Category: Admin

As your business grows, your HR documentation should grow with it. Out-of-date contracts, policies and processes create risk and can lead to issues when you least expect them. 

Here’s what every SME should review once a year. 

1. Employment Contracts 

Ask yourself: 

  • Do they reflect current salary and benefits? 
  • Have working hours or hybrid arrangements changed? 
  • Are they still legally compliant? 

Contracts become outdated faster than you think, especially as laws and practices evolve. Contract updates are inevitable and essential.

2. Policies and Handbook 

Check that your policies match how your business actually operates. Common updates include: 

  • Hybrid/remote working 
  • Sickness and absence 
  • Equality and diversity 
  • Data protection 

If your handbook still reflects a pre-growth business, it’s time for a refresh. 

3. Onboarding and Leaver Processes 

Growing businesses often realise: 

  • New starters aren’t getting consistent inductions 
  • Leavers’ documents or access aren’t handled correctly 
  • Holiday and absence records fall behind 

A quick review can prevent mistakes and improve employee experience. 

4. Your HR Tracker 

If you’re using spreadsheets for holidays, absences or training, make sure they’re: 

  • Up to date 
  • Legible 
  • Used consistently 

A simple HR tracker (included in HR Confidence) reduces admin headaches.  

Want a complete HR documentation audit? 

Our HR Confidence package includes: 

  • Full HR documentation review 
  • Updated contracts & policies 
  • Onboarding and leaver process review 
  • HR tracker template 
  • 1-hour follow-up consultation 

Perfect for SMEs with 5–20 employees who want reassurance and readiness for growth. 

➡ Explore HR Confidence 

Hiring your first employee is a huge milestone, but it’s also one of the most significant areas where small businesses accidentally slip into HR trouble. Not because they mean to, but simply because they haven’t hired before. 

The good news? With a bit of preparation, you can avoid the most common pitfalls and start your employer journey with confidence. 

Here are the mistakes we see most often, and how to avoid them. 

1. Rushing the process because you’re busy 

Most founders hire when they’ve already reached breaking point. The pressure to “just get someone in” can lead to unclear job roles, mismatched expectations, or hiring someone who isn’t the right fit. 

Avoid it: 

 Write a simple but clear job description. Be realistic about the hours, skills, and responsibilities. Clarity now prevents headaches later. 

2. Not issuing a contract on time 

By law, employees must receive a written statement of terms on or before their first day. 

Many new employers don’t realise this or rely on an old template that no longer meets legal requirements. 

Avoid it: 

Use an up-to-date, legally compliant employment contract that reflects your business and the role. 

3. Skipping the basics, like right-to-work checks 

When you’re new to hiring, it’s easy to forget the administrative steps. But missing a right-to-work check can lead to serious penalties. 

Avoid it: 

Have a new starter checklist so nothing slips through the cracks. 

4. Having no policies or handbook in place 

If issues arise, such as lateness, absence, or conduct, you need policies to refer to. Without them, it’s hard to act reasonably or legally. 

Avoid it: 

A simple employee handbook with core policies (sickness, holiday, conduct, grievance) is all you need at this stage. 

5. Assuming onboarding “just happens” 

Onboarding isn’t just paperwork, it’s your employee’s first impression of your business. Without structure, you risk confusion, mistakes, or a poor experience. 

Avoid it: 

Share your policies early, organise access to tools and systems, and give your new hire a strong, confident start. 

6. Trying to handle HR alone 

Google can’t tell you what’s right for your business, and mistakes can be costly. A friendly, knowledgeable HR professional can save you time, stress, and risk. 

Start hiring with confidence.

Our HR Foundations package gives small businesses everything they need to hire their first employees professionally and properly: 

  • 30-minute HR consultation 
  • Customised employment contract 
  • Offer letter template 
  • Basic employee handbook, including a set of core HR policies 
  • New starter checklist 

Simple, flexible, and stress-free. 

