If your business is at capacity and you’re struggling to fit in all the work coming in, it could be the right time to hire a new employee.
Expanding your team comes with its own set of challenges. As more people come on board, it’s likely the structure of your business and your own role within it will need to change.
Plus, you’ll need to factor the costs of employing a larger team into your plans, and the additional time spent on meeting your legal obligations as an employer.
Here are some of the main obstacles you might encounter when growing your team, and how to overcome them.
Closing skills gaps
While hiring a new employee is often a way to bring valuable skills into your business, it can take some time for them to settle in and learn the role – especially for someone who’s relatively inexperienced, or if the job requires specific technical skills.
Managing that gap can be a challenge but there is support available. If you’re hiring an apprentice, for example, you may be able to access Government funding for training.
This works differently depending on your pay bill. Employers with a pay bill under £3 million need to pay 5% towards the cost of training, with the Government covering the remaining 95%.
Those with a higher pay bill need to pay the apprenticeship levy, and receive funds for apprenticeship training in return.
Currently, this doesn’t apply to other forms of training, although there have been calls from business groups for the Government to put a wider training levy in place.
Getting payroll right
Paying your staff the right amount, at the right time, one of the most important responsibilities you have as an employer.
It’s also one of the most complicated and painstaking tasks you’ll need to complete, and it only gets more challenging as you take on more employees with different requirements.
On top of making sure your employee is paid correctly, with tax and national insurance deducted in the right way, you’ll need to take into account workplace pension contributions, student loan repayments, and employee benefit reporting.
Our payroll tips for new employers cover this topic in more detail, or you can talk to us about whether outsourcing this entire function might be a better option for you.
HR issues
However much time you spend honing your recruitment process and selecting the perfect candidate for the job, there’s always a chance things won’t go as smoothly as you’d like.
Employment issues can quickly become complex and stressful, taking up time that would be better spent working on your business.
Making sure you have clear human resources processes in place can help. For example, it’s common to put new employees on probation, setting out clear expectations of how you’ll expect them to perform in their first few months to be sure of being taken on permanently.
Our HR support service can manage some of the trickier areas of taking on new staff, including contractual or disciplinary issues, while helping to ensure you’re complying with your legal responsibilities as an employer.
Taking a step back
A larger team also means you’ll inevitably become more removed from the hands-on, everyday tasks required in running the business.
That’s often a good thing, as it can give you the space you need to focus on the business at a strategic level.
But for owner-managers who are used to a much more active role, it can be hard to make the transition to working on their business, not in it.
This is where our Love My Business service can help. Focusing on three core areas of knowledge, growth and profit, we can help you to expand your team in line with your business goals.
Get in touch to find out more.
