One of the biggest changes an entrepreneur can make is going from a solo business operator to one who’s ready to grow. As we've discussed, there are various signs that you've reached this point, such as that your industry is growing, you're earning steady revenue, and/or your customers are demanding more from you. Whatever the case, when you do reach a point at which you're ready to grow, you're likely to face a need to hire employees – possibly for the first time.
This is an exciting step, but also a challenging one. In fact, almost half of businesses is said to be making a bad hire - with small businesses "more likely to feel the impact." This information makes it all the more imperative to take a careful and constructive approach to hiring when the time comes.
Here, we have some tips on how to hire the right employees.
1. Create An Onboarding Process
Bringing a new hire on board is one thing. But to make that employee feel welcome and comfortable, you'll need a more thorough onboarding process. Indeed, recent employee onboarding statistics show that having a good onboarding programme increases staff retention by 82%. Additionally, employees who have a poor onboarding experience are two times more likely to look for a new job soon.
Setting up an effective onboarding process may not come naturally when you're hiring for the first time. Fortunately, you can tap into a variety of software platforms that are available to help you create and automate your process:
QuickBase
QuickBase is a low-code platform for creating custom web and mobile apps. It allows users to build, manage, and automate applications with ease. With features like data management, workflow automation, reporting, integration capabilities, and data security, QuickBase empowers businesses to streamline processes and gain insights from their data.
BambooHR
BambooHR is a human resources management system (HRMS) that can help automate various HR processes. It offers features such as employee onboarding, time-off management, performance reviews, and more. With BambooHR, you can automate tasks like sending automated onboarding emails, tracking employee attendance, or generating HR reports.
Monday.com
Monday.com is a project management and collaboration platform that can be customized to automate various workflows. It provides a visual interface to create automation rules and triggers based on events, such as task completion, due dates, or status changes. You can automate processes like task assignments, notifications, data synchronization, and integrations with other tools.
Sapling
Sapling is an HR automation platform that focuses on employee onboarding, HR workflows, and employee data management. It offers features like document generation, task assignment, employee self-service, and integrations with other HR tools. With Sapling, you can automate processes such as generating offer letters, assigning onboarding tasks, or sending automated employee surveys.
To automate specific processes using these tools, you'll need to explore their documentation, tutorials, and support resources. Additionally, these tools may offer APIs or integrations with other software, allowing you to further customize and automate your processes by connecting them with other tools or systems in your organization.
2. Use Technology To Recruit
As the business owner, you'll have a lot on your plate even before you start the process of reaching out to potential job candidates. Hands-on recruiting can be difficult to manage on top of your existing responsibilities. Today, however, there are tech solutions for recruiting talent that can help you find the right people for your organisation with relative ease.
First and foremost, you can take advantage of artificial intelligence programs that can sift through heaps of CVs to screen candidates and identify potential hires according to your preferences. Additionally, you can employ numerous video-based tools to streamline recruitment and hiring. Studies have shown that job postings utilising video generate 34% more applications, giving you a straightforward way to grow your candidate pool. Meanwhile, once you're in the process of interviewing and onboarding, you can also conduct video interviews –– giving candidates an easy way to meet and interact with you while also cutting down on the time and resource typically required of a traditional interview process.
3. Automate Your Payroll System
When you hire your first employees, you'll also face a need to manage payroll for the first time. And it will likely come as no surprise that here, too, technology can be of assistance. According to survey by NGA Human Resources, some 67% of organisations now use automated payroll services –– 33% on premises, and 34% in the cloud. While you also have the options of using your own spreadsheets or hiring an accountant, software will help you to streamline the process and affordably manage payment for new employees.
For small businesses, some of the common software tools available are:
- Sage Payroll
- KashFlow Payroll
- BrightPay
- Xero Payroll
These programs can automatically pay salaries, file payroll taxes, and generate payroll tax statements, among other things –– thereby simplifying the process and eliminating human error.
4. Make A Staff Handbook
Your new employee will have a lot of information to process when getting started. One way to make things easier (beyond your onboarding process) is to put together a staff handbook that makes important information easy to find. This should include any and all requirements and expectations you personally have of your employees, as well as basic information such as department directories, employee policy notes, company holidays, benefits, and the like. Per FSB, it should also contain important statements such as an Equal Opportunities Policy and a Dignity At Work policy.
Giving a new hire a staff handbook on their first day will help them feel welcome, and will also give them a sense of clarity with regard to policies. It's a nice touch, and a good precedent to establish with your very first hires.
Hiring new employees and making sure they easily settle into your company is a challenge –– particularly when you're new to it. Nevertheless, there are some things every business owner can do to simplify the process. Keep the suggestions above in mind, and you'll be on track to make your first hires as seamless as possible.
