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  • For small-or medium-sized businesses, worker’s compensation can be extremely costly. You invest a lot of the time, money and resources into claims management to ensure your business stays compliant and your workers are protected. With your limited resources, there are steps you can take to minimize your risks and reduce your worker’s compensation costs.

    1. Early return to work: Offer part time or alternative work options to get your employee back to work as soon as possible. The longer your worker is absent, the longer the insurance company has to pay his or her benefits which can increase the cost of your premiums.
    2. Education: Ensure your employees know how to operate all equipment and practice safe working habits around all machinery. Conduct random checks to keep employees fresh on operational protocol and establish an open-door policy for questions and concerns.
    3. Injury response: In the case of an accident, make sure you and your employees are aware of the company procedures to follow when responding to an injury. Injured workers should know where to receive medical care, procedures for referral to specialists, transitional duty requirements, how to receive pay and other important details regarding their case.
    4. Classify job descriptions correctly: While this appears trivial, classification of job titles and descriptions can impact your workers’ comp premiums. Some classifications carry more risk, which will increase your premiums. Make sure you have the most up-to-date classification code book in your state and research the best ways to classify your employees’ title.
    5. Hire with safety in mind: As you interview candidates for a position, try to eliminate those who may pose a safety risk. GMS can help with recruiting and training workers who best fit into your company’s culture and who will be able to perform in-line with your safety guidelines.
    6. Conduct safety audits: The workplace safety experts at GMS can help you perform safety audits, create safety manuals and rule books to foster an environment where safety is always a top priority.

    Many employers look at workers’ compensation as an uncontrollable expense. But with the right mindset – and some help from a PEO like GMS – you can stop looking at it this way and start taking a more proactive approach managing your workers’ comp costs.

    Want to learn more? Let’s get in touch.

  • Annual holiday parties are an important way to celebrate the year’s accomplishments and your employees’ hard work. However, mixing business and pleasure can make even the most seasoned HR professional nervous as improper conduct, offensive behavior or other violations can occur, leading to potential liabilities for you.

    There are ways you can still throw a great party while ensuring your employees stay off the HR naughty list:

    Make attendance voluntary

    While most employees enjoy an excuse to kick back and get to know coworkers in a more relaxed setting, a holiday party is not everyone’s idea of a good time. Ensure your employees know that attendance to the holiday event is completely voluntary and if they opt to miss the event, reassure them that their absence will not adversely affect their job or standing with the company.

    Limit or Prohibit Alcohol

    Alcohol is usually the culprit behind the bad behavior or poor decisions made by employees at holiday parties. Consider eliminating alcohol from your holiday get together or at least limiting its consumption by issuing drink tickets or having a cash bar. Providing a taxi or car service can also reduce the opportunity for major liabilities if an employee gets a little carried away on the spiced rum. 

    Invite Significant Others or Customers

    Just like Santa keeps kids in line, significant others or customers can help keep employees on their best behavior. Encourage your employees to bring spouses or significant others to the event and make the celebration a more family-focused atmosphere. 

    Address Complaints Immediately

    Even with proactive steps, incidents can still occur. Make sure you immediately address any complaints and attempt to settle them as quickly as possible. By paying attention to seemingly small issues, you can prevent them from spiraling into a big liability later on. 

    Prior to your event, remind your staff of the rules and guidelines in the employee handbook and that all will be expected to be upheld throughout the party. Making your expectations clear can reduce the occurrence of any potential liabilities and will ensure you and your employees are able to responsibly enjoy the celebration of their hard work. 

  • The EEOC has made it into the news again, but you may not have heard about it.

    A few months after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a ruling on how pregnancy in the workplace can be viewed as a worker’s comp issue, they have now weighed in on wellness programs.

    Under the Affordable Care Act, there has been a strong push on advocating wellness for employees, and rightfully so. Wellness programs improve the health and productivity of your employees while increasing efficiencies and increasing profitability.

    However, according to an article on jdsupra.com, the EEOC has not yet issued guidelines on how employers can and must structure wellness programs to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Despite the lack of guidelines, the EEOC is pursuing two litigation cases against two separate companies for what they say are violations of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).

    Challenges Ahead Sign. The EEOC's lack of guidelines have created challenges for business owners who want to administer an employee wellness program.

    As a small business owner, keeping tabs on all the government regulations that apply to your business and industry is a daunting task. Even larger companies with compliancy departments get into trouble sometimes!

    Fortunately, professional employer organizations can help ensure you’re compliant with not only wellness programs, but also with payroll, risk management, HR, and employee benefits. To learn more about how a PEO can keep you compliant in today’s increasingly regulated business environment, contact us at 888-823-2084 today.

  • 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.

