Your small business might be growing faster than you expected. The higher sales and faster inventory turnover might swamp your current employees with work. In such cases, you might need to hire new staff to keep your team productive and efficient. New employees allow you to distribute the work evenly and maximize the skills of your team.
When is the best time for hiring? Here are some human resource management best practices you can implement.
Overworked and Overwhelmed Employees
Seasonal fluctuations aren’t the only times you may need new employees. Overworked and overwhelmed staff is a clear sign they need help. Stretching the limits of your team may lead to mass resignations, if not that they’ll be lethargic and unproductive whenever they’re at work. In such a scenario, start looking for additional employees to reduce their workload. This allows you to delegate and distribute tasks evenly. Your team will perform better now that they’re focused on their area of expertise.
Poor Level of Customer Service
If your small business’ customer service begins to deteriorate, it’s a sign you need to hire employees. Too much work means less effort when dealing with customers that ask questions, need problems solved, and wants to file a complaint. Sustained poor customer service has a negative effect on your brand’s image. You might lose customers to your competitors because of bad service. Discuss the workload with your team and identify their needs. The employee/s you hire can help ease tight schedules and improve the quality of service they render.
Some Employees Doing Low Value Tasks
Poor human resource management leads to skilled employees doing low-value work. These employees (or even you the owner) are doing administrative work that takes away from high-value tasks. If this is the case in your small business, it’s time to hire new employees. The additional staff can do the administrative work which gives your experienced employees more time to focus on their field of expertise. They can contribute to the success of your company by developing new products, improving processes, reducing costs, gaining new business partners, and implementing marketing strategies.
Failure to Follow Opportunities
An opportunity to enter a new market or launch a product doesn’t come often. You may feel unprepared to follow either path because of overwhelmed employees. They might have to work on more tasks because of your plans. This might burn them out faster. This is an ideal time to hire employees so that you’ll have a larger team to handle projects that grow your organization.
Drop in Productivity
Overworked staff stretched to the limit will just do the bare minimum to get through the day. You’ll notice a drop in their productivity compared to their performance within the last months. Fatigue and burnout will set in if they don’t get the help they need with their workload. The staff you hire will allow you to relieve the pressure your current employees feel. More people can contribute to the success of your small business. You’ll also see productivity stabilize or even improve.
These are just a few of the human resource management best practices you can use whenever you plan to hire new staff. These allow you to fill gaps in expertise and distribute the workload of your employees. If ever you need assistance with bookkeeping and updating your books to include new employees, we at Robookkeeper can assist you. We offer first-rate small business accounting services for entrepreneurs like you.
