Category: HR Administration

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A Guide to Accurate and Comprehensive Payroll Reports

Astronaut dog working on a payroll report

Summary

  • Payroll reports are documents that provide companies with insights into their payroll activities and tax liabilities.

  • While payroll reports are usually created for internal purposes, there are some mandatory tax and payroll-related forms that businesses need to submit to government agencies on a regular basis. 

  • You can improve payroll reports by utilizing a dedicated payroll software and time and attendance system that generates higher-quality wage and hour data.

Every month, companies run payroll to pay all of their employees’ wages. This process requires the collection of data, such as hours worked from timesheets, gross pay, net pay, tax withholdings, and so on. This information provides insight into the inner workings of a company and can be used to populate different types of payroll reports. 

Payroll reports are documents created by human resources teams to keep tabs on employee payroll data and a company’s tax liabilities. Depending on the type of payroll report used, these documents usually include information like pay rates, the number of hours worked, overtime logs, any withheld taxes, employer tax contributions, and the amount of paid time off (PTO) taken. 

The importance of payroll reports

From small businesses to larger corporations, keeping track of payroll records is important for maintaining a good relationship with your employees, keeping your business running smoothly, and remaining compliant with tax regulations. 

Payroll reports are great for:

  • Improving employee retention – Payroll reports include information on employee turnover. Monitoring employee churn could help uncover some issues that are standing in the way of your employee engagement. If you are losing more staff from a particular department, you might want to take a closer look to see what might be standing in the way of higher employee retention. 
  • Using data for employee recognition purposes – Payroll software can track milestones, such as when someone is due for a review, a bonus, or a pay increase. Ensuring that such milestones are recognized and rewarded goes a long way toward increasing employee engagement.
  • Maintaining healthy cash flow – Because timesheets and payroll are housed in the same system, your reports include hours worked, overtime consumed, PTO, and sick days taken. Tracking hours worked helps you avoid underpaying or overpaying your staff, ensuring well-budgeted labor costs.
  • Managing taxes – Employers and business owners are responsible for paying company taxes as well as managing employee tax withholdings. Payroll reports help keep data better organized and ready for tax submissions and audits from the IRS. 

Types of payroll reports

Payroll reports differ depending on the information you want to collect, your payroll provider, and any customizations you make to the reports. Some of the most common types of payroll reports are:

Payroll summary report 

These reports contain payroll information about any individual employee, a department, or the company as a whole in a given date range or pay period. They include information such as net and gross wages, tax withholdings, and FICA tax deductions. 

Payroll detail report 

As the name suggests, this is a detailed report on a specific employee or department or the company’s pay history. The report shows every movement and activity separately.

Employee summary report

Also known as a pay stub report – this document contains an employee’s personal, pay, and tax information. Your employees should have access to all of their own summary reports.

Payroll tax liability report

These reports show all tax withholdings per employee, the amounts your company has paid to government agencies, and any pending amounts still owed to the government.

Retirement contributions 

These documents show all payments you have made to employee retirement plans. Such retirement plans include 401(k) and 403(b).

Paid time off (PTO) report

This report provides employers with an overview of all PTO an employee has taken within a calendar year and how much time off they have left. 

Mandatory government forms employers need to file

Payroll reports are internal documents and are rarely, if ever, submitted to external parties. An exception would be if a company is undergoing an audit by the IRS or a state entity or if a workers’ compensation claim is involved. 

There are, however, other kinds of forms employers must submit on a regular basis to local, state, and federal governments. Much of the information needed for these forms can be found in your internal payroll reports, saving you a lot of admin time.  

Some of the most common government tax reports and forms include: 

  • Form 941 – An employer’s quarterly federal tax return that is used to report on federal payroll taxes and includes information like:
      • Employees’ wages
      • Federal income tax withheld
      • Medicare taxes and Social Security tax deductions
      • Employer contributions to Medicare and Social Security taxes

  • Form 940 – This is in relation to the annual federal unemployment tax return (FUTA tax). The FUTA tax is an amount that companies pay to contribute toward “unemployment compensation to workers who have lost their jobs.” The amount could be as much as 6% of the first $7,000 paid to every employee.

  • Form 944 – This form is for small employers whose annual liability for social security, Medicare, and withheld federal income taxes is $1,000 or less. It is filed only once a year instead of every quarter.
  • Form W-2 – A wage and tax statement that employees use to present total gross wage, tax deductions, and benefits. Employers must provide their employees with a copy of this form and present copies to federal, state, and local governments. 
  • Form W-3 – This form is how businesses submit a summary of their wage and tax statements to the Social Security Administration. It accompanies Form W-2. Both are due by January 31 of the following tax year.

  • Certified payroll report – This is a government-mandated report for contractors and subcontractors working on federally funded construction projects. Under the Davis-Bacon Act, certified payroll reports must be submitted to the contracting agency, typically using Form WH-347 provided by the U.S. Department of Labor.
  • State payroll reports – These vary from state to state, particularly when it comes to the frequency of payments.
  • Local payroll reports – In some states, taxes are charged at the city and county levels and have different due dates.

How to organize your payroll reporting process

Regardless of what type of internal payroll report you’re looking to adopt, there are four basic steps to help you get your process organized. 

  1. Identify the type of report you need. Choose the suitable report based on the insight you’d want to gain from your data. Once the report is chosen, identify what information you’ll need to collect to populate it.
  2. Choose the frequency of reports. Unlike government reports, you are free to choose the time periods you’d like to report on. Quarterly reports might result in a lot of unnecessary work for your payroll team. You may decide that issuing annual payroll reports is enough to give you the insights you’re looking for while also avoiding unnecessary burnout.
  3. Collect and input data. This step involves inputting the data you need into your payroll system. Workforce management solutions automate much of this process, making your life much easier while also reducing the possibility of human error. 
  4. Analyze your reports. Double-check your payroll reports to make sure the information you are presenting is accurate. Finally, you should make use of your report findings and the insights you have gained to improve your payroll processes.

Clear and accurate payroll reports with Workforce.com

The first step to getting the most out of your payroll reports is making sure that the data presented in them is accurate. This starts by making sure that things like hours worked and overtime taken have been recorded correctly. 

Workforce.com accurately stores employee data, like pay rates, hours worked, breaks taken, and overtime used. Synced with scheduling, you can track labor costs and hour variances in real-time, perfecting employee time before it reaches payroll. And when you are ready, you can quickly export all timesheets right to your payroll system, setting you up to create the best possible payroll reports for your business.

With Workforce.com, you can generate customizable payroll reports tailored to your needs. You can choose from a library of report templates, and modify it according to your requirements.

Get clear insight into how you pay your employees, including total wage costs, employee compensation taxes withheld, net pay, PTO, payroll deductions, retirement contributions, and other relevant information concerning employee pay. You can filter this information by role, location, team, and employee. 

But Workforce.com goes beyond payroll. It combines payroll, time tracking and HR data in one platform to give you a 360-degree view of your organization.

Workforce.com’s reporting tools can track workforce management metrics like attendance, shift acceptance, and missed breaks, helping you improve shift coverage, punctuality, and wage and hour compliance. On the HR side, it allows you to generate reports on performance reviews, incidents, and warnings to support coaching, policy enforcement, and people development. 

Having all this data in one place helps you spot discrepancies, identify trends, make more informed decisions. You can clearly see what you pay, what your people do, and how your team is growing.

To find out more about how Workforce.com can help streamline payroll reporting, book a demo here.

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HRIS 101: A Guide for Small Businesses

Summary

  • It’s typical for small businesses to consider using HRIS to help manage their employees, but choosing an HRIS software takes an average of 15 weeks.
  • HRIS, HRMS, and HCM are all HR-related systems that are similar but are distinct in their focus. Small businesses must know the difference between these systems to make a sound decision.
  • Workforce.com helps small businesses beyond their HRIS requirements, offering an all-in-one solution for managing HR processes from onboarding, tracking time and attendance, payroll, performance management, and labor analytics.

Running a small business is challenging enough without getting bogged down by HR paperwork and tedious admin tasks. As your team grows, managing payroll, employee records, and compliance can quickly become overwhelming and eat into valuable time. There’s also an increased risk of errors, which could lead to compliance issues. Enter HRIS—Human Resources Information System. 

HRIS is a tool for taking the grind out of HR. It centralizes employee records, automates payroll, and ensures compliance with labor laws. It helps small businesses tackle the administrative side of human resources, which gives them back precious hours for employers to focus on growing their business. 

In this guide, we’ll break down exactly what an HRIS is and what to look for when choosing the perfect system for your team.

What is HRIS?

These days, HRISs come in all shapes and sizes, each with its own set of features and complexity. But at the heart of it, they all help with core HR tasks such as time tracking, payroll, benefits management, and workflow creation. Plus, they store all critical employee information, from personal details to compensation data. In the past, HRIS was usually run on a company’s servers, but now cloud-based platforms are the go-to. And for good reason—they’re much more efficient, letting you access anytime, from virtually any device.

Why is an HRIS platform important for small businesses?

Because it saves time, which means small business owners can work smarter, not harder. 

Running a small business is all about staying focused on what keeps the wheels turning and being ready to seize opportunities when they come. That’s how small businesses grow. But when you’re stuck with admin tasks, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture and miss out on opportunities to move your business forward. 

This is where HRIS can be helpful. It can simplify and automate time-consuming HR tasks, and with the right system, you can take your hands off things like:

  • Managing employee profiles
  • Storing crucial employee data for classification, compliance, and payroll
  • Monitoring PTOs and leave balances
  • Viewing and approving timesheets
  • Processing payroll and sending out pay stubs
  • Letting employees view and update their own information

Imagine all those processes running smoothly in the background. The time you’d save could be redirected to strategic planning and business growth.

HRIS vs. HRMS vs. HCM

If you’re exploring HR software, you’ve likely come across HRIS, HRMS (Human Resource Management System), and HCM (Human Capital Management). But what’s the difference? 

While they are often mixed up, and there are overlaps in their functions, they have distinct focuses. 

HRIS focuses on core administrative HR tasks, such as managing employee data, processing payroll, tracking time and attendance, and ensuring compliance with regulations. Its primary purpose is to centralize and automate HR processes, reducing paperwork and manual effort. HRIS streamlines day-to-day operations and handles basic HR functions.

HRMS includes all the functionalities of an HRIS but goes a step further by adding talent management tools, which includes tools that help with performance reviews. This means it not only manages employee records and payroll but also supports the recruitment process, helps with onboarding new hires, and tracks employee performance and development. In other words, HRMS brings a more strategic HR approach and goes beyond the administrative aspects.

