Things to Know Before Hiring Staff

By Adam  |  24 Sep 2016 12:00:00

Eventually your eCommerce website may grow to the point where you can afford to hiring some employees to work under you and it would be a great benefit if you did hire somebody else to help you work on your business. Nonetheless, if you have never had anybody working under you, there are certain things which you really should be aware of before hiring any members of staff. If you don't really know how to manage people or aren't really aware of the rights of employees, then this could potentially be disastrous for you. So read through our list here to make sure that you are ready to take on some employees.

• Keep the Relationship Professional: When dealing with your employees, don't go out of your way to be a “friend” outside of work – by all means, be friendly, but in a professional sense. Some people may feel obliged to spend time with you as you are their boss, but this may make them unhappy. Don't make jokes (which you might make with your friends) which could be potentially offensive.

• Give Them a Contract: When you get a new member of staff, write up a contract for them ASAP. This will make the entitlements of you both clear and avoid points of contention in future.

• Don't Treat Them Like Servants: Yes, you may be paying these people and they may work for you, but they have a specific job: do not ask them to make you tea and other little unimportant tasks like that (unless that has been explicitly laid out as part of the job.)

• Accept Responsibility: While everybody would love to have a perfect and infallible boss, this hypothetical person does not exist. When you are wrong, admit it and your employees will respect you for it - not doing so may well cause your employees a great deal of frustration.

These are four very important points, but I have a lot more to say! Check back on Wednesday to read part two of the "Things to Know Before Hiring Staff" which I hope will be just as useful and interesting as I hope this first part has been. But if you haven't even got an eCommerce website yet, then sign up to Sellr now and get started for no cost at all!