Guide to Hiring New Employees

Hiring the right personnel is a sizeable investment - and a requisite for the success of any organization. That’s why when you hire new people, it’s important to have a well-orchestrated plan in place to welcome them into the fold…

1. Ensuring the paperwork gets done that satisfies the legal requirements of the government and protects your business from potential lawsuits.

2. Making the new employee comfortable with the job, staff and workplace.

• Let’s begin with the paperwork and the documents you should have for each new hire. For each of the following documents, you should be sure there's a copy for the employee and one for the Human Resources files.
• An Offer Letter: This is a document that spells out your employment agreement and should include specifics about all compensation, incentives and perks.
• Employee Information sheet: This should include contact information for at least two people in the event of an emergency as well as home address, telephone number, date-of-birth and social security number.
• Sexual Harassment Policy: A document that spells out your company's policies on sexual harassment, along with a form for the employee to sign that states they have read and understood the policy.
• Helping new teammates feel at home: now that we’ve taken care of the paperwork, here are a few ways to make your new hires feel at home…
• Alert employees: Make sure everyone's aware when new employees are going to start and what role they'll be playing in the company. Keeping employees in the dark has a way of making them insecure, and that often has a way of making new people feel unwelcome.
• New Hire Agreement: This covers acceptable standards of behavior, work ownership, non-compete agreements and contractual terms. It's wise to seek the services of an attorney when creating this legally binding agreement.
• W-4 Form: Required by the IRS to confirm allowable deductions and for your company to calculate tax withholding.
• INS Form I-9: The Employment Eligibility Form required by U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service that confirms the employee's right to work in the U.S.
• Employee Insurance Documents: These include an Enrollment Form from your carrier and an Acceptance of Insurance Form that the employee must complete to either accept or decline participation.
• Payroll Deduction Form: This authorizes payroll deductions for insurance premiums, 401K participation, charitable contributions or other programs.
• Be prepared: Have the new employee’s workstation ready, so he/she has a fully functioning “home base” in the office. It’s equally important that their first weeks are structured, so they can get acclimated and contribute to the work at hand - rather than sitting idle and feeling lost.
• Provide a mentor: A veteran of the company who will introduce them around, take them to lunch, and help them get situated. If the new employee is new to the area, have someone show the family around and introduce them to their new community.

Remember, the faster and smoother an employee is integrated into your team, the more comfortable they’ll feel, the faster they’ll begin to contribute, and the more likely you’ll be able to retain their services.