You can't hack HR, Finance, and Law

On a pretty regular basis we meet business leaders who are what we would call "business hackers."  This isn't a good thing or a bad thing, but more of a mentality we see in people.  We call them business hackers because they try to hack certain functions of their business.  We think that hacking these functions makes complete sense - up to a point.  When businesses start to grow and the complexities begin to mount, it's time to replace those hacks with legitimate services...or better hacks.  This is where we see most business hackers stumble.

Here's a situation that we see all the time.  A couple entrepreneurs start a business.  They use a common online platform to set up their business.   They have some success and make some money, and then they use a full-service online finance/accounting platform to manage their books. Hey, we've got financial statements. We're a real business!  Success continues and the company then uses an online HR platform to manage their HR function.  The company has duped themselves into thinking that they have Legal, Finance, and HR.  These platforms are getting paid monthly and are never going to be the ones to say to their clients "you've outgrown us, time to find someone new."

But what happens when the business really starts to grow.  What happens if they want to raise money, or convert their entity, or create an investor deck, or terminate an executive, or enhance their culture?  This is when things start to get a little messy.  The 800 number that you usually dial, and the PoliSci grad-turned-business advisor that you usually talk to probably won't be able to answer to your questions.  This is where the breakdown starts.  This is where we advise you to Get Suitless.   Or please just get someone, because you can't hack HR, Finance, and Law.  

As on of our partners puts it so eloquently:  "I can hack law because I practice it daily, I have the law degree, I have the masters in law, and I have the years of experience.  You can't. And that guy on the other end of the 800 number DEFINITELY can't."

Ruby Developer and Linux Systems Administrator

Two new opportunities!

Linux System administrator with a Top Secret clearance paying in the low six figures. The work is in downtown D.C. near Metro Center.

Mid level developer (no clearance required) experience in Ruby is a plus but not required as this position can be trained on the job. The job is paying in the mid 80's and is based in Arlington, VA (Courthouse).   

New Feature: Business Leaders in Bars drinking Beers - #BLIB

In 2016 we're going to be working on a new project called Business Leaders in Bars drinking Beers.   The name pays homage to the Jerry Seinfeld show 'Comedians in Cars getting Coffee' and the concept will be somewhat similar.  Here's what we'll be doing:

Each week we're going to sit down for an hour with a different CEO, Business Owner, or Business Executive throughout the country. We're going to go to a bar with them, and we're going to drink a beer or two with them. During our beer-drinking jaunt, we're going to discuss their business, trends that they're seeing in the workforce, we'll discuss the bar/restaurant we're in, and we'll review the beer we're drinking (and why we chose it).  We might even throw in a yelp score, a BeerAdvocate rating, or some commentary on whether we agree with the Business Leader's thoughts into our post. 

We'll then package everything up into a neat little blog post so that you can read it without ever having to leave your computer.  We'll also be using the hashtag #BLIB, so you can follow us on Twitter.  Cheers!

Available Candidates and Open Jobs

Suitless learns about all sorts of new jobs all the time as and we also get connected with great candidates.  We love nothing more than to get an email from a friend saying "I've worked with this person, they're awesome" along with a resume or LinkedIn profile.  Sometimes the open jobs we find out about are with our clients, or friends of clients, or friends of friends.  We're going to start posting some of these jobs and candidates.  Email us if you're interested in the job or the candidate!

Program/Operations Manager

Company in Arlington, VA is seeking a mid-level candidate that can assist with running a small business.   This person would need to be a hard worker who is willing to roll up their sleeves and take on high level and low level projects.  You'd learn how to use the Company's tools and you would learn how to train others inside and outside the company.  Being good at making awesome looking power points would be a bonus.  Would consider part of full time employment.  Experience with government lingo is good but not required.  Active or Passive clearance is good but not required.  Compensation is between $65k and $75k.  

New ways to get into hot water in California in 2016

It's a new year, and that means that there are new employment laws on the books everywhere. More specifically, companies operating in California continue be subject to all sorts of employee-friendly laws.  Hey, the state has to make money somehow!  And remember...ignorance is not a defense.  Rather than list out all of the new laws in California, we're going to give you a few ways that you can get into hot water in California in 2016.

1.  You run an e-commerce firm in San Jose and you've hired three fulfillment reps - Tim, David, and Jennifer - to manage order processing.  All three employees have the same job descriptions and are doing work that is "substantially similar."  You pay Tim and David $40k per year, and you pay Jennifer $35k per year.  This pay disparity is problematic due to California's Fair Pay Act.  Temperature of water:  Hot 

2. You own a blog and media startup Bakersfield, but you open up a small office in San Francisco.  In order to afford your rent in SF, you pay your part-time employees $10 per hour for every hour worked.   While you're meeting Federal minimum wage requirements, you're not paying them in accordance with San Francisco's local minimum wage of $15.25. You also fail to realize that due to AB970 the California Labor Commissioner can now enforce local minimum wage laws, in addition to the less-feared OLSE.  Temperature of water: Warm

3. You are the CEO of a professional services firm in Los Angeles.  Your company has been using E-Verify since 2014.  You have an HR Manager on staff and they use E-Verify as part of the hiring process. You are talking to a new candidate and you really like her.  You "want to know a little more" about the candidate and you have your HR Manager run the candidate's info that was included on their application through e-verify.  You didn't realize that this is now illegal. There is an electronic record of what has been done.  Be prepared to shell out up to $10,000 in penalties.  Temperature of water: Scalding. 

