Blog posts in Employees

How social media can help you recruit top quality employees

As a business owner, you will know that to remain competitive within your market your business needs to grow. If you are not increasing your turnover and profits, you risk soon being overtaken by businesses that are.

Whether you prefer to remain a relatively small business or if you have the success of Richard Branson’s Virgin in mind, business growth will inevitably lead to hiring more staff. The importance of hiring top quality staff cannot be overestimated, because it can prove to be the difference between success, survival or failure.

Although many small businesses have never had or can no longer afford to have in-house HR departments, using external HR companies or HR software can provide a solution. However, if you decide to manage your HR matters, recruiting employees will be down to you, of course.

Along with more traditional recruitment strategies, today’s business owners are now turning to social media to hire top quality employees. If you are unsure how to do this, here are some tips.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn was established specifically with recruitment in mind. It not only enables job seekers and employees to promote their skills, education and experience online, but also acts as a business network and provides a way for like-minded professionals to contact and connect with one another. 

If you or your business does not already have a presence on LinkedIn it is a good idea to set one up. Along with enabling you to network with fellow business owners, potential and existing customers, it will enable you to search for potential employees. Think of it as online dating for the corporate world, where you and job candidates can connect online before making the commitment to meet in person.

Twitter and Facebook

Don’t make the mistake of thinking Twitter and Facebook are just for teenagers or bored housewives. They are both very useful tools for promoting businesses and recruiting employees. Top quality employees want to work somewhere that offers more than just a great salary, they also want to work in supportive and enjoyable environments, too. 

Facebook and Twitter provide a great chance to show your company’s personality to potential job candidates, who will likely be searching through your Facebook page and Tweets to find out more about your business. If your company has taken part in a charity event, held a team-building day or any other social events, promote it on your Facebook page, because it will show potential employees that your company can offer more than just a nine-to-five job.

On a practical level, Facebook and Twitter are ideal places to advertise jobs. If a vacancy becomes available, post it on Facebook with a link to how applicants can apply. Also Tweet about it and encourage staff to Retweet it on Twitter.

Growing trend

Use of Social media isn’t a fad – it continues to grow. Google+ has become the latest social media tool that combines LinkedIn with Facebook and enables users to create separate professional and personal networks in one place.

There are many business benefits to using social media and businesses have realised it is a perfect tool to enhance their recruitment efforts. The fact is, failing to use social media could put your business at a distinct disadvantage when seeking to hire top quality employees.  

By editor and blogger Derin Clark writing on behalf of Octopus HR. 

When was the last time you thanked your employees?

Research recently carried out by Avery Rewards suggests that millions of British workers haven’t had a thank you from their boss in over a year. More than half of the 2,000 workers we spoke to feel they don’t receive proper credit for their hard work. And, remarkably, one-in-four have NEVER had a thank you from their boss.

Our research suggests that just under half (47%) felt they were actually paid a fair wage for their efforts, but their superiors fail to manage them properly or show enough appreciation.

Most people put a lot of effort into the work they do each day and take a lot of pride in what they do, but it seems many don’t receive the thanks they’d like. There’s always a difference between what you’re expected to do and going the extra mile. And a simple thank you at the right moment can really have an impact on workplace morale.

In this tough economic climate, workers are being squeezed more than ever before to ensure they perform, so it’s important they feel that their efforts are appreciated.

The lack of a simple ‘thank-you’ means six-in-ten employees do not feel they are appreciated by their boss, with a third having stopped expecting any form of appreciation. Four-in-ten people say a thank you from the boss is usually rare, if it occurs at all, while a quarter of those who receive a show of gratitude aren’t always convinced it’s sincere.

When it comes to signs of appreciation, a bit more honesty, flexibility with working hours and the odd cup of tea are some of the biggest factors workers say can really make the difference. Simply having your birthday remembered, or the occasional team building exercise also build up to feeling appreciated.

Interestingly, more than half of workers in our study also felt their boss favoured certain employees.

Inevitably, when feeling underappreciated, employees’ first reaction was to start caring less about their work and put in a lot less effort. One-third will become disillusioned if they don’t receive the proper thanks, and a further fifth will start updating their CV.

