Hello, I was wondering how companys go about hiring staff to help. I was thinking about getting volunteer staff but i heard of people who ran into major problems with that method. If i do hire staff for pay how is the pay determined? Im new to the hiring thing, any tips welcome. Thanks

It all depends on what you need done, and what roles you see your staff fulfilling. Before determining pay, you should determine what positions you need to hire for (technical support, marketing, administration, etc.) and what their tasks should be. You should ideally have a budget on how much you plan to pay for employees. You will find that there is a certain "going rate" whether it is determined as an hourly pay or annual salary for the different kinds of positions you might need. Furthermore, skills and experience also vary, and it is more than likely that individuals with better skills and extensive experience will demand higher pay.

Okay, so my answer is pretty ambiguous, and doesn't contain any numbers. =P Have a look at job web sites and see which hosting companies are hiring, and what positions their hiring for. Perhaps you'll even catch information about salaries, etc.


JP

Depending on your location you need to find out if it is better to hire someone or to get a contractor or somebody working on a 1099 (USA)? You can pay per ticket or offer hourly payment based on the time actually worked. Many webhost pay per ticket.

Thank you for the help. I had a concern about hiring staff as support. They need to have root password to be be able to solve some support problems and i dont think i just want a staff worker having root and the power to "play god" with my servers.

Well, that's certainly one way to think about it.

I've hired people on contract work -- it's only a matter of trust. It is VERY immature for someone you hire to start "playing god" and screwing around with your server.



JP

Trust is a big issue. Thanks for the information. Anyone know the going rate for staff hired on a per ticket paycheck? Thanks

Hi Joe,
When you are hiring a person, the thinking should be simple. If you were to work in a company what would you want that company to give to you ? If you can offer it, I am sure you'll be building the right team.

Also, think if you were working as a sys admin would you mess up the servers if your boss gave you root access. You would not because that is your bread and butter. I am sure the person working for you would think the same. :)

Generally, here are things you need to do. Define the posts. Then define what you expect out of the person. And tell him what you'll be giving in return.

I hope that helps.

Regards
Amar

Here's a little idea on the remote techs. $1000 per month is a good price for a remote tech (equivalent to a little more than $6/hour). Most remote techs do 2 jobs at once, and this is why they are generally paid less per job. Working on-site you should pay them $10/hour+. I would say sales reps are pretty similar, for remote. Sales AGENTS generally work on comission though. Or to save from all of this, you can outsource :)

outsourcing saves you the headache

outsourcing?

Outsourcing -- seeking the services of another company, who usually hire contractors or their own in-house employees, to provide you with certain services.

For example, you can hire company XYZ who will take care of your customer service and technical support, charging you a certain amount of dollars per month or per inquiry and letting their staff handle all of the work.

This is also similar to how you can go to elance.com or other web sites and hire programmers and other people with specialized skills to work on certain projects for you. In a nutshell, outsourced work is when you hire other companies to do things for you, as opposed to hiring your own employees.


JP

Send your customers to people who can't speak english very well. What a novel way to handle customer service. Pay extra and outsource to a company that can speak English and it will save you headache with your clients.

Originally posted by sfandrew
outsourcing saves you the headache


Not necessarily. Have a look at what pixel_fenix because he hit it right on. When you outsource, you are placing the experience of your company's customers in their hands. If you know of a reliable company who will treat your customers as if it were their own, then taking this route might be cost effective and save you time.

But there are many companies out there that just can't sustain a high level of customer service -- I've encountered a number of them, but let's not go through that here. You get what you pay for, and if you're going to sacrifice the cost and outsource to other companies, be sure your customers are experiencing the best customer service. Otherwise it'll backfire on you.

You have to crawl before you walk. And if you're just starting out, I say find a way to get someone on your team who is the techie who can handle support queries -- or a customer service rep. who can handle general customer service issues. DO IT RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING. Remember, you are offering a hosting service, but it is how your customers feel about the quality of SERVICE that is most important to them.



JP

Thanks for all the great tips. Still sounds like a big process.