5 Signs It’s Time to Expand Your Team

Has it been a while since you hired a new employee? Running your company on a skeleton staff may have been fine in the early days of your business, but it won’t help you retain clients or even attract new ones. These five signs may be an indication that it’s time to add a staff member or two.

Turnover is High

Employees in small businesses often juggle multiple responsibilities. The host also serves as the busser , while water pitches in and drives a delivery car when orders begin to pile up. Although your employees might be happy to help out occasionally, they may quickly become overwhelmed if they’re expected to perform multiple jobs regularly.

Even the most dedicated employees will eventually decide that enough is enough and begin looking for new jobs. High turnover may lower staff morale and affect your ability to provide consistent service to your clients. If a significant number of your departing employees cite “too much work” as the reason for leaving, turnover won’t improve unless you adjust staffing levels. Fortunately, it’s simple to correct these issues simply by increasing your staff.

You Lost Customers Due to Insufficient Staffing

Have you ever walked out of a restaurant or store because no one took your order or waited on you in a reasonable amount of time? Your clients will feel just as frustrated if they can’t get anyone to return their calls, process their orders, answer their questions or correct errors. When CB Insights studied startup failures, they discovered that ignoring customers was the reason that 14 percent of the businesses failed. If your normally easy-to-please customers start complaining about communication problems or issues with orders, it’s time to take a critical look at your staffing levels.

Business is Booming

If you’ve had a few difficult years in the past, it can be hard to break out of the lean staffing mindset. The bigger your business gets, the harder it will be for you to be involved in every single aspect of it. Unfortunately, your company’s performance and earnings could suffer if you try, and fail, to personally manage every department. Hiring highly qualified employees to take over operations, accounting, shipping or other departments will give you plenty of time to focus on the overall direction of the company and keep earnings on track.

Overtime Costs are Soaring

Overtime can benefit both you and your employees if you only need to use it occasionally. When workers routinely work more than 40 hours a week, it may be time to consider adding a few more employees to your staff. Employee scheduling software can help you keep track of your expanded workforce to ensure that you’re managing your staff effectively. The software even allows you to view labor costs in real time via your smartphone or other device.

You Want to Expand Your Business

Whether you plan to open a new store or office, offer new products or services, or improve the visibility of your brand, you’ll need more employees to handle the increase in business. Finding the time to post job advertisements can be a challenge when your days are already jam-packed. Luckily, the same software you use to track hours and overtime can also post your ads to online job boards and manage interview scheduling.

Whether you want to hire one employee or staff a brand new department, expanding your staff offers important benefits for your small business. Taking advantage of tools and technology, including employee scheduling software, can help you streamline the process.

Homebase offers free shift scheduling, hiring, and punch clock software to local businesses.