In 1960, Hayley Boling’s grandfather Dr. Richard Boling had a staff of five working at his Elkhart ophthalmology practice. His son, Dr. Richard Boling II, joined him in 1986, which moved the practice forward to two doctors and about 10 staff members. Due primarily to a major push in 2004, Boling Vision Center now employs 60 staff members and six doctors. The healthcare practice includes two locations in Indiana and an ambulatory surgery center.

“He stuck a shingle on the side of the building and thought patients would come, and we have been fortunate that we have had regular business ever since,” says Hayley Boling of her grandfather.

Hayley joined the team in 2009 as CEO after earning her MBA from Taylor University. Her grandfather and father had built a successful business out of caring for eyes, and Hayley has strengthened that success as a leader within Boling Vision Center.

Hayley met Mike Yoder, Servant HR’s CEO, during a post-graduate business class at Taylor University in 2008. During this year, she was wrapping up her studies and carrying out a hands-on orientation to become the CEO of Boling Vision Center. Her father developed the process, which called for Hayley to spend a few months in every single position in the practice.

“I spent time working alongside people, to see the value of our people and their challenges. I was also pinpointing vulnerabilities and strengths,” Hayley says. “It was important to see different elements of the practice and build credibility with other people in the practice.”

With a list of HR challenges that included a growing staff, plans for future expansion and policies that needed improving, Hayley reached out to Mike to see if Servant HR could help. A business’s human resources strategy should complement and support its goals. Boling Vision Center had lofty ones, and Servant HR has served as its trusted partner during some big changes.

“Servant HR helped us completely restructure our organizational chart. This was a huge undertaking for us,” Hayley says. The new chart is based on skill-set value versus longevity. “People were inappropriately placed, and Servant HR helped me as a new leader to identify who needed to be repositioned. And if there wasn’t a position conducive to their skill set, Servant HR helped me dismiss those individuals appropriately. It was a tough situation, and it was good to have a legal perspective and a second set of eyes to support my decisions.”

Servant HR also helps Hayley navigate advances and changes in human resources and is just an email or phone call away if a sticky legal question arises. Hayley says the HR team helps Boling Vision Center stay as professional as possible and play it safe. But business risks aren’t something Hayley avoids when they are worth taking.

“In the next five years, we would like to have four locations. Our next step is moving toward the South Bend marketplace. And we are excited to partner with that community,” she says. Boling Vision is already the preferred ophthalmologist for Notre Dame, so they have luck on their side.

By Leah Elms, Customer Service Representative

Tis the season for vacations. Whether they’re going on a spring break or a summer getaway, your employees will be planning and asking for time off. While there are many documented benefits to taking that break from work, it poses a few challenges for managers, as well. Here are some key areas that will assist you in navigating the curves on the road of PTO administration.

Know Your Policy

You need to be familiar with your company’s current protocol for acquiring vacation time as well as the spending of that time. There are many puzzle pieces to your company’s plan: mandated time off, accrual rates and caps, carry-over or use-it-or-lose-it, state mandates to pay out unused time and termination considerations — to name a few. Clear documentation and presentation of those policies to your staff help to prevent snags from the beginning. Companies may choose a traditional method such as specified amount of days as vacation days, sick days, and personal days. Others may use a combined PTO system; in essence, this is one large bucket which allows employees to use their time as they see fit. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages for both employer and employee. Both methods can be powerful recruiting and retention tools. If you have questions on which type is the best fit for your company, Servant HR is here to help you consider your options.

Manage Your Policy

Be sure you have clear, well-articulated guidelines for PTO use in place. Can you imagine if all your employees decided to take off the same week? What a nightmare! You need to think through how much notice will allow you to adequately fill the schedule in their absence. Requiring employees to request the time off in advance, with the exception of an emergency, alleviates this problem. An understanding of what constitutes an emergency must also be expressed. Does car trouble qualify? What about an attitude-adjustment day? How ill does a family member have to be? There will be instances when two employees request the same days off and there needs to be consideration for seniority, previous days off or the reason for the request.  Consistent managing and administration of your guidelines will play a key role in the overall satisfaction of your staff and their perception of your company’s plan.

