Hiring my first two tutors: background checks, pay rate, and who eats a no-show

Amara Okoye· After-school tutoring center; name and LLC done, looking for a space· Named it, Childcare & Education·6d

I am not open yet and I am hiring, which feels backwards, but I cannot sign a space with the numbers I have unless I know what staffing costs.

Two part-time tutors, afternoons, roughly twelve hours a week each to start. Here is where I have landed and where I am stuck.

Background checks: I am running them on everyone, including the retired teacher who came recommended by two families, because the day I make an exception is the day I cannot explain my policy to a parent. Fingerprinting through the state process where I am, plus calling references and actually asking the awkward questions rather than confirming dates of employment.

Pay: $22 an hour gets me applicants, $28 gets me the ones I want, and $28 across two tutors at twelve hours is about $2,700 a month before anything else. At $45 a session that is a lot of sessions before I have paid rent.

Classification: my CPA's view is that because I set the schedule, provide the curriculum and they work in my space, this looks more like employment than contracting where I am, and she was clear that it varies by state.

The bit I have no plan for is a no-show. Tutor sick at 3pm, four kids arriving at 4pm. Do I pay a small retainer for backup availability, cover it myself, or cancel and refund?

What do the rest of you do when the person does not show?

3 replies

Olga Dimitrova· Registered·5d

You cover it yourself, at least at your size. That is the honest answer from the childcare side - a parent who reorganised their afternoon does not care why, and the second cancellation is the one that loses the family.

What I would build instead of a backup retainer is a short list of two or three people who would take an occasional afternoon, and actually use them once or twice when you do not need to, so they are not strangers to the kids the first time it matters. On pay, I would rather have one person at your $28 than two at $22. Turnover costs more than the gap.

Amara Okoye· Named it·5d

One at $28 rather than two at $22 is a trade I had not framed that way, and it softens the no-show problem too, because one person I trust is easier to cover for than two I am anxious about.

The bench idea is good and cheap. Using them before I need them is the part I would have skipped, and it is obviously the part that makes it work - a substitute the kids have met is a different experience from a stranger at the door. I will also stop pretending I will never be the backup. I am going to be the backup.

Dana Kowalski· Open·5d

On classification, your CPA is describing the right test and the state variation is real, so get a local answer in writing before the first check rather than after. The cost of fixing that retroactively is not proportionate to the size of the mistake.

One more thing while you are hiring: write down what you will do if a check comes back with something on it, before one does. Not every record is disqualifying and some are, and deciding in the moment with a person you like sitting in front of you is how businesses end up with an inconsistent policy they cannot defend to a parent. Decide it cold.

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