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  • Losing weight is one of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions. After a holiday season filled with cookies, candy, and booze, it’s easy to understand why.

    Unfortunately, most people don’t stick to their resolutions. In fact, so many people fail at keeping them that January 17th has become known as National Ditch Your Resolution Day.

    How Does This Impact Me?

    It’s simple. Unhealthy employees cost more to employ. They are less productive, more likely to miss work, increase insurance premiums, and drive up workers’ compensation costs.

    Two women and one man at a spinning class.

    How Can I Help My Employees?

    One of the best things you can do is implement a workplace health program. These programs are structured to provide the support your employees (and you) need to stay on track, including:

    • Setting realistic and specific goals
    • Creating a plan to reach those goals
    • Tracking and measuring progress
    • Building a rewards system to keep you motivated, and more.

    Take a look at the following articles for more tips on ways to keep New Year’s Resolutions:

    You can also share these great apps with your employees:

    What Other Benefits Do Wellness Programs Offer?

    Because wellness programs are linked to higher morale, they can help you reduce employee turnover and retain quality employees.

    Wellness programs can also be set you apart from your competition. They can make your benefits package more attractive, which helps you recruit higher quality talent.

    What Are My Next Steps?

    There is no “right way” to build a wellness program. You have to create something that works for your group. Get creative and you’ll start seeing positive results sooner than you think.

    And of course, if you’re not sure where to start, contact GMS at 888-823-2084 today.

  • Choosing to partner with a professional employer organization (PEO) is a great decision for your business. If you’re like most business owners who are considering a PEO, you have done a lot of research and have tons of questions and concerns.

    Below, we’ve debunked four of the most common PEO myths to make your decision a little easier.

    Myth #1: Hiring a PEO means I’m going to lose control of my business.

    Fact: PEOs give you greater control of your business in a number of ways:

    • PEOs enable you to streamline communication across HR, payroll, risk management, and benefits, and frees up more of your time to focus on revenue-generating projects.
    • PEOs assign a team of HR professionals to you. The team can identify and find opportunities across back-office disciplines that can save you money and/or reduce financial risk.
    • PEOs improve cashflow through economies of scale. When you partner with a PEO, you may qualify for discounted rates on some business costs and lower premiums. This gives you more cash to invest in your business.

    To summarize, you call the shots. PEOs make it easier to make efficient, well-informed business decisions.

    Myth #2: I will lose control over hiring and firing decisions.

    Fact: Hiring and firing decisions are up to you.

    When it comes to hiring, PEOs can help you write job descriptions, review applications, and train new employees. This makes the recruitment process more effective and more efficient.

    If you want to fire an employee, PEOs protect you from rising unemployment taxes (should one be filed) by taking care of all the details.

    In short, you improve employee recruitment and limit financial risk…at a fraction of the time it would take to do yourself.

    Myth #3: PEOs supply workforce labor.

    Fact: PEOs are not temporary staffing agencies. When you partner with a PEO, you and that PEO agree to a co-employer relationship.

    In other words, you keep full control of your business and your employees. You make hiring and firing decisions. You are responsible for building a group that meets your company’s needs. The added benefit is that you can qualify for discounts and better insurance rates that you could not have gotten without a PEO.

    Myth #4: PEOs will change my company culture for the worse.

    Fact: PEOs don’t want to change your culture; they want to enhance it. If your employees like working for you now, imagine how much better it will be when they realize you’ve given them access to a Fortune 500 –level benefits package. Plus, once word gets out that your benefits are better than you competitions’, you’ll have a better chance at attracting interest from higher-quality talent.

    Do you have additional questions or concerns? Let’s talk! Give us a call at 1-888-823-2084.

    Complete Guide to PEOs

  • The road to getting an internship can be a rough one, especially if it is your first. If you were anything like me, you went to career fair after career fair, booth to booth, one person to the next, and before you knew it you were pretty overwhelmed by the entire process. 

