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The Different Types of Hats That a Small Business Owner Has to Wear

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As a small business owner, you have to wear many hats, or work a variety of different positions, in order to run and operate your business efficiently. Being a small business owner is a lot of work and requires a lot of your time. Here are just some of the many hats that a typical small business owner has to wear when they are working to get their business off of the ground. 

Human Resources Specialist

One of the many hats that a small business owner has to wear is a human resources specialist. As a small business owner, you may be responsible for interviewing candidates, doing background checks on candidates, talking to their references, and completing the rest of the hiring process. You may also have to put together an employee handbook and handle disciplinary measures, up to firing or letting employees go. You also have to ensure you are compliant with hiring and firing practices in the county and state your business is in or you could be opening yourself and your business up to a lawsuit. 

Payroll Administration

Another hat that a small business owner has to wear is a payroll administrator. As a small business owner, you have to process payroll for any employees that you have. Paying your employees may not sound like a difficult task, but you have to verify their hours, take out the right amount of taxes and social security payments, take out money for medical coverage, and 401K. You also need to ensure all of this is done on or before payday. 

Benefits Administration

Benefits administration is another important hat that a small business owner needs to wear. You need to find medical plans, dental plans and short and long term disability plans. You need to set up 401k accounts for your employees. And you may need to set up things like vacation time, sick time, or a general bank of paid time off days. You need to ensure that employees know when they can enroll in these items, ensure that payments are made so your plans do not get canceled, and track employee vacation and sick time, including adding time to their books or taking away time when they use their hours. 

Merchandise Orderer

As a small business owner, you need to ensure that you always have the merchandise or products that you need on hand within your business. You may have to do inventory control and merchandise ordering. This may include selecting products to order, negotiating wholesale pricing, and paying off invoices as they come due. Without this position, your business may not have the merchandise that people want to purchase or that your employees need to complete services for customers. 

Boss

The final type of hat that a small business owner has to wear is the boss hat. Above everything else, they have to oversee all of their employees. They have to create rules and guidelines. They have to set budgets. They have to ensure that the business is running smoothly and functioning, and if it is not, they have to make changes or the entire business may be in jeopardy. 

A small business owner has to wear many hats to help their business operate. Here at Employer Flexible, we help to streamline your human resources services, helping to take away one of the many jobs that you as a small business owner typically have to perform. If you are ready to learn more about what types of services we offer and how we can help you, give us a call today.