Member Article

I need an employee but I don’t know what to do???

When your business gets to the stage where you need to start bringing in extra help, it can be a really exciting time. You’re growing, you’re increasing your bottom line, and it’s time to recruit your first employee so you can continue to make big things happen and make progress against your overall vision.

The excitement can quickly turn into worry and doubt though. There’s no denying that there’s a ton of things that you need to think about, and you wouldn’t be the first business owner to wonder if you’ve bitten off more than you can chew.

You can stop stressing right now though, because we’re here to help. Let’s take a look at what you need to do.

Carry out the appropriate pre-employment checks

Top Tips for your new recruit

It’s your responsibility to ensure that your employee has a legal right to work here in the UK. You might also have to apply for a DBS check (previously known as a CRB check) in certain circumstances, such as if your member of staff will be working with children or vulnerable people. You might think that things like this are merely box ticking exercises, but you could face serious penalties if you don’t fulfill your obligations in these areas.

Take out suitable insurance cover

When you become an employer, you need to have employers’ liability insurance. Your policy must cover you for at least £5million, and be issued by an authorised insurer. This is a very serious matter, and you could be fined £2,500 for every single day that you are not adequately insured.

Notify HMRC that you’re now an employer

You need to let HMRC know that you’re now employing staff, and this needs to be done before the first scheduled payday. The process can take up to two weeks, and can usually be all done and dusted online.

Ensure that you’re paying minimum wage

If you fail to pay your staff minimum wage, then you’re breaking the law. This is a fairly straightforward consideration, though you need to be mindful that there are different requirements in place for different groups of people. The figures can change on a fairly regular basis, so make sure that you’re keeping up to date with the latest news and legislation. When you sign up for our email updates, you’ll get everything you need delivered directly to your inbox.

Don’t do it alone

Following the advice that we’ve outlined here will help you to get off to the best possible start when it comes to recruiting your first employee. The reality here though is that there are many, many things that you need to consider as part of the process, and it would be impossible to cover absolutely everything.

Have you considered, for example, how much holiday your new recruit will be entitled to? Or what will happen if they’re sick? Or how you’ll encourage them to make the best possible contribution to your business? Or whether you should pay pension contributions on their behalf? When you really start to think about everything that you need to address, you can see that it can be a real can of worms.

Rather than struggling on your own, it makes good business sense to get some help. And that’s where we come in. We can make sure that you’re fully prepared for the future. Get in touch today, and we can arrange to have a no-obligation chat about working together.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Oculus HR .