How to Manage Clients as a Consultant

HR is a catch all term for the 'kitchen sink'. It is often the function that gets the least amount of funding and is (very) arguably the most important function in the company. We often tell our clients that they have their IT in place to manage information, a large number of people to manage numbers, and a fraction of a person to set up and maintain HR and execute on special projects.  You won't be successful unless you consistently remind them of your priorities and responsibilities. 

Everyone is going to want a piece of you. You're the savior who has come to right all the Company's wrongs. There will be a line up at your door and everyone's going to want to talk with you. Some will weather the lineup around the block just so they can tell you what they want Senior Management to hear. No other function is as constantly distracted as HR because unlike Finance, Manufacturing or Marketing, your client base is each and every one of the employees and you will continuously be distracted. 

The other challenge is when your client has hired you to execute on specific projects and initiatives, but they pull you into every transactional HR item. 

• "Suzie isn't getting along with Mark and is threatening to quit". (3 hours today, another 2 hours during the week).
• "James is claiming sexual harassment against his manager".  (3 hours today in meetings and creating the discovery plan, 15 hours of discovery and wrap up).  
• "We need to hire a CSR yesterday"...

You get the picture. On top of that:

• Your client doesn't have any systems in place to execute on transactional HR so you'll have to either wing it or implement the system as you go - which will increase the time to complete the transaction HR item.  
• Your client asks you to execute on transactional HR that is way below your pay grade and doesn't make sense for you do it given your premium rate (which you negotiated skillfully!) 

Create a service agreement that outlines exactly what you will and won't be responsible for.  Get management agreement, and send it to all staff.  Explain to your client why it's necessary and you're doing it to save them money and accelerate their priorities.  Set the service agreement up so that you will begin taking on transactional HR when xx and xx project is complete. 

You can structure this Service Agreement any way you like, as long as you and your client are both on the same page and can agree. For example, you can combine transactional HR with HR projects, just be clear about the allocation of hours for each - or trust us - you will not be successful. 

Managing your client means keeping them informed of your workload, your challenges, and your accomplishments.  You may want to make use of the ConnectsUs Client Priority Spreadsheet.  

Set up a re-occurring meeting with your Primary Liaison. If you wait to catch them a la cart, you'll be endlessly frustrated. The ideal time is at the beginning of your first work day for the client.  

1. Review the previous week. You can always use the Status Report Form and provide a copy to your PL before or during the meeting.  (Clients love it when you're prepared, organized and can summarize information succinctly)
2. Get the answers and direction you need to progress with some of your initiatives or HR .  If you're lucky, your PL is a good traffic cop and you won't get stalled.
3. Go through the tasks on your list. 
4. Define (or re-define) and rank the priorities. You'll soon notice that your idea of priorities often doesn't map with your client's (as they insist you source out a new coffee roast for the CEO! - true story).
5. Agree what will get done based on the hours you have for the week. 
6. If you've agreed to do transactional HR, agree on the percentage split between transactional and project work. 

Your sigh can be heard from here!  Part of your job is to keep track of your billable hours.  Think of yourself as a lawyer - someone who has to keep track of every 10 minutes of work. This is especially true during the early days of your gig with the new client.  You have to prove yourself and nothing is better than numbers and data.

You have a few options: 

1. Low tech: Use the ConnectsUs Timesheets.  They're low tech but they're effective. Keep your timesheet open on your laptop at all times and document your hours.   
2. High'ish tech:  Use one of the many time recording apps available for download on your mobile device.  We can't recommend one here, since the apps are device dependent. 
3. High Tech:  Use an accounting system that features a mobile app to record your time and summarizes your time on your eventual invoice.  www.Freshbooks.com is recommended since it's intuitive and made for consultants or one-person shows. 

TIP:  If you're on the road, and you have to make a phone call on behalf of your client or attend an off-site meeting, use the notes or recording notes on your mobile phone to record any miscellaneous time.  record it when you're back on your laptop. 

It's important to give your client a heads up when you can't achieve your goals or get your work done within the allotted hours that you have. If you don't, you and your client will continuously be misaligned and neither party will understand the other's challenges or expectations. You have to find a way to convince your client that you can't do and be everything and that you need support so that both you and the client can be successful. 

As mentioned above, one of the challenges you'll encounter is how to handle a never-ending line of people wanting to talk with you - mostly unrelated to solution. This section can be a book onto itself, and is no different than what's experienced by any other HR professional - employee or contractor. The bottom line is that as a consultant, you continuously have to prove ROI on your invoices, which is a different kind of pressure experienced by an HR employee.   And whether the HR binders say it or not, most of those long conversations don't result in ROI for your client. In these conversations with employees, you're usually a sounding board, or quasi counselor or a complaint department when none of those are your roles.  You're an expensive resource and all your conversations should end or work towards solution.

The challenge lies in finding the right mix between empathy and cost for the company. Those conversations aren't free, especially if you find yourself cornered into lots of them.  And the truth is that many HR folk simply don't like to be disliked. 

If this has been a challenge for you as an HR consultant, consider being known as the friendly but solutions-oriented HR person.  As soon as someone walks into your office, let them know that you have 10 minutes unless it's an urgent matter. Or begin with "Hi Sally, what can I help you with today?  The key is to ask it with a pleasant voice with absolutely no edge in your tone. Avoid "how are you?" which is an open-ended question where the answer could last an hour.  (and what column do you post that hour to on your timesheet? Empathy?)      

Regardless of the topic of conversation, come back to "How can I help you?" or "How do we get to solution?". You'll quickly be known as that nice HR person, who's busy and is focused on solution. 

In our experience, spending time at the client's site is not conducive to high productivity. If your mandate is to execute on HR projects or initiatives, it's fair to ask your client to allow you to do most of your work remotely. Aside from on site collaboration or meetings that relate directly to the projects on your plate, working remotely is a good way to focus without interruptions. If you're at a client's site, employees, managers and senior management will be reminded that HR is in the house and will swarm to you to solve every HR issue that lands on their desk. 

Even if you're working on transactional HR, your work requires uninterrupted focus - think job posting, and contract agreements. You'll do a better job of getting them over the finish line accurately if you work away from the office. 

You have to appreciate that one of the challenges for your client is that they used to work without HR in the past and certainly survived, but now have in-house expertise that they can't have access to.

Odd are, you're not a permanent HR services solution for your client and they will eventually get a more permanent hire to meet their growing HR demands.  Give them hope by reminding them that their pain will be lessened down the road, but for now, your mandate is to get your HR projects over the finish line. 

So here's the big question.  Do you provide your client with unbilled hours to meet your objectives?  If so, how many hours? 

That's a tough one. The answer is - it's up to you.  Every client is different, but the common denominator is that your client needs to get some wins with you.  If that means you have to put in hours that you won't get paid for, there may just be ROI for you in the long run.  Prove to your client that they can expect results. Once your client trusts you, you can bring up the subject of previous unbilled hours and either ask them to increase your hours going forward or advise them that you can't continue at the current rate of unbilled hours. That you were willing to do it at the start, but won't be able to continue long term.  

You can also show good faith by letting your client know that you're happy to provide them with xx number or xx percentage of unbilled hours per billing period, but that you can't go over that amount. 

You can also show your actual hours on your timesheet, and bill them for what your contract stipulates - to make it clear that you're being reasonable and you're willing to leave a nickel on the table. Be careful not to inflate your hours on an item on your timesheet. Your client may loose trust if your posting unreasonable amount of hours for a task. 

Bottom line, you'll have to find the right balance for yourself and do what's right for you in the end.