Questions regarding all things related to employment of people in the company.
6
votes
8answers
284 views
Code Quality in Boot Strapped Startup
I am running a boot-strapped startup with another technical co-founder and we are making revenue (not profitable yet) and things are extremely tight. We are both experienced programmers and my ...
1
vote
1answer
51 views
Employment vs Sole Trading - UK
In the UK, is it possible to be in full time employment and be a sole trader at the same time?
i.e. Work a full time job as an employee. Do contract work as a sole trader on evenings and weekends.
...
-1
votes
0answers
28 views
How do we look for employees these days? [closed]
If I am to set up my own little company, what would be the first step to acquire some employees?
With advent of today's technology, we need to be aware of the "me, me, me" generation and the quick ...
0
votes
0answers
17 views
How should I reward volunteers in a UK Limited Company?
I'm setting up a UK limited company to run a large music ensemble, and people will pay a subscription to take part, but I won't be able to afford to pay most positions (managing concerts, publicity, ...
0
votes
0answers
138 views
Designation of a single employee startup [duplicate]
Well, I belong to a single employee( which is me) business. It is even not registered. So what should be my designation?
310
votes
27answers
141k views
If I'm working at a company, do they have intellectual property rights to the stuff I do in my spare time?
I was interviewed by a lady from Zynga and she told me that Zynga doesn't allow developers to have side projects. Is this true for companies in general, or just a minority that Zynga is a part of? ...
1
vote
1answer
74 views
Using my kids as models
I've recently started a photography business, not because I can take pictures with my phone and instagram, a legitimate business. How will the tax man feel about me employing and paying my small ...
1
vote
4answers
117 views
Reasons to get local admin assistant rather than Virtual Assistant?
Under what circumstances might it make sense to employ a local admin assistant rather than a remote Virtual Assistant?
1
vote
3answers
120 views
Can I train a programmer from internal staff?
I have a person on staff who has been doing a lot of admin type work: support, billing, etc. I am thinking that I will want another programmer (PHP/MYSQL/etc) in the next 6-12 months for some new ...
1
vote
0answers
39 views
Startup advice on business structure for an international call center
I'm Canadian and living in Canada and I have a professional friend who is American and living in the States. He and I want to start a call center. The operation will be centered around him for sales ...
0
votes
2answers
57 views
What do tech startups look for in potential employees? [closed]
I'm a computer science student at Bristol University in the UK, and I'm looking to work for a startup when I graduate, as I have always had a strong interest in business and feel working for a startup ...
4
votes
12answers
2k views
Advice about an offer at a startup company
So here's the situation:
I was discovered by a startup company through some of my work. I was interviewed by one of the cofounders, and they were interested in putting me on their team full-time.
My ...
3
votes
2answers
2k views
Small US company wants to hire one German employee in Germany
We are a small U.S. company with about 30 employees. We would like to hire one employee in Germany who is a German citizen and will work out of his home. He will primarily be writing software on a ...
2
votes
1answer
155 views
How much power should you give your part-time staff?
My company started hiring office assistants a couple years ago. The rationale is pretty straightforward: since good engineers are hard to find, free our engineers of non-engineering tasks so they can ...
2
votes
1answer
54 views
Workers of a subsidary purely work on products of the parent company
If the parent company wholly owns the subsidiary, could the employees of the subsidiary work on products of the parent company? Are special contracts needed?
Thanks
2
votes
8answers
1k views
Who owns the IP rights for a product you're making outside working hours (in USA)?
Does the company you're currently work for owns the IP rights if you are creating a product after work hours? Is there anything that can defend me if the company at one point claims that they own it ...
1
vote
3answers
159 views
Is it OK to use a shortened first name as a professional?
My name is Amir Khan but instead of Amir I want use Am Khan on my email accounts, online presence, and that's what I want people to call me by and on everything legal I will of course use my full ...
2
votes
1answer
81 views
What is considered “generous-stock-options” for a start-up company in its early days?
We are a young startup, founded by 3 members about a year and a half ago, and recently closed a seed-stage investment round.
We are about to hire our first 3 employees, 2 tech, 1 ...
1
vote
3answers
204 views
Hiring remote employees and getting work done
I want to hire a few developers and support executive for my website. Being an start up, I want to hire them to work remotely to save office expenses but I don't know anything about hiring full time ...
4
votes
2answers
186 views
Hiring first person employee vs contractor
I have bootstrapped a startup in NY and am ready to hire a person. Should I hire this person as a contractor or as an employee. I realize that there are many laws and logistics around hiring an ...
1
vote
5answers
471 views
What effect does winning an office lottery pool have on the health of small companies
A couple people at my place of work (small-medium company with < 100 employees) are starting up a lottery pool, and it got me wondering about what would happen if they won.
So my question is this, ...
90
votes
39answers
19k views
What fun and low-cost fringe benefits/perks would you offer to employees?
Let's face it. As startups, we can't really offer top-dollar salaries to our employees. But we can offer some fun benefits that the big companies can't/won't. Here are a few that we have that seem to ...
5
votes
6answers
286 views
DIY Payroll Processing?
I have tried (and been rejected by) a few online payroll solutions. As I am about to start (very soon) working with real employees, I need to find a way to do payroll more or less manually (though I ...
9
votes
12answers
2k views
What are the pros and cons of employees that work remotely?
What are the considerations as we consider employees that would work remotely? I'm particularly thinking about technical positions (programming, web site maintenance) that are remote due to geography ...
5
votes
10answers
2k views
What is the elegant way to quit your current job for your startup?
I'm sure many of you have been in this situation before, where you want to quit your day job to focus more on the startup you have built.
Currently I'm having a hard way to tell my employer that I ...
4
votes
6answers
492 views
Is it fair to go home 5 o'clock sharp so you can have more time to do your startup?
