When small business owners expand and become more than just a solo operation, they'll need to take on staff. This can be a challenge in its own right, and it may be hard to find qualified staff. However, should any new employees be involved, there will be a great deal of work to do, and this can be time-consuming, even at the best of times. So, if you're in this position and about to recruit, how should you plan?

Legal and Financial

When you take on new employees, you must focus on two particular areas – legal and financial issues. You need to ensure that you have a clear employee handbook, have the necessary protection in place to support your new staff and always follow the letter of the law when it comes to employee interaction.

You'll also need to ensure that the employees are paid the right amount at the correct time and consider all of the other obligations, including pension, super, weekly, monthly and annual returns.

DIY or Outsource

Unless you have a lot of spare time available and know how to approach these tasks, you're usually best advised to bring in a bookkeeper. While they can help you with daily expenditure and cash flow projections, they'll also handle all the tasks associated with your new workforce.

Set up

A bookkeeper can set up all the relevant information for each employee within a payroll software program. They will liaise with the ATO to ensure that each employee is allocated to your organisation and get ready to submit the relevant returns.

Execution

Before each payday, the bookkeeper will double-check to find out how much is due and begin to make calculations associated with pension and superannuation. They will keep you informed of your obligations and show you how much you will need to pay to each employee with a breakdown of tax and insurance, etc. They'll tell you when you need to pay the tax authority as well so that you can make money available and send it.

Systems

As you may know, the government has changed the reporting process and instituted a "single touch payroll" program. You won't need to worry about the inner workings of this system if you employ a bookkeeper to help.

Time to Outsource

As you can see, there's a tremendous amount involved whenever you take on new employees. Take some of the headaches away by outsourcing this work to a bookkeeper. Reach out to a local bookkeeper service to learn more.