Encourage Your Policy

Don’t let all these details scare you from encouraging your employees to take their well-deserved time off. Many studies show overworked employees are less productive and more prone to stress, exhaustion and illness. Clearly, both you and your co-workers benefit from a little rest and relaxation. Ensuring that it’s relaxing for all parties involved just takes some well-designed, managed policies.

So, take the time to evaluate your current plan. If it comes up lacking, the experts at Servant HR can assist you in implementing a policy that suits your company culture and then — go take a vacation!

Jayne Blazier is staff accountant at Servant HR, providing accounting and bookkeeping functions for us and our clients. She is also a mother of two grown children and has four grandchildren, ages 2-9. You might not know Jayne because her role typically takes place behind the scenes. One of her major responsibilities is making sure clients’ payroll taxes are paid on time and correctly. In this Q-&-A, we asked Jayne to come out from behind the curtain and tell us a little about herself.

Many people dread tax season. What’s your take on it and how do you approach it with a positive attitude?

Since I work for business clients opposed to individuals, my tax season is technically over by the end of January or beginning of February. But I understand the stress individuals feel around this time. It just happens two months sooner for me. My strategy is to prepare as much as possible ahead of time by double checking things and making sure we have done what we can to stay on task and get everything done on time.

If you could change one thing about tax season for Servant HR, what would it be?

I would have every state report taxes the same way. We file everything electronically, but every state has different ways that they want forms to be filed. To make one simple payment, a new process often presents itself. I would love to have some consistency.

What are your tax-season words to live by for business owners or HR managers?

Make sure you’re prepared and know what you’re doing. If you aren’t prepared and sure, the repercussions can be ugly.

What kinds of challenges do you enjoy at Servant HR?

One somewhat challenging thing is balancing bank statements without incident. This may sound corny, but every time I have a reconciliation issue, it is challenging and rewarding to find the answer. I’m a numbers person. I enjoy figuring out why something is off $10 or $1,000.

What do you enjoy most about working at Servant HR?

Even though I don’t personally interact with our clients as much as other members of our staff do, the closeness of our culture and team allows me to serve our clients. This is uncommon in many corporate settings. Our clients just know that their taxes, insurance invoices and 401k contributions are being taken care of. It’s out of sight, out of mind.

By Mike Yoder, CEO 

Since 2008, Fishers and Hamilton County, Indiana, have accepted dozens of accolades for being exceptional. Among the list are the following:

• #1 Top 10 Cities for Families in U.S. – The Learning Channel (TLC)
• Healthiest County in Indiana – Community Health Network
• Top 100 Best Places to Live in America (#8 Ranking) – Money Magazine
• #11 Best Place to Move in the Country – Forbes
• Best Place to Raise a Family – Hamilton County (#1 Ranking) – Forbes

Jeff Leffew, our founder and president, chose to plant Servant HR’s roots in Fishers because this is where he lives and is raising his family. He wanted his business to be a part of this booming community on the edge of Indianapolis. We see this kind of attitude a lot in Hamilton County. Employers and employees want their work lives and their personal lives to complement one another. A strong work life in which you are happy, well compensated and appreciated, for example, will have an effect on the quality of your life outside of the office.

Many of the elements that go into making a business an exceptional place to work fall under the area of human resources. It is our job at Servant HR to help employers set themselves up to be a positive part of their employees’ lives. This kind of positivity can benefit families and even entire communities. Empowering employers to be a positive force in their communities is an exciting part of our work.

Becoming an exceptional place to work

Many of our 60 clients ask how can they can be “best in class.” They want to know how they can become an “employer of choice.” First, employers must care more for the positive impact of such efforts on employees than they do about receiving a fancy accolade. Business leaders must have a desire to create a culture of not only financial success but also a place of stability based on more consistent employment, longer tenures and low turnover. An exceptional business is one that builds a culture of relationships and loyalty.

