What Personnel Department?

If you are a small business owner and need information on employee compensation and benefits, employer expenditures for employee compensation, or labor law, you are not alone. Because each state has its own set of guidelines on top of the federal regulations, these issues can be complex.  When the small business owner is responsible for all human resource activities - from recruiting to firing - locating the right information from the right source is of utmost importance.

For starters, contact your state's department of labor.  These agencies are anxious to provide employers answers to state-specific questions regarding labor market statistics, overtime and prevailing wages, as well as, cost-cutting measures for training and unemployment compensation.  A helpful listing is available at http://ahipubs.com/internet/dol/statelist.html

In April 2001, the National Federation of Independent Businesses released a Small Business Problems and Priorities survey http://www.nfib.org/PDFs/ProbPrior.pdf.  The greatest issues of concern, the  "winners", were related to employee costs and employee taxes.

To get an overview of benefit plans, fringe benefits listing and current trends, see the Industry-at-a-Glance series on Employee Benefits http://www.umr.edu/~tscsbdc/iag/EmpBenefitsWeb.pdf.  This site includes a checklist of required and optional benefits.

How much do you pay into employee benefits, required and otherwise?  Find out the latest government figures on employer costs for employee compensation at the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor statistics website: http://stats.bls.gov/ecthome.htm.  News releases include various tables capturing information by industry group, occupational group, full-time and part-time status, etc.

The IRS Small Business Corner website http://www.irs.gov/bus_info/emp_tax/index.html contains employment tax definitions, frequently asked questions, and online publications.

Do you have questions regarding your business and concerns of equal pay, affirmative action, immigration and discrimination?  The U.S. Equal Employment Commission http://www.eeoc.gov/small/index.html contains a section dedicated to small business.  Some laws apply to small businesses with as few as one employee.

Need a quick ballpark figure for salary or compensation?  http://www.acinet.org/acinet/default.htm?tab=wagesandtrends.  This site is searchable by both occupation and state.

Contact Us

SBDCNET
UTSA Institute for Economic Development
University of Texas at San Antonio
501 W. Durango Blvd.
San Antonio, TX 78207
http://sbdcnet.org/
sbdcnet@utsa.edu
800.689.1912