There are two forms of compensation provided to employees; direct and indirect. Direct forms of compensation have a multitude of types or methods, from salaries to bonuses. Indirect compensation is primarily the various types of benefits and long term incentives. The different forms of compensation are discussed and explained in many different articles on this site.
There are four different types of direct compensation for employees. These include: 1) Hourly Compensation, 2) Salaries, 3) Commissions and 4) Bonuses. There is some misinformation related to direct compensation as this subject relates to owners of a small business.
Payroll is envisioned as the simple employer employee agreement related to compensation for services. I often think of this as the simple handshake whereby the employer agrees to pay the employee a set rate per hour of work. This was true a hundred or more years ago, but over time; history and governmental regulations complicated this simple relationship.
Form W-4 is a form filled out by an employee to certify to the employer the personal tax situation of the taxpayer. It is used by employers via the human resources department to fulfill three primary tasks. First, confirm the legal name and address of the employee.
One of the most fascinating business models is the hair salon industry. Many salons are poorly managed and rarely generate adequate profits. To make matters worse, the stylists are like professional sports players. One week they are playing for this team, and next week they are on a new team. In effect, they switch salons. It often happens because of personality conflicts, but the most common reason is that the grass is greener over at the other salon. That is; there is more compensation over at the other salon. How can this exist? How can one salon offer greater compensation than your salon? After all, they face the same economic barriers you deal with on a day to day basis. Given this, what is a fair compensation package? How do you create a model that not only entices better stylists but ensures adequate profit for your salon? This article is written to describe the current industry model, and then I’ll explain what is wrong with the model and finally how to change the model to create a fair compensation package for the stylist and still generate adequate profits for your salon.
There are several different retirement plans available to the small business owner. But no plan offers so many advantages to small business as the Simple retirement plan. The positive attributes include: 1) Easiest to understand, 2) Least amount of paperwork, 3) No compliance reporting and 4) Plenty of flexibility. If you are in business and have less than 25 employees, this is your best option to include a great benefit for your employees. This article describes this form of a retirement plan and Section 408 of the Internal Revenue Code, identifies the advantages, and concludes with a comprehensive example. In addition, I explain how to fill out the proper document to begin the plan.
This is a plan within an allowed set of plans under Section 408 of the Internal Revenue Code. All of us have heard of Section 401(k) plan. The Internal Revenue Code dedicates Sections 401 through 408 to codifying retirement plans. Within Section 408 are the easier to understand retirement plans. They include Simplified Employee Plans (SEPs), Salary Reduction Simplified Employee Plans (SARSEPs) and the Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE). Section 408(p) addresses the SIMPLE.
Worker’s Compensation Insurance a.k.a Workman’s Compensation Insurance provides for the medical cost of the sustained injury and for lost wages during recovery. In addition, if the worker sustains permanent disability, the insurance provides compensation until the Social Security Administration’s Disability Program starts.
The Federal Labor Standards Act of 1938 sets the standards as it relates to Exempt and Non-Exempt employees and their associated compensation and work standards. The Labor Standards Act is located in Chapter 20 Section 201 of the Federal Code. This Act is applicable to those small business operations with more than $500,000 of annual revenues and who participate in interstate commerce.
Accrued payroll is a current liability comprised of four sections. The first is the amount of payroll earned by staff and not yet processed or paid. The second is the dollar value of personal time off accumulated for each employee aggregated into one number. The third consists of payroll taxes owed to the respective governmental authorities and the final section comprises the accumulated benefits payable such as health insurance, retirement contributions, and amounts owed to third parties as deductions from the gross payroll.
The employee manual is a guidebook and a tool to explain the policies and procedures for the small business operation. It addresses the basic expectations for performance and conduct of the employee. The manual is only a guide and the employee needs to understand its importance in the overall corporate policies and procedures hierarchy.
A fair profit for a small business is between 9% and 37%.