When Servant HR is evaluating a company’s culture, we evaluate a lot of areas, including policies and procedures, benefits, management and employee training and talent development. These are the types of things that would indicate if a company is stable and growing. If we find that an area is weak, we help the employer develop that area through our HR Coaching and Counseling.

Health care and benefits’ role

A reasonably robust benefits package can help a company attract and retain the right kind of people for its culture, taking one giant leap forward to becoming a great place to work.  As we can see from our federal government’s move into universal health care, the issue of benefits is a huge one, both locally and nationally. As a full-service benefits broker, Servant HR helps employers attract and retain employees, while being cognizant of how much more expensive health care has become. An approach to benefits should be holistic, using creativity to establish diverse benefits packages as well as more traditional health plans and 401k plans to support both short-term and long-term benefits.

One of the best ways to deal with the rising cost of health care is to help educate our clients on different options including consumer-driven health care offerings. Employees should understand the types of benefits they have, how to get preventive care when it is needed and how to participate in wellness programs if they are interested in them. For an increasing number of employers, health saving accounts are becoming an important part of their packages. This type of account helps employees make smart choices for their health and budgets.

Partnering with strong businesses

Fishers and the Indianapolis area is a great place to do business. One of the biggest advantages for Servant HR is that our focus is on small and medium-sized businesses that want to have the freedom to focus on revenue-generating activities and their core strengths. We can serve these businesses as their HR partners, helping them move toward becoming exceptional places to work. These types of businesses have found great success in Hamilton County.  We like being where we live and where smaller businesses thrive. It’s a great fit for who we are at Servant HR.

If you have questions about the path to becoming an exceptional employer, please contact Servant HR at 317-585-1688 or email info@servanthr.com. 

(Photo above by Jennifer Driscoll, courtesy of Town of Fishers.)

By Mike Yoder, CEO of Servant HR

Many employers may overlook the necessity of workers’ compensation believing it does not pertain to them or their company. But consider these two rather bizarre claims:

• An employee was proving that he could carry an air compressor and strained his back.
• An employee tripped over a dog and injured herself while meeting with a customer in the customer’s home.

Yes, you may have guessed it, these claims were found in court to be compensable. At Servant HR, we receive frequent questions regarding workers’ comp, such as:

• Why am I required to have coverage?
• Why do I have to pay when no one ever gets hurt on the job?
• Why do particular employees cost so much, despite having reasonably “safe” jobs?
• Shouldn’t health insurance cover any injuries?
• Does workers’ comp really have to pay if it is clearly the fault of a negligible employee?

By definition, workers’ compensation is an alternate way for employees to recover costs for work-related injuries, rather than suing their employers. Workers’ compensation includes an “exclusive remedy” component, meaning if an employee gets hurt at work, his bills and typically his lost wages, are paid. However, exclusive remedy also ensures that the employee can’t file a lawsuit against the employer, in most situations. It’s an exchange of rights and benefits for both the employee and employer. The workers’ comp system provides employees with the security of knowing they can recover for work-related injuries without the complexity and uncertainty of a lawsuit.

Workers’ comp can be thought of as an insurance policy for your company. Just like home owners and life insurance, you are required to regularly pay, even if you never have to use it. The rates are determined from the statistics and probability of an accident or hazardous situation for a particular occupation.

If a claim is made by an employee, a workers’ compensation insurer generally reviews the case and verifies any issues. As the exclusive remedy, any injury happening in the workplace is generally covered, even if an employee is negligent. However, an employer may choose to dispute a claim, for example, if he believes an injury is not related to work or is being put-on. Regardless, it is generally in the best interest of the employer to get the employee back to work even on limited duty, rather than being paid lost wages from the policy.

For answers to your workers’ compensation questions or to find out more about how Servant HR can help with all of your HR needs, please contact us today.

