Recruiting staff

You must consider the type of worker you wish to employ, depending on factors such as:

• how constant the work is
• how long the work will last
• the number of hours of work each week

Staff recruitment options

You have a number of options for recruiting staff including:

Permanent employees

Permanent employees can be full-time or part-time. Permanent does not mean forever, it simply means there is no identified end date ie they have an open-ended employment contract with you. You have obligations to them, but they will be an investment in your business. See recruiting full-time or part-time employees.

Fixed-term contract employees

Fixed-term contract employees have an employment contract with you for a predetermined time or until a specific task has been completed. You'll still have employer obligations but only for the duration of the contract. See recruiting staff on fixed-term contracts.

Employment agency

Temporary staff are engaged by the agency and supplied to you. Your contract is with the employment agency to supply you with staff, but you still have certain legal responsibilities towards the agency worker. See recruiting agency workers.

Self-employed freelancers, consultants, and contractors

This gives you the minimum of employer obligations. But you need to be sure that the people are legally defined as self-employed. See am I legally classed as self-employed?

Zero-hours contracts

These allow you to employ people casually ie as and when required, and to have people on-call to work whenever necessary and mutually convenient. Generally, you are not obliged to offer work, nor is there a responsibility for the worker to accept any work. Look at the terms of any zero-hours contract carefully as it may affect the employment status of the worker and your responsibility towards them. See zero-hours contracts.

Children or young people

If you plan to employ children or young people, you must keep in mind that there are restrictions on the hours and types of work that they can legally carry out. See employing children and young people.

You will have to make tax arrangements for all employees and may also have to make tax arrangements for workers directly engaged by you. See employment status.