Why you still need HR support even if you only employ 1 person

“I only employ 3 people – I don’t need HR support”

We hear this all the time from small business and charity leaders. And we totally get it. When you’re juggling everything from sales and service delivery to sorting the WiFi and the printers, HR can feel like something for ‘bigger’ organisations.

But last week, we supported a local business owner through a costly grievance that’s taken up a lot of time, money and stress. The frustrating bit? It could’ve been avoided with the right advice in place.

Whether you employ 1 or 50 people, you still need HR support. Here’s why…

1. Even with 1 employee, you’ve got legal obligations

If you’ve hired someone (even just 1 person), employment law still applies to you.

That means you need:

• A written contract of employment
• Basic workplace policies (disciplinary, grievance, bullying and harassment, etc)
• UK Right to Work checks
• A fair, consistent approach to managing staff

Without those, you’re not just making life harder for yourself… you’re taking unnecessary legal risks.

We know contracts and policies don’t always feel like a priority when you’re spinning plates, but they’re the safety net that protects both your organisation and your team.

And no… pulling something off Google or ChatGPT won’t cut it. Too many employers come to us after using a dodgy template that’s missing key clauses, doesn’t comply with UK law or with an AI output that’s made a load of stuff up that doesn’t even exist.

Getting these HR support basics right from the start gives you peace of mind and keeps your small business or charity legally sound.

2. People problems are expensive and draining

It doesn’t take a big team to end up in a big mess. We’ve supported small employers through all sorts of avoidable situations:

• A garden centre made a casual promise about working hours and it turned into a formal dispute
• A start-up gave a verbal warning without following any process and they then faced a constructive dismissal claim
• A restaurant skipped their Right to Work checks and got fined by the Home Office
• A charity forgot to renew a fixed-term contract and faced a redundancy situation they weren’t expecting

Each of these started with good intentions but without proper HR advice, things escalated quickly.

Employment issues can cost thousands in tribunal fees, settlement agreements or legal representation. Even when you know you’re on solid ground, that doesn’t change the fact that you’d still need to defend any claim. HR issues also cost you time, energy and can damage your organisation’s reputation.

When you’re a small team, that kind of disruption hits harder. Having accessible and affordable HR support means you’ve got someone to call before small issues spiral.

3. HR helps you grow smoothly, instead of chaotically

We worked with a small marketing agency that grew from 3 to 12 employees in 18 months.

Because they’d sorted their HR foundations early on, they scaled smoothly:

• New staff were onboarded quickly and professionally
• Managers had the confidence and tools to lead with impact
• Issues were dealt with fairly and consistently
• The founder could focus on growing the business… not putting out fires

It’s not about red tape or ticking boxes. It’s about making sure your organisation’s set up to grow in a sustainable, people-focused way.

Good HR support doesn’t get in the way. It clears the way.

You don’t need to hire an in-house HR team

Small businesses and charities don’t need a full-time HR department. But they do need someone who knows what they’re doing when it comes to people, processes and compliance.

That’s where we come in.

At Marches HR, we specialise in supporting small businesses and charities with up to 50 staff. Most of our clients don’t have any internal HR specialist. They just need someone they can trust to help them get it right.

We offer practical, flexible HR support that fits your budget and your way of working.

That might include:

• Writing employment contracts and HR policies that protect your organisation
• Setting up new starter and onboarding processes
• Providing advice when something doesn’t feel right
• Carrying out an HR MOT to proactively check for any gaps
• Supporting you through disciplinaries, grievances or restructures

We’re straight-talking, friendly and pragmatic… and we never use jargon for the sake of it.

Let’s get your HR sorted

If you’re a small business or charity employing up to 50 people and you’ve been crossing your fingers that nothing goes wrong… it might be time for a proper plan.

You don’t need to figure it all out alone and you don’t need a huge budget.

What you do need is someone in your corner who understands the realities of small business and charity life and can help you deal with people problems before they turn into people costs.

Get in touch with us today.

Let’s have a no-pressure chat about the HR support that’s right for your organisation so you can get on with what you really need to.