Human ResourcesHR Department of One: Strategies for Success
Running the entire human resources function alone is a distinct job, not a smaller version of working in a large team. There is no specialist to refer to, no capacity for anything that is not urgent, and a constant pull toward administration at the expense of everything else. This course is built for that reality. Delegates learn to triage what genuinely must be done, to build the small number of systems that remove recurring work, to decide what to outsource and what to keep, and to handle the specialist areas, from reward to employment law, well enough to know when to call for help. The emphasis throughout is on doing a defensible job with limited time rather than an ideal one with none.
Course objectives
- Triage the function's work by legal exposure and business impact rather than by who shouts loudest
- Build the small set of systems and templates that remove the most recurring administration
- Decide what to handle, what to outsource and what to push back to line managers
- Meet the core compliance obligations without a specialist team
- Handle recruitment, onboarding, reward and exit as repeatable processes
- Recognise the point at which an issue needs external legal or specialist advice
- Make a credible case for the next hire or the next system
Who should attend
- Sole human resources practitioners and human resources managers in small organisations
- Office managers carrying the human resources function alongside other duties
- Founders and owner managers handling people matters themselves
- Human resources generalists moving from a large team to a standalone role
Course outline
- 01The standalone role: what it is reasonable to carry and what it is not
- 02Triage: legal exposure, business impact and the cost of doing nothing
- 03The minimum viable human resources system: files, contracts, policies and records
- 04Recruitment and onboarding as a repeatable process
- 05Compliance essentials and the obligations that cannot be deferred
- 06Reward, benefits and pay administration without a reward specialist
- 07Knowing when to buy in advice, and how to brief it well
- 08Building the case for more resource, in numbers
Scheduled sessions
| Dates | Venue | Format | Price | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 to 21 October 2026 | Cape Town, South Africa | Classroom | R14,950 per delegate | Register Now |
| 4 to 6 November 2026 | Online | Online | R6,500 per delegate | Register Now |
| 9 to 11 November 2026 | Maputo, Mozambique | Classroom | USD 995 per delegate | Register Now |
| 4 to 6 January 2027 | Gaborone, Botswana | Classroom | R14,950 per delegate | Register Now |
| 10 to 12 February 2027 | Kigali, Rwanda | Classroom | USD 995 per delegate | Register Now |