Taking on staff - the options

Directors and managers

Every limited company must have at least one director. Directors are appointed by the shareholders as the people who can best run the company on their behalf.

Directors have a range of responsibilities in areas such as health and safety, tax and employment law. There are serious penalties for not meeting these responsibilities which makes appointing the right director very important.

There are also restrictions on who can become a director. People who may not become directors include anyone who:

• has been disqualified by the courts from becoming a director
• is an undischarged bankrupt, unless they have permission from the courts
• is under the age of 16

For information on the appointment of directors, see our guides on recruiting directors and company directors' responsibilities.

Managers

You may wish to take on someone to cover you while you're away or so that you can spend more time growing the business. Consider whether it would be a good idea to appoint someone to whom you can delegate day-to-day running. When preparing the job description, the advert and the interview questions, you will need to keep in mind the additional qualities, experience and skills the candidate will need to take on the managerial role.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Recruiting new staff
• The best ways to take on extra people
• Full-time or part-time employees
• Fixed-term contracts
• Taking on agency workers
• Freelancers and outside contractors
• Directors and managers
• Here's how I used the My Business tool to help grow my business

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