It is generally said that a business or company is as good as its employees. As much as you can have a great business vision, if you have do not have a well-oiled mechanism to actualize it then it will not matter. If you closely follow how the world is evolving you will notice that the whole dynamic of employment has drastically changed. Traditional approaches might not be as effective as they were back then and things generally are no longer business as usual. You must have a good understanding of how to hire employees if you are to see your business flourish. So kindly read on as we discuss some of the pertinent things you ought to know about hiring employees.

Do You Have To Hire, Already?

Before we go anywhere, this is a good place to start. You see, human resources account for one of the most significant costs when it comes to business operating costs. Thus, before you even start thinking of hiring employees you must think it through. During the formative stages of starting a business, you have to limit your costs by all means. Most businesses can be started without necessarily hiring anyone whilst for some it is inescapable. You can tap into family members or outsource services in a bid to avoid hiring employees early on in a business. The usual trigger should be scaling – only when the scale of operations significantly spikes should you start considering hiring employees. Overall, at some point, it will become necessary to hire employees so let us now look at things you must bear in mind.

What Are You Hiring For?

Here is the simple logic; you can never find something if you do not know what it is you are looking for. A clearly defined picture of what you are looking for will inform how you look for it and how you ascertain it is the one when you find it.  For instance, you might realize that the sales side of your business needs someone to cater to it. That means it the sales department; you then determine what exactly it is the person you need will be doing i.e. roles and responsibilities. As you continue with that brainstorming process you begin to see where it is getting you. Ultimately you will get to a point where you also know the kind of skill set the person will have to wield. All that would have started with a simple question so start by knowing and defining the nature and characteristics of a position you need to be filled.

Get Acquainted With The Legal Side Of Things

This is one knowledge area you must comprehensively study upon. You must get to know and understand about laws that govern employment and labour in general. Locally we have a Labour Act which extensively covers a lot of issues regarding these matters. You can also get assistance from lawyers, HR experts and even other established businesses. The last thing you would want is to get dragged to court for violating employee rights.

 

Employee Handbook – A Must-Have

The structure and compositions of businesses differ so you must come up with an employee handbook for your business. This is a strategic document that must be availed to every employee upon being hired so that they get a grip of all procedures regarding their employment. Some of the topical issues to be covered in such a resource are basic guidelines, policies, code of conduct, remuneration, working conditions and so on. To ensure that the document becomes legally binding the employees should sign it once they have gone through it. This is will be an empirical basis for their having agreed with the contents of the handbook.

Your Selection Process Matters

There is no one way to select employees – there are many ways. You have to determine what brings out the best concerning what you are looking for. Interviews are the most commonly used; obviously would have been preceded by a call for applications and the like. Some can use psychometric tests, some use probation as a selection method. Some are given a platform to pitch their presentation citing why they are the best person for the job. I do not want to confine you to a particular selection technique – be flexible and think outside the box! The guiding principles I can just let you in on are that you must assess one’s capacity to solve problems, to innovate and also to look for any prior proven track record in that regard. It will also be wise to assess their emotional quotient (EQ) i.e. how they manage their emotions. There are several more things to look at; these are just some of them.

Screening And Background Checks

You must do some form of screening or background checks. One of the most basic ones is to request for police clearances from your prospective employees. People with criminal backgrounds might not be the best fit for the business as they might pose a possible threat to your business, your other employees and even your customers. Some of the things to look at are citizenship – hypothetically, you can employ a fugitive unawares. Do get some legal guidance on running such checks because what you might think are valid background checks can be violations of people’s rights and freedoms.

Signed Agreements

Once all has been done smoothly and you have decided to hire someone it is vital to have signed agreements. Already I have pointed out on the employee handbook; that is one. You can also have exclusively drafted employee agreements that stipulate all the vital information and formalizes your employer-employee relationship. Remember, if any form of agreement is not on paper it can be ruled as non-existent from a legal angle.

I am sure you will find these 7 guiding principles useful for your business’ human resources needs and selection.