I've been on my own for nearly 8 years now. I have no employees and have only hired help here/there.

I'm a little nervous about hiring an employee or two. What ducks need to be lined up to make this jump? What capital is reasonable?

Any dialogue with people that have done this and succeeded is appreciated.

Thanks,
Byron

The first thing is to get the tax and worker comp insurance deal figured out. It is mostly just another layer of paperwork but if you don't get it right guys in cheap suits with government ID cards will be knocking on your door.

Hey Byron
Call the CSLB office and they will send you lot of the infomation about hiring process. Yes Greg is right, Either get W-comp insurance or you can hire your employees through an Placement agency, but then you have to pay little bit more. But then you are not required to do any paperwork. If I was you I would try that first. Sometime is cheaper to go that route.

A sad, but true, fact of life ... paperwork first!

I-9, Federal Employer Identification Number, Workman's Comp., Unemployment Insurance, State or City "head tax," .... all are things that are suddenly relevant to you - even if you only want to hire a couple of guys for a few days, to help dig a ditch!

The next step is to define what it is that you want. If nothing else, you might have an inspiration, and be able to find your help in unexpected places. Then, if you can, recruit the individual (rather than inviting the entire world to apply).

Having help is also a real leadership / management challenge. That person is depending on you, and it's your job to make sure they can work. You're not the 'boss' - you're now in a support role.

All good advice

Have you thought about a temp agency? Maybe do a temp to higher. If it doesn't work out you don't have to deal with other business crap. altough they might not be able to drive the truck.

Temp to higher?

Never mind, I figured out what you meant: Temp to HIRE. I am moving slowly here tonight.

I've been open for 6 years now. Have been thru almost 20 guys. I do better with 2 than with 11. Less theft, horseplay, damage to trucks etc.

Aside from what's already been posted, I'd recommend a good employee manual with a non-compete/confidentially agreement. I bought on online for about $50.00 It was over 80 pages of things like jury duty, vacation pay, deaths in the family, and other things you'll never get around to thinkin about.
Need a tool list.
Late/tardy/sick policy.
Cell policy. (esp for lost/damaged phones)
\BTW I finally got GPS tracking phones (know where they're at and track for the last 30 days) and they keep their timesheets via the phone. No Monday, "uh boss where was i last week?" conversations.
Uniform/dress policy.
Get copies of driver's licenses, etc.
Do a quick backgroung check (molestors).

I could go on but will let someone else chime in.

Just wondering what type of phones you are using for GPS Tracking and Data entry?

Nextel. Running a package called Xora xora.com

tracks them every 15min and can ping them anytime to find where they're at now. Tt saves the data for a month.
I know when the shift started, what job number they're on, when they clock out for lunch (and where they do it).
runs about $25-30/phone/month it's worth that in saved time sheet BS.

We download the timesheets every week and compare them to the locations they clock in at to make sure everythings good.

Look into a payroll company too. They take care of all the paperwork for you. They can help you put together applications, the steps to take, plus take care of your tax payments, workers comp, unemployment claims, etc. We pay roughly 17% of gross payroll which covers our workers comp, employer taxes, unemployment insurance, and any HR/legal questions we can throw at them.

The true cost is about 5% of payroll with the other 12% covering things you would pay anyways. Until that 5% equals the cost of a payroll person it can be a great way to keep everything in order. Some of the payroll companies can help you with benefits also.

Paychex (877-674-5479) does a good job for my company. They also handle our 401K plan and it's almost invisible to me. That's the way I like it.

Nextel has horrible service reliability in this area (DC). We had to drop them years ago and from what I've heard, their coverage here hasn't gotten any better. We are using Verizon Wireless for voice and wireless data. Of course, wireless providers' coverage and reliability varies greatly from region to region.

Hey you should hear the words I make up when I'm drinking, Just try playing scrabble with me.

Do you remember where you got the employee manual? I have been putting that off for awhile. Keep meaning to make an appointment with my payroll company but there is always a reason to push it off.....procrastionation.

