Making the decision to take on a new employee can be a delicate one. You need to make sure that you have sufficient funds coming in to support them and on the flip side you may really need the extra manpower to increase those sales and free yourself up to work on growing your business.

Here are a few of the main areas I feel that you need to look at in terms of defining the role and the type of employee you may want to fill it.

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Level of Skill:
When you thought of getting an extra pair of hands for your business what was driving your thinking? Was it because you didn't feel competent enough to do it yourself? Does that job need a specific skill set?

Training:
If you have the skill to do the job but clearly it isn't the best use of your time, would it take a lot of time to employ someone with that skill set and then train them on the job? Would you have the time to carry out that training?

Length of Time:
Do you think that the extra work you are identifying will need to be done for a long period of time? Or is it just a short term / seasonal increase in demand? Most importantly don't confuse having a backlog of work, which could be cleared up with some concerted effort, with that of a permanent increase in demand.

How much Extra Work:
Are you in a position to qualify how much time will need to be spent by someone to carry out the work? Will it be a full-time job? Do not assume that if you find the work difficult or time consuming, because it is outside of your range of core skills, that a correctly skilled individual will also or vice versa.

Experience:
Do you think that the job requires a lot of experience? Would the individual have to make business critical / independent decisions? Are they going to be under your direction / supervision or that of another?

Responsibility:
How much responsibility will this individual have in the role? Do they have to manage the whole office on their own? Will they be looking after the cash in your business? Do they need to go out selling unsupervised? Will they be required to supervise other staff?

Tasks:
List out all the activities that will need to be done by your new employee. Work our for whom those tasks will be done and their importance.

Authority:
Work out what your new employee will be able to do without asking you or someone else for permission. For example, spending money up to a certain limit, booking appointments with clients etc.

Contacts:
Will your new employee need to deal directly with the public or your client base? What mediums will they use for this contact? If online, then what level of commitment will they be able to make on behalf of your business?

Special Circumstances:
Will the role require the individual to work unsociable hours or travel away from home? Is the role a dangerous one?

Future Development
How might the role develop and grow in the future. Make sure you discuss this will the potential employee to gauge their longer term suitability.

Full Time Employee (FTE):
Conventional. Permanent, full time and salaried.

Family:
Do not overlook the potential for a spouse, child or relative to fulfill the role you are looking at recruiting for. Maybe they can help you fill the gap before you bring in a permanent member of staff.

Freelance:
Pay an agreed fee for an agreed amount of work to be delivered in a set period of time. This can be an excellent way for certain kinds of tasks to be completed without having the company level commitment towards National Insurance contributions, sickness and holiday payments etc.

Part-time Staff:
If the work that needs doing doesn't add up to a full working week then consider getting someone in on a part-time basis. Your responsibilities as an employer are virtually the same whether your staff profile is full-time or part-time though.

Fixed-term contracts:
Basically staff hired in the same manner as FTEs with the same level of business responsibility but they are hired for a fixed period of time.

Commission only:
For improvements to sales efforts you may find someone more inclined to work on a commission per sale basis. This cuts your overall business risks - so no sale means no pay. However, the commission you will pay will be greater per item than to a salaried employee who may / may not have a commission structure to their remuneration

Next comes

- Advertising the role
- The interview process
- Hiring
- Onboarding process

If you'd like to see decks on these subjects then let me know

Thanks for reading

Saif Siddiqui
www.SaifSiddiqui.com