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  • 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.

  • A good administrative professional can really benefit a business. As Administrative Professionals Day is April 27, here are some gift ideas to treat the administrators, secretaries, and other similar employees at your office.

    Image of chocolates for Administrative Professionals Day. Contact GMS about premier employee benefits administration.

    Appeal to Their Stomach

    Sometimes the best way to an employee’s heart is through their stomach. A tasty treat is a simple way to show your appreciation to an administrative assistant. These gifts can take a variety of forms, with some suggestions including:

    • Chocolate
    • Coffee beans or tea bags
    • Candies
    • Cookies

    Those are just a few examples, but there are plenty of other potential treats as well. Just make sure to cater your gift to the employee, as you’re not going to want to give peanut butter cups to someone with a peanut allergy.

    Go-to Gift Cards

    If you’d rather have your administrative assistants choose their treats for themselves, a gift card is a great way to go. Gift cards are simple and let your employees decide for themselves exactly what they’ll get. All you have to do is pick an establishment that fits each employee. If you really have trouble narrowing it down to a store or restaurant, it never hurts to ask.

    The Gift of Time

    When in doubt, time can always be on your side. Long lunches and early dismissals are nice rewards in lieu of gifts. If an administrative assistant has really done a great job, a day off is certainly a great way for that employee to celebrate Administrative Professionals Day.

    Rewarding Your Team With Employee Benefits

    Small gifts can go a long way to build your employees’ morale. Another way to reward your team is through professional employee benefit administration.

    Group Management Services can offer your business the flexibility, control of premiums, access to data and networks, and overall options that can help your team. Contact us today to talk to our experts about benefit administration.

  • Unhappy employees can make for an unproductive company. Sometimes the key to boosting morale is to make small changes in the office. Here are four things that may upset your employees and how you can help fix it.

    Image of an unhappy employee. Here are four ways you can work to improve morale at your business.

    There’s No Flexibility in Their Schedule

    Not everything works conveniently with a set schedule. Having set work hours is great at creating a regular office routine for your employees, but it can be extremely frustrating for employees when there’s absolutely no flexibility in their work hours. Telling someone that they can’t pick up a sick child from school because they still have an hour on the clock isn’t going to make anyone happy.

    Keeping regular hours is important, but so is flexibility. Personal lives can lead to situations where someone needs to take an hour off or work a half day from home. Being open to allowing your employees to make up lost time at home or on different days can show your team that you care about their lives outside the office as well.

    They’re Burned Out

    A stressed employee is not always an effective employee. Burnout can be a real issue for people who have trouble stepping away from the office and can decrease morale.

    Sometimes a break is just what an employee needs, so don’t be afraid to encourage your workers to step away occasionally. From a quick 10-minute breather at the office to a mental health day, breaks can reenergize your employees and do wonders for stress.

    They’re Being Bombarded By Work Emails After Hours

    It can be hard for an employee to relax when they feel like they have to be ready to work at any moment. After work emails will happen, but too many late night work messages can have a negative impact on your employees.

    Just because your employees are connected to work by their smartphones doesn’t mean it’s necessary to always contact them while their at home. If an email is truly important, go ahead and send it. If it can wait until tomorrow, don’t bother your employees while they’re with their family. That way your employees will be refreshed when they enter the office and not grumbling about having to respond to emails at 9:30 p.m.  You can also let them know that should you send an email after hours, a response will not be expected.

    They’re Dealing with Meaningless Meetings

    Too many meetings can be a drag on productivity. Long, directionless get-togethers can end up being viewed as a waste of time and frustrate workers who are trying to focus on getting work done.

    A good, efficient meeting is still a vital part of many businesses’ game plans. Keep your meetings structured and actionable to cut out wasted time. Your employees will thank you for it.

    Keeping Employees Happy with GMS

    Small changes can lead to big results for your employees. The same philosophy can also apply to you. Running a business is a big job, especially if you’re struggling to manage your company’s human resources as well. 