HCM encompasses both HRIS and HRMS functions but expands to cover the entire employee lifecycle. It’s not just about managing data and processes—it’s about optimizing the workforce as a critical business asset. HCM systems help with workforce planning, succession planning, compensation analysis, and labor compliance with local and international labor laws. They also have tools to improve employee engagement and satisfaction. This makes HCM ideal for rapidly scaling businesses looking to align HR functions with broader business goals.  

Also read: 11 HR Basics for Small Businesses

How to choose the best HR system for a small business? 

Selecting an HRIS can take 15 weeks on average, according to a study. But if you’re looking to streamline your HR now, that can be a long time. Since every business has different needs, there’s no one-size-fits-all software solution. To speed up the decision-making process, here are some key factors to focus on to help you find the best fit:

HR needs

Start by identifying what you need from HRIS, or any HR platform for that matter. Figure out your pain points. What’s slowing you down? Are you buried in paperwork or struggling with employee data management? In that case, a basic HRIS can do the trick. Need help with more strategic tasks with succession planning? Then, an HCM system might be a better fit. 

Go deeper. Take a look at the types of employees you hire. Is your team composed of more hourly people, or is most of your workforce salaried? How often do you need to onboard or hire workers? Do you hire seasonal staff? The more specific you get about your needs, the easier it will be to choose a system that checks all the boxes.  

Budget and ROI

Determine your budget upfront. How much are you willing to invest, and how much flexibility do you have for extra features that might increase costs? Think about the expected return on investment (ROI). Will this system save you enough time and resources to justify the price? 

You must also aim to go for a vendor that has the most transparent pricing. Inquire about what’s included in their packages and be sure to asks if there are additional charges and when those will apply.

Ease of use

A feature-packed system won’t help if it’s too complicated to use. If your team can’t get the hang of it, you might as well stick to manual processes. Look for a system that’s intuitive and with a smooth learning curve, especially if you want to hit the ground running as soon as possible.

Consider employee self-service functionality too. A huge part of HRIS is employee data. And aside from your HR team, your employees are also responsible in part for their data. Having a self-service portal feature lets your employees view and update their information, and that could be a key consideration when looking at different HRIS solutions.

Integration 

If you have existing systems, ensure your new HR system integrates smoothly. How quickly can the systems sync? What will the workflow look like? If integration is clunky or non-existent, that defeats the purpose of streamlining, so it’s worth moving on to a different option.

Implementation and support

You can only realize ROI with your HRIS once it is completely implemented. So, when shopping around for software and going through demo sessions, always ask vendors how long it will take to get up and running based on your specific needs.

The level of customer support during the early stages of implementation is also crucial. Will they guide you through the setup process and be available for ongoing help? Choose a provider that won’t abandon you once the contract is signed.

Scalability

If your business rapidly grows, can the software stay pace? It should be able to scale as quickly as you will. Otherwise, the system could become obsolete and incompatible with your requirements. Considering the cost of a new system and the learning curve involved in implementing it, it won’t be cost-effective in the long run. When you choose software, ensure it can handle future growth, and can be customizable enough when you need additional hr tools or modules.

Reputation

Check out a vendor’s track record and client base. Look at their customer stories, case studies, and online reviews. That can help you understand how their product works in different business scenarios and the problems they were able to solve for their clients. This will give you insight into their reliability and whether they’re the right fit for your business.

Why Workforce.com is the best HR software for small businesses with hourly teams 

Workforce.com isn’t just another HR platform—it’s built for businesses that rely on hourly workers. Whether in retail, hospitality, healthcare, or any sector with hourly workers, Workforce.com covers your HR needs, workforce management requirements, and delivers much more. Here’s why it’s the best choice. 

It simplifies HR administration and payroll.

Workforce.com does the heavy lifting that comes with the administrative aspects of HR, from recruitment, onboarding, time and attendance tracking, benefits administration, and payroll processing. 

Fill vacant roles easily with Workforce.com’s applicant tracking system. Speed up the hiring process by generating QR codes for job postings and allowing applicants to submit their personal details and answer role-specific questions. This helps identify qualified, saving you time on unnecessary interviews.

No more drowning in paperwork during employee onboarding. Workforce.com collects crucial employee details like tax forms, insurance information, bank details, and other personal employee information, saving time and reducing manual data entry. You can focus on welcoming and integrating new hires into the organization instead of processing forms.

Time and attendance tracking is also automated. Employees can clock in and out seamlessly, ensuring accurate hours and smooth payroll runs. You can review and approve timesheets online, quickly correcting any issues so payroll stays on track.

With all this data in one place, payroll processing becomes faster and more efficient. Overtime, time off, employee benefits, and other pay rules automatically apply, ensuring you always comply with labor regulations. Workforce.com’s payroll system also helps with withholding taxes and tax filing, saving you a massive amount of time and lets you shift your focus to growing your business.

It streamlines employee scheduling.

Workforce.com is built with a robust scheduling platform that lets you create and assign shifts in minutes. It has scheduling templates that you can copy and paste from one week to next, especially for shifts that remain the same over a period of time. Its built-in labor forecasting feature allows you to schedule shifts based on projected demand to confidently avoid being over or understaffed.

For businesses governed by predictive scheduling laws, Workforce.com helps you stay compliant by enabling faster scheduling and allowing you to send work schedules to employees well in advance. This keeps your team and regulators satisfied while providing employees with more flexibility and boosting their job satisfaction.

Also read: Predictive Scheduling Laws Explained: A Guide for Employers

It helps you retain top talent.

Workforce.com doesn’t just handle administrative tasks; it’s designed to help you retain your best workers. It includes tools for communication, feedback, and performance management to keep employees engaged and motivated.

Managers and employees can communicate directly within the platform, cutting down on confusion. Employees can also rate their shifts, giving you insights into what’s working and what needs improvement. This allows you to make real-time adjustments before minor issues become big problems.

It also has features that allow you to track action plans for employees who need to improve in certain areas and quickly show recognition for staff who are performing well. 

It scales with you.

Whether growing locally or expanding across state lines, Workforce.com scales with you. It manages everything from hiring to compliance, no matter the size of your business.

As you expand, the platform ensures you stay compliant with different labor laws across regions, so you won’t have to worry about legal complications.

On top of that, Workforce.com provides valuable insights into your business operations, helping you track labor costs, absenteeism, and other vital metrics. This allows you to spot patterns and fix potential issues before they impact your business.

It’s easy to use.

Workforce.com has a user-friendly interface, which means that your team can learn the ropes of the platform in no time. It also has a mobile app that employees can download on their devices, letting them view their schedules, receive notifications from their team, apply for leaves, and update their information.

It has a proven track record.

Amenity Collective, one of Workforce.com’s clients, have seen a reduction in administrative work by 85%. They are just one of the many organizations that switched to Workforce.com and experienced great results. Don’t just take our word for it—explore their testimonials and stories firsthand. 

Even better, book a demo today to see Workforce.com in action and discover how Workforce.com can drive growth and success for your business.

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Practical Ways to Simplify Payroll and HR with Employee Self-Service

Summary

  • Employee Self-Service (ESS) systems can relieve some of management’s administrative burden and give employees access and control over their HR and payroll details.
  • Not all ESS systems are created equal. Businesses need an intuitive and fully integrated system to get the most value.
  • An all-in-one platform with built-in ESS can transform HR, payroll, and workforce management for hourly workforces.

Running a business is a constant balance between strategic planning and day-to-day admin tasks. Big-picture planning fuels growth, while essential administrative duties keep operations running smoothly. However, maintaining this balance is easier said than done. 

Admin work can take up a lot of time, and managers and business owners can quickly find themselves buried in paperwork instead of being on the ground, supporting their teams, and creating employee engagement initiatives. To ease this burden, many turn to employee self-service systems. But how do these systems actually function?

Workforce.com has employee self-service (ESS) features, from onboarding to payroll. Let’s break down how they work and how they can save business owners a ton of time.

Getting it right from onboarding

HR tasks involve a lot of paperwork, but managers don’t have to handle it all. Employees can take charge of some of this administrative work and have more autonomy over their personal details. 

Workforce.com’s onboarding system makes it easy for new hires to get set up. Within minutes, new hires can submit their personal and contact information, bank details, I-9s, and W-4s without physical paper forms. This not only speeds up the process but also eliminates double data entry, reduces mistakes, and ensures accurate pay. 

Managers can also streamline processes by uploading key documents, such as company handbooks, role-specific materials, or a list of faqs, to ensure that every employee has exactly what they need from day one.

“One of the exciting features that I’ve really enjoyed with the Workforce.com platform is the HR onboarding portion because they have a feature that allows me to upload documents. So, for instance, I can upload a document that says ‘front of the house server benefits’ for our bakers. I can have a different set of benefits and upload that document in a PDF form where they can open up their cell phones and see it right there. And that’s been a really good thing, as well as the policy manual. It makes it available to everybody,” shares Shelly Archer, Human Resources Manager at Shipley Do-nuts.

Faster updating of employee information

Workforce.com’s HR software, employees can quickly update their details whenever a life event requires it, such as a move, a name change, or a new bank account. Instead of going through HR or filling out paperwork, they can simply update their information directly through their profile in the company’s HRIS.

Easier management of timesheets and PTO 

Accurate employee clock-ins and outs are the backbone of accurate payroll processing, but things can get tricky when employees forget to log their hours or when clunky systems fail to track time properly.

Workforce.com’s time and attendance system tracks employee time accurately. Employees can clock in and out through a shared tablet at work or on their mobile device. No matter where they are, whether on-site or remote, their hours and breaks are recorded correctly.

Employees can also review and correct their time logs should there be any mistakes or discrepancies. Instead of constantly chasing down timesheet corrections, managers can focus on more important things.

“One of the features I was most excited about with Workforce.com is the employee’s ability to edit their own time punches. If they did forget to clock in, they can submit it. Of course, it still gets reviewed. At the end of the day, it’s just one less step,” says Bobby Archer, General Manager at Shipley Do-nuts. 

Beyond tracking hours, employees also get complete visibility over their leave balances. They can plan ahead, submit time off requests, and ensure that nothing falls through the cracks, like a PTO request form that gets buried in email or miscommunication due to having multiple channels.  

“We wanted our employees to be able to see how many PTO days they have. We also want them to be able to see their clock-in and clock-out times. So that way they can know and plan personally on their end how to pay their bills and what to expect,” Shelley shared when she talked about their goal of giving their employees the ability to view their information and how Workforce.com helped them provide a way to do that. 

See Workforce.com in Action: Shipley Do-Nuts’ Success Story

Visibility into all things payroll

Employees shouldn’t jump through hoops to access their payroll information. With Workforce.com’s payroll software, they can easily access their pay stubs, tax documents, direct deposit information, benefits details, and complete payroll history. 

