The hiring stage is a very crucial stage in any organization. Choosing the right person for the right job is of the utmost importance as it will determine the growth and progress of your company. Nothing beats having an effective and efficient workforce. Before hiring a new staff, one should ask the following questions:-
(i) Do I really need new staff members?
It is strange but true that sometimes being egoistic human-beings as we are, we like our office to be grand. Who wouldn’t want an office to be filled with many staff members looking busy and efficient? It will definitely give an impression to the customer that the company is a busy and successful entity. Sometimes, we tend to "over-hire" or "over-recruit" workers without giving any thought to the cost and early termination or retrenchment.
Story: The "impressive" Company
I once visited a company that had over a hundred workers. I was there early and took the opportunity to look at the impressive photos on the wall. It showed some of the company’s past events including the customary company staff group photos. I did a quick headcount in the photo and there were easily over a hundred staff members. Since the date on the photo indicated that it was taken less than a year ago, I expected the company to be an entity with a huge workforce. Looking around the office, I could see many of the cubicles were either empty or the staff members were looking quite restless. Clearly, the company was "over-staffed". This proved to be true after my meeting with the Human Resource Manager who wanted to retrench a bulk of the workforce. The HR Manager informed that the company went on a frenzied recruitment drive in anticipation of getting a big contract. To impress the all important customer, the company wanted a big workforce to show the customer that it was ready to carry out the contract. Unfortunately, the contract did not materialise and thus, the reason for terminating the services of some of the staff members.
The thing to learn here is that you should hire only if you really need to. Even if there is additional work that may be required to be carried out, I am of the view that it will serve the company better both in terms of efficiency and economically if the company utilises the existing staff members and increase their salaries or come out with some incentive scheme for them. Unless the bulk of the work demands it, I am of the view that it is better to keep the workforce "lean and mean".
(ii) Do I have the financial resources to pay the newly hired staff?
Before hiring any new staff either as additional staff or a replacement, you should always take a good look at the company’s financial standing. It is human nature that sometimes when we lose our staff, we will be in a rush to look for a replacement. You may ask why is that so? The reason is because many a times, losing a staff is like losing one of your limbs. You may feel that the company will be less efficient or helpless once Mr. A or Miss B leaves the company. This feeling will be doubled, tripled or even quadrupled if the staff that leaves happens to be a long-serving staff member. The first question one will ask is, "how am I going to manage without Mr. A or Miss B?" I am reminded by a former colleague who used to remark that "no one is indispensable".
If the staff member is leaving, so what? Maybe it is a good thing. Perhaps, your company will be even more efficient without that particular staff member. You will be surprised that you may not know your staff as well as you think you do, even though the person has been with the company for years. Furthermore, you may even save money for the company. Regardless of the reason, always be sure that the staff leaves in good faith. You never know when both of your paths will cross again, especially in this unpredictable world!
If there is a real need for the vacancy to be filled, especially when it is a specialized job, then there is not much choice but to hire a replacement. The same goes if you need someone to be fully dedicated to a specific job.
If there is no urgent need to hire new staff then the additional work should be distributed amongst the existing staff members. Work out an incentive for them to perform that extra work.
(iii) Am I looking at hiring a permanent staff (contract of service) or a temporary staff (fixed term contact)?
It is an important factor to consider whether you are looking for a permanent or temporary staff. What is the difference, you may ask? To put it in simple terms, a permanent staff will work for the company until his or her services are terminated while a staff on a fixed term contract is only employed for a specific period of time or until the project is over. Sometimes a fixed term contract is also referred to as a contract for service. In other words, the person is hired to do specific work and when that work is completed or the duration is up, the contract is over. You will need to determine what will best suit the company when it comes to hiring a new staff. We will talk more about permanent staff and a fixed term worker later.
Now that you have taken into consideration all of the factors and determine that hiring staff would be the best step forward for the company, it is time to start the ball rolling!
No comments:
Post a Comment