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  • Recently, I turned 48. Forty years ago, the age of 48 looked and sounded ancient. When I hit my 30s, it no longer seemed so old. I’ve been seeing a lot of stories recently about people I know or know of who are dying in their 50s and 60s. As I look at my two daughters, I grow more concerned about the prospect of only being on this planet for another 10-15 years.

    Every morning I curse my 4:55 a.m. alarm when it wakes me so I can meet my buddy Kurt for our 6 a.m. workout. Having a workout partner helps on those cold Cleveland mornings — and there are many! However, as I was making that trek in to work out, I thought how lucky I was to be working for a company that values employee wellness the way GMS does.

    Healthy Employees are Productive Employees

    There definitely is a financial component to this value. Small businesses and large companies alike can see a $3 reduction in their health insurance premiums for every $1 that they spend on employee wellness.

    In addition, healthier, fitter employees tend to be more productive employees. In a recent article, Lee Dukes, president of Principal Wellness Company says “It’s in every employer’s interest to have healthier, happier, more productive employees.” To that end, “Employers have to do more than offer wellness programs; in order to see the benefits, they have to incent participation.”

    Incentivizing Wellness

    In my travels as a sales rep, I talk to business owners across a wide range of industries. I have yet to meet anyone who dismisses wellness as a fad, but most only pay lip service to it. Most are not willing to offer employees incentives to stay healthy.

    Should we as employees be interested in our own health? Absolutely! Can we be more interested if there’s an incentive? Yes.

    I have seen firsthand at GMS an uptick in physical activities among employees every year in the third quarter when we have our annual wellness contest. I have also seen many of those habits in my fellow employees carry on throughout the year.

    Many of these same Ohio small business owners I talk to don’t think about healthier employees being more productive employees. They buy into the idea that it’s none of their business what the employees do with their personal time and habits. However, healthier employees are not just more productive, they also tend to work more injury-free, greatly helping small businesses in their risk management and lowered worker’s compensation claims.

    Long and Healthy Lives

    When I go home at night and I’m too physically tired to do everything my daughters want me to do, I do take some comfort in knowing that I’m doing what I can to make sure that I’ll be around for another 30-40 years.

    Have you thought about these issues? I’d love to hear what others are doing to help ensure they lead long and health lives. What are some ways employers can incentivize wellness?

  • If my mom only knew.

    When I was younger, my parents would encourage (mandate) that I help them in the family garden out back. However, that really cut into my wiffle ball playing/tree-climbing/insect-torturing summertime. I came up with every excuse in the book to get out of it. I was told it was good exercise and that the vegetables we grew were healthier and better for me than anything we bought at the grocery store. I didn’t care. I was a kid. I hated vegetables.

    Now we appear to have come full circle. Not only are gardens making appearances in the suburbs, they’re also starting to dot cityscapes and in a surprising twist, corporate campuses.

    Four years ago, GMS built ten “garden blocks.” Any employee who wanted to take part in gardening was assigned to one of five teams. Each team could grow anything they wanted to in the garden (provided it was legal.) GMS would provide the soil and the water, and Mother Nature would provide the sunlight. The rest was up to the team members. Anything we grew, we could keep.

    Needless to say, most of us didn’t have a whole lot of gardening experience. But we learned. We worked together, and each year, the garden got better.

    And special things happened along the way.

    Team members who worked in different departments got to know each other outside of work. We worked together to strategize what vegetables would give us the best yield and what could we do with those vegetables. We got to work out in the sunshine, and we started eating a little better.

    Turns out, we were ahead of the trend. A recent article on workforce.com reports that more and more companies are creating gardens as opportunities for team-building, morale-shifting, and overall wellness promotion.

    A few weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of a good wellness programfor employers looking to keep their healthcare costs low. At-work gardening may not be the end-all, but it’s an inexpensive way to start.

    You can grow more than vegetables. You can cultivate teamwork.

  • We’ve all been affected by cancer.

    Each year, 12.7 million people will learn they have cancer. Cancer impacts all of our lives; our friends’ lives, our families’ lives.

    What if there was something you could personally do to help?

    Help Prevent Cancer

    The American Cancer Society is seeking participants for a study called the Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3). The CPS-3 study is looking to enroll adults between 30 and 65 years old who have never been diagnosed with cancer. The study won’t take up too much of your time, but will make a huge difference in cancer research.

    Together we can stop cancer.

    I am a member of the board of the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the American Cancer Society.

  • Do you travel for work? Do you find it hard to keep a routine? You aren’t alone.