There’s no need to wait for HR or finance to pull reports. Employees can generate and view their own payroll info anytime, all in one place. This means fewer email requests, less back-and-forth, and a faster, more seamless way for staff to get the details they need whenever they need them. 

An all-in-one solution makes things easier

Employee self-service is a feature that’s great to have, but what makes a huge difference is having a single solution where all things that can make or break payroll are in a single, integrated platform. 

Juggling separate systems for time tracking, scheduling, HR and payroll is time consuming, puts you at risk of potential errors, and can disrupt workflows. When data is scattered across multiple platforms, every step takes longer and the risk of mistakes only increases. A single, connected solution simplifies the process. 

“Prior to Workforce.com, we were using four different platforms. We had an online service that would send out the new hire paperwork and I would have to process it manually. We had a clock-in and clock-out system that was web-based. We had another scheduling system that was also web-based. As far as the payroll processing, we had an actual person with whom I would send our payroll through another system. Integrating all of those together has saved so much time. It takes me 95% less time doing what I’m doing now with Workforce.com.” Shelley further explained.

Tips for Implementing an Efficient Employee Self-Service Software

Implementing an ESS portal or system is beneficial both for employees and employers. Aside from taking some of the admin load away from managers and HR teams, it also enhances the employee experience.

To make ESS systems truly effective, here are a few tips:

Keep it all in one place

Employee self-service is meant to streamline processes, but using multiple platforms defeats the purpose. Choose an integrated system so employees don’t need to juggle different apps or logins. 

Prioritize ease of use

The best ESS system is not the one with the most bells and whistles. It’s one that’s easy for staff to use. Make sure that your ESS is intuitive and minimize the learning curve as much as possible.

Employees should be able to view and update their personal data, emergency contacts, tax withholdings, and other HR information without hitches.

Keep it mobile

These days, mobile access is no longer optional. A mobile-friendly ESS or dedicated mobile app allows staff to handle work info on the go, whether checking pay stubs, submitting time-off requests, or updating personal details. It’s all about making things as convenient as possible and allowing them to do these tasks without waiting until they’re at a computer.

Gather feedbackRegularly check in with staff and get feedback about what they think of the platform. Identify areas that work well for them and determine which parts need improvement. Their input helps refine the system and ensure it stays as efficient and user-friendly as possible. Be ready to adjust to make the most out of the system.

Make the switch to Workforce.com

Switching to a new system can feel like a big leap, especially when you’re used to current platforms. However, making the move could be one of the best decisions for your business, especially if you want to lessen the administrative burden for your team.

“It would be in a company’s best interest to switch over sooner rather than later because you would be wasting a tremendous amount of time. Workforce.com helped us improve our efficiency,” Shelley said. 

Discover how Workforce.com helped Shipley Do-nuts and numerous other businesses across the globe. Book a call today.

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HR Trends for Hourly Workforces in 2025

Summary

  • 2025 will be filled with new and familiar trends, and business leaders must devise strategies specific to hourly teams to maintain employee retention and remain competitive. 
  • This year, there would be increased emphasis on employee experience, continuous AI adoption, and a potentially bigger labor gap with tighter immigration rules. 
  • An all-in-one HR technology can help hourly teams stay ahead of the trends and overcome staffing challenges.

This year, hourly workforces will face a mix of old and new challenges, from labor shortages to technological advancements and a maze of shifting compliance rules. HR leaders and managers must step up in 2025 to retain top talent and stay competitive, or risk widening the labor gap and losing their team to competitors.

So, what’s coming up on the horizon? Check out these top HR trends you’ll want to watch when managing your hourly workforce this year.

1. Staffing and hiring challenges with stricter immigration laws

With stricter immigration laws and ongoing labor shortages, hourly workforces face a greater challenge in attracting and retaining talent.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, foreign-born workers account for 18.6% of the U.S. civilian labor force. With stricter immigration laws, a bigger labor shortage challenge could be looming.

While the crackdown targets undocumented migrants, even legal, documented workers may struggle to stay in the U.S. when mass deportation separates them from their families. This uncertainty can push them to leave, creating vacancies in industries that heavily depend on hourly workers.  Worse, some immigrants may not aspire to come to the U.S. for work at all. 

For instance, in Nebraska, one of the top meat producers in the U.S., businesses are already grappling with a massive labor shortage. For every 100 jobs, there are only 39 workers to fill them, and Nebraskans fear that the gap will only get bigger. 

So, what does this mean for employers? They must fight hard to not only hire and attract talent but also maintain employee satisfaction.Another key area is tightening the vetting process. While undocumented workers have rights, knowingly hiring them is illegal for employers. This creates an added challenge for HR professionals to ensure their vetting procedures are foolproof, preventing penalties or complications from accidentally hiring ineligible individuals.

How to stay ahead:

HR departments need a system that streamlines talent acquisition, quickly assesses qualifications, and ensures new hires and existing staff stick around. 

Workforce.com’s HR system can augment recruitment by allowing you to post job openings across your business locations. You can even generate QR codes for job postings, making it easy for interested applicants to scan, read job descriptions, and start their application process. 

Set custom questions to quickly qualify candidates, like their experience, available hours, and whether they have the qualifications and documentation to work in the U.S. 

Plus, Workforce.com helps your managers retain current staff by offering flexibility with shift swapping and advanced scheduling. It also tracks people analytics such as performance, highlighting areas for training, upskilling, and development.

2. AI adoption in HR processes will continue

Artificial intelligence will continue to play a role in HR this year. While we have seen its adoption in the previous years, the trend will continue in 2025. More and more organizations will adopt AI in human resources to eliminate admin tasks, repetitive processes, and paperwork. 

However, AI can be a double-edged sword in workplaces. Sure, it can make things easier and faster, but questions remain about its impact on work quality, particularly with the rise of generative AI tools. Some even call for regulatory rules, prompting organizations to develop policies governing how employees use AI at work. 

How to stay ahead:

Focusing on how AI can bring the most value is key to making the most of it. For hourly teams, labor forecasting is key. Workforce.com has long used AI to help organizations anticipate demand and avoid overstaffing or understaffing. 

Workforce.com labor forecasting system utilizes AI to analyze sales, booked appointments, historical foot traffic, seasonal trends, weather, and other business-specific indicators. For example, hospitals can factor in ICU bed availability, while hotels can account for bookings and reservations. Considering these variables, the platform accurately forecasts staffing needs for each shift, helping you curb overstaffing, reduce overtime costs, and improve decision-making around schedules.

3. Shifting labor laws pose new challenges to HR

As if labor compliance was not complicated enough, a new administration in place in 2025 could throw even more curveballs.

Case in point: President Trump’s move to end “illegal” discrimination in DEI programs. In a recent executive order, he ordered DEI programs within federal agencies. While it does not directly ban DEI programs in the private sector, the order imposes requirements on federal contractors and grant recipients, potentially increasing scrutiny of DEI policies. This could create pressure for private companies to adapt to the shifting political and regulatory landscape.  

In addition, there are changes slated to happen this year, such as increases in minimum wage laws in some states and the enactment of paid leave laws in some cities.  

How to stay ahead:

Employers should carefully balance compliance with federal directives and maintaining fair practices to support their teams and prevent long-term workforce challenges. For hourly workers, this can be as simple as being mindful of how shifts and overtime are distributed. Workforce.com makes this easier by giving managers a clear, real-time view of how many hours each team member works. This helps ensure everyone gets the right amount of hours or shifts.

Labor compliance is tricky, but automation can simplify the process. HR teams can stay on top of labor regulation developments through systems with a compliance engine, such as Workforce.com.

Workforce.com ensures compliance for hourly teams at every stage of HR management—covering employee classification, wage and overtime calculations, adherence to allowable work hours, and compliance with break time rules. From hiring and onboarding to scheduling and payroll, managers can trust they’re operating within state and federal laws every step of the way. 

4. A new emphasis on employee experience

For white-collar and salaried workers, a good employee experience often means hybrid work setups, the freedom to do remote work, and opportunities for long-term career development. But hourly workers, who are typically onsite and part of operations that may run around the clock, have quite different needs. So, what does a positive employee experience mean for them? 

Hourly workers desire work-life balance, too, but in a different way. For frontline teams, it’s about knowing their schedules in advance, allowing them to plan for childcare, a second job, or personal time off. Flexibility also means having options for how they work, like swapping shifts with coworkers or picking up extra shifts without a lengthy approval process.

Employee well-being will also be a focus in HR strategies in 2025. It’s about offering programs such as counseling services, mental health programs, and wellness initiatives tailored to the needs of hourly workers. This could mean offering flexible work options, encouraging regular breaks, and ensuring that workers have a safe space to express concerns without fear of stigma.

HR teams should also consider upskilling, reskilling, and defining career paths for hourly staff. Consider offering certification programs or opportunities to learn new technical skills. It’s also time to define growth paths for these teams. Can they move into higher-paying roles? Is there a path to salaried positions? Answering these questions can make a big difference in retaining and engaging hourly employees as well as addressing any skill gap in your business.

How to stay ahead:

Much of the employee experience for hourly employees involves admin processes, which can be easily streamlined with the right technology. Workforce.com simplifies scheduling with its labor forecasting and scheduling software. Create demand-based shifts in minutes and notify staff weeks in advance. If you’re in a city or state with predictive scheduling or Fair Workweek laws, this tool also helps ensure compliance.

Shift swapping or shift replacements is another area where Workforce.com can make it easy for managers. The system eliminates long approval processes and back-and-forth communication. Managers can quickly offer vacant shifts to qualified employees, who can pick them up with a single click using the employee app.Since most of this admin work is done, HR leaders and managers now have time to optimize hiring practices, spend more time coaching their teams, devise career trajectories, determine appropriate training for their employees, which they can also track using Workforce.com’s performance management module.

5. Prioritizing constant feedback and review process

Another continuing trend into 2025 is focusing on more dynamic feedback and breaking free from rigid timelines like annual reviews. This is especially important for hourly workforces, where the fast-paced environment calls for real-time input and adjustments.

How to stay ahead: 

Operational issues can’t wait until the next performance review. Managers need a system that enables them to give and receive feedback in real-time. Workforce.com can prompt employees to rate their shifts at the end of the day. Using this feedback, managers can see what’s working and what needs improvement. This approach helps maintain a good work environment, resolve issues early and keep them from escalating over time.

6.  Access to wages and pay transparency

Businesses will maximize payroll technology to offer more flexibility and options to employees. This year, the focus will continue on giving employees the option to access their wages before payday. This can serve as a great middle ground for companies that can’t yet increase salaries or augment benefits.

Transparency around wages and payslips will remain a key priority. Employees expect an easy way to view their payslips and understand how their wages are calculated, especially for hourly staff.

