Human Resources

An employee attendance policy is a company document, often part of your handbook, that clearly defines general attendance and related matters at your company. These should also indicate how employees may be disciplined for violations of the policy. If you are looking for an attendance policy example, download our free template and customize it based on your business’s needs. Sections To Include in an Employee Attendance Policy When creating an employee attendance policy, it’s important to define the terms at the beginning of each section. This will help ensure everyone agrees to it and that there’s no ambiguity about what these terms mean. Ambiguity leads to confusion, which can leave employees frustrated and unsure of when they violate a policy. To make sure you have an effective, fair, and legally compliant attendance policy, here are the most important sections to include. Tips for Creating a Fair Attendance Policy You know the big pieces of your employee attendance policy—but now you want to ensure it’s fair. The best way to approach this is to customize it to your specific business needs and culture. For an easy time setting expectations and creating a fair setup, we recommend talking to your managers and supervisors to get them on board. By getting them on the same page, you can ensure fair enforcement of the attendance policy. This is key to making sure employees receive equal treatment and that your company avoids legal headaches. Set Reasonable Expectations When it comes to enforcing disciplinary actions, it’s important to be reasonable. If you decide to terminate employees after one unexcused absence, then that sends the wrong message. Being too strict can appear as micromanagement and trying to control an employee’s personal time. This could drive employees to seek jobs elsewhere. Having more reasonable expectations shows your team that you understand that sometimes, life gets in the way and, when it does, they won’t suffer serious job-related consequences. Ensure Compliance Compliance is often seen as a roadblock to company growth—but in reality, it’s showing you where the boundaries are to help your company grow while not triggering costly investigations from the Department of Labor or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). There are many areas of employment law you need to pay attention to when creating an attendance policy, including the difference between employee classifications. Nonexempt Employees Nonexempt, usually hourly employees, must receive overtime pay for any hours worked over 40 in a single workweek. You must pay them at least the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour and time and a half for overtime. Exempt Employees To qualify as exempt, employees must meet certain criteria, like having specific job duties and making a salary of at least $684 per week. You can find all the requirements in the Department of Labor (DOL) Fact Sheet #17A. According to the DOL Fact Sheet #17G, any salaried employee who works any part of a workweek must be paid the full salary for the week, regardless of how many hours the employee worked. If you decide to deduct pay, you may convert the employee to a nonexempt employee and be subject to back overtime pay in perpetuity. Bottom Line You expect employees to show up on time. When they don’t, that creates problems for the business and other employees. Emergencies happen, and companies should be flexible—but within reason. Having a clear attendance policy will help you hold employees accountable for their actions while treating everyone fairly and avoiding costly employee lawsuits and government fines.

As you learn how to do payroll in New Mexico, you’ll find that labor laws for hours, time off, and overtime closely align with federal regulations—so you won’t have to deal with as many headaches as employers in some states do. Employers are required to pay state income tax withholdings monthly and state unemployment insurance (SUTA) every quarter. New Mexico also requires you to find a private insurer for workers' compensation, which is common in most states. While New Mexico’s payroll and tax system isn’t especially complicated, payroll software that handles tax filing can make things easier while keeping you compliant with wage and labor laws. We recommend because it tracks payroll and tax laws for all 50 states and lets you pay employees by check or direct deposit. Sign up today and get 50% off for 3 months. Running Payroll in New Mexico: Step-by-Step Instructions Step 1: Set up your business as an employer. To comply with federal law, you need your employer ID number (EIN) and an account in the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). Step 2: Register with New Mexico state. To pay state income tax withholdings. Register for an account with the New Mexico Taxpayer Access Point. This is also where you register your business and receive your taxation number, known as the CRS. Alternatively, you can fill out and submit an ACD-31015 at your local tax office. To pay SUTA, register for an account with the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions. You’ll need your business information, including the date your employees first performed services in New Mexico, gross quarterly summary of wages paid, and description of services. Once registered, you will get an Employer Account Number (EAN) and access to the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Tax System. Step 3: Set up your payroll. Create a set schedule of paydays that are at least twice a month (except for executives and supervisors, who can be monthly). Creating a payroll schedule will require you to have a payroll process already in place. If you don’t, learn how to set up payroll yourself in our helpful guide. Step 4: Collect employee payroll forms. Payroll forms are best filled out during employee onboarding. Forms include W-4, I-9, and a direct deposit authorization form. New Mexico does not have a state W-4. Step 5: Collect, review, and approve time sheets. Be sure to accurately account for overtime. Time sheet templates or time clocks can help employees efficiently track their hours. Step 6: Calculate payroll and pay employees. You can use payroll software, a calculator, or even an Excel template to calculate payroll. Step 7: File payroll taxes with the federal and New Mexico state government. Follow the IRS instructions for federal taxes, including unemployment. You’ll report using the Wage Withholding Tax Return Form WWT-1. You can file New Mexico taxes and unemployment insurance online, as well, using the Taxpayer Access Point e-filing portal. You’ll just need your state tax ID number and PIN. New Mexico Income Taxes: New Mexico withholdings are paid on the 25th of the month following the end of a reporting period, unless the 25th is Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday. Then it is due the next business day. SUTA: You must file online and pay via automated clearing house (ACH) debit. If the due date for a report or tax payment falls Saturday or Sunday, reports and payments are considered on time if they are received on or before the following business day. Step 8. Document and store your payroll records. New Mexico requires you to keep records on employees for at least one year. Information should include contact and payroll information about the employer and employee. See the paystub requirements below and learn more in our article on retaining payroll records. Step 9. Do year-end payroll tax reports. Send the federal Forms W-2 (for employees) and 1099 (for contractors). You also need to submit the state copy of the W-2 to New Mexico. You can file the Form RPD-41072, Annual Summary of Withholding Tax, but it is not required unless you underpaid or overpaid monthly withholdings. Download our free checklist to help you stay on track while you’re working through these steps: New Mexico Payroll Laws, Taxes & Regulations No matter what state you are in, you must maintain compliance with payroll regulations and follow federal law on withholding money from employee paychecks for income taxes, Social Security (6.2% from each employee paycheck and a matching 6.2% from your bank account), Medicare (1.45% from each employee paycheck and a matching 1.45% from your bank account), and federal unemployment insurance (6% of each employee’s first $7,000 earned). Learn more in our article on federal and state payroll tax rates. New Mexico Taxes New Mexico has state income taxes, but no particular local income taxes. It charges unemployment insurance taxes. Companies hiring more than three employees also need to get workers' compensation insurance unless they have over 100 employees and are large enough to self-insure. State Income Taxes If you withhold federal income taxes for an employee, then you must also withhold state income taxes. This includes agricultural workers under some conditions. However, Native Americans who are members of a New Mexico federally recognized Indian nation, tribe, or pueblo and who live on the lands where they are enrolled are exempt. New Mexico charges income tax rates from 1.7% to 5.9%. All income is taxed, and rates depend on filing status and annual income. You can find New Mexico’s current rates and other information on filing by checking out the 2022 New Mexico Withholding Tax document the state released. Unemployment Insurance New Mexico charges SUTA; if you have employees, then you must pay it. In general, you need to pay if you paid an individual $450 or more in any calendar quarter in the current or preceding calendar year, or if you employed one or more persons—including part-time workers—in each of 20 different calendar weeks of the current or previous calendar year. There are different rules for farm, domestic, and nonprofit organizations. The SUTA is based on a taxable wage base of $27,000. SUTA rates run from 0.33% to 5.4% for experienced employers. Rates are calculated and assigned based on your benefit ratio, reserve factor (1.6528 for 2021 and determined by Unemployment Trust Fund solvency), and experience history factor. If that number exceeds 5.4%, you will add an excess claims rate, which is a pre-adjusted contribution rate minus 5.4%, then multiplied by 10%. The excess claims rate cannot be higher than 1%. New employers are charged at their industry average or 1%, whichever is greater. You can find the industry rates and a full explanation of how experienced rates are calculated on the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions Website. . Workers’ Compensation Insurance If you are a New Mexico business and have three or more employees anywhere in the US with at least one working in New Mexico, you need New Mexico workers' compensation insurance. If you do work requiring licenses by the Construction Industries Licensing Act, you must have workers' compensation coverage, even if you have fewer than three employees. There are three types of coverage: conventional (for most businesses); assigned risk pool (for those in high-risk industries); and self-insurance (for larger, qualifying companies). You get workers’ comp insurance from a qualified insurance broker. Minimum Wage Laws in New Mexico Like many states, New Mexico is raising the minimum wage, although it has not posted rate increases past 2023. In 2022, the hourly minimum wage rose to $11.50, or $2.80 for tipped employees. For 2023, these amounts will rise again to $12 for standard employees and $3 for tipped employees. The rates for minors in training or student work-study have not been published. Some counties and cities have different rates. Where there is conflict, such as for tipped employees, defer to the highest rate. Cities do not list different rates for students or work-study. There are some exemptions: Minors under 18 Individuals employed in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity and forepersons, superintendents, and supervisors An individual engaged in the activities of an educational, charitable, religious, or nonprofit organization where there’s no employer-employee relationship such as for volunteers Salespersons or employees compensated upon piecework, flat rate schedules, or commission basis Registered apprentices and learners otherwise provided by law Seasonal employees of an educational, charitable, or religious youth camp or retreat who are furnished room and board in connection with such employment Any agricultural worker who is a family member, is paid on a piece-rate basis, or whose employer did not, during any calendar quarter during the preceding calendar year, use more than 500 person-days of agricultural labor New Mexico Overtime Regulations New Mexico requires overtime pay of no less than 1.5 times the regular applicable minimum wage rate. Overtime counts as any hours over 40 in a week. In addition, hotels, restaurants, or cafes shall not make employees work more than 10 hours in a 24-hour period or 70 hours in a seven-day period. The law specifically states male employees, but you should apply this rule for all workers. You must keep time records for employees. Firemen, law enforcement officers, or farm or ranch hands whose duties require them to work longer hours, or employees primarily in a standby position, may not be required to work more than 16 hours in any 24-hour period except in emergencies. Different Ways To Pay Employees New Mexico lets you pay employees by cash or check, or direct deposit if agreed upon by the employer and employee. Payroll vouchers also work if they can be converted to cash at full value. Pay Stub Laws New Mexico requires you to provide a written or printed statement detailing the employee’s pay information. Statements must include employee and employer, gross pay, number of hours worked, total wages and benefits, and an itemized listing of deductions. These records must be kept by the employer for a year. Minimum Pay Frequency Employees in New Mexico must designate paydays of no more than 16 days apart, usually for the 16th and end of the month. There are exceptions for executives, professionals, supervisors, outside salespersons, and others as defined in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. These exceptions may be paid once per month. Paycheck Deduction Rules New Mexico employers may make deductions for cash shortages, damage or loss of employer property, uniforms, required tools, or other items necessary for employment. They may also create deductions that are permitted by law or that employees have consented to in writing such as for benefits or retirement. Final Paycheck Laws When you fire or lay off an employee, you must pay all wages within five days of discharge if the wages are fixed. If they are based on a task, piece, or commission basis, you must pay within 10 days. Accrued Time Off You are not required to provide paid or unpaid vacation benefits to employees. New Mexico also does not require you to provide holiday leave or premium pay on holidays