6 Things You Need to Avoid When Hiring Employees
Many business owners want to tackle every project themselves until they realize there are simply not enough hours in the day complete everything on the list. This can be especially frustrating if you are a solopreneur who owns an LLC and currently controls all aspects of the business. The good news is that you’re so busy that you can no longer do everything yourself — this means your business is growing. But the process of hiring employees for your small business can be frustrating and time-consuming when looking for the right person or people.
Related Article: Do You Need a Salesperson?
It is said that you should be slow to hire and quick to fire — and this is absolutely the truth. If you’re trying to figure out the process of hiring employees, the tips found in this article will help you bypass common mistakes (some of which can land you in legal trouble). When looking for employees, not just anyone will be able to fulfill the expectations or job description. For that reason, you need to thoroughly vet each and every applicant fairly.
Table of contents
6 Things You Need to Avoid When Hiring Employees
Below are six things you need to avoid when hiring employees:
1. Discrimination
It’s illegal to discriminate against an applicant due to their race, gender or a disability. Not only is this wrong, but it can land you in a lawsuit should the individual find out they were discriminated against. Avoid this by comparing all applicants based on their skills, attitude and experience.
Discrimination is not tolerated — if the applicant has the necessary skills to get the job and complete the requirements, they need to be considered regardless of your personal feelings or beliefs about them.
2. Asking Personal Questions When Hiring Employees
When you are hiring employees, it’s normal to feel a connection with a great applicant who you feel comfortable with immediately. However, your hiring process needs to be absolutely professional, and that includes the questions you ask. Just because you “like” someone doesn’t mean they will be a good employee.
Related Article: Are Employers Hurting Employee Health?
Refrain from asking personal questions such as how old the applicant is, what religion they practice, what gender they identify as, whether they’re married, if they have kids (or plan on it) or any other questions that don’t deal directly with the position.
3. Skipping a Background Check
You are going to need to ask for permission to obtain a background check, but in the end, it is very important. While everyone deserves a second chance after making a mistake in their life, a repeat offender should not be taken lightly and could damage your business should their behaviors continue. Knowing what you are getting into prior to hiring employees for your small business can save you from headaches down the road and potentially looking for employees down the road to fill their position.
Asking a potential employee of any criminal behavior will also show if the applicant is truthful or not. Having someone say they have never been in trouble with the law, just to have you see their record when you pull their background info is not a feeling of confidence. Give them every opportunity up front to come clean and if they say you don’t have permission to do a background check, that should throw up a few red flags and tell you to keep looking for employees to interview.
4. Skipping a Drug Test Before Hiring Employees
While drugs could be part of an applicant’s problems in #3, some may consider themselves lucky to never have been caught up until this point. This is a key step on how to hire employees. You do not want an employee showing up to work under the influence of an illegal substance, using it at work, or being associated with you and your business if they use and abuse illegal substances. It’s extremely important to have a drug-free work environment.
As the employer, you will be responsible for paying and scheduling their drug test. You do, however, need to ask for consent first. But, just like in #3, if they decline you’ll have to suspect that they are not coming forward and being honest.
Related Article: 5 Ways to Improve Employee Retention
When hiring employees for your small business, you have the ability to decline a position due to an applicant refusing to take a drug test or taking it and the results coming back as “failed.”
5. Not Providing Policies and Getting a Signed Agreement
Should you find the applicant you are looking for who fits the needs of your business and the position(s), you need to make sure you give them employment policies for your business and get them to sign an agreement that they received and fully understand the contents and will abide by the policies.
For this, you will need to create an employee manual and include topics such as procedures relating to dress code, conduct in the workplace, payment structure, contacts, scheduling, requirements for time off requests, etc. This handbook or manual is in place to not only protect you but also the employee from any misunderstandings down the road.
6. Forgetting About Taxes and Withholdings
There are two specifics here that we need to cover on how to hire employees. When you are hiring employees for your small business, you need to be sure to enroll in Workman’s Compensation. This is a federal policy at the state level that all businesses must abide by with employees. The purpose of Workman’s Compensation is to protect the employee in the event that they get injured on the job.
As much as we think our place of employment is safe, accidents can and do happen. The best way to ensure you are following the correct procedures is to contact your specific state to learn of all the requirements so that you can be sure to be 100% compliant.
The second part of this section is federal, state, and local taxes. Hiring employees for your small business comes with some added responsibilities – taxes are one of them. No longer are you simply worrying about yourself. You need to ensure that you are withholding the proper amount of money from employee paychecks as well as ensuring you fully understand the filing deadlines. The money withheld can be deposited on a monthly or quarterly basis. You can find out more information about how to file federal withholdings by visiting the IRS website.
While six things are mentioned in this article, there is much more to learn when looking for employees to fill positions within your business and how to hire employees. Remember to take your time hiring employees for your small business – it’s not a race. The hiring process should be slow and you should evaluate each applicant thoroughly.
*Disclosure: This article may contain affiliate links or ads, which means we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase through these links. These commissions help support the operation and maintenance of our website, allowing us to continue producing free valuable content. Your support is genuinely appreciated, whether you choose to use our links or not. Thank you for being a part of our community and enjoying our content.
PLEASE CONSIDER SHARING THIS ON YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA TO HELP OTHERS LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS TOPIC. SIMPLY CLICK BELOW!