How to stay ahead:

It’s all about having an efficient payroll platform, one that’s housed in the same ecosystem as HRIS and time and attendance tracking. Payroll is not just about processing paychecks. It’s about ensuring that all the data used to calculate employee pay is accurate, starting with employee qualifications and time logs. Workforce.com streamlines this process, making it easy for you and your employees to access accurate pay information, including payslips.

7. Integration between HR, workforce management, and payroll will be a top priority.

With all the changes and disruptions this year, organizations need a system that will allow them to streamline their recruitment, create worthwhile onboarding processes, track employee time accurately, schedule employees according to classifications and preferences, and pay them accurately. It is all about breaking down silos between these processes, and businesses would likely seek a system that streamlines all of these.

How to stay ahead:

Innovative businesses would stay ahead by ensuring their systems operate well together. Even better, they opt for a platform where everything is housed in a single system.

Workforce.com eliminates silos between HR, workforce management, and payroll. All processes operate within one ecosystem, ensuring a single source of truth and smooth coordination across the board. With a unified platform, managers have less digital upkeep, as they only need to log in once to manage everything—no switching between multiple applications.

Staying ahead with Workforce.com

Organizations that work hard will lead the pack, especially with everything happening in the business, technology, and labor landscape. They must focus on creating strategies to attract new workers, retain their current teams, and ensure profitability and maintain a good workplace culture simultaneously. 

Workforce.com handles the admin side, so you can focus on the big picture. It adapts to market shifts, labor law changes, and trends, streamlining every step of the employee journey.

Ready to see how Workforce.com can help your business? Book a call today.

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11 HR Basics for Small Businesses

Summary:

  • Statistics show that small businesses employ 61.6 million people in the United States, almost half (45.9%) of the US workforce.
  • With lean HR teams, small businesses must learn how to properly prioritize HR-related tasks.
  • Human resource management has many areas, and technology can simplify it for small businesses. Workforce.com is a best-in-class platform that helps small businesses with employee relations, labor compliance, payroll, and more.

Small business owners wear many hats—manager, marketer, strategist, and sometimes even accountant. However, one of the most crucial roles you play is that of a human resources (HR) manager.

While your business may be small, it’s vital to establish solid HR practices. From hiring your first employee to managing a growing team, understanding HR basics is key to fostering a positive company culture and ensuring legal compliance. 

Whether you’re personally handling HR tasks or entrusting them to someone on your team, here are 11 HR basics to focus on for your small business.

1. Labor compliance

Regardless of size, businesses are governed by labor laws under the local, state, and federal governments. This includes rules around employee classification, minimum wage, overtime, anti-discrimination, and workplace safety. 

As a small business, it’s vital to familiarize yourself with applicable employment laws to remain compliant and ensure that your policies are aligned with labor rules. Furthermore, some rules may differ for small businesses and large corporations, so constantly checking and verifying is best. 

For instance, in Massachusetts, businesses with 11 or more employees must provide paid sick leave, while those with fewer than 11 employees are only required to provide unpaid sick leave. 

If you have doubts about the proper protocol for employing someone, you should always consult your state’s Department of Labor.

2. Employee handbook

An employee handbook is more than just an administrative document; it’s a vital tool that sets clear expectations, promotes consistency, and protects your business and employees. But most importantly, from an employer’s perspective, a handbook helps defend against employee lawsuits. Small businesses must prioritize having a well-crafted handbook from the start. 

An employee handbook provides a foundation for a cohesive workplace, ensuring everyone is aligned with company policies and procedures. Sure, employees may memorize only some of the policies in one sitting, but it pays to have this document readily available so they have something to refer back to. It’s vital for clarifying HR policies, work hours, code of conduct, benefits, leave policies, disciplinary procedures, termination process, separation agreements, and emergency procedures. 

Creating a thorough and compliant handbook is a must to prove your business exercises “reasonable care” towards staff. Don’t skip it; otherwise, you will most likely be in for a world of hurt in the future.

3. Job descriptions

Small businesses also need to have job descriptions for every position. And no, I do not mean job postings. I mean job descriptions. These are internal documents that outline critical responsibilities, required skills, expectations, and qualifications for each role in your company.

Referring to job descriptions is extremely useful for things like performance management, promotion, hiring, and terminations.Writing multiple job descriptions may be daunting and time-consuming, especially if you don’t have any in place and are trying to catch up. To help you get started, here are customizable job description templates that you can use.

4. Recruitment

A core area of HR is recruitment. Hiring employees is difficult, especially if you’re just now beginning to build your workforce.

Small businesses should create a recruitment process that outlines job postings, interviews, and background checks. Remember that HR is typically the first point of contact for potential hires, so ensure that you have a straightforward process of how recruitment will go. In addition, see to it that you’re not violating any anti-discriminatory laws.

5. Onboarding

Another vital part of HR is onboarding. A crucial step in this stage is gathering all necessary information and paperwork from an incoming team member. These include employee classification, W-4 and I-9 forms, social security numbers, bank details, marital status, and e-signatures.

Onboarding also integrates new hires into the company. An onboarding plan or roadmap should include steps that cover policies and procedures, training, company culture, and what’s expected of a new employee within the first week, first month, first 60 days, and so on.

Also read: Creating a Better Onboarding Process for Hourly Staff

6. Time and attendance tracking

Time tracking is the backbone of paying your employees correctly. Establish a process for capturing this information to ensure accuracy. Aside from employee time punches and overtime, you must also monitor your staff’s time off and leave balances.

There are several ways to track employee work hours. You can opt for paper timesheets, which are physical records of clock-ins and clock-outs. While simple to use, these are easily tampered with and time-consuming to verify. You can also use punch cards. While more straightforward to implement than paper timesheets, punch cards require clunky time clock machines – prone to mechanical failure and susceptible to buddy punching.

Cloud-based software is another option to track employee time. It can be automated and used across devices like cell phones, tablets, and desktop computers. Software like this typically has additional features to verify timesheets and prevent time theft. Whatever method you choose, go for one that will help you streamline the process of timesheet approvals; this is an area that can take up a lot of your HR admin time.

7. Employee scheduling

Employee scheduling is another significant part of running a business, big or small. While not typically a function of HR, in a small business the HR manager or owner typically will find themselves involved in creating and managing shift schedules.

Scheduling may seem straightforward, but it goes beyond setting and assigning shifts to staff. It is the art of balancing demand versus the number of employees you need to schedule. This is especially true for hourly workforces in the hospitality, restaurant, and retail industries.

Furthermore, you also need a process for when an employee can’t make it to work at the last minute. How do you find available qualified staff? It pays to have a set of steps to follow in such situations so you don’t end up short of people.

8. Payroll

Running payroll involves computing and distributing employee wages and salaries. Typically, you can run payroll yourself with the help of software, or outsource the work to a payroll service company. If you choose to calculate payroll yourself, you’ll need to track hours worked, employee classifications, applicable overtime, tax withholdings, benefits, and deductions. A lot goes into every pay run, and it can be more complex when you have hourly workers. 

Here are some of the basics you’ll need to start running payroll:

  1. Employer Identification Number
  2. W-4 Forms
  3. I-9 Forms
  4. State tax withholding forms
  5. Direct deposit authorization forms

You also need to establish a payment schedule. Payroll can be released weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly. To determine which makes the most sense for you, consider business needs, cash flow, industry practices, and state laws or payday requirements.

9. Performance management and feedback

HR departments, whether in a small company or a big corporation, must implement a system for regular employee performance reviews. This is to retain top talent, boost employee engagement, and identify areas where more training may be needed. You must ensure that staff are on the right track and know the value they bring to the organization. When your employees are thriving, so does your business. It also pays to have a program for recognition and rewards to maintain morale and keep your team motivated. 

Performance reviews are not always formal sit-down meetings every month or quarter. In fact, it can be more spontaneous and informal. Coaching can be more in the moment, especially when your managers are on the floor with the team. 

Gathering employee feedback is also an important part of this. Setting up a system where staff can tell you what’s working and what needs to improve is advisable. Use the feedback to optimize your operations and spot potential problems. 

10. Employee development and training

Training and development is an excellent followthrough to your feedback process. Provide training opportunities to help employees develop their skills and advance their careers. This is a good step in preparing them for a more significant role. In some cases, though, additional training is conducted to bridge a gap and bring employees to where they currently are to where you want them to perform. 

It’s also vital to conduct compliance training. Ensure employees receive mandatory training, such as sexual harassment prevention or safety training.

11. Recordkeeping

HR is also responsible for maintaining accurate and confidential employee records such as personal information, performance evaluations, and disciplinary actions. They must also secure compliance documentation and compliance records, such as employment eligibility and payroll records. 

Why is HR important for small businesses?

Small businesses must prioritize HR because it’s the backbone of any operation. Whether you have a dedicated team or just one person to oversee it, you must perform HR responsibilities. You need to be compliant, hire for essential roles, retain top talent, and pay employees correctly to succeed.

While there may be some differences between laws for small businesses and big corporations, the fact remains that HR-related responsibilities exist for both. 

As a small business, prioritizing HR this early gives you an advantage because you can set the tone early and ensure your business is on the right track. It may require a lot of hard work now, but instilling these habits and processes early on will make it easier for you as your business grows.

The benefits of HR software for small businesses

Properly managing the full scope of HR is a daunting prospect for a small business. Typically, HR takes a backseat to more functional duties that keep a business running on a daily basis. However, by using software to shoulder some of the responsibilities of HR, smaller businesses can successfully set up a strong foundation and push through some key initiatives.

Here are the benefits of HR technology and why investing in it is a wise investment for small businesses.

Time and cost

HR management takes time, and software can significantly reduce time spent on manual and administrative tasks such as payroll, time and attendance tracking, and benefits administration. Having a cloud-based system in place frees up time for small business owners or HR staff to focus on strategic tasks. Furthermore, it reduces administrative costs related to paperwork and long hours spent on manual processes.

Improved compliance

HR software helps keep your compliance more airtight. Since it automates most of the processes, you can rest assured that you’re keeping a record of every vital information related to compliance and audits. It also helps track deadlines for compliance-related tasks and provides reminders for legal requirements such as employee eligibility verification and OSHA reporting.

Accuracy

Because HR software keeps employee data centralized. Since it is a single platform to store and manage all employee information, it’s simple and quick to update records, manage benefits, process payroll, and optimize employee schedules. 

HR software simplifies benefits enrollment by providing a user-friendly platform for employees to select and manage their benefits, reducing the administrative workload and improving accuracy. 

It also ensures that all time and attendance records are accurate, making timesheets easier to process every pay period.

