Brexit and SMEs. Your view

The vote has come and gone and we are going through the the cycle of acceptance  and whether we are still in denial or pragmatism has fast tracked us at the point of acceptance, any business owner has to start asking the questions of how Brexit will impact your business. 

From a people perspective  (HR and leadership view) looking end to end at your employee touch points, is a good way of determining what those impacts could be. Auditing your touch points from entry/introduction/ recruitment through to exit / resignation/alumni management,  is a good way of thoroughly combing through your people processes; to see where changes may be needed, new processes designed or things can stay as they are.

For example  take recruiting new staff, the audit will raise questions such as:

Advertising- when the exit becomes real will you still have to adhere to rules regarding advertising for staff within the EU when trying to fill specialists/hard to fill vacancies?

Recruitment process- What questions can you ask and what questions are no longer relevant in your selection process? Based on where you are what impact will this have on your selection pool, will you need to widen your attraction area in the (poasoble) event the demographics of your locations significantly change due to this?

Right to work - what changes will be made to the rules regarding this and what new visas (if any) will be introduced?

EU workforce - how many do you have? Is there a record of ALL your employees right to work? What guarantees and guidance has the Government given regarding EU workers already resident here? Will they need to get visas and if so how long? Will you need to sponsor them? What's the cost implications to them and to you?

These are just examples as stated before. It may feel like too much too soon , but of you have EU nationals on your team, it is worth starting conversations, which will assure all your team that you are looking into the possible scenarios that could.play out from this and closely watching all the developments as it plays out. 

Uncertainty can kill engagement and to survive as an SME, you need goodwill from your employees that goes beyond the 9-5 commitment. Taking stock and planning responses with the input of your employees and to their benefit will go a long way to help retain that regardless of how this plays out.

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