unless the time worked qualifies as overtime. However, if you do so, you should provide an agreement in writing and adhere to it. New Mexico HR Laws That Affect Payroll New Mexico labor laws are relatively basic and not much different from federal law. When the two differ, be sure to meet the needs of both. New Mexico New Hire Reporting Employers must report new hires or rehires within 20 days, per federal law. Do this at the New Mexico New Hire Directory. You will need your EIN and contact information and the employee’s information, including Social Security number and date of hire. You can report electronically, by mail to the New Mexico New Hire Directory at P.O. Box 2999, Mercerville, NJ 08690, or by fax at (888) 878-1614. If you submit reports electronically, do so in two monthly transmissions not more than 16 days apart. There is no need to report if there are no new hires since the last report. Paid Sick Leave & Caregiver Leave New Mexico does not require employers to provide paid sick leave, but they must provide unpaid sick leave in accordance with the Family and Medical Leave Act or other federal laws. If you provide sick leaves to an employee, then by The Caregiver Leave Act, you must allow the employee to use that same leave to care for their family members under the same terms. You cannot discharge, threaten to discharge, or retaliate against an employee who uses their leave. Voting Leave New Mexico law allows employees two hours of leave to vote if their workday begins two hours before voting begins and ends less than three hours before the polls close. Employers can set up the time for leave to vote. Lunch & Other Break Time Requirements You are not required to give lunch or other breaks. However, if you do give breaks of less than 30 minutes, you cannot deduct pay for them. You don’t need to pay for lunch or long breaks if the employee is free to do whatever they like during the break. Hiring Minors Children 14 and 15 need a work permit to work in New Mexico. During the school year, they cannot work between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. Outside the school year, the hours are reduced to between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. They also cannot work during school hours or more than three hours per day or 18 hours per week. They cannot work around heavy machinery, explosives, electrical hazards, door-to-door sales, or other similarly dangerous jobs as listed in New Mexico Statutes Chapter 50, Article 6. There are exceptions for children in film or TV productions. New Mexico Payroll Forms New Mexico prefers that you pay and file forms online. The state website has several dead links, but you can get these forms at your district office. Your payroll software may also have them in fillable PDF. New Mexico State W-4 Form New Mexico does not have a state withholding form. You should use the withholding information on the employee’s federal W-4 with the withholding tables for New Mexico to determine how much to withhold for each paycheck. Other Payroll and Tax Forms ES802 (A, B, C, and O): These forms let you opt to become liable for payments instead of contributing to unemployment insurance and to submit surety bonds or certificates. Form ACD-31015, Business Tax Registration Form: This form is for changing your business address or canceling your CRS number. WWT-PV Wage Withholding Tax Payment Voucher: To pay withholdings if you are not paying online, use this form. Federal Payroll Forms W-4 Form: To help employers calculate taxes to withhold from employee paychecks W-2 Form: Reporting total annual wages earned (one per employee) W-3 Form: Reports total wages and taxes for all employees Form 940: Reports and calculate unemployment taxes due to the IRS Form 941: Filing quarterly income and FICA taxes withheld from paychecks Form 944: Reporting annual income and FICA taxes withheld from paychecks 1099 Forms: Providing non-employee pay information that helps the IRS collect taxes on contract work For a more detailed discussion of federal forms, check out our guide on federal payroll forms you may need. New Mexico Payroll Tax Resources/Sources New Mexico Tax Website: Get the forms and information and pay online here. New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions: Where you can learn about unemployment, UI taxes, child labor laws, and more. New Mexico Employer Guidebook (Workers' Comp): This downloadable PDF has all the information you need about workers' compensation. FYI Form 104: New Mexico tax laws and tables. Wage Withholding Tax Return: All the information you need on withholdings. Bottom Line New Mexico has fewer labor regulations than many states, but it does charge state income taxes and SUTA and requires you to purchase workers’ compensation insurance. It pays to know the regulations and ensure you adhere to them. You can do this on your own, but a good payroll software like Rippling that tracks New Mexico payroll regulations can make the process easier, plus keep up with changes on tax and SUTA rates.

Work-on-demand apps and gig hiring platforms connect businesses with professionals for on-demand, short-term, or freelance work. These cover a variety of uses, including filling in for a shift, doing a handyman or housekeeping job, completing creative or administrative tasks, and even moving. Such platforms differ from temp agencies in that these provide a more direct connection with the person you hire and can often fill shifts on the same day. We looked at dozens of on-demand hiring apps and platforms, particularly for gig work, and narrowed it to the top nine. : Best overall gig app for hiring creatives and administrative freelancers : Best for startups needing talent for crowdfunding and marketing campaigns : Best for housekeeping and handyman tasks, including plumbing and electrical : Best for quick creative tasks on a budget : Best for the restaurant and hospitality industry for filling shifts fast : Best work on-demand app for filling part-time or full-time W2 jobs quickly and without the hassle of onboarding or paying benefits : Best for finding skilled workers for common tasks from housekeeping to minor repairs : Best for delivery personnel and local moves : Best on-demand app for hiring local workers for short-term work in manufacturing, warehousing, and more Best Work-on-Demand Apps for Hiring Compared Upwork: Best Overall On-demand Hiring App for Creative & Administrative Work is our No. 1 choice for the best freelance websites, so it’s no surprise it ranks so well here. If you are looking for professionals for creative, administrative, or IT-type work, this site does not disappoint. It lets you set up projects to get bids or search for freelancers to contact individually. In addition to time tracking, it offers its Any Hire program, which lets you run payroll and team management from Upwork for all your employees. Upwork is typically used for more involved, longer-term projects; if you need a quick turnaround on a simpler task, try Fiverr. Upwork earned 4.08 out of 5 in our evaluation. Since it charges the freelancers on its site, the markup to you is small—unless you select the Any Hire program (some freelancers may include their Upwork fees in their bids, however). It’s an extremely popular and highly rated program and did well for job fulfillment and overall functions. You won’t be able to hire same-day in most cases, and not all of its participants are vetted, but you can see their ratings from other Upwork clients. Upwork Pricing Upwork has two plans for hiring gig workers through its system—the Client Marketplace and the Enterprise Plan. You can also take advantage of its Any Hire Plan to manage full-time or outsourced employees. Client Marketplace charges 5% per transaction or 3% per transaction if you are a US business paying through a checking account. This plan gives you a free job post upgrade per month and 30 invites to freelancers. The Enterprise Plan is custom-priced. It offers unlimited invites, and you can negotiate the number of post upgrades. This plan also includes talent sourcing, program managers, compliance assistance, onboarding, and the option of payroll at 23% of the contracted amount. The Any Hire program lets you bring in your outsourced freelancers, and full-time employees are available for hire as well. Upwork will then serve as Employer of Record. Contractors: $49 per month + 3% transaction fee Full-time Employees: $49—$799 per employee per month + 3% transaction fees, and payroll fees of 5%—70%, depending on the employee location Upwork Features Upwork is for contractor work only, usually remote. It’s not a good choice for shift work or local labor jobs. If you need a local hire in the creative arena, consider Giggrabbers. Wide range of rated freelancers: Upwork has over 10 million registered freelancers in a variety of fields, from administration to logo design and app development. Freelancers undergo a simple approval process to be on its site, and you can narrow down candidates by qualification, rates, pay, and more. Alternatively, you can have Upwork select a qualified and vetted freelancer for you through its Talent Scout program. Giggrabbers has a similar program but with a focus on online marketing. Flexible payment options: You can pay gig workers by the hour or by the project or as they reach milestones. Upwork lets you pay international workers in their own currency (there may be an extra fee). Project management: Upwork provides tools for time and milestone tracking, communication, and more. It also has optional payroll with its Any Hire and Enterprise plans. The other providers in our list also have additional features beyond hiring, like Qwick, which has time-tracking, Giggrabbers, with its project planner, and Band of Hands, which gives you a Paychex payroll account. Manage employees through Upwork: Upwork recently added Any Hire, a platform that lets you hire and manage your own freelancers and full-time employees through the Upwork system for payroll and team management. This unique tool is very useful if you work mostly with freelance gig workers and only have a few full-time employees. Ease of use: Upwork is extremely easy to use, although its how-to articles are somewhat limited. Businesses give a lot of praise for the platform saying they easily found qualified talent. It had the highest user review score of those on our list after Qwick (which only had 2 reviews). Mobile App: Like most of the products on our list, Upwork has separate apps for clients (employers) and professionals (freelancers). The client app lets you post jobs, correspond with applicants, and hire and pay them. The professional app is highly rated, although Fiverr’s app has better ratings. Client app: Android: 4.1 out of 5 with 4.65K+ reviews Apple: 4.8 out of 5 with 19.3K+ reviews Professional app: Android: 4 out of 5 with 107K+ reviews Apple: 4.6 out of 5 with 31.8K+ reviews Read our Upwork review for more details. Giggrabbers: Best for Crowdfunding & Online Marketing If you’re a startup or are launching a new product, then can help you find the talent you need for marketing campaigns. You can even create a crowdfunding campaign that can go toward paying your freelancer. In addition to making it easy to search talent, Giggrabbers offers package deals for marketing materials with dedicated freelancers and set deliverables. As it is a relatively new site, its freelancer base is not as broad as those of Upwork or Fiverr, but it’s growing. It’s also on our list of best freelance hiring sites. Giggrabbers’ overall score is 3.66 in our evaluation. It aced pricing, but its score took a huge hit in ease of use. The interface itself is intuitive, although not as easy as Fiverr’s. However, it lacks a mobile option, which brought that score down. It has freelancers worldwide, some of whom are willing to work in-office as needed. Giggrabbers Pricing Giggrabbers charges its service fee to the freelancers, which means the service is free for you, but the professional may include the fee in their prices. It charges $49.95 per job if you want help hiring a freelancer and setting up your project. Pricing-wise, however, Giggrabbers stands out in two ways: First, it can help you create a crowdfunding campaign to pay for the freelancer. Second, it offers Enterprise package plans for marketing, where it supplies vetted talent for specific deliverables. *Customized solutions are also available. Giggrabbers Features Unlike Fiverr and Upwork, Giggrabbers gives you the option of hiring local workers or remote ones. It’s project-based only, however. For shift work, consider Wonolo or Band of Hands. Hire talent: You can find talent in three ways with Giggrabbers: 1) search its database for freelancers, 2) set up a project and take bids, or 3) purchase an Enterprise Plan or Account Management service and have Giggrabbers assign a qualified freelancer to you. This is similar to Upwork. Crowdfund your freelancer: Giggrabbers has a unique option to help you develop a crowdfunding campaign to pay your freelancers for the project. Included in the project development tool, it makes it easy to set up a campaign to share with friends, family, or fans through social media. Thus, it’s possible to get your talent completely free. Enterprise plans: Giggrabbers’ enterprise plans are unique in that they are package deals focused on marketing campaigns and include graphics creation, web design, and copywriting. You pay a large up-front fee in return for dedicated talent and support from Giggrabbers. Mobile App: Giggrabbers lacks a mobile device. If you like the convenience of mobile, consider Fiverr or Upwork. Read our Giggrabbers review for more details. Handy: Best for Housekeeping & Handyman Services If you have a one-time handyman project that needs completing or need cleaning services for the short term, then is a great gig-on-demand app to look into. Like TaskRabbit, it is best for simple hands-on projects, from mounting a TV to basic landscaping. Handy, however, will provide you with a quote based on your needs and supply you with certified and insured skilled workers according to your schedule. Handy earned 3.61 out of 5 on our matrix. Its non-transparent pricing lowered its score, but its excellent dispute and rehire/fire tools gave it a perfect 5 out of 5 in that category. It’s also very easy to use. However, its popularity score was lower than most because of user reviews complaining of no-shows as well as confusion over housekeeping contracts and pricing. Handy Pricing Handy differs from most of the on-demand work sites on our list in that it does not share its prices online. You will need to fill out a form stating your location, job, expected hours, and start date, and Handy will call you to provide a quote and arrange an appointment. Handy Features Handy is for local labor only. You contact Handy for a quote on services. If you want local labor where you can set your price range, consider