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Assessing Personnel Needs
Advanced-Beyond Job Descriptions: Job Matching for Real Estate Sales
Recruitment Planning
Advanced: What Top Performers Want from You
Recruiting Salespeople
Advanced: Tips for Recruiting the Seasoned Professional
Recruiting Support Personnel
Advanced: The Family and Medical Leave Act
The Interviewing Process
Advanced: Behavioral Interviewing
Tips for Selecting a Psychological Test
Structuring Compensation
Advanced: Compensation Tips for Management Personnel | | 16 Hiring Questions to Ask Support Personnel
Don't sign a contract until you have these questions answered to your satisfaction.
- How long have you been in business?
- What are your areas of expertise?
- What professional association are you affiliated with?
- Can you show me samples of your work?
- How many jobs/businesses have you worked on that are similar to mine?
- Will you handle my work yourself or have it completed primarily by others at your company?
- Who are these other people and what are their qualifications?
- How often will you communicate with me?
- What key steps are involved in completing my project?
- What work will I have to do to complete my project?
- Can you give me some references from other people in your field?
- Can you give me the names of some clients that I can talk to about working with you?
- How are your fees structured?
- How do you bill—hourly or by the project?
- What types of guarantees do I receive that the work will be completed correctly, on time, and on budget?
- What types of errors and omissions insurance do you have?
Portions adapted from MyCounsel.com
Legal Aspects of Hiring
Ensure that you address these legal issues related to hiring before you begin the process. For more detail on a specific legal issue, visit the Controlling Personnel Risk article in the Risk Management section. You may want to order Workplace Law and Office Policies, published by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.
Since the vast majority of real estate associates work as independent contractors, it's important to structure positions so that they qualify for independent contractor status. To be a statutory independent contractor for federal tax law purposes, three criteria must be met:
- The associate must hold a real estate license
- Substantially all the associate's remuneration for real estate activities must be directly related to sales or other output rather than to the number of hours worked.
- A written agreement must exist between the salesperson and the person for whom he or she works, which agreement must provide that the salesperson will not be treated as an employee with respect to such services for federal tax purposes.
Source: Independent Contractors in Real Estate, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, 2001
TIP: Be sure that those new to real estate salespeople understand what is involved in being and independent contractor—paying their own taxes, no paid vacations, etc.
TIP: Although some personal assistants work as independent contractors, assistants working under the direction of the company or a sales associate might well be considered employees by the Internal Revenue Service, as well as for the purposes of state law.
Federal Employment Laws
Several federal laws will govern your employment practices. Also check your state employment laws, which sometimes include provisions not contained in federal statutes.
Anti-discrimination Laws
Several federal laws prohibit discrimination in hiring. Protected categories are:
- Race
- Color
- Sex
- Religion
- National origin
- Age (40 years or older)
Federal anti-discrimination employment laws apply to companies with fifteen or more employees (twenty in the case of age discrimination) that are engaged in interstate commerce. Real estate brokerage companies that engage in relocation services are engaged in interstate commerce. In addition, the transfer of funds for mortgages and title insurance often qualify transactions as interstate commerce.
Keep It Ethical. Don't discrimination in employment practices based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. (Code of Ethics, Article 10)
TIP: Many states and municipalities also have anti-discrimination hiring laws, which in some cases include other protected categories and are not limited by the size of the company. Check with your local office of labor.
The Americans With Disabilities Act
The ADA prohibits discrimination in hiring or post-hiring practices against qualified individuals with mental or physical disabilities. So long as the disabled person can perform the essential functions of the job, he or she cannot be excluded from consideration because of their disability. For example, in real estate, essential functions would probably include prospecting for and securing listings and showing homes to buyers, but not placing yard signs. Even though yard signs may be a part of selling real estate, it's a minor part of the overall job that could be easily performed by someone else at the brokerage company.
At the same time, the Act requires companies to make adjustments and modifications that provide "reasonable accommodation" and thus enable the disabled person to perform the essential functions of the job. For example, it might be possible to provide reasonable accommodation to a salesperson in a wheelchair by teaming him or her with a buyer's representative who could show homes that were not wheelchair accessible. The Act does provide that reasonable accommodations are not required if they would produce "undue hardship" for the business. In addition, keep in mind that the ADA applied to employers with fifteen or more employees. Note that independent contractors do not count toward this total. For more on other aspects of the ADA that apply to real estate brokerages, visit the Risk Management Tool Kit.
Fair Labor Standards
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) covers minimum wage and overtime pay provisions. In most instances, employees, but not independent contractors, of real estate companies will be covered by the Act. One of the principal focuses of the FLSA is to determine which employees must be paid for overtime work and which are exempt from these payments. Many positions are considered exempt for federal tax purposes, including technical positions such as computer programmers, outside salespeople (who are employees), and professional positions such as attorneys. However, at a real estate office where sales associates work as independent contractors, positions that would probably exempt include:
Executive employees such as a managing broker or sales manager on salary. To qualify as exempt, these employees must: spend most of their time in management activities supervising two or more employees and earn a minimum salary (determined periodically by the U.S. Department of Labor)
Administrative employees such as an office manager or Web designer. To qualify as exempt these employees must: perform office or non-manual work that directly relates to management policy or business, have authority to exercise independent judgement and earn a minimum salary.
If employees do not fall under the criteria of one of these groups, they are nonexempt and must be paid overtime if they work more than 40 per week. Note that most clerical personnel—even if their title is that of "administrative assistant"—would not be exempt.
TIP: The FLSA does not require employers to pay for meal breaks, holidays, or sick days (unless specified in company policy).
Advanced: The Family and Medical Leave Act> | |
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