New Hire Packet – Small Business Management…Part 3

Advertising your open positions? Check! Interviewing candidates? Check! Now what? This is part three of our series on hiring new employees. At this stage of the game, it is time to go through your new hire packet with your new team member. This begins the orientation and/or onboarding process for the employee. For those of you unfamiliar, onboarding (vs. orienting or just training) has quite a buzz around it. It can be defined as organizational socialization, refers to the mechanism through which new employees acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become effective organizational members and insiders.

New Hire Packet Contents

Required:

• Employee Profile: This should include their general bio information, as well as an emergency contact. On this page you can also leave a space for “Office Use Only” so you can document their start date and rate of pay.
• Direct Deposit Authorization Form: Includes banking information, permissions and pay period information.
• Federal, State & City (if applicable) W4’s
• Federal I9: This form requires certain identification that you are responsible to verify proving that the employee is eligible to work in the United States.

Optional, but recommended:

• Company Handbook & Handbook Acknowledgement Form: The handbook should include your company’s mission and values in addition to policies, structures, rules and expectations.
• Contracts or Agreements (if applicable): May include a non-compete agreement or media agreement.

In many small businesses, there is not a Human Resources Department. That’s totally okay, but make sure whoever administers your new hire packet knows the contents, understands them and is able to explain to the new employee what they are filling out or signing.

Tips For New Hire Packet Success

In addition to filling out the paperwork, it is a good to go over each page with the new employee. If you are in a professional setting, such as an accounting firm, it is likely the new employee knows and understands the W4 they are filling out. However, if you are running a coffee shop or a boutique, this may be someone’s first job or they may not know these things yet. Employees should feel comfortable with everything they are signing.

When I am going through each page with new employees, I ask them if they understand each page. I tell them right when we sit down that they can ask any questions. Keep in mind is that you shouldn’t offer opinions on how many exemptions an employee should claim. For this I provide them with a work sheet from the IRS or advise them to ask their tax preparer. However, when it comes to the employee handbook or contracts of any sort, I make sure to answer all of their questions or refer them above me if I don’t have the right answer. There is no harm in saying, “I don’t know, but I will find out the answer.”

Filling out and going over the paperwork in your new hire packet is the employee’s first experience. It kicks off their training and can make or break their understanding of your company’s rules or benefits. Once you win at this, you can move on to a BEAUTIFUL training and onboarding experience!