TaskRabbit. Available professionals worldwide: Handy can connect you with vetted professionals in nearly 200 cities across the United States, Canada, and the UK. While TaskRabbit has a presence in more countries, it’s in fewer specific cities. Rather than seeking out the professional yourself, you tell Handy what you need to be done and when, and it arranges the labor for you. Vetted professionals: Unlike TaskRabbit, Handy vets all its professionals (via Checkr). They go through screening for certifications, background checks, and company affiliations. In the case of a company, the company may do tasks even while the owner’s background check is in progress. Handy does not just look at qualifications, but also experience with home service. It handles the employees for you: Handy differs from most of the sites on our list in that it handles finding, assigning, and insuring your temp worker for you, including workers’ comp. Handy Happiness Guarantee: If you have problems with a worker, you can contact Handy at any time. If you paid for the service and are not satisfied, Handy will send another professional at no charge for your next booking. No overtime fees: While you set the number of hours, if your worker needs more time, you can call Handy and approve the extra work. Handy will pay the extra time, so you are only charged the agreed-upon price. This was the only on-demand work service we researched that does this. Mobile App: The Handy app for clients lets you track the locations of your professionals, manage booking details, communicate with them, rate and tip them, and more. It’s not well-rated on Android, but it looks like a lot of the low-star reviews were for no-shows during COVID. (The Handy app for employees is called Angi Services.) Client app: Android: 3.3 out of 5 with 6.81K+ reviews Apple: 4.1 out of 5 with 24.7K+ reviews Professional app (Angi Services for Pros): Android: 3.6 out of 5 with 12.2K+ reviews Apple: 4.6 out of 5 with 21.2K reviews Fiverr: Best for Creative Work on a Tight Budget is also on our list of the best freelance sites, and is even more “gig-based” than Upwork because it specializes in letting clients purchase quick one-off projects at bargain prices. More often than not, you can get quick turnarounds from this site, although you may be charged extra. Originally for creative projects, you can get just about anything on Fiverr, including practical jokes. However, we were more impressed with its offerings for voiceovers, video explainers, translations, DJ mixing, and more. Fiverr earned a solid 3.59 out of 5 on our list. Naturally, w ith a starting price of $5 per project and low transaction fees, it topped the chart for pricing. It lost some points because of its format, which does not find employees for you and often takes more than a day. If a gig worker disappoints you, there is a dispute function, but you are otherwise on your own for finding a new worker or getting the project done elsewhere. However, it’s easy to use and highly popular. Fiverr Pricing With $5 projects, called “gigs,” Fiverr has the lowest entry point of all the freelance websites. However, that is the base price; many freelancers on the site charge extra for faster turnaround or extra features (like multiple image formats). On top of that, you pay a 5.5% service fee on the purchase amount and tips, plus an additional $2 fee for purchases under $50. Fiverr Features Fiverr is for quick, on-time projects—although you can rehire a Fiverr gig worker to handle more tasks. For longer-term projects, consider Upwork. Projects within a day: Unlike Upwork, you can specify that you need a project completed within 24 hours and get sellers who are able to meet that need. Fiverr also flags sellers who are online with a green dot so you can contact them in real time. Pay in advance/escrow: Unlike most of the work-on-demand apps and platforms that we reviewed, Fiverr requires you to pay in advance. The payment is put in escrow and paid out to the seller upon completion of the project. You can preload your Fiverr account and use it for more than one seller, a nice feature if you have a budgeted amount for a project needing multiple freelancers. Easy talent search: Fiverr sellers offer an incredible variety of projects at budget prices. The filters include project options (such as language for a voice-over), budget, seller level of experience and rating, and how fast you need the project done. Fiverr also lists alternatives in case your first choice does not work out. Gig subscriptions: If you like a freelancer’s work, it’s easy to hire them again. Fiverr offers a subscription option for repeat work. No other service on our list offers this option. Alternatively, you can create a list of your favorite sellers to quickly reach them again. Mobile App: Fiverr offers only one app for both clients and professionals. The reviews are excellent, but there are complaints about the ability to download finished files. The app lets you find freelancers and communicate with them. Android: 4.6 out of 5 with 280K+ reviews Apple: 4.9 out of 5 with 363.5K+ reviews Read our Fiverr review for more details. Qwick: Best for Restaurants Needing Shifts Filled Fast *Qwick is only available in the ff. states: AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, MD, NY, NC, OH, PA, TN, TX works much like a temp agency, but with on-demand fulfillment of shift workers for restaurants, hotels, and events. Its workers are industry professionals that work as independent contractors. It has one of the most thorough vetting procedures on our list and offers shifts that its workers choose to pick up. It’s a great way to find someone to fill in a last-minute gap, hire seasonal workers, or surge for a planned event. One drawback to Qwick, however, is that it’s only available in 13 states, plus Washington, D.C.—consider Wonolo if your area is not covered. Qwick earned 3.56 out of 5 in our evaluation. The 40% markup made it one of the most expensive on our list, but it earned an excellent score for ease of use, in part because it handles insurance and finds employees for you. Businesses give the service and the app high scores as well—4.9 out of 5 stars on the Apple store. Qwick Pricing Qwick’s pricing is simple: You set the hourly fee for your worker, and Qwick adds a 40% service fee to that, the second-highest fee on this list (Wonolo is first, at 45%). You can also pay your worker tips, which are not included when calculating the service fee. Qwick Features Qwick is for filling shifts in the restaurant and hospitality industry. You can set up for one-time fills, recurring shifts, or seasonal work. For project-based work, consider Handy or TaskRabbit. In-depth vetting: Qwick has the most extensive vetting process on our list. They interview employees, quiz them on their knowledge, and make them attend an in-person orientation before bringing them onto the platform. Clients also rate professionals; if someone’s rating falls below 3.5 out of 5, they are removed. Certifications: Qwick makes sure workers have the certifications they need for the jobs they accept, such as food handling or alcohol serving. They also have TIPS/Basic Title IV certifications where needed. This helps ensure you stay compliant with local law. For most services on our list, you need to ask about certifications yourself. Workers’ Comp: Like Handy, Qwick handles a worker’s insurance, including workers’ compensation. Excellent success rate: Qwick boasts a 98% fill rate and says it can find you a temp in a matter of minutes rather than days. Rehiring/Firing tools: If you like a worker, you can add them to your favorites to request for future shifts. If you rate them 5 stars, they get dibs on future shifts from you. However, if you have a no-show or a poor worker, you can complain to Qwick within two hours of the shift to get a refund; plus, you can rate them poorly, which affects their future employment through Qwick. Mobile App: Qwick has one of the highest-rated apps for employers on our list. The employee app is similarly well-regarded. Managers using the app can view shift rosters, rate professionals, and create a custom pool of favorite workers for filling future shifts. Client app: Android: 4.4 out of 5 with 40+ reviews Apple: 4.9 out of 5 with 450+ reviews Professional app: Android: 3.9 out of 5 with 2.35K+ reviews Apple: 4.9 out of 5 with 7.3K+ reviews Band of Hands: Best for Finding Short-term W2 Workers offers a “new way” to hire talent. It provides a job board with a ready set of gig workers who are vetted and onboarded into their system. Workers sign up for part-time or full-time jobs with you, but Band of Hands handles all the paperwork and payroll, including benefits for those working over 30 hours a week. You benefit from a ready workforce, while its laborers can select their jobs to suit their schedules. However, the biggest issue is its reach—Band of Hands is only available in Arizona, California, and Minnesota. With a 3.34 out of 5 in our evaluation, Band of Hands placed above Wonolo, which provides similar services. It earned a top score for pricing, with you setting the worker rate and paying an additional weekly fee. You can choose your workers and make jobs private to invite specific workers to apply. Band of Hands can select workers for you if desired as well. Band of Hands Pricing Band of Hands charges a one-time sign-up fee of $250. After that, it costs $10 per employee, per week, or $40 per month. This is less expensive than others that have salary markups and is even cheaper than many payroll software programs. You set the price you want to pay. You can hire as a W-2 worker or 1099 contractor. You are responsible for workers’ compensation and, for W-2 workers, payroll taxes, including FUTA and SUTA. Band of Hands Features Band of Hands is primarily for shift or salary work. If you need local labor for a project, consider Handy or TaskRabbit. W-2 employees without W-2 hassle: Band of Hands takes care of the onboarding, payroll, and even benefits for the workers it provides. All you do is create the jobs and take them on. This service includes additional onboarding tools if you have specific documents that need to be signed, time tracking tools, and more. The others on our list do not provide as many services. Set your company profile: You can attract more workers to your business with a company profile, which Band of Hands lets you create and edit. DIY Payroll: Band of Hands uses Paychex Flex for paying employees. It gives you an account for paying your employees. You’ll need to fill out and submit payroll two days before the employee gets paid (usually each Friday). It provides a training video. Most services on our list handle the payments for you, with their markups. Invite preferred workers: If you would like to invite a particular person to sign up for a future job, you need to set the job to private, then invite them through the app. Others on our list let you reach out individually to favorites or give them the first right of refusal to new jobs. Mobile App: Band of Hands has only one app on Android for both clients and professionals (most other providers on our list offer separate applications). The Google app lets you post jobs and communicate with professionals, while the Apple app seems to be only for accepting work. Android: No rating, 100 downloads Apple: 4.3 out of 5 with 16 reviews TaskRabbit: Best for Skilled Workers of Your Choosing for Short-term Tasks is a popular site for finding handymen and skilled labor for simple tasks. This usually covers housekeeping and simple repairs but can include moving, staffing an event, and even personal assistant work. You set the price and task, find qualified workers, and set a schedule with them—which is the major difference between Handy, which provides you a quote and selects workers for you. While intended for personal use, businesses can take advantage of the platform for finding and hiring people for quick tasks. TaskRabbit has 3.25 out of 5 stars in our evaluation. None of its scores were top-notch, but all of them were average or better. It earned points for having live support, but it has no videos or manual for using its system—granted, it’s intuitive enough. You need to find your own employees, and while it has a rating system, there is no vetting process. Users rated it 3.7 out of 5, although the mobile apps all earned much higher scores than that. TaskRabbit Pricing We did not find pricing on TaskRabbit’s site, but third-party sources say it charges clients 7.5%, which funds its Trust and Support program. If you pay using a credit card, expect an additional 3% on top of that. However, for the taskers themselves, you set the price you are willing to pay. (They pay TaskRabbit a 15% commission.) TaskRabbit Features TaskRabbit is for hiring skilled workers and professionals on a by-job basis. It is not for filling shifts. For shiftwork, consider Band of Hands or Wonolo. Find taskers nationwide: TaskRabbit is available in 60 cities across the United States. TaskRabbit is also available in the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Compare this to Handy, which claims “hundreds of cities around the United States, Canada, and the U.K.” People on this service (called taskers) generally work local labor, although there are some administrative positions that might be remote as well. Search and evaluate taskers: The search is similar to many of the on-demand apps on our list: set your task, price range, and location, and choose from a list of taskers. Anyone can sign up to be a tasker, so you need to check qualifications before hiring if needed. However, they are evaluated by jobs done and satisfaction. Taskers who are especially good are granted elite status, which shows up on their profile. Handy, on the other hand, vets its workers. Save your faves: Like many of the gig apps on our list, if you have a good experience with a tasker, you can save them to a list to call upon again. Dispute management: TaskRabbit not only lets you dispute taskers who provided a bad service, but it also lets you file a claim for lost, stolen, or damaged items. TaskRabbit will respond in five days. Unfortunately, if your tasker is late or a no-show, all you can do (other than contact them through the app) is give them a bad review. Mobile App: Like most of the apps on our list, there are separate apps for clients and professionals. The client app lets you find, hire, chat with, and pay a tasker/professional. It’s one of the higher-rated apps on our list. Client app: Android: 4 out of 5 with 10K+ reviews Apple: 4.8 out of 5 with 27K+ reviews Professional app: Android: 4 out of 5 with 7.68K+ reviews Apple: 3.9 out of 5 with 2.6K+ reviews Dolly: Best for Last-mile Deliveries & Small Moves taps into the gig economy to provide movers for last-mile delivery and one-time moving options for people and businesses. Used by companies like Costco, Big Lots!, and Purple, it’s also available for