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  • If we asked you to guess the top reasons people hate their job, what reasons come to mind?

    The National Business Research Institute took a poll through Twitter and found that 33% of people blamed their job blues on annoying coworkers. 

    So how can you avoid hiring one of the 15 most annoying coworkers, and select the best candidate for the position? 

    We collected the articles below that share how to prepare for an interview, interview tips, and questions to ask when bringing on a new employee. 

    These tips will help you as you assess the skills, experience, and cultural fit of your potential employees.  

    How to interview for the best candidate. Image says Now Hiring. “hiring” by groundswell is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

    Recruiting and Hiring Top-Quality Employees

    Follow these tips to ensure you’ll bring the best candidate into your workplace. Includes some pre-recruiting tips like deciding ahead of time if you will conduct any pre-employment testing or if a second interview will be required to see if the candidate would fit with the company culture. 

    What Interviewers Wish They Could Tell Every Job Candidate 

    A list of 9 tips interviewers wish they could tell all candidates. When interviewing candidates keep an eye out for the ones who check off these boxes.

    Job Interview Tips for Employers: How to Interview Potential Employees 

    Includes everything from resume screening tips, holding a recruiting planning meeting, lists of sample interview questions (as well as those illegal questions you want to avoid), and how to follow up after the interview. Very comprehensive. 

    We hope these articles help you hire the best employee for the job. Now go out there and get your conference room ready! 

    Do you have any interview stories you want to share? Let us know in the comments below.

  • It’s likely that as a small business, you don’t have a dedicated HR team. You may divide the tasks amongst a group of people, you may spend your nights and weekends making sure you’re keeping up to speed on the various HR regulations out there, or, even worse, you ignore it all together and just ‘wing’ HR management.

    If you find yourself spending more and more time dealing with HR functions and less and less time growing your business, you have a couple options: hire a professional employer organization (PEO) to handle the tasks for you, or hire someone dedicated to the management of your HR needs.

    Of course, we’d love it if you chose the option of hiring a PEO, but if you opt for hiring an HR manager, we’ve compiled a helpful list of 8 traits you should watch out for.

    Multitasking is an essential skill for successful HR managers “inbox” by khrawlings is licensed under CC BY 2.0.[more]

    8 Traits of Effective Small Business Human Resource Managers

    1. Strong Communication skills

    HR managers must have the ability to interact with a variety of audiences – from executives, all the way to job applicants. More importantly, effective HR managers must be able to listen and take into consideration everything from employee concerns and comments about the workplace to executive speeches about strategy. 

    2. Organized 

    HR managers need to be quick and organized in order to keep up with ever-changing regulations. Organized files, strong time management skills, and personal efficiency are key to managing a company’s HR responsibilities.

    3. Fair & Ethical

    Basic principles such as fairness and equality are the foundation for fair employment practices, and it takes a clear understanding of employment and labor laws to support compliance with laws that regulate the workplace. HR managers are also the keepers of highly confidential information. You must trust that they will handle confidential information appropriately and never divulge it to any unauthorized person.  

    4. Compassionate

    HR managers will have to deal with sensitive issues. Whether it’s employee termination, employee leave due to medical issues, or issues surrounding workplace harassment; the HR manager will need to possess compassion and empathy in order to effectively navigate these tricky situations for the company.

    5. Multitasker

    HR managers, especially at small businesses, often wear many hats and are placed in the position of recruiter, benefits administrator, payroll processor and more. Balancing each of these responsibilities is essential and can lead to stress in the workplace…

    6. Balance stress management

    While some stress is common, HR managers shouldn’t feel overwhelmed or burdened to the point that their productivity suffers. Having a plan to deal with stress will help maintain a healthy work-life balance. Some tips to reduce stress include: take a deep breath or get up  and walk around, adding plants to the office (lowers noise levels), reduce interruptions and keep spaces organized.  

    7. Comfortable dealing with grey areas

    HR managers deal with many issues that are “in the grey area”. Discrimination, harassment, “reasonable” accommodation are just a few of the areas that HR managers have to be able to act with incomplete and “best available” information. It’s also key to know when it’s time to seek the professional help of colleagues, attorneys, and other experts. 

