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Live Well Work Well February 2012
February 6th, 2012Lunch & Learn: How to Hire & Keep the Best People
January 23rd, 2012Small and Medium Sized Business Owners & Leaders in Central Iowa – Lend Me Thine Ears (and Stomach)
Topic: How to Hire & Keep the Best – Top Strategies for Winning the Talent Wars
Time-Date: January 31 – 1130AM-1PM
Location: DeWaay Capital Management Board Room – 13001 University Avenue, Clive, IA 50325
Capacity: 16 attendees – Lunch is provided so you’ll be focused and energized
Who Should Attend: Business owners and CEO’s of companies from 1-50 employees who “just can’t find qualified people today,” or who’ve conducted searches for months with zero success.
In this session, Doug Mitchell, CEO of PC Central will unpack 5 key hiring and retention strategies that will give you an edge in recruiting and retaining the best people for your business. Many companies complain of a talent shortage. At the same time amazing talent sits idle on the market lamenting a lack of jobs. Eliminating this disconnect is the focus of this session. We’ll spend 30 focused minutes in lively exploration leaving plenty of time for open QA and lunch is on us.
Doug has successfully hired, developed and mentored team members ranging from Millennials to Boomers and is CEO of PC Central in Urbandale.
About PC Central – PC Central delivers pain relief to business owners and CEO’s of companies with 1-50 employees. We deliver relief by promising to make you smarter, free you to succeed, and provide cloud computing services that just work like eletricity and plumbing.
About InFocus Partners – InFocus Partners is a Professional Employer Organization (PEO). We offer full-service Human Resource support. We specialize in Payroll, Employee Benefits, Human Resource Administration and Risk Management. We operate on the principles of flexibility, simplicity & savings.
Live Well Work Well
January 9th, 2012
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PTO
October 20th, 2011There is a fair bit of uncertainty and misunderstanding about Paid Time Off, from both management and employees alike. Employers ask questions like “can we require the use of PTO during slow periods?” and employees wonder “can my company limit when I want to use PTO?”
Generally, the rules (or lack thereof) relating to PTO favor the employer. There is nothing in the FLSA that requires employers to give any PTO, and employers can usually set their policies how they choose.
Management is free to determine periods of peak activity, during which employees may not use PTO. Likewise, management can mandate the use of PTO during slow periods or to reduce staff temporarily with furloughs.
There are some restrictions, however. Whatever the businesses policy, it must be applied consistently and non-discriminatorily. Employees must have a reasonable opportunity to use the time they’re given. (Unpaid ) leave protected by law, like FMLA, cannot be restricted by the company.
Whatever the employer decides, the best policy is one that is clearly communicated and evenly applied.
InFocus Partners is here to help our clients with Human resource policy creation and application.
InFocus Partners honored on the 5th Annual Inc 500|5000 List of Fastest-Growing Private Companies!
September 19th, 2011NEW YORK, NY August 23, 2011 — Inc. magazine today ranked InFocus Partners #1357 on its fifth annual Inc. 500|5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s 5000 fastest-growing private companies. The list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent entrepreneurs. InFocus Partners, a West Des Moines-based Human Resource service provider for small and medium sized businesses, joins Spirit Airlines, Vizio, Honest Tea, Dunkin Donuts, and other prominent brands on this year’s list.
In a stagnant economic environment, median growth rate of 2011 Inc. 500|5000 companies remains an impressive 94 percent. The companies on this year’s list report having created 350,000 jobs in the past three years, and aggregate revenue among the honorees reached $366 billion, up 14 percent from last year.
About InFocus Partners
InFocus Partners provides outsourced Human Resource solutions for small to medium-sized employers. Payroll Processing, Workers Comp, Employee Benefits, and HR Policy all come together to save business owners time and money, and reduce their liabilities.
About Inc. Magazine
Founded in 1979, Inc. is the only major business magazine dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies. With a total paid circulation of 710,106, Inc. provides hands-on tools and market-tested strategies for managing people, finances, sales, marketing, and technology.
