Business growth is incredibly exciting. There’s nothing like watching your revenue soar and acquiring customers at an accelerated rate—but with that growth comes inevitable growing pains, including building a team that can help you take on the increased workload.
The employees you bring on will become the core of the company, and you have a lot of responsibility involved to protect them as well as your personal interest – From spreading core values that you consider to be the best way to shape the company culture to Myers Briggs tests to know your employees or team members deeper. There are plenty of options when it comes to set the conditions for your projects to succeed. Here are five tips to help guide your way as you hire new staff and reach for the next level of success.
1. Establish a company culture that appeals to candidates
As a small business just starting out, it might be difficult to attract people looking for career opportunities; other companies that are more established may seem like a safer bet, especially if they’re offering higher paygrade. But you can still stand out in the sea of competition and position yourself as an employer someone would want to work for by cultivating a strong company culture.
One of the best ways you can do so is by identifying a clear purpose with a mission statement that explains why you do what you do. Employees want to know that their work is contributing to something meaningful and important, so you should share the company’s goals to put their potential efforts into perspective.
It’s not necessarily a matter of setting out to solve world hunger, but you should try to address the motivation behind why you started your business. Maybe you want to innovate the industry to provide consumers with a better solution or offer a sustainable fashion line to combat the cruelty involved with oversea factories. Whatever the case is, say it loud and say it proud.
Pro Tip: You can also create a positive company culture and show employees that you care about them as individuals by offering perks such as work-from-home opportunities, flexible hours, and regular team outings. These types of benefits can offset the appeal to a higher salary they might find elsewhere and encourage them to accept the position, even with lower pay.
2. Carefully consider every job applicant
Don’t underestimate the weight of every hiring decision you make. Bringing on the wrong team member cannot only prove disastrous to the company culture you’ve built, but can also jeopardize your success if they negatively impact customer retention by providing them with a bad experience—or, worse, engage in fraudulent, criminal activity that leaves you high and dry.
You should screen every potential employee to confirm there are no red flags lurking in their past, no matter how pressured you feel to find help as fast as possible. How long does a background check take? Not long! You can get results within a matter of minutes to expediate the hiring process and offer jobs with confidence.
3. Offer support with human resources
As a small business owner, diving into the world of human resources (HR) will feel a little unfamiliar. But nonetheless, you need to offer your staff with critical support to keep them happy and engaged.
The good news is that you don’t need to hire a professional to accommodate their needs; recent HR trends show a huge shift toward virtual services that provide a platform for onboarding, scheduling, time-off requests, and so much more at a fraction of the price.
4. Foster a safe and healthy work environment
As an employer, it’s your responsibility to protect the health of your employees by providing a safe work environment. Be sure to stay informed on the latest employment legislation that defines what standards you must uphold and follow workplace safety tips that can prevent accidents from occurring. No matter how careful you are, on-site injuries can still happen, so it’s prudent to cover your liability with employer insurance that can prevent you from potential lawsuits.
5. Monitor performance and maintain productivity
With all these wheels in motion, you and your team will be set to start work. Get the most out of your labor costs by monitoring their performance with project trackers that display task progression, sales rate, and similar data. Your goal is to maximize employee productivity without seeming like an overbearing boss, and this type of software will allow you to keep eyes on things behind the scenes so you can intervene only when necessary.
Keep these tips in mind when building your team to bolster your business’ shot at success and stay on the right growth projection. Happy hiring!