As a business operator or owner, there are many things you need to know how to do. You may not accomplish them all personally, but you need to hire people to do them if you don't.
Some of these tasks make sure you’re federal and state government-compliant. Others help you get tax benefits or assist your employees in various ways.
In this article, we’ll talk about a few of the things responsible business owners need to do.
Confirm Employment Verifications
New hires or even long-time employees will sometimes ask the company for which they work for an employment verification. They might do this:
Because they’re trying to move into a new apartment
Because they’re attempting to get a mortgage qualification
If they’re trying to get full or partial child custody
Many individuals might need employment verification at some point if they are going through a significant life change. If they’re divorcing their spouse and want full or partial child custody, family court might not grant them that unless they can prove their employment status and income level.
They might need employment verification if they want to lock up a new house mortgage or move into a new apartment. As their employer, you must know how to respond to that request promptly. You can do so yourself, or some companies can help you streamline the process if you get many of these requests at once.
Handle Unemployment Claims
Companies also need to know how to handle unemployment claims. Unemployment:
Is a social safety net
Gives laid-off workers about half of their regular salary as they look for another job
As an employer, you tax employees while they work for you. If you have to lay them off, as has happened to so many US workers this year, you then use that money to prop them up while they look for a new job.
When you lay them off, they must submit a state application. That’s their first step toward getting the money for which they are probably eligible.
The state, in turn, contacts you, the worker’s former employer. You have to know how to process those claims quickly.
If you don’t know how to do that, you need to learn, or you can hire an agency to do it for you. Your former workers are relying on you to do your part in this process, or else they can’t get the benefits they so badly need as they hunt for another job.
Get Worker’s Compensation Insurance
Businesses also need to know how to get worker’s compensation insurance. This is insurance that offers employee protection if they injure themselves while on the job. For instance, if they slip and fall while in your office space and break their leg, your worker’s comp insurance helps them while they recover.
Having this insurance is not optional. You need to have it because if you don’t, and one of your employees hurts themselves, they can sue you. This insurance is a safety net for them, and it makes sense for you to have it.
There are three worker’s comp insurance types: permanent disability, temporary disability, and medical-only coverage. Any policy that you get needs to cover all three types. You can talk to a mortgage broker, and they can tell you about all the details and your various options.
You need to have minimum worker’s comp insurance amounts, just like car insurance in most states. However, you can also get a policy that covers more than the bare minimum. Besides, you can even enroll your employees for the SSD benefits scheme.
Deal with HR Issues
You should also know how to deal with HR issues. Sexual harassment claims, discrimination claims, etc., are all HR issues.
If you’re a responsible business owner, you know you need to take these claims seriously. If a worker says someone in the company mistreated them, you have to investigate and not try to sweep it under the rug.
The way to do that is to know what claims you can handle internally and which ones require outside arbitration. If you want to avoid impropriety appearances, you need to use outside arbitration for the more serious accusations. It is important to have legal advice for all aspects of HR, like sexual harassment law.
If your workers know that’s how you handle these issues when they come up, they’ll trust you more. You probably won’t have high employee turnover.
For a company to run smoothly, you need to know how to treat your employees well and deal with state and federal matters efficiently. That’s how you’ll remain in business and remain competitive within your niche.