By Leah Elms, Customer Service Representative

A Gallup poll based on over 30 years of research and more than 17 million employees shows “engaged employees are more productive, more profitable, more customer-focused, safer and more likely to withstand temptations to leave.” But how do employers actively engage their employees? Servant HR helps our clients answer these tough questions. We challenge the same-old-same-old thinking to meet the demands of today’s marketplace. Get your creative juices flowing by reading how we recently partnered with client Cornerstone Autism Center to implement a new way of interacting with its employees.

Company Profile: Cornerstone Autism Center improves the lives of children who struggle with autism, those who love them and those who provide therapy. Cornerstone offers caring, encouraging one-on-one treatment, resources to carry progress into family homes and daily life, and professional rewards for staff who serve. Cornerstone seeks to create a long-term resource for those affected by autism to thrive and succeed. The business has been a client of Servant HR since July 2010.

Engagement Challenge: The leaders of Cornerstone understand the importance of employee engagement. To grow and develop theirs, they asked us to successfully launch their entire new year in one business day. Success meant not only introducing and explaining HR initiatives, policies, handbook changes, goals and the company vision, but it also meant having a great time and communicating how integral each member was to the team. We began the planning by discussing what Cornerstone desired to accomplish both in tangible goals and the overall impression of the day. Filtering the schedule through the lens of engaging the employee was paramount its success.

While Cornerstone could sit employees in a room and hammer through our list of information, that would only reach one of its goals. If the business failed to engage its employees while communicating the details, the likelihood of them integrating these new concepts was slim. Cornerstone wanted the employees to know they were working for an organization that genuinely cared about them. This in turn, would make them passionate about their company and its goals.

Action: With this in mind, Servant HR worked with the Cornerstone leadership team to design the Make It Happen event. It began with hot drinks, pastries and fruit. We greeted the employees with a mixer game to allow them to get to know each other better in a fun way. Slideshows highlighted the progress of the past year — both in the physical changes of their locations and the amazing changes in families’ lives they had influenced.

The nuts and bolts of handbook changes were more palatable over chocolate fountains and fixings (a “Hershey’s Handbook”). Sitting through the new policies and procedures was more tolerable when employees knew there were two massage therapists waiting for them upstairs. Though we didn’t dole out shoulder rubs, members of our team at Servant HR were on hand to answer questions or just give a face to the address or voice that Cornerstone’s employees often read in email messages or hear on the phone.

Cornerstone also wanted this day to be a time of recognition. A survey sent out the week prior to the event asked employees to nominate a colleague who best exemplified the company mission statement. These nominations were tallied and the employees were recognized in front of their peers by the Cornerstone leadership team. Throughout the Make It Happen day, good food, fun, relationship-building, valuable insight and information were interspersed to create an all-around great time. Hors d’oeuvres and karaoke capped off the event.

Value: Following the Make It Happen event, every Cornerstone employee expressed appreciation to the company’s leadership team for being a part of this innovative company. Employees walked away from the day recharged and excited to be part of this amazing team. The event served as a valuable tool in Cornerstone’s efforts to support its tradition of successful employee retention and internal culture. Such engagement encourages employees to be more passionate about their personal responsibilities as well as the company’s overall goals and values. From the Servant HR perspective, we know that many Cornerstone employees are now more comfortable calling us to ask questions or discuss problems since they have met us in person.

Did this “event” take work and planning? Absolutely! Was it worth it? Without a doubt! (We have not even addressed the negative impact a disengaged employee has on your company. Give us a call and we’ll explain.) Cornerstone’s leadership team is already discussing plans for this fall’s Make It Happen event.

Your Employee Engagement: Has this case study raised some questions in your mind? What is the employee experience in your company? Do you know how to gauge this within your company? What strategies do you have in place to encourage healthy, engaged employees? Are you ready to begin implementing steps to improve it? Servant HR is ready to come alongside you to make your company the very best organization it can be. Contact us to get started.

Photo credit: Cornerstone Autism Center 

Mike Yoder, CEO of Servant HR, understands that great people are the key to a successful business. His favorite part of working at Servant HR is helping to develop real relationships between the employees and management of his client companies. He appreciates the opportunity to get to know each of his clients, so he was happy to sit down for a Q&A so that you can learn more about him.