    8. Skilled conflict manager

    You may have noticed that not everyone gets along when they work together. In order to be productive, people must be able to at least work together civilly, and HR has to find ways to make that happen. As an HR professional many new and uncharted problems will come your way so a keen problem-solving ability is necessary. 

    What traits make your HR manager a superhero? Or what do you look for in a super HR manager? Share with us in the comments below. 

  • According to a Wells Fargo study, 37% of people expect to work until they die. That’s an alarming number, but one that you can use to your advantage.

    Most people would rather spend their later years comfortably enjoying their retirement, so by offering a quality 401k plan, you give your business a step up in attracting and retaining quality employees.

    Avoid Financial Confusion: Educate Your Group

    Before we give you the key elements to a great 401k plan, it’s worth taking a moment to remind you that financial choices can be intimidating and confusing for many employees. One way you can help is by making an effort to ensure employees are educated about their choices. These resources will help make sure everyone is on the same page.

     

    What Employees Look for in a 401(k) plan. Image 401K by 401(k) 2013 is licensed under CC by 2.0

    What is a 401(k) Plan? [Infographic]  

    Guide to your 401(k): Everything you need to know about 401(k)s. 

    Retirement Guide

    A handy guide from CNN Money that shares:

    • Top things to know about 401(k)s
    • The virtues of a 401(k)
    • How to invest in a 401(k)
    • Early withdrawals and loans
    • Rollovers
    • Taking distributions in retirement

    7 Things Employees are Looking for in a Good 401(k) Plan

    1. Generous Employer Match

    According to findings from a 2013 survey by trade publication PlanSponsor.com, the common match amount increased to be $1 per $1 on the first 6% of employee deferrals, with 19% of employers reporting this formula, which is up from 10% in 2011. 
     
    Previously a match of $0.50 per $1 on the first 6% was the most popular.Increasing the amount employers are willing to contribute may help encourage those employees to save at more robust rates, and shows employees you care about investing in their future. 

    2. “Day One” Eligibility

    The PlanSponsor.com survey also showed that 76% of plans now allow workers to begin making pre-tax contributions immediately upon hire, which is up from 71% in 2011. In addition, 53% of plans have corresponding immediate eligibility for employer-matching contributions, while 50% of plans that offer a non-matching employer contribution allow immediate eligibility. Providing new hires with immediate eligibility helps ensure they don’t lose ground in terms of saving.  

    3. Immediate Vesting Schedule

    The best plans offer immediate vesting of employer contributions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics only 22% of employers offer immediate full vesting. Nearly half of those use a graded vesting schedule in which the employees’ right to company contributions increases gradually (say, 20% per year) until they are fully vested. 

    4. Low, Transparent Plan Fees

    Administrative fees cover record keeping, accounting, legal services, marketing and investor education services.  Typically employees will see these fees in a hard dollar amount on their statement.

    Investment fees cover expenses associated with managing the plan’s funds. Investment Managers usually report their performances net of these fees. Both types of fees are taken from your employees’ 401k assets.
     
    Finding plans with lower fees and educating your employees on what the fees are being applied to can help set your company’s 401k package apart from your competition.

    5. Investment Options-But Not Too Many

    Select only a handful of solid investment options. This can include individual mutual funds, asset allocation funds, and target-date funds, many of which automatically become more conservative as the employees approach retirement. 

    “Study after study shows the more investment choices a company gives their employees, the less likely they are to participate because they feel overwhelmed,” says Veronica Lee, Senior Vice President of Client Services with 401k Advisors in Aliso Viejo, Calif., an independent consulting firm. 

    6. Automatic Enrollment & Raises

    91% of plans offer automatic enrollment to new employees, unless they opt out, which helped boost participation rates in 401(k) plans nationwide. Especially among younger workers who may not feel an urgency to contribute. 

    Automatic escalation provisions, in which the amount of pretax money that employees contribute toward their 401(k) plan automatically increases annually, also shows that a company is looking out for their employees. 

    7. Give Employees Access to Expert Financial Resources

    Many employees have limited investment knowledge, so employers have significantly increased the availability of outside investment advisory services. Three out of four plan sponsors now offer access to such services, the most popular being one-on-one financial counseling (59%), online guidance (55%), managed accounts (52%) and online advice (46%) according to a survey from PlanSponsor.com.

