HR Support for Small and Family Owned Businesses on the Mornington Peninsula

Practical HR support for local businesses

Running a small or family-owned business means you're often managing people at the same time as running everything else.

Most of the time, that works. Then something happens. An employee isn't performing, there's tension in the team, someone raises a complaint, a manager needs support, or the business has grown and the informal way you've always managed people isn't working quite as well as it used to.

That's often the point when having someone experienced to talk things through with becomes useful.

Alignment Group provides practical HR support to small and family-owned businesses across the Mornington Peninsula. We work with business owners and leaders to resolve people issues, strengthen their HR practices and make sound decisions without introducing layers of unnecessary process.

Talk to us about HR support

You don't necessarily need your own HR manager

Many small businesses reach a stage where they need good HR advice, but they're nowhere near needing a full-time HR person.

That's where external HR support can work well.

You might need help with one difficult employee matter, a review of your contracts and policies, or someone you can call when an HR issue comes up.

As the business grows, that relationship can become more ongoing. We get to know the business, the people and the context, which means you're not starting from scratch every time something happens.

When an employee issue lands on your desk

People issues can become complicated quickly, particularly when you haven't dealt with that situation before.

We can help with:

• performance and conduct concerns

• difficult workplace conversations

• grievances and complaints

• workplace conflict

• disciplinary processes

• absence and return to work

• employee relations

• changes to roles and restructures

• sensitive employee exits

• understanding your employment obligations and options.

Our role is to help you work out what's actually happening, understand the relevant obligations and decide on a fair and practical way forward.

Where the relationship itself has become the issue, independent workplace mediation may be a better option than continuing down a formal HR process.

When your business starts to outgrow the way you've always done things

This is something we see regularly in growing businesses.

When there are only a few employees, people tend to know what their role is, decisions happen quickly and the owner is involved in almost everything.

Growth changes that.

Responsibilities can become blurred. People start managing others without necessarily having been taught how to manage. Different ways of doing things emerge across the business. Employment decisions carry more risk and processes that used to live in someone's head need to become clearer.

None of that means your business needs to become corporate.

It usually means putting enough structure around your people practices to support the business you're becoming.

That can include:

• employment contracts

• HR policies and procedures

• position descriptions and role clarity

• onboarding and offboarding

• performance management

• manager development

• workforce planning

• organisational structure

• HR systems and processes

• people risk and compliance.

We focus on what will actually be useful rather than introducing process for the sake of having a process.

Family businesses have their own dynamics

Family-owned businesses can be particularly interesting places to work because business relationships and family relationships often sit alongside each other.

Roles may have developed informally over many years. Expectations can be understood rather than written down. Someone might be a director, manager, sibling and shareholder at the same time.

That can make conversations about accountability, performance, responsibilities or succession more difficult.

Independent HR support can bring some useful distance to those conversations.

We can help clarify roles and expectations, put appropriate processes in place and work through issues without losing sight of the relationships involved.

The aim isn't to turn a family business into a corporate one. It's to create enough clarity for the business and the people within it to work well.

The first problem you see isn't always the real problem

An employee appears to be underperforming.

Two people keep clashing.

A manager seems to have the same problem with different employees.

People are frustrated because decisions aren't being made.

It's tempting to treat each of these as an individual HR problem. Often that's exactly what it is. At other times, there's something else going on underneath it.

Responsibilities may not be clear. A role may no longer fit the business. A new manager may not have been given the support they need. Workloads may have changed. Expectations may never have been properly discussed.

The business itself may simply have outgrown a structure that worked perfectly well a few years ago.

We take the time to understand that before deciding what needs to happen next.

Ongoing HR support

Some businesses only need us occasionally. Others want someone who knows their business and can provide HR support as things arise.

We can work as an extension of your business, giving you access to experienced HR capability without employing a full-time senior HR professional.

That could involve regular advice to the owner or leadership team, coaching managers, supporting employee matters, reviewing emerging risks or helping you think ahead about the people the business will need as it grows.

Over time, the relationship becomes much more useful because we understand the context behind the question, not just the question itself.

When you need more strategic HR support

There can also be a point where the business needs more than someone to respond to HR issues.

You may be growing quickly, introducing a management structure, changing how the business operates or trying to work out what the organisation needs to look like in a few years' time.

Fractional HR leadership gives you access to senior HR expertise without employing a full-time HR Director.

The work can include organisational structure, workforce planning, leadership capability, management practices, people strategy and planning for change.

It's a more considered approach to HR, looking ahead rather than waiting for the next issue to arrive.

Local HR support on the Mornington Peninsula

Alignment Group is based in McCrae on the Mornington Peninsula.

We work with organisations across Australia, but being based locally means we can also work closely with businesses throughout the Peninsula.

Local businesses are incredibly varied. A professional services firm in Mornington will have different challenges from a family business in Hastings, a hospitality business in Red Hill or a growing organisation operating across several locations.

We don't assume that because you're a small business you need a particular HR package.

We start by understanding the business, what's happening now and where you're trying to get to.

Good HR should make running your business easier

There are times when you simply need an answer to an HR question. We'll give you one.

For more complicated situations, the answer isn't always another policy, template or formal process.

It might be a clearer conversation. A manager may need some support. Responsibilities might need to be clarified. A process may genuinely need fixing. In some cases, the structure of the business itself needs to change.

Good HR is about knowing the difference.

Our approach is practical and proportionate to the organisation we're working with. You can engage Alignment Group for a particular issue, an HR project, ongoing support or more strategic fractional HR leadership.

You don't need to know exactly what kind of HR support you need before getting in touch.

Tell us what's happening in the business and we can start there.