Human Resources is all about performance reviews, employee benefits, and talent acquisition, right?  Wrong!  Today’s HR team can do much more than fix and prevent employment problems.  If you’re not consulting your HR staff on key business decisions, including company acquisitions and requirements for RFPs, you’re missing out on the extra benefits of an experienced HR team.  Did you know skilled HR professionals can use these nontraditional platforms to help your business grow?

For starters, if your company is eying work at a public agency, be sure to involve HR from the start or you might be caught unprepared!  Many public agencies, including colleges and all levels of government, are now asking potential vendors to certify that their employment practices are nondiscriminatory.  City and state Human Rights Divisions will want to examine your HR policies and practices, from employee handbooks to employee benefits, to union contracts and affirmative action policies.  This can be an intense process, and each agency has a unique set of criteria that must be met before a company can bid on a job.  Are you prepared to lose work if your HR policies don’t comply?

To avoid a last-minute RFP emergency, business development and sales professionals should partner with HR from the start to ensure your company meets the RFP’s standards.  HR representatives are knowledgeable about requirements in many municipalities.  Certain areas feature very specific requirements; the City of San Francisco has its own HR laws, which require health care and dependent coverage for same-sex partnerships.  To meet those requirements, HR can prepare revised company policies at the start of the bid process, avoiding a compliance rush or a missed deadline.  In this way, the right HR staff can help your company to win new business!

Not only can HR help your company to secure new jobs, the right team can also promote growth by defining the value of a business acquisition.  While acquisitions provide an unparalleled potential for growth, success rates tend to be low.  To ensure the highest rate of success, HR should pair with management when your company first starts examining possible acquisitions.  HR can play a strategic role by evaluating the quality of the acquired company’s HR programs, and can identify potential financial issues, such as underfunded pension plans or retirement benefits.  HR can also examine employee culture and management style to gauge how the transition might go.  These points should factor in when weighing an acquisition as a business decision—and they will help to avoid surprises down the line.

Evaluating an acquisition’s worth requires an experienced HR team that is comfortable playing a strategic role.  If your team has traditionally focused on hiring and benefits, they may not be ready for this business challenge.  That’s where YES! Your Human Resources Solution can help.  Our HR consultants have over 20 years of experience working with senior management on critical business decisions, including major acquisitions.  Our team gets to the heart of your company’s needs by learning your business strategies and goals.  We’ll connect your business initiatives with your employee needs to achieve the strategic objectives you’re looking for—including deciding if that acquisition is a smart business decision.

YES! is great for RFP compliance, too!  We always stay abreast of current requirements and can prepare policies that will keep your company in the running.  We recently met success in two cases of RFP noncompliance, which, thanks to our staff’s quick policy revisions, allowed these companies to meet the RFP’s standards—and to be awarded the work.  If we’re this effective at the last minute, imagine what we could do for your company’s growth year-round!

Are we the right HR team to help your business grow?  We’re eager to help you find out.  Visit our website or contact us today for a free consultation!