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how did you know it was time to hire your first employee? were your concerns valid after you did finally hire help and where did you find them?

14 Spice ups
2

When my helpdesk tasks ( level 1) took me more than 50% of the working time, I knew it was time to get help so I can focus on the core administration ( level 2 and 3). Proved to be a good move move in the end, although I was pretty scared at the beginning, but if you get the right guy the concerns will soon vanish. The right guy? A person who is at least eager to learn, rest you can build up.

3 Spice ups
3

Each situation is different, but as @rpopa said, I would start with where your time goes. Over 50% on helpdesk and you need to look to make some manner of change. What’s your biggest time-suck? Can you automate more? Can you shed responsibility in other areas?

Beyond that, look at the total number of end users. Your millage may vary, but I think about 50 end users per IT person. I’d also look at your budget and total hours worked. If you are only working 40 hours total you may need to suck it up and work more. If you are over 55 hours a week and loosing your mind, then it’s probably time.

A word of caution, decide before you ask for help if you want to hire someone (and hiring a helpdesk person is tough b/c they burn out so fast and often require a lot of ramp up and hand holding the first month) or if you want to outsource your helpdesk. Each comes with pros and cons, but plan your move carefully and be able to stick to your guns when you do ask for help. The last time I asked to hire a Helpdesk person I had to justify a human in my world and fight outsourcing the role to a third party (which I did not want to do for a host of reasons.)

As for where to find a Helpdesk guy,don’t laugh but I like to go to Best Buy at night when it’s dead and talk to the techs in the Geek Squad who are bored. I like to chat them up and basically interview them without letting me know I’m looking to potentially hire them. Play dumb, see how they handle you and your “dumb customer” questions. If you find a guy who knows his stuff, is friendly, and has a good attitude, give him your card, tell him you are looking to hire, ask him in for an interview, tell him what more he can learn (always look for a guy who wants to learn,) and then ask him / her if they want a job, or a carrier?

My last 2 guys came from Geek Squad. Each lasted 2+ years and when they left me, they went on to be Network Admins elsewhere; and they were ready for it.

Hope this helps. ~JC

4

For your own company or for one you work for?

As @ rpopa said - when you reach 50% utilization on tasks that whilst important, are not worth your time as you need to be invested in other work.

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this is for my own company. I’m spending too much time working and not enough with my family. The main thing that concerns me is meeting payroll in the slow months. I know it is just a matter of budgeting but is still concerning.

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How to find an employee… well you are on here the best place in the world to find help.

The questions you need to ask yourself on the business side of things are these:

  1. Can you afford to cover your salary and someone else?

  2. Do you really have the client base to support someone long term.

  3. Do you have a pipeline of prospective clients?

  4. Can you start with a part time person?

  5. Can you find another company that does similar work to partner with for a little bit till you can afford an employee?

There are many ways to expand your business without taking a financial hit.

1 Spice up
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Ok - this changed things a little.

Still take into consideration utilization on lesser tasks so you can focus your efforts on sales and projects.

You need to calculate the hourly rate, benefits, vacation into a hourly cost for your business. for example:

Charge our rate per hour ($100) minus the burden rate of that staff member.

Pay: $25 Per Hour

Benefits: 2.75 Per Hour (talk to an accountant for tax deductions)

Total Burden - $27.75 Per hour

The biggest mistake a MSP makes is assuming there are 8 billable hours per day. There is not. Take general admin / research and you end up with around 5.5 / 6 hours a day.

So at max capacity your new person could bring in circa $550 / $600 per day with a total cost to you of $222 per day based on a burden of $27.75 per hour for an 8 hour day.

Remember that just because you are paying them for 8 hours - you can not ever expect them to bill for 8 hours.

Factor training into the total cost of your staff member.

1 Spice up
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It’s been mentioned already, to a degree, by CA-RT. If you are paying an employee $15/hour, that is neither what they get nor what you get. They know they lose taxes for federal, state (if yours has one) and SSI. However, for that employer to pay that employee $15/hour, especially if it’s their first employee, it’s a LOT more expensive. They have workman’s comp, disability and taxes out the wazoo just to have that person as an employee. You add on top of that the actual wages and, I’m just pulling out a number, it may cost the employer $20-25/hour to pay the employee $15/hour. I’m probably pretty close on that but I can’t say for sure if that’s right or not. But most employees have no concept of how much it really costs for them to work. Add in what CA-RT said about anything like benefits or spiffs and it adds up fast. Make sure you can offset that cost before you commit.

1 Spice up
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The biggest mistake a MSP makes is assuming there are 8 billable hours per day. There is not. Take general admin / research and you end up with around 5.5 / 6 hours a day.

Remember that just because you are paying them for 8 hours - you can not ever expect them to bill for 8 hours.

Someone should email my former employer this very simple concept…

2 Spice ups
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I’m in this boat. I’m currently over-utilized and working pretty much all the time. which is okay except i’d much rather be out there picking up new accounts and keeping my big swingers happy. We had a program in my town that the university would provide temp (free to employer) student as an internship. Pro’s are that the person is free. Negative is you just dont know what type of person you’re gonna get… You could look to your local nerd herd for a bit more insight.