Organization is People… Only People can help in the time of need. Let’s explore how building recession-proof people initiatives—especially for Startups and SME businesses—can future-proof your growth.
The news of an economic slowdown is often BAD news—but what if we could turn it into GOOD news? It’s the perfect opportunity to reshape and strengthen our Startup and Small-Mid Enterprises (SMEs).
There is growing awareness among employees today about the impact of economic changes. Even large enterprises are crumbling under unforeseen pressures. Employees now understand that if an organization isn’t sustainable, they are the ones who will be directly affected.
At Husys, with over 18 years of experience in supporting Startup and SME businesses, we believe that building a resilient workforce is the key to survival and growth. One proven solution is partnering with a PEO for startups, which helps businesses streamline HR, payroll, compliance, and people processes—especially during challenging times.
We often start building teams and structures when business is booming. However, this is exactly when inefficiencies can creep in unnoticed. A deep dive into employee productivity at the unit level and its impact on overall business health is crucial.
Here are a few strategic people initiatives we recommend, based on real-world experience with startups and SMEs. Feel free to tailor these ideas to suit your own organizational culture and maturity.
⚠️ Warning: Always apply these recommendations based on your business reality, industry specifics, and stage of growth. One size doesn’t fit all—but with the right PEO for startups, you can build a flexible and scalable HR foundation.
Employee Hiring: Most Important Activity of Any Organization, at ALL Times!
- Hire, only if it is a Must
- Hire for the duration required through outsourced model with an option to absorb if things are good in future.
- Try and hire people on third party rolls to help de-risk long-term liabilities.
- Reduce Internal Recruitment Team & Subscription to Job boards, (typically high cost), but, take captive one or two good Recruitment Consultants as partners who can provide just in time as per above model. Pay them an adjustable retainer/advance based on your forecast, so that your investment is lower and commitment is assured from the consultants. Use Apprentice and Project-based students/experts. Or from any institutions which have people specialised into HR and assign a task with an internal professor as the key point of contact. It helps greatly!
Employee Communication: During Times of Challenge, Communication Can Be a Great Tool.
- Share your take on the Impact on company and the Industry in general
- Seek their ideas to improve efficiencies & innovative ways to stay afloat. Employee Suggestions can be in the areas of Business, Operational expenses, Growth etc.,
- Action the workable ideas, implement and communicate the impact back to teams. Speed of action is very important.
- Appreciate people/teams who contributed for the cause. Conscious rewarding is a choice.
While Services has huge employee cost at a range of 30-85%, manufacturing companies may vary from 3% to 25%. Here is what you may consider as options unless that’s going to hit your bottom-line significantly. Just cutting down on employee cost is not really useful.
If your employee cost is not really impacting on bottom-line, as an impacting element or EBIDTA, do not work on cutting down, but, focus on building efficiency!
Finally Remember
Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed.
Similarly, Employee in Need is Employee Indeed!
