Meet Our Founder: Torri Sloan

/in /by

Have you ever been sold a service by a top level executive, only to find out that upon signing the contract you’d be working with an entry-level employee? At Employer Solutions Plus we differentiate and pride ourselves on offering executive level service and experience throughout the entire process of finding the perfect PEO, Payroll-Only, Health Insurance, and/or Employee Benefits partner.

All new clients get the benefit of working with our company founder, Torri Sloan. As a broker, companies look to Torri for creative ideas to help alleviate their administrative headaches. We interviewed our founder this week so that you can learn a little bit more about her!

What was your first job?

My first job was actually in accounting (accounts payable) for a cruise only travel company. I worked in this capacity for 5 years and realized that I truly liked talking with and helping people. I always enjoyed assisting my 150 outside sales agents in making sure that their customers’ money went toward the perfect vacation.

How did you end up in the HR/PEO world?

I ended up in HR outsourcing, or PEO as it was called in the 90’s, by sheer luck. When I realized that I wanted to actually be in “sales” the only opportunity that was available or that someone would take the risk on was sales for a PEO company. I didn’t have sales experience at the time but was given valuable sales training through Sandler Sales and was eventually sent on my way to open a brand new market in Upstate NY, where I found great success and realized I loved the industry!

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?

The most rewarding part of my job is providing the business owner with an entirely customized solution that better equips them for taking their business to the next level, and helps them become an employer of choice.

Do you belong to any professional organizations?

I belong to a number of professional organizations but the most important decision I made when I first started Employer Solutions Plus was joining the Centre Club. It’s a professional business club that focuses on helping existing members grow in each of their businesses. I sit on the Club’s Ambassador Council, and it’s a great place; it really is my home office away from home!

I also belong to CFA (Commercial Finance Association) and sit on their board as one of the speaker chairs. Outside of professional organizations, I volunteer with Metropolitan Ministries on their Ambassador Board.

What do you like to do outside of work?

In my spare time I love spending time outside with my husband and our 2 dogs. I also enjoy relaxing and recharging my batteries with a great massage or facial!

Is there something you want to know about Torri that we didn’t touch upon this week? Let us know! To learn more about Employer Solutions Plus, follow our blog or stop by our Employer Services page.

What Are Pre-verified Resumes?

/in , /by

As HR or hiring managers we’ve all been there; staring at a stack of resumes and not sure where to begin. We go through a “weeding out” phase that aims to eliminate anyone that is not qualified. But then we still have a stack of candidates that need to be verified. Did they really get a master’s degree from Boston College? Does this person really have 8 years of real-world experience in IT? Do they really have a clean record? Verify all of these details for all candidates and by the time you’re done days will have gone by!

This is exactly why many companies are gravitating toward pre-verified resume services. Pre-verified service providers are third parties that certify a person’s credentials before he or she advances in the application or interviewing process.

An employer signs up for this service, and then the service provider confirms important details on the resume surrounding work history, educational background, and certifications. The candidates that “pass the test” are passed along to the employer. This not only saves employers time in the hiring process, but also prevents companies from getting too far along only to realize that certain information was fabricated or false on a candidate’s resume.

But are these services all they’re hyped up to be? It certainly depends on what type of business you are and what types of positions are available at your company. A pre-verified process by a third party is not as customized or specific as the process you may currently have in place. It’s much more black and white, whereas you may “bend the rules” every now and then if a candidate lacks a degree but makes up for it by being a great cultural fit with lots of determination and a track record of success on the job. If someone else was screening these resumes, would you ever get the chance to meet this person? Or would they disappear in the pre-verification process?

However, if you’re a staffing company that needs 60 bartenders within the next 5 days, all having a minimum of 5 years of experience, a pre-verification service may be the perfect tool for moving things along quickly!

Did you know that Employer Solutions Plus represents various types of outsourced HR solutions? Through partnerships with PEOs, HROs, and various project-based service providers, we’re able to find the perfect fit for businesses of all shapes and sizes!