If you have a company or employees in California, try to avoid being like any of the companies above.  And if any of you feel inclined to take on "the law", I'd encourage you to listen to what The Clash has to say about fighting the law (along with who won).

I'm a U.S. Company and I want to hire a Canadian. Help, eh?

We see it all the time.  We're working with a U.S. based company and a request comes in from someone there letting us know that they want to make a new hire.  But this isn't just any new hire, it's a special new hire.  It's an international new hire.  And the worker that this company wants to hire lives in Canada.  "Where do we start" they ask....

We've put together a bit of a checklist/reality check that you can use to get the ball rolling on bringing on board your new Canuck.  Note that this is just a starting place, and not an exhaustive list, when it comes to what you should or shouldn't be doing in order to employ your new Neighbor to the North.

Here's where to start:

• Gather Information - This might be the most important step in the process.  Find out as much as you can about this new worker.  What province do they live in? What province will they be working in? What exactly will they be doing? Where will they be doing it? Are they a Canadian citizen or just living in Canada? Do they have employment authorization?

• Determine Employee Vs. Independent Contractor - This can be a confusing step.  Much like U.S. workers, you'll need to determine if the work this person is doing qualifies them as an employee or an independent contractor.  Canada's version of the IRS (the CRA) can be helpful in figuring this out.  There are also different rules for those in Quebec.

• Employee -  If they're an employee, you'll need to figure out how to employ them in Canada.  Have you set up an entity in Canada? That's one option.  Can you employ them through a payrolling company in Canada? That's another option.  Can you register for a business number and and set up a payroll deductions account? There's a third option. Regardless of what you do, you're going to need to withhold Income Tax, Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) withholdings, and employment Insurance (EI) for your employee (and pay on behalf of the company as well).  You'll also need to have the employee fill out some forms and you'll need to register with the WISB.   

• While employment law in Canada is primarily provincial/territorial, Canada does have an Employment Standards Act - the ESA - that covers most employees (and most provinces/territories like to follow it). U.S. folks can think of this as bits of the FLSA, OSHA, and NLRA wrapped up in a neat box with a red maple leaf stamped on it. 

• Contractor - If your worker is an independent contractor you'll need to have them sign a W-8BEN or a W-8BEN-E and keep it on file.  Remember, no W9 because they're not going to be issued a 1099.  Banking info is needed, and remember, because your worker will be using a Canadian bank you'll need their SWIFT number and account number (sorry Yankee, no Account and Routing number in these colder parts of the world). 

• Paperwork - Next we need to figure out how we are going to "paper" this person.   Do you have an agreement in place with this person? You should.  Has it been localized to where they live? Does it need to be in English and French?  If they're an employee we should probably put an offer letter in place and include things like: their rate, when they're paid, what they'll be doing, when they start, time off, benefits, etc.  

• End of Year - You'll need to figure out what sort of end of year documentation your employee or contractor will need.  Do we need to issue a T4 or T4A? 

• Termination - Need to terminate your employee? Make sure you provide them with a Record of Employment!

There are also different and unique rules depending on what province you're in and sometimes what City your person is in.  And remember, special attention should be always be paid to Quebec. 

Keep in mind that just like the IRS, the CRA doesn't look kindly upon any companies, international or domestic, that misclassify employees as contractors.  

Who is Suitless Inc?

Suitless Inc. has been providing fast-growth businesses with  HR, finance, and legal support since 2014.  Fast-growth is a very important element of that last sentence.  We work with companies that want to grow quickly.  That's the 10 second pitch that when people ask who we are and what we do.

But who are we really...?  The best way to describe us is to publish our company's core values.  This is who we really are:

• Be Grateful - We're always grateful for our clients, our friends, our families, our time together, and our time on this planet.  

• Work Within Our Limits - Because we're no use to anyone if we're tired, cranky, or pissed off.

• We're transparent - About the work that we do, the fees we charge, and the advice we provide, because integrity and honesty are worth more than gold.

• Don't take Ourselves Too Seriously - Life is short, so we work hard, do the right thing, have fun, and enjoy the people we work with.

We value our core values, and it's important for us to know and understand the core values of the companies that we work with.  Has your company ever defined and published their core values? Why or why not?  

Welcome to the future (aka 2016)

With 2016 well underway we've decided to reinvigorate our blogging efforts. And why not? Interesting things are going on. Business is booming. And we have so much to say!

We started blogging in 2014 and our blog efforts bled over into early 2015. Random people who we had never met or heard of before would email us about our posts. It was kind of cool. But then we stopped our blogging efforts. We stopped because we got caught up in ourselves. We put the cart before the horse and would ask ourselves "What blog platform should we use" or "how often should we post" or "what would others think about our posts about weed or us calling a piece of software shitty" (or about using the word shitty). At the end of the day we were worried about what others would think.

Well now our new strategy is "Strategy be damned". We're no longer concerned about WordPress vs. Joomla Vs. Weebly. We're going to post good stuff often, but not on any serious schedule. And we really aren't going to care about what other people think.

Here is what we are going to do. We are going to meet and chat with all sorts of new and different people in the business world. We are going to write about the things that matter to small business leaders and their employees. And we are going to focus on the things that we know are important. We will also attempt to weave some non-business content into our posts. A pop-culture reference here, a restaurant review there, and maybe a gripe or two sprinkled in. At times, our posts will attempt to be funny, informative, thought-provoking, and maybe even a bit edgy. Notice how many times I used the word "attempt" there?

So re-bookmark our site in your Netscape browser like it's 1999. We've got lots of great stories, posts, articles, and musings ahead of us. We hope that you will join us. But if not, we will still be doing the damn thing.