Are you products or services increasing in number or popularity?

1. If your business is growing in popularity, take time to understand why. Is it a positive trend? Or is the growth in reaction to a campaign or a (good) blip on the consumer radar? By analyzing the reason behind the growth you can better assess if increased staffing is needed for the long or short term.
    
2. Are you looking to enter into a new or related industry?
   To successfully grow your business, you need expertise and you need manpower. Take time to assess the types and number of tasks that will be required to expand your business, and the type of employee you need to complete them. Apply this knowledge to assess your current employees. Do they have enough time to complete these additional tasks and do they have the skills required to complete them?
    
3. Is your revenue at or above target and positioned to grow?
   Investing the revenue you have acquired into growing your team benefits both your business and your staff. Productivity levels will rise and existing employees will have time to learn new skills or more capacity to complete tasks. 

It is important to remember that although understaffing leads to unhappy employees, overstaffing can lead to unnecessary costs. Take time to answer the questions above and assess if a staffing problem exists. Then take time to look at your finances. A useful metric is to look at your staff/sales ratio.  Does your revenue increase with each employee hired?  Use benchmark industry to assess what others in your industry are achieving.  

Want to Hire a new Employee?

Check out our How to Hire your First Employee article for tips and tricks of how to employ the right person for your team.  

 

You may also be intrested in our Attracting and Hiring Top Talentseminar presented by Sandra Miles, CEO and Founder of the Miles Employment Group Ltd and author of our  StartUp HR Kit.

 

Alternatively, if you have some more specific HR issues you’d like to resolve, you can also check out our Ask an HR Expert. These 30 minute consultations allow you to sit down with a BC HRMA professional to discuss the specific issues relating to your business.  Whether that’s recruitment, compensation and benefits, performance reviews, succession planning, leadership development or dealing with difficult employees.