Scaling Your Start-Up

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Did you just recently launch a new company? Congratulations! Starting your own business is both an exciting and trying time. With all that’s going on, it may be difficult to think about your company’s long term plans. You may be working day-to-day and week-to-week to closely monitor each and every task and ensure a solid foundation for immediate success – but don’t forget about building a scalable business!

One of the most common mistakes business owners make is forgetting to prepare for long term success and growth. Are you prepared for next month, if next month means bringing on a new account that requires two new hires?

If something happens to you this week, can someone else handle business in your absence? Being prepared to successfully scale up, or scale down, often requires the support of a partner that has access to the multiple resources necessary for scaling.

At Employer Solutions Plus, we work with many companies. Whether you’re a company of 2, or 200, many of you are in need of the following services: benefits, payroll services, HR solutions, employee management, risk management, workers compensation insurance and more.

Many of these services may seem remotely unimportant or as if they’re operating behind the scenes until new hires come along. They’ll then become a critical part of your company’s day-to-day operations and efficiency. Our team is prepared to grow with you in the following areas:

  • Benefits/Group Plans
  • Payroll
  • Tax filings: Withholding, FICA, Federal & State Unemployment
  • Workers Compensation Insurance
  • Human Resource Management
  • And More!

When it comes time to take on new accounts or expand into a new market, you want to be ready to react, not retract. Employer Solutions Plus works side by side with clients to ensure that companies scale up successfully, without negatively affecting or interrupting cash flow, the bottom line, employee benefits or compliance.

To learn more about preparing for future growth, contact our team.

Are HR Tasks Negatively Affecting Your Revenue?

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When we hear the word “revenue,” we tend to look at our sales teams, marketing, and our company’s actual products or services – After all, aren’t those the departments or areas responsible for generating revenue?

It’s not uncommon for organizations to overlook the not-so-obvious areas that may be positively or negatively affecting revenue – especially Human Resources!

Here are just a few HR areas that may be hurting your cash flow AND sales.

  • Hiring: What’s your company’s recruitment strategy? More often than not, it’s HR’s responsibility or the business owner’s responsibility to find the next star employee. When HR or anyone for that matter fails to hire the “right” candidate, this new employee can cost you more than their salary. Poor performance, workplace conflict, firing, and re-hiring ALL cost your company money in addition to the fact that you’ll have missed revenue opportunities.
  • Payroll/Salary: Does your company accurately report and distribute payroll each month? Click here for a list of lost income scenarios which can result from payroll mistakes. In addition, you may actually be overpaying some of your employees – who designs your company’s pay grades? As you know, outgoing expenses directly affect your net income each month.
  • Priorities: Human Resources isn’t just responsible for controlling costs. They need to work with executives to identify and prioritize the areas of business (and the people) that generate the most revenue.Who is your company’s star? What is your most profitable department? What are you doing to reward and retain them?
  • Leadership Development & Training: HR is often responsible for planning and conducting on-site training, continuing education and leadership development. Are you giving your employees and management teams all of the tools and resources they need to succeed and generate more revenue?

If your company is struggling in any of the 4 aforementioned areas, please contact us today. HR bottlenecks can quickly destroy your revenue potential and can develop into much larger problems if they are not addressed and corrected.

Sometimes all HR needs is a little support! Employer Solutions Plus offers a variety of employee management and HR solutions, designed to put your company in a much stronger financial position. You focus on growing your business, and we’ll make sure HR is properly maintaining it!

What is Online Payroll Reporting?

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Say goodbye to expensive in-house printing, the never-ending piles of reports on the 15th and 30th, and your ongoing need for additional storage space within the office. This day in age, with all of the technological resources available, there’s no reason to not have anytime online access to everything you need surrounding payroll.

The only problem with technology is that convenience often comes with a price. Online payroll reporting programs are not free – As a small business owner, how can you possibly reap the payroll reporting benefits and programs the much larger companies enjoy? By relying on a valuable payroll partner of course!

When you outsource your company’s payroll tasks to a payroll company, or a PEO, you not only gain their expertise, but also gain their technology.

