Ways to Spend the Money You Save from Dodging Worker Misclassification Fees

So you’ve made good use of nextSource’s Worker Misclassification Risk Calculator. (What? You haven’t? Do it now! It is free! We’ll wait.) OK, you’re back and now you see just how much money your organization could save in presumed fees, penalties and back pay by taking proactive steps to better manage your worker classification processes and practices. With a partner like nextSource, you’ll never have to worry again about being ensnared in a costly and damaging misclassification audit/suit. Just like that, we’ve put potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars back into your operating budget.

That’s reason to celebrate, no? We think so. So we’ve compiled the following list of ways you can reinvest these windfall savings. Feel free to select any or all of these options. After all, the larger your overall workforce, the more you stand to save by being on top of worker classification management and compliance.

Here’s our list of business resources/tools/investments to buy with the money you’ll save by not paying costly misclassification fines/penalties:

• Class A office space for one full year – It’s been proven that environment impacts on productivity.
• All the copy paper you could ever need – reams and reams of the stuff!
• New photocopiers (since you’ll have such an abundance of copy paper)
• Enough 4×8 foot sheets of white board material to cover every wall surface in the entire office and a rainbow array of dry erase markers (supercharged creative collaboration here we come!)
• Post-it notes of every conceivable color, size, and shape.  (Enough to fill your new, Class A office space.) After all, communication is absolutely vital to success!
• Treadmill-powered walking desks for every employee. Not only will the organization grow more physically fit and productive, but you’ll also save significant money on electricity. (We’ll produce a separate post with our suggestions on how best to spend these energy savings.)
• “Happy Hour” four times per week instead of just once, because morale is essential to productivity. Morale (or perhaps more ale?) means better operational output.
• A full-time Starbucks “barista” serving your favorite coffee creations in the breakroom. (Just make sure to properly classify this worker. Just because he wears a Starbucks uniform on your site doesn’t mean you’re not potentially subject to joint liability!
• Company-branded kickball uniforms so audacious and fearsome they will make your competition in the Inter-Company Kickball League terrified to even take the field
• Access to the IBM’s Watson computer
• iPad Pros for all remote employees
• A new, fully-funded, onsite daycare/Chuck E. Cheese’s
• Onsite Barbershop/Salon/Reflexology clinic, because when workers look and feel good from head to toe, they do better work!
• Uber/Lyft rides for employees, because you know, traffic saps morale and weighs on productivity. Plus, this affords workforce managers the opportunity to observe the gig economy up close and hands-on. The costs incurred may even be tax deductible as a result.
• And, with the remainder of the expansive savings you’ll surely capture by successfully avoiding worker misclassification woes, this blogger would like to respectfully suggest a rooftop pool and lounge. This one item alone should save propitiously on the cost quadra-weekly happy hours.

But seriously folks, check with your friendly nextSource rep to make sure your classification compliance processes are up to snuff.