5 Signs That It’s Time To Hire
If you are a business owner, it is unlikely that you will be able to afford to provide employees with annual all-expenses-paid company holidays or catered meals. The reality is different, where every penny counts and you aim to make the biggest impact possible with the most economical use of resources.
Undoubtedly, hiring new staff is a big investment, and taking on someone new unnecessarily can be very costly and cause damage to your business. To avoid taking someone on too soon, we’ve compiled a list of 5 signs that it’s time to expand your business:
1. Your Staff Are Burnt Out
When running any business, there will always be a sufficient amount of work to get done. Putting in long hours to complete last-minute projects or meet clients demands happens in any business, however, overtime should not become the norm. If staff regularly work 50 hours or more regularly, then you will begin to push people past their limits.
If team members begin to tell you that they are struggling to get their work done, or regularly fail to complete projects, it’s a warning sign that there are too many responsibilities and not enough people to complete them. There are other clues that employees are feeling burnt out – watch out for cheerful people beginning to become stressed and irritable. If these issues are not dealt with, employees may begin to leave.
2. The Quality Of Your Output Is Falling
Another key sign that it’s time to expand your team, is that the quality of your output is falling. When staff are overworked and de-motivated, the quality of their work will naturally decline. Clients may start to notice a decline in quality, or that there have been several missed deadlines and become unhappy. This will eventually cause you to lose business, and damage your hard-earned reputation.
3. High-Value Employees Are Doing Low-Value Work
Wasted talent is wasted money. If you hired individual employees for their unique skills and experience, but they have ended up having to do entry-level work and administrative tasks, then it’s evident that they need someone to support them. Highly skilled employees should be doing the work that you hired them to do. There are plenty of people out there who are specifically looking for entry-level jobs, they will be able to take some of the load from others’ shoulders so that they can focus on using their talent more effectively.
4. You Are Over-stressed
As a business owner/manager, it is natural that you will sometimes feel stressed, given the high-level of responsibility that your senior position involves. The likelihood is that you began your business to do something you love, but if stress has started to take over, then it may be time to take on a little more help.
Have you begun to struggle to support your team members? Do you feel like you’re constantly answering questions and approving requests? If you are finding it unmanageable to meet client deadlines, balance your employees’ workload, as well as your own, it’s time to think about expanding your team.
5. You’re Turning Down Work
Have you begun to turn down work? This is one of the biggest signs that it is time to expand your team. No business can afford to turn down new opportunities, adding extra support to your business will allow you to take advantage of any new work that comes in and not have to turn away any lucrative opportunities in the future!
When you are incredibly busy working in your business and focusing on your clients, it is easy to miss the signs that it is time to grow your team. However, by taking account of these 5 signs, you will know when it is time to expand your business!