➡ Explore HR Foundations 

➡ Book your free consultation 

 

Small business owners spend hours every week on HR admin without realising it. 

Holiday tracking… 

Sickness records… 

Offer letters… 

Contracts… 

Document filing… 

It all adds up. 

Why HR admin slows you down 

  • It breaks your focus 
  • It interrupts your day 
  • It delays higher-value work 
  • It’s easy to get wrong 
  • It becomes urgent at the worst times 

For many SMEs, it’s the silent productivity killer. 

What you can outsource 

The HR Assist package covers: 

  • Monthly HR admin support 
  • Holiday & absence tracking 
  • Offer letter & contract drafting 
  • Personnel file maintenance 
  • HR reporting 

Think of it as your ongoing HR support team, without hiring.  

Self-care isn’t selfish – 4 self-care tips for business owners

While we all know that self-care isn’t selfish, it can be very difficult to put the maxim into practice. While we know we should take care of ourselves, we don’t prioritise ourselves as often as we should, even when our lives and work start to suffer. Whether we’re busy with other responsibilities or just feel guilty about it, many of us feel we don’t have time for self-care.

Fortunately, help is at hand! For this blog, we caught up with Virtual Assistant Rachel who has some great ideas for freeing up time and being good to ourselves.

Over to Rachel…

Why is self-care for business owners important?

Rachel: When you work on your own, as many business owners do, it’s very easy to slip into bad habits of eating badly and not taking breaks, stopping you from being your best self. In turn, this can reduce your productivity and adversely impact your business. However, when we look after ourselves, we look after our businesses too. When we see how much our businesses benefit after we’ve had break, and how much better we feel for making healthy choices, we always wonder why we aren’t kinder to ourselves!

In my experience as a virtual expert, one of the biggest ways that I’ve helped business owners is to allow them to take time out for themselves. When you manage your time well, and outsource the tasks that make you feel stressed, you’ll work more effectively. In turn, this can help you to reach your business goals and reap the rewards of your hard work.

What are your top self-care tips for business owners?
  1. Make time

Rachel: The first one is to make more time for yourself. Only when you’ve got time to think can you evaluate how you’re using what time you have.  Time is one of the few things you can never get back…but you can maximise the way you use it.

There are a number of ways to create time in your day! Recognise when you’re no longer being productive. Be honest – if you’re closing a spreadsheet to check your social media, you’re no longer working effectively. Instead of scrolling TikTok, why not use your break to do a YouTube yoga session or walk round the block?

Even if you’re a workaholic, you still need to take breaks. Outsourcing is your friend – check out the Get Ahead quiz to see what jobs are robbing you of your time and getting in the way of self-care. These are the jobs you could delegate to someone else, giving you some free time for yourself. It’s a worthwhile investment, believe me – everyone is more productive after a break.

  1. Fit in regular self-care

Rachel: Once you know you can find more hours in your week, decide how you will use them and stick to it. Choose a time from your new, calmer diary and enrol on an adult learning course or make a regular date with a friend to exercise together. If your colleagues and family get to know your new timetable, they’re less likely to interrupt it. You might find it easier to stick to a new self-care regime if you have a class or a friend relying on you; going it alone is pure self-discipline.

  1. Don’t stress about setbacks

Rachel: Don’t stop caring for yourself just because illness or a tight deadline got in the way of your regular timetable. If you’re having an exceptional week, there are still quick exercises you can do to restore yourself. You could take a moment of mindfulness at your desk, focusing on each of the five senses in turn to ground you in the present moment instead of worrying about the next step. Take a moment of fresh air or try a relaxing breathing exercise – find what works for you and add it to your toolkit.

  1. See the wider benefits

Rachel: When you’re feeling more in control of your time, you’ll start to feel like you can control other areas of your life too. I’m sure you know that when we’re stressed, we often eat badly and have difficulty sleeping. We snap at our families and don’t always make the right decisions. But when we reduce that stress through better time management, we can change all of those negatives into positives. The result is a healthy, happy, productive time both at work and in our personal lives.

