Thinking about employing staff?

If there’s anything more daunting than actually starting your own business, it would have to be employing staff.

This is usually the first big hurdle that a business owner must get over in order to stop doing everything themselves. It’s a big step and often fundamental to a business’s growth aspirations.

But, before you rush off and start hiring, there’s a lot of planning you should do ensure that you get it right.

So how do you know when it’s viable to take on a staff member, and how do you go about planning to employ someone? Let us give you some pointers….

Establish your business goals

Before you do anything, get clear on your goals.

Specifically, what are you wanting to achieve both personally and for your business?

Establishing your goals upfront will make the rest of your decision making much easier.

Think about things like;

• How big do you want your business to grow?
• How involved do you want to be day to day?
• Do you want to stay on the tools or sit in the driver’s seat?
• When do you want to achieve these milestones?

Be specific and keep your goals simple, we recommend using SMART goals.

• Specific – Make sure your goals are simple and single minded
• Measurable – Make sure you can measure your success
• Achievable – Can you realistically achieve the goals
• Relevant – Do these goals align with your personal values
• Time bound – Give yourself a timeframe goal to achieve the goals

Write down your goals and keep them handy. Referring to your goals when making big decisions will help ensure that your plans will support achieving them.

i.e. We want to achieve $250,000 annual turnover by 31 March 2022.

Develop your growth plan and cashflow model

Now that you have your goals documented, you will need to develop a plan to achieve them.

These plans should be supported with a cashflow model to help you understand the impacts of your decisions (such as taking on an employee) and timing to test out different scenarios.

Kiwitax have some great resources to help, check out our 7 ways to grow article and if you want some “hands on” help from one of our expert business advisors, we offer a growth planning course too.

Consider all of your options;

• Do you need a full-time employee, or should you start with a part-timer, or even a contractor?
• Is there support to help you take someone on like grants etc?
• Would an internship help fill a temporary gap, or prove your model?
• What Health and Safety considerations and costs do you need to consider?
• What other help or support will the employee need?
• Think about other costs you are likely to face to support that employee such as tools, training, vehicle etc.

Get help

When it comes to employing staff, the cost of getting it wrong can be bad for a business and its reputation. So, it pays to make the effort and get it right the first time. It can also be a trap for business owners trying to save cash by doing everything themselves. Get professional help and get it right the first go…

There are plenty of options for getting help with employing and managing your staff from recruitment, employment agreements to tax, payroll and health and safety.

There’s a veritable gold mine of resources available to employers online;

• Employment New Zealand
• Kiwitax Employee hourly rate calculator
• Competenz

There’s an army of businesses and consultants that can provide advice and hands on help;

• Kiwitax monthly tax and accounting management services
• Kiwitax growth planning and quarterly coaching services

And there’s loads of financial support for qualifying businesses too;

• Regional Business Partners Network
• Apprenticeship boost scheme

Finally, have a chat to your accountant about payroll software options as this will make administration much easier.

Go for it!

Now that you have your goals set, your plans laid out with a supporting cashflow model and a recruitment agent on your team, you can draft your employment advert and start interviewing, good luck!