I saw this response in other thread that in order for you to get more time to build your startup, you should go home right ontime (5 o'clok sharp) everyday if you're still working for someone else. ...
2
votes
4answers
232 views
Is it illegal to sell a software template created at work but duplicated and augmented at home?
I am an employee at a large company and I created a worksheet using my work computer. The worksheet helps me organize my info such as passwords and time-off records. I replicated it and then ...
0
votes
2answers
386 views
What is the law covering the intellectual property rights of software developed during internship/employment without signed contract/agreement?
I am a software engineer who "invented", and developed alone an integrated ERP software solution over the past 2 years. I got the idea and coded much of the software as intern at small wholesale ...
6
votes
7answers
507 views
Potential offer as first employee at startup, worth it?
I am a software engineer with about 2 years experience and currently at a big tech company. I have an offer to join a startup that has just received seed funding of 250k and they're about 6 months ...
4
votes
6answers
1k views
What do I need to know about hiring an intern?
My bootstrapped startup (Textaurant) needs some help with market research. Since we're so close to two of my alma maters (undergrad is ~1 mile, grad is ~5 miles), I figured I would reach out to their ...
1
vote
2answers
75 views
Question about terminating contract with employee
Not sure if this the right place to ask but here it goes:
We (myself and 2 founders) found our startup about a year ago. Then we brought on an employee to work part-time and had him sign a contract. ...
2
votes
3answers
305 views
Considerations in setting up a payroll schedule (pay periods & pay days)?
I am setting up payroll for the first time. So far in my research I have discovered that the state of Arizona requires:
I must pay employees within 5 days of the pay period.
I must schedule pay days ...
7
votes
4answers
4k views
Do employees get paid during the time a business is closed for renovations?
I'm curious if a company has to (or if it is normal to) pay their employees if they, for instance, close the business for a while for renovations.
For a specific case, say a restaurant closes for a ...
2
votes
5answers
386 views
Working as early employee but not get paid
I got hired as an early employee (employee #4) and considered as key engineer of the company. As compensation, I got some stock option grant (1%), and well below market salary (about 30% of what I can ...
3
votes
2answers
241 views
Invoicing while full-time employed
I'd need some help in understanding what I need to do, admittedly I am getting into this for the first time.
I am full-time employed in a privately held company in the UK. Recently, I started doing ...
0
votes
1answer
111 views
Do contractors and part-timers count as employees?
When asked in person, or in an survey, the number of employees a startup has, should one count contractors in that number? What about part-timers or interns?
3
votes
5answers
2k views
What are the US laws governing taxation of remote employees from other countries?
Hi Id like to ask what are US laws that govern taxation when you hire remote employees from
other countries specifically Argentina, Philippines, Venezuela and Poland?
1
vote
1answer
115 views
Startup equity for employee - real stock or option
For an earlier employee (not C level title), is it common to pay via option instead of real stock equity?
Assume both need to suffer from 4 year vesting schedule with 1 year cliff.
3
votes
1answer
215 views
Example of Agreement (template) with Company for doing stuff in spare time
According to related topic:
If I'm working at a company, do they have intellectual property rights to the stuff I do in my spare time?
(and related : Intellectual Property and Side-Projects in ...
10
votes
2answers
446 views
Does the concept of “Unlimited Vacation” increase productivity and attract talented employees?
Does the concept of "Unlimited Vacation" increase productivity and attract talented employees ?
I've read about it here, specifically:
Unlimited vacation fosters productivity and loyalty because ...
2
votes
1answer
164 views
How should early employees be compensated if founders have left and the company has pivoted?
I realize that Joel Spoelsky has written an extensive summary of how equity should be allocated (namely, fairly), but I was wondering how things might differ in slightly different circumstances...
I ...
10
votes
15answers
1k views
Employee abusing sick leave
We have a very important employee at our startup who has been consistently abusing sick days. Unfortunately being a small company we would have a very hard time replacing him at this point but his ...
1
vote
1answer
170 views
Non-compete clause for a early employee
Is it common to ask early employee of a startup to sign a contract containing non-compete clauses?
I am against our employee, but I have a little concern on our competitor as they have money to lure ...
16
votes
14answers
6k views
Should I put my “startup” experience on my resume?
I have a similar question to this one regarding putting your "startup" on your resume. I have a full time job and started a small company on the side. My startup isn't a product company - I've been ...
0
votes
1answer
44 views
Do I need to register with the tax department of every state in which I have employees?
In my startup, we have employees (paid hourly) from New Jersey and California. The startup itself is based in New York. We're doing our payroll through Intuit, and the application is telling me I ...
6
votes
1answer
316 views
How to fire people but still maintain a happy/friendly work-space?
People come and go in a startup very often. Even if you try your best to find best talents, there's no guarantee that they are a good fit for your company in a long run.
The present culture of hiring ...
0
votes
2answers
77 views
Employees working for other companies?
Our company is a small, Eastern European outsourcing firm, focusing on PHP, .NET, and mobile development projects). As our company is trying to get off the ground, and since we don't have much money ...
4
votes
3answers
514 views
Are co-founders employees? Do they need to be paid minimum wage?
If there is a co-founder with 20% equity in the company but no salary, what is his status in the company? Should he be considered an employee? What is the difference between a cofounder and an ...
2
votes
4answers
321 views
Choose to pay the employees a little too much or a little too less?
We tend to think that the fair value of a work is the price of it, but it's hard to appreciate. As a web startup, what do you think is the best strategy, keep the pay a little too less to keep the ...
1
vote
2answers
234 views
The startup I work for is slashing my last pay periods paycheck without notice
This question is not directly related to a creating or running a startup, but I guess this is one of the things that can happen at a startup and I'd love to hear responses from both sides of the ...
