcing...

Everyone knows that starting a small business is never easy. Between hiring new employees and keeping up with payroll - owning your own business can get hectic if you don't have everything in order.

A functioning Human Resources department is perfect for preventing this kind of chaos.

It's no secret. Behind every successful business is a solid human resources department. A good HR department is able to set the moral, find the right candidates, and set the culture for your small business.

But what does it take to develop a solid HR department structure? What steps should you take when wanting to implement an HR department in my small business?

Here the ultimate list of what it takes on starting an HR department.

1. Be Deliberate With Your Descriptions

Job descriptions are everything when it comes to your human resource startup.

A job description is going to be a list that describes the general tasks and duties that inform applicants and current employees what skills are required in...

If you're planning to expand your business, you'll need new employees that will facilitate the growth. There are a lot of tips out there when it comes to recruiting people but if you want to get the best out of it, you'll need good HR software for small business.

This 2018 is also seeing a massive shift in HR software. It's no longer about automation but more on increasing productivity. This helps cut down costs and improves future conversions - that's the kind of multi-capable software you need to boost your small business.

Not sure which software gives you more bang for your buck? Here are some of the best HR solutions for small business:

PeopleMatter

Aimed at small businesses in the service industry, the software has a suite of solutions to help manage your workforce. The product has three modules:

• HIRE
• LEARN
• SCHEDULE

The first one is an applicant tracking system. Its difference compared to other human resources software for small business is that it has other useful tools. It...

As a small business, there are many things you're exempt from, but human resources isn't one of them.

Human resources for small business is one of the first things you should think about as soon as you consider hiring your first employee. Why? Because as soon as you hire someone, it's your employees - not your product or service - that become the most valuable part of your business.

Human resources doesn't only shape your company - it can also make or break it through hiring, firing, and performance.

So do you need small business HR? Absolutely. Keep reading to learn how to get started.

What Is Human Resources?

Human resources is a management system dedicated to all things related to your employees - i.e., your human resources.

It covers:

• Hiring
• Firing
• Benefits
• Employee development
• Employee management
• Employee communication
• Employee safety and wellness

Essentially, human resources help keep your employees happy and healthy at work.

Although human resources appears to be...

So, you have hired your new employee, and he starts in a few days. Where do you even begin? Do you just assume that this person will kick start with a stellar performance in mind reading? You hired him to do a job, that’s all that needs to be done, just the job right? Wrong. There can be a number of fundamental challenges that must be overcome in the first few days leading up to the employee’s BIG day on the job.

Just imagine your new employee arriving early, eager to prove his validation of why you chose him for this job. Yet, nothing has been prepared. No coordinated introduction, an office hasn’t been assigned, you can’t find the new badges, and now you are unsure if all systems have been properly allocated to the employee. Your new employee then creates a sense of dysfunction, which has been permanently imprinted in the mind of the employee as he now waits hours or even days until everything is completely sorted out. Congratulations, this is your...

Recruiting can be a very daunting task.  Determining what tasks and roles you need to have filled, marketing and attracting qualified candidates while evaluating the best fit can be extraordinarily painful for managers.  At the bottom of this page, we have created a 5 Step Recruiting Process just for you.  Following this process will make your recruiting endeavors much easier. In addition to the HR Branches 5 Step Recruiting Process, there are a few other tips that we would like to share with you to help you along this journey.

Keep bias (and discrimination) out of the recruiting process. It seems that a lot of people learn a lot about their unnoticed biases during the recruiting process. I once had a manager turn down a very qualified candidate because the candidate worked at a restaurant that they didn’t like. Do not let this get in the way of finding the right person to complement your operations. This can have very large ramifications, including legal...