How has your previous work influenced your work at Servant HR?

“My work in the legal field was in the area of labor and employment relations law. How do you develop employees? How do you grow employees? How do you discipline employees? How do you terminate employees? And it was a great experience. But I realized from that, as opposed to dealing with employee issues after somebody has sued you or raised a complaint, I preferred coaching and counseling where I could get on the front end of it. I love being able to coach managers, coach business owners to try and avoid those problems by making their company a good, fair and safe place to work.”

What is one thing that you wish everyone understood about human resources?

“It is viewing employees as your most important resource over equipment, over technology, over anything. One of the biggest things an employer can do is seek to grow and develop his employees. If I develop an employee, rather than discipline them and fire them, I am making progress, rather than this constant churning and turnover that occur.”

What career could you see yourself in, if you did not work at Servant HR?

“Probably teaching, whether a college professor in history or in human resources.”

That’s funny; you would teach human resources if you didn’t work in it?

“Well, I think there are aspects of teaching that are as rewarding as what I do now, but I would want to teach something I am good at.”

What was your favorite part of the holiday and what do you have planned for the New Year?

“Actually over Christmas, my parents celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary. So my whole family headed off to take a vacation together to celebrate their 50 years together. My eldest son now has his driver’s license and my middle is a competitive gymnast, so we tend to follow him around the country to watch him compete. And I have a 7-year-old daughter who controls the house. So anything we can do to just spend time as a family is a blessing.”

Mike is clearly eager to assist your company with all of its HR needs. To reach him or the rest of the team at Servant HR, please call 317-585-1688.

By Mike Yoder, Chief Executive Officer

Baseball fans know that Jackie Robinson was No. 42 for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Here in Indiana, we know who No. 18 is. Forty-seven means something to Star Trek fans, and 4 8 15 16 23 42 is important to Lost viewers. Paper, literature or fire aficionados know to what 451 refers. And 3.14 means something to you if you paid attention during high school geometry class. But what do 15, 20, 50, 55.5, 3,100, 6,250, 17,000 and 110,100 mean? In the HR and benefits world, these are good things to know as we enter 2012. Take this multiple choice quiz to test your HR intellect. (Answers appear at end of quiz.)

1. The new annual 401k or 403b maximum contributions.

a. 15   b. 20   c. 50    d. 55.5  e. 3,100 and 6,250   f. 17,000   g. 110,100

2. The number of employees needed for Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act and many other federal laws to come into play.

a. 15    b. 20    c. 50    d. 55.5    e. 3,100 and 6,250    f. 17,000    g. 110,100

3. The number of cents that the IRS suggests as the standard business mileage reimbursement rate.

a. 15    b. 20    c. 50    d. 55.5    e. 3,100 and 6,250    f. 17,000    g. 110,100

4. The new maximum taxable earnings for Social Security in 2012.

a. 15    b. 20    c. 50    d. 55.5    e. 3,100 and 6,250    f. 17,000    g. 110,100

5. The number of employees required in a 75-mile radius for the Family Medical Leave Act to apply to an employer.

a. 15    b. 20    c. 50    d. 55.5    e. 3,100 and 6,250    f. 17,000    g. 110,100

6. The new annual Health Savings Account contribution maximums.

a. 15    b. 20    c. 50    d. 55.5    e. 3,100 and 6,250    f. 17,000    g. 110,100

7. The number of employees needed for the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and COBRA to come into play.

a. 15    b. 20    c. 50    d. 55.5    e. 3,100 and 6,250    f. 17,000    g. 110,100

These numbers change, so it is always a good idea when you are turning your calendar to make a note of the new numbers. Happy New Year and happy counting!

Answer Key

1. f. (This number is up from 16,500 in 2011.), 2. a., 3. d., 4. g. (This number is up from 106,800 in 2011.), 5. c., 6. e. (This number is up from 3,050 and 6,150 in 2011.), 7. b.

