As a business owner, balancing your expenses and profits can feel like you're juggling fire while walking a razor's edge. Quite often, the difference between being in the black or red comes down to how efficiently you're cutting costs. But what do you do when you've expended all your typical cost-savings options? Well, you get creative and start looking elsewhere!
Have you examined your hiring practices? If not, there are 7 ways that you could save money.
Keep Your Talent
The Bill Belichick recipe for a Superbowl involves developing and retaining homegrown talent rather than spending big bucks on Free Agents. Want to reduce your hiring needs and costs? Strive to keep the employees already working for you.
The hiring process is lengthy and expensive. A Society for Human Resource Management survey found that the average cost per hire is $4,129. Decreasing employee turnover rates is one of the most cost-effective preventative measures you can take to save money. Aim to foster a work culture that is exciting, challenging, and relationship-focused so that your existing employees stick around.
Hire Internally
There are a lot of question marks surrounding any new hire, including:
- Will they fit in with company culture?
- Are they right for the role?
- Will they stick around?
If you already have an employee that you know and trust, why wouldn't you give them a shot? It's cheaper to hire from within, and there is far less uncertainty involved. Maybe you have a star employee that you're worried about losing in the near future? A promotion to the role could be a fantastic way to show that you believe in their ability to grow.
Know Who You're Hiring
Want to make your business safe? Then you should know who you're hiring. A prospective employee could be lying about their past. It's your duty to confirm that they are who they say they are.
Once you've settled on a candidate, perform an employment background check. Screening potential employees protects you from liability and provides you with insight that you'd never get from an interview.
Decrease the Time to Hire
Your time is precious. Each hour you spend screening, interviewing, and considering applicants could likely be better spent elsewhere. So, streamline the recruitment process in order to make it as efficient as possible.
Ask lower level employees or managers to assist in the initial screening process. Use technologies such as video interviewing and skill testing to weed out applicants. If you can, try to avoid having multiple rounds of interviews. This gives candidates a better experience and reduces your required involvement.
Use Independent Contractors
Small businesses often run into a Catch-22 where they need help to grow but can't afford to hire another full-time employee. Have you run into this problem? A possible solution could be to hire independent contractors to work on a freelance basis. This gives you freedom to hire when you need the help without bogging you down in the costs of a full-time worker.
Remember, if you hire full-time you may have to pay for:
- Their salary
- Their benefits
- Their healthcare
- Unemployment Insurance
Search Locally
Although a staffing service or job posting site could reduce the time to hire, they also cost money that you might not have on hand. To save on hiring, consider posting the job locally to places like:
- Classifieds - Craigslist, local paper
- Social Media - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn
- Local Universities - Jobs board, Career Center, Career fair
If these don't yield the right candidates, you can consider spending on a hiring service. But until then, see what local talent is in your area.
Create Processes for Onboarding
Onboarding costs you time and money. You want your new hire up and running as fast as possible. If you design a uniform onboarding process, you can get them up to speed, have the paperwork all filled out, and the training completed in a matter of days as opposed to weeks. By being prepared, you cut down on the time they spend sitting around not making you money.
Save Money When Hiring
Hiring doesn't need to be an expensive, time-intensive process. If you want to look for places to save, carefully review your hiring practice and search for areas of improvement. By being careful and methodical, you can hire the right people without breaking the bank.