Online payroll reporting will offer most if not all of the following benefits (depending on the program):

  • 24/7 Access: Your files are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Out of office or on the go? No problem! Check in at any time.
  • Multiple User Access: Just because a payroll company or PEO is managing your payroll, doesn’t mean that you can’t have direct access to all payroll information. Online payroll systems grant multiple users access, whether it’s you, or your accountant, that is in need of more information.
  • Taxes: Federal, State and Local Taxes are calculated, paid and filed for you.
  • Easy set-up for direct deposit and ability to print checks in-house.
  • Support: Online payroll reporting is relatively simple and self-explanatory, but when you work with a professional payroll company or PEO, help is never more than a phone call or click away.
  • Quick and easy access to past files. No need to dig through the basement or closet for 2008’s payroll information. Just select the tax year and click to access records!
  • Great search functionality: Look up an individual employee’s information by name or employee number.

Are you interested in a more efficient and effective way of managing payroll? Please contact us to learn more about the payroll administration solutions available at Employer Solutions Plus.

Lower Your Company’s Health Insurance Costs… Immediately!

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Do you cover some or all of your employees’ health insurance premiums? Depending on the number of employees at your workplace, health insurance could be a very large outgoing expense each month. As business owners, it’s only smart for us to look at our accounts payable each month and decide what needs to go, or what can be cut back on.

However, cutting back on health insurance and benefits for your employees is NOT a good approach! Offering benefits comes with its own list of great benefits.  Do you want to continue offering benefit rich plans but decrease your company’s overall health insurance costs each month?

It IS possible – here are a few ways:

  • A lot of health insurance costs are related to chronic conditions like obesity or cardiovascular disease. These most often are conditions that are preventable and reversible. Many health insurance companies are willing to reduce premiums for companies or organizations that take proactive steps to promote a healthier workforce/workplace. Does your company have an employee wellness program (EWP) or employee assistance program (EAP) in place?
  • Explore the marketplace for more competitive bids. You don’t have to lose special perks or settle for higher deductibles to save money on health insurance. It is always smart to get an outsider’s opinion from a professional with access to multiple providers and plans.
  • Don’t be afraid to bundle! Insurance companies love loyalty – especially if you’re a large group. Bundling multiple lines of coverage with the same insurance carrier (health, dental, life, and disability) can significantly reduce your premium costs each month. If you are currently utilizing multiple providers, consider condensing all benefits under one provider’s umbrella instead.
  • Partner with a Professional Employer Organization (PEO). Partnering with a PEO offers small to mid-sized employers access to “big company benefits.” PEOs have stronger purchasing power when it comes to health insurance due to the overall population size of their employee base. They pool employees from numerous client companies on to a single company policy (the PEO’s policy) through the co-employment relationship. They also offer access to ancillary benefits you may not have been able to offer in the past!

Is it time for your company to save on health insurance? At Employer Solutions Plus, we represent the “best of” in employer solutions – whether it’s a company health insurance plan, or a full-suite PEO solution.  We represent multiple providers in each product category which allows us the flexibility to customize a cost effective solution to meet the individual needs of our clients.

Contact our team for more ways to save on your company’s health insurance premiums.

 

Conducting Employee Training at a Franchise

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Your grand opening is weeks away and employee training is underway. Whether you’re a restaurant franchisee, a hotel franchisee or even a small coffee shop, your employees need to get up to speed so that your location’s brand and experience is in line with the established corporate image.

Corporate headquarters and parent companies often provide managers and employees with training and guidelines on the following:

  • How to Best Sell Products and Services
  • The Ideal Customer Experience
  • Cleanliness and Facility Upkeep
  • Uniforms and Image
  • Marketing

But, as a separate franchisee location, your employees work for you each day – not corporate. It is for this reason that it’s important to ensure that you remain in compliance by providing adequate training and resources surrounding the following:

  • New Hire Training
  • Discrimination and Harassment Prevention
  • Workplace Conflict and Violence Prevention
  • Wage & Hour Practices (Employees need to know how to properly record hours, and supervisors need adequate training)
  • Ethics
  • Occupational Safety and Health (You may not think you have a “dangerous” workplace, but OSHA has specific standards and employee training requirements)

Providing the above-mentioned training could be the difference between winning or losing an employee claim in the future. Did you provide the employee with everything they needed to succeed? Training also helps prevent workplace accidents. Did you thoroughly instruct the employee on how to operate machinery, handle tools, or lift large objects?

Compliance aside, the best employees are always learning and looking to improve. Partnerships with PEOs not only bring about skilled experts to conduct on-site or virtual classroom training to keep your workplace in compliance, but can assist in a variety of training to help improve teamwork and leadership too.

To learn more about the PEO relationship as it relates to employee training, contact Employer Solutions Plus.

Analyzing Proposals – Which PEO is Best for My Company?

