u/No-Goat3931

Hi everyone, I’m curious about anyone’s experience working in HR for small businesses.

I have a hybrid opportunity to work as an HR Generalist for a company that handles government contracts. They don’t currently have an HR person, so I would be responsible for all HR functions for about 60 employees and eventually build and scale the HR team as the company grows to around 250–300 people over the next couple of years.

It seems like a great opportunity to build HR processes and be the main point of contact for the organization, but I’m trying to gauge how demanding this kind of role can be.

What’s confusing is that they keep referring to me as part of the “leadership team,” even though the position is just an HR Generalist. Do you think it’s reasonable to try to leverage this into an HR Manager title?

The role comes with a $15k pay bump, but the time off, benefits, and 401k are not as good as what I currently have. My current job is predictable and stable, so I’m hesitant to leave if this could turn into a stressful role long term. But I currently work fully onsite at my current job and I would really like to transition to a hybrid role.

Has anyone been in a role like this, building and scaling an HR team for a smaller organization? I’d love to hear about your experience, especially regarding workload, and work-life balance.

I have worked in HR for about 5 years, and I graduated with my bachelors degree last year. I have worked as a HR generalist for about 8 months and just got offered a position as a HR Manager/Office Manager at a job about 20 minutes from where I live.

I applied for the job because a friend referred me and I decided to give it a shot. I’m extremely grateful for the offer, but there is a lot to consider. The job is a $15k pay bump from what I make now, and there are quarterly bonuses. But the time off/401k and benefits are worse than what I am currently getting.

Really though, what makes me worried is the work life balance. It’s a strict 8-5 pm Mon-Fri ONSITE job, and it sounds like I may be working more than 40 hrs a week due to some tight deadlines that come up time to time (which would be unpaid because I’m salary). I also worry about it being difficult to get time off, as I will be the only HR person leading and taking care of the office of about 60 people. There is also a bit of travel involved, which I am completely fine with. I am curious, at this point in my career, is it worth it for me to take this job, sacrifice my work life balance and get the experience? Is this the price it costs to get into leadership?

Thank you for any advice.