But one-in-four hardy employees will put maximum effort into their work regardless of how happy they are and the credit they receive.

Overall, just a third of people find their job rewarding, and one-in-four people have to treat themselves at least once a week just to cheer themselves up from work.

Sometimes it’s easy to feel a little taken for granted and in those times it’s important to keep a level head and focus on rewarding ourselves when we deserve it and need to unwind outside of work.

Top 10 things that employees appreciate

1 Compliments about their work

2 A Christmas bonus

3 Greater working hours flexibility

4 More honesty from those they work for

5 Being made a cup of tea once in a while

6 More appreciation of how hard it is balancing work and family commitments

7 More understanding when they have appointments

8 Colleagues remembering birthdays

9 Teambuilding exercises

10 More work socials

Blog written by Gregg Corbett of Avery Awards

The art of team building

In the early months of a startup situation you don’t normally need to worry about team building because everybody is really involved and committed to pushing the business as hard as they can. Over time however, as the number of employees start to grow, then you need to be more focussed on motivation and team building.

Everybody is different, with differing backgrounds, expectations, work ethics and work rates, so a key thing to watch is allowing these differences to work together, but also to make sure that people don’t rub each other up the wrong way.

If you read my blog you will know that I try hard not to take life too seriously. I am a great believer in trying to keep a light-hearted atmosphere at work, so here are my personal six top tips for keeping your team motivated and looking forward to coming to work every morning:

Number One: Say thank you
I’m a great believer in thanking people for doing their job, so long as they are doing it to the best of their ability. When you have your head down, concentrating on what you are doing, a pat on the back and a “well done” followed by a “thank you” at the end of the day I think make a real difference.

Number Two: Keep it simple
I’m a sucker for cliches; “keep it simple” and “one small step at a time” are favourites. Make tasks achievable and rewarding by ensuring that you don’t give people huge jobs that will take months to complete; break it down into bite-sized chunks.

Number Three: Anticipate trouble
It’s my experience that sometimes people get bogged down and can’t see the wood for the trees, so either get them to talk to someone else about the problem to give them a fresh perspective, or give them something totally different for a day or two. This gives the subconscious time to think about the problem and very often come up with a solution.

Number Four: Provide a decent place to work
I started my business from home, and have striven to keep a homely atmosphere ever since; we have a banter and we share the chores of making the tea and washing up at the end of the day.  I’ve fitted our work spaces with daylight lighting so that working areas are brightly illuminated and .cheerful; even on a miserable, dark, wet Monday morning, the office is bright, warm and welcoming for everyone when they arrive.

Number Five:  Have a bit of fun
I love cooking, so on an ad-hoc basis we’ll have a cooking or baking competition. So far we have produced soup (the chocolate soup was memorable!), curry, cake (don’t ask about the sugar cake!), sweet pie and chilli. There is another one coming up, but they won’t let me dictate the theme this time. And for the record - I have yet to win one of the competitions, even though my entries are the best! And I do bear a grudge!

Number Six: Celebrate success
When we achieve something extraordinary in a month I’ll invite everybody out for a curry at our favourite Indian restaurant. [Ed: Wish I lived near you.]

Above all, what I aim to achieve is to make my team feel appreciated and valued and so far it has worked well for me in my growing business as I don’t lose staff because they are dissatisfied, but rather because they move on to roles that I can’t offer. And people who started nine years ago are still with me; they are fulfilled and have developed way beyond their own expectations in that time.

John Sollars is MD of printer ink retailer Stinkyink.com

Why aren't there more women at board level? Discuss

I was a bit worried when I saw that Hilary Devey was investigating why more women don’t get to the top in business on BBC2. I have to confess that I thought she might have pulled the ladder up behind her.

She started out by saying: “if I can do it, why can’t every woman do it?”

Hats off to her though. Not only is she one of the few women at the top of business — she’s in the very male-oriented world of haulage. But would she be the right person to find out why more women don’t get into the boardroom?

As it turned out, she was excellent and she made some fascinating discoveries — not least in her own company Pall-Ex.

