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  • Next to salary, employee benefits are a key asset to attract and retain talented workers. While most companies offer standard health, 401(k) and other supplemental benefits, there are some non-traditional benefits that can set you apart from the competition and help you sign the best and brightest to your staff. 

    Paid parking: If your company is in an urban location or one where parking is limited, secure monthly passes to a local lot to alleviate the stress and inconvenience of having to find parking each day. Designated parking can help employees get to work earlier, increasing their available production time. 

    Wellness programs: Work with a local fitness club to offer discounted memberships, or offer an incentive to employees who participate in smoking cessation, weight loss, exercise classes or other health programs. Having healthy employees can minimize the occurrence of sickness, injury or other claims to your health plan. 

    Extra vacation time: Offer free vacation days for employment anniversary dates or birthdays. 

    Education/Career Advancement Opportunities: Offer some type of reimbursement to encourage your employees to pursue programs or training which can help them advance their education or enrich their professional skill set. 

    Telecommuting or flex time: With many employees juggling work and family, having flexibility to work from home or work outside of traditional hours can help boost employee loyalty and increase productivity. 

    Benefits outside of the traditional employee bundle are becoming more important to employees as they weigh their career options. In fact, CNN offers a tool called Perkfinder that enables job seekers to compare the benefits of multiple companies to find which is the best for their next place of employment. 

    If you like the idea of providing non-traditional benefits, but don’t know where to get started, give us a call at 330-659-0100. GMS can help you secure standard benefits at competitive rates and advise you on other options that will attract the best candidates for your open positions.

  • Direct deposit helps to make payday convenient. More than 60 percent of business had switched over to direct deposit as of 2014 and the number has only grown since. If you still haven’t made the move to direct deposit, here’s how it would be a good move for you and your employees.

    Image of a paycheck. Learn how direct deposit services can beneift you and your employees.

    How Direct Deposit Benefits Your Business

    Paper adds up. The cost of a single check may not be much, but having to pay every employee of your company at every pay period can lead to a lot of checks being passed out. Direct deposit is paperless, helping your company go green and saving you from having to order extra checks every other month.

    Not only is filling out checks an extra cost, it can also eat up extra time. Instead of having to fill out checks all the time, direct deposit automates that process. Now you don’t have to stress out over getting everyone paid on time; direct deposit will do that for you. 

    How Direct Deposit Benefits Your Employees

    You won’t be the only person that’s happy about switching to direct deposit. Your employees will be able to benefit from the convenience of direct deposit as well.

    With direct deposit, employees won’t have to rely on their employers to hand them a check every pay period. Instead, their check will appear directly into the account of their choice come payment day without ever having to make an extra trip to the bank. Plus, if they happen to miss work on a payday, they won’t have to badger their employer about it the next time they’re at work.

    Switch to Direct Deposit

    Want to make the move toward a more convenient payday? Group Management Services offers expert payroll administration services for businesses looking for direct deposit and other payroll strategies. Contact us today to learn more about how GMS can make your payroll and HR functions more convenient.

  • Paper has played a huge role for businesses. Legal documents and contracts can be found in offices around the country. Business cards and print ads helped to seal deals for decades. Even money is printed on paper. Thanks to technology, however, the times have been a changin’.

    In this digital age, businesses can cut down on paper usage in favor of online documents and processes. It’s become so popular that, according to a study on document-creation site Nitro, 49 percent of CEOs name sustainability as a top three initiative for their organization. A paperless workplace is a great way to achieve that goal.

    Why Businesses Go Paperless

    At this point, you may be thinking, “Yeah, that sounds great, but how does going paperless actually help me?” Independent Business Consultant Larry Alton lays out six big reasons on Inc.com on why businesses should make the move to cut out paper:

    • Time
    • Access
    • Space
    • Security
    • Money
    • Environment

    Today, there’s no need to physically print out, file, and search for documents. Everything can be securely stored online through the cloud, which means less time spent handling paper documents that could fill several filing cabinets or storage boxes. Also, online documents can be accessed 24/7 from any location with an internet connection.

    After all of that, there’s also the savings. Alton cites that paperless offices save “roughly $80 per employee (annually) in costs related to paper, ink, toner, storage space, and postage.” He also adds that the average firm uses more than 10,000 pieces of paper in a year. That means a paperless initiative can help both your wallet and the environment.

    However, it’s tough to create a completely paperless business. According to Nitro, only 3 percent of businesses have eliminated paper from every process. 

    Between old traditions that die hard or businesses that still need to maintain at least some sort of paper usage, a 100 percent paper-free environment isn’t necessarily attainable. However, businesses can still receive some of the benefits of going paperless by making small changes over time. One great place to start is paperless payroll.

    Start Small with Paperless Payroll

    Changing your payroll process can be an easy first step toward going paperless. Instead of dealing out paper checks for every single employee, businesses can work with an online payroll provider to streamline the process and save through direct deposit (also known as electronic funds transfer) or global cash cards. There’s added costs to paper checks.

    Just how much can businesses save on paperless billing? Due to physical resources and processing fees, it may be more than you may think. A report in Business News Daily states that “businesses save between $2.87 and $3.15 per pay run by paying employees electronically, such as via direct deposit, instead of via paper check.” The report also points out that online pay stubs save an additional $1.20.

    Online payroll is one simple way to cut down on some unnecessary costs and inconveniences. As a Professional Employer Organization, we can provide online payroll services to make the move to a paper-free company. Contact us today to talk to one of our experts about online payroll services and software for your business.