small businesses. Dolly serves about 50 cities, covering 70% of urban America. Dolly earned a 3.16 out of 5 on our matrix. It’s the only one on our list to earn a perfect score for ease of use, and it did reasonably well on the other criteria as well. The hardest-hit section was rehiring/firing because you cannot choose your professionals, and Dolly has a bad record of finding replacements for no-shows. Dolly Pricing Dolly does not list its pricing on its website. You will need to call for a quote. You cannot set your price or price range. Only Handy has similar nontransparent pricing; the rest on our list show prices or at least let you set a range. Dolly Features Dolly is for hiring local talent for deliveries or short moves. If they cannot meet your needs or you have a one-time delivery or move, consider TaskRabbit. On-demand moving: Unlike TaskRabbit, Dolly specializes only in deliveries, with vetted professionals in branded trucks or cargo vans who do small moves and delivery of items for individuals or retail. You can hire them for ongoing work or one-time deliveries. TMS system: While some apps have time or project tracking, Dolly has its own transportation management system (TMS), Lighthouse, which you can use (for a fee) to track deliveries. Alternatively, you can use Dolly’s API to integrate its tracking into your own TMS. This is a great help for knowing where a delivery is and is a plus for your customer service. Mobile App: Dolly’s mobile apps are more popular with clients than professionals, which is backward from most. However, since Dolly assigns your workers, this should not be a problem for you. You can easily book a move or delivery on the app. Client app: Android: 4.2 out of 5 with 2.69K+ reviews Apple: 4.7 out of 5 with 28.6K+ reviews Professional app: Android: 2.7 out of 5 with 60+ reviews Apple: 4.7 out of 5 with 1.8K+ reviews Wonolo: Best for Hiring Local Workers provides a pool of prescreened workers that you can hire within a day. You create and post the job, and the professionals (called Wonoloers) can see and accept it right away. You’ll get a profile of those that accept the shift. If you like a worker, you can invite them for further work or even hire them away from the platform. Wonolo is similar to Bands of Hands in that it lets you post shifts for workers and handles insurance and workers’ comp; however, it is available throughout the US. Wonolo had the lowest score on our list—3.06 out of 5—but is an oft-mentioned site for gig workers, which earned it a place here. It’s easy to use, but you do have to post jobs to get workers, rather than Wonolo assigning them to you like Band of Hands can. Wonolo handles insuring the Wonoloers so that you won’t need to. Wonolo Pricing Like Qwick, Wonolo has a hefty markup fee: 45%. It also charges a late fee of 1.5% interest. If you like a worker you hire and want to take them on full-time as an employee, Wonolo charges a hiring fee based on the hours worked by the Wonoloer: 0-200 hours: $6,000 >200, <520 hours: $3,000 >520 Hours: $0. Wonolo Features Wonolo is for hourly or salary employees rather than project-based contractor work. For project-based work, look at Handy or TaskRabbit. Vetted local workers: Wonolo handles the interviewing and background checks for its workers, so all you need to do is post the shifts and type of worker you need. Wonoloers can then accept a shift in a matter of minutes. Wonolo is available in over 100 cities across the US. Band of Hands, by contrast, is only available in Arizona, California, and Minnesota. Vetted, Insured workers: Like the other shift-handling apps on our list, Wonolo vets its workers and provides insurance including workers' compensation. Path Forward program: If you are interested in helping people who were in jail find employment, you can join Wonolo’s Path Forward program, which provides opportunities to those who were in the criminal justice system. You can customize your level of employment through the program to what you are comfortable with. We did not find this with others on our list. Flexible payment: Unlike most of the apps on our list, which require payment in full once a job is complete, you may be able to receive weekly invoices. You need to contact Wonolo to arrange this, and not all businesses qualify. Plan ahead: You can post recurring shifts or upcoming jobs with Wonolo, or invite your favorite Wonoloers to sign up for future shifts. This is pretty typical for shift sites, and Qwick and Band of Hands have similar features. Mobile App: Wonolo’s mobile app is not often used by businesses; the desktop is easier. However, the professional app is very popular and highly rated. This is good because it means Wonoloers are using it to accept shifts. (Wonolo calls its client app Wonolo Pro.) Client app: Android: 4.1 out of 5 with 30+ reviews Apple: 3.7 out of 5 with 6 reviews Professional app: Android: 4.3 out of 5 with 12.9K+ reviews Apple: 4.8 out of 5 with 25.4K+ reviews How We Evaluated the Best Work-on-Demand Hiring Apps We looked at over two dozen gig sites, considering them from a business perspective. As such, we gave priority to those that let you hire fast, allow you to see your candidate’s qualifications and ratings, and were easy to use. A few run like temp agencies, while others let you hire freelancers. For project-based gig work, takes the lead. With reasonable prices and a wide variety of creative and administrative freelancers, it’s easy to find a contractor. If you need in-person labor, however, such as for putting together office furniture, is your top choice. Finally, we found the best for filling in last-minute shifts such as for restaurants. The services vary by what they provide, so we tried to consider features they held in common. Click through the tabs below for our full evaluation criteria: Bottom Line The number of people who prefer the flexibility of gig work is growing. This includes project-minded freelancers like you find on Upwork or Fiverr, or skilled laborers who want to pick up shifts as needed and turn to apps like Wonolo or TaskRabbit. If you are in a bind for a quick fill for a shift or need skilled work for a simple project, these on-demand work apps can connect you to the labor you need. For skilled project work, we recommend Upwork. It offers flexible tools for finding a contractor or posting a job, lets you find hourly or by-project work, and offers other tools for managing your employees—both those you found on Upwork and those you outsourced. Check out Upwork and get started. You May Also Like … How to Hire Employees How to Find Employees You Will Love Best Recruitment Software

Mobile device management (MDM) describes how companies manage the administration and security of mobile devices (cellphones, tablets, laptops, etc.) issued to employees. All businesses—especially smaller ones, due to the higher level of vulnerability—should establish a solid system that ensures reasonable control over all company hardware, software, and data. This should start from when the devices are ordered and issued to when the employee leaves the company. MDM solutions typically consist of a server that manages mobile devices and a client application that users install on their devices. We recommend using MDM software like , which can manage your mobile devices through the entire lifecycle of each employee and also serve as your HR software. It makes mobile device management easy by providing remote access to perform everything necessary—enrollment, configuration, app management, device backup, activity insights, and more—right from your dashboard. How Mobile Device Management Works A strategic mobile device management system can help you keep track of which devices are active and which ones have been deleted or lost. A more advanced system—often handled by an IT expert and supported by software—can also help you limit employee access to specific devices and apps that are not required for their jobs, while also providing protection from malicious software. In general, mobile device management has two approaches: manually or via software. The breadth of this process depends on how well it’s implemented and can be as basic as setting up policies or as complex as generating user activity insights reports to improve device efficiency and usage. Manual Mobile Device Management for Small Businesses For small businesses with a limited employee base or a tight budget, mobile device management can come in the form of manual management, which includes following a policy and device tracking. Your small business may not require advanced app management. Mobile Device Management Using Software Working with a software provider that has MDM products is a great option for companies that are just starting to implement a mobile device management system. The provider can set up the software system for you, and you or a designated employee can act as the administrator. When your needs become more advanced, requiring more than basic software installation of Microsoft products, Slack, and security systems, then you can always hire an IT contractor to help work out any kinks. And if growth supports it, your company may graduate to hiring an IT manager (and potentially a department). Use of Personal Devices BYOD (bring your own device) policies are becoming increasingly popular in the business world, as employees are using their own mobile devices to access company data. This allows employees to use their personal devices for work purposes, which can save the company money on devices and software. However, there are some security risks associated with this policy, and companies need to take steps to ensure that data is protected. Require employees to use a VPN when accessing company data from their personal devices. Require employees to install company-issued security measures—antimalware and antivirus software, firewalls, etc. Require secure logins and passwords to access company data. Why Small Businesses Need MDM A robust MDM system can help improve productivity and security, regardless of the size of the business. However, smaller businesses, in particular, benefit from it the most, as they may not have the resources or staff to manage devices themselves. An MDM solution can be even more beneficial, as small businesses will be able to access remote diagnostics and repairs, secure data storage, and more. MDM is typically necessary for businesses that fall into any of the below categories: Service Industries (e.g., restaurants, retail, hospitality, maid services, hair salons) Warehouses Tech Companies (e.g., wireless companies, IT, computer management) Nonprofit organizations Schools The Role of HR in Mobile Device Management Businesses are increasingly reliant on mobile devices to perform their work tasks. However, managing these devices and protecting company data can be a challenge. To do so, organizations must have a solid HR strategy in place. This includes: Implementing policies and procedures Tracking usage Managing employee access As mentioned before, while the more advanced technical aspects of MDM are generally completed by an IT department, HR is typically the main point of contact and project manager for getting mobile devices set up for new hires. Prior to onboarding your new employees, HR should ensure that their devices—laptops, smartphones, desktops—are fully set up and ready for use. Mobile Device Management Software Solutions There are many different types of MDM systems available, so it's important to do your research and find the one that best meets your needs. Some systems are cloud-based, while others are installed on-premises. Rippling MDM With , you can manage your employees’ mobile devices directly from your Rippling dashboard. When you onboard a new employee through the dashboard, you can buy/reassign, set up, and ship their devices—all ready to go with necessary apps downloaded, security set up, and VPN/Wi-Fi installed. As long as all apps and security systems are added to your Rippling dashboard, there is no need for complicated IT administration. Pricing starts at $8 per user, per month, plus a monthly platform fee, for the core workforce management platform. Then you can customize by adding the products you need, such as time and attendance, benefits administration, and device management. Scroll through the tabs to learn more about mobile device management through Rippling. Other MDM Software Solutions While we suggest Rippling as our top candidate for mobile device management, there are other solutions out there that can match any budget. : Offers end-to-end mobile device management solutions. It’s custom-priced, with a free trial available. : Provides multilayered security for cellphones and tablets. The software is downloadable to your current network and ranges from $202 to $770. A 30-day free trial is available. : Cloud-based MDM solution that enables secure access to data and apps on any device. It’s custom-priced with a 30-day free trial available. Mobile Device Management Privacy Laws Many states have specific privacy laws that apply to MDM solutions. It is important to understand these laws before purchasing or deploying an MDM solution to ensure that all users' personal information is protected. Compliance Any company that uses mobile device management solutions needs to be diligent in remaining compliant with privacy laws. Some specific compliance regulations include: Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) - This act protects private data when processing credit card payments through a mobile device. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) - This act ensures that any protected health information that might be located on a mobile device is protected. Employee Online Privacy Act - This act protects the personal internet accounts of employees from unwarranted access by their employer. One way to ensure data compliance is to run scheduled software audits. GPS Tracking Laws Many MDM systems track employees’ mobile devices using GPS tracking. While this is acceptable during working hours, employers should be mindful of their employees’ privacy outside of the workplace. In general, it is legal for an employee to track company-owned devices such as smartphones and laptops. However, each state may have its own laws when it comes to GPS tracking. For instance, in California it is legal to monitor business calls and computer usage; however, the law doesn’t mention GPS tracking—leaving the interpretation of the law up to the employer. Bottom Line Mobile device management for small businesses is a valuable tool that can help to improve productivity and security. In managing mobile devices, businesses can protect their data, manage devices remotely, and keep employees productive. If you are looking for a way to improve your business' security and productivity, consider using mobile device management solutions. Rippling allows you to remotely manage your devices right from their dashboard.