The figures on women at the top speak for themselves. Girls outshine boys at school and outnumber male students at university. But things change in the world of work. The male/female ratio in middle management is 70/30 and it is a staggering 83/17 in senior management.

All credit to Sir Roger Carr, president of the CBI, who called this a “shocking waste of talent”.

The lessons learned by Procter & Gamble

Of course, it’s very easy to put the statistics down to the simple fact that women tend to do the majority of childcare. That’s what Procter & Gamble assumed at a time when its senior management team was dominated by men. But when it investigated the mass exodus of women — by interviewing those that had left — it found that 95% had gone on to another job, not to become stay-at-home mums.

The problem was that the women couldn’t find the work-life balance they needed at P&G and they didn’t see a career path for themselves in a company that was dominated by men at the top.

P&G knew something had to change. Their own research showed that mixed teams performed 5% better than single sex teams — enough to add serious revenue to the bottom line.

By introducing flexible working they manage to retain more of their female talent and promote more women into the top jobs.

Vive la difference

The effectiveness of mixed teams was tested in the programme with a tower-building challenge. Lo and behold, the mixed team made the tallest and strongest tower, compared to the efforts of all-male and all-female teams. But what this experiment also showed was that women and men have very different leadership and communication styles.

These differences are not a problem — indeed, combining the approaches of both men and women ensures a better outcome — but traditionally, some of the more male attributes in business have been celebrated more than the female.

So businesses that want to attract and retain talented staff need to appeal to and cater for both sexes. As one of the contributors said, recruitment adverts calling for candidates with gravitas, for instance, might as well say, “man wanted”.

The cost of parental leave

OK, now we get to the thorny issue of parental leave. Hilary Devey addressed it head on. Is it detrimental to a business to employ women of child-rearing age? The business owners she spoke to were adamant that their recruitment process was aimed at finding the right person for the job.

However, Kathy Tilbury, managing director of coach company Excelsior, was candid — she calculated that she had spent an additional “£8-10,000” covering her sales and marketing manager’s maternity leave. However, she also admitted that retaining talent in the long term saves on recruitment costs and time spent training new staff.

Inside Pall-Ex

Eventually we got to the nitty gritty — was Pall-Ex a good place to work for women? Was Hilary (the only woman on the board) a queen bee using her “erotic capital” to rule her roost? (excuse the mixed metaphors). These were the questions that consultant Avivah Wittenberg-Cox was asking as part of a “gender balance audit” at Pall-Ex.

She discovered that women were only represented in the middle echelons of Pall-Ex. There were very few women in the warehouse and only one woman on the board. Avivah suggested that Hilary had succeeded in part because she was a woman — and a woman capable of making some of her male colleagues quake in their shoes at that. This seemed to come as a surprise to Hilary, but was obviously not an unpleasant discovery.

But the audit also revealed that the most profitable department in the business had a gender balance of 50/50. At this point, Hilary Devey really sat up and took notice.

The need for balance

What the programme demonstrated was that having a balanced workforce with men and women equally represented at all levels is good for business. And although it can be challenging managing parental leave and childcare — as much for working parents as for employers — this is a fact of life that we can’t change. But what we can change is how businesses operate. Which is precisely what Hilary Devey promises to do at Pall-Ex.

Next week: Hilary sets out to transform the prospects for women inside her own business.

What do you think? Please share your views and experiences in the comment box.

Is laziness holding your business back?

Research commissioned by British bank Aldermore suggests that laziness costs the average Brit almost £17,000 over the course of their lifetime, because too many of us have become used to taking the easier option.

Chief examples of laziness, says the report, include driving rather than cycling or walking; going to the local car wash instead of getting a bucket and sponge and doing it ourselves; putting off canceling direct debits; and not bothering to get a refund on unwanted clothes we have purchased. Almost half of the 2,000 people surveyed said they’d rather pay someone to take care of boring tasks, such as cleaning the windows, than do it themselves.