    Research from Columbia University has found that people who travel for two weeks or more per month are more likely to gain weight than those that don’t travel.

    I recently attended the Social Media Strategies Summit 2013 in Chicago with Tim Austin (GMS Vice President of Sales). As part of the conference, we picked up some great tips about staying healthy while travelling for business. These tips were provided by frequent business travelers and experts including healthy-living TV host Hope Bertram, who is also the director of marketing at SMSS. Bertram shared great ways to combat this risk by doing a little research and preparation before you travel.

      1. Working Out

    Does your hotel have a fitness center? What are the hours of operation? Arrange your schedule to take advantage of these facilities.

      1. Healthy Dining

    Are there restaurants nearby that serve healthy food? Use your phone to search for ‘healthy restaurants.’

      1. Healthy Snacking

    Plan ahead and bring healthy snacks. Apples, peanut butter packets, and similar items transport easily and give you an energy boost.

      1. Walking

    While you’re traveling, don’t stop walking! Walk from your hotel to the conference center instead of taking a cab. If your conference is in your hotel, take a room far from the elevator.

      1. Paying Attention

    Don’t mindlessly eat. Track your calories on an app so you know what you’re consuming. Drink water to stay hydrated and get as much rest as you can.

    As I say in the release, “As you send your employees to attend seminars, it’s important to have wellness at the forefront of their minds by incorporating healthy business travel opportunities. Make sure you have policies in place to encourage your employees to make smart and healthy decisions while traveling.”

    “Red Apple,” © 2009 Abhijit Tembhekar, used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.

  • What if I told you that you can accomplish all of your HR goals?

     

    You can. You just need to form a few good habits.

     

    Check out my guest blog post on Easy Small Business HR. In it, I explore the ways to make success a habit. Your HR successes help you — and your business — succeed.

  • “Keeping the plates spinning,” is an idiom many small businesses use to describe the way they manage their human resource responsibilities. Some outsource HR functions to various companies while some tasks are handled by an in-house team member who has many other job duties

    There’s no need to juggle between outsourcing tasks to multiple companies and attempting to have them work together on your behalf. Professional employee organizations, or PEOs, can help minimize the stress, time and costly resources you spend administering your HR functions by managing: 

     

    Human resources, including employee recruiting and training, performance management, HR audits and more. GMS provides an online system solution to coordinate communication and centralize information. 

    Payroll, by assuming all responsibility and liability for your business taxes. With GMS, you and your employees have constant access to the online payroll service in our secure and easy-to-use web-based system. 

    Competitive benefits at a reduced rate. Attract and retain talented employees with health insurance, 401(k) plans, and other benefits at the rate large companies receive. With more than 20,000 workers, GMS can achieve great economy of scale when purchasing benefits coverage. 

    Risk and liability to prevent and effectively handle problems when they do arise. The risk management experts at GMS can manage Workers’ Compensation programs, unemployment claims, and OSHA safety regulations. 

    When you outsource your administrative duties to a PEO like GMS, your small-to medium-sized businesses can experience the benefits of a big business HR department. You can offer the very best benefits to your employees while saving your company time and money.

    Think you could benefit from a PEO provider? So do we. Let’s talk.

  • Did you know that January 17th has been named National Ditch Your Resolution Day? It has been reported this is the average day that most people give up on their healthy resolutions.  This is an important day for us in the” Wellness World”, but it is also the average day most people give up on all of their work and personal goals too. This is the time that most people who have been working so hard since the New Year become tired and simply give up. 

    So how does someone go from throwing out all of the “bad” food, habits, attitudes, spending a small fortune on “good” food, gym memberships, and changing work habits to giving up merely 17 days later?  Before they jump right in to making and attacking resolutions, they need to have a plan in place.

    As a wellness coordinator, I use these 3 basic rules for achieving health and fitness goals.  I feel these also can be used in all aspects of a person’s life.

    Set up alerts

    Set up alerts – Keep the momentum going!  Create an alert on your phone or computer to go off once a week with a motivating quote, a small goal to have been met, a video or story to read that will inspire you to keep working towards your goals. Fridays are “let loose nights” for me. – I look forward to enjoying a night without worrying about my food or activity calendar. I set an alert for every Saturday morning at 10 am with a “ get back at it “ reminder  so that I don’t blow all my hard work during the week over the weekend!

    Find an accountability partner

    This works in all aspects of your life!

