Looking to expand?
If you’ve been reading our articles to help you set up your business, you will already know how to create a business plan, how to draw up a cash flow forecast and what finance options are available to you.
The beauty industry offers a popular career choice, with recent graduates looking for new opportunities every month, and it’s relatively simple to scale up when demand increases, growing from a one-man band to a
team of therapists.
So, if you are now ready to grow your business and become an employer, there are a few things to consider and put in place before you make the leap…
When taking on your first member of staff, it is important to set a fair salary for the role. You will need to be aware of the national minimum wage, which differs depending on the age group that each employee falls into.
You can check the national minimum wage by visiting www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates.
Once you have selected your chosen candidate and agreed their salary, you need to check whether they have the legal right to work in the UK. The tool to do this can be found at www.gov.uk/legal-right-work-uk
Next you will need to register as an employer with HMRC. You can do this up to four weeks before you pay your new staff.
Before your employee starts, you will need to arrange employers’ liability insurance, to begin on the start day of your new employee, You will also need to check if you need to automatically enrol employees onto the work place pension scheme. Employers will have to provide a workplace pension for eligible staff before 2018
Finally, you will need to send written details of the job to the selected candidate, which should include the terms and conditions. You will also need to give your employees a written statement of employment, if you are
employing them for more than one month. Ask any business owner the secret to running a successful business and one of the answers will inevitably be, ‘holding onto good employees’. And the best way to
achieve this is to ensure that you are a good employer!
Being a responsible employer and taking the necessary steps to enable you to take on your first member of staff is just the start. Benefits and perks will help you work towards having a loyal team.
You may want to consider supplementing your employee’s salary with some non-cash benefits. These could include the cycle to work scheme, a gym membership, free treatments and even additional
holiday allowance. If you decide to offer non-cash benefits in exchange for a reduction in salary, you will need to make sure that you comply with the rules for salary sacrifice. If your employee earns more than
£8,500 a year, you will also need to file a P11D form by 6 July each year to declare any non-cash benefits you provided in the previous tax year.
In addition, you will also need to take the necessary steps to pay your staff correctly, deducting National Insurance and taxes from their monthly pay. And we will be covering this in more detail in the July/August edition.
