pet daycare and boarding
case study
We were contacted by the new owners of a doggy daycare facility. This husband-and-wife team had purchased the business from another owner and had a lot of existing components to tackle. The couple was also new to the industry, so they had to do their legwork to ensure they were going to approach this new business properly.
They looked at other businesses like theirs in the industry and visited a few to find out what made them tick and why they worked. This helped them reconsider how they could structure their own facility, and what was important to them. With the owners’ backgrounds being in management and operations, we helped complement them on the Human Resources processes side, creating a cohesive and well-balanced working relationship.
main goals: Shape the owner’s vision for their business and create an HR structure so they could focus on growth, not paperwork.
The business started with little more than job descriptions, written right after they acquired the business. They had a troublesome fingerprint time clock and an inefficient and laborious payroll process where they had to scan paperwork to their accountant for processing. All payroll costs were in one lump sum, giving the owners no ability to track or give insight into the productivity and profitability across services. Their other pain point was making sure they are hiring the right people and onboarding them the right way, knowing that the right employees are imperative to the success of the business.
key challenges: Performing a thorough HR Audit to identify areas of liability and improvements; implementing brand new orientation, time tracking systems, and HR practices and company dollars being spent without a solid return on investment.
Our first step was to do an employee file audit and eliminate any unnecessary liabilities. We also helped complete their background checks as part of the hiring process so that we could take that task off the shoulders of the owners. We were immediately able to put in place a compliant employees file system and gave them the initial Human Resources tools that they could use right away, such as HR forms and checklists, that helped defined some process just by the nature of the forms.
The other big component that we helped them with was creating an orientation for new employees that engages them from day 1. We helped them identify what they wanted the face of their business to be, and the qualities that they should look for in a candidate. Working together with the owners, we created an orientation presentation, the employee handbook, and the process for onboarding, so employees have a great experience, too!
We helped set the foundation of the HR function and we provided compliance advice on measures they wanted to take to get the business up and running. This released them to work on all the other aspects of the business that they needed to focus on as new business owners.
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For a family business with 25 staff members, all this work is already having a profound impact on our efficiency, accuracy and professionalism. You’ve been a big part of bringing our HR function to a higher level. Thank you!
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