Handling payroll in the Philippines is a bit different from doing payroll in the US. For instance, one big difference is that every US employee has a Social Security number, which is used to track the employee’s wages and tax requirements; meanwhile, in the Philippines, each employee has a tax identification number (TIN), which must be registered in their employer’s local government office and updated every time they change jobs. If you’ve hired someone from the Philippines or are considering hiring from the country, you need to understand the nuances and complexities of doing payroll for employees in the country. Use these seven steps as a guide on how to do payroll for Filipino workers—or, if you prefer a payroll service to handle most of the heavy lifting, expand the section below for a look at our top picks. Step 1: Set Up Your Business as an Employer When you run payroll in the Philippines, you must first register your company with the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Doing this will give you an employer identification number (EIN), similar to the one you’d get when doing payroll in the US. Your EIN is used to ensure you’re properly calculating and remitting taxes for the different Philippine requirements—more on those in Step 5. As with most government filings, you’ll need to pay a registration fee, currently priced at Php (Philippine peso) 500 (about $10 US dollars). You may also need to pay for each certified copy of your registration. Step 2: Establish Your Payroll Process & Policies You’ll want to create a structured process to follow so that you don’t miss any vital payroll steps. Consider the following: Pay schedule: Will you pay weekly, every other week, twice monthly, or monthly? Type of employees: Full time vs part time, exempt vs nonexempt? Tracking time: How will you track employee hours, and how will it be reported to you? Benefits: What benefits will you offer? Who pays for them? How will you manage the payroll deductions? Taxes: How often will you need to pay taxes? What tax rates will you pay? How often do you need to remit taxes? Payroll processing and calculations: Will you calculate payroll by hand, Excel, or use a payroll service or software? Paychecks: Will you write manual checks, use pay cards, pay via direct deposit, or pay in cash? Payroll Policy Regulations & the Philippine Labor Code The Philippine Labor Code provides certain protections for workers and requires employers to enact certain policies. For example, it specifies that a day of work shall not exceed eight hours. While this is a legal regulation, you should still have a clear policy stating the working hours for good measure. This is particularly important for US-based businesses that require Filipino workers to work during US hours. To ensure your company processes payroll in the Philippines effectively, you should also have policies on: Benefits: What benefits are required, and how do you remit payments? Leaves: What leaves are required to be paid vs unpaid, and at what rates? Overtime: At what rate do you need to pay employees’ overtime, and for how many hours? Absences: How do you track absences and know whether they’re paid or unpaid, excused or unexcused? Holidays: What holidays are paid and at what rate? Finally, you need to have a policy on your payroll schedule. It’s common in the Philippines to run payroll twice monthly. Most companies pay on the 15th and 30th of each month, but you are free to set your own schedule, just make sure you have a clear policy. Step 3: Determine Salaries & Ensure Compliance The cost of living in the Philippines is much less than in the US, nearly half as much. As a result, salaries are much lower, averaging about $890 US dollars per month. When determining the salary that you’re going to pay your Filipino employees, consider their experience, as well as the cost of living. This can help your company save money, but you still need to pay competitive rates to ensure you attract and retain the best talent. Payroll & Employment Law Compliance The general workweek in the Philippines is 40 hours, and each worker is required to receive at least one one-hour break each day. Overtime is allowed at 1.25 times the regular hourly rate and must be paid to employees working over 40 hours in a workweek or eight hours in a single workday. Here are some special laws you need to know. 13th Month Pay: This payment, a requirement for companies registered in the Philippines, should be made on or before Dec. 24 of each year and is equivalent to one-twelfth of the employee’s annual salary. If an employee is part-time, you can prorate the amount. This is in addition to any end-of-year or holiday bonus that a company may give employees. Retirement Pay: All employees may retire once they reach age 60 and must retire by 65. Employees must receive at least one-half of their normal monthly salary (which comes out to 22.5 days) and must include: Fifteen days salary based on working salary Five days of incentive leave 1/12 of the 13th-month pay Note: Employees must have worked for the company for at least five years. The minimum retirement pay = amount the employee made per day x 22.5 days x number of years of service. Night Shift Differential: All PH employees must be paid a night shift differential of no less than 10% of their regular wage for each hour of work performed from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. This also applies to all overtime work done from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (meaning an additional 10% of overtime hourly rate for work done within that time period for rest days, regular holidays, and special non-working holidays). The exception to this rule would be for managerial staff, employees in government agencies, domestic workers, and non-agricultural field personnel whose actual hours worked cannot be determined with reasonable certainty. Service Charges: For businesses in the restaurant, retail, hotel, or any such industry, service charges collected shall be distributed at the rate of 85% for employees and 15% for management. The employees’ share will be equally distributed to all workers. If the service charge is abolished, then the employee share shall be considered integrated into their wages. Paid Leave: The Philippine government requires companies to provide five days of PTO for any reason (e.g., sick and vacation). If an employee does not use the time, it must be included as pay in the employee’s last paycheck of the year. Parental Leave: Maternity: 105 days of 100% paid maternity leave (120 days for a single mother) Miscarriage: 60 days of 100% paid leave for a miscarriage or emergency termination of pregnancy Paternity: Seven days of 100% paid paternity leave Solo-parent: Seven days of 100% paid leave, provided that the employee had been working for at least one full year before the leave Gynecological Leave: Any woman who has worked at least six months in the prior year is eligible for two months of full pay leave following surgery for a gynecological disorder. Leave for Women and Children of Domestic Violence: Victims of domestic violence may take up to 10 days of paid leave. This time may be extended based on a court order. Social Security System (SSS): For any Filipino worker under 60 years old making more than Php1,000 per month, contributions are mandatory and determined by salary. Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth): Even if private insurance is offered by a company, contributions to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation are required at 3% of the employee's monthly salary. Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF): This fund collects money for a national savings program and affordable housing. For Filipino workers making less than Php1,500 per month, their contribution is 1% of their monthly salary. For all other workers, the contribution is 2%. Holiday Pay: Regular Holidays: These are recurring holidays, like New Year’s and Christmas. If you need a Filipino worker to work on a regular holiday, you are required to pay them twice their normal hourly rate for the first eight hours. Special Non-Working Days: These holidays are flexible and generally based on regional events. Companies must pay workers required to work on these days 1.3 times their hourly rate for the first eight hours of work. Step 4: Collect Employee Data & Forms Just like in the US, you need to collect employee data. You’ll need employees’ names, addresses, hire dates, work authorizations, as well as their bank account information to pay them timely. Every employee’s personnel file should also include their pay rate so that you know how much to deduct in taxes. It’s important that you regularly update this information. As employees' pay rates change, as they get promoted, and as their dependents change, you need to have a process to update this information to ensure you’re paying them correctly. In the Philippines, you’ll also need to collect certain forms from new hires. The Philippine government requires employers to notify them of employment status to provide the mandatory employee benefits. TIN (BIR Forms 1902, 1905, & 2305) The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) requires employees to have a tax identification number (TIN). For new workers who haven’t previously been given a TIN, you must have them complete BIR Form 1902, and you must file this with the Revenue District Office (RDO) where your company is registered. If your employee has an existing TIN from a previous employer that was registered in the same RDO as your company, have them complete BIR Form 2305 for you to file. If the employee has an existing TIN from a previous employer registered in a different RDO than your company, have the employee complete BIR Form 1905 and file that in the RDO where their previous employer is registered. SSS (Form R1A) When your company hires a new employee, you’re required to fill out Social Security System (SSS) Form R-1A and submit it within 30 days of the hire date. This form alerts the SSS of the new employee and ensures you’re withholding the right amounts. Pag-IBIG Fund/HDMF New employees must also register for the HDMF—also known locally as Pag-IBIG Fund—within 30 days of their hire date. They can do this online but must first be registered with the SSS. PhilHealth (Form ER2) The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation provides medical insurance to employees. You must complete Form ER2 when you hire a new employee, providing their information for insurance purposes, and submit it within 30 days of the hire date. Step 5: Collect Time sheets & Calculate Payroll Most businesses start with simple, handwritten time sheets—but we don’t recommend this, as it’s ripe for errors and misuse. The best way to keep track of employee hours is to use time-keeping software. Your employees can clock in and out electronically, and your managers can review and approve timesheets before they get to your payroll team for processing. Once payroll receives the time sheets, they should still review them for accuracy. Does anything look way off? Does someone have substantially more hours than the last payroll? Keep an eye out for anything that looks off. It’s easier to fix now than after you’ve run payroll. Payroll Deductions in the Philippines & Other Considerations Handling payroll for Filipino employees is similar to calculating payroll in the US—there are tax and payroll deductions you must make to ensure full compliance. The following chart outlines the employer and employee payroll contributions you’ll need to make every payroll run. For SSS, PhilHealth, and HDMF, both workers and employers have to contribute specific amounts based on each agency's contribution table and the employee's salary. You also have to remit and report the contribution payments (both employee and employer shares) to each agency based on its monthly reporting schedules. 2022 Payroll Contributions in the Philippines *Note that the Philhealth premium is set to move up until it reaches 5% (schedule is 4% in 2022, 4.5% in 2023, and 5% by 2024 to 2025). However, we recommend waiting for the official announcement from the agency before implementing the premium increase. The below tables show the income taxes that should be deducted from the employee’s salary come year-end. So, you’ll need to ensure you withhold the right amount from each paycheck based on the employee’s salary. *While the PH income tax brackets are set to change in 2023, we recommend waiting for the official announcement from the BIR before implementing the withholding tax changes. To help you deduct the appropriate taxes per pay run, the Philippines’ BIR has a withholding tax table you can use to identify how much to withhold based on specific compensation ranges and pay periods (such as daily, weekly, semimonthly, and monthly). If used correctly, the taxes deducted per pay run should be equivalent to the expected income tax amount by the end of the calendar year. There may be instances wherein the total amount withheld may be more than what should have been deducted; in this case, employees can claim a tax refund from the BIR. This can be done when employees file their annual income tax returns for the preceding taxable year on or before April 15 of each year. On the other hand, if the total amount deducted is less than what should have been withheld, employees have to pay the remaining amount directly to the BIR on or before the tax return filing deadline. Step 6: Pay Employees When you’ve reached this point, it’s time to pay your Filipino employees on the schedule you previously determined. If you only have a handful of employees in the Philippines, it might be worth your time to partner with a local payroll processing company. It will be licensed and ensure your employees receive the right amounts and that your deductions and taxes go to the right government agencies. If you have lots of employees in the Philippines, however, you may want to do your payroll in-house. Just ensure that your payroll employees are familiar with the Philippine Labor Code and the nuances of employee entitlements. In the Philippines, employees and their spouses receive social insurance like maternity pay, sick pay, pension, life insurance, and even funeral grants. Employees are also eligible for government healthcare, where the employer is required to contribute half of the employee’s premium. Regardless of what you choose, you’ll need to make sure that taxes and deductions are withheld at the right amounts and remitted to the appropriate agencies. Even if you use a payroll processing company, the burden is on you to ensure this information is accurate. Step 7: Document & Store Your Payroll Records According to the Philippine Labor Code, all employment records must be kept for at least three years. This includes payroll records, specifically: Dates of employment Rate of pay Frequency of pay Total regular and overtime pay Deductions Net employee pay Storing these payroll records in a safe place is crucial to meeting this requirement. Not only will you want these records for business purposes, you’ll also want to make sure you’re meeting the requirements of payroll record keeping in the Philippines. Bottom Line Paying employees in the Philippines has challenges but it can be done. If you’ve determined that adding Filipino employees to your workforce is the right move for your company, this guide helps you ensure payroll compliance with Philippine labor laws and keeps your workers happy by ensuring they’re paid accurately and on time. You May Also Like How To Hire From the Philippines How To Hire International Employees How To Hire International Contractors How To Pay International Payroll Employees Best International Payroll Services How to Do Payroll for Small Businesses

