According to Zippia, an estimated 300,000 people intern each year in the United States. This number might not include less formal work arrangements for students who are brought on to work for the summer months. As opposed to a formal internship program, these students take on projects at small-to-midsize companies. They could focus on a specific department or operate as a “jack of all trades” throughout the organization.
While these summer workers can be valuable to your business, their temporary nature can also create issues for your HR department. Do these employees need job descriptions? How do you manage payroll for such a short period of time? How do you figure out taxes when they might have two addresses (in two states, no less)? What about the labor-intensive onboarding and offboarding processes and tracking year-end W-2 forms?
How to Hire Summer Employees
First, you should have a job description for any employee, even if they are temporary or seasonal workers. Determine the hours, whether they will be permitted to work remotely, salary structure, etc. Then, you’re ready to interview!
Interview candidates and consider their skills, personality,
and previous work history to determine if they will be the
right fit for your team. Once you’ve found the right person, extend the offer! You should consider whether you need to provide a written offer letter as well as how the new hire will be paid.
Once your offer has been accepted, there is some paperwork you’ll need to collect. If the candidate is classified as a W-2 employee, you’ll need their Form I-9 to verify their eligibility to work in the United States. You might also need a direct deposit registration and federal and state tax forms. Consider if you require the employee to complete a background check or drug screen.
Now that you have your new hire onboarded, you must ensure ongoing compliance with state and local governance. You’ll also need to meet requirements about pay periods, overtime, sick
leave, mandatory trainings, etc. There’s a lot to handle, even for a temporary employee!
Pay Attention to Employee Classification!
When you’re bringing on a summer worker, you need to be sure they are classified correctly per employment law. When you have an employee (paid via W-2), you decide when, where, and how the employee performs the job. You provide their equipment, set the hours for the job, and pay them by the hour, week, or month. Most importantly, you provide the required employer insurances and tax contributions – such as FICA, FUTA, SUTA, workers compensation, business liability, and errors and omissions.
When you work with an Independent Contractor (paid via 1099), the contractor develops their own scope of work and work hours. They pay their own business expenses and provides their own equipment, and they receive payment based upon completion of a sale or project. In this case, the contractor pays their own taxes and carries their own workers compensation and liability insurance.
It’s critical that you are following the appropriate classification for each worker! The risk of misclassification can be high with seasonal workers and the repercussions can be remarkable.
The Summer Employee HR Solution
Does all this sound like a lot to handle just for a few extra workers over the summer? Checks and Balances has more than 38 years of experience in developing customized solutions for clients of all sizes, from boutique firms to Fortune 500 companies. This includes specialized HR processes for internships or summer employees you bring on for additional help.
Each step of our hiring and onboarding process is tailored to each client and created to minimize risk and maximize efficiency. We can ease the confusion and liability of employee misclassification as well as the burden of adding more employees for such a short amount of time. And because Checks and Balances is licensed in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, it doesn’t matter where your intern is working from.
Checks and Balances customizes onboarding for each client, and can customize further for specific positions like your summer employees. We’ll handle all the employment verification paperwork and provide them with your requirements and rules.
We process payroll – including all federal, state, and local taxes – for your summer employees. We can pay them via direct deposit and handle all IRS records submissions. We’ll also include them in all business insurance coverage. They can even take advantage of our employee benefits, depending on the number of hours worked each week!
But the Employer of Record Program doesn’t stop once the employees are onboarded. Checks and Balances provides complete HR support, including timesheet and expense collection, employee file maintenance, an Employee Portal for access to paystubs and forms, and more. We guide employees in the case of underperformers and will provide termination assistance if necessary. Our dedicated HR Service Team is comprised of experts who handle all inquiries and issues for both you as our client and the employee.
Conclusion
Tracking time, processing payroll, and maintaining compliance is time consuming. Even if you have a dedicated HR department, they are dealing with their day-to-day duties for your core workforce. Partner with Checks and Balances to handle your summer employees and embrace the efficiency and risk mitigation we provide! Learn more about our Employer of Record Program