Managing a workforce is tough. It’s the reason many successful businesses eventually end up hiring human resources departments. As a small business owner, you’re unlikely to be able to afford to hire your own HR staff, which means the challenging task of managing your employees falls entirely on you. Fortunately, there are many ways in which you can make human resources admin easier. Below are just 5 useful hacks that could make hiring and managing your staff easier
Start an employee referral program
An employee referral program can be a great way of turning your existing staff into recruiters. It involves rewarding employees with a bonus or some other kind of benefit in exchange for helping you find new staff. Why is it such a great strategy? Firstly, employees are likely to hire people they know and get along with – allowing these new recruits to more easily integrate into the team. Secondly, it empowers your employees and rewards them for it. Finally, it can save you time and money looking for applicants. All in all, it benefits you and your team.
Hire boomerang employees
What happens if an employee wants to come back? You shouldn’t allow them to, right? Wrong. Employees that leave and want to come back later (aka ‘boomerang employees’) can be great hires. They already understand how your business operates and therefore require less training. The fact that they came back also shows that they valued something in your business they couldn’t find elsewhere. Of course, if they were a nightmare employee, you probably shouldn’t invite them back. However, if they were a good employee, it makes sense to welcome them back as it could have major benefits.
Customize employee benefits
Not every employee is going to be drawn to the same benefits. Something that several employers are starting to consider is a customizable benefit package. This could include giving employees the choice to work from home or work from the office, letting them choose between monetary or non-monetary bonuses, and potentially even curating a unique choice of employee discounts for them to use (some employees may prefer a discounted gym membership, while others may value discounted cinema tickets). Such packages could help you to attract more talent and keep employees loyal.
Automate/outsource your payroll
Paying employees can be one of the most important jobs as an employer, but also one of the most tedious. Fortunately, there are many tools nowadays that can automate the process. There’s also the option of payroll outsourcing solutions – allowing you to pay someone else to take care of your payroll without having to hire a full-time team member. Either option is better than manually doing it yourself and could even reduce errors.
Keep job ads wholly positive
A big mistake employers make when writing job ads is focusing too much on demands of the job rather than the perks. Job ads can be particularly self-destructive if they focus on what they don’t want from an employee (i.e. ‘remote work not optional’ or ‘no timewasters’). It is better to keep job ads wholly positive and focus more on what you can give employees. Why? Because this is how you are going to attract the most high quality talent. The most high quality applicants already know they can get a job at most places and therefore will seek out the companies that have the best benefits. If your application comes across negative in tone or lists few benefits, you could scare off the best people for the job.
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This is a contributed post