Smallbiz Brainiac

It’s time to turn my attention toward executing the business plan I’ve been working on for the past 12 months. Hey everybody, welcome to the FINAL episode of SmallBiz Brainiac! Yes… I’m ending this podcast. That’s hard for me to say, actually. This has been a labor of love for me and I’ve learned so much from doing this. It was a bit scary starting off. If you go back to the first 100 episodes… I pretty much sucked. I think the content is solid but as a podcaster, I stink… still do. So, I’ve been thinking about ending the show for several weeks now, and I’ve finally decided that it’s time to turn my attention toward executing the business plan I’ve been working on for the past 12 months. When I started this show 17 months ago, I didn’t have a clear picture of how I would incorporate it into my business. In fact, I started it before I had my current business. At the time, I was in a role transition. I almost said career transition, and that’s kind of true except I’m still in the same industry, j

Empower your Managers to make their own hiring and firing decisions.  Who in your organization should be responsible for recruiting, interviewing and hiring candidates? Who should be responsible for carrying out the unenviable task of letting employees go, regardless of whether it is for performance, behavior, or just downsizing? I’m a firm believer in tasking your managers with the responsibilities of hiring and firing their own staff. That being said, it’s important your managers are well trained in this area so you’re not putting the company at risk. When I say have your managers hiring and firing their own staff, that does not mean they shouldn’t keep the HR department informed, or consult with them before making decisions. HR should still be part of any staffing process. Hiring Responsibilities: Hiring an employee can be a time consuming process. Your managers may not have a lot of extra time to devote to going through all that’s involved. If this is the case, you may want to le

It doesn’t matter if you are guilty or not, an employment discrimination claim is going to cost you. EPLI stands for Employment Practices Liability Insurance. The free report available on our website, smallbizbrainiac.com, called “8 Steps to Lowering Your Employer Liability”, is all about buying EPLI insurance. The very process of preparing the complete the application will put you in a great position. So go get a copy of that report. What is EPLI? EPLI protects you, your company, its directors, officers and both current and former employees from claims and lawsuits filed by….well, your current and former employees as well as employment candidates. Some policies will also cover claims made by third-parties, like customers, clients and vendors. It covers the cost of defending you against claims or lawsuits related to your employment practices. It will also pay any judgment entered against you. At least up to the limits of the policy. It’s important to understand that the defense costs apply to the limit. S

Total compensation statements show employees how much you’re actually investing in them. Today I want to talk to you about your employees total compensation. No, total compensation is not simply the employees annual salary. It is more than that. It refers to the total cost of employing an individual. Why is this important? I believe this to be important on two levels. It’s important for employers to have an idea of just how much it costs to employ someone. This may help you make more informed hiring and firing decisions. It’s also important that the employee understands that their compensation is more than just what their paycheck shows every payday. http://www.payscale.com/compensation-today/2017/03/share-total-compensation-statements-employees (According to a study conducted by Human Resource firm PayScale), nearly 40% of all businesses prepare total compensation reports for their employees. Total Compensation:  Total compensation can be defined as the employee’s cash wage plus any no

The city of Minneapolis has bought into the voodoo economic theory that they can regulate the labor market and bend it to their will. Even if you don’t have employees in Minneapolis, you need to stay on top of all the local HR laws because they are a sign of things to come. Especially if you live in a city that is governed by Democrats. The city of Minneapolis has bought into the voodoo economic theory that they can regulate the labor market and bend it to their will. They’ve jumped on the municipality minimum wage bandwagon and passed an http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/www/groups/public/@clerk/documents/webcontent/wcmsp-201278.pdf (ordinance) creating a city minimum wage of $10.00 effective January 1, 2018 and increasing each year until it reaches $15.00 in 2024. The City Council and Mayor apparently unhappy with the federal and state governments lack of action to protect the city’s citizens health, safety and general welfare, have taken matters into their own dirty little hands. You see, the labor

A Big challenge with remote employees is communication. Some managers fall victim to the “out of sight, out of mind” syndrome. Having remote employees away from your main or corporate office is nothing new. With today’s technology however, it has become increasingly more prevalent. Businesses are no longer forced to look in their local market for potential employees. As with most things in life, this can be both a blessing and a curse. You can really expand your pool of qualified candidates if you’re willing to look beyond your local market, but hiring employees out of state brings additional challenges for HR, as well as the remote employee’s direct supervisor or manager. Let’s take a look at some of the challenges you’ll face from hiring remote employees. HR Challenges: Conducting an interview for a remote employee may be a bit more challenging than a standard in-person interview. A telephone interview may be sufficient, however it’s difficult to get an accurate

