The admin is more predictable than founders fear. The judgement calls around it are harder than they expect.
Going from founder to employer changes the company more than any product decision. The paperwork is well-trodden and genuinely manageable. The part that catches people out is that you are now responsible for somebody else's week.
The administrative floor
Before a first employee starts, you will need to register as an employer with HMRC and run payroll through PAYE, check their right to work in the UK, arrange employers' liability insurance, and assess them for automatic enrolment into a workplace pension. Each of these is a form and a decision, not a project — but all of them have deadlines attached.
- Give a written statement of employment particulars on or before day one.
- Check right to work before the first day, and keep the evidence.
- Pay at least the National Minimum or National Living Wage for their age band — confirm current rates on gov.uk.
- Set up pension auto-enrolment assessment from the first pay run, not later.
Hire for the gap, not the org chart
First hires fail most often because the role was defined from a template rather than from the actual bottleneck. Spend a fortnight logging what you personally do and how long each thing takes. The role usually writes itself out of that list, and it is rarely the job title you assumed.
If you cannot describe what this person will have finished by the end of month one, the role is not ready to be advertised.
Plan the first fortnight properly
A capable hire dropped into an undocumented business will look like a bad hire for three months. Write down how the core tasks are done before they arrive, even roughly. Onboarding material is the cheapest performance improvement available to a small company, and it makes the second hire dramatically easier than the first.
Employment rules change. Confirm current thresholds, rates and duties on gov.uk or with an employment adviser before you commit.