As a small business owner, you may be used to taking all your company’s work requirements and responsibilities onto your own shoulders. But as your company begins to expand, you will find yourself spending more time on administrative and tech tasks that keep your business’ head above water rather than things that can actually help your business to expand and progress. This is one of the reason why you need to start taking on staff. They will help to lift a weight from your shoulders and allow you to continue with important areas such as product development and marketing while they keep things ticking over. So, here are a few areas of your future workforce that you should seriously consider investing in!

Software Development

When you first start out in business, you’re unlikely to have a software development team in-house, however, as your business expands, you should learn how to form a strong software development team, as they will become an essential part of your workforce. While startups tend to use pre-existing, over-the-counter software, they’ll soon begin to realize that the software they have invested in is unlikely to suit all of their needs and requirements down to a tee. After all, it is designed for the mass market! Having the option of collaborating with software developers to create custom software will ensure that your software has absolutely every feature you could possibly need. Professional individuals will also be able to tweak out any bugs or glitches as you try it out. This will help to make you much more productive!

IT Support

Now, if you’ve invested in having custom software developed, you’re going to want to make sure that the devices using it are up and running correctly at all times. This is why you should make sure that you have a strong IT Support team on hand to help resolve any issues that you may experience with your devices down the line. We’ve all found ourselves having some sort of nightmare to do with our business’ technology at some point or another and nine times out of ten, things start to fail us just as we really need them. Perhaps your internet connection will cut out just before you submit an important piece of work before the deadline, maybe your screen will go blank part way through an online talk with an important client or partner, maybe your files will go missing just as you’ve managed to compile them. When things can go wrong, chances are that they will go wrong. An effective IT support team will be able to identify the causes of any issues and rectify the situation in as little time as possible. In addition, you might also need to hire electricians who can install fiber optics and cables. You might also want to consider upgrading your internet connection and getting help from a reliable internet provider. Getting affordable internet plans from a reliable internet provider will save you a whole lot of stress and aggravation, so they’re worth the investment!

HR

In the early days of business when you’re working alone, HR isn’t necessary. However, as you begin to expand and take on staff, it becomes absolutely essential. Why? Well, HR stands for “human relations” and positive human relations are a vital aspect of any expanding small business, right? An effective HR department will distribute staff effectively, ensuring that each individual employee has a manageable workload. If their workload becomes out of hand, HR will look to recruit another individual to share the responsibilities. HR also deal with allocated holiday pay and statutory sick pay, ensuring that every employee receives what they are entitled to, while collecting necessary documentation such as official sick notes. They should also be able to provide an official framework for the policies and procedures that should be in place in your organization and make sure that they are enforced at all times. So, look out for individuals with brilliant communication skills who can practice understanding and empathy without being pushed around. You should be able to easily pick out the right team through an interview process, where you will able to see exactly how they engage with people.

As you can see, there are various different areas that you can invest in when it comes to staffing, and for now, we’ve only just scratched the surface! Other areas to consider include receptionists, assistants, customer service teams, and many more roles. If becoming an employer is a little too intimidating for you at first, remember that you can outsource most of these staff members to start with. This reduces your responsibility and allows you to see how each role works and whether it is necessary to your workforce before you commit to taking on part-time or full-time employees.