    1. A partner or coach that you have regular workouts with to keep you accountable for showing up.
    2. A coworker or peer that you can go to with ideas and timelines so that someone other than yourself knows what and when you would like to accomplish a task. 
    3. A family member who you share personal goals with, like spending a certain amount of family time a week that can help you reach that goal.

    Set a “consequence”

    Unfortunately, many resolutions come and go quickly because there is no real consequence for quitting. Give yourself realistic consequences, write them down and share with your accountability partner or family member. for example:

    1. If I miss 2 workouts in a row with my partner, I will have to pay for their class, coffee, next session, etc.
    2. If I miss a work deadline that I set for myself, I will spend the next weekend getting caught up.
    3. If as a family we miss out on scheduled family time we will make it up in the following week to continue to bond.
    These 3 basic rules can help all of us stick to those resolutions that we were so excited for in the New Year. Changing one bad habit at a time can make great strides in helping us live a healthy life. Remember, goals and resolutions are an ongoing change that requires progress.

  • So you listened to your friends and advisors and finally established your company’s presence on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.  Now you can control your company’s web presence, right?

     

    Certainly more and more companies are making their presence known through all the different social media sites.  With Facebook approaching 1.5 billion users and Twitter nearing 700 million, it can be a very cost-effective way of getting your company’s message out. It can help attract tech savvy employees and keep your clients and customers connected with your company.  

    There are, however, some things you need to consider.

    Blurred Lines Between Personal and Professional

    With more and more employees bringing electronic devices that connect to social media into the workplace, the increasingly blurry line between private and public comments could become a security concern.  According to Real Business, “many still do not realize that the difference between a chat on Facebook and one in a bar is that social media posting constitutes publication and dissemination to a potential audience of millions. It’s therefore crucial for companies to consider the extent to which they embrace social media. For instance, with access to social networking sites during working hours potentially reducing productivity, do they need to consider restricting usage?”

    There have been plenty of stories out there of employees venting unflattering things about their company online. Couple that with pictures employees may post, those things can negatively impact the perception of the company. It’s not uncommon for prospective or existing customers to Google a company and how they’re represented on social media may have a big impact on that perception.

    Be Mindful of How Your Posts Are Interpreted 

    Another consideration is what one employee may think of another employee’s post and whether they consider that discriminatory or inflammatory. If an employee feels that a post is creating a hostile work environment, the employer may become liable.

    What You Can Do

    So how does a business owner protect his or herself while taking advantage of the marketing opportunities that are available? Companies with strong HR departments craft comprehensive social media policies that address things that create clear guidelines about what is and isn’t acceptable during work hours and the repercussions to employees that don’t abide by the company’s policies.  Unfortunately, cookie-cutter approaches don’t work and these policies must be tailored to individual companies.

    So what does a small business owner do? Well, for one, they can reach out to an HR company, like GMS to get help.  

  • 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

  • Administrative professionals in a wide variety of industries work long and hard to make sure that their office provides the proper support it needs to succeed. Given their contributions to an organization’s wellbeing, it’s only appropriate that you show your appreciation for these important employees. 

    Conveniently enough, April 22 marks Administrative Professionals’ Day in the U.S., giving employers a chance to reward the office administrators, secretaries, and every other person in a position that helps to hold the office together.

    Photo Credit: “Gift Basket” by Calvert Café & Catering is licensed under CC BY 2.0

    What is Administrative Professionals’ Day?

    In 1952, the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) sponsored Administrative Professionals’ Week. Sixty-three years later, the holiday is still going strong, landing in the last full week of April every year.

    According to the IAAP, there are more than 22 million administrative and office support professionals working in the U.S. so the holiday can affect many different businesses and organizations. Fortunately, we have some helpful gift ideas to treat your administrative professionals.

    Cater Gifts to Each Employee

    When it comes to rewarding your administrative professionals, the best gifts are the ones that you cater to that specific employee. Does your office manager like coffee? Perhaps a gift card to his or her favorite coffee shop would be best. Do they have a sweet tooth? There’s always chocolate. Plus, you can always treat your administrative assistants to lunch.

    Of course, there are also gift ideas outside of material goods. If your company’s administrative assistants have been doing a great job, you could always let them leave early for the day or give them a little extra time off.

    Keeping Employees Happy

    It’s important to keep up team morale, so don’t be afraid to treat employees who are working hard and doing a good job. 

    At Group Management Services, we know that your employees play a major part in your organization’s success. Give us a call at 1-888-823-2084 or contact us online today if you’d like to find out how GMS can help your company through Human Resources Management.