    Group Management Services is an HR Outsourcing Company that partners with your business to save you time and money. If you want to focus on growing your company without sacrificing on HR, contact GMS today about what a PEO can do to help your business.

  • Let’s face it; employees don’t always want to be indoors during the summer. Having unmotivated, daydreaming employees can lead to unproductive work days, but some summer perks can help motivate your workers. Here are three ways that you can help boost team morale during the summer.

    Image of a employee working from home. GMS assists businesses with services like employee performance management.

    Work Flexibility

    Air conditioning is great on scorching days, but it’s not hard to think of laying on the beach or strolling through the park when it’s a picture perfect summer afternoon. You can’t let your employees run off at every chance for great weather, but you can offer some work flexibility.

    Employees can get a morale boost by working from home or any other different location. Even something like one or more work-from-home days can help. That could mean they can work from their backyard patio or their favorite coffee shop. All it takes is Wi-Fi and technology like Skype or conference calls to easily connect with co-workers. Plus, this is a nice option for employees who have to pick up kids from summer activities.

    Outdoor Work Events

    If employees really want to go outside, it might be time to take business outdoors for a day. Company parties, team-building exercises, and other outdoor activities are great ways to appease your employees’ desire to enjoy the nice weather while building company chemistry and team morale.

    Relaxed Dress Code

    Suits and ties don’t mesh well with summer. Hot days can make for uncomfortable employees. Even if your business pumps the AC all summer, employees will have to go outside at some point, and full business attire can make them sweaty and tired before they even make it to their desk.

    Depending on your business, a relaxed summer dress code could make employees a little more comfortable. This could mean casual Fridays or an option to dress down on days when an employee won’t be directly interacting with clients or customers. If someone has a business meeting, they can switch back to the full dress code for the day.

    Taking Care of Employees

    Good employees are a major asset for your business. A motivated team can lead to great returns, but employee management can be a test for many businesses. Group Management Services can help you through employee performance management tools, offering a variety of services to tackle this challenge. Contact GMS today to talk to one of our experts about how we can help you manage your employees.

  • Happiness can be very lucrative for a business. Unfortunately, unhappy employees can hurt bottom line and make it harder for businesses to grow. Employee morale can be affected by a number of factors, including work conditions, coworkers, and personal matters, but regardless of the reason, disengaged workers can lead to future issues for business owners.

    Image of an unhappy employee.

    How Unhappy Employees Can Hurt Your Business

    Unhappy employees cost businesses a lot of money. Gallup found that actively disengaged employees cost U.S. businesses roughly half a billion dollars per year, affecting everything from small businesses to large corporations. 

    These losses can come from a variety of reasons, ranging from small offenses to serious problems. On the lower end, a disinterested employee can skirt their responsibilities. This can result in a loss of productivity due to a lack of motivation and happiness. In extreme cases, the employee may start to even steal from the company. Either way, your company gets hurt.

    What Happy Employees Can Do

    While unhappy employees can cause serious financial damage, happy employees are a boon to business. Studies have shown that actively engaged, happy employees are more productive than normal workers, making for better results for their bosses. Happy employees also have less incentive to leave their jobs, which can benefit your business since employee replacement can be quite costly.

    What You Can Do About Unhappy Employees

    Sometimes it doesn’t take much to inspire some unhappy employees. Good benefits and opportunities can be enough to support your workforce. It’s also important to hire people who make sense for your company and fit into your company culture. Initiatives like a workplace wellness program can also help your employees improve the quality of their lives – and potentially their happiness.

    These are all services that a Professional Employer Organization can provide for your business to help support your workforce and strengthen your business. Contact us today to talk to an expert at GMS about how improved HR functions and benefits can improve company morale.

  • Administrative professionals can be the gears that keep your business machine moving forward. Administrative Professionals Day is April 26, so we’d like to highlight a few high-profile assistants, secretaries, and other notable administrative workers throughout history.

    Image of Rosa Parks, civil right activist, secretary, and receptionist.

