How To Go About Hiring Your First Employee

AAPaint

I need a LOT of advice in this area guys. I'm about to take on two employees because business is going through the roof, and I can't get enough done in a day anymore. Please keep in mind, mine is a new company with very little assets. I need these employees, but I can't afford to pay through the nose to put them on payroll. Which brings up another issue. Should I bother with an employees leasing option to ease the burden or should I just hire them and handle all of it on my own?

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-AAPaint

AA Quality Painting & Pressure Washing LLC
Jacksonville Painters
Jacksonville, FL.

Mike Finley

Ah, the growing pains!

JustaFramer

Do you have a skilled labor temp agency in town? There is a few locally around me that are non-union.
You pay the agency direct and they take care of all the taxes.

AAPaint

Yes, and it is painful. It's almost midnight, and I just finished my work for today. I work in the field all day long, run appointments, writes estimates in the evening, etc. etc. I have been non stop for about a month now like this...business is good, but one of these days I'm going to have to get some sleep!!!

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-AAPaint

AA Quality Painting & Pressure Washing LLC
Jacksonville Painters
Jacksonville, FL.

JustaFramer

I know some Mexican painters I could send your way. Their good or should I say muy bueno.

Glasshousebltr

Better do some thinking AA, write it all down, make sure the fella you hire isn't just yanking you. I'd even consider a test, sometimes it's difficult to determine exactly what these guys really know, instead of what they say they do.

I couldn't tell ya how long I've been hiring help, or the first fella to ever work for me, but I can tell ya the sorry a$$es still slip through from time to time.

Here are a few rules or guidelines I try to follow.
1. I never hire a fella that wants to do something for free.
2. I look very closely when a fella says he runs jobs, because if he had, it wouldn't be something he wants.
3. I always ask why he left the last job, if anything just to catch a hesitation. I don't want the maggot running out on me.
4. When I can, I check out his ride, dirty people normally don't make good workers.
5. Does he have responsibilities, if he does, nine out of ten, he'll work harder.
6. Check refs.

Oh, and just for Grump, I don't have to do background checks, a maggot dumb enough to steal from my biz wouldn't be smart enough to fill out the application. I don't call cops.

Anybody else got something to add?

Bob

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Bob

Mike Finley

Why 2 guys at once.

How about hiring one guy first, get used to the extra expense, and the extra help, then catch your breath, get comfortable and then get the 2nd one.

Grumpy

First off unless you have worked with any installer previously, their word about what they can do means crap. I have learned that the hard way. I start everyone off at a base pay and adjust based on what they prove they are worth by working. I might give them a raise the same day. The bottom line is people will lie for work (money).

I started hiring my employees on 1099 but now I pay w2. I still pay some guys on 1099 because that's the way they want it.

I have had the BEST results with hiring guys who are just moving into town or moving back into town. If someone is worth their wage they will already be employed. I have got a couple of guys who did good work and were employed and I paid them more, but these guys have no loyalty.

For Bob, I don't hire maggots so I don't have some of the same problems you seem to have. I encourage everyone to at very least call previous employers.

DelW

The key question to ask the previous employer is "would you re-hire them" if not or if they hesitate to answer, that should be a red flag. Alot of employers are hesitant to be totally honest with reference checks,(for liability/legal reasons) but the re-hire question usually gives you a bottom line answer.

kenvest

if they showed up for the interivew, i'll give just about anybody a crack at it. if they show up for work the first day, i'll keep them around for a coule of weeks to see hwo timely the are. i can work with about anyone if they show up on time.

i've had challenges with several divorced or seperated men with children because they seem to miss alot of work. either the ex has had them thrown in jail, they have to go to court or they need to keep the kids. these guys can be the most grateful and loyal of employees but they can lead complicated lives.

old employers word can mean little because some of them would say anything to get a monkey off their back.

finding skilled help is hard so be prepared to train...

good luck!

noreast05

Take it slow like Mike said do you need two to start. Ten years in business for us. We went from 12 employees to 2. We now pick the jobs we want to do with the help of more subs. Most not all subs are more willing to work. They are self-employed themselves..... they tend to work harder than employees.

Hire one and team up with some subs to get you through the big jobs. We make more with 2 employees and the rest subs than we made with 12 PITA employees. They will all tell you they have all the experience in the world, until you see what they can really do.

There are alot of PITA jobs out there that end up costing you more than you make, either in time or money. If you have that much work maybe try and up your rates. It worked wonders for us and have more time (and money) to enjoy our lives. If you provide high quality service some people are willing to pay for it. Find those people and dump the ones that want your high quality at low price.

Clients interview you to see if you are right for them. But you need to do the same, feel them out. Find out if they want quality and are willing to pay for it if not move on.

Grumpy

Let me point out the only reason I said to contact old employers is only to verify that they actually worked there. LOL I have seen resumes from guys who claimed to be bank managers and are now looking for a job as an administrative assistant. Hmmm...

noreast05

I like this idea thanks Grumpy

AAPaint

Thank you all for the input. I have two skilled painters who I'm pretty positive I can rely on. Question is, do I need them both? Not just yet. Thankfully, I have seen their work, and I know what to expect there.

