5 Signs It’s Time to Do a New Round of Hiring

The future of your organization is looking bright. Is it the right time to bring in new employees? In some cases, it’s easy to know when your organization needs to do a round of hiring, for example when you need to replace an outgoing employee or when you’re adding a new department. Sometimes, however, the idea of hiring new employees isn’t so black and white and an unnecessary hire can mean wasted time, resources, and money.

The decision to add new employees to your team shouldn’t be taken lightly. Take time to study the needs of your organization and ask these important questions:

Have you recently been more reactive than proactive?
As a manager have you been able to get ahead of the big issues your department or company is facing, or do you spend the majority of your time picking up the slack from overworked employees? If your team is so busy that you’re neglecting proactive growth activities to focus on more everyday tasks, it might be a sign that it’s time to create a new position and bring in someone new to help your team while you go back to tackling the big issues.

How are your current employees performing?
Think about your star employees. Are they still at the top of their games, or have recent increases in workload and stress reduced their output? If it’s the latter and it’s a trend across your entire team, it could be an indicator that the work has become overwhelming and not something that can be solved with a bit of overtime. It might require a new employee to pick up some of the slack.

Can you afford it?
Take a moment to think about your revenue. Will a new employee help you generate a greater profit or will having someone new simply create a greater drain on your business’s finances? Do a bit of forecasting to determine where your organization is headed. Hiring and then quickly laying off employees can hurt your business’s bottom line and can also harm your reputation among talented job seekers that might have helped your business grow in the future. New employees could mean new growth, but you need to really know your numbers first before you put up a job ad.

Do you seem to be “running out” of hours in the day?
You want to make good use of all the hours in your work day, but have those hours increased from eight to ten, or even twelve? Is your team dealing with a workload that constantly requires overtime? Overworked employees are more likely to miss days of work due to illness or come in late due to the physical effects of stress. When you’ve maxed out all your possible work hours and still find yourself with a mostly-full plate, it could be time to add a new team member.

Do you have a defined role in mind?
Don’t hire until you know what role you are really hiring for. You may have a vague sense of “the IT department is understaffed” or “the accounting department is overworked,” but it would be a mistake to bring in a new employee until you identify the needs of the department and know the skillset required to meet these new challenges. Hiring without a detailed job description can result in an employee lacking in necessary skills or one without enough work to fill an entire day. When you reach the point that you know exactly the type of employee it would take to succeed, it might be time to start looking for them.

It’s time to hire. Now what?

Even when you’ve decided that now is the right time to bring on some new employees, you shouldn’t rush the hiring process. Take time to properly interview your job candidates and make decisions that will benefit your organization. This might even mean hiring a few temporary workers until you are ready for a more permanent staffing solution. A strong hiring process will ensure your success now as well as into the future.