It’s easy to recognize certain milestones, but it’s not as simple to think ahead and avoid growing pains. Reaching the 50-employee threshold is a momentous occasion, but it also means that it’s time to consider some potential changes. Aside from taking the right steps to make sure your company is compliant with federal and state laws – don’t worry, we cover compliance considerations in another post – here are five ways to prepare your business for growth.
Embrace Process Documentation
As you employ more people, it’ll be harder to keep everyone on the same page. You may know the most efficient way to complete something, but you can’t always be there to share this knowledge. Is there a specific way that something at your business should be done? Write that process down so that everyone has access to it.
Process documentation allows you to identify the core parts of your business and document the steps that it takes to consistently perform important tasks the right way. As you grow, these standard operating procedures can help train and guide new employees so that they know what to do and how to do it.
You should also document any tools or procedures that make a process more efficient. Creating operational best practices or process templates will benefit your workforce, while making your business more efficient. Make these documents available to your employees so that they save time instead of starting everything from scratch.
Improve Company-Wide Communication
Good communication is a crucial for any organization, but it can be hard to keep your company connected as it grows. In fact, it can become nearly impossible to keep regular face-to-face communication possible with everyone, especially if you have employees who work remotely. As a result, it’s important to give you and your employees ways to initiate company-wide conversations. For example, a cloud-based collaboration tool like Slack can help employees stay connected, while video conferencing platforms like Zoom can benefit remote employees and improve communication with clients and customers, depending on your business.
In addition to providing more ways to communicate, you should also consider creating a comprehensive communication strategy for your business. This strategy can help your company establish a recognizable brand and consistent messaging for people outside of your business. This way, your employees have guidance not only on what to say, but also how to say it. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, a communication strategy should include the following elements:
- Top-down strategies where senior management sets the tone for a cascading series of messages
- A budget for various types of communication vehicles depending on need
- An evaluation process to determine the right messaging for specific situations
- A method for generating feedback and using it to shape follow-up messages
- A customized delivery approach with communication materials that are easy to understand
Entice Employees with New Benefits
While the 50-employee threshold makes it a requirement for your business to offer health insurance, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider providing other benefits as well. Finding good, new talent – as well as keeping current employees – is critical for a growing company.
An attractive benefits package can help you reward your current employees while enticing better candidates to your business. Aside from health insurance, Employee Benefits News found that employees looked for the following types of benefits:
- Monetary bonuses (54 percent)
- Paid vacation (53 percent)
- Retirement plan with defined benefits (51 percent)
- Flex-time (51 percent)
- Employer matches for retirement plans (50 percent)
- Ancillary health insurance benefits (vision, dental, etc.) (48 percent)
- Paid sick leave and personal days (48 percent)
- Profit sharing (40 percent)
In addition to these benefits, consider some other options that may be especially valuable to your employees. Flexible work times and environments are a great perk for employees with young children. Roughly 80 percent of millennial employees show interest in companies that offer student loan repayment assistance. It’s hard to grow without good employees, so think about ways to make sure your benefits package matches the quality and type of job candidates you need to succeed.
Build a Management Team with Defined Roles
It’s common for small companies to employ people who can do a little bit of everything. That goes for the owners, as well. While there’s a time where it’s fine to juggle multiple roles, you’ll reach a point where you need to build a management team and assign different responsibilities.
It can be hard to step away from having a hand in every aspect of your company, but you can’t be an expert at everything. Consider creating an organizational chart and identifying people who can oversee key aspects of your company. This management team can take the burden off you so that you can focus on what you’re best at – the continued growth and success of your business.
Find an HR Partner
A good management team isn’t the only group that can help you ease your workload. A growing company has a mounting list of internal administrative responsibilities, from handling payroll for all your employees to taking the measures required to keep your business compliant with federal and local laws. Proper management of these responsibilities take both HR expertise as well as time. Fortunately, a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) can help you on both accounts.
The right PEO allows you to cost-effectively outsource critical HR functions so that you can spend your time elsewhere. A PEO partners with your company to co-employ your workforce as it relates to payroll administration, employee benefits, and any other functions that you need managed. This process gives you access to a range of HR experts who help you make informed business decisions without losing control of your company.
You don’t have to grow your company by yourself. Whether you just hit the 50-employee milestone or only have a few workers, Group Management Services can help you manage key administrative needs. Contact GMS today about how we can make your business simpler, safer, and stronger through comprehensive HR services.