The question is more about payroll than anything. Should I start off doing 1099? Won't they need to get their own w/c exemptions as well? I don't know didly about paying an employee. I notice nobody touched on PEO's so that must be outta the question for what I need? I hope you can all see I need more administrative advice on how to handle that part of the business.

What loopholes or pitfalls should I be looking out for when hiring an employee? What is the most economical way to have another person be completely legal while working as an employee for me?

As far as the work. It's all high dollar work, no doubt about it. Job I'm on now, I wasn't the highest or the lowest bidder.....simply the most professional in the customer's own words. I owe much of that success to this website in helping me present my business in a professional manner. The reason we have so much work to be honest is service magic. I took Grumpy's advice and started using them, and business is booming. I can darn near land a job anytime I want just by picking up a few more leads....

__________________
-AAPaint

AA Quality Painting & Pressure Washing LLC
Jacksonville Painters
Jacksonville, FL.

noreast05

1099 to start. Are these two self-employeed? Do they have any employees. If it's just them with their own individual company they need liabilty but not w/c unless they are incorported. Most owners exempt themselves from w/c if they own the company. Some will take out a disabilty or catastrophic insurance instead. Check with your state about the right ways to hire and fire someone. Check ins. w/c rules and regs on subs.

Downfalls with employees.


1. Baby sitting.

2. paperwork - need someone to help with office chores or outsource it... probably not worth outsourcing for two, but then again it doesn't sound like you have the time to do what you have to do. Will you have time to do payroll, taxes, insurance, etc.

3. Excuses- May car won't start, my dog ate my homework. Someone told me there car wouldn't start.... I told them I will come pick them up..... they had another excuse.

4. Add more time on your schedule to figure out schedules to keep everyone going. Nothing like the guys showing up the next day and your still trying to finish yesterday.

5. Fire them the right way. Fired people before but did not have the paperwork to back me up. I ended up with a hiring unemployment tax.


6. You got the job(s) you set your schedule and they don't so up. Deadlines are coming near. Now what ..... kiss your ending at midnight. Plan on working through the night.

noreast05

one other thing about 1099. They are a sub. they do what they want when they want. When you start telling them when to show up and for how long, according to the IRS they are now considered an employee. Most subs will get the job done, unlike employees, most could careless whether it gets done today or tomorrow. If you go with hiring employees consider offering a share of the profits or put it toward a 401 k, give them an incentive to show up and work hard. One other thing is benefits, some will go for a lower pay if you have full bennies.

IHI

Cuz typically it takes 2 to equal 1 decent employee, and anybody that's paid a wage to somebody knows that's right:p

I'm sure your area is like mine, you get all these guys that can do anything but dont know which end of a hammer to hang onto...ALOT of "posers" out there for sure. If you can get a reference and/or see prior work you'll be way ahead of the game. I imagine the temps services in your area are just like ours, full of bums that are only there because they have to to meet unemployment requirements. A buddy of mine that strictly does roofing uses them bums on huge jobs, here you pay the temp agency a flat rate of $17/hr per person that you take. Your free to fire them whenever you want, often he get's 10 initally, he says usually 1-2 walk away as soon as they see the job, another 3-4 leave after they've been up there for an hour, and yet another 1-2 during the lunch hour that never return...I'd never consider them for anything personally.

You'll know within the first week if they're worth a crap or not-call it motivation. I just hired ANOTHER guy this week, now this dude is right up my alley. VERY pickey, has background experience with construction-nothing specialized though, but enough to grasp a concept. Listens and does what he's asked, then when he's done with that aspect goes immediately into cleaning up, or another aspect of the job-MOTIVATION!!!....Right now I feel VERY spoiled but this kind of guy has been A LONG TIME COMING based on the idiots I've had try to work for me over the past few years and if at the end of next week it's going as good as it's been will be a nice pay raise for him...but lets not get back into the idiot disucssion again because not everybody can be moved into a different positon to utilize a "skill" since my business is too small to have multiple positions like da big dogz du.

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Mike Finley

gotcha.

Mike Finley

How do you guys 1099 an employee?

747

I'm not sure how you guys are going to react to what i'm about ready to say. In the State of illinois if a employer hires a person who just comes out of prison they can rite the first 5,000 dollars of there salary off of there income taxes. Futhermore the illinois dept. of employment security will bond them for up to 10,000 dollars. I seen this on 11 wttw. The employer was saying how excellent the employees are because there happy someone will give them a second chance. So if someone could get lucky enough to find a painter or a carpenter coming out of prison in illinois 5,000 dollars free salary write off on your company's income tax would be great if i was a contractor. Should mention I wouldn't if i was a contractor hire a child molester or something like that. I bet a lot of employers didn't even no about that program in the state of Illinois.