Recruiting staff
Introduction
If you’re running a business and you want to expand, you’ll need to consider the best options for meeting your new needs – these could include outsourcing, training existing staff or taking on new staff.
Taking on new employees – whichever way you choose to do it – will always mean some form of investment for your business.
If you decide to take on new staff, or replace someone who has left, this guide will help you understand the different ways of staff recruitment – and how to choose the methods that best meet your needs.
Recruiting new staff and the alternatives
Before spending time and money on employing someone new, you should weigh up whether you really need to recruit new staff. To do this, look at your staffing needs in relation to the wider objectives of the business.
You may need extra help immediately or you may simply be thinking about your future staffing requirements. In both cases it’s valuable to plan as far ahead as you can.
What to consider when recruiting staff
You should consider why you’re looking for extra help and how long you will need it for.
When considering staff recruitment ask yourself the following questions:
Are you considering taking on your first employee to help you grow your business or handle an increasing workload?
Are you replacing an employee who has left? If so, why did the previous employee leave and what skills and experience have you lost? Do you need to control staff turnover?
Do you need to bring in a new skill or skills to your business that none of your existing employees possess?
Has your workload increased? If so, is the workload likely to continue or is it just a temporary increase?
What will be the impact of taking on a new staff member? Do you have somewhere for them to sit? Will you need to buy new equipment for them?
Do you need cover for yourself in the long term?
Registering as a new employer
If you are taking on your first employee you may be required to register as an employer with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). Employing someone for the first time: guidance. This guidance provides information on what you will need to register as an employer and takes you through the registration process. Alternatively, you can call the HMRC New Employer Helpline on Tel 0300 200 3211.
You can register as an employer online with HMRC.
You are also required to check whether any potential employee is eligible to enter, stay and work in the UK. Read more on ensuring your workers are eligible to work in the UK.
Alternatives to taking on new staff
Since recruitment can be expensive and time consuming, other options you could consider include:
re-organising the company structure
sharing work among existing employees
promoting existing staff
training existing employees so they attain the skills you require to grow your business – see training your staff.
asking part-time employees if they would consider full-time workor some additional hours
improving the efficiency of the business, perhaps by rearranging tasks
offering overtime
adopting flexible working arrangements, eg allowing some staff to begin earlier/later to provide cover for a longer part of the day
hiring temporary workers from an employment agency
Help with recruiting staff
Employment Service
If you need help with recruiting new staff, the Department for Communities’ Employment Service may be able to assist with finding staff.
A team of highly experienced employer facing experts can discuss your recruitment needs and tailor a level of service to meet your requirements through a start to finish service. They will provide you with access to the services of a highly skilled single point of contact who will work with you to assist with all your recruitment needs.
Employers Online NI
In addition, Employers Online NI is a free service developed by the Northern Ireland Employment Service that allows you to advertise your jobs online. Employers Online NI – employers guide.
Read more on how to advertise a job using Employers Online NI service.
In addition, in the video below, find out everything you need to know about taking on staff from deciding if you need more staff to choosing the right person, the role they will have in the business and how to recruit them.
Recruiting staff: your options
You have to consider the type of worker you wish to employ, depending on factors such as:
how constant the work is
how long the work will last
the number of hours of work each week
Staff recruitment options
You have a number of options for recruiting staff including:
Permanent employees – can be full-time or part-time. They have an open-ended employment contract with you. You have obligations to them but they will be an investment in your business. See recruiting full-time or part-time employees.
Fixed-term contract employees – have an employment contract with you for a predetermined time or until a specific task has been completed. See employment status. You’ll still have employer obligations but only for the duration of the contract. See recruiting staff on fixed-term contracts.
Employment agency – temporary staff are engaged by the agency and supplied to you. Your contract is with the employment agency to supply you with staff, but you still have certain legal responsibilities towards the agency worker. See recruiting agency workers.
Self-employed freelances, consultants and contractors – this gives you the minimum of employer obligations. But you need to be sure that the people are legally defined as self-employed. See employment status.
Zero-hours contracts – these allow you to employ people casually ie as and when required, to have people on-call to work whenever necessary and mutually convenient. Generally, you are not obliged to offer work, nor is there a responsibility for the worker to accept any work. Look at the terms of any zero-hours contract carefully as it may affect the employment status of the worker and your responsibility towards them. Read more on zero-hours contracts.
Children or young people – if you plan to employ children or young people, you should keep in mind that there are restrictions on the hours and types of work that they can legally carry out. See employing children and young people.
Recruiting full-time or part-time employees
Regardless of whether your employees are full time or part time you will have responsibilities to them. Some apply straight away, others after a minimum period of continuous employment – see continuous employment and employee rights.
What employers must provide to full time and part time staff
You must give them a written statement of the main terms and conditions of their contract of employment within two months of starting their employment where the contract of employment is to last more than one month. See the written statement.
You must give them an itemised pay statement at or before the time of payment. See pay: employer obligations.
You’ll have to make sure the working environment is safe and secure. See safer ways of working.
You must also have insurance to protect against claims for any illnesses, injuries or diseases your employees may pick up as a result of working for you. See business insurance: the basics.
You’ll need to register as an employer with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to set up a payroll, deducting tax and National Insurance contributions from your employees’ pay and forwarding the money to HMRC. See how to register as an employer.
Your employees will be entitled to a minimum level of paid holiday, a maximum length of a working week (unless they opt out of this) and minimum levels of rest breaks. See hours, rest breaks and the working week. Also see know how much holiday to give your staff.
They must also be paid at least the national minimum wage. FInd out the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates.
If members of your staff are off sick for more than three working days, they may be entitled to statutory sick pay. Read more on how to manage absence and sickness.
