How to Hire and Keep Great Employees: Our Hiring Guide for Business Owners

You can’t scale a business without employees. And you can’t operate effectively unless you have great ones. The more work you place on each employee, the harder it is for them to think critically about their jobs. But if you give them too little work to do, you might be losing many hours to unimportant tasks and hurting your bottom line.

That’s why we thought it was important to start the year off with a discussion of how you can hire and retain great employees that can be the lifeblood of your business for years to come. While it may seem complicated from the outset, you can simplify your hiring and retention process with these simple steps.

Clearly Communicate Your Expectations

It may sound cliché, but communication really does solve a lot of problems. It’s much easier to set expectations with interviewees than it is to reset expectations with existing employees. Figure out your reasonable expectations for the position, look for qualified candidates, and find the ones that will best solve your needs for that position.

Sometimes that may mean hiring the person that you don’t get along with as much on a personal level to make sure that the job is actually done the right way. Other times you may want to hire someone slightly less qualified if you can train them into the position and they have a much better attitude and would collaborate better with your existing team.

Either direction you head when it comes to your staffing decisions, communicate early and often. It will save you loads of time, headache, and money while avoiding potential problems.

Pay Competitively

Now this one can hurt a little bit, especially when you’ve saved hard and cut your expenses to make sure that you don’t spend more than you have to. But the truth is, it’s rare to find great employees unless you are willing to pay more than market rate for comparable positions that your interviewers could apply for elsewhere. 

You don’t want to spend more than you need to, but an employee that’s always thinking about whether or not they’ll be able to pay their bills is an employee that’s not thinking about putting the business first when it comes to their day to day decision making. Pay your employees well and focus on hiring the right ones. The right employee will do more for your company than 5 average or mediocre employees.

Be Open to Feedback

This part is easier said than done. When you’ve been operating your business for a while, it can be easy to think that you know how everything works, that “This is just the way we’ve always done things around here.” While having a process and a method of operating your business can be very helpful, it might keep you from seeing opportunities that your new team members are able to see since they’re processing everything for the first time.

Ask your new employee(s) what they think. Do they have ideas to make your business better? Where do they see time being wasted on tasks that could be simplified? What do they know based on prior experience that works well that could be a good fit for your organization? The best part about hiring the right people is they’ll take charge, make improvements to your business, and think outside the box, especially when they know that you recognize and reward initiative when your employees take on new opportunities by the horns.

Promote Your Top Performers

When you see employees that consistently go above and beyond their regular duties, promote them! This does two things. #1: It shows that hard work does not go unnoticed. And especially when employees that have a habit of putting the interests of the business first, you want to consider them for promotion. #2: When your other employees see a direct correlation between providing better results for the business and their own personal success, they will be motivated to do more, work harder, and think more proactively about their day to day responsibilities.

And you can do a lot of this proactively. If your employee wants a raise, map out a plan with them showing what you expect them to accomplish before they get one. And if you identify employees that might not ask for a raise on their own, communicate about this with them proactively!

Manage Out Bad Apples

So what do you do when that employee you thought would be great for your business doesn’t turn out the way you expected? Do you fire them? How many chances do you give them before enough is enough? All of these are great questions to ask, but a lot of this can come down to a simple question…Do they learn from their mistakes? Or are they hell bent on repeating the same behaviors that are negatively affecting your business.

If it’s a yes to the first question, there’s a good chance they just need some extra help. If it’s a yes to the second question, it’s likely that their time with your organization is done.

Stay Positive

One thing that will turn away any employee, including your best ones, is having a bad attitude. Of course you’ll go through periods of your business where there’s a lot to handle and potentially negativity from customers or your own employees.

But it’s your job to sift through all that and be the leader. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And your ability to stay positive and even tempered when situations arise can be the difference between your business succeeding and failing. 

Conclusion

Scaling your business can only be done through hiring the right people, but hiring the wrong ones can cost you. By communicating your expectations effectively, paying effectively, staying open to feedback, promoting your top performers, managing out bad apples, and staying positive, you are well on your way to building a team that can manage the day to day while you focus on managing the business and steering the proverbial ship. For more tips on growing your business see our extensive library of business articles and blogs.