One of the most common sights in a small organisation is that of one single person taking care of all the Human Resources (HR) functions. So does that mean that the smaller organisations can completely do away with the HR professional?

"The so to say, 'small size organisations' have grown in top line as well as in bottom line. They have also realised the need of people and their competency, as well as the gap in demand and supply of talent pool due to attrition. This has forced them to think about the HR function as an integral part of the organisation" opines Anil Koul of Omam Consultants.

But, what is that logic which stops smaller organisations to set up a separate department or hire a professional. Industry estimates show that for every 50-75 people recruited, one HR job is created. "In light of the number of jobs the booming Indian economy is creating, the number of HR professionals is extremely small. So the demand supply gap for HR professionals has caused skilled talent to charge premium CTCs that smaller organisations find hard to afford," explains R Sundar, President, Times Business Solutions.

Therefore, many small organisations find it profitable to employ people from other disciplines to work in HR. Presently, the average compensation for an entry level HR professional from one of the premier institutes is in the range of Rs 8-10 lakh, which can go upto Rs 14 lakh in some cases. Thus affordability is an issue and many owners view it as an expense.

"Firstly, we need to work on these owner professionals; secondly they have to realise that any expense for HR function should be treated as long term investment. The results from any HR intervention take time, money and energy," says Koul. Thus there needs to be a perception change of the owner from seeing HR as "only expense" and no "visible returns" to a "worthy investment".

Even if we assume that certain smaller organisations are able to afford a HR professional, the next imminent problem would be to give them the amount of work or challenges to the HR professional such as to justify their salary cheques.

"The size of an organisation is not relevant; it is the enlightened leadership of the organisation that counts. Foresighted leaders, across industries recognise the challenge of creating tensile organisations that are flexible, have an innate ability to stay networked, are swift and, most importantly, have a focus on innovation. Necessary for all this is one key element - the right human resources" comments Sundar.

Previously, HR departments had been solely linked to routine recruitment and administration functions. But with time, companies are creating separate recruitment teams and divisions that constantly review the cycle time between demand and supply of talent so that the right person at the right place at the right time, is available with almost 'Just in Time precision'.

Thus it depends on the organisation's leadership, whether the HR is used for dayto- day administrative work such as pay role, leave administration, etc or given responsibilities for higher HR functions such as succession plan; functional & managerial knowledge and skill identification etc. If the latter, is the focus of the leadership, then a senior HR professional is indispensable.

However, hiring a HR professional is not imperative. There is the "via media compromise" solution which are "external consultants" involvement for "need based" interventions. These external HR Consultants are beneficial in three basic areas.

Firstly, they are cost and time effective in the spheres of talent identification, acquisition and recruitment. Thus, corporates can employ an organisation with full service of recruiting solutions and at the same time concentrate on their core business activities.

Secondly, they can streamline processes through administrative function outsourcing, such as payroll, attendance and leave record keeping and MIS. Finally, they can add value by providing the organisation with objective and unbiased third party reports on the HR health of the organisation, such as employee morale and satisfaction surveys, Best HR Practices Benchmark surveys, etc. on an "as needed" basis.

The inference is thus, be it internal or external, "Investment in people" and "mind set change" of owner professional is the key mantra for sustained accelerated growth.