How Start-Ups Can Access the Manpower They Need on Limited Budgets

Lacking access to manpower is an impediment to business growth that many start-up businesses experience, more often than not, due to a lack of financial capital.

Whilst this is a common problem amongst start-ups, their founders shouldn’t call it a day just yet as they’ve a few options to consider.

Employee Stock Options

There’s a risk here for both employers and employees – more so the latter – and bear in mind that the vast majority of start-ups never have an IPO so their shares are never worth anything.

If, however, your start-up has liquidity prospects and your employees are excited about your company’s potential, then this is something to consider.

Hire Part-timers

For any start-up with a limited budget, hiring fulltime employees would be a serious faux pas that could seriously undermine the health of their finances.

Whilst it may be necessary to take on additional employees – start-up founders can’t wear every name badge in their organisation forever – if there isn’t enough money to hire fulltime employees it’s obviously not wise to do so.

The number of mums and dads who stay at home and are looking for a part-time income is on the rise, some of whom are likely to possess the skillsets your start-up is looking for.

There are limitations to hiring stay-at-home mums and dads as opposed to fulltime employees – they’re unlikely to be able to handle time-sensitive tasks and some mightn’t prove reliable – however, hiring part-timers like stay-at-home parents is far more affordable and makes your manpower budget go much further.

Deferred Compensation

Deferring compensation (salary) is risky for both employer and employee, though it’s worked well on many occasions and could prove mutually beneficial for both parties.

If you manage to convince your employees to accept a deferred payment you need legal representation – legal representation is an expense but a necessary one – and you also need to consider the best way to go about arranging it.

Basically, there are two ways to offer deferred compensation:

• Offer them back pay (sweeten the deal with an added bonus)
• Offer them an increased salary when revenue picks up

The latter option is likely to be the better option because it enhances employee morale – when revenue has improved and they’re enjoying a competitive salary – and it also provides more bang for your buck by making sticking around longer more appealing to the employee.

Presell Products

Raising capital to pay for the manpower your start-up needs is naturally what you should be aiming for and there are a number of ways to go about this, including preselling new products to your current customer base and exploring your crowd funding options on platforms like Kickstarter.

There are risks involved in preselling new products – you must be 100 percent sure you can deliver or at least refund your customers’ money – though crowd funding is relatively risk free in this regard.

However, you naturally need to deliver if your start-up is to be successful and avoid alienating those who’ve contributed to your project once you’ve reached your project’s funding goal.

Interns and Volunteers

There are many students and budding young entrepreneurs who are more than happy to work for free just for the experience and the insights they gain.

This is an often overlooked source of manpower for start-ups, but you have to offer them value for their time otherwise you’ll gain a poor reputation and find it hard to source free labour in the future.

What this means is that you have to provide them with the opportunity to work on projects that interest them – discuss their learning objectives with them beforehand – because as they’re not getting paid, they’re not going to tolerate being stuck with menial tasks.

Advertise intern and volunteer positions in the right places – community colleges, universities, etc. – and you’ll find a willing source of unpaid labour but you have to manage them correctly, i.e. provide them with value for their time – don’t forget that this must be a mutually beneficial agreement if it’s to bear fruit.

Your start-up has a number of excellent options to consider when trying to access the manpower it needs whilst operating on a small budget – make your available options work for you.

 

Author: Leroy Conard currently writes for a company found in the heart of Switzerland and an online presence at www.co-handelszentrum.com. Co-Handelszentrum are specialists in Swiss company administration, registration, and even formation.

Tags: Human resources, Job Growth, Salary

Category: Business