Part time workers

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YPF
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Part time workers

Post by YPF »

Since starting up the shop in August 2014 my workload has steadily increased. I used to say 2 weeks before a piece of work would be ready but generally managed to finish it sooner. November last year I had to increase the turn around to 3 weeks.

January this year I dropped it back to 2 weeks thinking the rush was over, that was a mistake - I now have to say to customers it will take about 4 weeks to finish their work. This is not because my framing speed has slowed down; it is just the sheer volume of work waiting to be done.

Now this is a great position to be in and not where I expected to be just 18 months after opening the shop.

I have come to the conclusion that I need a second pair of hands to do some of the jobs not directly connected to making frames. But I think I only need those hands for a limited period each week, ie a casual worker.

As I have never employed somebody before I have a little trepidation taking on that responsibility given all the red tape surrounding employer/employee/worker relationships. I would be grateful for any advice about where to start and what to think about.

Many thanks,

Steve
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Jamesnkr

Re: Part time workers

Post by Jamesnkr »

Some things to think about:

Employer's liability insurance.

Operating PAYE. This needs to be done online, and is actually very easy. You will get NI rebates on your first employee.

Then of course you have to be sensible about H&S. If your machinery is a bit dodgy, but you know this and work around it, get it fixed before you have an employee there. Make sure they're properly trained as to safety. Personally I'd be very disinclined to employ somebody to operate a Morso unless I was operating through a limited company, but that's just my view.

After they've worked for you for two years, then you can't get rid of them without buying them out of their employment rights, unless you are truthfully making them redundant (i.e. you have no need for their services). The Working Time directive will apply, but that won't worry you if they're part time. Minimum Wage legislation applies.

They have rights to 20 days' holiday p.a. (pro-rata if they're part time). You will need to think about pension auto-enrolment (their rights to a pension) but if you are a new employer then it won't be until 2017.
Graysalchemy

Re: Part time workers

Post by Graysalchemy »

What sort of volume are you completing in a day can you afford to take someone on? As James has pointed out taking on a member of staff can be not only a liability but a burden. You have got to be able to finacially gain out of taking someone on otherwise you will be employing someone just for the sake of it. I know a guy with various successful businesses and he got t o the stage where he was employing 10 people and running 4 vans. He looked at his figures and found it was more profitable to cut his staff down to two and only keep on the profitable contracts.

I have a healthy turnover and profit but I took the decision a long time ago to invest in machines and larger premises however I am now getting to the stage that perhaps I will need to take on part time staff in the near future.
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Re: Part time workers

Post by pramsay13 »

I'm in a similar position and my turnaround time is currently 3 to 4 weeks. I found 2 weeks was perfect but 3 to 4 weeks is just a bit too long for most customers. Even if they are not in a hurry they don't want to wait that long.
When I've been struggling before I've enlisted the help of my nephew to do some of the basic jobs.
If this continues I'll probably look at better machinery to enable me to work faster rather than taking someone on.
It'll be a lot less hassle than a staff member.
Jamesnkr

Re: Part time workers

Post by Jamesnkr »

The interesting thing if you are running at a constant backlog of 3 weeks - i.e. you *always* make people wait 3 weeks - is that your waiting list isn't getting any longer. Therefore if you get one person in for three weeks then they have dealt with the backlog/waiting list. You then don't need them any more, as there is no longer a backlog.

Only if your waiting list is constantly getting longer do you need to employ them after that three week period.

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Re: Part time workers

Post by Not your average framer »

I employ two part time members of staff. I need to, because my health problems make life difficult for me. Both of my staff are good friends, loyal and commited. I really don't want all the hassle of doing the PAYE, so I pay my accountant to take care of that for me. He emails the wage slips to me and I write the cheques, personally I prefer it like that. It's easy to do PAYE like that and if like me you don't like doing stuff like that, it's easy to get someone else to do it for you.

My staff don't use the Morso, the underpinner, or cut glass, so I have side stepped the health and safety issues on those tasks, which saves me a lot of worries. Both of my staff do four hours a week, which is still affordable during the quieter part of the year and avoids unnecessary additional employer responsibilities. Next month, I will be only eighteen months from receiving my state pension and as yet have no idea what my plans will be for after that. Eighteen months is still a long time and with all the changes that the government keeps making I find it hard to plan that far ahead.
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Re: Part time workers

Post by ChrisG »

If you haven't already got one get yourself a CMC. It enabled me to reduced my turn around time by a week.
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Re: Part time workers

Post by Steve N »

ChrisG wrote

"If you haven't already got one get yourself a CMC. It enabled me to reduced my turn around time by a week."


Only helps in cutting mounts, which can be a small portion of the work load, also a CMC does need somebody to work it, feed it with the card, so getting a part timer in to use the CMC will help and let you get on with other things, once the part timer has finished the mount cutting, get them to do other work
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