According to Aldermore: “The average Brit could save £52 a year by cancelling pointless direct debit payments. Washing [your] own car would save £68 a year and cleaning [your own] windows £72 a year.” One in three never bothers to turn off appliances at the wall, while one in ten books more expensive train tickets because they can’t be bothered to look for cheaper alternatives. 10 per cent of respondents also admitted they could cancel gym membership they don’t make use of.

Laziness can be a significant problem in the workplace, too, of course (which reminds me of the old gag – “How many work at your place?”, “Oh, about half of them…). Although published in the US a few years ago, this infographic provides much food for thought for employers.

Based on stats gathered by Online MBA, it suggests the average US worker fritters away three hours every eight-hour working day – and that doesn’t include lunch and other scheduled breaks.

Chief workplace distractions include: surfing the web (44%, amounting to as much as 18 wasted hours per employee per week); socialising with other workers (23.4%); daydreaming (3.9%); and applying for other jobs (1.3%).

Older members of staff and those less well educated are significantly less likely to skive, while 77 per cent of those surveyed admitted to looking at their Facebook pages during work hours (39% said they would quit their jobs if Facebook was banned at work), while 60% made personal online purchases at work.

Key reasons why staff said they wasted time at work were lack of work (33.2%), feeling underpaid (23.4%) and being distracted by colleagues (14.7%).

Well worth a read is entrepreneur Andy Yates’ recent piece for ThisIsMoney.co.uk on how time is often wasted in offices and how it can be remedied. “The real question businesses need to ask about time-wasting is – why are employees doing it in the first place?” stresses Andy. “Unchallenging work, poor management and motivation are all common problems. Just think how much more any business could get done with a productive workforce.”

With Britain recently exposed as Europe’s third laziest country, buoyed by the nation’s phenomenal Olympic success, maybe it’s time we all became a little less lazy at work and home.

• Visit the Law Donut to find out how to draw up an internet policy for your business.

Just as retail footfall increases – store staff want a holiday!

School holidays are traditionally when retailers enjoy increased footfall. Of course, this is also exactly the time when some staff want time off to spend with their kids.

When it comes to managing staff holidays, many small businesses always struggle – not just retailers. However, all small firms can prepare to have well-trained resources available when regular staff want a break.

The answer is students. During term time most students can only manage weekend work – which is good for the retailers, as you can take them on for your busiest periods, ensure regular staff get some weekends off every month and get the weekend staff trained up. Students always need extra cash – and they’re usually available full time during the school holiday periods. Therefore, if you play your cards right, you can have competent, loyal, well-trained staff available when you need them.

Approach your local university, college or school 6th form and ask if you can advertise weekend/holiday positions on the notice boards or intranet. Make sure your interview and selection process is entirely professional and always ensure you provide high quality training.

Train your student workforce during part-time weekend hours in term-time so that when it comes to school holidays you’ll be confident enough to let your regular full timers take time off, leaving your student workforce to rise to the challenge of providing holiday cover.

Having the right mix of staff available to cover peaks and troughs, seasonal variations and key staff holiday cover is a great benefit. You’ll know your customer experience won’t be compromised and you’ll be able to capitalise on increased seasonal footfall. 

A handy HR checklist for November and December

With winter almost upon us, now is a good time to plan for the final few months of the year. Here is my handy HR checklist of things you should be thinking about over the coming months.

November 2012

• Make sure that staff have taken all of their holiday entitlement for the year, so that you minimise the number of holidays being carried forward.
• Review the training budget and consider whether all the training plans have been met or not.  Is it time to consider different or more training to boost skills and morale during the dark months?
• Consider offering flu jabs to employees or at least promoting the benefits of flu jabs to your team to help reduce absence through the winter.

December 2012

• The festive season is upon us, but it’s also important to remember those who don’t celebrate Christmas who may have their own religious requirements.
• This is usually a joyful time to celebrate, however for some it can be difficult personal time, so get to know your staff and bear this in mind.
• Many of us like to celebrate with a drink at the office party, but remember to take care of employees, make sure they get home safely and remember you need to set a good example.
• Thinking ahead for next year, you may need to consider salary reviews for 2013 and the benefits package that you can offer your team.
• Some benefits, although a benefit in kind, can be cost-effective to the business.  For example, private medical care, dental care or gym membership will also benefit the business by minimising disruption through absence and by promoting healthy lifestyles.
• There are also salary sacrifice schemes, for example, childcare vouchers or bike-to-work schemes, which can offer tax efficient benefits to employees.