    As a sales and marketing double major, I was lucky to have my choice of several companies to complete my university mandated internship. The original ten offers quickly dwindled as I ran them past my internship expectations – pay, experience, and environment. It was obvious after my GMS interviews with the Richfield Sales Manager, David Swift, and the VP of Sales, Tim Austin, that I had found the internship my classmates could only dream about.

    Find out what it’s like to intern at GMS from our Summer 2015 Sales Intern Erin Seiler.

    What it’s Like to Be an Intern for GMS

    As the sole intern for GMS, my schedule varies every single day. Every week in the morning, I shadow a different department within GMS – risk, taxes, finance, payroll, TPA, HR, benefits, etc. I learn about the intricacies within their department and how they pertain to our client’s day to day business activities. I learned how to:

    • Run payroll
    • Settle accounts
    • Prepare tax forms
    • Develop a 401k based on risk level
    • Create company handbooks
    • Complete a company audit
    • And the list goes on

    In the afternoon, I get to go back to the comfort of my profession and cold-call prospects all over the country. I work for a different sales division every day from the comfort of my desk in Richfield. One day I’m calling for Richfield, the next I’m calling for Atlanta, continuing as I cover all seven territories and trying to get warm leads to forward to other sales representatives. 

    Going into my eighth week here at GMS, I have passed on over 545 warm leads to other sales reps all over the country. I have also conducted a sales meeting on the importance of understanding and adapting to different personalities, and currently run the GMS Twitter account. All while the only things several of my classmates are running are trips to Starbucks.

    What I’ll Take Away From My Internship

    I can safely say that I have learned many selling strategies that will stick with me for the rest of my sales career, as well as several scars from winning Cleveland Corporate Challenges. Hey, in softball, if you don’t dive, you don’t try! I have met co-workers who will without a doubt be friends for life. I have a personal relationship with people in every department in the company, as well as the VP of Sales, the VP of Benefits, the CFO, and the CEO/Owner. What intern, let alone a full-time employee, can say that? From a client’s perspective, it is easy to see why you would want to partner with GMS. From an intern’s perspective, it is easy to see why working for GMS is one of the most rewarding life experiences you will ever have. 

    Erin Seiler

    Summer 2015 Sales Intern

  • Hundreds of millions of people use Twitter, offering you plenty of potential to find customers in need of your services. Due to the volume and variety of content shared each and every day, Twitter can be overwhelming at first, but a little guidance can go a long way. Here are some tips for finding potential opportunities on the social platform.

    Using Twitter for business.

    Cutting Through the Noise

    Even if you tried, you can’t read everything on Twitter. Thousands of new tweets are sent out every second, leading to a lot of content that you can sift through.

    You can’t go through everything – nor would you want to – but you can narrow down your search to include tweets from people that are more likely to become potential customers by using certain hashtags. Millions of people use these little pound signs to organize their tweets for you, allowing you to target people who are tweeting about needs that your business can help with. 

    Personalize Your Search

    What you search for is entirely dependent on what services your business provides and what type of customers you are trying to draw. For example, if your business is aimed toward helping people with home improvement projects, #HomeownerProbs is a hashtag where potential customers are openly sharing content about certain needs, such as painting a room or a broken sink.

    Not every hashtag will be a winner, but through some creative searching, you could find several opportunities for business.

    Offer Help to Those in Need

    Once you narrow your search down to people tweeting about needs that suits your services, you can jump into the conversation. 

    This doesn’t mean that you should necessarily sell them on something right away, as an overly aggressive approach can scare off potential customers. Instead, contributing to the conversation with helpful advice or striking up a chain of interactions about what they are looking for can provide valuable information for them and build up their trust in your company.

    Growing Your Business

    Hard work can help you grow your business, but it can take a lot of time. As your company grows, so do your HR needs. GMS can give you more time to focus on growing your business while we partner with you to manage your employees’ payroll, benefits, and other internal services. 

