Should Small Business Owners Do Their Own HR?

Growing the business is the goal of every small business owner. They begin to sell more products or services, and their business starts to grow.

The end result is more work than they can manage as a person or small group, which leads to them needing to hire more staff. Of course, with more staff comes more complexity, meaning that growth can also lead to the additional strains of different contracts, different compliance checks, and, of course, several types of pay.

It can get complicated quickly, and, as small businesses are usually on a tight budget, this can lead to business owners looking to take on the role of their own human resources, or HR, department.

It seems simple, but for small businesses, a one-person HR can quickly become a nightmare. So, here, smaller business owners will be guided through why it may not be worth taking that risk at all.

Why Outsource Your Business’s HR?

Being a small business owner often means operating on razor-thin profit margins, meaning that if they can shoulder any job or duty, it is worth it to save a few pennies. This does not and should not apply to human resources, which is, at best, a multi-headed hydra of interwoven compliance checks, laws, regulations, and codes.

Thus, it is worth looking into outsourcing your HR to a professional team like the HR Dept in Doncaster. It can seem counterintuitive when you are trying to save money, but there are many benefits.

Cost Savings

By outsourcing your business HR, you can save your company money in more ways than one. Firstly, you don’t have to hire professionals to oversee your HR full-time, which can be expensive to run and to house, as HR offices are not small! Outsourcing allows you access to the staff of a HR team as and when you need them, rather than having to pay them full-time.

Next, if you still want to run your own HR department, ask yourself this: can you afford it if you make an error with compliance, checks, or even taxes? The answer is likely no. Remote or outsourced HR teams can offer you help in all of these areas, eliminating the chance of fines and helping you to keep your peace of mind, as well as helping you to keep your eyes on the end goal for your business deadlines.

Compliance with UK Employment Law

In 2025, UK employment law is changing, relating to the Employment Rights Bill. For businesses of all sizes, not following these changes can lead to expensive fines, which few businesses can afford. By outsourcing to a trained HR team, you can make sure that your business and your staff are up to date with these changes, helping to keep your staff happy and to prevent tribunals or other legal battles.

Access to Expertise

Have you ever seen a HR department of a larger business? There are more than 20 people in most cases, all specialising in a different area of HR.

Of course, if you are a smaller business, you are not likely to be able to pay the wages of so many people, but you still need the expertise to run your company, especially if it is growing. So, by outsourcing, you can gain access to experienced HR, who will be able to offer you what you need across the board, without you needing to find the money to hire them!

Saves Time

Still not convinced, you may need to outsource your HR team. Can you, as an individual, oversee the roles of head of HR, administrator, generalist, talent acquisition, and benefits specialist?

The answer is likely no. Unless, on top of running a business, you want the added pressure, which will equate to no free time. By outsourcing these tasks to a professional team, you can focus on the business side of what you do. You can investigate customer experience, better products, or services, as well as diversifying in general. By outsourcing, this also reduces the stress of needing to manage complex or employee issues, which, if overseen incorrectly, can lead to those expensive fines that were mentioned earlier.

Better Employee Experience

You have a good team, and you want to hold on to them. So, you need to ensure that you have all the correct procedures, clear (but professional) communication, as well as be up to speed on things like sick pay, bereavement leave, maternity, and paternity leave.

You can’t do all that yourself, and mismanagement can lead to dreadful staff retention. By hiring HR teams to oversee this for you, you can keep your staff for longer, who, in turn, will help your business grow.