Virtual PA services – self-care isn’t selfish

If Rachel’s wise words have got you thinking about how you could improve your self-care, Get Ahead would love to hear from you. In addition to virtual PA services to free up your time, our experienced team can also provide support with marketing, HR, recruitment, finance and more. Follow us on LinkedIn to learn more about us or contact your local regional director to get started.

Outsource recruitment planning and you’ll find you not only save time but see better results for your business too.

Recruitment planning is an essential part of growing your business. With a strategic plan and knowledge of how you’ll implement it, you can recruit the right people for your business who’ll help you deliver on your goals.

In this blog, we take a closer look at recruitment planning, how to do it and why it matters.

What is recruitment planning and how do I do it?

Recruitment planning is the spadework you put in before you advertise a vacancy.

  1. What roles does my business need?

The first step is to work out what role or roles you need to recruit for. If you’re scaling up from working alone and taking on employees for the first time, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the prospect of recruiting a whole team at once. However, when you take time to plan the recruitment, you’ll see it all fall into place.

It’s probably easier to start with what you need your employees to do, rather than choosing job titles you think you need to fill. For example, you might want someone to do the accounts and keep on top of invoicing. If this is an area of business where you’re already comfortable, you might not need someone else to do this at management level, but you might need an admin assistant to deliver the day-to-day finance tasks.

It’s also a good idea to look at your business goals – these will help you decide what tasks you should prioritise. You might have spotted that you need to increase your sales by a certain percentage. If that’s the case, prioritising the recruitment of a strong sales team is the best way to deliver that goal.

  • What kind of person would be best for the job?

Once you’ve worked out what roles you need to fill, the next step is to think about what kind of person you’d like to have in that role. Remember that skills can be learned but personalities don’t change – think about the kind of person you want in your team and what kind of attitude is most likely to deliver the work you want.

Make sure your person specification and job description don’t have contradictions! Be realistic and remember, for example, that a motivated self-starter is unlikely to be a good team player, and vice versa. Some tasks don’t go well together, e.g. reactive jobs like PR can clash with regular responsibilities like finance and admin.

  • How do I attract the best candidates?

Another aspect of recruitment to consider is how to attract the highest calibre of applicant. Of course, salary is important, but savvy business owners also consider what values and benefits their business has that appeals to potential employees. For example, if you’re expecting to recruit someone to their first job, it might be helpful to say that there are prospects for promotion. If you want to attract someone who will stay in the role and really embed into your business, offering a long-term or permanent contract will help you appeal to candidates who are looking for job security. Depending on the role, values, ethics and your company’s B Corp status might also be worth mentioning.

  • Where should I advertise?

With the person spec and job description written, it’s now time to advertise. Think about where you might find the best candidates for the job. You might choose to headhunt on LinkedIn, or advertise on an industry-specific job board. Take time to think about how you’re going to spend your recruitment budget to be sure of having your advert seen by the most suitable candidates. For example, school-leavers might not be on LinkedIn yet, and efficient admin assistants don’t necessarily need to know your industry to work effectively. In other words, think carefully before you put your entry level jobs on LinkedIn or look for admin assistants by industry. On the other hand, leadership recruitment might involve actively reaching out to likely candidates instead of advertising in the usual way.

Why does recruitment planning matter?

The reason that all of these processes are important is that they help you attract and retain a higher calibre of applicant. This gives you a great talent pool to choose from and ultimately makes your business more successful. Best of all, if you recruit the right people for your business culture, they’ll want to stay. And the longer they stay, the better the value they give you.

Outsource recruitment planning

Outsource recruitment planning and you’ll benefit from the human resources expertise your business deserves. A well-planned recruitment process is the most likely to give you great new employees, ready, willing and able to take your business to the next level. Explore our HR outsourcing section to find out more.