Hire Your Teen
There are times when you will find that you just can´t get everything done on your own and it becomes evident that you will need to hire someone. If you have a teenager or two in the house, why not offer them a job as your assistant?
Hiring your teen is a good way to give your kid an extra bit of income and teach him or her about the business. You can start your teen off with jobs that you would give any assistant, paperwork, running errands, etc. It can be great convenience to both of you, but steps do need to be taken to ensure that your relationship as parent and child is not jeopardized. Here are a few tips to keep things running smoothly.
- Avoid bringing up personal issues during work hours. No “Well, you´ve never been responsible in the past . . . ”
- Pay your teen a decent wage and on time. You shouldn´t expect a lower rate just because he is your son.
- Hold him responsible, as you would any other employee. If your teen arrives late, require an excuse or dock his wages. When in doubt, ask youself “Would I treat a non-related employee this way?”
- Avoid family punishments. If your teen does something that is against the rules in the business, treat it as a business issue. A suspension, being fired, or having to rectify the wrong are all appropriate punishments, depending on the situation. Grounding or prohibiting meeting with friends is not. Try to keep work and personal life separate.
- Give your teen some responsibility. This is important. You should have a good idea of exactly what your kids are capable of doing and it will be a load off your shoulders to pass some of the work on to them.
It can be a great working situation, you and your teen, but you do need to be careful not to mix business and family life or you could end up causing rifts that last a very long time.
Depending on where you live (in Canada I know you can), there are also tax breaks/shelters if you hire your teens:)
Exactly Lusa, the best benefit to hiring your children is the tax write off. As long as you have a timesheet and are paying your child moderately and for things they would be capable of doing, then you can pay them tax free and deduct it from your taxable income.
With all tax advice I recommend you speak with your preparer, but we’ve been doing this for several years and we put the money in a separate account to pay for her tennis camps each summer.
Now that you mention it, when I worked for my dad, he did get a tax write off. That is an excellent point, Lisa.
Stacy, thanks for sharing your experience. It´s good to hear from readers who are actually hiring their children. Mine are still far too young to start working (I´ve got Dorian bringing me Dante´s diapers, but that´s about it), so I only have my own teen working experience to work with!
This is a fascinating post. I’ll have to think some more about this. I think your advice not to mix family life and work is very wise. I’m also not sure that all jobs would lend themselves to hiring your teen to help. I can see it working well where there is a lot of work that doesn’t require much skill. I don’t see it working for a WAHM that needs skilled help.
Laura, I have personal experience in this area as I worked for my father for nearly 5 years. Hence the advice!