Simplified processes

HR is rife with many administrative processes, and if you do them manually, you can quickly find yourself buried in paperwork, tracking employee information, and sifting through legal rules. HR software can simplify all of that for you. 

It can help you automate and standardize onboarding, benefits enrollment and management, time and attendance tracking, payroll processing, compliance, and even some areas of performance management. 

Because HR technology streamlines much of the administrative work, you can focus on making more strategic decisions, such as improving employee benefits package, optimizing schedules according to demand, addressing workplace conflict, and taking action on employee feedback.

Employee self-service and transparency

Employee self-service is another core capability of good HR software. It lets your employees check their schedules, view their leave balances, check their benefits, and update their information. 

Employee self-service capability should begin with onboarding, where new hires can upload their information and necessary documents to your systems. As a result, you avoid double entries, minimize errors, and spend less time on admin. 

Self-service portals often allow employees to update their personal information, view pay stubs, request time off, and access the employee handbook and company policies.

Data-driven decision making

HR software equips managers with better scheduling and workforce planning. An HR software that tracks demand can quickly provide insights into how to create more profitable shifts, ensuring that you’re not over or understaffing. It can also help you determine whether to hire more people or optimize your team’s hours.

Through analytics and reporting features, you can also create strategic moves by tracking turnover rates, employee sentiment and satisfaction, and recruitment efficiency.

Workforce.com simplifies HR for small businesses

Workforce.com understands the ins and outs of running a small business, especially those employing hourly workers. Whether a small business owner or a single team member tasked with HR duties, Workforce.com can be your HR sidekick.

Workforce.com is an all-in-one platform that handles HR, scheduling, and payroll in one single platform. It encompasses all areas of the employee lifecycle, from recruitment to offboarding. Ready to meet your HR assistant? Book a demo to see Workforce.com in action. 

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How to Terminate an Employee: Essential Dos and Don’ts

Summary:

  • Employee termination is a delicate art of upholding company policies and maintaining a good relationship with employees leaving the company. When handled wrong, it can result in legal repercussions.
  • Having a policy for how to terminate employees is vital. But knowing when to do it is equally crucial.
  • Use an official Employee Termination Letter when letting someone go. Also, be sure to properly document performance records and calculate final paychecks in your HR & Payroll system.

Terminating an employee is a challenging yet sensitive process for managers and business owners. It requires a balance of empathy, professionalism, and strict adherence to legal and organizational policies. When handled correctly, it can protect the company’s reputation, maintain team morale, and uphold the dignity of the departing employee. On the other hand, mishandling employee termination can lead to legal repercussions, a toxic work environment, and damage to company culture. 

Here’s a rundown of best practices on what you must do and mistakes to avoid to ensure that your employee termination process is carried out with fairness, compassion, and respect for all parties involved. 

The Dos

Do follow company policy and legal requirements. 

Every organization should have a policy regarding employee terminations. This policy goes beyond a list of paperwork and items that employees need to return before they leave. With this in place, you would have a clear framework and set of steps to follow when letting go of an employee. 

There are several reasons why employees need to be let go, and your termination policy should clearly outline a process for when such conditions are met. Employment typically ends for the following reasons: 

  • Voluntary termination happens when employees decide to leave an organization. Once an employee turns in their resignation or notice, the turnover period usually lasts two weeks to a month, depending on what’s stated in your company policies or what you have discussed with the employee.

The steps for when an employee resigns are pretty straightforward. They will be given a list of things they need to return and informed of when they can receive their final paycheck.

  • Involuntary termination happens when the employer initiates it, and there are several reasons why employers can do so. First, companies experience changes that prompt them to downsize, let go of redundant roles, lay off employees, implement furloughs, or close the business completely. Second, employees fail to perform or commit major violations or offenses.  

Involuntary termination is more challenging to navigate because more legalities must be accounted for. For instance, is the employee given ample opportunity to improve if the termination is due to poor performance? Was the issue communicated clearly to them? You may be liable under the law if you answer no to both questions. 

Your termination policy should clearly state offboarding processes specific to the nature of the termination. More importantly, every rule should adhere to applicable labor laws to avoid non-compliance and potential lawsuits.

For instance, there are employment laws governing when final paychecks should be released. Depending on what states you operate in, you would need to release the final paycheck on the actual last day, the next scheduled payday, or a specific number of days after the termination of employment. Here’s an updated guide on severance pay and final pay rules for 2024. 

Lastly, this policy should be included in the employee handbook.

Do comply with all applicable termination laws.

The dismissal process is straightforward if an employee leaves your company on their own accord. All you need to do is determine their last working day, prepare the necessary paperwork, provide a list of things and responsibilities the departing employee needs to turn over and issue the final pay. 

However, if an employee needs to go for involuntary reasons, you must take additional steps to ensure a smooth and compliant transition. Get thorough legal counsel to ensure that you comply with all termination laws that apply to your business. In particular, ensure you are following your state’s final paycheck regulations. 

Do document everything

Prepare the necessary documentation ahead of time. While nearly every state in the US adheres to the employment-at-will doctrine, it’s good practice to have a paper trail of performance evaluations and disciplinary records that support your reasoning for terminating an employee. You should also create a termination letter, an official document to notify employees that they are being let go. It must include the reason for termination, effective date, and next steps, such as turning over company assets and releasing final pay.

Termination letters may seem straightforward, but you must be careful when writing them. As an official document, they should stand in court if needed. Ensure that they are factual and include all the necessary information. Here’s a free template and guide to writing employee termination letters.

In addition to the termination letter, it is good to prepare and refer to employment contracts and other vital data that will help the employees understand why they are being let go. If you offer a severance package, discuss what’s included and how it will be computed.

Do have a termination meeting to notify the employee privately. 

Regardless of the reason, it would be best to notify the employee privately that they are being let go. It’s never easy to receive such news, and doing it in front of others will make it even more painful. 

A face-to-face meeting keeps their dignity intact, especially if they are being let go for job performance issues. 

It is important to keep these meetings short, straightforward, and professional. During the meeting, present them with the facts, such as the reason for the employment termination, what company property they need to return, when they can expect their final pay, and other next steps. End the meeting amicably, wish them well, and thank them for contributing to the company. 

Consider recording the meeting to ensure that all your bases are covered. Be sure to inform the employee beforehand that the meeting will be recorded. 

Do have a witness when notifying employees that they are being terminated. 

Having a third party present during the meeting is another good idea, both for the employee and the manager. 

Typically, the witness is a human resources person. HR professionals are well-versed and have the expertise to handle terminations, and it can help frontline managers carry out an otherwise daunting task. 

Do provide assistance when possible. 

Depending on the termination circumstances, consider offering recommendation letters to terminated employees to help them find new employment. This can be an excellent way to end things amicably, especially for team members who are let go because of downsizing or layoffs.

The Don’ts

Don’t dismiss employees without personally talking to them. 

Firing someone is never easy and typically comes as a blow, especially for unexpected reasons like layoffs or something more sensitive like “for cause” termination. 

While a termination letter is, in principle, a tool to notify employees that they are being let go, it’s not advisable to deliver the news through this channel only. Think of it as documentation that makes everything official and prevents legal repercussions. But at the end of the day, it’s merely that—a formality. 

When letting people go, it’s best to talk to them in person before presenting formal letters and documentation. A face-to-face dialogue helps soften the blow, demonstrates respect, and allows employees to ask questions regarding the termination. 

Don’t terminate employees on a whim. 

Termination should always be the final recourse because firing an employee without due process can have legal consequences. Letting people go should never be a knee-jerk reaction to the first sign of financial challenges, unsatisfactory performance, or conflict with other staff.

If a team member is not performing up to par, consider putting them under a performance improvement plan or PIP. A PIP is a documented program to help underperforming staff members improve. If an employee falls short of the goals set under the PIP, then termination should be considered. Here’s a guide and free template for creating a performance improvement plan. 

Even if an employee violates a company policy, firing them on the first offense is often not wise. Make sure that they are given the chance to correct their behavior and provide warnings accordingly. There should also be ample investigation and facts before letting employees go due to offenses like tardiness or conflict with another co-worker.

Also read: 3 Mistakes with Employee Conflict Resolution – How to Avoid

Don’t overlook the right timing. 

When it comes to employee termination, the when is equally important as the how. 

While it seems there’s never a right time to announce that an employee is being let go, it’s still essential to time it well. In some cases, firing people at the wrong time can even result in legal risks. 

So when is it NOT advisable to terminate an employee? When they are on medical leave. While an employee who’s under FMLA leave is not exempt from termination, you need to tread carefully. Certain conditions need to be met before you can let go of an employee undergoing said leave. Make sure to consult with your legal team to handle it properly. 

Other times when it’s not advisable to fire employees include: 

  • When they are going through difficult challenges, such as getting diagnosed with a severe illness or getting divorced
  • When they are on vacation or about to celebrate their birthday
  • During December or January, when they would be dealing with the holidays and the bills that come with it
  • During Fridays, because employees may have questions or clarifications. If termination is done close to EOD or on the weekend, it’s not helpful to wait through the weekend before they can get answers or details. Doing it during the midweek is the best way to go. 

Timing is crucial because it can result in a legal issue. However, whether there is a legal risk or not, it’s best to terminate employees with as much consideration as possible. Look into how much your operations could allow and time the termination accordingly. Losing a job is the last thing anyone would want. Make it as manageable for your employees as possible. 

Don’t forget to check in with remaining staff members. 

Employee termination can also affect staff who remain with the company. Ensure you check in with current team members to see how they feel about the situation. 

It’s normal for the remaining staff to feel anxious about their employment, especially after layoffs. Schedule a time to sit with them so you can address their concerns. Use this opportunity to gauge your team’s sentiments and take quick action if you think they are likely to disengage and quit. 

After terminations, it’s best to stay transparent with the remaining team. Have an open-door policy and answer their questions honestly. 

Don’t insinuate that the decision is not final. 

Don’t give false hopes when breaking the news to employees. It has to be clear and direct that they are being let go, and nothing can alter that decision. Don’t allow room for any vagueness or misinterpretation, whether verbal or written.

Don’t part ways on a bad note. 

Terminations, for whatever reason, will never be a comfortable discussion. However, it’s always best to part ways amicably with a departing employee. Even if there’s conflict, it’s pointless to rehash the negative things that happened. At this point, it’s best to focus on the positive sides of their tenure with the organization. 

Say goodbye on a positive note, or at the very least on a professional and civil level. If you think that there’s a risk of violence, have someone nearby to assist you, and don’t engage. 

Workforce.com can help lighten the load of employee termination

There are a lot of areas concerning employee termination, and Workforce.com can help simplify them for you.

Employee termination usually requires extensive documentation of time and attendance, performance reviews, payroll details, and other information related to calculating final pay. Workforce.com can help you gather all of this data and streamline the termination process.

