Cori Maedel: CEO, The Jouta Performance Group
As a small-business owner, your first employee is critical. He or she needs to share your vision in order to help establish the culture and structure that will shape your company's future. This means that before hiring, you must think ahead.
Get clear on what values are important to you, the company culture you want to create and what you want your future to look like (think three to five years ahead). Then think about the kind of people who will help you get there and the structure needed to support your growth.
To do this, review all tasks you are doing now and everything that needs to be done. Then review your strengths and observe where there are gaps – because, regardless of the role you hire for, it's essential your first employee brings new and different skills.
Because of this process, you may discover that your first new hire needs to be an administrator or someone in operations. With this in mind, create a job outline with as much information as possible, including duties, experience, skills and qualifications. It doesn't have to be fancy – it's simply to provide you and potential applicants with clarity around the role.
Then, before starting the hiring process, make sure your HR practices are in place (e.g., employment agreement, employee handbook, benefits, etc.), ready to show on the first day. The more information you can provide up front, the more successful your hiring process will be. We know of employees who have started new roles and left on day one because they realized the company or the job was not what they'd been led to believe.
If you take only one thing away, let it be this: it may be quicker to hire someone you find on the street, but taking the important steps to make sure your first employee supports your vision, your values and the culture you want to build will proactively set you up for success.
Judy Brooks: Interim CEO, Forum for Women Entrepreneurs
To answer that question, you first need to consider:
1. What is the growth plan for your business?
2. What kind of business are you launching? Bricks and mortar? Manufacturing? B2B?
3. What does your budget look like? How are you financed (maybe not at all), and what does cash flow look like?
When launching a bricks and mortar, especially those that are service oriented (as oppose to, say, a clothing store), you hire and train in advance, usually a month or more – though we all try to cut it as close to open as possible so we don't have a big cash drain. Having said that, if you want to make an impact, ensure you have enough time to train well and do a few dry runs.
If your growth plan is go big or go home – and you are financed accordingly – you might even put a general manager and a back-end team in place months before you open. I am still envious of one brilliant local entrepreneur (he was in and out in under five years) who never even had a key to his stores. Shows what a good plan, a good team and good financing can do for growing a business.
In B2B, we often start as a single shingle, and I think that is when the “should I hire?” question comes up the most. If you are literally trading your time for dollars, it makes sense to hire for what takes you away from servic ing your clients – such as bookkeeping, administrative tasks or anything that drains you energy.
Start with a contractor before you embark on a full hire to ensure you are going to give the direction and, ultimately, leadership needed to anyone you do bring on board. Anyone with a team will tell you that managing people is what takes up the most time and energy in their business.
Dana Gordon: Owner and senior counsel, Benchmark Law Corp.
As a new business owner, hiring an employee is likely uncharted territory. Finding the right person for the job is half the battle. But once you've found someone, what do you do next? Whether you are running a company or set up as a sole proprietor, you have certain legal obligations as an employer.
First of all, it is important to make yourself aware of the terms of the Employment Standards Act, which sets out the minimum requirements for conditions of employment such as wages, hours of work, vacation and leave, etc. If you fail to comply with these regulations, you could end up with not only an unhappy employee but also a lawsuit on your hands.
Once you've determined how much to pay your employees, you are responsible for deducting appropriate amounts for pension, employment insurance and income tax from their wages and remitting these amounts to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Ensure that you register a business number and payroll account with CRA to report wages and file remittances.
Additionally, you will likely need to register your business with WorksafeBC, which provides protection for you if your employees are injured on the job. In many instances, registration is mandatory, so check the provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act or contact WorksafeBC to find out if you need to register.
Finally, I strongly recommend executing an employment agreement. Documenting the terms of your employment arrangement will benefit both you and your employees so that everyone has a clear understanding of their rights and responsibilities. Keep in mind that you cannot create a contract that waives any of your employees' legal rights, such as wages or overtime, but you can customize terms relating to the services to be provided, dispute provisions and much more.