    Contact us today to see how partnering with a Professional Employer Organization can benefit you and your business.

  • Unlike other massive social networks like Facebook or Twitter, LinkedIn is dedicated to professionals. Over 40 million users in a variety of industries have profiles on the network, giving you potential access to several new business leads.

    Using LinkedIn for business.

    Build Your Profile

    Before you start reaching out to other professionals, you’ll want to make sure your own profile is up to snuff. Take some time to completely fill out your profile, with detailed experience listings and an inviting avatar photo. The people you connect with on LinkedIn will want to look at your profile before doing business with you, so a professional presentation will reinforce the idea to them that you’d be a good potential business connection.

    Grow Your Network

    An easy way to build up your connections is importing your address book and finding people you know. Your friends, coworkers, and business associations are more likely to accept your invitation to connect and could lead to other, less obvious connections.

    Once you’ve established a base of connections, you can use advanced search to find other potential leads. This tool allows you to narrow down your search to find professionals that are more likely to turn into a lead. If your company mainly deals with a specific level of employee, you can search by job title. If you’re trying to find a contact at a specific company, search the company name to find relevant people at that business.

    Find Your Groups

    LinkedIn groups are a great way to find potential business leads. A quick search can result in several groups for just about any industry you can think of. 

    Group insights can show you important details about a group, including how many members it has, the average level of seniority, and a breakdown on locations. If you are a member of a professional association offline, which can even include something like your alumni group, there’s a good chance that you can find that group on LinkedIn.

    Contribute to the Conversation

    A big benefit of LinkedIn is the ability to share content with your network. Writing a regular blog post about your industry and sharing it on LinkedIn can add to your influence. Building your audience and providing useful information can help set you up as a thought leader, which can help put you in a position to draw in potential business connections.

    Once you find a few groups that appeal to the audience you are trying to reach, don’t be afraid to contribute to the group as well. Jump into conversations that you feel you can contribute to and share relevant content with your group. You never know just who in that group may check out your profile and reach out to connect or even ask about your services.

    Free Up Time For Your Business

    Your time is best spent on ways to grow your business, but you still need to dedicate a lot of time to proper HR management. Group Management Services can partner with you to make your business simpler, safer, and stronger while freeing you up to focus on building your business. Contact us today to talk to our experts about how GMS can benefit you.

  • SlideShare may not have the same notoriety as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, but the social platform can still be a valuable tool for businesses. As a visual medium, SlideShare gives you the opportunity to show people your message in addition to giving them something to read. Here are some tips to help you use SlideShare as a social selling tool for your business.

    Using Slideshare for business

    Entice Readers with How-to Guides, Lists, and Industry Information

    People like reading easily digestible content, which is why lists work so well. Slide presentations are a great format for how-to guides and lists, as you can use each slide for a different step or number. This way your audience can easily read your presentation one part at a time and won’t feel overwhelmed.

    Useful industry information is something many businesses will actively search for. If you make it easy for your audience to find what they want, you’ll increase your chances of finding a potential new customer or client.

    Make it Look Great

    This is a point that seems obvious, but it’s worth stressing. SlideShare is a very visual platform, so you want to make an effort to have your slides look good. If you notice that parts of your slides could be improved with small adjustments, take the time to make sure that everything is in the right place.

    Don’t be afraid to try something new as well. An eye-catching design is a lot more intriguing than the same old slide formats that people have seen time and time again. Visually striking imagery and bold looks can get someone to give your slides a chance, which is all you’ll need if the content is appealing.

    Try and Get Featured

    Getting on the front page is a surefire way to boost the amount of exposure your slide presentations will receive and help your following grow. While it may not seem all that likely, an enticing, well-made presentation can make its way to SlideShare’s front page.