    Rosa Parks

    Odds are that you know Rosa Parks as the famous civil rights activist who refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Ala. back in 1955. During that time, she also served as the secretary for her local chapter of the NAACP. She continued to play an active role in the civil rights movement and moved to Detroit, where she was hired as the secretary and receptionist for U.S. Representative John Conyers, a position she held from 1965 to 1988.

    Erin Brockovich

    Before Erin Brockovich was the focus of an Academy Award-winning film featuring Julia Roberts, she was a legal secretary. Her most well-known work involved allegations that the Pacific Gas & Electric Company contaminated drinking water in a small California town. Her work helped lead to a $333 million settlement, the largest direct-action lawsuit settlement in the U.S. when the case concluded in 1996.

    Ursula Burns

    While Burns is known as the first female African-American CEO of a Fortune 500 company, she initially started out as a personal assistant at Xerox. Burns had held a few positions at other companies before she was offered a position in 1990 as the personal assistant for Wayland Hicks, Xerox’s then president of marketing and customer operations. 

    Burns worked her way up in the company and was named CEO in 2009. She held the position until the end of 2016 and now serves as Chairwoman for the company.

    Thomas A. Watson

    Phones are a huge part of businesses around the world. One assistant helped make the telephone a reality. Thomas A. Watson served as Alexander Graham Bell assistant and was the very first person to receive a message by phone. After moving on from his assistant’s position for Bell, Watson worked as a farmer and a traveling Shakespearean actor before founding one of the largest shipyards in early 1900’s America.

    Rewarding Administrative Professionals

    While there have been many notable administrative professionals, the most important to your company  is  the one you have working at your office. There are plenty of things that you can do to reward your administrative employees, both for Administrative Professionals Day any other day of the year, but one of the best is by offering a benefits package that can truly reflect just how valuable they are to your company. 

    Contact us today to talk with one of our experts about how partnering with a PEO can help you retain your employees and save money through our benefits administration services.

  • Employee training is an effective way to teach new employees and develop existing workers. However, employers may be concerned about related expenses, as employee training has been estimated to cost around $1,888 per employee for companies with fewer than 500 workers. 

    That’s quite a bit of money, but the cost of training can be well worth the investment. Here are three big reasons why a commitment to employee training is a great financial decision for your business.

    Image of employee training to keep your workforce engaged.

    Training Keeps Employees Engaged

    Employees want to feel like their boss cares for their future. Research-based consulting company Gallup reports that 87 percent of millennials find professional or career growth and development opportunities important for their jobs. 69 percent of non-millennials agreed.

    Investing in employee development can help advance your employees and show them that you value their future and contributions to your business and improve engagement. According to Gallup, improved employee engagement can have a huge impact on your business. Gallup shared the difference between companies with the best and worst rates of employee engagement. The top companies enjoyed the following benefits:

    • 37 percent less absenteeism
    • 48 percent fewer safety incidents
    • 41 percent fewer quality defects
    • 21 percent greater productivity
    • 22 percent greater profitability

    Training Lowers Staff Turnover

    Another benefit of engaging your workforce with training is that it can help you retain good employees. The initial onboarding experience can have a major impact on whether an employee stays with a company or heads off for a new opportunity. 

    The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) reports that “newly hired employees are 58 percent more likely to still be at the company three years later if they had completed a structured onboarding process.” That’s a huge difference since a lower turnover rate does more than just keep familiar faces around the office. Performance-based training organization Dale Carnegie reports that businesses in the U.S. collectively lose around $11 billion each year due to employee turnover.

    Training Develops Employees for the Present and the Future

    Training can better prepare your employees for their tasks, allowing them to be more efficient and effective. Ongoing training and development also allows you to groom your employees for bigger and better roles. 

    By developing talent internally, you can promote an employee who already knows the ins and outs of your business. That allows you to avoid some extra hiring costs, as SHRM reports that “external hires earn 18 percent to 20 percent more than existing employees promoted to similar positions.”

