How to Decide When It’s the Right Time to Hire

I hear this question from small business owners almost weekly: “I need to add new hires to the staff, but I can’t afford to pay them until I have the cash.  What should I do?

When is the right time to hire? How do I pay their salaries and benefits?”

It can be challenging to learn when it’s the right time to hire, but it’s also tough to grow a business without hiring.  So you’ve got to know when to pull the trigger and invest in talent to maximize your business’s success.  Here’s what you need to know. 

When Is It Time to Hire Another Employee?

Although every business is different, a few common signs exist for hiring an employee.  Here’s how to tell when your small business is ready to make a hire
:

1. The quality of work is suffering: When you and your team are stretched too thin, there are not enough resources to give each task the time and attention it deserves.  As such, the work’s quality suffers, directly affecting your bottom line.  As a result, you should consider hiring or outsourcing some of the work to free up more time and energy.
2. You have less of a work-life balance: If you or your team constantly have to work long hours to get the job done, that’s not sustainable in the long term.  That road will lead to burnout and increased employee turnover.
3. Someone else could do the job better: Business owners, out of necessity, tend to become jacks of all trades but masters of none.  If there’s an aspect of running the company that you’re not very good at, hire a specialist who can do it better.  Investment hiring will free up your time for the tasks you are better equipped to handle.  Ask yourself, what is the highest and best use of your time?
4. You need new skills: Sometimes, growing your business means expanding into new areas where your team lacks experience.  You should hire experts to help you navigate pristine waters or risk crashing and burning on a brand-new launch.
5. Sales and profits are stagnant: There comes a point in every business when you can’t grow or expand anymore with your current resources.  In this case, hiring a new person is better than risking stagnation.

In addition to these signs, you need to hire an employee.  I have always recommended that if a business owner can fill 50% of a new hire’s workweek, they should make the hire now.  That is enough work to burden your current teammates significantly without hiring someone new. 

The idea is that the remaining 50% of their time will be used for growth and underestimated work frequently pushed off until another day.  Consider the workload of yourself and your team, then hire someone to pick up the slack.

If your business meets any of these signs, you must hire an employee; it’s time to take action.  A business coach can help.  So please fill out my contact form, and let’s work through your organizational chart and future hires.

Coach Dave