Fill your talent pipeline: Ready, Set, Hire!

The Government recently announced a pilot program aimed at subsidising nannies for late night shift workers. This is an exciting first step towards making child care more affordable for many working parents.

However, holding the Government back from launching into rebating nannies is how to ensure regulation of this industry and ensure they are from “approved providers”.

I thought about how this would affect the industry and all the businesses associated with this industry – what about small nanny agencies? What kind of preparation would they need to go through to ensure they are approved, what kind of increase to their business and will this increase the talent pipeline of nannies into the industry?

It is an exciting period of change for this industry.

Much like any business about to undergo an industry regulation change or period of growth, there are many initial preparatory activities they should undertake to mitigate the HR risk, especially when there is no HR in place. Based on a-ha’s experience here are our Top 3 tips if change or growth is just around the corner:

1. Getting your organisational structure right– do you have the correct people in the right places to ensure you are properly resourced? Many businesses grow organically and create roles as they are needed, however, it is critical to have a future structure in mind in case the businesses grows quicker than expected. Having a future organisational chart with detailed descriptions of the right people you wish to have in them as well as some idea of the difference in salaries and grades is imperative; even if you don’t need them just yet.
2. Plan ahead with the right HR policies – do you know exactly which policies you must have, should have and could have? Many clients come to us when they have a serious performance problem to deal with and the first question we ask is ‘is it in the contract of employment or policies’. It is amazing how many people join businesses without a contract. These documents protect you and your business from the wrong types of people.
3. Build a talent pipeline – are you thinking about recruitment as a strategy or by each recruit? We all recruit ‘mini-me’s’ – someone who we can relate to and look like a good culture fit, however if we fail to think about the big picture, it can undo all the good work quickly. Ensuring you have a future plan for talent acquisition and are working towards it is imperative by having the right tools, asking the right questions (and getting the right answers) and conducting the right checks. Criminal and reference checking and psychological profiling are all essential to ensure your gut feeling is backed up by fact.

Once you have the basics right, you can rest assured that winning business will be the focus of what you do, not fighting fires.

If you need some basic or advanced help and guidance with these kinds of strategies to ensure you stay ahead of the game, come talk to us at a-ha, as we know smart HR!

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The team at A Human Agency would like to acknowledge and pay respects to the traditional custodians of the land where our office is based, the Cammeraygal and Wallumedegal peoples of the Eora nation. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and celebrate the diversity of Aboriginal people and their ongoing cultures and connections to the lands and waters of NSW.