A Guide to Employing Executive Staff

In a small business, hiring your first member of staff is an important step which some first time entrepreneurs approach with trepidation. Once that first time is under your belt you become more confident, and might even get blasé about. But how much more difficult it is when you want to bring in a number two or a finance or marketing director. You want people with skills to complement your own, and you may be way out of your comfort zone.

The Planning Stage

Because these are crucial roles, you need to get it right from the word go. It’s therefore important to plan how to go about the recruitment process, know what you want to find out and how you will approach it well before you start.

First you need a succinct job description, so take your time over it if at all possible. Before you finalise it, do some networking. Talk to other people who do the hiring as well as people who have been hired for the type of role you have in mind. Now you can advertise the post.

Selecting the Right Applicants

Your first experience of those who respond might be on the telephone, or more likely on paper. This will be either a CV or information from a recruitment agency. Again this stage should not be rushed as you need time to peruse and consider all the detail in front of you. Which candidates have the skills, training and experience you believe will equip them for the role? When you decide on the ones you will interview, make notes for each person to help you to probe further into what you have read.

The Interview Stages

At the first interviews you have to make judgements about whether they can do the job as well as you need. Lead them into discussing what they can bring to the role. You need to be sure that their skills will be a good fit.

From the discussion, is it clear they have done some homework to find out about you and your company? That could demonstrate the level of commitment you want. Now consider their personality. Will they fit in well with your team? Do they have the right balance of authority and willingness to listen and learn? Do you actually like them?

Sometimes there is a clear winner at this stage, but you may find you still have more than one possibility. If so, you should invite them back for another interview. You could set them a task or some homework to do in the meantime.

You could always bring a second person to join you for the interviews, if you have someone appropriate whose judgement you can rely on. It doesn’t have to be an inside person. It could be a spouse or a mentor or friend, perhaps someone from your local bookkeepers. The final decision, of course, will still lie with you, but you will have the view of someone else to help you make it.

The ‘Gig Economy’ – a Guide for Employers

A new buzzword in the business world is the ‘gig economy’, but do you know for sure what it means? Some people think it just refers to being able to use websites such as People per Hour where you place your bid for services offered. Others give it a much wider application as if it refers to using any freelancers for specific projects.

Gig workers may be used at any level of an organisation. Alex Swarbrick is a senior consultant at Roffey Park, an institute which claims to ‘develop people who develop organisations’. He believes that gig workers fall into two distinct groups.

“You can characterise the workforce in this model like an hourglass,” he says. “So the people at the top comprise highly-skilled, sought-after talent that is relatively well paid and expects to work flexibly. Workers at the bottom end of the hourglass, however, are likely to be on temporary, fixed-term, zero-hour contracts and have a number of jobs that could be characterised as insecure, low-paid work.”

How Can you Get the Best People to Give Value for Money?

Entrepreneurs frequently use freelancers when they need help temporarily, so are probably more used to avoiding the pitfalls than many a large HR department. Sometimes though, they can still be managed more effectively whatever the size of your business. So here are some aspects to deal with that you may not have considered before:

• What will attract the right gig workers to be available for you if at all possible when you need them? Having relevant contract terms and conditions, rewards and benefits will go a long way to making yourself an attractive employer.
• Staying in touch with people you will want to come back for future projects and keeping them in the loop as much as you can.
• Managing the risks of using people who might also work for your competitors from time to time.
• Keeping tabs on quality control to get the best value from outsourced workers.
• Making sure they are aware of all relevant legislation and operate within the law.
• Integrating them comfortably with any permanent staff you have. The last thing you want is any resentment on either side. 

How Can you Keep all Staff Happy?

Co-operation between permanent and temporary staff is essential so you must do all you can to ensure it. It’s worth remembering that even workers of longstanding can become bored and unproductive unless they have a bit of variety in their days, and operate in a culture of give as well as take.

Bearing all this in mind, you should have no problem in getting the most advantage from the gig economy. Your local bookkeepers will be glad to advise and assist if you need help with contracts or managing the finances. They might also have the contacts to help you find the best people for a particular job.

Time to Update Your Display Screen Equipment Risk Assessments

Pretty well any time you buy new business equipment, you need to produce a new risk assessment. Work stations, which comprise equipment such as desks, chairs, monitors and other display screens, are no exception.

Changes in Screen Technology

Display screen equipment has seen exceptional technological development in recent years. Gone are the fat, bulky monitors that used to adorn our desks and take up so much space. Flat screens are the norm, and even these can mean change of posture for the users or more strain on the eyes because the screen is further back on the desk.

Stand-up desks have also been recommended by Public Health England, because it’s not so good for people to sit at a desk for a whole day, as many workers have been used to doing. Desks can be at variable heights these days, and how they should be used is important for your well-being and productivity, and that of your staff.

In some fields it’s common to have wide format screens, with a number of applications on show at the same time. Similarly, people can work with multiple screens, but they have to be further from them so they can see everything without having to keep turning around. How might that affect the eyes, or put greater strain on the neck or back?

Changes in Communication Technology

Laptops are also a feature of the modern office, but they can be much more difficult to use comfortably over long periods of time. Your risk assessments will need to cover how to mitigate the problems with connected keyboards and mice; you can even connect a larger separate display screen if it helps.

Do you allow your staff to bring their own devices to use at work? Perhaps you supply them with a mobile or a tablet for personal as well as business use. When you use a touch screen device, you are just as much at risk of repetitive strain injury as anyone using a keyboard.

If your risk assessments don’t take all these eventualities on board, it’s high time to review and update them. If you need help for this, your local bookkeepers may be able to assist, or point you towards appropriate professional help.