Tried ADP but had issues with them. Not alot of customer feedback or support. Using DHR at the moment and they do a very good job for us.

Taking a serious look at xora.com. Seems it works on the Blackberry's too. So almost any carrier would do.

bwise121-

Don't forget about the recent certification laws.

There are times when I'd like to pick up temporary help for the simple labor things and teach them a bit about the trade along the way and I wouldn't mind jumping through all the other hoops already mentioned. I even have a few people in mind that would like to do it and some who wouldn't have a choice (teen age children) but unless I'm reading the DIR's website incorrectly, if your hiring anyone other that a card carrying journeyman that employee needs to be enrolled in a training program. That means a serious commitment of time and money on their part. This won't work for temporary help here and there. I would have to keep enough work lined up to keep us all busy and the way some of the busier shops have been laying off around these parts now might be an iffy time for that move.

But that's me and not you.


There seem to be a good number of training programs in operation now, especially in your area. The price per unit seems pretty high and it would cost several thousand dollars and many hours of class time to complete the full four years required. Would be easier if you could find a journeyman or two. You will need one journeyman for every trainee by law.
When the certification bill was first signed by Gray Davis (Thanks a lot!!) there was some talk about pay scales being set by state. I don't know if that was true and I haven't been able to find any info on it.

Good luck if you decide to go for it.

Hooking up with a like minded partner works well, I sub-out 80% of my work to other contractors, I'd build a good business relationship with another contractor and pool your resources "employees" together, this way you can simply 1099 them and you get more consistant workmanship, than any agency can give you.

I know, it's a pain in the ass to find someone that will work with/like you, but when it happens it's great. It's kind of like carpooling, not everyone can do it, and most wouldn't want to. but if you can find the right person it makes sense.

I am very appreciative of my wife. She does all my bookeeping. She does her dad's payroll for 35 employees(quarterlies, workers comp, w-2's, etc)so when I started this business it has taken a load off me for her to be able to take care of the payroll, taxes, and payables. She doesn't charge much either.

I ran into this website. Thought some of you might appreciate it. Full of forms and documents submitted by people that are self employeed or working in HR departments. You have to complete the free regristration but after that you can preview and download whatever catches your eye.

http://www.docstoc.com/index.aspx

The employee manual we use is
http://www.nupplegal.com/polhanman1.html

It's very complete and is easily modified to suit taste.

Hi Byron,

Many of our customers started as a one man shop and went through the same dilemma you are now living. Our advice, above and beyond what has been mentioned in previous posts is as follows:

1. Advertise for your new hires before you hire them. I rather see you choosing between jobs and giving a few up than hiring someone and have them sitting on "the bench" 1 out every 2 days. Saturate your time to a point where you could easily provide a decent workload for an additional person without taking you out of the field completely.

2. Know your costs and new pricing beforehand. We usually see a decrease in your breakeven cost per hour since you will be nearly doubling your billable time without doubling your overhead. After all, you will not need to double your office rent (if any), insurance, advertising fees, etc. This decrease will allow you to maintain your existing pricing while enhancing profits.

3. Advertise new services to existing customers. If you are able to expand your service or maybe just the advertising of services that customers may not know about, it will broaden your ability to earn income. Advertising to existing customers by letter and/or email is very cost effective and yields much higher results than to unknown prospects. At the same time, it reminds them of you and yours company so that they are more likely to seek your services the nest time they need a hand.

4. Be professional from the start. Although we are all prone to be "friendly" with new employees, that usually comes back and bits you in the butt. Familiarity seems innocent enough at the start, but when things are not going well, it makes it all that more difficult to not only convey it to your employee, but also reduces his or her ability to accept the criticism for what it is, an employer making a recommendation to an employee.

5. Make the rules before your hire someone and stick by them no matter "how nice or reliable" the employee may be. When creating rules as you go, you tend to make them up with this particular employee in mind which limits your ability to apply them to anyone else in the future. Make the rules first and then hire, this way, you get to run the company the way you want regardless of future influences.

I guess that a few recommendations I would stand by, feel free to write me directly if you wish to expand on any of these points. Good Luck!