employees

[yardboy]

Actually, your pay period can be whatever you want it to be just as long as its a regular deal. Our pay periods were the 15th and the end of the month. The 15th was a draw and the final pay at months end had all of the paper work done with deductions, but its a big drain on the cashflow.

So this past month, we experimented with a draw on the 10th, a draw on the 20th and final pay with paystub at the end of the month. Its easier on the cashflow and the crew likes it. Its a done deal to the new way of doing it.

We give the employees 80% of total dollars per payperiod with 20% withheld to cover taxes etc just incase someone quits before the end of the month. That way we aren't screwed with paying out too much.

I just re-read and let it soak in thru the SIlver bullets............
So it looks like you basically hold out all payroll taxes for the month at the end of the month. Not to be an arse, but your way sounds like too much hassle.......... Look into paycycle.com and set up and account, hold out taxes each check...... So much easier....It does the work of figuring taxes, you just put in regular hours and overtime hours and your done..Just approve and print... Get some electronic timeclocks if you ain't gots none and downloading time is so much easier than figuring off of timecards.......... With my setup, I can do payroll in less than 10 minutes checks are printed. And record keeping is a snap... My way may not be the best but it would take a act of god for me to change my setup cause it is so easy.........

Ratty downloading time.................


Ratty fixin to enter hours into paycycle....................


Happily paid employees..............


Hot chicks to pickup after payday........................

[Stephen M.]

Everybody is paid in full by the end of the month and the way we do it is legal as long as they get it all. We are officially in the once per month pay period; that is why the employees get draws against what they have worked and all tax deductions are made at the last of the month.

Look into your paper version of the IRS wage and withholding schedules. There are tax tables for every concievable way to pay an employee: daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly.

20% covers all Federal and State taxes that will be deducted. They get a pay stub that shows what is deducted, draws taken, and a final amount being paid. Its all legal and I have never had any problems with how it is done for the past 20 some years as an employer.

We don't use a computer payroll program. I got rid of the one that paid employees the Earned Income Tax Credit. We don't mess with that and employees can get mit as part of their own tax refund.

[Fvstringpicker]

A way to handle workers that lay out during their "probationary" period. Normal pay is $10/hr (or whatever you pay) However, if they fail to work X hours during a pay period because of their own doing, their pay drops to minimum wage for the hours they work. You can set it up as follows: You're paid minimum wage with a $4/hour bonus for all hours worked when you work at least 40 hours a week. (plus overtime premium of course)

[Stephen M.]

A way to handle workers that lay out during their "probationary" period. Normal pay is $10/hr (or whatever you pay) However, if they fail to work X hours during a pay period because of their own doing, their pay drops to minimum wage for the hours they work. You can set it up as follows: You're paid minimum wage with a $4/hour bonus for all hours worked when you work at least 40 hours a week. (plus overtime premium of course)

We used to have a "probationary" period but our experience was that anybody can put on the right show for however long it is to get the higher pay and then turn around a be a bum. Then you truely feel like you wasted your money.

What we emphasize instead is that this is a job that is "production oriented". That means from day 1 the employee has to cut the mustard or is out because customers want to see and demand to see people who know the job. We are not "on the job training" and we aren't some government program that pays slackers who need a job just to have a job.

Case in point: We fired a long time employee beginning of June for cutting corners too many times. We interviewed and hired a welder who said that he had alot of experience doing mowing and weedeating. On his 1st day, the other 2 experienced mowing crew said that the new guy was slower than molasses in January and didn't seem to know the working end of a weedeater much less know how to crank up a 21" lawn mower. on his 2nd day, I was called by the substitute mowers (both experienced guys were gone on pre approved absences) for a mechanical problem. I was not impressed by the new guy who also claimed in the interview that he was a mechanic and could help out in that way. Turns out the new guy never investigated what was the "mechanical problem" on the 61" Scag and it was just a belt that jumped the pulley. I understood why the back up mowing people couldn't diagnosis the problem, but for the new guy who claimed to be a mechanic never investigating the problem was too much.

That was a thursday and a Friday. When the new guy came to work on Monday, he was handed his check and told to find some other job. Had we still had a "probationary period", we would have been obligated by law to keep the jerk around and truely have wasted alot of $$.

In Washington, employment is "at will" which means that as long as there is no contract in place, the employer or the employee can give notice at any time and for any reason as long as it is non discrimatory and violates non of the known NOs. However, it is always wise to document, document. document when you get rid of somebody to CYA.