When is the Right Time to Add to Your Staff? 

The irrigation industry is populated with "businesses" that consist of no more than a simple handful of people. In fact, in many instances, these companies are no more than a single person!

Contractors start their own business but, due to the limited number of jobs they can secure, they cannot afford to maintain a full-time staff of employees. What typically happens is that these "business owners" enlist the aid of part-time help (i.e., day laborers) to serve as their "crew" on a job-to-job basis.

Because this part-time help is often not professionally trained in the art of irrigation installation and maintenance, they are only qualified to handle such work as trenching, installing pipe and heads, and other routine tasks. Once they complete a particular job, they are gone from the site in search of their next job while the contractor returns his company to its basic size until the next time additional labor is required.

Are You Ready?

For contractors whose workload has increased to the point where they are considering the addition of a full-time employee(s) the big challenge is dealing with whether they are ready for such a move and whether it is in their company's best interests.

Because adding full-time help brings with it a whole host of complexities that the independent contractor has not faced before, it is essential for the contractor to ask himself if now is the right time for his business to take the big leap forward.

Among the issues to consider are whether there is enough work to justify adding another person on the job full-time and whether you can anticipate if there will be a need for this position in the future. You also need to determine whether you personally – or a member of your current staff – have the time necessary to recruit and train this person.

Added Help. . .or Added Work?

The most important decision is whether the person you choose to bring on will add significant income to your business. In turn, will the addition of another employee help cut down on the workload? If it does not, or if such things as the loss of time needed to train this new employee actually will cause an increase in the workload, it is probably not in your best interest to hire.

In addition, this analysis should also take into account what effect the additional salary, insurance and equipment costs will have. More often than not, a contractor's dream of increasing his staff will be tempered by the reality that doing so may not be the most prudent business decision – at least until there's a consistent pattern of steady jobs.

It is important to make the right decision at the right time, otherwise your company could suffer a financial burden of a wrong decision. The addition of new employees should help you to earn more money, not be a drain on the money you are already making. When you study your company's situation and can be sure there are enough jobs coming in to justify more full-time help, that is the time to hire. You will be able to concentrate on sales and bringing in more business, as you rest assured that the other responsibilities of your operation are being well taken care of.