As the owner and leader of your business, it’s up to you to manage organisational growth in such a way that you can achieve your goals while increasing profits and avoiding potentially serious cash flow problems.

And one of the most important elements of doing just that is knowing when to employ the right people – and how many of them you need to hire.

So, how do you know when you’re ready to bring new faces aboard? Here are five major clues:

5 Ways you’ll know when it’s time to hire more staff

1. Your employees are complaining

You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to pick up on this particular clue. When your business is getting busier, your own employees will be quick to tell you that they have too much on their plate.

Of course, it’s your responsibility to examine the validity of these complaints. Are they really being ‘overworked’? Or is it the workflow itself that needs to be amended? Speak to your staff to gauge their feelings, and spend some time observing them in action. It’s also a good idea to look at staff attendance – has there been a spike in absences due to stress or fatigue?

Using the information you’ve gathered, you could restructure existing roles and responsibilities. Or you could bolster your workforce and alleviate the pressure.

2. You can’t get anything new started

You’re probably full of exciting ideas, but if you’re struggling to implement any of them, it could be because you and/or your existing employees simply don’t have the time.

It’s all too easy to fall into a routine of delivering the same outcomes, day in, day out, but if you’re serious about growing your business, you’re going to need some help putting your plans into action.

So, if you just can’t get going with anything new, that’s usually a sure fire sign that you should reinforce your team with some fresh recruits.

3. You’ve spotted an expansion opportunity, but you can’t take action

Similar to the point above, if you’ve noticed an opportunity to expand your business into a new market, but you can’t bring yourself to pull the trigger, it could be time to hire.

There are always risks associated with growing a business, however, if you’ve done your due diligence and you know there’s a demand for your product or service, expanding into a new market is often a calculated one. And when current employees can’t take on additional responsibilities to support your expansion efforts, it’s a good idea to bring on ones who can – especially if they’re familiar with the market and its idiosyncrasies.

4. You need a fresh perspective

Sometimes the roles you’ve filled earlier aren’t necessarily the ones you need as you pursue your next growth milestone. Your current employees may boast a particular set of skills and deliver an acceptable level of productivity, but if you keep hearing the same solutions to common challenges, you could do with a fresh perspective.

Pursue candidates with new and different skills, varied backgrounds, and increased levels of knowledge to help you solve problems and take things to the next level.

5. You’re meeting or exceeding revenue targets

The best time to ramp up growth activities is when your business is on an upswing. With revenue meeting or exceeding targets, and you have projections that it will continue, it could be time to invest in the business and bring in new faces to maintain growth.

Stepping Stone: Supporting your business growth

Bringing aboard new staff can give your business a fresh impetus and access to new ideas, knowledge, skills, and opinions.

But if you’re still unsure if you need to hire new employees to achieve your business goals, we can help. Together, we’ll examine your numbers, trends, and projections, and advise you on the best course of action.

Contact us today to get started.