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How can startups best scale employee growth?

Building a startup company requires a lot of work. As the number of employees grows, so do the responsibilities of a manager. Scaling your employee growth can be a difficult task as it’s not as intuitive as other responsibilities.

There are, certain steps you can take to transition into a smooth growing period and ensure the best result. Here are a few ideas you should focus on.

Don’t try to do Everything Alone

As the number of employees goes up, the time you can devote to each one of them goes down. That lack of attention can lead to a lot of problems that can be devastating for a growing company.

The magic number is somewhere between 20 and 30 employees. Depending on the organizational structure of your company, that number can go up or down. Generally, as you approach 20 employees, you need to start thinking about having people in other managing positions. Even if you have a co-founder, that’s still a lot of people to manage. It can take away your attention from other responsibilities.

Having team leaders and middle management positions means that you can focus on managing the growth itself while they manage the day to day activities of your employees.

 

You can hire experienced managers from the outside of your company but the best advice is always to promote your own people. Even if you don’t have employees working for you that have managing experience, they know the other employees and the company better than anyone new could and that is often more important.

Also, promotions show your other employees that there is room for growth within the company and that brings up morale. Give your employees the opportunity to advance and they will be much more grateful than any new worker could.

Hire HR Managers

Oftentimes, fast-growing startup companies overlook this role until it’s too late. Having capable team leaders is great, but they are often focused on the job itself and less on the people.

Human resource managers serve to focus on the development of their employees while your company grows. They ensure the employees continue to improve and keep up with the needs of your business.

HR managers don’t manage the people themselves, though; their role is to work together with your other managers and help them lead their teams. The relationship between your managers, your HR and you needs to be well-defined in such a way that you support each other. 

While promoting your people is encouraged in other areas, hiring experienced HR managers is often a good idea. Unlike in other areas of your business that are focused on day to day activities that are specific to you, managing human resources is similar between companies.

Hiring someone that already has experience can bring a lot of fresh ideas to the company. They can make simple improvements that you might not have heard of but are common practice in other companies.

For example, switching to more reliable payroll cards instead of traditional payment methods can save you a lot of time and money as it automates the whole payroll process. This is just one of many simple ideas that experienced HR managers can bring to the table.

 

Build Your Culture

As more employees join your company, you will constantly have a fresh stream of new ideas coming your way. This can help you innovate and find new solutions to all the difficulties that growing startup companies face.

However, new ideas can also clash with the old ones and it’s important to properly manage them. The best way to do that is to start building a clear company culture early on. Define the values that are important to you and your company. Make sure they are clear and understood by everyone.

People will work more closely together if they follow the same vision and can relate to the values that your company has set.

When it comes to hiring new people, make sure they share those values. Finding competent workers that are good at their job is not easy, but if you invest in them and train them properly, they can learn and become better.

On the other hand, training people to follow your values is almost impossible, so make sure you hire for values first and skill second.

Scaling employee growth can be difficult but it doesn’t have to be scary. If you take the proper steps and plan your growth, you can have a steady transition and ensure you develop in the right direction.

Build a structure with good communication between you and your employees and you will have fewer responsibilities in managing day to day activities and more time to focus on growing your business.

Safwan Khan

Safwan Khan is the founder of Startupily. Startupily is a platform for entrepreneurs seeking useful content, resources, and tools to start and grow their business. He also writes for influencive, besomebody and Bizztor.

This Post Has 2 Comments

    1. Kym Hamer

      Thanks Mhairi, glad you enjoyed it.

      Kym

      Kym Hamer, Editor
      The Next Ten Years

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