Taking On Staff!

[MarkCo]

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I want to take on a helper to help me with pushing my sites into other countries and start affiliate marketing there...

I want to allow the new employee to work from home, but am a little worried about this. How can I see that they are working and not taking the p i ss if you know what I mean.

Is there a way to check this, or do I just have to trust them 100% to be working when they should be.

[tbp]

How can I see that they are working and not taking the p i ss if you know what I mean.

You should be able to see it from the results they achieve. In the end, as long as the person is producing the results that you want to see, it doesn't matter if they work 1 hour a day or 10 hours a day!

I would also offer them a part of the business, rather than just being a normal employee. That way they the better they do, the better it will be for them! Achieving success for themselves is the best incentive, rather than working for someone else and getting paid the same salary whether they do the best they can do, or just enough to keep the boss happy.

[hrbs]

I would also offer them a part of the business, rather than just being a normal employee.

Don't offer them shares as you would be giving away a share of the ownership (and value) of the company, unless you arrange a special share structure. Share structures which give dividends to key employees are often investigated by HMRC, if the shares do not have voting rights and the employee's basic wage is small in comparison to the dividend ie their salary is structured to minimise personal and company NIC.

I would suggest a %age of profits. If you are a Ltd Co you could calculate the bonus pool as profits before tax but after director's dividends.

Regards

Keith
HRBS
Small business and affiliate marketing specialists

[DavidCartlidge]

I was going to reply with both the above, don't worry about the number of hours, just the results and don't give equity, just bonuses.

If you set targets and milestones for them to reach, which you are both happy with, you can give them the flexibility to work how they like. Build in the bonus for reaching the targets in 75% of the time (or similar) or on revenue, or both.

You may want to consider paying them by invoice for a while, rather than PAYE, to make sure you are happy with them.

[tbp]

Don't offer them shares as you would be giving away a share of the ownership

Yes, sorry should have made myself clearer. I meant profit sharing when I wrote this, rather than them becoming a business partner or shareholder.