Business tips

HIRE GROUND

Is it better to hire contractors rather than full-time staff? Service Today founder Zak Saboune looks at the pros and cons.

Many HVAC business owners prefer to hire contractors rather than full-time employees. They figure it’s cheaper, simpler, less risky, and that contractors will ultimately save them both time and money. However, I can share from personal experience that it seldom works out like that in the long run.

It is true that hiring contractors can mean fewer outgoings, greater flexibility and less management issues. The big risk with this approach is a lack of quality control. Unlike most in the tradie business, I prefer to hire full-time employees so that I can better manage my staff and ensure that they will deliver quality service to my customers. As a result, you can keep everything in house, making it easier to manage workloads, guide your staff and keep your IP secure. Of course, once you’ve hired full-time staff, you’ll need to be prepared to invest in them, which undoubtedly costs time and money. In my business, training my staff is key to ensure that our high quality standards are met and upheld. It’s an upfront cost, but the outcome ensures that customers are satisfied and that repeat business is secured.

WORTH THE RISK

Another consideration you have to factor in when hiring full-time employees is that you may end up hiring someone who is the wrong fit, which can come at a large cost to your business.

To get around this issue, ensure all new employees are rigorously screened and skill tested to ensure quality service, and are provided with ongoing training, development and support.

If you factor in these costs, in the long run you stand to benefit from greater employee loyalty, along with a higher standard of workmanship and quality of work. All of this will ensure repeat business and a serious boost to your bottom line. What could be better than that? ■

BATTING FOR YOUR TEAM

It’s highly likely that contractors will be less loyal since they work with multiple businesses and may not prioritise your company’s objectives. You’ll also have less authority over them. Even if you set guidelines on expectations and deliverables, contractors tend to be more autonomous and work to their own set of rules. Hiring full-time staff can help build a stable team, and help you to foster loyalty and commitment to your business. Staff will likely be more invested in the company’s goals and can be trained to a fixed set of processes.

Full-time staff will then stick to those sets of processes and ensure that quality measures are met and that KPIs are hit.

This article was prepared by Zak Saboune, founder of Service Today, a leading professional home services company with over 180 employees in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. For more information go to: www.servicetoday.com.au