The Foundations of Being a Successful Employer

Most business owners start out in business working on their own. In fact, for many business owners, a desire to branch out alone and work unencumbered by traditional employment structures is a driving factor for them setting up in business. But as a business grows, business owners naturally need to build and develop their team. In this blog, we explore the foundations for business owners to put in place as they embark on their employer journey.

the employer mindset

As with everything in business, employing staff is an investment. It costs us something in time and money, but we do it with the intention that a benefit comes back to us. That intention is key; it isn’t a guarantee. There are many things we need to do throughout the employee lifecycle to maximise our chances of success - but the starting point is our mindset. It needs to become one that sees the potential reward of employment, despite what our past experience and personal beliefs might tell us. 

There are some important differences between the mindset of a business owner, employer and employee; and we may need to process and reconcile them in our own minds before we can fully commit to our employer journey. As a business owner you have undoubtedly made a conscious decision to step away from the world of employment in exchange for the freedom and flexibility that comes with being your own boss. Contrast this with your role as employer, where you have a responsibility to put in place those systems and processes that will give your employees what they need. Whereas you as the employer are concerned with vision and growth, employees are typically (though not exclusively) concerned with job security and stability.

At Co- we believe that successful employment is one that gives both the business and the employee what they need - there is a way to make it work for everyone - but it doesn’t happen by chance.

recruitment

So, business has been going well and you’ve decided to take on your first employee, but where do you start? The employee lifecycle begins with attracting and recruiting candidates, and we need to start in the mind of our potential employees. Who are they and what are they looking for in their next employment? This will influence how and where we advertise the role. We need to write a job description that makes clear to potential candidates what the tasks of the role consist of and sets the role in context of the business. Candidates will likely be interested in your culture and work environment as much as practicalities such as location and salary. Having a view on what your business stands for in terms of brand and culture will underpin every stage of the employee lifecycle. 

We recommend having in place:

• Job Description

• Job Advert

• Brand Guidelines

• Code of Conduct Policy 

• Pay Policy

• Contracts

You can read more about these and the Co- approach to recruitment here:

https://co-accounting.co.uk/blog/co-guide-to-recruiting

https://co-accounting.co.uk/blog/why-employers-need-a-pay-policy

https://co-accounting.co.uk/blog/intrinsic-vs-extrinsic-rewards

retention

So, you’ve found a great candidate and they’ve accepted your offer. It’s now time to onboard them into your business, support them with their development and ultimately retain them as an employee for as long as it continues to work for you both. If you’re anything like us, the recruitment process has probably taken you longer than anticipated, and it may be tempting to just see how it goes with your new employee. After all, you’re a small business and they can work closely with you, learning as they go what they need. However, this is a great opportunity for you to continue to invest your time in setting up this new relationship for success by putting in place a specific:

• Induction agenda

• Probation schedule

This will make clear to you and your new employee what is expected of them and of you over their first months in your business, including what will happen and when. 

It's important at this stage to remember that development and support of your employees doesn’t stop at the end of the probation period. Being a successful employer requires continual effort. Both you and your staff need opportunities to feedback and communicate on issues, opportunities and changes. We recommend putting in place the following:

• Staff review agenda

• Staff review schedule

You can read more about effective staff reviews and meetings here:

https://co-accounting.co.uk/blog/effective-staff-reviews

https://co-accounting.co.uk/blog/meetings-meetings

separation

The end of the employee lifecycle is when a staff member leaves your business. In the best case scenario, this decision is right for you and right for your employee. If the decision is initiated by your employee this should hopefully not come as a surprise, if you have had regular career planning conversations as part of your staff reviews. 

However, sometimes you may want or need to initiate the process. Maybe things are not working the way that you want, or there is a breakdown in the relationship or your employees' performance. We would always encourage open and honest communication about the issues and what it would take to turn things around. But sometimes, the right course of action for the business can be to let a staff member go. These can be really difficult conversations with people who you have probably worked closely with and got to know on a professional and personal level. To guide you through the process, we recommend having the following policies in place, that you can fall back on if needed.

• Disciplinary policy

• Grievance policy

• Equal opportunities policy

conclusion

There is no one way to be a successful employer - every business owner will find a style and approach that is true to them and their business values. But there are some key foundations that you can put in place to set yourself up for success.

Don’t forget that through Co- all our clients have access to a free Employment Law helpline. We recommend you call and speak to a consultant if you have any concerns or questions about your or your employees rights and responsibilities.

As you will have hopefully seen, we are rolling out new services to our clients over the coming weeks and months. This will include a resource library for our business owners to access that will contain templates and additional resources on all of the above. Keep an eye out for more details soon!