Taking on your first employee is a significant milestone in your business journey as you start to build a team.
While it’s exciting, there’s quite a bit to get your head around. Let’s break down everything you need to know about becoming an employer from legal obligations to building a scalable business culture.
Legal Requirements to becoming an employer:
Getting the Basics Right HMRC and Regulatory Obligations
- Register as an employer with HMRC before your first payday
- Arrange workplace pension scheme for auto-enrolment
- Register for employers’ liability insurance (minimum £5 million cover)
- Ensure you’re paying at least National Minimum Wage/Living Wage (this changes every April)
Essential Documentation Required When You’re an Employer
1. Contracts of Employment must be provided by the start date
2. Employee Handbook – this will include your company policies
3. Create health and safety policies – employees have a right to feel safe at work!
What About Setting Out to Build Your Team?
There’s so much more to becoming an employer that goes beyond the compliance. It’s important to create strong foundations as an employer and a leader. Here are our top tips for this:
- Onboarding process – a smooth onboarding process for each team member will leave a lasting impression, from the system set up, and guidance on how you do things. For integrating new members into larger teams, consider using a buddy system
- Clear training schedule – don’t leave it down to assumption that your team don’t need ongoing support. Systems change and develop as do most industries, training facilitates your team to stay on top of things.
- Standard and clear processes – good systems result in streamlined processes that make growth easier.
- Quality control measure – letting go isn’t easy, but if you have strong quality control measures, you can hand tasks over to your team knowing that standards won’t slip
- Strong values – your company values aren’t just something that you put on the wall to look at, live them and integrate them into everything you do.
- Communication – from simple communication protocols, to team meetings and regular 1-2-1’s. Good communication is vital to a successful team.
- Data security protocols – protect your business and the team when it comes to data to make sure it stays safe and where it should and mitigate risk of breaches, whether accidental or malicious.
- Clear responsibilities and expectations – being direct on what each team member’s responsibilities are and set expectations with them will mean they can take full ownership of their role.
- Values assessment – understanding the value from a financial and emotional perspective is a sure way to make decisions when it comes to hiring and developing your team, as you’ll understand the budget and expectations financially for each team member as you hire, for payrises and potential development.
- Systems and technology – from having the right equipment, project management tools, communication and HR platforms.
How Brisan Can Support As You Build Your Team
At Brisan, we partner without throughout every stage of your journey. We have you covered when it comes to setting you up as an employer with HMRC to running your payroll as part of our essentials package.
We know that running your business can be a lonely place, even when you are building a team, we understand that there is a great deal of value to bouncing ideas off of someone, having a chat about your business problems and your team.
Beyond the essential compliance work, if you need us to support you set KPIs, measure value of the team, produce departmental budgets or simply pick up the phone and have a chat, Brisan are here for you.
Remember: Building a team isn’t just about meeting legal requirements – it’s about creating an environment where both your business and your employees can thrive. Take the time to get it right from the start, and you’ll build a stronger, more resilient business for the future.
