There is nothing like that exciting time when you are building up your business and you get to the point where you need to start taking on extra help. But hiring your first employee is something that, although can be incredibly exciting, comes with a lot of duties and obligations. There are a few things that you need to consider, including the following:
Look Out for Their Safety
One of the biggest mistakes people make when they hire someone is thinking that this individual is there to serve the business and, therefore, the owner’s needs above all else. We have to remember that we have a duty of care as an employer to anybody that comes into our line of work. If your goals involve upgrading to an office, you’re going to need to look after their safety in a number of different ways, such as through security systems, while also ensuring that there is a solid ID system in place.
While ID print companies can help with ID badges and can help you to create security tags, the notion of security requires a lot of forethought. Looking after your employees is about making sure that you are not just providing those legal obligations to keep them safe, but you are also getting that work-life balance right. When we have someone on board to help us achieve our vision, it can be so easy to ask them to work above and beyond, especially if they show enthusiasm, but you’ve got to put boundaries in place or you run the risk of burning them out.
Provide an Attractive Employee Package
You need to find the right person for the role, not someone who vaguely fits the bill. You have to remember that as fantastic as it can be to have hired help, it soon becomes apparent that if you hire the wrong person, this is going to either elongate the working process or it can make things far more difficult for you, meaning that they are more likely to jump ship. When you are employing someone, you have specific expectations, and this is why when you are preparing to bring someone on board, you need to have an open mind and look at what the industry standards are for an employee where you are, but you should also think about the expectations of you.
It is more than just providing the bare minimum, but about ensuring that you are creating an attractive employee package to not just hire the right person but to keep them. In the United States, healthcare is not funded by the government, and therefore, an attractive healthcare plan can give you the edge. This is not a prerequisite, but it is here to get you thinking about what it takes to hook an employee in and retain them. It can be easier to hire someone from a freelance platform, but doing this means you shouldn’t expect groundbreaking work. It’s when you hire somebody for the first time that you realize there is a balance to be had between an employee who is willing to do the bare minimum for you in comparison to someone who will give you their all, and it’s all down to those attractive employee packages.
Clearly Define the Role
You may need an extra pair of hands, but you need to clearly define what you are looking for. You should make a list of the most important tasks you need support with. Running a business requires a lot of different skills, and therefore, you may need someone who is a jack of all trades, but this means that the scope is far too wide. Hiring an assistant may be a far more beneficial approach because if you can clearly define what tasks you need support with, if the vast majority of them fall under the guise of assistance, this helps you to clearly define the role and this will make for a more specific job specification. But you also need to think about the responsibilities you’d like this individual to take on further down the line.
When you look at the progression of the employee, from an assistant to someone in charge, there is a very clear structure, but you also need to remember that these people will also need to be paid accordingly. Therefore, assessing what type of background and skill set is best for this role, the level of experience, and once you have done this, then you can create a job description that helps you hire the right person.
Prepare Your Onboarding Process
If there’s one major mistake new businesses make, it’s that there’s very little in the way of helping an employee feel comfortable during the first day. The onboarding process can cover a number of different areas, from paperwork to training and giving them the lay of the land, and the list will depend on your business. When we’re hiring one person to help us out, it can be easy to overlook the onboarding process, but it’s essential to spend a day or two ensuring that we clearly set what we would like them to do and how to do it.
We also need to remember that it can take some time for them to truly get embedded into the role, and therefore, we’ve got to give them that grace period rather than expecting them to jump right in. If we need someone to jump right in, then we have to be prepared for a much longer employee search.
Taking on an extra pair of hands is a great way for you to make life easier for yourself, and it can even help you grow your business, as long as you are willing to dedicate yourself to the process of finding the right person. A new business can often find itself a little up in the air because when one person is doing everything, they can find it hard to relinquish duties or they simply don’t train new talent properly. This is why taking on your first employee should be about learning. Remember: the right hire can be for life, so you should dedicate your time.