Discover more about how Workforce.com can help you. Book a demo today. 

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Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC): How to claim & where to file

oil painting of blue collar workers

Summary:

  • WOTC is a federal tax credit available to organizations that hire marginalized job seekers, like disabled veterans or ex-felons, who traditionally have a difficult time finding employment. 
  • Employers typically receive a maximum tax credit equal to 40% of up to $6,000 of wages paid to a qualified WOTC employee in their first year of employment. WOTC cannot be claimed beyond that first year.
  • To claim WOTC, employers must fill out additional IRS and DOL forms and submit them to their State Workforce Agency
  • Many Payroll & HR Software providers handle WOTC screening and certification requests for employers, making the process of claiming tax credits much easier. 

The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is a federal tax credit that incentivizes employers to hire people who typically face significant barriers to employment. This program typically offers employers between $2,400 – $9,600 per new qualifying hire. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, roughly $1 billion in tax credits are handed out yearly through WOTC. 

To receive the credit, taxable organizations must complete a screening and certification process when hiring potentially eligible staff. If approved, employers then file an additional form with their annual business tax return. Non-taxable organizations can also participate in the program by receiving a credit against their payroll taxes. 

Introduced in 1996 as part of the Small Business Protection Act, the program was recently extended through Dec 31, 2025, largely due to the impact COVID-19 has had on the labor market. Currently, there is a bipartisan push in Congress to make WOTC permanent.

Benefits of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit

The intended goal of WOTC is to benefit both employers and employees alike. Incentivizing the hiring of targeted individuals through tax credits not only reduces costs for employers by decreasing their federal income tax liability, but it also makes it much easier for these individuals to get hired. WOTC also benefits non-taxable employers by allowing them to receive a credit against their share of Social Security taxes.

While the financial boon to employers is obviously a nice benefit, the main purpose of WOTC is really to help individuals who typically have a difficult time finding a job get hired. Over the years, WOTC has helped people like disabled veterans and ex-felons find jobs, re-enter the workforce, and get a fresh start. Not only is WOTC supposed to help these people get hired, but the program also encourages job retention by requiring WOTC-certified new hires to work a minimum of 120 hours before employers can receive the minimum credit. 

Who is eligible? 

The IRS specifies nine “target groups” employers can hire from to receive tax credits. These groups are:

  • Qualified veterans
  • Ex-felons
  • Designated community residents in Empowerment Zones or Rural Renewal Counties
  • Vocational rehabilitation referrals
  • Summer youth employees living in Empowerment Zones
  • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients
  • Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients
  • Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients
  • Long-term unemployment recipients designated by a local agency who have been unemployed for at least 27 consecutive weeks

For the most part, employers can only claim tax credits during the first year a person from one of these target groups is employed. The only exception is for TANF recipients, who employers may claim credit during the first two years.

How to claim in 5 steps

The process for claiming the Work Opportunity Tax Credit upon hiring a qulaiifed individual is relatively straightforward, but it does involve multiple steps and additional tax forms. For more information, visit the IRS website. But for now, here is the general timeline:

  1. Screen Applicants: you’ll want to ensure every new hire is screened for WOTC eligibility. Do this by ensuring applicants complete the IRS Form 8850 Pre-Screening Notice on or before the job offer date. You’ll submit this form and a written request to your State Workforce Agency (SWA) to see if an applicant qualifies for the tax credit. Visit the DOL website for a complete list of links to State Workforce Agencies. 
  2. Complete DOL ETA Form 9061 or 9062: The WOTC Individual Characteristics Form should be completed by the new hire as part of their onboarding. Along with this form, the new hire will typically need to provide supporting documentation or forms certifying their status as a member of a targeted group. 
  3. File Documents: Submit Form 8850 and 9061 along with all supporting documentation to your SWA within 28 days of the new hire’s start date. The SWA decides the eligibility of your new hire and can sometimes request additional information before approving your certification request.
  4. Track hours and wages: To claim the minimum tax credit, qualified new hires must work at least 120 hours in their first year of employment. Depending on how many qualified staff an employer has, accurately tracking all of this information can be tedious. To make things easier, use a Time and Attendance system to automatically record hours and wages on electronic timesheets. 
  5. Claim the tax credit: To receive the tax credits, submit IRS Form 5884 when filing your annual tax returns at the end of the year. Tax-exempt organizations will need to submit Form 5884-C. 


If an employer uses an outside consultant, such as a payroll or CPA firm, to sign and file WOTC forms on their behalf, they will also need to complete the Employer Representative Declaration form 9198. This form essentially declares a third party as a legal representative to manage WOTC certification requests.

How is it calculated?

At the end of the year, employers receive a maximum tax credit equal to 40% of up to $6,000 of wages paid to a qualified WOTC employee in their first year of employment. The employee needs to work at least 400 hours for the employer to receive the credit.

If the maximum tax credit above is met, employers typically receive $2,400 in credit per WOTC employee. However, employers may also claim credit on 25% of the first-year wages earned by a qualifying employee who works at least 120 hours.

There are several exceptions to the maximum credit amount of $2,400. Here are the WOTC target groups with different maximum credit amounts:

  • Veterans with service-connected disabilities who have been employed for more than six months – $9,600
  • Long-Term Family Assistance recipients who have received TANF benefits for at least 18 consecutive months – $9,000
  • Summer Youth program participants ages 16 and 17 and live in a designated community area – $1,200

Is WOTC truly a win-win?

The Work Opportunity Tax Credit program has obvious benefits for both employers and individuals in target groups. Over the years, the tax credit incentive has not only saved organizations thousands of dollars every year but also helped marginalized people across the country re-enter the workforce and provide for themselves.

However, there are some question marks regarding the effectiveness of the WOTC program. 

One of the proposed benefits of WOTC is to encourage retention. Unfortunately, meeting the minimum 120 hours for tax credit only equates to roughly three weeks of full-time employment. This low threshold has led to temporary employment agencies taking full advantage of WOTC, hiring cheap labor, getting a tax credit, and then quickly moving on from these workers.

But temp agencies aren’t the only problem. Large, low-wage employers with high turnover also take advantage of WOTC. Investigative journalism outlet ProPublica discovered that Walmart, Dollar General, and Amazon were some of the top recipients of the tax credit in a 2022 analysis. While these large companies are raking in the financial benefits, workers from target groups tend to fall by the wayside, working low-wage, high-stress jobs for a few weeks before getting laid off and starting the whole process over again.

This begs the question: With the government losing out on over $1 billion due to WOTC and temp agencies sometimes earning $114 million over the past ten years in credit, who is truly benefitting here? Without WOTC, what could the government spend its money on instead to help marginalized Americans? 

The outlook for WOTC is still uncertain. As of now, it is set to end after 2025. But, if it is either renewed or made permanent, perhaps a reassessment of who benefits from this program the most is in order. 

In the meantime, smaller employers would do well to make the most of this tax credit while also taking genuine steps to retain WOTC-qualified new hires for the long term. In most situations, WOTC is a win-win for employers and job seekers, and the program’s effect is most likely a net positive for the job market, even with a few bad actors tainting the program.

Claiming WOTC through Workforce.com

Properly screening new applicants for WOTC can be time-consuming and overburden your HR team. Not only does it prolong the hiring process, but it also opens the door to all kinds of mistakes if either a new hire or HR team member fills out a WOTC application form incorrectly.

If your organization wants to qualify for tax credits but doesn’t want to deal with the hassle, find a payroll system that does all of the work for you. 

Workforce.com features an easy-to-use WOTC screening service that allows new job applicants to check a few boxes to determine their eligibility. Using this information, Workforce.com fills out both forms 9061 and 8850 for you and sends them to your SWA for approval. Once approved, you can track all wages and hours worked through Workforce.com’s Time & Attendance system. At the end of each pay cycle, these hours are automatically reported for your organization so that you’ll receive the tax credit at the end of the year.

To learn more about claiming WOTC through Workforce.com, please reach out. We’d be happy to talk!

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Creating a Better Onboarding Process for Hourly Staff

Painting of an Astronaut Husky sitting at a computer

Summary:

  • Employee onboarding significantly impacts productivity and retention. Given the nuances of hourly workforce operations, this process is more complex.
  • Technology can help streamline onboarding, but communication and human touch are crucial to successful onboarding. 
  • Onboarding processes and materials should be regularly assessed to ensure they remain aligned with and relevant to what happens on the frontlines.

If recruitment is about attracting employees, onboarding is about keeping them. The goal for any new hire is to make them productive members of the team as soon as possible—the onboarding process is key here. And no, we’re not just talking about giving them the company handbook and calling it a day. 

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to an effective onboarding process. It greatly varies by industry, role, and whether you are managing an hourly workforce. If you are, this guide is for you. 

If you are just looking for the basics, check out our free onboarding checklist template below:

Free onboarding checklist

If you want more insight into onboarding best practices, read on. But before we dive into how to optimize employee onboarding for hourly staff, let’s take a look at the reasons why you should prioritize this stage of the employee lifecycle. 

Why a well-structured employee onboarding process matters 

Onboarding sets the tone for the rest of a new hire’s employment. Getting it right can massively impact a number of things, including:

Productivity

Focus on detailed onboarding protocols if you want a new team member to hit the ground running as soon as possible. New hires get productive quickly when they have a clear roadmap to follow. When employees are provided with all the necessary information and tools, they learn the ropes faster. However, note that crucial information goes beyond the handbook and training materials. Some details are best understood when they have an assigned mentor or partner while on the job. 

Bottom line

Poor onboarding can hurt your organization financially. The average cost of hiring a new employee is $4700, according to SHRM – and this only covers posting job ads, doing background checks, and interviewing. Training cost is another story altogether. It ranges from $481 to $1240 per trainee, spending on company size and industry, one study shows. 

So, how do you prevent all that money from going down the drain? Improve the employee onboarding experience. The costs associated with onboarding and training will all be for nothing if new hires decide to leave shortly after their first day. 

Employee Retention

According to the 2023 Training Industry Report, excellent onboarding can improve retention by 82%. New hires will most likely stick around when engaged from day one. Good onboarding ensures they are not just stuck in the back room in front of the computer, glossing over training and being overloaded with information that they wouldn’t likely remember by the end of the week. It’s about having a curated program that covers all the necessary training yet still allows room for hands-on learning and peer-to-peer interactions.

How to Improve Onboarding for Hourly Employees

The nature of onboarding for hourly employees differs greatly from onboarding in a corporate environment. “It’s more challenging to nail down for hourly-based industries or those employing shift-based workers because of all the nuances around it,” says Laura Timbrook, a national board-certified health and wellness coach, international speaker, and well-being strategist for manufacturing and other shift-working industries. 

