Employees are needed to make many businesses a success. You may have a business idea that require hiring staff to launch off the ground. Alternatively, you may already be the owner of a successful solo company, but may be considering hiring a helping hand in order to keep your business growing.
Obviously, taking on employees is not easy. A workforce requires extra funding to pay for their wages and training. There are also employment rights to consider. On top of this you need to have the right personality to handle these employees. If you’ve been considering taking on employees, here are some of the steps that you’ll need to take.
Consider a leadership course
Not everyone is a born leader. Even with the right personality, there are various methods of running a business that may need to be learned. You can do this through a course. You could consider a distance learning degree such as an MBA in strategy online. Alternatively there are many short courses and workshops in leadership skills that may be able to be completed in a quicker amount of time. It could also worth reading a book or two on leadership skills if you’ve got the time. All this will teach the tricks of the trade to get your employees working happily and productively.
Create a financial plan
It’s important that you can afford to take on employees. On top of being able to pay them minimum wage, you must be able to pay for holiday entitlement, sick pay and contribute to their pensions. You may need to order in extra resources for these employees and you may need to pay for their training. It’s also likely you’ll want to add in some incentives. This could be enough money to pay for bonuses or simple tokens of appreciation such as snacks in the office or paid meals. Hire a financial advisor to help you budget for this. You may even need a loan just to kick things off.
Get insured
Every employer must take out an employer liability scheme. This insurance scheme protects you if any employees are injured or made sick through work. You can shop around for a cheap rate on this scheme. There are also other insurance schemes that you may want to take out when getting insurance such as professional indemnity insurance and group vehicle insurance if your employees will be driving company vehicles.
Make time for interviewing/training
It’s important to have time to thoroughly advertise vacancies, go through applications, interview applicants and then train your employees up. Rushing this could result in employing the wrong people or hiring good workers who have no idea what they’re doing due to a lack of training. If you haven’t launched your business yet, it may be easier to find this time. If you currently run a business and are thinking of taking on staff, you may want to find a way of making time to carry out this hiring process thoroughly. Some employers may use a recruitment agency to do this for them.
Know the laws
Employers have various legal standards to abide by in order to keep their employees safe and secure. These may include having health and safety precautions in place around the office such as a fire exit and sufficient lighting. You may also need to have security in place such as digital security software to stop employee records from being accessed or stolen. It’s also important to protect your rights as an employer. A contract may be important if you ever need a reason to fire an employee or make employees redundant. Having a solicitor on call is handy for ensuring that your business is legally tight. Many solicitors charge for hourly sessions. They can also be hired to make claims and defend you in court. Consulting with the best employment law firm will help your business be protected and will help you avoid unnecessary expenses.
Come up with a screening process
To stop you from hiring bad employees, it’s also worth having a screening process in place. This may include requesting a criminal background check, a credit check and possibly even a check into their medical history for some physical jobs. You may even consider giving employees a trial period after an interview to see how they get on in the workplace.