    SlideShare hand picks every featured presentation, so by following some guidelines for your slides, you’ll improve your shot of getting picked by the platform. We’ve already pointed out how a visually-impressive presentation with engaging content is key, but here are some other elements SlideShare looks for in a featured presentation:

    • Write an attention-grabbing headline

    • Create a powerful cover slide

    • Fully communicate your message without going too long

    • Create a presentation related to a recent news item or trending topic

    • Don’t be afraid to start a trend in either content or design

    Growing Your Business

    Your time should be spent on projects that can help you grow your business. Group Management Services works with you to provide proper HR management. Contact us today to learn more about how our experts can make your business simpler, safer, and stronger and while you can focus on growing your business.

  • Facebook is about more than checking to see what your online friends are doing. Numerous businesses maintain an official page to help expand brand awareness and drum up new leads.

    However, with all of the users and businesses currently on Facebook, you’ll need to spend some time on your page in order to build your audience. Here are some tips to help you get your business page noticed.

    Using Facebook for business

    Use Photos and Videos

    In a sea of potential posts, visual media can help your content stick out. According to a study from social media analytics site Quintly, videos and photos earn more interactions on average than other types of posts.

    By keeping some of your posts shorter and utilizing images and videos, you can get the point of your post across quickly and effectively. 

    Targeting and Timing is Important

    Facebook gives you the ability to target your content to a specific crowd. If you have a post that would only apply to a certain cross-section of your audience, you can narrow down your targeting by age, location, and other details. The same goes for Facebook advertisements, which can also be a powerful selling tool.

    Posting your content when your audience isn’t on Facebook will lead to less engagement and exposure. Time your posts to go out when your followers are most active, such as right at the end of the work day and in the evening. If you’re not sure when your audience is online, you can find data in your Page Insights on Facebook that will provide the information in a simple chart.

    Promote Your Platform

    Once you’ve established a presence on Facebook, you should continue to promote it. Placing social media buttons and calls to action on your online properties will direct people to your official Facebook page and other social platforms. Calling out your social platforms in emails and newsletters can also direct your current audience to go and support you on Facebook as well.

    Growing Your Business

    With over 1 billion active users each month, Facebook has plenty of potential for businesses. However, building up a social presence takes time. Group Management Services can help you grow your business by managing HR functions while you focus on growing your company. 

    Contact us today to see how partnering with a Professional Employer Organization can benefit you and your business.

  • An award is great, but it doesn’t mean too much if you don’t know what it represents. As a premier Professional Employer Organization, Group Management Services has earned a fair share of accolades over the years. This is what our awards should represent to you and your company.

    GMS has earned several awards due to our HR administration services.

    GMS is a Growing Professional Employment Organization

    We’ve been making employee management simpler, safer, and stronger since 1996. In the past 20 years, we’ve continued to grow ourselves, adding extra resources and capabilities help you with the burden of HR administration. That’s why GMS has been named as winners of both the Weatherhead 100 and Inc. 500 awards. These awards honor the fastest growing companies in Northeast Ohio and nationally, respectively.

    GMS Brings Value to the Region

    By providing a series of HR administration services, we provide value to our clients and help them grow. The Leading EDGE Awards Program recognizes 100 companies in Northeast Ohio that create value in the region and has named GMS as one of its honorees. This means that partnering with GMS on payroll administration, risk management services, or any of our other functions is an investment in the future of your organization.

    GMS is a Great Place to Work

    As a PEO, it just makes sense that our employees should love their jobs. GMS is proud to be listed on the Plain Dealer’s list of Northeast Ohio’s Top Workplaces. We take HR administration to heart, so we provide our employees with the same care that we offer our clients through functions like employee benefits administration.

    GMS Provides You with Expert HR Services

    GMS has been providing companies with valuable HR services for the past two decades, earning recognition and respect along the way. If you’re losing time and money managing your employees, contact us today to get in touch with one of our experts today.

  • No matter how long you’ve been in business, it’s never too late to learn. Fortunately, other business people have shared secrets to success over the years. Whether you’re looking for inspiration or need some gift ideas for the holidays, here are 11 books that all small business owners should read.

