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  • Sometimes simple gifts or notes won’t cut it when it comes to rewarding an employee. Earlier this month, we provided nine gift ideas and eight free suggestions for good employees, but this post is for bosses who are looking for some alternative ways to show a worker just how much they mean to a company.

    Consider some alternative ideas for rewarding employees, such as letting them work from home for a day.

    Five Alternative Employee Rewards

    While notes and coffee make for nice treats, sometimes an employee deserves a little something extra. If you really want to reward an employee for doing a great job, consider one of these ideas:

    • Offer to swap a task with them for a day or week
    • Reserve them a special parking spot for a week or month
    • Send something personalized to their significant other  or treat both of them to dinner
    • Let them work from home for a day
    • Offer to let them represent the company at a work conference so that they can get more experience and get out of the office

    Appreciating Your Employees

    Every employee is different, so some reward ideas may work better for some people than others. The same goes for businesses. For example, bringing a pet in to work may be out of the question at some companies, but others might see it as a great idea to improve morale. Choose a reward option that best fits your company and go from there.

    At GMS, we know how important your employees are. Contact us today to see how partnering with a Professional Employer Organization can help you and your workers.

  • As we mentioned earlier this month, it’s good to reward your employees. However, sometimes you want to reward an employee, but you have a strict budget. Even if you don’t have a spare few bucks to spend, there are plenty of ways to show your appreciation to a worker without having to take out your wallet. 

    Even simple rewards can make an employee feel appreciated.

    Eight Free Ways to Reward Employees

    You don’t always have to spend money to show appreciation. There are plenty of ways that you can thank your employees for their hard work. Here are eight different ideas of how you can treat your workers for free:

    • Let them dress casually for a day
    • Give them some freedom with their work schedule
    • Feature them in a company newsletter
    • Arrange for a boss several levels up to stop by and say thanks
    • Honor them at the start of a staff meeting
    • Congratulatory company email
    • Post a thank you note on their door or desk
    • Send them a sincere, handwritten thank-you letter

    Small Things Matter

    It doesn’t take much to make someone feel appreciated. Even a simple, genuine “thank you” can show that a worker that they’re doing a good job.

    Another way to help your employees is by partnering with a Professional Employer Organization. If you’re looking to save money on your HR management, contact us today to find out how partnering with GMS can keep your employees covered.

  • A happy employee is a good employee. Rewarding employees for their hard work shows that you appreciate them, which can in turn give them extra motivation to not only maintain their quality of work, but exceed it.

    Whether you’re rewarding one particular employee or a group of people, a special gift or show of thanks can make a big difference.

    Reward good employees to show your appreciation.

    Nine Ways to Reward an Employee

    People like to feel appreciated, so a gift or a special treat can not only increase morale, it can help drive the employee to feel even more passionate about his or her job. Try treating an outstanding employee with one of the following nine rewards:

    • Throw a pizza party to celebrate
    • Buy the office donuts and announce that it’s in honor of the outstanding employee
    • Gift them flowers or candy
    • Take them out to lunch
    • Give them a personalized card with a gift card inside
    • Give them a framed photo that’s signed by the rest of the team
    • Send a gift basket to their residence
    • Give them a certificate for a free car wash
    • Give them an extra-long lunch or some comp time

    Match the Gift to the Employee

    Each of the listed treats are great ways to reward an employee, but different people may value some rewards more than others. Have a worker who loves coffee? A gift card to the coffee shop of their choice would be a great gift. If an employee spends a lot of time taking their kids to various activities, some extra free time could be a welcome bonus.

    Another way to reward your employees is to offer them a robust benefits package. If you are looking to partner with a Professional Employer Organization to manage your HR, contact us today to find out how GMS can help you keep your employees happy while saving some money in the process.

  • A good administrative professional can really benefit a business. As Administrative Professionals Day is April 27, here are some gift ideas to treat the administrators, secretaries, and other similar employees at your office.

    Image of chocolates for Administrative Professionals Day. Contact GMS about premier employee benefits administration.