If your employee is pregnant, or is about to or has recently become a parent, they may be entitled to maternity, paternity, adoption leave or shared parental leave. Read more on maternity, paternity, adoption and parental leave. They may also be entitled to parental leave during the first 18 years of their child’s life (longer for a disabled child). You must also seriously consider any requests from employees who are carers of adults who wish to work more flexibly. See flexible working: the law and best practice.
You must treat your employees fairly and avoid discrimination. If things do go wrong, all employees are entitled to fair treatment, whether you have to dismiss them, make their position redundant or if you’re selling your business. Read more on how to prevent discrimination and value diversity.
If your employee is disabled, you must make ‘reasonable’ adjustments to reduce or remove the impact of physical features of your premises if they put the employee at a substantial disadvantage compared with non-disabled employees. Read more on disabled access and facilities in business premises.
Recruiting staff on fixed-term contracts
There may be times when it’s best for your business to take on somebody on a fixed-term contract.
What is a fixed-term contract?
A fixed-term contract is one which either:
lasts for a specified time, set in advance
ends with the completion of a specified task
ends when a specified event does or does not take place
For example, if you’re a shopkeeper you may want to take on someone for just three months to cover the busy run-up to Christmas. Or you may wish to employ someone specifically to cover for another person who is on maternity, paternity or adoption leave.
Advantages and disadvantages of fixed-term contracts
Fixed-term contracts give you the advantage of bringing in specific skills and labour as and when they are needed.
It’s important to remember that unless there are special circumstances that can be justified, you must treat fixed-term employees the same as comparable permanent employees. This means you must give them:
the same pay and conditions
the same or equivalent benefits package
the same or equivalent pension scheme
the same opportunity to apply for vacancies for permanent posts in the business
Fixed-term employees also have access to the same employment rights as their permanent equivalents.
Under the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002, any employee who has been on a fixed-term contract for four or more years (excluding any period before 1 October 2002) will usually be classed in law as a permanent employee if their contract is renewed, or if they are re-engaged on a new fixed-term contract.
The only exemptions to this are when employment on a further fixed-term contract is objectively justified to achieve a legitimate aim, eg a genuine business aim that can be objectively justified, and is also a necessary and an appropriate way to achieve that aim, or the period of four years has been lengthened under a collective or workplace agreement.
These regulations do not apply to apprentices, students on work experience of a year or less or people on certain training courses and temporary work schemes.
Recruiting agency workers
Using agency staff can be ideal, especially when you need emergency temporary cover. It can cost more than employing a temporary staff member directly, but a big benefit is that all of the administration is handled by the recruitment agency.
You usually pay the agency and the agency pays the worker. The rate the agency charges you could include elements of National Insurance payments, holiday and sick pay, as well as an administration fee and profit margin.
Rights of agency workers
Under the Agency Workers Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011, which came into force on 5 December 2011, agency workers are entitled to the same basic working and employment conditions as permanent staff, provided that they have been in the same role with the same employer for 12 weeks.
It is the recruitment agency’s responsibility to ensure agency workers receive the rights they are entitled to such as those under the Working Time Regulations and national minimum wage law. See hours, rest breaks and the working week and workers’ entitlement to the minimum wage.
However, under the Agency Workers Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011, agency workers are also entitled to equal access to their employer’s collective facilities and job vacancies from the first day of their assignment. It will be your responsibility to ensure that these rights are met. Agency workers regulations NI guidance.
You must also ensure that you do not discriminate against agency workers who are working on your business premises.
In addition, under the Parental Leave (EU Directive) (Flexible Working) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013, which came into force on 8 March 2013, employed agency workers who are returning to work from a period of parental leave are now also extended the right to request flexible working. See flexible working: the law and best practice.
Even though agency staff do not work directly for you, you are still responsible for their health and safety. In fact, they are likely to be at greater risk because they don’t know the business well. See agency workers’ health and safety for more information.
Choosing an employment agency
You should also do some research before using an employment agency to ensure you are happy with the agency’s reputation.
You will need to make the same tax arrangements for fixed-term employees that you would for permanent employees.
Recruiting seasonal staff
You may find your business is subject to seasonal fluctuations in demand. For example, December is a busy time for many businesses, particularly retailers who have to deal with a spike in demand as the Christmas period approaches.
Other areas of work that may be influenced by seasonal differences include farming, construction and gardening.
The simplest strategy is to try to make do with the existing workforce. Increasing overtime and offering weekend or evening work may be enough to bridge the gap. However, if more labour is needed, new people will have to be brought in. See employing staff for seasonal businesses.
There are various options available to deal with this seasonal rush.
Agency workers
Using agency workers is one possibility. Employment agencies take much of the administrative burden of finding appropriate staff, and can respond quickly to fluctuating demand.
However, employers also need to be aware of the Agency Workers Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011, which give workers entitlements to the same employment conditions as permanent employees after a 12-week qualification period.
Read more on recruiting agency workers.
Zero-hours contracts
Zero-hours contracts can give great flexibility to employers and workers. Normally these contracts create an employment relationship in which there is no obligation for one side to offer work, nor the other to accept it.
They avoid the cost of agency fees and make it straightforward to take on extra staff when needed. But it’s important to point out that zero-hours workers have the same rights and protections as other workers, such as annual leave, the national minimum wage and pay for work-related travel.
Read more on zero-hours contracts.
Short fixed-term contracts
It may be more appropriate or effective to use short fixed-term contracts and buy in labour for a particular project or period.
Fixed-term work terminates after a specified period, but contract workers are entitled to the same pay and conditions as permanent staff, equivalent benefits, information about permanent vacancies, and protection from unfavourable treatment.
It’s good practice to make notice provisions in fixed-term contracts in case employment needs to be terminated early.