    What else do you look for when considering the 401k plan you’d like to offer your employees? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

  • As a small business owner, you probably rely on the services of other organizations to accomplish a range of tasks, services and other duties. Your health insurance broker or policy provider is one you expect has your best interest in mind. The reality is, they may not, especially when it comes to premium and individual claim costs.

    With all your other responsibilities, you don’t have time to keep tabs on everything your health insurer does, however, there are some key questions you need to ask in order to effectively evaluate just how much they are working for you:

    What does the plan cover? 

    Many health insurance providers add in coverage for care you and your employees may never need. By providing an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink plan, insurers are able to increase the overall cost of the policy, meaning you and your employees are paying for benefits that don’t match their needs. Alternatively, using a third-party administrator (TPA) can help you secure group coverage that fits the needs of your employees, which can help you keep your healthcare-related costs down.

    How do you negotiate costs? 

    Healthcare is expensive. While some insurance companies claim to negotiate lower costs on your employees’ claims, they are not revealing the entire truth. The discounts are taken from the astronomically expensive costs doled out by the hospital or physician’s office. With a TPA and other services, there are many other ways to negotiate costs.   Multiple negotiation strategies keeps claims in line with more realistic pricing. 

    How do you audit medical bills? 

    Health insurance companies have little transparency when the final bill for medical care comes in for a claim. Generally, they do not ask for details related to costs or challenge prices. Instead, they pay their portion and turn the balance over to your employee. TPAs have the resources and knowledge to help your employee check each bill to ensure there is no double billing for equipment or health care services. They will challenge prices for services that are beyond “reasonable and customary,” substantially reducing patient bills and keeping your costs related to medical claims down.

    What type of customer service do you offer?

    With most insurance companies, you and your employees are a number in a huge system. You are at the mercy of the representative who takes your call when you have a question about your policy or have an issue with a claim. Navigating through red tape and other administrative obstacles can be frustrating and can lead to paying for unnecessary expenses. With a self-insured health plan managed by a TPA, each person’s needs can still be handled with personalized customer service to ensure issues are resolved and costs are minimized.

    Asking these questions of your health insurance carrier or broker can expose issues you may not have known existed. With a self-insured plan managed by a third-party administrator like GMS, you have more control over the type of insurance you need. Ultimately, this can cut your healthcare costs and enable you to provide better, more customized coverage for your employees and their dependents.

  • With today’s challenging economy, employees are often finding themselves searching for a better paying job.  A recent survey states that 47 percent of top-performers are looking for jobs. That statistic could be earth shattering for any business. “Whenever there’s a shift in talent, it’s the ones you want to keep that leave first.”

    Little do they know, they may be making more than they think.  Employees typically only see their take home pay and not the cost of the additional benefits you as the employer are offering.  

    As an employer, it is imperative to make sure your staff feels valued.  A great way to accomplish this is to show employees everything they are being offered besides what they put in the bank.  By presenting your employees with these facts, it will encourage them to stick around. Turnover rates can not only bring morale down, it is also a huge cost to you. With costs like unemployment taxes, job ad placements, background checks, training, and administrative costs during the process, it could cost you thousands of dollars each time an employee quits.   

    What you can do

    If only there was a way to show to employees their base pay plus all that your business offers.  That’s where GMS comes in.  We have the resources to create a Benefit Summary for each employee. These summaries will show your employees that their services are valued and they are getting more than just their take home pay.  

    “Our employees were unaware of how much we invest in them until they saw the Benefit Summaries. Many expressed that they felt valued as an employee and were happy to see the summary”

    – Jennifer H., Current GMS client

    What is included on a Benefit Summary?Benefit Summaries can include benefits including but not limited to:

     

    Health Insurance  Short-Term Disability  Retirement / 401k  Company Cars
    Dental Insurance  Bonuses  Vacation Time or Paid Time Off Tuition Reimbursement
     Vision Insurance  Cell Phone Reimbursement  Holiday Pay  
    Life Insurance  Long-Term Disability  Flex Time  

     

    If you offer any of the above benefits, we can obtain the information to create these summaries.  Benefit Summaries provides your employees with a snapshot of the above incentives.  Below is an example of what a Benefit Summary looks like. 

