Here are three key HR issues common in mortgage brokerages and the founder and director of DiffuzeHR explains how to solve them.
MPA talks with founder and director of DiffuzeHR, Barry Lehrer who has 20 years of experience working with SMEs including financial firms and brokerages.
MPA: What are the three major HR issues for businesses in the financial services sector, particularly mortgage brokers?
BL: There tend to be three significant HR problems smaller and independent mortgage brokerages struggle with:
(1) Administration: In mid-size or smaller brokerages, there are several common scenarios. Either there is no HR resource in place at all, or there’s usually an over-reliance on a single member of staff to look after HR administration for the entire business. For instance, in many mid-size businesses it’s the practice manager who looks after much of the HR administration.
(2) Risk exposure: HR tends to be one of the aspects of running a brokerage that’s largely pushed to the bottom of the priority list – there are more important and immediate things for the business to focus on, such as producing results for clients. This means many mortgage brokerages are unnecessarily exposing themselves to HR risk.
(3) Attracting and retaining talent: Being able to attract the right talent to fit the business needs and culture is something that many brokerages get wrong. This costs a lot of time and money. Asking the right interview questions but also being able to position the offer attractively to the candidate can be a challenge for small businesses like brokers. Attracting talent today means more than just a good salary package – it can include flexible work arrangements, health benefits, and education and training development. Traditionally, mortgage brokers don’t have these skill-sets to be able to recruit and groom staff in-house, so this inexperience can lead to higher than average staff attrition.
MPA: How do they impact their brokerage?
BL: These issues impact brokerages quite significantly. For example, in terms of administrative issues, when there is only one person taking care of HR many things can go awry, including lack of updated paperwork, poorly-written employment contracts, employee benefits and policies not being implemented properly and so forth.
One of the primary concerns we hear from clients in financial services is that if the team member in charge of HR and administration is unable to work, other operations in the business can grind to a half. Necessary tasks such as payroll, timesheets, and other finicky admin would go untended, which leaves the business extremely vulnerable to risk.
Much of the time, the business will run smoothly, and there won’t be massive issues. However, on the off chance that, say, an employee files a lawsuit against the business and there is no HR system in place, it could become a legal nightmare.
MPA: How can brokers overcome these issues?
BL: When you’re the owner of a brokerage, your focus is on the business and on your area of expertise. This might include lead generation, tracking market trends, ensuring client satisfaction, expanding the brokerage, and so forth. Because of this, business owners rarely have time to focus on HR and admin issues.
The simple solution to overcoming HR issues in a brokerage is by implementing an automated HR system. It serves as a compromise – automation takes the burden off HR and admin staff by streamlining the workplace processes, and allows brokers to focus on the job that they’re actually good at – broking.
MPA: What is the easiest way to implement an automated HR system at low-cost?
BL: There are several different options for HR systems. You can employ an HR professional, or create a dedicated HR team, but those options are usually not viable for smaller brokerages with limited resources and cash flow. Hence, having an HR system where all the heavy lifting has already been done for you is the easiest solution, and that can be done through automated HR software, which can be easily rolled out.
Managing your documentation, policies and processes all in the cloud is fast becoming appealing for businesses that need that peace of mind that they can find and implement HR without the overhead of a full time HR manager.
MPA: Why is a good HR system vital for a successful brokerage?
BL: As the owner of a brokerage, you might worried about your level of exposure when it comes to HR compliance risk – for instance, risk of unfair dismissal, workplace bullying or worker compensation claims, to name a few. For mid size firms with limited resources, it can be difficult to stay on top of the many HR and workplace compliance areas that need to be regularly addressed.
A good HR system is critical to success as it spreads accountability across the business and makes sure day-to-day administration doesn’t grind to a halt because of staff absence. It also reduces legal risk as systematisation means all workplace policies, industry awards, and employment contracts are automatically updated to reflect changes.
MPA: How can brokers stay up-to-date with HR requirements and avoid a HR crisis?
BL: It would be impossible for an HR manager to be up to date with the latest news on home loan rates and bank terms and conditions. Similarly, it would be difficult for a mortgage professional or broker to keep on top of HR tech and development, changes to WorkCover, and employment laws and regulations.
The best way to stay up-to-date with your industry’s HR requirements is to implement an automated HR platform which works for your brokerage. Look for HR software which can provide you up-to-date industry-specific paperwork, policy and legal information which means the company is protected from potential lawsuits and worker’s compensation cases.
Ultimately having automated HR software reduces the risk of overreliance on administration staff – even if that staff member is not present, there’s a system in place running the basic day-to-day administration and ensuring that there is no HR crisis which hits the company.
