HOW TO MANAGE YOUR HR WHEN EXITING YOUR BUSINESS

Understand Your Obligations to Employees When Exiting Your Business

When you exit your business, you need to be aware of and respect your employees’ rights. Here's what you'll need to know about your obligations.

Protect Employees—and Your Business

Depending on how you exit your business, you may not have to let your employees go. For instance, if you sell your business, your staff might stay with the company, under new management. 

Or, if you're in a position where you might have to close your business due to hard economic times or slow sales, you might consider significantly cutting back your expenses in an effort to keep your doors open. One possible way to reduce your costs is to reduce your head count.

When doing this, however, try to avoid laying off good staff. The costs you will incur in training and productivity if you hire someone new in a few months will greatly exceed the cost of keeping a good employee with you now. Ask how flexible your team can be – maybe this is the perfect time for someone to go to 4 days per week to take that course they’ve always wanted to. 

If you have 2+ employees, have explored flexible options and yet are still feeling the pinch, perhaps the Service Canada Work Share program can help. The program offers 55% wage coverage for EI-qualified employees who voluntarily accept a reduced work week for 6-26 weeks. To see if your business or employees qualify,see the Service Canada website.     

Know Your Employees' Rights

Employees of your business have certain rights when a business is bought, sold, or dissolved. These rights are regulated by the Employment Standards Branch of the B.C. government, and are explained on the Employment Standards website.

Notice and Severance

Your employees might be entitled to certain notice periods and severance in the event of termination of employment. Specific information on this topic can be found in the Termination of Employment Fact Sheet from the B.C. Ministry of Labour, Employment Standards Branch.

You should set aside a contingency fund that will, at a minimum, cover wages owing, as well as other expenses, such as severance. Even if your business is incorporated, management can be held liable for these dollars owed to employees in the event of bankruptcy.

TOP 5 TIPS TO MANAGE YOUR HR WHEN EXITING

Keep your employees informed.

Make sure that your employees hear about a potential sale of the business from you, and not a third party. Let your staff know you are willing to talk with them about any concerns they may have.

Talk directly to your employees.

In the absence of information, rumours run rampant. If employees feel uncertain about their jobs, they might decide to leave before your business sells.

Be truthful, but positive.

Be upfront with your staff and address their concerns honestly. If possible,  help them transition to new management or find employment elsewhere once you exit the business.

Seek legal counsel.

If you're not sure about how to end your contractual agreements, enlist the help of a lawyer to review your contracts and to provide a legal opinion regarding any obligations or liabilities.

Hire an accountant.

Enlist the services of an accountant who specializes in small business to ensure that your financial records are organized and that you fulfill your payroll and tax obligations when you exit your business.

THE 5 W’S OF RECRUITMENT

As a small business owner, the first employees you hire are critical. These individuals need to share your vision for the company because they will establish the culture and organizational structure that shape its future. A word of caution, however…. we suggest that you not hire someone that reminds you of yourself, no matter how amazing you are. Regardless of the role, it is important that your first hire bring new and different skills to the table and expand the strengths that you offer and minimize your areas of weakness. At this critical stage, many hats will be worn by very few individuals. Your best strategy is to hire the person who can wear some of the hats you are currently not wearing.

Do you have the skills to make an unbiased hiring decision? If not, get help! Help can come in many shapes and sizes. Getting the right help at this stage will save you time, money and heartache down the road.

Who – Is the ideal candidate?
What – Do you need? (Tools)
When – Do you need them?
Where – Will you find them?
Why – Failing to plan is planning to fail

Who is the Ideal Candidate?

Get clear on the type of person you need. Create a job outline for the role, including as much detail as you currently have about the job duties, experience, skills and qualifications required. This does not have to be fancy. It is intended simply to ensure you have the clarity you need. We suggest hiring for cultural fit, then for skill.