    Investing in Your Employees and Your Future

    The right employees can make a major difference for your business. We can help you invest in your current and future workers through employee training and recruiting services. Contact us today to talk to one of our experts about how we can help you recruit, train, and retain your employees and keep them engaged and effective.

  • A small act of recognition can make a big difference for an employee’s morale. When Forbes reports that nearly two-thirds of employees would “likely leave their job if they didn’t feel appreciated,” these gestures can help you retain happy, talented employees.

    While recognition is a good goal, you also need to make sure that these efforts make sense for your bottom line. Fortunately, there are plenty of good rewards that won’t break the bank. Here are five low-budget ideas that small business owners can use to show employees their appreciation.

    A small business owner recognizing an employee for hard work.

    A Warm Welcome

    One of the most important times to recognize an employee is on his or her first day. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), “Up to 20 percent of turnover takes place in the first 45 days.” Considering the average cost of replacing an employee, this can make early recognition a very cost-effective strategy.

    Fortunately, it doesn’t cost much to make new employees feel recognized on day one. There are several ways to help a new hire feel welcome right away, such as:

    • Greeting them personally on the first day
    • Giving them a tour and introduce them personally to team members
    • Sending out a welcome email
    • Creating a personalized orientation program
    • Sitting down and getting their feedback at the end of the first day

    A welcome package is also a nice first-day reward that can make workers feel like they belong. A bag with some mugs, a gift card or two, and some written welcome notes from team members is a small investment to make for a new employee who could be a long-term member of your company.

    Written Recognition

    Speaking of written messages, an employee doesn’t have to be new to appreciate a heartfelt note. Gallup cited that only three out of 10 U.S. employees feel they received recognition for their work in the past week. A handwritten note can show your workers that you not only notice what they’re doing, but also appreciate them for their hard work. 

    How can something as little as a handwritten note be so effective? Unlike a quick email, written notes can create a personal connection that electronic messages just can’t match. Former Campbell Soup Company CEO Douglas Conant found that handwritten “thank you” notes were so effective that he wrote more than 30,000 of them over the course of a decade. While you don’t need to match his productivity, the occasional note is a small, inexpensive way to motivate your workforce.

    Open Recognition

    While handwritten notes are a great way to privately thank employees, company announcements are a free way to highlight workers in front of everyone else. Highlighting achievements during company meetings or via company-wide email are a way to make sure that everyone recognizes the efforts of various employees.

    Recognition doesn’t only have to be about what your employees do for your company. Your employees may appreciate when their peers recognize them for personal accomplishments as well. Did one employee finish that marathon she trained for? Congratulate him or her on the achievement. Did a group of employees volunteer at a local animal shelter? Share that in a company email. It may seem like a small thing, but these acts show that you care about more than just your employees’ performance.

    Gift Cards

    A little money is a nice reward for just about any employee. With gift cards, you can set a budget that works for you. They also allow you to diversify your gift ideas by catering to your employees’ personal preferences. If an employee makes a coffee run before arriving at work every day, a $10 gift card to his or her coffee shop of choice is a great perk that shows you pay attention.

    It’s important to note that the IRS does view certain gifts as taxable income for an income. According to SHRM, “Although there may be limited situations when the value of a gift card or gift certificate could be excluded from an employee’s income, employers might want to take a conservative view and include the value of all gift cards and gift certificates in employee wages.” This doesn’t mean that you can’t use gift cards as a low-budget gift; you just need to plan ahead to protect yourself from any tax issues.

    The Gift of Time

    Sometimes the best way to show your employees that you appreciate them is by freeing up their calendar. The occasional day off allows workers to recharge. If an employee does well, consider giving them a “free day” pass that can be used at a future date. 

    The occasional day off isn’t the only way that the gift of time is on your side. Flexible work schedules can be an amazing gift for an employee that has to balance daycare schedules and other family responsibilities. If a good employee needs to stay home to watch the kids, work-from-home privileges shows a level of empathy that can build a strong bond between you and your employees.