For employers, understanding the difference between IRS Forms W-9 vs 1099 can be a bit confusing. Form W-9 is used to gather information about a contractor (like name and address) so their earnings can be reported at year-end. It is generally filled out when you first begin working with a contractor. Meanwhile, Form 1099 (1099-NEC) is the income-reporting document sent to contractors at year-end (no later than the following Jan. 31), if they earned $600 or more, so they can report and pay taxes on the earnings you paid them. A copy must also be sent to the IRS. As a small business, collecting W-9s and filing 1099s can be a payroll nightmare, especially if you’re managing multiple contractors. , a payroll software, makes it easy for 1099 workers to enter W-9 information through a self-service portal—no paper required. It also automatically files your 1099s and sends them to both your contractors and the IRS. Sign up for a free trial of Gusto to start paying your independent contractors today. What Is the W-9 Form? Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification, is an IRS document used to gather data your business needs to report to the IRS at year-end. Since IRS forms change, your best option is to use the IRS website as your primary source for any IRS tax forms or instructions. You’ll find detailed directions there to help your contractors complete the form correctly. Download Form W-9 Once your contractor completes the W-9, keep a copy of it on file in case you’re ever audited. The completed and signed document demonstrates that you gathered the correct data for the taxpayer. The IRS does not need a copy of this document. What Is the 1099-NEC Form? The 1099-NEC is an IRS document that’s used to report all kinds of income such as that received by an independent contractor for work provided to a business or private employer. It is similar to an employee’s year-end W-2 but used by businesses that pay non-employee contractors such as freelancers or contract workers. Typically, you should use a 1099-NEC to report payments made to a contractor who earns $600 or more in a tax year. However, there are a few other scenarios in which a 1099-NEC is needed such as: Report crop insurance proceeds: Money insurance companies pay farmers for crops that are damaged or destroyed Record fishing boat proceeds: For self-employed crew members earning money on a fishing boat or vessel Disclose golden parachute payments: Severance pay, cash bonuses, and stock options given to terminated employees Download Federal Form 1099-NEC Penalties for Not Submitting a 1099 Aside from having to reissue incorrect 1099s, you are subject to penalties if you don’t submit a proper 1099. The IRS increased penalties associated with 1099s in 2022, and, as a result, you could end up paying up to $280 per return if you’re not careful. You can be charged separate penalties for not filing correct 1099 copies with the IRS or for not submitting them to your contract workers. You may incur the following penalties if you fail to file 1099s timely and accurately: If your business averages annual gross receipts of $5 million or less for the three most recent tax years, your maximum penalties are less than penalties the IRS charges larger companies. If you file the reports before the Aug. 1 deadline, you can be charged a maximum per-year fee of $556,500. If you fail to file on or after Aug. 1 or never file them at all, you can be charged a maximum of up to $1.1 million per year. If you intentionally file a fraudulent information return for payments you claim to have made to another person, you may be liable for damages. The person can sue you for up to $5,000 or more in civil damages. Why You Need Tax Forms for Contract Workers When processing payroll for contractors, you’re not required to withhold or pay taxes such as FICA. However, gathering, tracking, and reporting their earnings on the appropriate payroll form is vital because the IRS requires them to pay taxes on their own. Although you’re not responsible for making sure your contract workers pay taxes, you do have the burden of ensuring they receive accurate earnings information by Jan. 31 of the following year to comply; otherwise, you can be penalized. Bottom Line The relationship between a W-9 and 1099 is that the W-9 gathers the data that’s later reported to the IRS on a 1099-NEC for contractors that earn $600 or more in a tax year. A copy of the W-9 is kept in your business files, while copies of the 1099-NEC are provided to the IRS and your contractor. The contractor then uses the 1099 to report their income when filing their taxes. If you’re currently working with 1099 contractors or considering doing so in the near future, consider using . Its system lets contractors submit W-9 information online that transfers to electronic 1099s you’ll send to your contractors and the IRS. Gusto also makes it easy to make direct deposit payments and helps you stay compliant with all federal and state employment laws. Sign up for its contractor-only plan now and get 30 days free. You May Also Like … How to Do Payroll for Small Businesses W2 vs 1099 How to Fill out a W2 Form What is a W4 Form Payroll Tax Rates

is a chat-based payroll app that works on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. You can process payroll for both employees and contractors simply by sending text messages through its mobile platform. It even has onboarding, reporting, and employee self-service functionalities. Priced at $29 monthly plus $5 per employee, it’s optimal for tech-savvy solopreneurs and small business owners with simple payroll needs. What We Recommend Roll by ADP For While ADP offers HR and payroll solutions for different industries and business sizes, its Roll by ADP product is best for tech-savvy and on-the-go small business owners. Processing payroll through its mobile platform is like texting a payroll specialist who can efficiently handle employee payments for you and more. With payroll solutions backed by ADP, you are assured the compliance support you need, as well as access to new hire reporting and payroll tax filing services. In short, Roll by ADP is best for: Tech-savvy small business owners who are always on the go: Roll by ADP, which is one of our recommended payroll apps, is designed to keep up with on-the-go business owners, allowing them to easily onboard new hires, give promotions, update salaries, send bonus payments, and pay employees—all by sending chat messages via their mobile devices. Solopreneurs looking for an affordable payroll solution: Processing payroll for yourself is made easy with Roll by ADP’s chat-based commands, and it only costs $29 monthly plus $5 per employee. Simply type “Run payroll” and its mobile platform will calculate the applicable payments and deductions, check for any errors, and process next-day payments via direct deposit. ADP will even handle payroll tax filings for you. Mom-and-pop businesses with simple payroll needs: For those needing only a payroll solution, Roll by ADP has simple yet efficient tools for paying both employees and contractors. Aside from unlimited pay runs, it can handle multiple pay schedules, garnishments, payroll tax filings, year-end W-2 reporting, and automatic deductions for benefits and retirement plans. You can even select whether to pay contractors with a fixed amount or an hourly rate. When Roll by ADP Would Not Be a Good Fit Companies that need timekeeping tools and have more than 10 employees: While Roll by ADP’s chat-based app offers you a fast and innovative way to pay employees, it doesn’t have any time tracking capabilities. You have to manually input the regular and overtime hours of your employees. This can be inconvenient and time-consuming, especially for those with a large team or mostly hourly staff. For more suitable options, check out our best small business payroll software guide. Businesses that want robust HR, payroll, and benefits solutions: Roll by ADP may have efficient payroll tools, but its HR functionalities are very basic. Those looking for a comprehensive HR platform should consider ADP’s other products like ADP Run. It comes with a wide range of HR and payroll solutions, including access to employee benefits options and HR advisers who can provide expert advice. Employers that require robust third-party integrations: One of Roll by ADP’s drawbacks is that it doesn’t integrate with third-party software. If you need an HR payroll solution with robust integrations, we recommend Rippling since it connects with more than 500 apps. Top Roll by ADP Alternatives At a Glance See how Roll by ADP compares with the top payroll apps for small businesses. Roll by ADP Pricing Roll by ADP’s pricing follows a flat-rate scheme. For $29 monthly plus $5 per employee, you are granted access to all of its online tools and services—from unlimited pay runs and new hire reporting to 24/7 support and automatic payroll tax payments and filings. And in case you have staff who are not paid during any given month, Roll by ADP will not charge per-employee fees for those workers. In addition, Roll by ADP won’t require you to sign an annual contract. However, if you want to cancel your account, you have to notify them 30 days in advance. Roll by ADP Features Roll by ADP is the first of its kind, offering you a chat-based app that can easily and quickly process payroll. Let’s look at its essential features to help you determine if it’s right for your business. Roll by ADP Ease of Use Chat-based guides Smart AI 24/7 live chat support Desktop access Online FAQ For tech-savvy users, Roll by ADP is relatively easy to use. While it has a set of chat commands for processing payroll and basic HR tasks, its smart AI recognizes your instructions even if your chat messages don’t follow its standard format. It also assists you every step of the way, providing various options (such as payment methods and earnings types) and additional chat commands you can use, depending on what you want it to do. For some of its processes, you simply need to click “Continue,” “OK,” and “Save” buttons to proceed to the next step. For new users, Roll by ADP has an online wizard to guide you through the whole setup. Provided you have all of your business and employee information on hand, the initial system setup is also straightforward and fairly easy (although it can be a bit tedious, according to user reviews). If you need assistance, you can either contact its 24/7 chat support or access frequently asked questions and how-to guides on its website—but the selection is limited as of this writing. What Users Think About Roll by ADP Users who left positive Roll by ADP reviews on the App Store and Google Play said that its affordability and simple-to-use payroll tools are its best features. However, some others complained about its occasional app glitches and tedious registration process. A few reviewers also said that while the quality of its customer service is generally good, contacting its support team can be difficult given the long wait times. At the time of publication, Roll by ADP earned the following scores on the Apple and Google app stores: App Store: 4.3 out of 5 based on 350+ reviews Google Play: 4.3 out of 5 based on more than 600 reviews Bottom Line Roll by ADP is optimal for solopreneurs and small business owners who are always on the go and have simple pay processing needs. It lets you run payroll, onboard new hires, process off-cycle payments, and change an employee’s salary—all by sending chat messages through its mobile platform. While tech-savvy users will have an easier time adjusting to this payroll app, non-techy users can rely on its smart AI and chat-based guides as they navigate through its features and commands. What’s also great about this payroll app is that it offers a three-month free trial for new users. Plus, if you decide to use Roll by ADP for your business, it’s affordably priced—costing only $29 monthly plus $5 per employee. Sign up for its free trial today to experience first-hand how its chat-based mobile platform can help you pay employees quickly and accurately.

