How to Know When It’s Time to Hire—and When It’s Not
Hiring too early burns cash. Hiring too late breaks your team.
Here’s how to know when to hire, who to hire, and how to scale your team without scaling chaos.
1. Track Total Capacity, Not Just Busyness
Before hiring, measure:
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Total billable hours available
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Total hours actually used
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Current staff utilization
If your team’s utilization is under 75%, you don’t need more people. You need better systems.
2. Hire to Solve Systems, Not Symptoms
Avoid reactive hires. Don’t say:
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“We’re behind—let’s hire.”
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“She’s overwhelmed—let’s give her help.”
Instead, ask:
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“What system broke?”
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“Is the issue bandwidth or accountability?”
3. Start With Delegation Before Headcount
If you haven’t delegated everything that’s:
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Low dollar value
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Teachable
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Repeatable
Then you haven’t earned your next hire yet.
4. Hire When Growth Outpaces System Capacity
Once your systems are maxed—intake is converting, casework is efficient, billing is on auto—then hire.
But only into a defined role with a clear scoreboard.
Conclusion
Most firms hire out of panic. Great firms hire from data.