By Mike Yoder, Chief Executive Officer

With the summer’s heat still in our memory, it may be hard to think about year-end and what that means. For business leaders, it definitely means annual budgets, employee performance reviews, merit increase analyses and W2s.  Are you ready for the year-end?

Many employers do not have updated processes and forms that help with year-end compliance with state and federal expectations.  Many people who have processes and forms take for granted that the management team knows how to conduct reviews, provide feedback and make smart decisions.

To help ensure your team is on top of its year-end game, ask yourself some questions. Does your staff analyze the potential disparate impact of their decisions?  Do the annual reviews really reflect reality? You might discover that your management team needs a business owner’s active leadership and formalized training to reduce risk and improve performance.  This is the time of year to make sure you are ready.

If you aren’t ready, the repercussions can hurt. If an employer fails to have consistent and compliant year-end processes, it fails to mitigate multiple risks including fines, taxes and potential lawsuits. Servant HR provides consistent communication with its clients to help ensure proper preparation is being executed and compliance is met.

One common year-end responsibility is W2 form filing. Rest assured that Servant HR is in touch with applicable payroll personnel to be sure employers have completed forms in the hands of those who need them when they need them. Our multifaceted relationship with clients enables us to recognize who needs this type of attention.

If you have any questions about your year-end readiness, please contact us.

By Jeff C. Leffew, Founder and President

In the business world, what is focus? Is it important? Does better focus result in more success? Maybe you have asked yourself these same questions and have come to the same conclusions as I, or maybe it means something entirely different to you. Regardless of what “focus” you need to gain in your life, realize that the only way you will find it, is if you’re intentional about finding it.

As a perfectionist personality type, aka “anal-retentive,” sometimes I get caught up in trying to control every aspect of my business. Of course, this is not possible in today’s business climate. (Certainly not if you want to have more than just a self-made job!) Therefore, I realized that I need to gain more focus. I decided that I need to get rid of, or outsource my non-core, yet essential, operational functions.

This journey to excellence and better focus began with getting an outsourced or part-time controller. Thanks to Tim Garrison and his team at The Controllership Group, we have a second -to-none financial structure that we would have never gained on our own — not without an immense amount of stress and distraction from our core focus. Our next move was to outsource our marketing to Raquel Richardson and her team at Silver Square. These folks live and breathe marketing; not me, we are HR people! Let the experts shine, pay them what their worth and then capitalize on your newfound focus to capture more market share in your industry.

What are you focusing on? Certainly, the result of more focus can be more time, time to work on that “wish list” set of projects that seems to always elude you, but could have the potential to revolutionize your company for the future. More focus could mean you have the opportunity to be more intentional about what you do in your work — you know, having more days you control than they control you! Focus may mean a clearer mission and vision for your staff to embrace. Or, it can mean a clearer picture for your client prospects as they try to better understand what makes you distinctive in the marketplace. And for many, better focus might mean more time at home enjoying the truly important things in life, things we will be remembered for long after our businesses have disappeared.

At Servant HR, our tagline is “Creating Freedom to Focus.” We create this freedom by becoming a full-service outsourced human resource department for small to mid-sized companies. What we do is not rocket science, but it is essential and can yank you off the success ladder if not done right. The freedom we hope to create beyond just helping eliminate HR administration headaches is great. We free our clients from the off-the-charts stress that comes with limitless business risk. We gladly share some of that risk.

The freedom to focus concept understands that different people will value this in different ways. Some of our clients came to us because they wanted a single-source organization to manage all HR administration — eliminating their need to deal with the hassle of multiple vendors. Others were dealing with a specific need such as payroll or employee document management and now they enjoy a full-service solution. Still others bought HR administration and stay because of our HR coaching and counseling. Imagine if you had skilled HR people that understand entrepreneurship and the struggles of business, coaching you on how best to coach your staff to success, without paying extra! Many have told us that this is freedom to focus. Be sure you’re focusing on your top priorities. It’s the only way to grow.