    Appeal to Their Stomach

    Sometimes the best way to an employee’s heart is through their stomach. A tasty treat is a simple way to show your appreciation to an administrative assistant. These gifts can take a variety of forms, with some suggestions including:

    • Chocolate
    • Coffee beans or tea bags
    • Candies
    • Cookies

    Those are just a few examples, but there are plenty of other potential treats as well. Just make sure to cater your gift to the employee, as you’re not going to want to give peanut butter cups to someone with a peanut allergy.

    Go-to Gift Cards

    If you’d rather have your administrative assistants choose their treats for themselves, a gift card is a great way to go. Gift cards are simple and let your employees decide for themselves exactly what they’ll get. All you have to do is pick an establishment that fits each employee. If you really have trouble narrowing it down to a store or restaurant, it never hurts to ask.

    The Gift of Time

    When in doubt, time can always be on your side. Long lunches and early dismissals are nice rewards in lieu of gifts. If an administrative assistant has really done a great job, a day off is certainly a great way for that employee to celebrate Administrative Professionals Day.

    Rewarding Your Team With Employee Benefits

    Small gifts can go a long way to build your employees’ morale. Another way to reward your team is through professional employee benefit administration.

    Group Management Services can offer your business the flexibility, control of premiums, access to data and networks, and overall options that can help your team. Contact us today to talk to our experts about benefit administration.

  • Chronic diseases are a serious concern for employees. Issues like hypertension, depression, and other maladies can lead to employees needing sick days to recover or being less productive while at work.

    We’ve already discussed how proper health education can help your employees. Here are some ways that a workplace wellness program can get your employees started on healthy habits.

    Image of an employee with a healthy lunch. Workplace wellness programs can help start healthy workplace habits.

    Working Out at the Office

    According to the Centers for Disease Control, roughly a quarter of workers are considered obese. Instituting healthy practices at work can help your employees developing good habits such as a regular workout routine and a healthy diet.

    While some people push off plans to go to the gym after work, on-site fitness programs can provide employees with the means to get into an exercise routine. By having a convenient location and available time for exercise, workers are incentivized to finally commit to working out.

    Stopping Unhealthy Habits

    A workplace wellness program is about more than just exercise and healthy eating. One component of a good program involves providing help for people looking to break habits like smoking. Quitting something addictive can take some support, and a workplace wellness program can provide some assistance for employees looking to kick certain habits to the curb.

    Another bad habit is eating junk food at work. If your company has a vending machine, swapping out healthier options can allow workers to snack without as many consequences. Healthy food at lunch-and-learns can also provide some education along with a side of nutrition.

    Wellness Programs for Healthy Workers

    GMS has experts that can help you institute a workplace wellness program to help your employees improve their health. Contact us today to start the process today.

  • Sick days happen, but a regularly unhealthy group of workers can be bad for business. Healthy, happy employees can lead to a more productive workplace. A workplace wellness program provides workers with information on healthy activities and initiatives to help foster healthier lifestyles. Here’s what your employees can learn.

    Workplace wellness program education can help your employees live a healthier lifestyle.

    Workplace Wellness Educational Opportunities

    Sometimes a little knowledge can make a big difference. A workplace wellness program helps your employees set aside time to learn more about what they can do to improve their health. Educational opportunities include:

    • One-on-one communication with a wellness coordinator
    • Voluntary lunch-and-learns, classes, and informational meetings
    • A monthly newsletter

    Supporting and teaching healthy behaviors shows employees that their company cares. By having employees become invested in health education, they can better their personal lives and help create a happier, more productive workplace.

    Assessing Your Health

    With a workplace wellness program, you learn about more than just health tips; you learn about the state of your own health.

    A wellness program involves a number of health screenings and scans that can assess your current level of health. In addition to measuring height and weight, these tests can assess other important information, including:

    • Blood pressure
    • Glucose level
    • Total Cholesterol
    • HDL, LDL, and Triglyceride upon request
    • Body fat percentage

    Even if you already knew the results before the tests, it’s never a bad idea to get a reaffirmation of where your health is at. There’s always the chance that one of your levels has changed since you were last tested and that’s important information to know. Everyone only gets one body, so it’s good to know what condition it’s in so that you can keep it in shape.