     

    Example Benefits Summary

    The Next Step

    By having GMS has your Professional Employer Organization, we have access to the data used to assemble these summaries. Our Account Managers will collect the data, generate the reports, and present them to you. If you’re ready to make a move, contact your Account Manager today and we can get started.

    If you are not currently using GMS, this is a great reason to consider. These summaries will help retain your employees and as a result, save you money.

  • Conducting an employee review is one of the most disliked tasks among managers and business owners. However, these evaluation opportunities are critical in retaining good employees, motivating employees to remain productive and maintaining a good relationship with your staff. 

    Before you sit down to complete your laundry list of assessment points, consider the following tips to help your employee reviews be more effective than ever:

    Listen

    While it is tempting to run down the list of “grades” the employee has earned throughout the year, engaging in an open discussion is the best form of evaluation. Instead of leading with the company form, ask your employee about their performance throughout the year, the problems and challenges they have encountered and how they overcame those obstacles. Carefully listen to your employee to help solve their work-related problems and create goals for the coming year. 

    Leave the money out…for now

    Conduct separate meetings for performance and compensation discussions. If performance is discussed with the yearly bonus or raise “elephant in the room,” your employee may be more defensive about any constructive criticism you have to offer. Instead of using the meeting as a compensation conversation, structure your review as a developmental strategy session. This shift in focus allows you and your employee to talk about what steps can be taken to mutually improve while trying to achieve company and personal goals. Set a separate day to go over compensation or bonus topics to allow you both to focus on, and get the most value from, the performance review. 

    Honesty

    Even though it sounds like common sense, many employers struggle with being straightforward with their staff during evaluations. Whether it’s done to avoid confrontation or an uncomfortable conversation, not being completely honest will prevent your employee from making necessary improvements and could make firing the employee in the future difficult. When tackling an area that needs to be improved by the employee, focus on the issue, not the person. By providing this type of feedback, you can effectively address areas of weakness while building a strategy for improved performance. 

    Provide guidance and set goals

    As mentioned above, it is critical to lay out some measurement of performance for overall productivity measurement and future reviews. As an employer, you are the coach of your organization. Look closely at each employee and define a work strategy that capitalizes on their strengths while defining opportunities to build upon their areas of weakness. Having mutual goals for both you and your employee help create a more productive and open environment. 

  • “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.

  • When it comes to the observance of holidays in the workplace, it can be tough to balance productivity, compliance and fun. Just like the ghost of holiday past returned to haunt Ebenezer Scrooge, there are some workplace festivities that – in the form of HR headaches – could come back to haunt you. Here are some helpful tips that protect you from liabilities, while still allowing you and your employees to enjoy the holiday season: 

    Time Off Accommodations

    This area of human resources can bring out the inner-Scrooge in every business owner during the holidays. With more people off, less can get accomplished, meaning lost revenue opportunities for you. While federal law does not require you to pay staff before and after a holiday, you can boost employee morale by making the best attempts to accommodate religious observances, beliefs and practices as long as they do not cause undue hardship. If you need to remain open during the holidays, consider how many employees you need to operate and offer incentives to employees to work certain days. Offer catered lunches, pay time-and-half or create a rotating schedule to allow employees to select which days they would prefer to work. Additionally, it is a good idea to implement a holiday time-off policy detailing how employees should request time-off and how it will be awarded (seniority, first-come, first serve, etc.). 

    Decorations

    As a private employer, you can decide if and how you want to decorate your space for any holiday throughout the year. You can decorate using more secular displays such as snowflakes or other winter images.  You can also encourage individual employees to contribute to decorating the office or their working space to ensure everyone’s religious beliefs and traditions are represented. To prevent any major conflicts, publish rules about the type of displays which are acceptable and those that are not for safety reasons. Remind employees to be mindful of others’ and discourage scented displays or blinking lights which may be a distraction.  