Nine million people lost their jobs in the Great Recession, and over 150,000 businesses shutdown.  Create a plan for dealing with it before it happens again. I’ve spent 3 episodes teaching you what a recession is and what economic indicators you should be watching to signal danger. I’ve tried convincing you that we’re on the verge of another one, and that it’ll be worse than the previous “Great Recession”. You should certainly care about recessions because they have a very real impact on your business. You might have forgotten the pain caused by the last one. You might not have been in business back then, or maybe you weren’t even in the labor market. You might have been in school and oblivious to the effects. You might not like this subject or even believe we’re on the verge of another, more serious one. Regardless, recessions are a reality, and another one will happen. In fact, if we are still in the post Great Recession expansion, then its the third longest expansion in our history. On

If you don’t take HR seriously, no one else in your company will either. I know you are serious about your business. You’re serious about the work that you do to service your clients. Are you carrying this seriousness over to your own employees? You want, and frankly need, your employees to be your biggest asset and not become your biggest liability. Today I want to focus on a  high profile company that has not taken HR matters seriously and it has finally caught up with them and has shaken the make up of that company. If you have paid any attention to HR news lately then I’m sure you have heard about the issues going on at Uber. Uber of course is the ever popular ride sharing company that has helped revolutionize the transportation industry with it’s easy to use mobile app that allows riders to schedule a ride and pay for it without having to exchange physical cash. The app is tied to the riders credit card in order to ensure payment. Ubers HR Issues: Uber has suffered massive negative e

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-fed-caused-93--of-the-entire-stock-market-s-move-since-2008--analysis-194426366.html (Yahoo Finance reported) in 2016 that 93% of the entire stock market move since 2008 was caused by Federal Reserve policy. In parts 1 and 2 we learned that a recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months. We also learned there’s NOT a consensus among economists about how to calculate if we are in one. Besides, all the major players, using the traditional measures, missed calling the last recession… the Great Recession. So it’s probably a good idea to look to those who did call it, and see what measurements they take. I’ve been calling these non-traditional recession indicators. In this episode we’ll wrap up the argument… the argument being that we are very close to another recession, and that this one will be much worse than the last one, by looking at a few more “measuring sticks”. Retail Store C

Even though Form I-9 revisions seem insignificant, failure to comply can result in fines. Today we’re going to focus on some changes that have recently been made to the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 by the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services. Overview of Form I-9: The Form I-9 has been in use since 1986 for the purpose of verifying the identity and work authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States. This was all made possible by the passing of the Immigration Reform & Control Act. All U.S. employers must ensure proper completion of Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This includes citizens and non-citizens. Both employees and employers must complete the form. An employee must attest to his or her employment authorization. The employee must also present their employer with acceptable documentation confirming their identity and authorization to be employed in the United States. The employer then must review the emp

The Federal Reserve has injected over $4.5 trillion into the economy to speed up the recovery from the Great Recession of 2008. In Part 1 we learned a recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months. We also learned there isn’t a standard formula you can apply…

Updating employee name changes with the Social Security Administration is priority number one. Today we’re going to go over what is involved for your HR and payroll team when an employee decides to change their name. Why on earth would someone change their name? Well, there are a variety of reasons why a name change could occur.…

A recession is defined as a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months. Were you in the workforce back in 2008? Chances are you were. Do you remember the impact the “Great Recession” had on your business? I sure do. We lost over 30% of our clients within a few…

How do I maintain a safe work environment now that recreational marijuana is legal in my state? Legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes is trending upward with more and more states opting to legalize the drug even though marijuana is still considered illegal at the federal level. Regardless of how you view the use of…

“Furthermore, many colleges and universities fail to help students graduate with the skills necessary to secure high paying jobs in today’s workforce.”  Are you confused about the differences between an apprenticeship and an internship? An apprenticeship is an on-the-job training program which includes job related instruction, typically provided in a classroom setting. Apprenticeships can last…

The number of employers using social media to screen candidates is at an all-time high. Today I wanted to go over a type of pre-employment screening that is becoming increasingly more popular as time goes on. Pre-employment screenings, or background checks are nothing new. In fact, we have discussed background checks before on this show.…

OSHA says a post accident drug testing policy which deters and discourages employees from reporting a claim is illegal. In part 1, I introduced you to the 3 new provisions in OSHA’s recordkeeping rule that took effect on January 1, 2017. On this episode we’ll learn more details about the provision that prohibits you from retaliating against your employee for…

Penalties for violating the Fair Work Week law range from $500 to $2,500 per occurrence depending on severity. Back in 2016, Seattle passed their Secure Scheduling Law. This law actually takes effect on July 1, 2017. You can hear more about the Seattle Secure Scheduling Law by going to our website, www.smallbizbrainiac.com and pulling up episode…

OSHA calls this new power an “important new tool” to ensure employers maintain accurate records. Effective January 1, 2017, OSHA’s new Recordkeeping rule took effect. There are two main parts to the new rule. I told you about the Recording and Reporting part in episode 89 on December 6, 2016, but I didn’t cover the…

Davis Bacon Act – Just another stupid federal law with major unintended consequences like pricing out smaller contractors and taxpayers overpaying for services.  Today I wanted to discuss certified payroll and how it differs from your normal everyday payroll practices. First of all, what is meant by certified payroll? Generally speaking, certified payroll occurs whenever…