LAST WORD

Carl Pufahl, the vice president of Finance for Living Innovations, and human resources consultant, Delise West. Photo:  Michael McCord

Carl Pufahl, the vice president of finance for Greenland-based Living Innovations, told me he was in a major time bind, one in which every small business executive or owner can find himself or herself. Call it the "too many hats on one head" syndrome.

Living Innovations specializes in home-care companion services for the elderly and disabled, and was growing fast on multiple fronts. The company was adding offices (eight sites in New Hampshire and Maine), and employees (around 260 currently), and revenues had jumped from $2.3 million to $13 million.

Pufahl said the company was also facing issues of employee satisfaction and retention, no small potatoes in an industry in which wages aren't very high - Pufahl said the range at his company is $9.50 to $10.75 an hour - but turnover and retraining can be very expensive.

"We have human resources issues that have to be answered day to day, but it takes away from my day-to-day work" of keeping the company's finances in order, he said.

What Living Innovations didn't have was a human resources expert to deal with a myriad of issues, including benefits, employee guidelines, recruiting, retention, understanding labor laws, proper interviewing techniques and, well, you get the picture.

Enter Delise West of Dover, who happens to be a human resources guru for hire.

"Dealing with human resources is not the reason these companies came into being," West told me. "But it can be a reason for them to implode."

I ran into Delise West, the founder of Human Resource Partners, a few years ago, and was interested in her story. She had exited the corporate world of travel and high stress and found a local niche as an HR consultant for a growing number of small businesses.

"Most of them have somebody kind of doing these (HR) functions," West said, but often they kind of became overwhelmed. I have run into so many small-business owners over the years whose main concern after finances was finding and keeping good employees and handling those all-too-human issues that are crucial for the long-term health of a growing company.

"HR doesn't rise to a top priority unless something happens, and then it becomes a priority," she said. "It's often more reactive than proactive."

In Carl Pufahl's case, his company didn't have a full-time HR person, but needed to upgrade its practices. It especially needed to know what was happening with regard to retention, despite extensive training and having seven full-time recruiters on board.

"Was it something industry-related or something we were doing?" Pufahl wondered.

A survey developed in conjunction with West told a sobering truth.

"We had some internal issues," Pufahl said.

At Rolling Green Nursery, a longtime family-owned business in Greenland, Beth Simpson told me she wore many hats, including those of business and marketing manager and shrub buyer. She was also, reluctantly, the HR person.

Rolling Green, one of the region's busiest nurseries, has six full-time employees and grows to as many as 20 during peak season. What Simpson discovered is that the company needed an updated employee manual, a better grasp of labor laws and benefit possibilities for its workers, and the oft-overlooked art of proper interviewing.

"That's very important for us - to find the right people," Simpson said. "They are on are front line."

West, who started her business in 2003 and serves more than 30 clients of varying size and industry, said her job is to make herself eventually obsolete to her clients by encouraging them to hire a full-time professional or having a better-trained point person.

"One of the most surprising things I've seen is the number of clients who have more than 100 employees, but no internal HR person," West said.

She said it's become vital for growing companies to have their HR policies in order and up-to-date.

West said she's been getting more calls from venture capital firms that bring her in as an HR assessor. You see, those venture capital mavens don't like surprises.