  • Beginning January 1, 2015, OSHA will begin enforcing new rules and requirements according to a recent article in Construction Equipment Guide. This new rule applies to companies that fall under Federal OSHA jurisdiction. (Do you know if your company falls under this category?)

    This rule change stems from a Bureau of Labor Statistics report that 4,405 people were killed on the job in 2013. Under this new rule “employers will be required to notify OSHA of work-related fatalities within eight hours, and work-related in-patient hospitalizations, amputations or losses of an eye within 24 hours. Previously, OSHA’s regulations required an employer to report only work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees. Reporting single hospitalizations, amputations or loss of an eye was not required under the previous rule.”

    Even employers who are typically exempt from reporting workplace injuries will be required to comply with this new ruling.

    Additionally, OSHA has updated the list of industries that are required to routinely keep and complete injury and illness records. In the past, those that were exempt based on their Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code, they are now based on how relatively low their reported injury and illnesses are. Those employers with fewer than 11 employees will still be exempt.

    Learn more:

    Workplace Injuries by the Numbers

    3 Barriers to Workplace Safety Programs 

  • For many employers, hearing that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued a ruling sounds a lot like fingernails on the chalkboard. They know it’s there, but they don’t often want to hear it.

    Pregnant business woman.

    A couple of weeks ago in a 3-2 decision, the EEOC issued new enforcement guidance under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) that also covers possible workplace accommodations.  

    According to Bloomberg, a revision to the 1983 EEOC Compliance chapter on the PDA “requires employers to offer light duty to pregnant employees if they make light duty available to non-pregnant employees similar in their ability or inability to work.” The PDA was a 1978 amendment to Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The implementation of this was partly due to pending issues before the Supreme Court.

    What this guidance essentially does is put pregnancies in the same category as a Worker’s Comp claim. If, as an employer, you offer light duty to employees that were hurt on the job, you now have to offer that same accommodation to a pregnant employee. In other words, if an employer offers light duty only to an employee injured on the job and not to a pregnant employee, that employer is in violation of the PDA.

    As most small-business owners spend their days wearing many hats trying to grow their business, they don’t often have the time to spend reviewing every government agency regulation change that comes down the pike. All too often, they find out about it after the fact.

    That’s where a PEO like GMS, comes in. If you’re interested in learning how GMS can help keep you compliant with ever-changing government regulations while at the same time lowering your risk management and benefit costs, give us a call at 330-659-0100 today.

  • True or false: You can’t do anything to manage your company’s unemployment tax rates?

    If you answered true, you answered incorrectly. But take heart because:

    1. Many other business owners would have also answered “true”
    2. There is actually a lot you can do to manage unemployment tax rates

    Unemployment Tax: It’s All in the Details

    When it comes time to let an employee go, the best thing you can do to protect yourself from unemployment claims happens well before you want to terminate the employee and everything needs to be in writing. You’ll be much more likely to win the case if you provided your former employer with documentation like:

    • Employee handbooks, signed by the employee
    • Detailed job descriptions, signed by the employee
    • Written warnings with employee sign-off
    • Progressive disciplinary actions

    How a PEO Can Help

    PEOs like GMS take an active approach in managing risks related to unemployment claims. In the process, PEOs save you time, increase cashflow, and eliminate your liability. Best of all, you retain full control over your employees.

    More specifically, GMS helps by:

    • Writing employee handbooks and job descriptions for you
    • Actively consult throughout the employee discipline and termination process
    • Provide representation on your behalf at claims hearings
    • Administering and reports all your company’s unemployment taxes

    Your Next Step is Easy

    Okay, so we started this post with a tricky question. Now it’s time to end it with an easy one.

    True or false: It’s time to call GMS?

    See! We told you that would be an easy one. Here’s our number: 330-659-0100

  • There are a lot of factors that go into determining what your business’s workers’ compensation rates will be. But the simple truth is this: the more claims your employees file, the higher your rate will be.

    Fortunately, there are two strategies you can follow that will limit the amount of time and money you spend dealing with workers’ compensation claims.

    Loss Prevention Strategies

    They say that prevention is the best medicine. That holds true for workers’ compensation management, too!  Here’s a quick list of actions that you can take to reduce the risk of workplace injuries, and, therefore, claims:

    Provide safety training programs

    • Create employee safety manuals
    • Clearly establish workplace safety guidelines
    • Undergo regular workplace inspections
    • Implement drug-free and drug–testing programs
    • Implement  injury reporting procedures

    Cost Containment Strategies

    In the State of Ohio, if a company has a better safety record than the average company of  their industry,  the company may qualify for what’s called a group rating program.

