Now Hiring
Working Together & Your Own Handbook
You're hiring more than your first employee; you're
bringing aboard somebody who will help your company grow, who will
help create your business culture and who will have to understand
that in the seven-course meal of the corporate world, you're
still small potatoes. Which is why it's better to think of your
employee as a partner, rather than yourself as the captain of the
ship. Medley had little choice but to remain humble. As he recalls of
that first year working with Bankert, "I have two kids, and my
3-year-old would come busting down the stairs and run through the
hall naked and pop through the [office] doors and yell, 'Look,
Daddy, I'm naykee!'" Fortunately, Bankert "thought it was hilarious," says
Medley. The clients on the other end of the phone, however, were
not as amused. So Medley had to bungee-cord the doors shut. (Later,
his third and fourth employees worked out of his basement.) But
even now, with the Netfor staff working out of real office space,
Medley says he continues to maintain a partnership atmosphere with
his employees: "I've never been a real power-trip
person." Content Continues Below
Your Own Handbook
So when should you write an employee handbook? You should probably
wait until the third or fourth employee, suggests Storfer, who had
one of his first hires write his handbook. Medley did the same
thing, giving the task of writing it to his first employee.
"When it's not coming from the employer's perspective,
I think it turns into a more applicable tool. It's not a
hierarchical dictatorship tool." But what about writing it yourself? What about throwing caution
to the wind and taking it upon yourself to explain your
company's mission and rules without seeming like a dictator?
Medley laughs. "If there's an entrepreneur out there who
starts a business and has the time to write an employee handbook
for [his] very first person, I tip my hat to [him]," he says.
"That was always my Catch-22. I didn't have time to write
an employee handbook, because I didn't have an
employee." | Where Else to Turn? | If you're still craving more
information, reach for that mouse or visit the nearest library and
check out these resources: - To read up on interviewing techniques,
Impact Hiring: The Secrets
of Hiring a Superstar (Prentice Hall Press), offers
approximately 300 pages of solid and sage advice from authors
Frederick and Barbara Ball.
- For help with producing an employee
handbook, purchase a software program. A quick Web search will list
various options, including www.youremployeehandbook.com, which offers
personnel policy and procedure manuals for small
businesses.
- HR.com is a free Web site
for those interested in human resources. Here, you'll get
advice, free human resource forms and free articles about human
resource issues. Get out your credit card and you'll be able to
purchase various products and services, such as a human resource
agent to do some of the work for you.
- To strengthen your knowledge and
understanding of the numerous legal elements and government
regulations that apply to hiring, click over to the U.S.
Department of Labor, where you can get answers to all
your questions.
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Freelance writer Geoff Williams is hiring: "If you know
anybody willing to work for 1914 wages, give me a
call."
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Brewing Big (With a Micro Soul)After 18 years of growth and with annual revenue about to break $100 million, Kim Jordan still maintains New Belgium's freewheeling spirit.
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