    Invest in Happy, Talented Employees

    When your employees play such a huge role in your success, it makes sense to try and invest in top talent. As a Professional Employer Organization, Group Management Services offers a variety of services that help you invest in your workforce, such employee benefits administration and training programs. 

    Ready to learn more about how GMS can strengthen your business? Contact GMS today to talk to one of our experts about how we can help your company.

  • Entering through the glass doors of a corporate building, I expected nothing less than a dull monotony. However, I discovered upon closer inspection that instead of a boring office building, I had entered a comfortable, healthy, work environment. Rather than simply shadowing my dad on “take your kid to work day,” I took this as an opportunity to interview the employees of GMS on their thoughts about their work environment.

    The response I received was overwhelmingly positive. One might expect Mike Kahoe, president of GMS, to speak highly of the company, calling it a “friendly, cheerful environment.” But what one might not always expect is for the rest of GMS to speak of it just as highly.

    A group of employees eating with one employee's daughter during Take Your Kids to Work Day.

    For example, I interviewed Director of Wellness Julie James. To paraphrase, she described the environment as a healthy, friendly place with countless amenities to allow people to feel less stressed and more disconnected from electronics in such a tech-heavy industry. These amenities include, but are not limited to a yoga room, a healthy kitchen, and a cafeteria that allows for socialization with fellow coworkers. 

    Others shared this sentiment, including Beth Kohmann, vice president of benefits. She described the culture at GMS as one of openness towards coworkers, where people view their colleagues as friends. She went on to describe the environment as being very fluid, meaning that while employees are obviously held accountable for their job, they are also free to socialize and move about the office and build these relationships. 

    Jumping off of that, one of the things I noticed was how friendly everyone was to someone younger than them. I felt welcomed and like I could carry a conversation with the people there without having them talk down to me because of my age. It felt good.

    Tim Austin, vice president of sales, stated that the company was not only friendly, but also lively and energetic. I experienced this as well, seeing that among all the employees there, I was not significantly younger than a portion of their workforce. 

    There seemed to be a lot of commonalities in my conversations with employees across the board. It came off as a very supportive place where everyone worked to help each other succeed. Going along with this, Will Hart, vice president of tax, sees GMS as a place where the employees are very team oriented. I can’t help but agree with this, given the fact that throughout my day there I noticed a strong team dynamic amongst all the employees I met. 

    All in all, the response I received from the employees of GMS was an overwhelmingly positive one. Throughout all of my conversations, not one person had a single bad thing to say about the company. I couldn’t blame them for speaking so highly of their environment. In my experience there, the atmosphere was incredibly friendly and welcoming to someone who was so much younger than those around me.

    No longer were the glass doors an entrance to a dreadfully dull monotony. They had become doors to a world of ambition. They were an entrance to a place of friendliness and comradery – a passage towards optimism and opportunity.  

    Want to join the GMS family? Check out our current openings and apply to GMS today!

  • Over time, it’s becoming more apparent that people’s personal and professional lives will occasionally overlap. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 63 percent of families with children under the age of 18 had both parents employed. Add in millions of single parents trying to balance home and work responsibilities and you have a lot of employees who seriously value a family-friendly workplace. 

    Managing work and family obligations can take a serious toll on people, which can have a direct impact on your business. Not only can this balance impact the quality of their work, but it can also lead frustrated mothers and fathers to look for more family-friendly workplaces. Fortunately, family-friendly policies are beneficial to employers as well as employees. According to the University of Kansas, a family-friendly workplace can help you:

    • Make employees more productive
    • Create a less stressful work environment
    • Attract more top talent
    • Retain quality employees

    So what can you do to make your business more family-friendly? Here are four policies that can help your business appeal to existing and potential family-oriented employees.

    An employee working at home with her daughter thanks to a family-friendly workplace policy.

    Flexible Schedules

    A little flexibility can go a long way. Back in 2017, the Harvard Business Review asked 2,000 U.S. workers which benefits they’d consider when deciding between a higher-paying job and a lower-paying job with better perks. According to that survey, a whopping 88 percent of people said they’d consider a lower-paying job that offered more flexible hours, with roughly 40 percent of them giving the offer heavy consideration.

