Wearing Every HR Hat: How to Prioritize and Streamline HR in a Small Employer

Managing HR in a small employer (1-500 employees) means being a recruiter, compliance officer, payroll specialist, benefits manager, and employee relations expert sometimes all in the same day. When you don’t have a team to share the work with, the workload can feel overwhelming.

In our recent LinkedIn poll, 71% of small employer HR professionals said their biggest challenge is balancing multiple HR responsibilities. If you’re nodding along, you’re not alone. We serve as the entire or supplemental HR function for our clients every day and understand what you are feeling.

So how do we do it all without burning out? We find that prioritization, automation, and knowing where to lean on support are crucial for navigating HR solo or as part of a very small team.

The Reality of Small Employer HR

In a large company, HR is divided into specialized roles:

✔️ A recruiting team handles hiring.

✔️ A compliance team keeps up with labor laws.

✔️ A payroll and benefits team ensures employees are paid on time.

In a small employer? You’re likely handling all of it alone or with one other person—and you may be doing it without an ounce of experience in HR..

The cool thing about this is it means you have more flexibility and influence (most of the time) than HR professionals in large companies. The challenge is making it manageable.

Here’s how we do it.

How to Prioritize and Streamline HR in a Small Employer

1. Automate and Systematize Where You Can

You don’t have to do everything manually. Invest in tools that reduce administrative workload, like:

✅ HR software for payroll, time tracking, and compliance alerts

✅ Templates for policies, job descriptions, and offer letters

✅ Automated onboarding checklists to streamline new hires

If you have software in place, make sure you are utilizing all of the features you are paying for. We often come into new clients and find that there was automation or features available that would have streamlined work that they didn’t even realize they were paying for. Leverage technology to its fullest extent to put every day activities on auto-pilot.

If you are in an environment where investing in technology is not prioritized and you have limited or no budget to do so, the free versions of many software platforms may be enough to introduce some level of automation. Any use of technology to make every day tasks more hands-off and self-service is the goal.

2. Focus on High-Impact HR Activities

Not all HR tasks are created equal and there is no way you can get it all done most days. I tell my team that our job is a constant roller coaster of prioritizing and re-prioritizing. We may plan out what we think is the perfect day, but that can be upended in the first five minutes of our morning.

Here is how we prioritize:

🔥 Compliance: Avoiding legal trouble is non-negotiable.

🔥 Employee Experience: Engagement and retention keep turnover low.

🔥 Hiring Smartly: Filling key roles with the right people prevents costly mistakes.

Pro Tip: Leverage Managers: You do not have to do it all alone. Managers can and should take on some of the burden of managing employees. Read our blog about that here.

Everything else? Batch tasks when possible or delegate where you can. While I get frustrated with time management being the only solution that is offered when other consultants tell HRDOO how to manage their workload, I do agree it is an important component to doing so.

3. Lean on External Support

You might not have an internal HR team, but that doesn’t mean you’re alone. Options like fractional HR support or HR communities (a new one for small employers coming soon) give you access to expert guidance without the cost of a full-time hire.

✔️ Need help with compliance updates? Get an on-demand HR consultant.

✔️ Need a second opinion on an HR challenge? Join an HR community for small employers (sign up for our email list to be notified of what’s coming this summer to help in this area).

HR in a small employer can be so lonely, but it doesn’t have to be.

Take Control of Your HR Workload

HR in a small employer is a different world than its larger counterparts. The constant need to prioritize and streamline does not exist as strongly when you are part of a larger team. To ensure you are managing the workload, and not the other way around, deliberate effort to streamline, automate and get support where you can is crucial for both effective HR management and your own mental health.

As we have been teasing, we are building something that will launch this summer to help with this. We want to give you the team you need and support you deserve. To be notified of what we have coming and be the first to join, sign up for email updates below.

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