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Did you know that the team at Employer Solutions Plus is available to help you analyze PEO proposals? That’s right; we don’t just put together PEO proposals, we also assist clients that are already halfway through the process!

One of the most difficult tasks can be sorting through countless proposals. You’ve likely already compiled an assessment of workplace needs and wants surrounding employee management and risk management, as well as determined your employee benefits needs.

The first step in analyzing a proposal is making sure that the PEO’s capabilities, services, and benefits align with your requested needs. If they do, add them to your pile of possible PEO candidates. May sound simple enough, but if you’re already halfway through the process you know how large of a time investment sending out RFPs and identifying your workplace needs has already been.

And, selecting the best PEO for your company isn’t often as easy as laying out all the proposals for side by side comparisons. Each PEO will likely come back with customized solutions for your specific needs. Each has its own pricing model, way of conveying data, proposal template and even fine print that you may not 100% understand.

When you do find a PEO whose pricing and services stand out amongst the rest, it is recommended that you verify financials including bank and credit references and ask the PEO to show proof of payment history surrounding payroll taxes and insurance premiums. Then of course comes the fine print – Will you be able to cancel the contract if better rates come along or terms of the contract are not met? Who is responsible for each type of liability, you or the PEO?

Our dedicated staff of PEO experts can prepare a custom analysis of proposals for you upon request and we’ll review all of the above, and then some! If we don’t see the perfect fit, Employer Solutions Plus can also offer some alternatives.

Clients of Employer Solutions Plus save themselves time, money, and stress. Call today to take the guesswork out of PEO proposal analysis: 727-698-6207.

Compliance-Smart Time Tracking Systems

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It’s no secret that staying in compliance is a real headache. You may be the world’s best boss or business owner, but you probably don’t have an employment law degree. After all, compliance is a full time job!

So, what’s available to help ease the burden of compliance? For starters, good technology. Are you still recording employee hours in an excel file? Having employees sign in and out at the front desk during each lunch break? Here are some common wage and hour compliance concerns for business owners: calculating accurate overtime pay, ensuring employees take their breaks, abiding by minimum wage laws, and payroll record keeping.

Time tracking systems play a critical role in helping to comply with wage and hour laws, and can even help in reducing compensation claims! Imagine this: You’re a retail store with 15 workers on the floor. By your particular state’s law, all workers are required to take at least one break during their shift. If one employee forgets to take their break, or skips it, you’ll immediately get a notification. Are some employees staying overnight to organize new inventory? No problem – These systems are compliance smart and will not only let you know if your employees are eligible for overtime, but will also calculate it for you.

Now, these systems do require a manager’s manual review for accuracy, and you should be familiar with your state’s laws. For example, when “off the clock” tasks, communication, or assignments might be compensable.

There’s no doubt in our minds that technology can be a lifesaver, but we can’t all afford these “extra-smart” programs, complete with tablets, touch screens, card swipe systems, text messaging, mobile applications, cloud-based systems and extensive reporting features… which is where a PEO comes in.

PEOs offer extremely robust HRIS’s (Human Resource Information Systems) and can often afford today’s most effective and efficient systems – the ones that are upward of a $300,000 investment and just out of reach for the small to medium sized business owner. Through the co-employment relationship, PEOs deliver big company perks and benefits to the smaller guys, like us!

For more information on PEO benefits, including compliance and technology, contact us.

Opening a Franchise Location – Your HR Checklist

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You’re a new franchisee – congratulations! Among the many positive things going on at this moment, is the sense of security, knowing that you’ve invested in a proven template for business and an established brand.

Beyond your brand, you may also have established guidelines for customer service, product offerings, and operations. But, wait a minute – did anyone mention HR?! Corporations don’t always provide new franchisees with best practices and how-to’s for HR and employee management – that may be the one area of business you’ll need to explore on your own.

Don’t panic. Fortunately for you and your employees there are plenty of resources available, including the team at Employer Solutions Plus who are willing to help you navigate “everything HR.”

