For many of my office manager and practice manager (OM/ PM) clients, navigating the HR landscape can feel like herding cats through a muddy minefield.
Unlike larger businesses with dedicated HR departments, the small business OM/ PM is usually the first point of contact for everything, from managing payroll and contracts, onboarding new hires, and being called on to resolve workplace disagreements or have sensitive conversations.
There’s the constant pressure of staying compliant with ever-changing employment laws, ensuring accurate payroll records, and managing recruitment, performance management and policy compliance – all on top of your core administrative work.
It’s a role that demands immense versatility, empathy, and a strong grasp of regulations, often with limited resources or formal HR training.
In my experience, the OM/ PMs who excel go beyond just managing tasks; they seek out HR expertise to master these aspects of their role.
Working with many OM/ PM clients facing these issues, I created the Coast HR online collaborative HR Hub to help my OM/ PM clients master the HR aspects of their role through:
- Clarifying expectations: I meet with the business owner and OM/ PM before their first Hub meeting to clarify the business owner’s expectations in relation to HR.
- For some, it’s the first time they’ve had an open discussion about the issues the OM/ PM deals with on a day-to-day basis. For others, the discussion helps to understand expectations and set boundaries while they’re still new in the role.
- Demystifying HR compliance: For many OM/ PMs, the biggest fear is unknowingly breaching employment laws or creating a messy situation.
Our first module covers the complex world of HR legislation. I provide clear, concise guidance on essential areas like leave entitlements, award rates, workplace health and safety, and anti-discrimination laws.
This isn’t about turning them into HR legal experts overnight, but about empowering them with the foundational knowledge to spot potential issues and know when to seek professional advice to protect the business and employees.
- Equipping them with HR tools and templates: Getting it right consistently is easier with user-friendly HR templates and processes. Templates span the employee life-cycle, and include standardised onboarding checklists, recruitment advertising, screening and interview templates, simple performance feedback forms, and compliant employment policies.
Our Hub teaches help OM/ PMs how to tailor and use these tools effectively, ensuring they’re genuinely useful for managing the employee lifecycle. This helps them manage administrative HR tasks efficiently and confidently.
- Training for difficult conversations: The OM/ PM is often the “go-to” person when difficult conversations are needed, whether it’s conflict between team members, providing negative feedback to staff or suppliers, or addressing a sensitive issue.
In the Hub, I train and coach OM/ PMs to effectively manage these difficult conversations. We include time for skills practice, ensuring they feel prepared and confident, even when facing challenging discussions. This builds their confidence and capability, turning potential discomfort into meaningful dialogue.
- Creating a confidential network: Many of my OM/ PM clients spoke of feeling isolated in their role before they joined the Hub. Although they had a network of former colleagues, many were in competing businesses, so they were unable to truly open up and seek advice about the issues they experienced in their role.
The Hub provides OM/ PM with a confidential space to speak about issues they face in their role and share ideas and experiences.
By supporting OM/ PMs in these vital aspects of HR, my training, coaching and support network helps them to more effectively contribute to your business’s success.
To see the benefits of being a Coast HR online collaborative Hub member for yourself, enrol for our free trial.
