Hiring and Managing Your Best Staff

IMAGE COURTESY OF SHUTTERSTOCK

When it comes time to grow and expand your business, hiring more staff becomes necessary. Since these people are an extension of you and your brand, it’s important to make sure you hire the right ones.

However, it doesn’t stop at hiring. Onboarding and management make all the difference in staff productivity, success and longevity. With a simple strategy in place, you can bring the best talent through your door and keep them for longer.

Recruit Highly Performing Staff

Start with your business’s core values. What kind of people are you looking to bring onto your team? Use these core values as an initial measurement in the screening process to make sure you find good culture fits. Create job descriptions that specify exactly what you expect of the role. If possible, pre-interview people via email or phone.

Here are some recruiting tips:

• Create a form with around 10 questions that candidates fill out. Ask questions such as, “What is your salary goal? Do you have any certifications or trainings? Why do you want to work here?” And so on.
• If you are hiring instructors, look to see if instructor has taken classes at your business before.
• Ask three questions and see if they followed direction (e.g., “three words your friends would use to describe you” or “why were you a rockstar in your last job”) If they don’t follow directions, they may not be a good choice.
• Always check references.

When you’re ready to make an offer, put everything in writing, including the terms of employment, expected pay, and any other conditions or requirements you have.

Onboard Them for Success

Make sure you train every single new hire. Create a master operations manual that can be constantly updated as things change and keep a copy at the front desk. Checklists are great for training (and beyond) to serve as a reminder of expected daily duties.

Preparation is key — practice different customer service scenarios so your staff feels confident in your policies and what to do during your most common situations.

Manage and Evaluate Performance

If your staff is performing well, give them recognition and rewards to increase their chances of staying. Little things like bonuses or added perks can go a long way in employee satisfaction and loyalty.

Empower them to make quick decisions while they’re on the job. For example, give them a discretionary amount of money to spend to resolve issues like giving free class passes to disgruntled customers.

To motivate staff, have a set development plan that spells out how they’ll get their next raise or promotion. As with anything in your business, keep constant tabs on performance using reports and metrics of feedback. Be proactive with meetings to check in on a recurring basis, so they know you’re invested in them.

By hiring the right people, training them properly and keeping them engaged, your staff will stick around longer and bring more business to your bottom line — talk about a win-win.

Alissa Rogers is a senior marketing copywriter at MINDBODY. She can be reached at alissa.rogers@mindbodyonline.com.