    Bonuses 

    If you give your employees bonuses or other monetary gifts at the end of the year, you need to be careful as they can be considered compensation or gifts.  If the bonuses are considered compensation, they must be included in the regular rate of pay for overtime purposes. Money given as a gift on a special occasion does not have to be included as is it not based on worked hours, employee efficiency or other measurement of productivity.

    The holidays can present many frustrating challenges for business owners, but if you follow these tips, you don’t have to turn into a Scrooge to make it through this busy time of year.

  • We have all heard the phrase, “there are two types of people in the world. Those who… and those who…” The blank spot is usually then filled in with whatever point someone is trying to make.

    In the world of business, you can make a strong case that the old adage that holds truest is “those who are union and those who are not”.

    Well, many “who are not” maybe counting down the days to when they will be.

    On December 15th, the NLRP, in a 3-2 decision, pushed through their new rules for unionization. Not to scare the non-union employers, but the two dissenters referred to the new rules as “’the Mount Everest of regulations’, massive in scale and unforgiving in effect”. A recent article in the National Law Review goes into greater detail of the rules that are due to go into effect on April 14, 2015.

    As a sales rep in the PEO industry, I’m acutely aware of the impact government regulations can have on businesses, particularly small businesses that don’t have the resources or the manpower to protect themselves in ways the big corporations do. In 2009, shortly after the election, we had a meeting with a leading labor attorney who speculated about what might happen with the NLRB with the new administration.

    For years, the unionization procedures for a company were pretty simple. A union rep would begin talking with employees seeing if there was a 50% + 1 majority interest in exploring a union. From that point, the employer would be notified and he/she would then have a certain amount of time to campaign or state their case as to why the union would be a bad idea for the company and in turn for the employees.

    With this ruling, the momentum has swung to the union’s side both in ease and support of unionization. Without getting too much into the above-mentioned article, the new rules “elections occur more quickly – by eliminating the time for reasonable preparation; by adopting new, accelerated pleading requirements applicable only to employers; by dispensing with post-hearing briefs; and by deferring, until following the election, evidence regarding issues as fundamental as who can vote.”

    If this is of concern to you, I would suggest you read the National Law Review article thoroughly, speak with your own trusted advisors, or absent that, reach out to a PEO to see how this could impact you and if there’s anything you can do to address this in your business.

  • In the business world, everyone is always looking to maximize profitability. It’s not because business owners are greedy trying to grab every last dime. It’s because they are working their tail off to either make the business succeed or make it grow.

    In their efforts to do so, business owners look to control what they can, especially when it comes to costs. As a salesperson, I have often been the person who they tried to control costs through by either beating me up on price, extracting extra services or using what my company does to help make them more profitable. However, it often seems to come back to controlling costs.

    When a business owner thinks of controllable costs, they often think of material prices, employee hours or something else on the production end. What seldom comes into play is controlling workers comp, healthcare and unemployment costs.  But, how can you control those costs? Those things are completely out of a business owner’s control. Right?

    Wrong!  Large corporations, with large HR budgets, have long been able to control costs in those area by self-insuring or doing better documenting of employee issues that lead to terminations.  Small business owners general don’t have that same luxury, unless they work with a PEO.

    How PEOs Make Your Business Stronger

    According to a recent white paper put out by the National Association of PEOs, companies that use a PEO have 10-14% lower turnover of employees than comparable companies. With employee replacement costs equaling 150% of that employee’s wages according to the Society of Human Resource Managers (SHRM), that is a cost that is a potentially large cost that can be cut or altogether avoided. These numbers are even higher for companies in the white collar world.

    Companies that use a PEO that has a self-insured Worker’s Comp and/or Healthcare program automatically have mechanisms put in place through those programs that monitor and manage costs tied to those programs. By having specialists working exclusively in those areas, every conceivable way to manage those costs is reviewed for its viability and cost effectiveness.

    Additionally, companies that use a PEO are 50% less likely to fail compared to other similar companies in their industries.  According to that same white paper “Data broken down by specific industries  point to ‘Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services’, ‘Construction’ and ‘Finance and Insurance’ as being three industry categories that disproportionately benefit from PEO services in both lower employee turnover rates and lower business failure rates.”

    To see how a PEO like GMS can benefit your business, give us a call at 330-659-0100 or fill out our online form today.