by Mike Yoder | General
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
by Mike Yoder | General
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 50th 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 | General
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 | General
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 Leffew | Business Strategy, General
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.
by Mike Yoder | General
By Michael Yoder, Chief Executive Officer
Once a year? Once a quarter? Once a month? How often do we as employers have to do certain tasks to stay compliant with Federal and State laws? It seems like we have to do it, as The Beatles suggested, “Eight Days a Week!”
How about the time frame of every 20 days? Does that ring a bell? While there are many different compliance tasks, one that is often overlooked by employers is the requirement to report new hires electronically at a minimum of every 20 days. In 1996, Congress enacted a law called the “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act,” or PRWORA, as part of Welfare Reform. This legislation created the requirement for employers in all 50 states to report their new hires and re-hires to a state directory.
New-hire reporting speeds up the child-support income withholding order process, expedites collection of child support from parents who change jobs frequently, and quickly locates non-custodial parents to help in establishing paternity and child support orders. New-hire reporting helps children receive the support they deserve.
I think we can all agree this is a worthy purpose – but it exhibits the uncertainty of responsibilities and timing for corporate compliance. I just finished the latest cycle of these reports for all of my clients. Compliance is “Fun, Fun, Fun.” Oh wait – that was the Beach Boys.