Standardizing onboarding is a good place to start, but there are many considerations for integrating new hires into an hourly workforce. Here are some ways to work around challenges and improve how you integrate new hires into your team:

1. Determine how long onboarding is going to take

Typically, an onboarding program takes at least three months. However, it might not always be the case for hourly employees. 

First, consider whether the position is a seasonal role or a more permanent one. If it’s the former, you wouldn’t have three months to onboard them because the season may be over in three months’ time. How, then, can you ensure that onboarding is still effective within this timeframe?

It’s all about clarity. Having a list of tasks can help, but there’s still a learning curve. This is where having them work alongside a more experienced employee is essential. “If we can buddy seasonal workers with somebody who can show them the ropes quickly, that would be key. Our systems can often provide a checklist, but it can be too much if they also need to learn the system,” says Laura. 

Streamlining the process is crucial, especially during a short onboarding period. It should involve having the right systems so seasonal employees can quickly understand workflows and having somebody working with them who can easily address questions they may have along the way.

Meanwhile, you’d have more room to work with if you’re onboarding a new hire for a permanent position. Even so, the whole process must be curated to cover the administrative, compliance, and practical aspects of the role. Prioritization is key here, which brings us to the next tip.

2. Set priorities and milestones. 

One thing to avoid when onboarding new hires is to overwhelm them with information and admin work. 

“A lot of times, we get these employees in and get the legal paperwork out of the way, and then we just throw them on the floor. It’s a sink-or-swim scenario. As an employee, that won’t make you feel good about your job. It’s not going to make you feel good about yourself. And it won’t make you feel good about the organization,” shares Laura. 

It’s crucial that you set priorities and determine what a new employee must accomplish and by when. Space out tasks so that onboarding is more dynamic instead of spending a lot of their early weeks on paperwork. 

In some roles, mandatory compliance training must be completed before an employee can perform the job. If an employee needs to go through lengthy training material, check in with them. Otherwise, you can streamline the process by dividing a new hire’s hours between theoretical training and practical learning on the floor. 

“We really need to look at what they need by day one. Are we going through compliance training because, say, there’s a cardboard crusher they need to know from OSHA how to operate safely, yet they’re working the cash register? So do they really need that training on day one?” says Laura. 

The goal of onboarding is to complete the most important tasks that are prerequisites for new hires to get up and running. So, look into the training needed, see if you can space it out, and optimize the onboarding process around it. 

A good place to start is to outline what you expect to happen before an employee’s first day, first week, first 30 days, and so on. Having a schedule keeps things organized and expectations clear. 

Here’s an example of an onboarding timeline that lasts for 3 months and what typically happens in each period: 

Before the first day or preboarding

  • Documentation and paperwork – Send job offer letters and lodge paperwork contracts, tax forms, and IDs into your HR system.
  • System profiles—Once their information is entered for payroll, copy all of it into any operations systems new hires might need to use daily. This could mean setting them up in your scheduling and time clock system, project management tool, POS platform, and much more. 
  • Workspace and materials – Set up workstations or prepare work materials such as uniforms, IDs, lockers, and access to company systems.
  • Answering FAQs – It’s normal for new employees to feel anxious during preboarding because stepping into a new role involves many firsts. Sending them a message that covers vital information can help them with the first-day jitters. Doing a quick call to address any initial questions they may have can also help.
  • Prepare a welcome email or note for the new hire. It’s advisable that this note not be system-generated but personalized by the team they will be joining. 

The first day

  • New hire welcome – Greet the first hire upon their arrival. Introduce them to other team members and give them a quick workplace tour. This is also the time to hand them a welcome token or a note from their manager or teammates.
  • Employee orientation—Limit the first-day orientation to the essentials. A brief discussion about the organization and its policies should suffice. This information is also in the employee handbook, which your staff should have access to anytime.
  • Getting settled: Show the new hire their work area or station. On the first day, provide access to learning resources and e-learning platforms. You can also set some time for the new team member to get acquainted with other staff. An all-hands meeting or going on a team lunch are great ideas.

The first week

  • Training
    • Job-specific training: During the first week, it’s time to start discussing what happens day-to-day on the job. Start with the basics and gradually ease into the more complicated parts of the role.
    • Mentorship: Assigning a mentor to a new hire helps with coaching and makes feedback more fluid. Mentors aren’t necessarily managers or team leaders; they could simply be more experienced coworkers. 

“A buddy system can take the load off managers who are already dealing with a lot. Having an onboarding buddy could answer nuanced questions that seem minute to everybody else but big for the new employee,” says Laura. For instance, this could be questions around seemingly simple things like filing leaves, how to operate the time clocks, or when the next pay run will be.  

Sometimes, the buddy doesn’t even have to be tenured. They can be someone who was onboarded maybe two or three months prior, depending on their performance. It helps because they just went through the same process and probably had the same questions any new hire would have.  

  • Goal-setting: Lay the groundwork during the first week. Discuss how the rest of the onboarding process will go and what is expected of them. The last thing any new hire wants to feel is lost, so set the tone, provide direction, and discuss metrics at this stage. New hires will likely perform better if it’s clear what they need to accomplish. In addition, include regular check-ins in your onboarding schedule.

The first month

  • More Training: This is fairly obvious, but the training doesn’t just cease after the first week. After new hires learn the basics of their job function, it is important to evaluate their improvement over several weeks and make adjustments accordingly. 
  • Performance check-in: Discuss with the new hire how they are faring with goals and expectations. This is also a good time to ask their feedback about the onboarding process and the job so far. If they cite anything that needs improvement, look into it and make changes as necessary. 

The first 90 days

Within the first three months, there should be 30, 60, and 90-day check-ins or performance reviews where you discuss progress, achievements, and areas for improvement. 

At this point, you can also start probing into long-term career goals since the new hire will most likely have a grasp of the work and culture, and you, as their manager, will have figured out the type of development you see for them. Discuss their aspirations and see how their performance and current role will tie into that.  

A feedback loop should also be established at this point. It’s important to note that feedback should not be limited to formal check-ins or sit-down meetings. Try to implement feedback into daily routines, such as right after a shift. 

3. Streamline onboarding with technology.

While everyone loves to theorize about strategy and engagement, realistically, the biggest lift of employee onboarding is on the administrative side of things. However, this shouldn’t be the case. The right technology should reduce the time you spend on admin work, giving you more time to focus on engagement and training.  

Effective employee onboarding software should let you do the following:

  • Capture new hire details and send them straight to HRIS, scheduling, and payroll. Ideally, onboarding should be the same system you use for applicant tracking and hiring; this way, you won’t need to waste time manually re-entering applicant information once you hire them. 
  • Complete new hire paperwork forms such as I-9 and W4, collect e-signatures, and get acknowledgment of company policies. A good onboarding platform allows you to go paperless. 
  • Track onboarding progress and send follow-up reminders to new employees to accomplish specific tasks.  
  • Let staff update their details. Adding a new bank account or changing an address should not require lengthy paperwork or email exchanges. An efficient onboarding tech allows employees to update their personal information through a self-service portal. It’s best if they can do so via a mobile app.  
  • Allow staff easy online access to resources like employee handbooks, HR policies, and training guides. Sometimes, new hires grapple for information not because it’s unavailable but simply because they can’t find it. 

“HR spends a ton of time and money writing these safety protocols and putting this all together. They need to know where that is because half of the questions a new employee might have asked or need to ask are in the employee handbook. They just don’t know where it is,” shares Laura.  

Aside from the employee handbook, staff must have a single place to find training materials and other details crucial to their day-to-day work, such as their shifts, leave balances, payslips, and timesheets.  

Keep in mind that onboarding is not a siloed process and should integrate well with other areas of workforce management. Ensure your onboarding syncs with time and attendance, scheduling, payroll, and HRIS.

“Technology is about 60% of onboarding. It has an amazing power to streamline things,” says Laura. However, as much as technology plays an important role, the human touch is still crucial. Your onboarding platform may have all the bells and whistles, but that will be for nothing if the employers fail to engage and communicate well with new staff. The key is to automate and simplify what you can with technology so that you can focus on the overall employee experience.  

Also read: A guide to writing employee performance reviews

4. Review and update your onboarding process.

Onboarding templates, materials, and processes should keep pace with operational changes. Every company policy change should also be reflected in onboarding. However, this is easier said than done. 

Managers and HR must be transparent about these things. A common pain point is that onboarding processes sometimes don’t align with what’s happening on the floor. 

“Often, the people that design the onboarding are in the corporate office. Hourly wage employees, whether they’re in plant production, retail, or transportation, have a much different experience on the ground. We’re often not making those connections,” shares Laura.

So, the key to bridging that gap is ensuring that frontline managers and HR collaborate to design onboarding plans. Managers can provide more context about what actually happens during operations, and HR can help adapt the program according to that insight. That way, the process is much easier to implement and makes the most sense for new hires. 

Another key area is revisiting the review and feedback process during onboarding. Take, for instance, the 30-—to 60-—to 90-day reviews. Typically, these sync-ups are conducted by the direct manager. However, some organizations mix it up and allow the new hire to talk to different people within the company during these check-ins. 

“I saw an organization where for the first 30 days, new hires deal with the direct managers. And then at 90 days, a general manager or a director comes in,” shares Laura. Such practice provides an opportunity for more open communication across different levels. Also, it can be especially helpful if the new hire staff has concerns with their direct manager. 

Webinar: Best Practices for Onboarding Hourly Staff

5. Understand the role of everyone involved in onboarding.

New hires will have different touch points within the organization, which can influence their decision to stay or leave.

At first glance, it seems like HR is the only team that interacts with new hires during recruitment and onboarding. But they’re not the only key players here. Managers also have a significant role in training, so it is crucial to ensure communication is aligned across the board between HR and management.

Part of designing an onboarding process is understanding the role of everyone involved. Aside from HR and hiring managers, identify if you need to involve other staff in the process, such as onboarding buddies or mentors. Set expectations and provide coaching on how they can balance their tasks while guiding new staff. 

Simplify employee onboarding with Workforce.com

While all of the tips we’ve given are a good start, the secret to better onboarding really comes down to connecting it with your Applicant Tracking System. 

Too many HR departments struggle with needless manual reentry. Ideally, all of an applicant’s information should transfer seamlessly to the rest of your software systems. 

Luckily, you can do this with Workforce.com. 

As an all-in-one platform for hourly teams, Workforce.com automates admin work throughout the employee lifecycle. Staff have one profile with one login starting from when they apply for the first time. All of their data flows from onboarding to scheduling, HRIS, and payroll without data re-entry. 

Learn more about better applicant tracking and onboarding by booking a call today. 