    Working with a Wellness Program

    Workplace Wellness programs are designed with the wellbeing of employees in mind. If you want to help your employees live a healthier lifestyle, contact GMS today about how we can help you institute a workplace wellness program for your business.

  • Paid time-off policies allow employees to miss time without causing as many problems for your business. With a good PTO policy in place, your company can allow for the occasional illness or prepare for vacation requests without having to worry.

    Setting up a paid time off policy to track days off.

    Set Some Ground Rules for  Paid Time Off (PTO)

    When creating a PTO policy, it’s important to set up a few rules so that employees are clear on what it means to use a PTO day and how many they have total. A policy should also include an accrual table with how many PTO days employees can get based on how long they have been with the company.

    One potential obstacle for a PTO policy is the fear of having too many employees use their days at the same time. Your policy can manage these requests by:

    •  Placing a cap on the number of days that employees may request during a vacation leave

    •  Regulating the number of employees from a department that may be out at any given time to avoid an empty department

    •  Requiring employees to provide enough notice prior to taking  PTO

    Have a Tracking System in Place

    No, this doesn’t suggest tracking where employees go to see if they’re actually sick. Your PTO policy will need to keep track of days taken off by each employee. It’s important to make sure that your policy isn’t so complicated that it makes tracking a pain.  If you have the right payroll and HR system in place, the tracking of PTO days should be easy and the employees should be able to access their PTO days at the “click” of a button.

    If you need help setting up a PTO policy that can accurately track days off, Group Management Services can help. Our experts can work with you to design a policy that works best for your business. We then help you automate your system to streamline tracking and save you the stress. Contact us today to talk to our experts about how GMS can benefit your business in 2016 and beyond.

  • Small business owners put in a lot of work to make their business succeed. Unfortunately, there are some hurdles that can prevent a small business from a bigger, more lucrative future. Here are three issues that small business owners may have to face when growing their company.

    Image of small business owners. Grow your business with exper HR management like employee training and risk management.

    Managing Cash Flow

    Business owners have to do more than just make money. They also have to manage their cash flow so that they are able to pay expenses and reinvest in their business. Unfortunately, managing cash flow isn’t easy.

    It can be easy to lose track of all the money being transferred in and out of a business. Cash flow allows a business to track what funds are available and what needs to be reserved for expenses and other costs. A well-managed cash flow allows owners to understand where their business is at financially, giving them the ability to make informed judgements about how money should be allocated for growth.

    The Right Team

    It’s hard to grow as a business without bringing on new people. However, adding to your team takes more than just hiring more employees. It’s important to find the right people for your company so that you don’t have to deal with ineffective or problematic employees while you’re trying to grow your business.

    As you grow, it’s also important to put people in the right positions. Business owners can’t do all the work, so it’s important to have the right senior and mid-level managers in place to work on areas that will help your business grow.

    Not Enough Time

    Plans for growth are great, but plans cannot be executed without the time to implement them. Small business owners are wracked for time, which can slow progress for their company. According to a survey by OnDeck Capital, the average small business owner works 53 hours per week. Of those interviewed, 86 percent said that good time management is critical for small business owners.

    Unfortunately, there’s only so much time in a day, especially when you’re trying to maintain a personal life. Group Management Services helps business owners grow their business by taking on important administrative burdens that owners don’t have time to properly manage.

    Build Your Business with a PEO

    As a professional employer organization (PEO), we can help owners manage cash flow through expert payroll administration and risk management services. We can also help business build and retain the right team with employee training and recruitment services.

    We can partner with your business and save you time while making your HR functions simpler, safer, and stronger. Contact GMS today about what we can do to help your business grow.

  • It can be hard to manage HR functions internally. That’s why a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) provides comprehensive services for businesses in need of help. 