Six ways to better attract 'Millennials' with your job description

Most job descriptions are awful. They make the recruiting business sound boring. They make the work sound tedious. And they all sound pretty much the same, citing the need for a “self-starter” who’s a “team player” and whatnot.

This could be a real problem for employers when they try to hire “Generation Y Millennials”. While some managers and recruiters are fed up with the stereotypically whiny Millennials, Generation Y is predicted to comprise nearly 75% of the world’s workforce by 2025, according to the Business and Professional Women’s Foundation. And while some of Gen Y have “failed to launch” amidst the Great Recession, the best of them are in high demand.

Businesses should embrace the unique characteristics of Gen Y workers for the future success of their businesses. Not only are Millennials technically savvy in terms of IT, social media and marketing, but they’re also hard working, team players and focused on acceptance and relationship building within the organisation.

And we can’t forget to mention that according to a 2009 Monster.com survey, 37% of employers reported that "work-life balance and flexibility" are the most motivating factors for Generation Y.

Businesses can start by using job descriptions to court the most-talented Millennials:

1 Tell them why they should want to work for you. This is your opportunity to make job-seekers fall head over heels in love with you and the vacancy. Millennials don’t just want to crank out work and check-off items on a to-do list. They want to love the business they work for, and you can use your job description to get them excited.

2 Tell them why the position matters. Understanding how my job contributes to the organisation is one of the biggest motivators for me and my Gen Y colleagues. Make sure the job descriptions describes where the position falls within your business, how the candidate could make an impact and where it fits in the grand scheme of things.

3 Talk about what the job could do for them. Aside from a salary and benefits, how would they benefit from the position? What skills might they gain; what professional connections can they make; and why would this position make them more desirable candidates when they start looking for their next jobs?

4 Tell them about your creative benefits. Does your business offer any extra, exciting benefits, such as flexible work hours or gym membership? Mention those creative perks (no matter how small) in your job description.

5 Tell them about your vision for the position. While Millennials may not envision working in the same job for decades, it’s important that we work for a business where we could envision ourselves growing and contributing for several years. We want the job description to reflect that same sort of vision for the candidate who ultimately fills the position.

6 Tell your story, quickly. Your business has a story. Tell a brief version of it within your job description to quickly convey your mission and how it came to be.

Jennifer King is an HR Analyst for SoftwareAdvice.com, a company that compares and reviews HR and recruiting software. She blogs about trends, technology and best practices in human resources.

Travel tips for small firms from Olympic legends Sally Gunnell and Chris Boardman

With some businesses offering employees flexi-time and with Sunday trading hours being extended during the Olympics, it’s easy for employees to overlook something as simple as getting around during the Games. 

With this in mind Sally Gunnell, 400m hurdles Olympic gold medalist, and Chris Boardman, Olympic cycling gold medal winner and world record holder, challenged each other to find the easiest and quickest route across London to the Olympic Park to encourage employees to think about alternative modes of transport during the Games.

This race has been inspired by new research from London 2012 and Transport for London (TfL), which suggests 86% of central London businesses are planning one or more initiatives to encourage employees to consider alternative forms of transport. Of this, 60% of businesses will encourage their staff to walk or cycle.

And it’s not just London that will be affected, of course. With Olympic and Paralympic events happening across Britain, public transport elsewhere will be affected too.

As part of the London 2012 and TfL challenge, Sally ran and Chris cycled from Liverpool Street Station to Stour Space, opposite the Olympic Park on the River Lea. The aim was to demonstrate to businesses and their employees the alternatives to getting public transport and using the road network.

Sally Gunnell and Chris Boardman have produced some top tips to help businesses encourage their employees to cycle and walk/run during the Games.

