Business Management

Do You Know About the Social Security Wage Base?

Determine if you are withholding as much as you should be and when to stop. Social Security tax is a tax that applies to both employees and employers. As an employer, you are required to withhold a certain percentage of each employee’s paycheck and to make a matching contribution. Social Security tax does not change each year (with a few exceptions). However, the case is not the same as...

Salary vs. Hourly Employees – How should you pay your hired help?

The decision on how to pay your employees can be hard. You not only have to decide how much you will pay them but you must decide whether you will pay them on an hourly or salaried basis. Laws and benefits exist for both ends of the spectrum that you should take into consideration when deciding. Pros and Cons of Paying Salary Wages A benefit of paying employees a...

Surviving Low Cash Flow – 3 tips and tricks to keep your business afloat until better times arrive. 


The holiday season is here, and the official start of Winter is right around the corner. For winter-oriented businesses such as ski resorts and coat/jacket manufacturers, these months probably represent peak season — a time with lots of sales, success, and cash flow. At the same time, summer-oriented businesses such as ice cream shops and water-gear rental facilities are likely dealing with the down season. Relatively few sales are...

Employee Reimbursement 101 – Minimizing taxable expenses and staying compliant with laws and regulations.

Keeping clients happy, vendors paid, and operations running smoothly is a tall task for any business — especially smaller organizations. For convenience’s’ sake, many employers find that allowing employees to pay certain expenses from their own pockets and reimbursing them later is a virtual necessity. However, business owners should be aware that this common practice does entail a bit of responsibility.
 Broadly speaking, there are three different ways of...

5 Onboarding Tips For New Employees

Adding new members to your staff can be an opportunity for increased productivity, teamwork and growth — or it can lead to disruption, discord, and wasted payroll. Smart onboarding policies are oftentimes crucial to determining which of these two paths your organization will take. And this is why you should consider implementing these simple onboarding tips and tricks: Announce your decision! Announcing and introducing your new hire — in-person,...

Remote Teamwork

There are many benefits to working with remote employees and contractors — from reduced payroll costs to increased efficiency to schedule flexibility and much more. However, challenges such as coordinating teamwork and managing the legal status of your employees can also arise. If you do opt to work on a project with a remote team, then you may find the following 5 tips helpful. • Simplify, clarify, and assign....

Legal Product Laws and How they Affect Your Organization

In 1963, the Equal Pay Act prevented wage discrimination based upon sex across the United States. One year later, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 expanded those protections — forbidding any employer from discriminating against workers based on “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” Additional federal laws would eventually protect workers based upon pregnancy status, genetic information, bankruptcy, military service, disabilities, age, and citizen status, as well. State...

Staying Compliant with New Ban the Box Laws

Across the nation, state and city governments are passing laws forbidding employers from inquiring about criminal record status until late in the hiring process. In fact, even the federal government has taken a position — federal employee applications no longer include questions regarding conviction status. At this rate, it appears as if, sooner or later, criminal records may be added in some form or another to legal non-discrimination lists...

Managing Client Relationships

Staying on positive terms with your clients can be just as important as the quality of your products or services. Retaining customers is about more than just giving them good value on a good product — it is also about being perceived as convenient, reliable, and willing to go the extra mile. Here are a few simple tips that can help you manage customer relationships more effectively: Manage Customer...

What to Do When An Employee Breaks the Rules

Whether it’s a habitual bad apple committing another infraction, or even a model employee making a sincere mistake, employee discompliance is never an easy topic for employers to deal with. After all, workplace morale, employer-employee relations, staff completeness, and even legal actions all potentially lie in the balance. However, such issues cannot be ignored — especially when they are serious and/or ongoing in nature. In this article, we will...