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Employee onboarding checklist: the basics [Free Template]

Astronaut Dog holding a clipboard and pen

Summary

You’ve been recruiting for a vacant position, and a candidate finally accepted a job offer. That’s great! But now comes the more crucial part — onboarding. Believe it or not, onboarding new hires involves more than a welcome email and signing an employment contract. 

Webinar: Best Practices for Onboarding Hourly Staff

Employee onboarding sets the tone for new hires; employers must show competency, inspire trust, and reduce friction. It is also where new hires get their first impression of company culture and see if the work aligns with what was discussed during the recruitment stage. 

*Psst! Click here for a free onboarding checklist. It’s comprehensive and all you should need to get started. 

The make-or-break stage

Half of hourly workers leave a job within the first four months or 120 days, according to SHRM. Turnover like this can be mitigated with proper onboarding techniques. 

While primarily an administrative process, onboarding is also an experiential process – this cannot be overlooked.

The most surface-level way to fulfill the experiential part of onboarding is to make it feel good. You also need to make it easy. Consider whatever system you use for onboarding; does the user interface (UI) delight the user? Is the user experience (UX) easy to navigate?

The experiential aspect of onboarding does not end after a pleasant-looking checklist is completed. You also need to integrate new hires successfully into the team and provide them with a sense of belonging. Typically, this takes at least 90 days.

Attracting candidates is only half the battle. The other half is retaining them, and that starts with onboarding.

How to improve your employee onboarding process

Employee onboarding can be daunting, especially considering its administrative and experiential aspects. A new hire checklist goes beyond gathering direct deposit information and signing tax forms. Here are some best practices to help you navigate this stage and ensure better employee retention.

Use employee onboarding software

If you find paperwork tedious, so does your new hire.

An effective onboarding platform significantly reduces the admin burden for the human resources team, hiring managers, and incoming employees. It streamlines the necessary paperwork and ensures data integrity by taking out manual processes.

Ideally, most onboarding-related admin tasks should be accomplished before the first day. For instance, with the Workforce.com onboarding system, new hires can upload the necessary pre-employment documents before they begin work. That means that contracts, W-4s, bank details, and employee personal information are all lodged into the system well before their start date. When these are done, you can focus on making a new hire’s first day more meaningful and productive. 

Prepare equipment and tools ahead of time

Aside from lengthy paperwork, you also need to ensure that tools and equipment related to the job are ready before a new employee’s start date. This includes uniforms, access to company systems and software, office equipment, or even vehicles if they are working on-site. 

The last thing a new hire should face on the first day is incomplete equipment or confusing guidelines. Welcome merch is all fun and good, but having the necessary work items and equipment ready can help your new hire settle in faster.  

Answer potential workplace questions before day one

Taking on a new role is exciting, but it’s normal for new hires to feel anxious about a new job. Much of this anxiety comes from the anticipation of meeting new teammates, acclimating to a different work environment, and easing into the organization’s culture.

Aside from discussing new hire paperwork and eligibility for benefits, it also helps to review smaller things like dress code, shift swap policies, unavailability, and day-to-day tasks.

Give managers support

Employee onboarding is a tall order, and the onus is on the team leaders and managers to ensure its success. 

Ensure managers have the support and tools to help them successfully onboard new team members. One way to do this is to let new hires fill out their own onboarding information rather than HR. When this kind of admin burden is taken from managers and placed on the employee, managers can focus on creating a better and more personalized onboarding experience for their new hires. 

Integrate onboarding with recruitment

Recruitment is how you attract top talent. Onboarding is how you keep it.

Recruitment is not just about selling the role to potential candidates and finding the best fit. It’s about setting expectations and painting a picture of what the position entails and what working for the organization is like. While the goal is to attract top talent, it’s detrimental to over-promise in terms of benefits, work environment, and growth opportunities.

Onboarding is the stage where the organization must meet the expectations set during the hiring process. This is the stage to follow through a good first impression. If employees find that the work is far from what was described during recruitment, they tend to quit even before they are fully onboarded. 

Recruitment and onboarding must go hand in hand. You must integrate them to avoid unnecessary recruitment costs, staffing issues, and high turnover rates.  

Set onboarding milestones

Tracking new hire onboarding success is best done with a roadmap that includes a set of milestones. 

What do you want new hires to learn or achieve within specific timeframes? Typically, onboarding programs last at least 90 days. If that’s the case, you can set milestones for 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days. Goal setting is crucial for successful onboarding. A roadmap provides new hires structure and specific objectives to focus on and helps managers track and measure a new employee’s progress. 

Give and gather feedback

Giving and gathering employee feedback is a massive part of onboarding. While feedback is typically given during milestones or scheduled check-ins, it should be more fluid and quick and can be part of daily job training and interactions. Feedback doesn’t always need to be a sit-down meeting. It’s also helpful when it’s quick and more spontaneous. 

Constant feedback is essential for developing new hires, but managers also need it to improve the onboarding process or operations. When new hires feel that their feedback matters to the team, employee satisfaction matters. When they feel heard and valued, they are more likely to see themselves in the organization for a long time.

Also read: How to improve internal communications with your hourly workers

Consider using templates

You would likely onboard new employees for certain positions more than once, especially when you run an hourly workforce. You’d probably do a lot of onboarding during peak seasons, especially when hiring seasonal or contractual staff. Using templates means that you don’t need to spend as much time curating an onboarding plan each time. 

Templates in the form of checklists, training materials, and video guides are helpful. However, remember to update them to reflect any procedural or policy changes. 

Make sure that such materials are accessible to new hires, mainly since they would most likely refer to them in the course of the onboarding period. A sound self-service system is vital to this, as it enables new hires to find answers to FAQs, and managers can focus more on clarifying more complex questions or matters. 

Incorporate fun elements

The onboarding process is crucial but doesn’t have to be boring. 

You can insert some fun elements to help new hires feel at ease as they integrate into the team. For instance, teammates can record a short video message that describes what the team or department does in a fun and informal way or tidbits of non-work related information such as the best place to go for meal breaks or coffee. Short and informal all-hands sessions also help familiarize a new hire with other team members. If your company provides a standard welcome kit or swag bag to new hires, consider adding a short welcome letter from the team for a personalized touch. 

Fun elements for onboarding don’t have to be full of fanfare, but incorporating those helps enrich the early stages of onboarding. 

New employee onboarding checklist template

The onboarding process takes place before the new employee’s first day. Here’s a checklist of key things you must remember during onboarding. Feel free to copy and paste for your own use or download a document here.

New hire documentation

  • Accepted and signed job offer/job description
  • Tax forms 
  • Insurance paperwork
  • Employment contract
  • Compensation and benefits package

Guides and policies

  • Employee handbook
  • Job description
  • Safety procedures/manuals
  • Security rules and policies

Accounts, devices, and equipment

  • Setup company email
  • Provide time clock access
  • Secure work uniforms
  • Setup credentials or access to necessary software tools such as HCM systems and project management software
  • Add new hires to relevant work chats or email distribution lists
  • Issue work phone, tablet, or computer
  • Assign workstation/workspace

First day

  • Team introduction
  • Workplace tour
  • Give welcome kit/company swag bag
  • Finalize other administrative paperwork, if any.

Orientation

  • Run through paperwork and make sure they’re complete
  • Briefly go through job roles, benefits, and insurance plans
  • Go over essential points in the handbook. Inform them where they can find a copy.
  • Discuss important company policies briefly.
  • Assign a mentor or onboarding buddy.

Development plans

  • Create 30-day development plan
  • Create 60-day development plan
  • Create 90-day development plan

Milestones and follow-through

  • Check-in after the first week
  • Check-in after 30 days
  • Check-in after 60 days
  • Check-in after 90 days

As you follow through and provide feedback, optimize if your development plan needs tweaking.

Simplify your employee onboarding

The template provided above is just to get you started. For more on how to optimize your onboarding process, check out our free webinar below featuring NBC-HWC certified coach Laura Timbrook:

Webinar: Best Practices for Onboarding Hourly Staff

Are you eager to streamline your onboarding right now? Discover how to reduce onboarding tasks to just 3 minutes with  Workforce.com’s self-service employee onboarding by booking a call today. 

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3 non-obvious ways to advance your HR career

Astronaut winning a gold medal

Summary

  • Work in human resources on a small team at a small company. – More

  • Focus on strategy by automating administrative work. – More

  • Understand how HR impacts your company’s bottom line. – More

When it comes to most HR career advice, the conversation is often dominated by talks of SHRM vs. HRCI accreditation, postgraduate study opportunities, or job hopping to get ahead.

While these are all legitimate pathways to career growth, you’re probably already aware of them. They also lean further towards how to get a pay raise rather than how to become better at HR. So here are three ways you may not have thought about that can boost your HR expertise and advance your career.

1. Do HR at a smaller company

Running HR at a small company gives you the ability to take more ownership, see how every part of HR operates, and take part in more strategic initiatives.

This is often discouraged because many processes aren’t built out at smaller companies, but this is precisely why it’s a great opportunity. You get to be the one that builds out HR from the ground up.

What constitutes a small company is hard to define, but an excellent place to start is somewhere smaller than where you currently are. Other good rules of thumb are fewer than five people in the HR department or less than 1,000 total employees.

 

2. Give yourself time to work on strategic HR

Probably the biggest complaint about career advancement is that there isn’t time to work on strategic HR initiatives because HR is bogged down in busy work. This is a fair assessment. Some of the biggest culprits are collecting onboarding documentation, updating employee details, and fielding payroll queries.

Don’t accept this reactive approach to HR. 

Get rid of the paper onboarding, let staff add their own availability and PTO, and allow them to access payroll details like their direct deposit information and electronic pay stubs.

By automating these processes, HR is no longer the middleman between front-line staff and an outdated HRIS. Instead, HR actually has time to pursue valuable strategic initiatives like employee retention and talent development.

3. Understand the commercials of your company

For most people, advancing their careers often involves promotions to more senior positions. While your technical HR skills help you on this journey, a firm understanding of how your company operates financially becomes probably the most essential tool in your toolbox as you develop seniority. 

The most crucial part for HR is understanding budgets. Both overall and team budgets, as well as HR budget metrics, like labor spend, cost of employee turnover, etc. This will help you justify the value of HR initiatives and show their impact on the bottom line.

Secondly, you need to understand the business you’re in. Learn who your customers are, how your service or product solves their problems, and what role each team plays in that process. Doing so will help you make better decisions in HR, but it will also help to make other teams respect you. 

Both of these are essential if you ever want to become a CHRO.

Next steps

You’re probably not going to be able to do everything listed. Moving to a smaller company is a big step, but eliminating busy work to free up time for strategic HR and understanding your company’s commercials are two steps you can begin immediately.