    While the Department of Labor defines a traditional schedule as a 9-to-5, 40-hour workweek, family responsibilities can wreak havoc on such a schedule. Whether employees need to drop off or pick up kids at school, stay home to watch over the little ones, or adjust their hours for any other reason, a flexible schedule can help them maintain a regular workload (and their sanity). 

    Another option is to offer employees the ability to opt for condensed workweeks. Instead of five eight-hour days, your workers can choose to work four 10-hour days and take off Friday, do four nine-hour days and work a half-day Friday, or some other weekly schedule. Regardless of which option(s) work best for your employees, having the flexibility to come in late or leave early can help relieve stress, reduce absenteeism, and increase productivity for workers who now have less to worry about while they’re at work. 

    Another big advantage is that flexible hours are a free benefit you can offer. It doesn’t cost extra money for you to provide employees some wiggle room and you can offer ground rules as to what is and isn’t allowed, such as maintaining core hours where employees must be present. In return, you’ll have a happier workforce that recognizes that you know that there’s life outside of work.

    Work From Home

    Similar to flex time, the ability to work from home gives employees a chance to be home when they need to for their families. In fact, that same HBR survey found that 80 percent of people would consider taking less money in exchange for work-from-home options.

    This interest in telecommuting is embraced by more than just employees. The number of people who telecommute has more than doubled over the past decade, with millions of people spending at least half their schedule working outside the office. Over time, business owners have recognized the value of allowing employees to work off site if possible. 

    Not only does telecommuting help out any employees who need to stay home with young or sick kids, it can even boost productivity. According to Global Workplace Analytics, two-thirds of businesses reported increased productivity among telecommuting employees. Whether it’s because those workers had more control over their personal and professional lives or some other reason, allowing employees to work from home can make your business a more family-friendly place for people who need to be home during business hours.

    Daycare Assistance

    Childcare is a major commitment, both in terms of time and money. Whether you opt to provide work flexibility or not, daycare assistance is another way to develop a family-friendly workplace.

    Between the daycare costs and conflicting schedules, childcare issues can have a direct impact on whether an employee decides to join or leave your company. According to Care.com’s Cost of Care report, 69 percent of parents have said that childcare has influenced their career decisions. That’s a lot of talent hanging in the balance depending on your benefits plan. To help out these employees, consider offering one or a combination of the following perks:

    • On-site daycare services
    • Child care subsidies
    • Flexible spending accounts for dependent care

    Parental Leave

    Welcoming a new child into the family is an exciting time for any parent, but it can also be incredibly stressful. A parental leave policy can help you take some of the stress out of the situation. As an employer, you have a few options if you decide to offer parental leave:

    • Unpaid parental leave
    • Paid parental leave
    • A combination of paid and unpaid parental leave

    As expected, paid leave is the most attractive option for employees, but it means you’re still on the hook for paying the new parent while he or she is out. On the flip side, not having a parental leave plan – or one that doesn’t offer any form of paid leave – makes it much more likely that prospective parents will look for better benefits elsewhere. Regardless of which route you chose, adding a parental leave policy to your company’s benefits plan will help show your workers that you care about them and their families outside of work, which can go a long way toward creating a family-friendly culture.

    Make Your Company a Destination for Good Employees

    The average employee spends more time at work than home, but that doesn’t mean your company can’t make it a bit easier to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Establishing family-friendly workplace policies can help you attract and retain top talent so that you have the right people in place at your business.

    Of course, your employees aren’t the only people who deserve a little help maintaining a good work-life balance. In addition to employee benefits administration, there are several key business functions that can eat up your schedule. Fortunately, a PEO can provide the comprehensive HR administrative service you need to manage your business’ HR needs so that you can focus on your business – and the occasional day off – instead of handling payroll or some other time-consuming task.

    Ready to focus on growing your work family? Contact us today to talk to one of our experts about how we can take on the burden of HR administration for you.