1 Make the most of the commute – encourage staff to walk down to the next bus stop or get off a stop early.

2 Plan your business travel – if employees have a meeting that is a walkable distance, encourage them to walk instead of getting public transport or a taxi.

3 Issue a pedometer to each employee – they can be a great way to get people thinking about how much walking they really do. Consider introducing a league table or online tracking system, so colleagues can compare their results against others.

4 Start an employee running club – group running is good fun and can really help to motivate people to keep up their exercise routine.

5 Motivate staff – a workforce that regularly walks, cycles or runs will be more fit and healthy.

6 Plan journeys in advance – businesses should encourage employees that cycle to plan their journey to and from work in advance.

7 Build a cycling or running community at work – it’s a great way of encouraging workplace relationships and increasing motivation.

8 Hop on a Barclays Cycle Hire bike – If employees don’t have a bike, they’re a great way to get around in the heart of London.

Watch our video to see who won the race and how employers and employees can plan their journeys effectively during the Olympics.

For more information on travel during the Olympics, see www.getaheadofthegames.com

How to create a customer service guide for your business

Company manuals and guidelines are not on the agenda when you’re starting a business – because usually it’s just you who works for the business.

However, once you start employing people it’s wise to set some “ground rules”. For example, a customer service guide will help with training new staff, providing them with a reference point for any issues they encounter in their early days on the job.

Here are a few simple tips on creating an effective customer service guide. I have focused on an online business, but it’s similar for an offline operation.

Introduce your business

Though it’s your business and you know the standards and quality you expect, new employees may not. It won’t be long until your customer service team is the main contact point for your customers and they need to know how your business operates and what it promises. Otherwise they can’t adequately answer people’s queries.

The key points to cover are:

• Shipping costs and delivery times.
• Returns policy – any shop or online company needs to make clear both the law and their own attitude to unhappy customers.
• Key details about your product/service (eg if you sell printer ink cartridges, the differences between original manufacturers’ items and compatibles from a third party are important for staff to know).
• Employee “power” – how far a customer service person can go to appease a situation and when management must be consulted.

It often helps to create a short list of, say, five key points, ideas or practices that you feel are essential to your team. This could include things such as politeness and tone of voice. At my company, we have crucial targets, such as responding to all email enquires within 24 hours.

Tailor it to the role – don’t over-inform

Starting a new job is overwhelming, so make sure you clearly explain the tasks relevant to the role you want that employee to perform.

If you have a sales team, as well as product knowledge, you’ll need details such as how to handle different payments, any limitations of the system (eg can’t accept American Express) or how account and new customers are dealt with.

For roles with more of a focus on service and support, product familiarity is also vital but in-depth knowledge of the sales process may not be necessary (though the ability to do a basic job can help cover staff absences or busy periods). Focus more on relevant factors such as knowledge of your suppliers or product training and troubleshooting.

Proper use of equipment

For any piece of hardware and software, it’s essential that anyone working for your business understands its purpose and how to use it properly from both safety and efficiency viewpoints.

This doesn’t mean you need to copy out every user manual available, but some bullet points with tips can make the employee feel more comfortable and get them up to speed quickly.

Taking screenshots can often save time and effort when trying to describe a series of on-screen tasks. They are great, not only to complement instructions, but also to serve as verification that the correct stages have been followed.

Who ya gonna call?

It’s inevitable, your new customer service employee will need to be able to turn to someone with more experience or authority for help. This makes a quick-fire contact list of all employees (and their jobs) essential, and helps get problems resolved faster by streamlining issues that arise. Plus, you’d be amazed by the added confidence an employee can get from just knowing there is someone to turn to.

This area could also cover where to refer customers who’re looking for services you don’t provide. Draw up a shortlist of companies that don’t impinge on your market but are in a related niche. This can not only encourage customers to see you as being helpful, but also build relationships with those businesses. If you’re sending business to them they’ll be much more likely to send it back to you.

Produce a cheat sheet

If you can distil some of the more essential information onto a single page that your team can pin up for quick reference, you’ll save time.