    Helpful books for small business owners

    The Common Denominator of Success

    Written by Albert E. N. Gray in the ‘40s, this book identifies a single trait of successful people: the willingness to for the habit of doing things that others do not want to do. It’s a message that’s still relevant today long after Gray passed away.

    The E-Myth Revisited

    Ideas are great, but your business needs to have a regimented plan in place. Michael Gerber’s book stresses the importance of systems in business and teaches you how to install them.

    Traction

    If you’re not careful, issues and frustrations from your business can feel like they control you. Gino Wickman’s Traction details how you can strengthen your business so that it leads to growth and enjoyment.

    The Advantage

    In The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni argues that most organizations have the experience and knowledge to be successful, but they still need to aim for organizational health. Lencioni covers four steps to help your business’ health.

    Book Yourself Solid

    There’s more to sales than just getting just any potential client in a meeting. Michael Port explains how you can look for the right fits for your business.

    Out of the Crisis

    Quality control is key in business. W. Edwards Deming’s Out of the Crisis points out where quality problems are started and how you can institute a management style that will help improve products and service.

    The Goal

    Unlike the other books on this list, Eliyah Goldratt’s The Goal is set up as a novel. This thriller focuses on operations management and show how fixing bottlenecks can save a company.

    How to Run Your Business So You Can Leave It in Style

    Exit planning is something that small business owners should consider when they begin to think about retiring, selling the business, or stepping away and John Brown helps you take the steps to make it a happy ending.

    Every Family’s Business

    If your business run in the family, this book is for you. Tom Deans lists 10 question that family business owners should ask to figure out the best course of action for future success.

    Switch

    Change is hard. Chip and Dan Heath guide business owners on how you can overcome the resistance to change and achieve results.

    What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

    Just because something worked for you in the past doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for you now. Marshall Goldsmith’s book emphasizes looking at situations with a fresh perspective to adapt when necessary.

    Big Ideas for Small Business

    There are many areas you have to focus on as a small business owner, and sometimes a little advice can make a big difference. Another way to benefit your business is to make the move to a professional payroll and HR company.

    You don’t need to be a huge company to get big business benefits. Contact GMS today to learn more about how our experts can make your business simpler, safer, and stronger when you partner with a Professional Employer Organization.

  • Each January, people make resolutions to help better themselves in the upcoming year. As another year of business comes to a close, consider making New Year’s resolutions that focus on making your business stronger instead of just losing weight or some of your more typical goals. Here are four suggestions for your business in 2016. 

    New Year’s Resolutions for small businesses

    Protect Your Business

    You may not want to think about people stealing from your company, but it’s always good to be prepared. After the holidays, make sure to sit down and conduct a security audit. Even if everything checks out, it’s better to be sure than to let it go and have something happen.

    External parties aren’t the only threats. We never want to suspect our coworkers, but internal fraud can happen. Professional auditors can review your internal controls to help prevent any problems just in case somebody ever decides to try and take advantage of the business.

    Keep on Learning

    This goes for both you and your employees. Make a resolution to focus on educational opportunities. Invest in training for employees to help them become stronger at an area that your business may struggle with. Also, commit to attending industry events. Conferences can be a great place to get new ideas and network with your peers.

    Take Time Off

    It may be hard to step away for even a few days, but it’s time that you reward yourself. Everyone needs a mental health day or two or a relaxing trip out of town. Also, it’s not a real day off if you continue to check your email every 15 minutes, so commit to stepping away so that you can recharge and come back even stronger than before.

    Commit to Premium Payroll and HR Services

    As a small business owner, you have your hands in a lot of areas. Group Management Services can ease your workload by providing professional HR expertise. We help you effectively manage your payroll, human resources, benefits, and other key functions.

    By partnering with us, we can help you take care of your employees. Contact us today to talk to our experts about how GMS can benefit your business in 2016 and beyond.