When You Can’t Make Payroll
Only half of new small businesses survive beyond their fifth anniversary. According to research provided by the American Bankruptcy Institute, 43,546 small businesses filed for bankruptcy protection in 2008. When events like this occur, it is not only business owners who are left holding the metaphorical bag.
How to Pay Employees When You Can’t Make Payroll: Notify Your Employees
Most employers know in advance that they will be unable to make a given payroll. However, it’s usually embarrassment or pride that prevents entrepreneurs from being honest with themselves about the situation, and honest with employees in turn. “What I have found in my consulting business is that, more often than not, small business owners are embarrassed and worried about results, so they typically handle [the situation] emotionally,” says Donald Todrin, founder of the Northhampton, MA-based Second Wind Consultants. “This usually means that they don’t tell anybody until 10 minutes before they’re supposed to get their checks.” The best thing that an employer can do is to notify their employees of the potential problem as soon as they’re aware of it themselves.
How to Pay Employees When You Can’t Make Payroll: Find Methods of Financing
Once you are aware that you will be unable to make payroll from the profits of your business, swift, decisive, and possibly desperate action must be taken at once. Not paying your employees may not only result in lawsuits, but also serious federal and state tax liabilities. One of the best – and easiest – ways to find funding is to find a merchant cash advance broker, like FAM. With a merchant cash advance, you can pay your employees, and your bills, (and the tax man), all without huge interest fees and payment deadlines. This not only allows you to keep your business moving, but it keeps your mind on your business, and not on the funding needs.
How to Pay Employees When You Can’t Make Payroll: Avoid Staggering the Payroll
Though you may be tempted to pay employees a fraction of their paychecks in lieu of nothing at all, staggering payments is a tricky process and, in general, is unadvisable. There is a way to broach the process effectively. Todrin recommends asking the highest paid, top-level staff members of your company to electively forgo their paychecks for a few days so that lower level employees can receive on-time payments.