Let’s review 10 areas of HR that every business owner should be up to speed on:

  1. Hiring & Firing: Do you know where to recruit the best employees? How to retain them? How do you appropriately terminate an employee while staying in compliance?
  2. Employee Training: Will you provide on-site training or virtual classroom training? What do employees need to be adequately trained on?
  3. Employee Handbooks: Your Company’s employee handbook serves as an important communication tool between you and your employees. A handbook sets forth your expectations for your employees, and lets new hires know what they should expect too! Who will write your handbook? Who will keep it up to date?
  4. Benefits: Robust benefits packages help make you an employer of choice, and help retain your top talent!
  5. Compliance: There are hundreds upon hundreds of pages of fine print surrounding employment law and regulation. Who will ensure your workplace stays in compliance at all times?
  6. Payroll: Whether you’re a small, medium or large business, efficient and accurate payroll processing services keep your business obstacle-free and promote better cash flow.
  7. Tax filings: Withholding, FICA, Federal & State Unemployment … Do you have a designated tax person or is your payroll/office manager managing it all?
  8. Risk Management: Accidents happen, and when they do, you’ll want to make sure that you have a great workers compensation policy.
  9. Communication: Communicating with employees isn’t always easy. Are you prepared to conduct interviews, employee reviews, training and exit interviews?
  10. Wages, Hours, and Technology: Tracking workers’ hours, and calculating time and a half is a lot easier when you’ve got technology on your side!

For some franchisees, a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) makes perfect sense. They’re able to bundle the 10 aforementioned HR responsibilities under one cost effective umbrella. For others, a PEO may not be the perfect solution. Corporate may already offer you resources for payroll and taxes, but may not be able to assist you in the other 8 areas. For these particular clients, partnering up with a company that represents multiple providers in each product category will allow you the flexibility to customize a cost effective solution that meets your individual needs.

For more information on PEO services, or customized HR support packages, contact Employer Solutions Plus.

Compliance Concerns for Medical Practices

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It’s every business owner’s favorite topic: compliance. When you’ve got a profitable and busy business to run, compliance issues sometimes get put on the backburner… exactly where they don’t belong. Because you specialize in healthcare services and not necessarily government regulations, taking the time to review healthcare-specific laws and policies often take much longer than planned. Unfortunately the Department of Labor (DOL) doesn’t often wait around to administer and enforce its 180 federal laws.

Here are just 3 concerns that medical practices have:

  1. HIPAA: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act protects the privacy of individually identifiable health information. HIPAA also comprises of the HIPAA Security Rule, which sets national standards for the security of electronic protected health information and confidentiality provisions of the Patient Safety Rule, which protects identifiable information being used to analyze patient safety events and improve patient safety. In an earlier post, we addressed how important it is for medical practice owners or employees who are delegated to manage compliance to be fully aware of the HIPAA policy and procedures. A single violation of compliance can result in fines capable of crippling your cash flow.
  2. RACs: Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs) have been auditing claims for the Medicare program nationwide since 2010, which subject health facilities to additional administrative burden and costly payment denials.
  3. Compliance Programs: A compliance program is required as of March 2013 by any healthcare provider, including dental, that bills Medicare, Medicaid, and/or programs funded by federal or state governments. Eligible compliance programs include guidance on billing, coding, and contracts which are now required under the Affordable Care Act. There are nearly 40 policies that include the screening of all employees monthly against state and federal exclusion databases…. Do you have the time?

Many medical practice owners choose to engage a PEO for the sole purpose of eliminating headaches and ensuring employer compliance. In addition to the many other benefits PEOs provide, PEOs protect – against costly lawsuits, against compliance failure, and against preventable workplace mistakes/accidents.

To learn more about PEO solutions, contact us.

Small Group Employers – How Are Premium Rates Determined?

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Are you shopping around for health insurance? You may be wondering where the various health insurance companies are getting their numbers from.

In most states, laws permit small group health insurance companies to determine their initial premium rates for each client company through medical underwriting. Medical underwriting uses medical or health information to evaluate the applicant(s) applying for health insurance coverage. As part of the process, each person’s health information is used to determine whether or not the person (or group) will be provided with coverage, and what the premium rate is going to be.

In other states, small group health insurance companies use a process called modified community ratings to determine their initial rates. In states where this is enforced, modified community ratings require health insurance providers to offer policies at the same exact rate to all persons within a given geographic territory.

Most small group employers have to go through the medical underwriting process, because it is a much more common practice than modified community ratings. Premium charges are directly affected by claims history and your employees’ existing health attributes and habits … do you have employees that are overweight? Do you have employees that smoke? These traits could potentially increase the health insurance company’s risk of taking on your group, which therefore will increase the premium rate.

At Employer Solutions Plus, we represent the “best of” in health insurance options and employee benefits. This allows us the flexibility to customize a cost effective solution to meet the individual needs of our clients. If you’re shopping around, and not seeing the numbers you expected, please contact us for additional insight and help.