There’s a whole host of benefits to hiring minors, not least the boost giving real workplace experience to young people brings to society as a whole. But it also comes with challenges, especially for large-scale hospitality businesses operating in multiple jurisdictions. Minors are protected by both state and federal laws. For employers, keeping track of the relevant local and national laws which differ for different ages and change frequently can be a nightmarish prospect without the help of smart scheduling tools.

To deal with this, Harri has developed a host of new features to help you get the benefits of hiring minors while ensuring you are compliant with state and federal laws – all integrated into the TeamLive platform.

Let’s take a look at the challenges and benefits of hiring minors, and how Harri’s new features give you peace of mind by ensuring your business complies with the law.

Potential Challenges Around Hiring Minors

First of all, let’s define exactly what we mean by a minor. For our purposes, minors are employees between the ages of 14-17 years old, who are still students in high school and working part-time.

As a general rule, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets 14 years of age as the minimum age for employment (under most conditions) and limits the number of hours worked by minors under the age of 16, but specific rules and penalties vary by city and state. 

Minors are protected by strict labor laws (and rightly so). But this means you have to be super careful as an employer. You must be on top of the rules for each age group and make sure your managers don’t schedule minors to work hours that violate the rules.

This becomes more challenging when you have to factor in different school timetables and other times when minors would be unavailable to work.

However, there are substantial benefits to hiring younger workers too.

Benefits of Hiring Minors

Although minors have always played a role in the hospitality industry, employers generally tend to favor age and experience over youthful exuberance. Regardless, It’s worth keeping an open mind as there are numerous benefits to hiring the younger generation. 

Expand the Talent Pool 

By opening up your recruitment to a younger demographic, you increase your talent pool by a significant amount. There are around 10 million minors in the US and among them is the next generation of hospitality superstars. By tapping into this rich seam, you have the opportunity to grow and nurture the top talent of the future. 

Minors Bring a Different Perspective to a Job Environment

We all know that companies can get stagnated and sometimes what’s needed is a fresh perspective. Minors may come in with new ideas or alternative ways of looking at tasks that can inspire existing employees and managers. Granted, not all of these ideas are going to work, but even if one fresh initiative comes in, it’s surely worth the gamble.

Minors Make Excellent Trainees

Generally speaking, people new to the workforce will be more adaptable and eager to learn new tasks, making them excellent trainees. Hiring someone new to the workplace means they are a blank slate. They won’t have picked up bad habits, they won’t be jaded and cynical (hopefully!) and they should be open to your way of doing things. 

You can instruct them on your procedures and inspire them to model your principles and work style. So as long as you offer good training and lead by example, there is an opportunity to help these young workers form good habits early on. Managers can become mentors and feel empowered in their positions fostering better retention and company culture. 

Offer the Best Value

Minors expect far lower wages than older, more experienced staff. They typically work part-time as well, meaning they will not require the same benefits as other staff. You will usually be paying the minimum wage to minors and they’ll be happy for the pocket money and experience. You could be hiring the best talent for a fraction of the cost.

Make the Most of Hiring Minors With Harri

Now that we’ve seen the pros and cons of hiring minors, it’s time to take a look at how Harri helps you mitigate the potential negatives and make the most of the positives. There’s a host of features specifically designed to help you navigate the laws regarding hiring under-18s so you can reap the benefits of their youthful exuberance and great value labor. Here’s an overview of how Harri can help.

Get Peace of Mind With Harri’s Wage and Hour Compliance Engine

All you have to do is input the rules for your location and Harri helps you create schedules that comply with the local laws. If your schedule has the potential to violate labor laws, you will be warned so that you can adjust it accordingly.

You can now set your state’s minor work laws and break laws to ensure you stay on the right side of the rules, every time. The system ensures you remain compliant without the hassle of looking up all the rules, taking away the worry and giving your managers peace of mind.

Link to School Calendars

You can also now link individual’s school calendars with Harri’s TeamLive platform so that the information is integrated into the scheduling system. By linking to the appropriate school calendar, you can see at a glance accurate and up-to-date information telling you when each minor is available to work.

What Happens When They Turn 18?

The minor rules will automatically cease to apply when the individual turns 18, so you don’t need to worry about switching the rules manually.

Track the Effectiveness of Your New Hires With Employee Performance Reports

Harri allows you to dive deep into each employee’s performance with its built-in analytics. Track attendance, sales performance, and other KPIs to determine who your best performers are. This way you can accurately tell if your minor hiring strategy has been a success and make any necessary adjustments to the process to improve results.