Time to Employ? Here’s What You Need to Do

When your business shows strong growth signs, it's probably time to start employing some new workers. It could be that you can't keep up with requests, or that you need a break yourself. For first-time business owners, this can be an extremely challenging process, especially when there is so much to take into consideration.

Not only do you have to take into account employee rights, but you need to cover yourself in the process. In this article, we are going to talk about everything you need to do when it's time to employ. Let's get started. 

1. Review your finances

Before you start employing new staff straight away, you should take a moment to review your accounts to see the current financial situation of your business. This way, you can determine how much you can afford to spend on wages and employee benefits. Hiring can be expensive! So, you want to ensure your business can afford to take it out of the budget.

Take a look at your yearly turnover, with any regular expenses such as maintenance and marketing. You can continue if you have enough to take on an employee. If not, you might want to rethink your options. For example, if work is too busy, you might consider downsizing in other areas to afford staff. 

2. Go over your employment laws 

Once you've reviewed your finances, you'll want to start going over your state's employment laws. You can put yourself into some seriously sticky situations without following them correctly. The last thing you want is a lawsuit on your hands. 

There are many rules you need to follow when it comes to hiring employees, and it's best to be on the safe side. Make sure you look into wages and salary amounts so that you are not underpaying anyone and figure out the required leave. Consider evaluating each employee's salary on a yearly basis to understand your total employment costs.

You'll also want to sort out any tax and employee benefits you will be giving. Knowing what to expect in advance is better so everything is done correctly.  

3. Take a look at what positions need filling

Once you've gone through all of the paperwork, the next thing you need to do is look at what positions need filling. What sort of workers are you after? Casual, full-time, or part-time employees? Do you need a manager or someone to assist on the shop floor?

By determining what roles you need to be filled, you can continue to budget and see if you can afford the extra costs. If you need to hire multiple individuals, try starting off with the most important roles first. Otherwise, the interview and advertisement process can get rather tricky. 

4. Set up the advertisements

Now that you know what roles you need to fill, it's time to start advertising! While you might post to your socials first, don't forget to source other ways to expand the job. Pool. You might try LinkedIn and other popular recruitment sites like Indeed, Adzuna and Seek. 

The more places you advertise, the bigger response you will get. However, if you live in a large city, be prepared for an overwhelming amount of applicants. If this occurs, you might consider hiring some help to help sort through the applicants. Another wise idea is to try out jobs domain registration so that you are recognized as a real business searching for workers (unlike many online scams). 

5. Conduct the interviews

Once you've gained the necessary response from your advertisements, it's time to start conducting your interviews. If you have a lot of individuals to sort through, you might consider having phone interviews first, before meeting the potential employees face-to-face. Group interviews are also an option but can be trickier to manage.

Make sure you have a list of questions prepared beforehand and an idea of what candidate you are looking out for. It can also be wise to have another partner in the room, just in case you miss anything. Trust your instincts, and don't settle unless you are absolutely sure about your choice. 

You might want to put together a list of the top three candidates first before making your final decision. Make sure you have a look at these other onboarding tips if you are having some trouble.

6. Make your final decision 

After completing all of the above, it's time to make your final decision. It's important to really think about your decision and lay out your top choices. You'll want to consider which is the closest individual to the job, who has the most experience, and who has the right personality to represent your business.

While you might be tempted to get the entire process over and done with, it's important not to rush yourself. Otherwise, you might end up with individuals who aren't suitable for the job. If you are in a hurry, consider offering up a temporary position rather than placing someone that isn't qualified full-time.

7. Know when it isn't right

Lastly, if you've hired someone that isn't what you had expected, make sure you know when it's time to let them go. Obviously, you can't just fire someone without reason, but there are certain loopholes, such as probation periods (another thing you will need to look into). 

Signs that might start to show up with an unreliable employee include customer complaints, not fulfilling demands, lateness/tardiness, and drama. By keeping an eye out, you'll know what to look out for so that you can move forward with your further decisions. 

And that's it! By following through with the above, you can employ new workers and continue to grow your business. While it might seem complicated initially, it will soon become second nature, and you can hire new staff easily. If you aren't sure about the entire process, you might consider using a hiring agency. Good luck!

Subscribe to weekly updates

You’ll also receive some of our best posts today