You need assistance when running your small business, and your instinct is to dive into the large talent pool available in your area. However, before you do this, it's worth considering whether or not you should bother. Is there much to gain from hiring employees for a small company? The evidence would suggest that no, there isn't.

If anything, by not hiring employees, your small business could see more benefits that help it survive and thrive. Here's why you should forget about hiring employees and seek out alternatives instead:

Save money

Employees cost a lot of money, which is one of the major downsides to hiring them. If you don't bring new people to your business, you won't have to deal with the added expenses they bring. Instead, you have cost-effective alternatives through companies like VHQ, letting you outsource jobs to virtual assistants. The idea is that you have a virtual team working for you, but they aren't technically your employees. So, no benefits and no salary packages need to be provided – you just pay the outsourcing company a monthly fee!

Improve productivity

Yes, hiring employees can actually lead to a decrease in productivity. For one, you have the settling-in phase where your employees need to get used to your business. This can mean that you have a slow period of a few weeks or months before they're up to speed. To make matters worse, this happens whenever someone new joins your team. Secondly, employees can hamper productivity by making errors due to inexperience. Again, this is why outsourcing is so beneficial for small businesses; you get a team or an individual that's been doing this job for a long time, so they know how to do everything correctly. Thus, you have a more productive business thanks to the outsourced team.

Work remotely

Finally, hiring some employees for your company could force you to move into an office. This is simply because you need all of your employees in one place, so they can work synergistically with one another. Of course, remote working is still possible with a team of employees, but it could lead to the issue above; a lack of productivity. By not hiring employees – and outsourcing – you can work wherever you like. This links back to the first point in that you save a lot of money by not needing to pay for an office. Thus, your business is in a much healthier financial position, and you can work from anywhere.

Overall, the main advantage of not having employees is that you don't have to pay for them. The cost of hiring alone is extortionate, not to mention the cost of keeping your employees on the books. Then, you have to worry about retaining your talent, or else you need to go through the costly hiring process all over again. This impacts productivity, meaning you're constantly going through slow periods as new employees get used to your business. In reality, it is more cost-effective and convenient for small business owners to outsource.