Congratulations! Business is going great and it is now time to move beyond being a one-person-show and hire your first employee. While this means learning a whole new aspect to operating your business, if does not have to be difficult. Further, if your goal is to grow, the good news is that bringing on additional talent will make this a much smoother and likely outcome.
As you move ahead in taking this exciting step, one of the best things you can do is to download the Hiring 101 Guidebook by ADP®. ADP has been helping people just like you for many years in this area and this guide offers some very useful tips on how to get started. In addition to this, here are four things you’ll also want to do before making your first hire:
- Create a Job Description | Before hiring anyone, make sure you know exactly what it is you want them to do. A vague job description or worse, no job description, makes it difficult to recruit, manage and evaluate whether you’re getting done what it is you intended to get done by creating this new position in the first place. A good place to start is by completing a Functional Task Analysis of the work. This helps you to figure out what you’re doing that could be better done by someone else. If you’re bringing in a totally new skill, research existing job descriptions to define what it is that you’re looking for.
- Develop an Employee Handbook | Regardless of how small your business operation is, when you have an employee, you are required to have an employee handbook. Your handbook clearly conveys your company policies and practices such as employee benefits, dress codes, paid time-off and confidentiality terms. Having all the basics covered here protects you and your employees from all kinds of unnecessary problems. Check out what’s involved in an employee handbook outline as a good guide for developing this important document.
- Apply for an EIN | An EIN is an employer Identification number. It is a unique federal tax ID that allows the IRS to identify your business and employees for tax purposes. Similar to a personal social security number, having this number is required when you have employees. It’s easy to apply for your EIN directly with the IRS online.
- Hire a Payroll Service | While processing payroll involves a specific series of steps, one of those steps requires paying payroll taxes on time and on a routine basis. This is one of the most common areas where small businesses get into trouble. With a payroll service, you can be assured that this is taken care of. You can also take advantage of some pre-tax options related to child care, medical and other expenses, which can be complicated to administer yet offer real value when utilized. These services are also very affordable.
In short, unless you’re looking to operate a lifestyle-type of business where you work for yourself and earn what you need, there will likely come a time when growth requires more people on the team. When this happens, it’s nice to know that you quickly have all of your basis covered from a compliance perspective by calling upon the experts.
Go forth, grow and prosper!