5 signs you don't need to hire anyone (what to do instead)
It’s already February, you’ve had a few resignations and you’re ‘panic hiring’. Specifically, you’re trying to replace the outgoing ‘John’ and ‘Jane’ as quickly as possible.
We see this trend every year: Staff get cold feet and want a career change.
This typically results in businesses scrambling to find people who tick the box that ‘John’ or ‘Jane’ used to fill.
However, as we’ll discuss: This scenario often leads to unwanted staffing challenges, and whoever is in charge of recruitment, tends to make these hiring decisions, almost on impulse.
To avoid such unnecessary headaches, we’ll be presenting a few alternative solutions that will hopefully make you consider this key question:
‘Do I really need to hire another ‘John’ or ‘Jane’? Or is there a better solution?
1) Talk about it
Your staff will know if you’re understaffed (or overstaffed), and many won’t be afraid to tell you. However, it may take a bit of effort to coax it out of some.
Reasons as to why you might not get an honest answer straight away (or ever) is because they might be trying to protect their job security, or it could be as simple as a personality trait that it makes it difficult for them to to open up to you.
In all scenarios, it’s often best to get staff one-on-one - as answers will often change depending on who they’re with at the time.
Regular one-on-ones will build trust and help get regular and honest feedback. Ensure that you listen more than you talk in these meetings. Otherwise, you’re likely to miss important information or make the staff member feel like their opinion isn’t valued.
2) ‘Twiddling thumbs’
Speaks for itself. If staff never appear busy (or you know that they aren’t), it’s a surefire indication that you don’t need to hire any additional staff. Even if some employees decide to leave.
This could be an opportunity to look internally, and reshuffle roles amongst existing staff. Or look at implementing a flexible business model that is able to flex with the changing demand for your products and/or services.
Nethertheless, it’s important not to make snap judgements about hiring or current staff’s roles and responsibilities. Without an in-depth understanding of what your staff do on a daily basis, it’s easy to under or overestimate the work they do, and the value they provide to the organisation.
3) Meetings about meetings
We’ve all been in scenarios where a co-worker has called a meeting that could have easily been a phone call or a quick email. If it’s always the same person scheduling these types of meetings, it’s possible that they are using it as an opportunity to waste time under the pretence of work.
As a manager, it’s your responsibility to watch out for these types of behaviours. If lot’s of staff begin doing this, it’s likely that either 1) they are uncertain about what is expected of them or 2) they consistently don’t have enough work to do.
Talk to them first. ‘Hey John, what do you hope to get out of this meeting?’ ‘Sounds good, do you think it’d be of more value if you sent it as a quick email to all those involved?’ If they resist and try and convince you of otherwise, then it’s likely because of one of the two reasons mentioned earlier.
Either they need more clarity about their role, or their position might not be as important to the company as expected.
4) Productivity is at a low
There could be a number of reasons as to why staff are underperforming or not fulfilling their obligations as an employee. It could include personal issues, lack of motivation due to their role being too easy (or too difficult), not enough to do, falling out with other staff members/management etc.
Again, it’s important to sit down with the employee and try and work out what the constraint is. Sometimes a simple fix could be the difference between a staff member going from mediocre to exceptional, in a relatively short space of time.
In other situations, staff members may need to change roles or leave the organisation all together. It’s important to ensure that there is alignment between their role and achieving the organisation’s goals.
Likewise, the employee’s values should ideally align with that of the organisation in order to strengthen and not hinder the internal culture you’re hoping to maintain.
5) Staff are taking ‘too many vacations’
Staff who spend more time away from work than doing it - is another common-sense indicator that something is not quite right. EAPA found that distressed workers spend one-third of their time being unproductive and take sick leave on average one-day per month.
In contrast, staff who are satisfied at work take less vacations, perform better and remain in their jobs longer.
In New Zealand where laws around sick leave can sometimes be difficult to grasp, it’s important to take note of employee habits around leave and try get to the bottom of what’s wrong.
Are they feeling stressed? Is it health-related? Do they hate their jobs? Any of these factors could be reasons why they’re taking an increasing amount of time off. In contrast, Aflac found that 67% of employees are extremely or very satisfied with their jobs.
Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that you can ignore the 33% that aren’t happy with their current work situation.
What to do instead of hiring new employees
Rather than doing what most leaders do and hire another ‘Jane’ or ‘John’ as soon as possible, there are alternative solutions that might better help your organisation in the long-run.
Here are three alternatives to consider:
1) Reshuffle internal roles
The best talent might already be inside your organisation, albeit in a different role and with a different title. Utilising the skills already at your disposal has the benefit of saving on the cost of training, recruiting and onboarding new staff.
Before you make the decision on the best course of action, make sure you review current workloads and discuss the situation with internal staff. From this research, you should get an idea about the best approach moving forward.
If reshuffling internal roles and adjusting workloads is what you decide on, then you’ll need to consider the principles of change management. Specifically, how to effectively manage the transition from current-to-future roles in the organisation.
We recently wrote an article highlighting the key steps involved in the change management process. You can also read about the warning signs that indicate that your organisational structure is limiting your growth here.
2) Embrace flexible working
Another option is hiring temporary staff or contractors rather than full-time employees on a salary. In addition, implementing ‘flexi-working’ conditions such as working can also lead to increased enjoyment and productivity while helping to lower costs for the organisation.
Examples of flexible work arrangements include working remotely, adjusting work schedules around staff preferences or incentivising high performance with extra leave.
While flexible working won’t suit everybody, studies show that companies rated highly on flexible work arrangements saw a 137% higher headcount growth in 2019. Reinforcing the benefit of implementing flexibility, 81% of workers say they like agile work because it increases their productivity, creativity and job satisfaction.
Likewise, before embracing the ‘flexi-work’ methodology, ensure you’re complying with New Zealand employment law regulations.
3) Let people go
While negative on the surface, staff resignations are an opportunity to assess the value of existing roles, and the structure of the organisation itself. For instance, if you’ve decided to reshuffle jobs within the company, depending on internal capacity, it could also mean that previous roles are no longer required.
This could leave you in the difficult position of having to let existing staff go. However, for small organisations it’s crucial that every staff member and role is working towards the overarching business goals.
If you determine that a specific role/s is hindering this progression, there is sometimes no other option but to make that difficult decision to terminate an employment agreement.
Avoid ‘rushed hires’ by identifying the five signs that you don’t need to hire anyone. These are: staff not having enough to do, an overload of meetings, low productivity and staff taking ‘too many’ vacations, or sick days. Instead, consider reshuffling internal roles, embracing flexible work practices or in some instances, you might have to let people go.
If you’re still unsure about what you should do, get in touch below and we can assist.