If you’re a newer entrepreneur with a quickly expanding business, you may have reached the exciting milestone where it's time to bring on your first employees. This marks a new chapter in your company's growth, but it may also make you nervous because of the new considerations and responsibilities that come with it. In this article, we’ll walk through what you need to think about before employing staff for the first time to give your business the best chance of success.
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Hiring a HR Manager
Once you're ready to hire your first employees, one of the most important decisions you'll make is whether to build an in-house HR department or work with an external HR specialist like Avensure. Human Resources plays a vital role in managing the health and well-being of your workforce, as well as ensuring compliance with national labor laws and creating a positive work environment. As a small business owner, you might be tempted to deal with HR-related admin yourself, but this can quickly become overwhelming as your team continues to grow and the amount of paperwork piles up. A seasoned HR professional can help you develop code of conduct policies, create employee handbooks, and handle lengthy recruitment and onboarding processes, with, on average, about 73% of HR’s time spent on admin tasks. They can also assist with the performance management and conflict resolution of your employees. If you're not ready or able to hire a full-time HR manager, you could consider working with a HR consultant who can provide guidance as and when needed.
Setting up a Payroll System
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Once you have employees, you'll need a software system to manage their wages and/or bonuses. A reliable payroll system like Zoho is essential for accurately calculating wages, deducting taxes, and ensuring timely payments. When choosing payroll software, you should consider factors such as ease of use, scalability, and integration with other business systems. A 2024 QuickBooks survey found that 45% of accountants expect technology like payroll software to save them a significant amount of time when payroll processing over the next 12 months.
You may want to opt for cloud-based payroll software, which offers more flexibility and accessibility compared to other systems. They can also come with features like automatic tax calculations, direct deposit options, and reporting tools to simplify your payroll admin. As you evaluate different payroll solutions, think about your current needs and potential future growth. This will include things like whether the system will be able to handle more employees as your business expands or offer features like time tracking that you might need down the line.
Choosing a Payment Gateway Service
As your business grows and you start hiring employees, you'll likely see an increase in the number of financial transactions you need to make. This makes it more important than ever to make sure you select the right payment gateway service to handle transactions for your business. You need to consider factors such as transaction fees, security features, and compatibility with your existing systems. In particular, you should look for a provider that offers robust fraud protection measures and complies with relevant international security standards to ensure the safety of you and your employees’ financial information.
You should also consider whether you need a gateway that supports multiple currencies if you plan to hire international professionals. As an example, one of the more popular payment providers, Airwallex can help streamline your financial processes and reduce cost inefficiencies by eliminating extra foreign exchange conversion fees. Having both 160+ payment methods and currency conversions at 0.5-1%, Airwallex is great for companies who have a global customer base and want to save on costly domestic and foreign processing fees.
Creating a Healthy Work Environment
It’s also essential to focus on creating a positive work environment that can attract and keep professionals at your company. This is about more than just offering competitive salaries. It also means creating a culture where employees feel valued, supported, and motivated. The first step to achieving this is clearly communicating your company's mission, values, and goals to your new hires. This helps them understand why their work matters and can increase employee engagement and morale, with companies that use pre-boarding activities retaining up to 81% of their new hires. You should develop open lines of communication and encourage feedback from your team. This can include setting up regular check-ins and meetings to help address concerns and celebrate company successes.
It could also be worth implementing an employee recognition program to acknowledge and reward good performance, with a Glassdoor survey finding that about 53% of employees would stay longer at their company if they felt more appreciated by their boss. This can be as simple as verbal praise or a more official reward like employee of the month. A healthy and positive work environment also requires you to provide the necessary tools and resources for your employees to do their jobs effectively. For example, you may need to invest in new software technology or comfier office furniture. It’s worth keeping in mind that happier employees are more efficient and more likely to stay with your company long-term, with a study by the University of Warwick finding that happier employees are about 12% more productive overall.
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Offering Desirable Benefits and Compensation
It’s crucial to think about offering attractive benefits and salaries when you're hiring your first employees. Although a competitive salary is obviously important, a well-rounded benefits package can often be the deciding factor for potential hires fielding multiple offers. One Glassdoor survey found that 48% of jobseekers listed attractive benefits as a factor that would influence them into applying for a particular role. You may want to start by researching industry standards for salaries in your area to ensure you're offering competitive pay. You should also consider offering performance-based bonuses to incentivize and reward your team going the extra mile. Additionally, you could offer other popular benefits, like paid time off or flexible working arrangements. Of course, there are also less traditional benefits you can offer new employees, like wellness programs or even pet-friendly offices.
Onboarding and Training New Hires
A well-structured onboarding and training process is also essential for setting your company up for success. An intelligent onboarding process offers more than just paperwork and office tours; it also integrates new hires into your company culture and equips them with the tools they need to excel in their roles. You should start by creating a comprehensive onboarding plan that covers everything from company policies and procedures to job-specific training, with a Glassdoor survey finding that organisations with a solid onboarding process can improve their new hire retention by 82%. You should develop a clear job description for each role to help new employees understand what's expected of them and how they can thrive in their positions. You should constantly evaluate how well the onboarding program is working because, according to Business Wire, up to 55% of organizations do not bother to measure the effectiveness of their onboarding programs.
If you’re thinking of employing staff for the first time as your business expands, congratulations. But, although it's a sign of company growth and success, it also comes with important new responsibilities and considerations. You can use some of the discussed strategies to help new hires settle into your business, but remember to keep evolving your policies and procedures with the times.
