Now Hiring
The Paperwork
W-2s. Payroll taxes. Social Security. 401(k)s. Health insurance
benefits. Even if the latter two aren't part of your initial program,
the paperwork that goes into hiring an employee can be
mind-numbing. That's why the general consensus is: Have someone
else do it for you. Do not go it alone. So where do you go for help? If you're going to offer a
health
plan, you need to find a reputable health insurance agency to
work with. But if you want to get payroll
off your hands as well, Bruno suggests hiring a service such as
Paychex or Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Inc., two services that
can also help you with a 401(k), health benefits and just about
anything else you'd need. There are plenty of other good
payroll companies out there--just make sure you do your homework.
You should be comfortable and confident that it's a reputable
business. Content Continues Below
What you will spend to have your checks printed and taxes taken
out and everything else that goes along with payroll depends on
what kind of deal you offer your employee. At first, Medley paid
his payroll service about $40 per month-and that's exactly how
often he paid Bankert: once a month. It made sense, because Netfor
was being paid once per month. But it also saved money. The more
often you pay your employees, the more benefits you offer and the
more employees you have, the more expensive your payroll services
will be. But it's well worth it, says Medley, explaining that
somebody he knows well got into trouble with payroll taxes.
"And upon learning how badly that can go, you realize very
quickly that you want someone else doing your payroll," says
Medley, who adds that if your business shuts down and you still owe
payroll taxes, the government will come after you-not your defunct
corporation. With a payroll service--again, a reputable
one--"then your liability doesn't exist," says
Medley. "The risk is all theirs." | See the Benefit? | To offer benefits or not? That is the
million-dollar question, especially when you're not a
millionaire. Barbara Bruno of HR Search Inc. has been in the hiring
business for 26 years. She says you don't have to offer that
first batch of employees a health plan or a 401(k), but if you want
to be one of the good guys and find good people to work for you,
you should find other, cost-effective perks to offer those working
at your company. Two weeks of paid vacation is just a
given. There is no national law requiring it (though some states do
have such laws in place), but regardless, "You have to do
that," says Bruno. You can also offer flex hours, says Bruno,
where employees can come and go as they please as long as
they're working a set amount of hours per day or week.
"You can also offer a casual dress code," she says.
"People love to dress down and be relaxed." If you offer
to pay $50 to $100 per month of an employee's day-care costs,
that's a big perk because he or she will get it in pre-tax
form, and you can write it off as a business expense. And what's the biggest benefit that
benefits offer your business? A happy, presumably productive,
employee.
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Brewing Big (With a Micro Soul)After 18 years of growth and with annual revenue about to break $100 million, Kim Jordan still maintains New Belgium's freewheeling spirit.
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