Hiring is one of the most difficult business decisions. Ideally, the most optimal time is in the small window of time when the business has the sufficient cash flow to hire new employees while at the same time needing extra hands on deck to manage the workflow. Hire too early and the employees may prove redundant and financially draining. Hire too late and the business may miss key opportunities due to a lack of workload capacity.
It is essential to consider the hiring process when figuring out the best time to bring in new blood. According to AIHR, the average time to fill a job role is 60.5 days, which must be factored into the calculus when contemplating new hiring. One must start hiring new employees when the funding and the workload are present to justify the hiring.
Hiring new employees is a huge ask to make of entrepreneurs, and short of a crystal ball, it may seem entirely impossible to execute perfectly. Fortunately, by routinely evaluating the business, entrepreneurs can approximate the best time for their business to start hiring to keep the wheels of the business turning and steadily growing.
Table of Contents
Signs that your business needs to start hiring
Financial health and growth
Analyzing the business’ financial reporting is the first priority of business. Even outside of hiring, it is a good idea to regularly analyze the business’ finances to boost efficiency and productivity. When it comes to hiring, entrepreneurs need to ask themselves two questions:
- Do the business’ finances support the cost of hiring?
- Is the business growing to the point where new hiring is required?
The business’ financial reports answer these questions quite effectively. If the business has had a steady stream of growing revenue coming in for the last two or three quarters, then it means that the current workforce is working efficiently to drive growth. This may hint at the future possibility of needing to hire more to keep up with the business’ growth.
Workforce Capacity
The next factor to consider is the capacity of the existing workforce. By taking feedback from the employees on their work capacity, you can determine whether it’s time to hire or not. If the feedback reports that the workforce is working at maximum capacity, or worse, struggling to maintain max capacity, it is time to start considering hiring new employees.
Taking feedback from employees is also something that should be routinely practiced to stay on top of the business’ needs. A yearly survey would not be able to account for sudden surges in growth over short periods of time, so bi-annual or even quarterly assessments of the workforce’s capacity can prove quite fruitful.
Workload evaluation
Along with obtaining employee feedback, entrepreneurs can look at patterns in business data such as overtime, as well as employees’ daily activities to determine whether they need help. For example, if the staff is working overtime frequently, as well as taking on more workload to keep up with the business’ needs, then it is time to start hiring, urgently.
This is one of the most sensitive factors to monitor and track because if left ignored, it can lead to the workforce being stretched thin and cause morale to plummet. The hiring process may also be affected as dissatisfied employees mean higher chances of resignations and negative reviews of the business’ working conditions. To avoid these issues, it is best to stay on top of employee needs and provide them with an extra pair of hands when needed to keep the growth going.
Missed Opportunities
Missed opportunities are a key sign that it’s time to expand and invest to hire new employees. Let’s put it this way, if the business has the capacity to manage four clients, but it is turning three of them away due to limited capacity, then it is money being left on the table. If the business’ marketing efforts are leading to an uptick in client influx, then investing in hiring to increase capacity is the logical next step to take.
Settling for the business’ current client capacity may seem a smart move for the short term. However, it can make the business lose its competitive edge as potential clients move to rival businesses for their needs. Capitalizing on new opportunities by steadily investing in new hiring, when the business’ cash flow is strong enough to sustain it, can lead to the business steadily scaling up.
Skill requirement
Another factor that plays a huge role in deciding whether to hire or not is skill requirements. For example, if the business is growing to the point where the core team cannot manage the accounting responsibility, then it is time to hire an accountant before anything can go wrong.
Similarly, if the business is launching a new service, then it needs to hire skilled employees to satisfy the demand. While not as major a consideration as the other factors, analyzing skill requirements is crucial in planning future hiring.
Why not skip the hiring process?
With all that said, entrepreneurs today have a much easier solution to hiring top talent available at their fingertips: Outsourcing.
Entrepreneurs often ask whether outsourcing truly is beneficial to companies. EA publication titled “Does Outsourcing Really Benefit Companies” tackles this question in depth. In a nutshell, yes. Outsourcing is the best solution to deal with any hiring qualms a business may have. When you outsource, you are essentially paying a firm to handle the tedious hiring process and link you directly to capable professionals who fit your needs. For example, if a business is in need of bookkeeping services, Expertise Accelerated’s outsourced bookkeeping services provide US businesses with trained offshore remote professionals without having to deal with the cumbersome hiring process.
By making use of solutions like outsourcing, businesses can greatly cut down on the average in-house job fill time, acquiring relevant employees at a moments notice. With modern solutions like outsourcing, businesses have much more leeway regarding routine evaluations for new hires. With the current rising rate of outsourced hiring among small businesses in the US, we can safely say that the Work–From–Home (WFH) model is the way forward.
Key Takeaways
Hiring at the right time can make a huge impact on the growth of your business. It is not always the right time to hire employees though. A business should have enough finances to handle the extra cost of hiring and should also have the need to hire, as hiring unnecessarily ultimately takes a toll on the company’s finances. This article provides a brief overview of some of the signs that it may be time for your company to start hiring. It further provides outsourcing as a solution i.e., delegating some of your business’s responsibilities to offshore companies and utilizing the many benefits of outsourcing.