As you move closer to the opening day of your business, you need to start thinking about your workers. New York and the federal government have many laws that you need to follow when it comes to hiring people. In addition, there are smart practices you should follow when it comes to managing your workers. Good employment relationships are essential to a strong business.
Fox News explains that you will have a number of steps you must take to prepare to staff your business. Here are three tips that can help ensure you get off to the right start with your workers.
- Write comprehensive workplace rules, procedures and policies
You need to make it clear up front what your workers can and cannot do. Having a good handbook will help cover you in many situations that can come up. You also need to have clear procedures and policies. Putting these in place will help protect you against claims that workers may make against you.
- Classify workers correctly
The IRS penalizes the misclassification of workers. Save yourself time and money by learning the difference between an employee and an independent contractor. Make sure that you choose the right classification for your workers.
Sometimes, the proper classification may not be clear. If you have any doubts, consider seeking professional help with classification.
- Protect your intellectual property
If you have intellectual property, you need to make sure you put policies in place to protect it. This is especially true if you have trade secrets. By nature, a trade secret must remain secret to have protection. If the public knows your trade secret, you lose that protection. So, you need to put safeguards in place to protect this type of asset.
These three things are only the beginning of what you need to do to get ready to hire workers, but they offer a good start on things to think about.
