Often times, small business owners have a tough time finding the right employees to help them grow their business.

One common problem that immediately comes to mind is finding employees that have the flexibility and experience to handle multiple tasks across various disciplines. For example, if a small business owner takes on a new employee whose main task is book keeping he/she will often have a hard time convincing that employee to take on tasks outside of their main focus (bookkeeping in this case). This becomes a major problem because most small business owners can not afford to hire specialists for every job that is required to successfully run the company.

A good solution to this problem is to simply ask employees to come up with a “wish list” of sorts regarding what type of work they would be willing to do to help keep the company going when they are not working on their main task(s). If the “wish list” approach is a bit too liberal, then take it upon yourself to write up a list of tasks that are available and have your employees pick from your list.

Either technique should help make your employees feel like they a more a part of the company, and should help motivate them to accomplish tasks outside of their main skill set.

Here’s a link to an interesting article regarding this issue and how Google, Inc. deals with it:
http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=847&ArticleID=1262345