If you are self-employed, holding interviews and gaining new staff members is a very exciting prospect, but it is not as simple as hiring someone and letting them work in your office; there are many important steps that need to be taken when employing someone, and it must be done properly. Here are ways to prepare your business for employers.
Planning Stages
If you want to employ new staff members into your business, you need to make this part of your business plan; you need to work out costs of hiring someone, and costs to pay them as you will need to make a profit. Work out your goals of where you want your business to be in a certain amount of time, and how many staff members you would ideally like to hire. Do not rush into hiring staff as they are working to make money and earn a living. Make sure to do research on holiday pay, maternity pay, and staff pensions for your workplace.
The Work Place
An office space or workplace is vital when employing new staff members; working from home can be an option, but is not convenient if you need to hold regular meetings. Find an office that will fit your planned amount of employees in, as getting one too big and expensive will put you out of pocket; once your business and employees grow, you could always move to a bigger office. Make sure to have computers, and other technology ready to go. Investing in a time tracking tool, like Workpuls, will help have a better overview of all your employees’ time. If you are interested in buying Operator chairs for staff members, there are many companies that stock these types of chairs – a comfortable workplace is a happy workplace. You will then be ready to take on employers; be sure to do research on how to do interviews, as you will want to be confident and professional. It is also important to look out for these qualities in applicants
HMRC
Before advertising a job online, you will need to make sure you let HMRC know that you are an employer; it’s vital that you do this within four weeks of taking on your first employee. It’s up to you to pay your staff and work out national insurance and tax for them.
Your First Employee
You have put a job advert online, you have received applications, and have held interviews – so what do you do now? If you have your sights set on a few applicants, it is important to ask for references from them because when you don’t know someone, you’re not sure who you are letting into your business; an employee could have a background of theft or could be unreliable staff members.
Once you have hired an applicant, you must provide them with a job contract; this will protect you and will make them aware of your policies. Make sure to include a probation period on their contract, so if things don’t work out, your business will be protected. Inform them about health and safety procedures too, such as fire alarm drills, and fire escapes.
If you are planning on hiring many employees, you may want to hire an accountant or work with one that is self-employed, as they can help work out the finances of your business and staff pay.