Employment background check companies ensure the person you’re hiring is who they say they are and safe to hire. The best background check companies not only verify resumes, identity, and personal backgrounds but also provide credit checks, drug screens, and even healthcare checks for positions that require that degree of review. To find the top background check companies for small businesses, we evaluated the leading solutions and narrowed our list to nine. Here are our recommendations: : Best overall background check company for small businesses : Best for integration with top HR and payroll software, like ADP and Paychex : Best for recruiters wanting AI and additional hiring tools : Best for finance and bookkeeping services wanting financial and credit history of their hires : Best for businesses looking for a service specializing in criminal records : Best for companies needing customized background checks according to their industry or business type : Best for healthcare and nonprofit firms : Best for companies with licensed professionals that don’t require drug testing : Best for employers in states with tough labor laws Best Background Check Companies Compared Note: All providers adhere to the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Best Background Check Company Quiz Answer this three-question quiz, and we'll give you a personalized match without leaving the page: GoodHire: Best Overall Employment Background Check Company We find to be the best overall employment background check company for both small and large businesses across multiple industries, such as healthcare, construction, and nonprofit. It integrates with many popular software systems and provides unique background checks for industries with specific safety and security requirements, like childcare and home health services. GoodHire scored 4.79 out of 5 in our evaluation and got perfect marks for compliance features, ease of use, popularity, and reporting. It took a hit in pricing because it requires a one-time setup fee of $49.99 for verifying a business—other providers, such as HireRight and Checkr, don’t require these fees. GoodHire Features If you have a small business in the finance, accounting, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, in-home service (like massage therapy), or childcare industry, you will need to run background checks on your employees to be compliant with industry-specific laws. Like most providers in this list, GoodHire does everything within one system, providing you a dashboard view of all background checks you order. Employment Screening: The number of days it takes GoodHire to do employment screening varies from one to 10, based on the number of background checks you want to have completed. Drug screens typically take the longest (it offers 4-, 5,- 7-, and 10-panel drug tests) as well as any screening that requires a request for court documents. Additional Background Checks: Sensitive industries like financial services and insurance agencies may require additional checks like credit reports, licensing, or international screening. GoodHire can verify that medical professionals—doctors, dentists, nurses—are in good standing with their healthcare sanctions check. (IntelliCorp provides this service too.) Forms and Status Tracking: Unlike some companies on this list, such as IntelliCorp, GoodHire provides a mobile app. It also includes your compliance documents and downloadable forms like consent and dispute documents. That helps ensure you’re compliant with EEOC, credit, and drug testing laws that require you to obtain advance approval from candidates you want to hire. Software Integrations: GoodHire integrates with several HR systems, including recruitment software and applicant tracking systems. It can work with other business apps using an application programming interface (API) if you have HR software beyond the 16 GoodHire interfaces with. Consider HireRight if you want a more extensive list of integrations. Customer Support: Email support is available 24/7, and live chat and phone support is available Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central time. GoodHire’s live chat feature is courteous and fast, allowing you to get quick answers to your background check questions directly from the website. GoodHire Drawbacks The only thing about GoodHire is that some reviews indicate that drug tests can take up to 10 business days. However, some of the data will come back sooner than others. For example, basic background checks often come back the same day (ShareAble for Hires and SterlingNOW, however, both offer instant basic background check results.) Read our GoodHire review HireRight: Best Background Check Company for Strong HR Integration wins hands-down when it comes to employment background check companies that interface with existing HR software. HR teams will love that they can pass data from HireRight straight through to their ATSes, HR software, payroll systems, and timekeeping apps. In fact, it even integrates with enterprise systems like SAP, ADP, and Paychex. Like other providers in this guide, HireRight is compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). It also has excellent reporting features and is simple to use. It earned 4.66 out of 5 in our rubric, taking a hit in pricing because it’s not easy to find this information on its website. It also doesn’t have a lot of reviews on popular websites. HireRight Features HireRight includes all the requisite background screening options a growing business might need and makes it easy for your HR team to screen job candidates. It includes identity checks, I-9 and E-Verify, global screening, driving records, and criminal background screening. It serves a host of industries, from transportation, healthcare, and education to financial services and retail. HireRight has a solution for small and midsize businesses, which needs less than 100 background checks per year called HireRight Express. Employment Screening: HireRight’s employment screening offers an expansive set of features like social media background checks and compliance with states that “ban the box” (meaning employers must consider a candidate’s experience, education, and overall fit before considering their background). It includes criminal records, county searches, education, employment history, and references, to name a few. Additional Background Checks: HireRight provides over 150 background screening services across 200 countries and territories, making it a great option for HR practitioners in just about any industry and location. In addition, candidates receive a copy of the report, can dispute the accuracy, and even get assistance if they’re not sure what to fill out on the form. Forms and Status Tracking: HireRight makes it easy for you as an HR professional to obtain background check information directly from the candidate, either through your existing HR business software or through email. Using the interfaces, you can store the background check information along with the candidate information in your ATS, HR, or payroll software, reducing data security issues and multiple online storage locations. Software Integrations: HireRight has the most software integrations available making it the best options for HR professionals already accustomed to using integrated systems like HRIS systems or recruiting software. Greenhouse, Cornerstone, SmartRecruiters, Kronos, and Workday are just a few. HireRight Drawbacks While it offers packages for small businesses, they are capped at fewer than 100 searches per year. So, HireRight pricing may not be feasible if your business needs more than that and is on a tight budget. Small businesses looking for a less expensive option should consider Checkr, which offers more affordable packages, as well as reasonably priced add-ons. Read our HireRight review Checkr: Best for Recruiters Wanting AI & Additional Hiring Tools uses advanced machine learning and artificial tools to help recruiters find the perfect candidate by performing reliable background checks. It offers screening options to help assess applicants easily while providing continuous monitoring over candidates and employees. In our evaluation, the provider scored 4.66 out of 5. While it earned perfect marks for popularity, reporting, and compliance features, it scored low on pricing because you have to contact its sales team to get a quote. However, Checkr has the most affordable screening packages in this list, according to data reported by a third party. Checkr Features Checkr offers services tailored to employers and small businesses needing background checks. Its screenings focus on residence and employment history, identity verification, and criminal and driving records. Here are some things to expect from Checkr. Employment Screening: Aside from the chosen package, an employer can also verify an applicant’s employment history with an additional employment verification plan priced between $12–$50, depending on the number of employment years specified (from one to 10 years). Additional Background Checks: Other than employment and criminal background checking, Checkr also offers motor vehicle record, education verification, 5- and 10-panel drug screening, and professional or personal reference verification as add-ons priced individually from $5–$45 per request. Forms and Status Tracking: Checkr allows users to check the progress of the requested background report by logging in to their accounts. When hiring employees, employers or HR managers can also add tags to reports or download PDFs of the completed reports. Candidates can also easily file a dispute in case they find an error in their report. Software Integrations: Checkr allows users to integrate with several HRIS, ATS, and payroll solutions to make HR work simpler. Its partners include Alliance Payroll, Bamboo HR, Breezy HR, EPAY Systems, FreshTeam, and LinkedIn Talent Hub. It doesn’t match the integration options of HireRight however. Checkr Drawbacks While Checkr offers international background searches, its services are only available for US-based companies (unlike HireRight). Also, reviewers mentioned that drug screenings could take more than 10 days without clear explanations behind the reasons. ShareAble for Hires: Best Background Check Company for Financial Firms offers all the basic candidate background, identity, resume verification, and employment screening, as well as credit checks. It’s part of the TransUnion system, so it provides these services fast and entirely online. It’s great at ensuring your finance and accounting new hires aren’t arriving with burdensome financial debt and credit issues. The provider earned a total score of 4.60 out of 5. It got perfect marks for pricing, reporting, and compliance features. However, it lacked reviews from users and doesn’t currently support integration with HR software. While it provides different pre-employment screening options, it has limited additional screening services. It’s worth noting that Shareable for Hires and SterlingNow are the only providers in this list that provide instant background checks. ShareAble for Hires Features To get the package most suitable for employment, you’ll likely want the Pro package, which verifies prior employment and address information. The pre-employment credit checks include payment history, installment debts, and revolving credit. While these are designed to help landlords screen tenants, they can also help you vet employees who will be managing money in your firm. Employment Screening: The employment screening options in the basic package provide identification and criminal background checks compliant with the FCRA. For checks on Social Security, prior employment, and prior addresses, you have to upgrade to the Pro package. Additional Background Checks: Other than robust credit reports and criminal records, ShareAble for Hires doesn’t yet offer international background screening, healthcare sanctions checks (required for medical professionals), and drug tests. Most of the other providers offer drug test screens, and GoodHire and IntelliCorp have healthcare sanctions checks. Forms and Status Tracking: ShareAble for Hires provides you with printed reports. It will be on you to save and attach those documents to your employee records within your HR software or paper personnel files. Software Integrations: Due to the online process and speed of the background checks, ShareAble for Hires doesn’t provide any software integrations. The workaround is to save a printed (or PDF) copy of the report and to attach it to your HR or payroll system or drop into a secure employee personnel file. If you want integration capabilities, consider HireRight or any of the other providers in our list, all of which provide some integrations. ShareAble for Hires Drawbacks ShareAble for Hires lacks an all-in-one background check option if you need, for instance, driving records and drug testing. Read our ShareAble for Hires review SterlingNOW: Best for Small Businesses Looking for a Background Check Company Specializing in Criminal Records is a self-service background screening solution under Sterling. It allows small and midsize businesses to verify prospective employees’ identities and helps check if an applicant is trustworthy by uncovering criminal record data. What’s unique about the provider is that it has court researchers who can verify information not recorded online. The company earned 4.59 out of 5 in our evaluation. It got perfect marks in all criteria except pricing because of the setup fees, ease of use because it lacks a live chat feature, and popularity as it doesn’t have a lot of user reviews. SterlingNOW Features SterlingNOW checks criminal records of courthouses in locations where an applicant has lived. Many employers need this