When you suddenly realise you have too much work on your books and not enough hours to do it, you’ll be faced with the prospect of bringing more hands on deck to help you cope.
In terms of business growth, this is a fantastic place to be! But it does pose the problem of knowing whether to employ additional salaried staff or find contract workers to help as and when you need them.
There are pros and cons to both, and you will need to consider which is the right solution for your business and circumstances. Your accountant should be on-hand to help with making the right choice.
But we thought setting out a few of the benefits of each would help you make that decision.
The benefits of employing staff
Let’s consider the recruitment route first, taking on one or more members of salaried staff.
You can consider a fixed-term contract if you know the additional help will only be required for the duration of a particular project, or you can look at longer term part or full-time positions.
It is important to understand your legal obligations when taking on staff, so you may want to speak to an HR consultant before embarking on a recruitment drive.
Here’s five reasons why this can be a really good move:
- Stay in control
There’s no question that taking on an employee gives you far more control. You get to set their working hours, their pay rate, holiday entitlement and more with a contract of employment in place. This offers peace of mind in many ways, as you both know where you stand. You can also take their wage into account as a fixed expenditure when forecasting cashflow.
2. Know your team
When you employ a member of staff, you are able to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses far better. This can allow you to tailor the work they do, to play to their strengths, or invest in training where it’s needed to address any weaknesses. If you are considering a long-term placement, it can be a huge benefit to know your team well and focus them on areas of work they excel in. This enables you to plan your projects more effectively.
3. Expand your services
Bringing someone else on board offers the opportunity to expand your services into new areas. If you have identified a need for a service you currently don’t offer because you don’t possess the expertise, you could employ with this in mind and choose someone with that expertise that will enable you to branch out. This can bring benefits in terms of diversifying your offering to customers. Or you could look to expand into a new area geographically through employing satellite workers who can cover an additional ‘patch’.
4. Set your own standards
When your reputation is on the line, you want to make sure that anyone working under your banner is offering the level of professionalism, workmanship and customer service you would offer yourself. This is far easier to manage with employed staff, as you can train them in your working processes making sure they use your methods and adhere to your exacting standards.
5. Build loyalty
There is a lot to be said for building a loyal team around you that you can trust. It is far easier to build positive working relationships with employed staff and, as the person paying their wage, you are guaranteed a level of loyalty that you won’t necessarily get from contract workers.
The benefits of hiring contract workers
If you’re not ready for the commitment of taking on staff, there can be significant benefits to hiring contract workers on a temporary basis.
Here are five benefits to using temporary contract workers:
- Flexibility
The most obvious benefit is that this workforce offers complete flexibility. You can bring them on board as and when needed to fulfil specific contracts or project-based work. The amount of people you bring in, and the specific skill set they have, can be adapted to fit the business need at any given time.
2. Pay as you go
Rather than paying an employee for fixed contracted hours, you only pay for hours worked. This can work out to be far more profitable when quoting on projects and temporary contracts.
3. No pressure!
You are under no pressure to find these people work. If you have a quiet period, there is no stress attached to paying a wage if there is very little for them to do.
4. No holiday or sick pay
There is also no holiday or sick pay to take into account.
5. An interim solution
Using contract workers can provide an ideal interim solution, or stepping stone to hiring your own team. It can give you an insight into whether you can provide a sustained amount of work for them and maintain an income level that enables you to pay another staff member.
Whichever route you decide to take, do speak to your accountant about the implications in terms of cash flow, accounts and tax.
At Get Smart Accountants we work with our clients to drive growth and help them achieve their dreams.
If you’d like some advice or support to get your business moving in the right direction, then we’d love to hear from you.
Call Emma or Paul on 01902 212937
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