What Do You Need? (Tools) 

• Analyze the job(s) 
• Create some interview questions – Fit & Skill 
• Include others in the interview process 
• Personality/Skill Assessment 
• Employment Agreement/Mini Handbook (vacation, sick time etc.) 
• New Employee Orientation

Once the interviews are complete and you know who you want to hire, the next step is critical in showing a prospective employee what HR practices you have in place. Do you have an employment agreement, a handbook, benefits etc.? Even if you are a small entrepreneur hiring your first employee, there is no excuse for not taking the time to put these necessary practices in place - they can set the tone for the overall employee/employer relationship. What tone do you want to set in an employee driven market?

When Do You Need Them? (Personnel)

• Daily 
• Future Project - Personnel Planning
• Proactive vs Reactive
• The Help Wanted sign should never come down!

Where Will You Find Them?

• Newspaper 
• The Internet (Craig’s List is Free) 
• Creative out-of-the-box thinking 
• Networking – do you have an employee referral program? 
• Demographics, aging population (Many retiring boomers do not want to fully retire, do you have a role that might fit them?) 
• Immigrants – Most new immigrants have great education and experience. There are many organizations to help connect employers with this skilled population of workers. 
• What do they do in their spare time, and where are they?

Why Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail 

• The current Labour market favours the employee and the good ones are looking for companies with solid HR practices
• You want the best of the best

Not having a system in place may cause reactive hires that create more problems in the long run.

Whether you are hiring your first employee or your one-hundredth, think about how you want your company to be perceived. How do your job postings, interview questions, employee handbook and other materials reflect what your company is about – its values and vision of the future? How can you give your potential employees the clearest possible picture of what it is like to work at your company, what you expect of them and what they can expect from you? Could existing employees assist in this process by meeting with short-listed candidates? Would a tour of your workplace help candidates to picture themselves working there? These are details that are, in many cases, easy to arrange but often overlooked.

We know of employees who have interviewed for roles, started, and on the first day left because they realized the company was not what they had been led to believe. Others stay on for a while and then eventually leave. The more information you can provide up-front, the better your hires tend to be. Pointing out the potential disadvantages as well as the advantages of the position can help candidates self-select out of the hiring process if they feel they wouldn’t be a good fit.

Put systems in place so the hiring process is easily executed. We can help.

Hiring Incentive

Hiring Incentive
You can receive up to $2,000 per participant in the scheme.  Each participant must be employed for a minimum of three months and for a minimum of 30 hours per week (unless the participant is a person with a disability and the disability precludes the ability to work 30 hours or more per week).

You are able to employ up to 3 participants over the term of the program, however you must not use these participants to fill positions in dispute or to replace existing employees.

There is no stipulation on how the $2,000 must be spent in your business and by obtaining the hiring incentive; this does not preclude you from applying for the training portion of the program as well.

2) Supplementary Training
By supplying training either in-house or off-site to participants in the program you can receive an additional incentive of up to $1,000 per participant.

The training you provide for the participant must be relevant to the tasks included in their job role and must provide a certificate or recognized credential.  You must ensure that the training is delivered in a formal and structured manner by a professional trainer who is not related to you or your business.

Training costs which you are able to reclaim include:

• Registration fees
• Training services of a recognized training institution
• Related training materials e. g. books and manuals

Training costs which you are not covered for under the program are:

• Clothing, equipment or furnishings
• Travel costs
• Training normally provided by the employer

How to Apply

To apply for funding visit the Bowman Employment Services (BES) website and download the Application for Funding and Training Plan.  Once completed, the form can be either submitted via the website or sent to one of the following addresses:

• Mail: Bowman Employment Services Inc, YSBC Program, #307 – 1664 Richter Street, Kelowna, BC V1Y 8N3
• Email: ysbc@bowmanemployment.com

How Quickly Will You Receive an Answer?

You will receive feedback from BES on your application within 2 business days.