Barry Lehrer has 20 years of experience working with SMEs including financial firms and brokerages and is the founder and director of DiffuzeHR, providing SMEs an easy-to-use, cloud-based system to take the pain out of managing their HR administration.
MPA: What are the three major HR issues for businesses in the financial services sector, particularly mortgage brokers?
BL: There tend to be three significant HR problems smaller and independent mortgage brokerages struggle with:
(1) Administration: In mid-size or smaller brokerages, there are several common scenarios. Either there is no HR resource in place at all, or there’s usually an over-reliance on a single member of staff to look after HR administration for the entire business. For instance, in many mid-size businesses it’s the practice manager who looks after much of the HR administration.
(2) Risk exposure: HR tends to be one of the aspects of running a brokerage that’s largely pushed to the bottom of the priority list – there are more important and immediate things for the business to focus on, such as producing results for clients. This means many mortgage brokerages are unnecessarily exposing themselves to HR risk.
(3) Attracting and retaining talent: Being able to attract the right talent to fit the business needs and culture is something that many brokerages get wrong. This costs a lot of time and money. Asking the right interview questions but also being able to position the offer attractively to the candidate can be a challenge for small businesses like brokers. Attracting talent today means more than just a good salary package – it can include flexible work arrangements, health benefits, and education and training development. Traditionally, mortgage brokers don’t have these skill-sets to be able to recruit and groom staff in-house, so this inexperience can lead to higher than average staff attrition.
MPA: How do they impact their brokerage?
BL: These issues impact brokerages quite significantly. For example, in terms of administrative issues, when there is only one person taking care of HR many things can go awry, including lack of updated paperwork, poorly-written employment contracts, employee benefits and policies not being implemented properly and so forth.
One of the primary concerns we hear from clients in financial services is that if the team member in charge of HR and administration is unable to work, other operations in the business can grind to a half. Necessary tasks such as payroll, timesheets, and other finicky admin would go untended, which leaves the business extremely vulnerable to risk.
Much of the time, the business will run smoothly, and there won’t be massive issues. However, on the off chance that, say, an employee files a lawsuit against the business and there is no HR system in place, it could become a legal nightmare.
MPA: How can brokers overcome these issues?
BL: When you’re the owner of a brokerage, your focus is on the business and on your area of expertise. This might include lead generation, tracking market trends, ensuring client satisfaction, expanding the brokerage, and so forth. Because of this, business owners rarely have time to focus on HR and admin issues.
The simple solution to overcoming HR issues in a brokerage is by implementing an automated HR system. It serves as a compromise – automation takes the burden off HR and admin staff by streamlining the workplace processes, and allows brokers to focus on the job that they’re actually good at – broking.
MPA: What is the easiest way to implement an automated HR system at low-cost?
BL: There are several different options for HR systems. You can employ an HR professional, or create a dedicated HR team, but those options are usually not viable for smaller brokerages with limited resources and cash flow. Hence, having an HR system where all the heavy lifting has already been done for you is the easiest solution, and that can be done through automated HR software, which can be easily rolled out.
Managing your documentation, policies and processes all in the cloud is fast becoming appealing for businesses that need that peace of mind that they can find and implement HR without the overhead of a full time HR manager.
MPA: Why is a good HR system vital for a successful brokerage?
BL: As the owner of a brokerage, you might worried about your level of exposure when it comes to HR compliance risk – for instance, risk of unfair dismissal, workplace bullying or worker compensation claims, to name a few. For mid size firms with limited resources, it can be difficult to stay on top of the many HR and workplace compliance areas that need to be regularly addressed.
A good HR system is critical to success as it spreads accountability across the business and makes sure day-to-day administration doesn’t grind to a halt because of staff absence. It also reduces legal risk as systematisation means all workplace policies, industry awards, and employment contracts are automatically updated to reflect changes.
MPA: How can brokers stay up-to-date with HR requirements and avoid a HR crisis?
BL: It would be impossible for an HR manager to be up to date with the latest news on home loan rates and bank terms and conditions. Similarly, it would be difficult for a mortgage professional or broker to keep on top of HR tech and development, changes to WorkCover, and employment laws and regulations.
The best way to stay up-to-date with your industry’s HR requirements is to implement an automated HR platform which works for your brokerage. Look for HR software which can provide you up-to-date industry-specific paperwork, policy and legal information which means the company is protected from potential lawsuits and worker’s compensation cases.
Ultimately having automated HR software reduces the risk of overreliance on administration staff – even if that staff member is not present, there’s a system in place running the basic day-to-day administration and ensuring that there is no HR crisis which hits the company.
Barry Lehrer has 20 years of experience working with SMEs including financial firms and brokerages and is the founder and director of DiffuzeHR, providing SMEs an easy-to-use, cloud-based system to take the pain out of managing their HR administration.