Call us at 727-698-6207 if you want to learn more about solutions in hiring.

 

Resignations Are On The Rise

/in , /by

All we’ve heard about for the past few years is how lackluster the U.S. job market is, which is why this fact might surprise you: The number of Americans voluntarily leaving their jobs is on the rise!

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the MONTHLY average number of workers to leave their jobs in 2013 was more than 2.2 million – more than 25 million for the entire year! In 2009, the monthly average was 1.9 million. Resignations on the rise indicate a few things that employers need to be aware of:

  • Employers have strengthened their recruitment techniques and are luring employees away from their current employers.
  • Many employed individuals no longer feel “stuck” where they are, and can quit with the confidence of finding another position elsewhere.

In order to retain your top-performing employees, you have to be an employer of choice. Employers of choice follow an all-encompassing recipe of future opportunity, commitment to a strong corporate culture, competitive salaries, employee recognition, cohesive teams, community involvement, work/home balance, job security, and great benefits.

Additionally, you have to promote a working environment where honest communication is encouraged. Having performance reviews and employee/manager meetings scheduled throughout the entire year can provide your top-performing employees with a platform for conveying their concerns. If you know of problems before they arise, you can work toward fixing them. If the employees’ frustrations remain a secret, there is no possible resolution and your employees will eventually leave.

If you currently work with a PEO, ask them about what practices they have in place to help you better retain employees, and don’t be afraid to share your workplace concerns. Historically, small businesses have always had a hard time competing with the rich benefit programs and growth opportunities found at Fortune 500 companies – but with the help of a PEO you can easily (and creatively) become an employer of choice.

Want to learn more about PEOs and retaining top performing employees? Contact our team at Employer Solutions Plus.

Social Media Screening – Is it Legal?

/in , /by

We live in a very digital world today where information about anyone or anything is often very accessible. So let’s chat about that recent graduate who just applied for an entry level position at your company … As a potential employer, can you view her Facebook profile or Twitter account that’s published for all to see?

You can, yes, but it’s certainly not recommended. Here’s why:

Social profiles contain information that you as the potential employer would never see on a resume or cover letter. Social media opens the door to learning much more about a candidate such as their religion, sexual orientation, and race – things that are irrelevant to filling the position and adequately performing the job’s functions.

In “researching” this particular information, you can put your company at risk for various discrimination claims. Online employment discrimination is sometimes conscious and sometimes unconscious, meaning that a hiring manager or HR professional might innocently check a Facebook profile or Twitter account without realizing the page’s information affects their hiring decision.

Current policy does create legal risks for those scanning through social media pages during the hiring process IF managers are caught using that information in a discriminatory fashion. Here’s an example: let’s say you’re an employer in the state of Minnesota that prefers to employ healthy and responsible individuals. You decide not to hire a specific woman because her Facebook profile has countless pictures of her drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes.

In Minnesota, it is unlawful for an employer to prohibit a prospective employee from using lawful consumable products, such as alcohol and tobacco. If your candidate catches wind of why they were not hired, or someone on your team accidentally lets them know – you’re in big trouble! And, Minnesota is not the only state. More than half of the U.S. states prohibit employers from taking an adverse employment action based on an employee or potential employee’s lawful conduct on their own time.

Because fairly (and legally) monitoring a candidate’s social media profile is difficult to monitor and manage as an employer, it is recommended that companies explicitly instruct and train hiring teams to not look at a candidates’ online presence. More often than not, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

If you need to access online information for any reason, employers should consider hiring a third-party to review the candidate’s social media profile and filter out any information about membership in a protected class, so that the profile and information you are looking at as a hiring manager is only information that can be lawfully considered in the hiring process.

Social media compliance is sticky, as is employment law. If you have a question or need help with a particular situation, contact Employer Solutions Plus at 727-698-6207.