After you have employed an eligible employee, payment of the $2,000 will be given in 3 steps over 3 months. The First payment will be at the end of month 1, second at the end of month 2 and the third at the end of month 3, following the completion and receipt of an exit document.

For more information on the program or if you require assistance completing the forms, contact BES at 250-448-4602 or at 1-877-866-3100, Monday to Friday 8 am to 5 pm.

RECEIVE HIRING INCENTIVES THROUGH YOUTH SKILLS BC

The Youth Skills BC Workplace Pilot Program is a new incentive program which offers BC employers up to $2,000, when hiring an eligible youth between the ages of 15 and 29.

The program, which runs from January 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012, also offers an additional incentive of $1,000 to purchase training for their new employee.

Funded through Canada - British Columbia Labour Market Agreement(LMA), the program has been created to provide BC's youth with the skills required to be successful in the employment market.  Through a combination of training, work experience and formal skills development training, the program hopes to address the current and future skills shortage in BC.

So how can you, as a small business owner, take advantage of this program and what are the parameters?

Your Business

To be eligible for the Youth Skills BC Workplace Pilot Program your business must be:

• In operation for a minimum of one year
• In good standing with WorkSafe BC
• Be suitable for public funding (not engaged in any illegal, discriminatory or offensive business activity)

The Employee

Youths employed under the program must:

• Be aged between 15 and 29
• Be unemployed
• Not be an Employment Insurance (EI) client
• Be legally entitled to work in Canada
• Be a resident of British Columbia
• Not be a full time student or enrolled in a high school
• Not be participating in another LMA funded program

The Program

There are two different types of funding – the Hiring Incentive and theSupplementary Training Incentive.

When you create a website

When you create a website, no matter if it's a personal blog or for your business, your first thought will be, "How do I get people to visit?" The web is an enormous place, and despite many business owner’s best efforts, websites often get lost amid millions of others. 

The answer to increasing the amount of traffic a website receives is simple: Create high quality, well written content and update your web site every single day. Sounds simple? It is, but creating compelling website copy can be difficult for someone who may not have a way with words. It can also be time consuming for a small business owner whose plate is already full. Hiring a writer to provide interesting content for your website could be the solution; and luckily for you, there are many of them out there. 

Some Available Options

• Odesk.com is a freelance market place that pairs contractors with employers. On Odesk, you can hire content writers for anything from press releases to blog posts. The site's star rating system is based on feedback, so if you hire someone with excellent feedback, you can be sure you will receive excellent content. On Odesk, you can hire someone hourly and the website will provide you with 'snapshots' of their progress. You can be sure that your contractor is doing the work, and you provide payment through an easy to use system. 

• Elance.com has a similar service to Odesk.com, and has a similar directory of freelancers who are ready, willing, and able to bid on your job. As with Odesk, you will find that no job is too small and there is no shortage of people wishing to bid on it. With Elance, your funds are put in escrow and will stay there until you are satisfied that the job has been completed. 

• If you want to find someone locally or you don't wish to hire through an online marketplace, Google is the simplest way to seek out a copywriter. There are many freelance writers listed on Google, and a little research can provide examples of work from previous clients as well as specific areas of expertise. 

Things to consider

When hiring a content writer, there are a few questions you should ask them for, prior to signing a contract. 

 

• Do you have a portfolio or references?  Many freelance writers will have an online portfolio or resume available for potential clients, as well as a list of references that you can call to confirm their work ethic and writing ability.

• How quickly can you complete the job?  Even the best writers can get caught up in deadlines. Be sure to have realistic expectations of how quickly you wish to have a project completed. 

• What is your pay rate?  Just as a writer's ability will vary, so will their pay scale. Keep in mind that the least expensive pay rate does not always mean quality. Just like anything in life, you often get what you pay for.  For a set of guidelines on what to pay a writer, visit the Professional Writers Association of Canada.

The web is a huge place, and the success or failure of a web site will often depend on the content. Great writing provided by an excellent content provider will have your visitors returning again and again.