    In essence, all this does is gives a group of companies with good safety records the opportunity to qualify for workers’ compensation rate discounts. In some cases, companies can qualify for discounts of 50% with the group rating program.

    If you’re not taking advantage of these strategies, the time to start is now. And if you’re not sure where to begin, give us a call at 330-659-0100 today.

  • You’re looking to hire a new candidate or thinking about promoting an employee from within your company.

    But before you take a step further you want to run a background check. What are the legal requirements and information you need to be aware of as an employer before you start this process? We do our best to give you an overview on the process below.

    Information requested for a background check depends on the employer and the job involved. For some jobs, a state or federal law requires the employer to conduct a background check. Working with children, the elderly, or people with disabilities are examples of jobs that require a criminal background check. 

    What information is included in a background check? 

    Many of the sources for a background check are public records created by government agencies. However, the detail of a background check can vary from a simple verification of an applicant’s Social Security number to a detailed account of the potential employee’s history and acquaintances. 

    Some information that may be included in a background check are

    • Driving records
    • Vehicle registration
    • Credit records
    • Criminal records
    • Social Security number
    • Education records
    • Court records
    • Bankruptcy
    • Character references
    • Neighbor interviews
    • Medical records
    • Property ownership
    • Military records
    • State licensing records
    • Drug test records
    • Past employers
    • Personal references
    • Incarceration records
    • Sex offender lists 

    What information cannot be included in a background check?

    According to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which sets national standards for employment screening, the following information cannot be reported*

    After 7 years: 

    • Civil suits, civil judgments, and records of arrest, from date of entry
    • Paid tax liens 
    • Accounts placed for collection 
    • Any other negative information (except criminal convictions) 

    After 10 years:

    • Bankruptcies
    *However, the above reporting restrictions do not apply to jobs with an annual salary of $75,000 or more a year (FCRA §605(b)(3)).
     

    What effect has social media had on background checks?

    Have you “Googled” yourself lately? If you haven’t, give it a try. Type your name in quotation marks in a couple of the major search engines and see what comes up.

    In this information rich age, it’s more and more likely that employers will conduct this same search prior to bringing on a new hire. Some employers will even search social networking sites, like Facebook, for the profiles of applicants. This means an employee’s online reputation can be a factor in swaying the hiring decision– whether people are aware of it or not. 

    So, we encourage everyone (employees and employers) to be aware of what they are putting out on the internet. Imagine your future employer, future employee, best friend or boss viewing the content- what would they think?  

    What must employers do to be in compliance before requesting a background check? 

    Before you get a background check you must:

    • Tell the applicant or employee
    • Get written permission from the applicant or employee
    • Certify compliance to the company from which you are getting the applicant or employee’s information. 
     
    For more detailed information before using a background check (also known as a “consumer report”), review this helpful information from the Federal Trade Commission. Using Consumer Reports: What Employers Need to Know.
     
    As you can see, it isn’t as simple as just “running a background check”. The process can be more complex and confusing than many employers realize. 
     
    If you outsource your human resources functions to GMS, we can easily manage the background check process (and many other services) for you. Then you can spend more time running your business instead of sorting through legal documents about background checks. Contact us if this sounds like a good plan. 
     
    Happy recruiting!
     

  • Many small business owners can tell you in a given day what they are paying for fuel in their fleet of vehicles, how much their labor costs are, what their inventory costs are, etc., etc., but most cannot tell you their Unemployment Tax Rate.

    No, it’s not because owners don’t care about the bottom line. More likely, this is because many business owners do not understand that Unemployment Tax is an expense that can be controlled.

    You can save time and money by partnering with a PEO to help manage your unemployment claims risk.

    The Factors of Unemployment Tax Rates

    There are many factors that make up the rate that a company is charged. For example, a seasonal work force and your company’s unemployment claims history can have a dramatic impact on what you pay.

    The Burden of Unemployment Tax Rates

    High unemployment tax rates can become a major financial burden on a company that, left unchecked, can prevent you from reinvesting in new equipment, new employee perks, and more. Your company also loses production hours dealing with the unemployment hearing process.

    The Solution to Unemployment Tax Rates

    Employing a Professional Employer Organization like GMS can assist in controlling this risk in several ways:

    • The use of strategic human resources solutions
    • Specific job descriptions to lay out expectations of performance
    • Employee handbooks to build a solid platform for any company structure
    • Provide guidance to navigate the ever expanding and difficult world of employee relations
    • Provide back office assets to assist a business owner during the hearing/claim process

    In the State of Ohio, the home state of GMS, the average win rate of employers fighting unemployment claims is about 50%. By contrast, in the past year, the success rate for GMS was over 90%.

    Give us a call today at 888-823-2084 or contact us online to explore how GMS can make your business simpler, safer, and stronger!