Employees at startups are often asked to do more with less. Generally, they forgo the resources they'd be offered at a mature business for the opportunity to be on the ground floor of growing one.
While it's critical that leaders at startups run lean budgets, it's equally important that they invest the appropriate time and energy in their people and the processes that support them.
To provide a positive employment experience and set the foundation for a culture where your people will thrive, work to avoid these five common HR mistakes.
Neglecting Onboarding
Go beyond walking your new employee around the office to shake everyone’s hand. Put a defined process in place for how new hires will get trained and enculturated beyond their first day. This is especially critical for young employees, as it’s easy for them to get lost or feel left out.
A good onboarding process will help prevent churn by nurturing new hires and integrating them into the team. This is important because turnover not only costs money – it can also hurt your company culture and morale.
To avoid high turnover, let new hires know from day one that they are part of an organized system that has a long view of the future. Set clear expectations from the beginning for each employee’s first 30 and 90 days.
Getting into Poor Administrative Habits
As you grow, especially if your organization is experiencing fast growth, it’s important to stay organized. Chaotic administrative records will compound any issues caused by disorganization. For example, it’s important to maintain your employee records, such as acceptance letters, job descriptions, benefits selections, I-9s, and W-2s in a uniform fashion.
This may sound like a small chore, but keeping track of your employees and their data is important. This could turn into an issue if you’re audited, but it can also cause delays when you’re working on your next raise and your investors are doing their due diligence.
To avoid this, stay organized. Keep your digital and physical paperwork in order, well-labeled, and easy to find.
Ignoring Employee Development
Employees who don’t see opportunities for growth and development internally will look for work elsewhere. Otherwise put, if your staff doesn’t feel engaged and challenged, you’ll find yourself facing more turnover than you’d like.
To guard against this, make it a point to communicate the opportunities and resources available for employees to learn new skills and train.
To help managers identify trainings that might interest their team, schedule quarterly conversations with employees about growth opportunities (including training in specific skills) to help keep everyone focused on the long view.
Creating employee development opportunities may not feel like a priority stacked up against your organization’s other needs, but you shouldn’t ignore this key piece of the employee retention puzzle.
Failing to Train New Managers
It’s wonderful to be able to offer your team the opportunity to take on leadership responsibilities, but it’s crucial to offer adequate training before asking new managers to step into this role. Here are three questions to ask when transitioning team members to management positions:
Do they understand their new role and your expectations for their performance?
Have you defined how their role changes from employee / producer to management?
Are they able to recognize when an employee needs additional resources or support?
While it’s good to prepare managers to have tough conversations about performance, it’s also important that your supervisors know how to recognize when their employees’ difficulties are rooted outside the office.
Managers should know what resources are available to their employees and how to direct these individuals to the help they need to get their work life back on track.
Hiring Without a Strategy
You might have more work than you can handle, but before you hire a new team member, it's important to decide what you need them to accomplish and how they’ll integrate with the rest of your team.
If you do hire without a plan (or if you wind up hiring the wrong people because you moved too fast), you may find yourself saddled with excess costs and a team that doesn’t function well together.
Take time to assess your needs before making any hiring decisions. Look at the whole candidate, not just their skill set. This means considering their…
Commitment.
Record of being and ability to be a team player.
Short-term and long-term goals.
Fit.
Experience in a startup environment.
When you find a candidate you’d like to hire, clearly communicate what their new role will require. Don't sugarcoat how your startup operates today – set realistic expectations to make sure your new hires know the company and the team they’re joining.
Provide a Great Employee Experience
It’s easier to avoid HR mistakes when you know where the main pitfalls are located. From onboarding to new manager training, a startup that’s well organized is positioned to provide an excellent experience for all employees.