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June 24th, 2009In a report released by the nonpartisan Small Business Majority and featured in the Daily Dose blog, healthcare reform could save America's small businesses $855 million in the first 10 years.
Healthcare reform is a hot topic in the halls of Congress right now. Increasing costs have forced entrepreneurs and small businesses to make tough choices about whether to provide coverage or not.
The Economic Impact of Healthcare Reform on Small Businesses report noted that successful reform will require shared responsibility among the healthcare industry, businesses, government and individuals.
In an interview with Entrepreneur.com, Small Business Majority CEO John Arensmeyer commented "Not enacting healthcare reform is going to be an unmitigated disaster, but implementing a system based on the framework Congress is working on right now--even with the [controversial] mandates for employee coverage--will be a tremendous benefit to small business. Even the most conservative versions of reform will produce better results."
Up to 178,000 jobs could be lost by 2018 and small business employees will see $12 billion in lost wages this year alone if healthcare reform fails.
While debate is ongoing, Arensmeyer is optimistic a reform package will be completed this year.
February 3rd, 2009Last Thursday, President Barack Obama signed his first bill into law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This new law loosens the restrictions under which pay discrimination lawsuits can be filed.
The Ledbetter Act is named after an Alabama woman that sued Goodyear - claiming she was paid substantially less than men in similar positions over the course of her 19 year career at the company. A jury ruled in her favor but in 2007, a 5-4 Supreme Court decision tossed out her claim. The justices ruled that Ledbetter should have filed her lawsuit within 180 days of the first time the company paid her less than her peers.
The new law effectively restarts that 180-day clock after each paycheck a worker receives. Plus, workers will be able to sue for up to two years of back pay. "That's a pretty nice window they get," said Philadelphia-based employment law attorney Christine Bonavita.
Employment lawyers like Bonavita say now is a good time to re-examine compensation practices. "Being in compliance with the law may take some work and extra resources," comments Cleveland employment attorney Keith Ashmus.
Both Bonavita and Ashmus recommend small businesses take the following steps to avert or better handle a discrimination lawsuit.
* Evaluate compensation figures, ranging from salaries, bonuses, merit raises, cost of living increases and benefits. Individuals with similar jobs and qualifications need to be paid at the same rate.
* Be able to clearly demonstrate any business reasons for differences in compensation.
* Train supervisors on what the law requires.
* Update company policies and handbooks to clearly state discriminatory pay practices are not
allowed.
* Review insurance policies and make changes if necessary to ensure claims from ex-employees regarding events in the past are covered.
* Retain all payroll records, periodic performance reviews and any other documentation indefinitely.
Above all, documentation is the most important according to Bonavita, including correspondence between the employee and HR manager and owner. This can be invaluable in defending against a lawsuit.
Ashmus also suggests it may be safer to offer bonuses rather than merit raises since the 180-day rule does not apply to them.
And if it makes sense, an employee should be immediately notified of decisions to change their compensation and why. "Once they know, once they have the information, it's a little harder for them to justify waiting 30 more years to file a lawsuit," Ashmus says.
And, of course, that conversation should be documented.
January 11th, 2008Providing health insurance and other fringe benefits for employees of your small business is a large expense that is increasing at alarming rates each year. Many small business owners are faced with the prospect of discontinuing health benefits or cannot offer it to their employees due to the prohibitive costs. Workplace wellness programs may offer a solution and address other issues besides health insurance costs.
Workplace wellness programs have become increasingly popular in recent years, especially in larger corporations, due to success at reducing not only health care costs but also absenteeism and employee turnover. And wellness programs enhance the moral of employees resulting in increased productivity, among other things.
As a small business owner, inherent advantages lie within making a wellness program successful since it is easier to change the workplace culture, not to mention the plethora of cost-effective measures available for small businesses.
Like anything, there's a right way and a wrong way to institute a wellness program. Any approach must be comprehensive in order for it to be successful. An effort such as this must have the involvement company leaders and follow a simple plan with simple goals. Also, an apparatus must be available to employees to exercise and eat better on and off the job.
Many cost-effective options exist to promoting wellness in the workplace. The Wellness Councils of America offer resources and assistance to companies of any size looking to institute a wellness program. Whatever course you take, the health and happiness of your employees has a direct impact on your companys financial health.December 19th, 2005by Justin Woolich
Business Systems Manager
Very few businesses can claim to be prepared for the loss of key employees. Quite often it is an unexpected and unplanned for event that causes quite a bit of disruption to 'business as usual'.
It is quite a gut wrenching experience to see an employee you have worked with over a period of time leaving your business. Even if the parting of ways is on good terms with a period of handover, you just know that there is so much information walking out the door with your former employee and there is nothing you can do about it.
And this is only just the beginning...
While laboring through a period of being understaffed and overworked you are then faced with the task of recruiting a new employee to fill the vacant position. This is followed by the inevitable probation and training period where, hopefully the new employee comes up to speed and is able to pick up where the former employee left off.
The problem is: What exactly was it that the former employee really did? They always seemed to be busy and on the rare occasion that they were absent due to illness, there were those problems that arose that were only truly resolved when they returned and took control and 'cleaned things up'.
There has to be a better way...
Fortunately quite a bit can be done to minimize the impact of situations like this on our business. And like most truly worthwhile solutions the steps required to complete this part of your business development does take some effort on your part.
There is an established path that you can follow to get your business in order and the benefits to you and your employees are much farther reaching than just minimizing the impact of key employees leaving you.
The following is by no means a definitive list of what is required. But it does give you some idea of the steps required.
1) Create a flexible forward thinking Organization Chart defining the positions you require in your business.
2) Determine what the responsibilities are for the positions in your business.
3) Assign Employees to relevant positions in the Business.
4) Document key information that is critical to your business and make it available to your employees.
5) Work with your employees to define what it is they do, how they do it and most importantly how it could be done better.
6) Record, optimize then implement the business systems you have identified.
7) Assign the business systems to the relevant positions and monitor their use.
By consistently following these steps for all positions in your business you will insulate yourself from some of the problems that occur when key employees leave your business.
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