“You’ve got to be a really good talent scout. Because no matter how smart you are, you need a team of great people”
These words of Steve Jobs, the late Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Apple, succinctly illustrate how important people are to every business. It also makes clear the reality that a business can’t be built by one person alone.
A successful company will need to both blend together a range of skills from a variety of people and manage different personalities.
As a result whenever you decide to take on employees it is without doubt that they are going to be the key determinant of its success.
Hiring staff
To take on staff you’ve first got to go through the process of hiring them.
The selection process you use to do this may be highly structured, or may simply consist of a coffee and a chat, but on whatever basis you decide to hire someone that decision is going to have a significant impact on your business.
A specific set of skills and experience may be the key things, or it may be that it’s certain personal qualities which you’re looking for.
When you take on employees you will feel responsible for their welfare and livelihood. Because of that your recruitment process needs to be well thought out. And that doesn’t have to mean complex or expensive!
Managing employees
Managing employees is a difficult thing to do.
To keep people motivated, performing at the level you need them to, to both contribute effectively to the business and develop their skills, is hard.
It is not something that everyone can just pick up and do. It takes practice and hard work.
A whole body of study and expertise – employee engagement – has grown up around the subject which not only shows how important it is but also highlights the amount of time which has been spent on coming up with and assessing approaches to it.
One approach which works for one employee is guaranteed not to be the same as one which works for another so it’s important that you spend time on just management alone and keep learning how to do it better.
And that’s on top of the day job – running a company!
Employment law basics
The legislation and regulations which affect small businesses is an all encompassing topic and it will therefore come as no surprise that when it comes to dealing with employees there are another bunch of laws and regulations that are relevant.
There are many employment law rules and you will need to make sure that you have all of the paperwork required to comply with this legislation in order to protect you, your business and your staff.
Pay as you earn (PAYE) tax is one example.
Employment contracts are another and there are many other areas impacted by employment law.
As with your business though there’s plenty of help out there to let you get to grip with the basics and more. You can’t deal with it all by yourself and you don’t have to!
Before You Go …
Before your business takes on any employees it is important that you consider a few things first.
To check out what these are take a look at our next article.
