Workplace of Choice

Insight’s Economic Survey (conducted in Spring 2009) covered the state of the economy and its effect on small to mid-sized organizations. The results confirmed that organizations are continuing to recalibrate their business strategy during this recession.  The numbers indicate that sales are down (95% of respondents) and employees are worried about how the economic downturn will impact their jobs (70% of respondents). 

What is very promising is that even though the “numbers” are worrisome, the good that’s coming out of all the bad is that employers are using this uncertain time to greatly increase company communications.  A large majority (84% of respondents) are using department meetings and company-wide meetings to keep employees informed.  People just want to know what’s going on; while they may not like the “numbers”, if you keep them informed it shows an environment of honesty, openness and respect.  Does this mean the “company grapevine” has dried up?  Only time will tell, but in the meantime, communicate and connect with your employees. 

What is your company doing during these tough economic times to increase communication? 

The sun is shining, the weather is warm and summer is a perfect time to either begin or ‘ramp up' your company's wellness plans.  There are many employee benefits to implementing a wellness program including increase in employee productivity and employee morale.  If you don't have a "Wellness Plan" yet - fear not, wellness is a very subjective term - and any activity that promotes a healthier lifestyle qualifies.  Some easy to implement ideas for you to educate your employees in order to jump start their wellness plans include:

Exercise: Grab a few colleagues and go for a walk around the block, building, campus, etc. on your lunch hour; corral your family after dinner and go for an evening stroll around the neighborhood; play with your kids – remember, a quick game of basketball in the driveway or a bike ride counts as exercise too!

Nutrition: Although it’s hard to pass up all the ice cream flavors at the neighborhood stand, or the plethora of burgers on the grill, this is also a great time to indulge in fresh fruits and vegetables. If you act in moderation, you can have your cake and eat it too… or your grilled zucchini… or strawberries with or without shortcake.

Stress: Even though summer schedules might be busier than ever (yours and your family’s) summer is also a great time to SLOW DOWN – enjoy the extra innings of the ball game, watch the sunset, listen to the gulls over high tide, or hike through an interesting local field or wooded area.

Be mindful: Ticks, mosquitoes, and too much sun are the lurking hazards of this wonderful season so be careful to avoid or address their ills timely!

As you set out to educate your employees, keep in mind of the resources available.  Use your existing benefit plans, as many offer fitness, weight control and smoking cessation benefits. You might already be paying for these peripheral benefits, so you might as well maximize them - call your plan to find out!  Many communities also offer wellness programs and can provide valuable information.

We'll be donning coats again before we know it - ENJOY the summer while it's here!

The greatest asset of any organization is their people, but the job of managing our human resources is often forgotten and not a priority.  This may be due to cost, lack of resources and/or lack of knowledge.  Outsourcing, under the right circumstances, can often be an effective and cost efficient solution in such circumstances.  For companies where the cost of bringing Human Resources in-house is prohibitive, outsourcing offers an alternative allowing companies to have quality HR services without the expense.  Due to cost, often times companies don’t have any HR presence.  Operating without a quality Human Resources function exposes a company to risks with respect to employment law compliance and without any real HR strategy, can hinder the company’s growth.  Additionally outsourcing also allows companies to gain access to experts in the field of recruiting, coaching, training, compensation, compliance, employee relations and HR strategy.  These experts might otherwise not be available if the company was relying solely on their in-house department.
 
Take the case study of NOHR, Incorporated.  NOHR has been in business for 10 years and now employs 55 people in MA with a satellite office in CA with 6 employees.  For years, the CFO has been overseeing his assistant who is responsible for what might be labeled as the HR functions (benefits and payroll).  Performance Reviews are never done because there is no one championing the process, there is no employee handbook, no recruiting or onboarding process, compensation isn’t equalized through out the organization and when employee issues arise, the Manager takes action without guidance.  For years NOHR has struggled with whether they need an HR presence, but due to a lack of money and a real understanding of the impact of HR, they haven’t acted.  After a string of bad situations with terminating employees, they have hired an outsourced HR Manager.  In a short period of a time, the outsourced resource has been able to look over all the compliance issues and take care of a number of risk areas.  The outsourced HR Manager has also put together an Employee Handbook which eliminates many gray areas and answers questions for employees, such as PTO and workplace policies.  Additionally because NOHR decided to go with an outsourced solution instead of an in-house HR person, they also received the advantage of an expert in the area of compensation and another in recruiting.  These additional resources have been hard at work setting up procedures in their areas of specialty and have already added great value to the organization.  Outsourcing allowed NOHR to get all this for approximately 60% of the cost of if they had hired their own HR Director.

Outsourcing the HR function gives management the time and opportunity to focus on the business while the consultant concentrates on Human Resources.  With an outsourced solution this is achieved at a lower cost, with experts in the field and with efficiency and quality.   Tell us your experience with using an outsourced HR solution.