Employing people / casual staff

You may be working on your own when you first start your business, but at some point you may need to bring in someone to help you as your business grows. For example, you may hire an assistant, or someone who specializes in marketing to help promote your company.

Whenever you hire someone, you will sign them on as employees or as contractors. So what’s the difference?

• Employees are trained by you. Contractors receive their training elsewhere.
• Employees work only for you. Contractors may have their own customers and work for other event planning firms.
• Employees are paid on a regular basis. Contractors are paid per project.
• Employees work for a certain amount of hours. Contractors set their own hours, as long as they get the job done.
• Employees can be fired or quit. Contractors can’t be fired in the usual way while they are working under contract. You may decide to have them stop working on a project, but you will be obliged to pay them according to your contractual agreement.

As a wedding planner, if you hire people to provide services such as music or photography, they will likely be self-employed contractors (who you will find though word of mouth or even the Yellow Pages). However, the other people who work for your company may be either employees or contractors, and there are different tax requirements for both.

When you employ people you also need to be aware of health and safety issues, workers compensation, minimum wage and unemployment insurance – particularly regarding your particular State.