Team
Your first hire: a survival guide
What an employee actually costs, how to know you can afford one, and the trial structure that avoids a painful first six months.
6 steps · 8 min read
← All playbooks- 01
Calculate the true cost
Salary plus employer National Insurance, pension, holiday cover, equipment, software and your own management time. Budget around 1.3 times salary.
- 02
Check affordability against your worst quarter
Not your best month. If the hire only works in a good quarter, it does not work.
- 03
Hire for what you did last month
Write the job description from your own diary. The tasks you repeatedly do and dislike are the role.
- 04
Run a paid trial
Two weeks, paid properly, on real work. It tells you more than three interviews and it is fair to the candidate.
- 05
Write down what good looks like
Three measurable things they own by month three. Vague roles fail people who would otherwise have succeeded.
- 06
Plan the first fortnight before day one
An unstructured first week is the most common reason a good hire leaves within six months.