    However, some people aren’t as familiar with how PEOs operate and may be concerned about working with them. Fortunately, we’re here to help answer your questions. We’ve debunked three myths about PEOs that you shouldn’t worry about.

    Image of a man with a magnifying glass. Learn about how a professional employer organization helps businesses.

    PEOs Don’t Take Control of Your Business

    Myth: A PEO will take over your company.

    Nobody wants to lose control. Unlike what some people may think, hiring a PEO won’t lead to a takeover. PEOs partner with companies to help them make more informed business decisions and save them time and money. Our experts help you manage HR functions and stay compliant with any necessary laws, but you always stay in control and run your business.

    Small Businesses Can Benefit from PEOs, Too

    Myth: PEOs can’t help small businesses.

    You don’t need to run a huge company to benefit from a PEO. Small companies encounter headaches with HR functions just like any company. Figuring out payroll or handling HR for any number of people can lead to late hours and costly inefficiencies and errors. A PEO can help a small business solve these problems and save money while doing it.

    PEOs are a Smart Investment

    Myth: PEOs are too expensive.

    PEOs typically charge a fee per employee per month, but the costs of hiring a PEO are often covered by savings on your HR functions. Not only can PEOs uncover costly issues, they also put measures in place to make sure the “inevitable HR issues” don’t happen. Plus, you don’t have to spend countless hours trying to manage HR functions. PEO experts can manage that part of your business so that you can spend your time focusing on other important areas. 

    Complete Guide to PEOs

    Work with a Professional Employer Organization

    Over the years, GMS has helped over a thousand clients manage their HR functions. Contact GMS today to talk to one of our experts about how a PEO can help your company improve its HR functions.

  • Paid time off (PTO) is a powerful tool to help employees stay refreshed and motivated. Unfortunately, the prospect of falling behind on projects or being hit by a deluge of missed emails can be more terrifying than a prolonged visit with your in-laws.

    Employees shouldn’t be afraid to take PTO, whether it’s due to potential workplace stress or a fear to take time off. Here are three ways that your business can make vacations less stressful for employees.

    Image of a frustrated employee. Help releive stress with open PTO policies for your workplace.

    Make it Known that Vacations are Good

    Refreshed, focused employees are more productive than burnt-out workers. The occasional vacation gives employees a chance to recharge their proverbial batteries, but American workers don’t always take advantage of this benefit. However, not all employees feel comfortable using their PTO.

    A survey from Project: Time Off shows that over half of American workers had unused vacation days last year. That same survey reported that 22 percent of people felt that using their vacation time made them seem replaceable. Nervous, overworked employees aren’t going to be able to give you their best. Make sure that you have a very clear, open policy about taking time off and encourage workers to use their PTO days. That way your employees won’t be too worried to take a well-deserved break.

    Vacation Preparation Time

    Even if employees aren’t worried about asking to use vacation time, they might be afraid of what will happen if they leave for a week. Roughly 37 percent of employees are afraid that nobody will do their work while they’re away on vacation. Another 30 percent are concerned that nobody else could do their job.

    Proper vacation planning can help mitigate these fears and set your business up for success. Help employees decide which tasks can be handled by other employees while they’re gone. Set up a direct backup employee who can answer questions while an employee is gone. It’s also good to block off some time so that a vacationing employee can catch up on everything instead of rushing straight back to their regular work.

    Protect Your Business from Problematic Vacation Requests

    Vacations can cause problems for business owners as well. An impromptu mental health day here and there isn’t a big deal, but last-minute vacation requests can mess up work flows and deadlines. 

    A good PTO policy should set guidelines for how far in advance employees need to request time off. This will help protect your business from sudden departures and give employees fair notice why you have to turn down a request without ample notice.

    Have a PTO Policy in Place

    Employees get a set amount of PTO days for a reason. Group Management Services can help your business set up a clear PTO policy that will keep track of used PTO days and streamline vacation requests. Contact GMS today about employee benefits administration and how a PTO policy will make your vacation process a lot less stressful.