Latest / Agency Uncovered / How Do You Know When It's Time to Hire More Employees? - Alexa Booth da Silveira
Transcript
- Sasha Damon (00:01) How do you know when it’s time to hire more employees? We’re here with Alexa Booth da Silveira. Alexa, tell us — how do you know when it’s time to hire more employees? Alexa Booth da Silveira (00:12) When the workload exceeds capacity. You’re seeing deadlines slip, team members aren’t engaged in the process — they’re just pushing through to get it done — and quality declines as well. That’s when you know you need more capacity in your team. Sasha Damon (00:31) You touched on it already: when workload exceeds capacity. But what are the other warning signs that a business has outgrown its current team? Alexa Booth da Silveira (00:41) Your employees could be facing burnout, there are missed opportunities, and there’s an inability to scale operations. And that’s not for lack of the team wanting to — it really comes down to there being no bandwidth in the team to take on extra work or to do more. Alexa Booth da Silveira (01:00) An employer who recognises that and adjusts the team — who recognises they need to add more people — builds a team that trusts them and trusts the process. Sasha Damon (01:16) And looking back, sometimes in a small team it’s your skill capacity that the workload is exceeding. You’re filling in where you’re just winging it, figuring it out. You’re really good at one part of the business, but it can be disheartening because you’re not seeing growth as quickly as you would if you’d focused on what you knew you were good at and someone else picked up the pieces for you. Sasha Damon (01:43) So that makes total sense. And how should a business decide which role to hire first? Alexa Booth da Silveira (01:54) This can be categorised as: prioritise the roles that impact revenue, as well as the roles that remove operational bottlenecks. So build those foundations into your process. What types of roles are going to increase revenue, and what other roles are going to help you define your process and remove the blocks that stop the business scaling? Sasha Damon (02:22) And obviously before you embark on where you’re going as a business, you’d recognise where your bottlenecks are going to come from. Sasha Damon (02:36) So maybe it’s worth hiring someone before the bottleneck arrives. Should a company hire before they desperately need someone? Alexa Booth da Silveira (02:46) Absolutely. Proactive hiring avoids rushed decisions, and it also avoids you ending up with someone who’s a poor culture fit, or whose skills don’t match what you were looking for, but you did it in such a rush that it’s “the best we can do, so we’re going with it.” So yes, companies should definitely hire before they desperately need someone. Sasha Damon (03:06) And how can a business calculate whether a new hire will actually generate enough value? In this economic climate everyone’s worried — they want to scale, but they’re asking, “Can we afford it?” Alexa Booth da Silveira (03:21) You look at your return on investment compared to what the role actually costs. Alexa Booth da Silveira (03:27) If we look at a sales role, for instance: what are they going to bring in compared to what you’re paying them? But then you have your admin team, where you get efficiency gains or risk reduction. So with your admin roles: what processes have been improved to make sure things run smoothly and there are no bottlenecks? What risks are reduced, or what risks are identified and corrected going forward? Alexa Booth da Silveira (03:56) So when you’re looking at the value they bring, it’s not always a money-based question. It’s about how you make sure what they’re doing is making an impact. When you can see those visible risk reductions and process improvements, that shows you’ve made the right hire — and that’s the value they add. Sasha Damon (04:15) That’s very interesting. And I’m keen to get your insight on this: is hiring more employees always the best way to grow your business, or should companies look at automation and outsourcing? Alexa Booth da Silveira (04:27) This really depends on what the company does. Automation and outsourcing can sometimes deliver faster, cheaper scalability than adding headcount. But is it a process you’re building your foundation on? Is it a need for right now that has to be filled and dealt with, or is this the foundation you’re implementing? Alexa Booth da Silveira (04:53) And do you have a ten-year plan for where you want to be, based on these skills? So it’s going to be very dependent. Any company needs to sit down and look at it properly. Is outsourcing cheaper? Yes, it is. But does it bring you the value or the knowledge set that you need? Sasha Damon (05:11) That’s very true. Thank you, Alexa, for your time. We really appreciate it. Alexa Booth da Silveira (05:16) You’re welcome.