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How to avoid the four most common costly mistakes when hiring a team

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by Startacus Admin

common mistakes when hiring
Common costly mistakes when hiring a team. Use this UK focused advice, care of Simon Gilmour, Employment Law Partner for Harper James Solicitors, to help avoid high hiring costs, low workplace morale and mistakes which could have you constantly recruiting.

Starting a business means putting together a crack team to help you achieve your dream – but making mistakes with who you hire, how you hire and the policies in place for new employees can drive your business in the wrong direction.

Understanding the rules and regulations around employment law will save your business money in the long run. Use the advice below to avoid high hiring costs, low workplace morale and mistakes which could have you constantly recruiting. 

Give employees clarity with transparent employment documents

The amount of documents, policies and contracts you need to hire staff can seem overwhelming, but it’s crucial that the paperwork surrounding your staff protects both your employees and your business.common mistakes when hiring

To make sure that your employees are entirely clear about the working relationship, their responsibilities and your expectations, make sure you have a precisely-drafted employment contract, issued before your new employee starts. You can also avoid grievances, increase staff morale and decrease staff turnover by establishing a contract which goes into specific details on how and when salary and benefits will be assessed and any increases awarded.

Protect the future of your confidential information

Have you considered how the actions of any disgruntled previous employees might jeopardise your company? Whilst it is important to make sure employees feel involved in the business, securing your future business position can help you to protect those all-important trade secrets – if you don’t put rigorous restrictions in place, your confidential information and the fundamentals of your business are at risk.

It’s key that your organisation has clearly drafted:

Standard versions of these often only go so far when protecting your interests, so having more thorough contracts will prevent your current and former employees from competing with your business, directly soliciting work from your clients or suppliers and poaching your other staff.

Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and employee contracts can also help secure information such as:

  • Trade secrets
  • Business contacts
  • Processes
  • Financial information
  • IT data and systems

Prevent high staff turnover by offering the full package

Frequently needing to hire new staff not only incurs recruitment and training costs, but costs your company time too. Attract the right kind of people (and inspire their loyalty)common mistakes when hiring by considering all of their needs. Offering the right salary will be a significant factor, but businesses are increasingly including work/life balance benefits as standard.

Employees are more likely to emotionally invest in a business if they have some say in how the organisation runs. Employee share schemes incentivise your workforce to work hard and achieve company-wide success by allowing them to make gains by holding shares in the organisation.

It’s also important to manage expectations with your employees. You can avoid misunderstandings and tension when have clear policies about:

  • Remuneration
  • Workload
  • Working conditions

Once you have these policies in place, it’s vital that managers and senior staff properly enforce and act on them, improving trust and respect in the long run.

Ensure your staff have the correct employment status

Balancing the need for additional support in the form of freelancers, contractors and agency workers and the loyalty of employees can be a tricky business, especially when you factor requirements for employment status. How can you make sure everyone working for you has the right status in the eyes of the law?

Tax legislations like IR35 are now more restricted than ever, limiting the ability for individuals using a personal service company to refrain from becoming a full employee in order to avoid paying National Insurance Contributions and income tax. Make sure you are fully aware of the status of every individual who provides a service to your company.

Simon Gilmour is the Employment Law Partner for Harper James Solicitors. Harper James is a full-service national commercial law firm which specialises in providing expert legal advice to startups, entrepreneurs and early-stage growth businesses, all at genuinely affordable costs from top 100 lawyers.


 


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Published on: 7th August 2019

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