Of those who have, almost a third (31%) said they had brought in a contractor and 33% said they hired a part-time HR employee. Another 14% have recruited a further full-time member to their HR department. The others have reassigned resources from other areas of the business to assist with the workload.
All companies employing between 160 and 249 staff had to have their programmes in place by 1 April this year. On 1 May employers with 90 to 159 staff will have to do the same.
Of these, 42% said that finding a provider was fairly easy. However, 23% said it was quite hard, with 8% reporting that it was extremely difficult.
The main issues smaller employers face is a lack of clear communication of what is required, with more than half (60%) reporting this as a problem. A third of SME leaders said auto-enrolment providers had turned them away because of the size of their business.
AutoenrolSME marketing manager Rosie Smith acknowledged the messages had not always been clear, but denied the process was overly arduous.
“There has been so much panic and negativity surrounding the auto-enrolment process, it’s little wonder small business owners have turned to additional HR support," she said.
"However, despite many panic mongers saying it takes months to get set up, small businesses can be up and running with an appropriate scheme in a matter of weeks.”