This can be anything from a flow chart for taking a payment by cheque to how to handle ‘difficult to scan’ barcodes (I’m looking at you and your eggs, Mr Cadbury). In non-retail situations this can be how to document an issue properly, or the correct series of questions to ask when troubleshooting a problem.

Updating your guide

If it’s good, employees will refer to your manual and follow it, which is great, as long as the guidance is correct. It’s definitely worth re-evaluating this document periodically, as well as updating sections when new business practices, equipment or services become available.

I hope these tips help you streamline your processes and your new recruits are still smiling after settling-in! Have you got any tips that you’ve found really helped you to integrate a new team member?

Matt Bird of printer cartridge supplier, StinkyInk

Tax rules about employing family members

On the face of it, employing family members can be a good idea. You know them well, so all of the issues of trust and reliance on a stranger should be eliminated.

However, the existence of the family relationship does not bypass any employment laws or any issues relating to tax. Knowing your duties in this area is essential to not falling foul of the law and incurring fines or penalties.

Can I employ my partner or spouse in my business?

Regardless of your business structure (sole trader or limited company) you can employ your partner or spouse in your business.

The general rule is that your partner or spouse should be paid for the effort and hours worked in your business. You must pay your partner or spouse at least the national minimum wage (you can’t get away with paying less).

Where the amount earned exceeds the “lower earning limit” (currently £102 a week, £442 a month or £5,304 a year) you must register as an employer with HM Revenue Customs (HMRC), complete the required PAYE records and file annual returns.

So, just like employing anyone else, you must comply with the tax laws.

What about company directors?

Directors of limited companies who hold office and do not have a contract of employment are outside of the scope of the national minimum wage (see the Directgov website for further information)

This means that a director can be paid an amount that does not incur tax or national insurance.

What about employing my children?

Subject to employment laws, you can employ your children in the business. Again you must pay them the relevant national minimum wage for the hours they work.

It may also mean that because of the payments made to your children you must register with HMRC as an employer. Be sure to check or else you could incur fines and penalties.

What if my offspring are students?

If you employ a student at any time other than their normal holidays, you operate PAYE as normal. However, if you have children at college or university and you employ them solely during the summer, winter or Easter holidays, you may be able to apply special rules to their pay which can make the administration simpler and negate the need for you to register as an employer with HMRC.

If you meet this criteria, you may be able to pay the student without deducting tax, although in most cases you will still have to deduct and account for national insurance. Full details can be found on the HMRC website.

Where can I go for more advice?

Employing anyone is complicated and a minefield of rules and regulation. To ensure that you do follow the rules on this it is always best to seek specific advice from your accountant who will know and understand your circumstances and can make sure that you adhere to the tax laws and your solicitor for employment law issues.

Using 20 years’ experience spent working at some of the UK’s leading businesses, award-winning chartered accountant Elaine Clark is the founder and managing director of www.cheapaccounting.co.uk, an online accounting service aimed at small businesses with big ambitions.

See our Tax Donut for more detailed information on UK tax

Play to your strengths

This is my third blog in a handful of months that is essentially about people issues in a start-up, but I make no apology for that. I will, however, admit that a few years ago, before I had actually started a business, I was a sceptic on this subject. But that was then, this is now.

If you are to be successful in a start-up, you need some self-confidence. If you don’t think you’ve got it, you won’t succeed. This is however, different from being like an X Factor contestant who believes he or she has a world-beating singing voice but sounds like an animal in pain. To be successful, you also have to be realistic and understand the balance of risks you are taking. Understanding your strengths – and playing to them – is part of that equation.

But how do you understand your strengths? Here I must recommend the book Strengthsfinder 2.0 by Tom Rath published by Gallup. I also suggest you take the online test that comes free with it. In my 30 years in businesses large and small, I’ve come across numerous tests, but this one is the best of all.

For a couple of my strengths, it says I should partner with someone who has particular complementary strengths. My first business partner had these strengths and our company, SellerDeck, reached the FTSE 350 within four years of starting out. My latest business partner also has these strengths, so hopefully watch this space.

The abilities of the founders are by far the most important factor in a start-up situation. Get these right and you’re well on your way to success. Enjoy the ride.