kind of screening, so SterlingNOW included it in all its plans. According to SterlingNOW, it has access to 85% of the criminal databases all over the US via CourtDirect. For paper-based records, SterlingNOW has court researchers who can find and obtain this data. Employment Screening: With an SSN trace, SterlingNOW looks through criminal records archives not only by name but also by Social Security number, checking undisclosed aliases and addresses. All plans include searching for the applicant’s name in the list of sex offenders. Higher-tier plans also check the applicant’s name to see if they’re a local or international terror suspect. Additional Background Checks: SterlingNOW also allows businesses to add customized background screening such as education, employment, and driver’s records verification. Forms and Status Tracking: With SterlingNOW, both employers and candidates can easily track the status of a background check online. If applicants have questions about their background check, they can either call or email SterlingNOW directly. Employers can also call or email the company, should they encounter any problems. Software Integrations: Like most providers in this guide, SterlingNOW allows integration with ATS and HR apps such as SmartRecruiters, Paycor, Greenhouse, Bullhorn, Jobvite, and LinkedIn Talent Hub. SterlingNOW Drawbacks The company doesn’t perform credit checks, drug testing, or fingerprinting. However, it offers these services in the broader Sterling business (for information on cost, talk to a SterlingNOW representative). If you want those services as part of your chosen package, most of the other providers on our list offer that; ShareAble for Hires is particularly strong in credit checks. Trusted Employees: Best for Companies Needing Customized Background Checks According to Industry or Business Type is a pre-employment screening platform that’s been around for the last 20 years. What’s different with this company is that users can get customized services according to their industry, business type, or the position they’re hiring for using its premade packages. For example, customers can choose retail screening packages or entry-level, manager, and director roles or healthcare packages for volunteer, staff, and director levels. It received perfect marks for pricing, reporting, background check functionalities, and compliance features, earning a total score of 4.55 out of 5. It got the lowest score on popularity as it lacked reviews from third-party websites. Trusted Employees Features Trusted Employees provides different solutions to help businesses hire the right talent. It aims to create solutions suitable for different industries in the US and Canada and offers accurate and FCRA-compliant reports. Employment Screening: You get comprehensive background screening checks such as credit background checking, criminal records history, education verification, employment verification, identity and address, and reference verification. Additional Background Checks: Aside from pre-employment screening, it has specialty screening services such as credential and licensing, driving and motor vehicle, drug screening, and Form I-9 verification. Forms and Status Tracking: Trusted Employees reports are all FCRA-compliant, which means that applicants can view a copy of their background report instantly online or request to get it by mail. In case of inaccurate information reflected in a report, applicants can easily file a dispute online. Employers can also view the status of their requested background checks. Software Integrations: As of this writing, Trusted Employees integrates only with Workable but has flexible APIs to help integrate with your software of choice. The other providers (except ShareAble for Hires) offer more robust integrations. Trusted Employees Drawbacks As mentioned, Trusted Employees lacks integration with ATS and HR software. However, if you plan to integrate the platform with your recruiting software, you can contact the company to provide an API key. IntelliCorp: Best Background Check Company for Healthcare & Nonprofits provides employment verifications, criminal background checks, credit checks, driving record reviews, and drug screening. Its award-winning service checks medical licensing, ensuring that candidates never engaged in medical fraud or abuse. In fact, it compares against the National Practitioner’s Data Bank (DPDB) to ensure there are no sanctions from Medicare or Medicaid. IntelliCorp tailors its packages to the pre-employment process of businesses in the nonprofit and medical industries. It earned perfect marks for reporting and compliance features. It also scored high for ease of use, background check functionalities, and popularity. However, its lowest score is on pricing since it doesn’t provide information on its website. Also, it has the most expensive setup fee of $250 (tied with SterlingNow; the other providers have much cheaper or no setup fees). Overall, IntelliCorp got 4.41 out of 5 in our rubric. IntelliCorp Features IntelliCorp provides all the same basic features as GoodHire, including civil, credit, criminal, and employment background checks. In fact, it’ll assist you with I-9 forms and E-Verify and confirm a worker or volunteer’s Social Security number and address—even if they’re outside the US. That’s helpful if you work with volunteers and don’t have HR or payroll software to do that for you. Employment Screening: To get employment screening features, you’ll have to upgrade to IntelliCorp’s mid-tier plan. IntelliCorp provides some of the forms in Spanish, which is helpful in medical and home service industries as they often employ bilingual workers. Additional Background Checks: It’s the additional background checks and add-on features that may make IntelliCorp a better option for you if you’re primarily verifying nonprofit and healthcare workers in sensitive industries like childcare, senior services, or medical fieldwork like disaster recovery. Services include multicounty, international screening, healthcare sanctions, credit checks, and drug tests. Forms and Status Tracking: IntelliCorp provides acknowledgment and disclosure forms for federal and state regulatory agencies. It also includes a European Union (EU) Acknowledgment if you need to employ union workers outside the US. However, it lacks a nifty dashboard and mobile app like GoodHire, requiring you to download and email forms to your prospective employees and volunteers. Software Integrations: IntelliCorp has a handful of integrations to organizations like VolunteerMatters and job boards like SmartRecruiters. Otherwise, it lacks the common HR and applicant tracking integrations that GoodHire and HireRight provide. Its only prebuilt integrations to these systems are for enterprises using software like HRNX and iCIMS. Customer Service: IntelliCorp provides customer service via phone and email. Online support includes a blog, FAQs, online forms, training, and videos. IntelliCorp Drawbacks It lacks a mobile app and an organized interface like GoodHire and provides only a handful of software integrations. It also doesn’t have transparent pricing, making it tough to decide whether it’s an affordable option for your business without having to first sign up and subject yourself to a sales call and demo. Read our IntelliCorp review AccurateNow: Best for Companies With Licensed Professionals That Don’t Require Drug Testing is great for professional firms. That’s because it provides popular add-on background checks like motor vehicle records (for your field sales team), professional license verification for your certified staff, and low-cost employment and education verification options. Therefore, you can tailor your screening to match the job role of the new hire. Earning an overall score of 4.29 out of 5, AccurateNow has a straightforward platform that provides FCRA-compliant reports. It’s not as popular as GoodHire or Checkr, and it took a hit in the popularity criterion. Unlike other providers in this list, which allow applicants to quickly view the status of their background reports, applicants have to contact AccurateNow. AccurateNow Features AccurateNow makes background checks easy for your hiring team by filling in a form with candidate information. And once the check is complete, it will receive a report. Employers can also view status updates when each check is done. Employment Screening: AccurateNow provides the same employment background checks you find in GoodHire, HireRight, and most other background check companies. In fact, the only reason it wasn’t listed higher is that it doesn’t provide a search of health check sanctions (like GoodHire and IntelliCorp do) and there are no prebuilt interfaces to store resulting candidate background data. Additional Background Checks: In addition to the standard service AccurateNow provides as an employment background check company, you’ll find it offers professional license verification, a motor vehicle report, and a search of federal district court records. Each add-on costs only $9.95 per report—allowing you to purchase a lower-tier package and buy additional ad hoc reports. Forms and Status Tracking: To obtain forms like a pre-adverse or adverse action letter, you need to purchase the $5 add-on and combine it with an existing report package. Software Integrations: AccurateNow does interface with your recruitment or applicant tracking software. To save a report, you’ll need to attach it electronically to a secure employee data file or place a physical copy in the applicants’ hiring folder. Most of the other providers on our list provide more extensive integrations. AccurateNow Drawbacks AccurateNow offers fewer background check options than more complete background check companies like GoodHire and HireRight. In addition, it lacks healthcare-industry checks and prebuilt integrations—although it does provide an API if you want to build your own using its developer portal. AGoodEmployee.com: Best Background Services for Heavily Regulated States Although offers fewer types of background checks than IntelliCorp or GoodHire at comparable prices, it caters to employee background checks that must be compliant with tougher laws in states like California, New York, and Massachusetts. These states provide unique employee protections such as for casual drug users and rehabilitated criminals. It’s a good option in states where background checks can get you in trouble if they’re not done right. With an overall rating of 4.14 out of 5, AGoodEmployee.com got its lowest mark for popularity and took a hit in ease of use because of its more complicated interface. It obtained perfect scores for pricing, reporting, and compliance features. AGoodEmployee.com Features This employee background check company has credit checks and drug screens along with downloadable forms and compliant testing processes. Unlike IntelliCorp and GoodHire, however, there are no screening tools for international employers and no way to check for healthcare sanctions. Employment Screening: AGoodEmployee.com includes Telecheck check verification, which ensures that the person you’re hiring doesn’t have a history of writing bad checks. (That’s a feature more helpful to landlords.) Otherwise, it verifies the standard background information such as Social Security number and address history. Additional Background Checks: Drug testing is available, but it costs extra. You don’t have the option for multiple kinds of drug tests like you do with GoodHire. If you want to check federal court records or personal references, that requires you to upgrade to a plan that’s nearly $200 per month. Forms and Status Tracking: AGoodEmployee.com provides all the forms you might need—from candidate consent forms to a summary of rights under the FCRA. However, while the forms are free, you’ll need to print them and have candidates sign them manually. Software Integrations: AGoodEmployee.com can integrate with your ATS; however, this requires a consultation with its sales team and likely costs extra to build and test the interface. We found no standard integrations available, and while the reports are printer-friendly, we didn’t uncover any data export options. Check HireRight or several of the other providers for stronger integration options. AGoodEmployee.com Drawbacks AGoodEmployee.com is missing an affordable drug testing option, an intuitive dashboard, and an app. It’s structured like an old-fashioned menu-driven database. Further, most small businesses want to save time by having their data integrate with existing business software. With AGoodEmployee.com, you’ll likely have to do some duplicate data entry for candidates. How We Evaluated Employee Background Check Companies Background checking should be a part of onboarding plans (if background checking is a standard practice) and employment termination (if there is a concern of substance use). Assuming that a small business would prefer to work with one employee background check company than several, we prioritized employment background check companies that include most of the services an employer would need. The ones we chose are affordable and allow you to choose either packages of background checks or one type of test, like a pre-employment drug screen. Click through the tabs below for a more detailed breakdown of our evaluation criteria. Bottom Line Background check companies provide assurance that the people you’re hiring don’t have red flags that could affect your business. The best employment background check companies provide an all-in-one background screening service with online report storage and a dashboard that can share data with your other HR software, making your overall employee hiring experience easier and more consistent while ensuring compliance to the laws.