Contact InFocus Partners:
Office: 515.223.2685
Charles Ganske, Director: cganske@infocus-partners.com
Matt Nuetzman, Director of Marketing and Sales: mnuetzman@infocus-partners.com
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Body Art, Tattoos, and Piercings in Workplace Policy
August 1st, 2011More people are choosing to have body art (tattoos) or body piercings (navel, nose, ear, tongue, etc.). In warmer months the change in clothing may make these choices more visible. Owners and managers are concerned about safety and image. They are uncertain what can be mandated or prohibited in terms of appearance. And they’re concerned about lawsuits from employees citing the “first amendment, freedom of expression”.
So, what can employer do? Well…
If an employee’s body piercing(s) or jewelry create a safety risk in the workplace (for instance, in a manufacturing setting with certain machinery) there is no question. The employee can be prohibited from wearing the risky adornment(s).
In a broader sense, the courts have ruled repeatedly that employers can dictate personal appearance, including policies prohibiting visible tattoos or body piercings. Employers have every right to enforce dress and appearance codes. The employee’s “freedom of expression” claims have mostly not held up in court.
However, the best lawsuit is one that never happens. And certain caveats apply to this issue. First of all, a clearly communicated, specific policy is best. Secondly, as with all HR policy, it is very important that the policies are applied evenly and consistently. Lastly, if the tattoos or piercings are relevant to a protected class (for instance, Race or Religion) the employee may, indeed, be exempt from the employer’s policies. In these instances the employer should contact legal counsel before any adverse action is taken.
In conclusion, employers can set codes for appearance in their businesses. However, it is always good to follow HR best practices.
For more HR assistance contact InFocus Partners.
The Origins of FLSA
July 11th, 2011The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is also known as the Wage and Hours Bill. This Federal Law was enacted by congress in 1938. FLSA was established to govern the United States workplace practices, including national minimum wage, premium overtime pay, payroll records, and child labor standards. According to the Unites States Department of Labor, these standards affect more than 130 million workers, full time and part time, in the private and public sectors. It applies to workers due to the company they work for, known as enterprise coverage, or the type of work they do, called individual coverage.
FLSA regulates the overtime to pay to employees. With the exception of specific categories of occupations such as executive, professional, administrative, or outside sales people, no employee is exempt from over time provisions of the FLSA. The general pay of over time is one and one half of the employee’s regular hourly rate for every hour past 40 hours in any given week.
Before the legislation that regulated the wages and hours employees were allowed to work, most employees would work very long days and excessive hours in a week for very little money. Some industries, such as manufacturing, employed children and treated them even worse. Sweatshops routinely employed women, children, and immigrants who had no choice but to accept the inferior wages and bad working conditions. Activists pushed for laws at the state level to pay all workers, regardless of social status or gender, wages that would allow them to maintain an adequate standard of living.
There have been several amendments to the FSLA since its beginning in 1938. For example, in 1961 the act was amended making coverage automatic for schools, hospitals, nursing homes, or other residential care facilities. Coverage is also automatic for all governmental entities at whatever level of government, no matter how big or small. In 1966 coverage was expanded to cover some farm and agricultural workers, thanks to the efforts of labor leaders such as Cesar Chavez.
Many other amendments have been made to the act since its inception. Continuously increasing the minimum wage due to increasing inflation and cost of living is one of the important functions of the FSLA.
We have come a long way from the days of sweatshops and 60 plus hour work weeks of the Great depression era. We owe our current good working conditions to those who suffered then and to those who made a stand to change things.
Protected Classes Where Discrimination is Illegal
July 6th, 2011In business, there are groups of people, based on certain characteristics, who must be treated equally with everyone else. Below is a list of “protected classes”, and the law on which the status was established. For more Human Resource assistance contact InFocus Partners at 515.223.2685.
- Race – Federal: Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1866
- Color – Federal: Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Religion – Federal: Civil Rights Act of 1964
- National origin – Federal: Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Age (40 and over) – Federal: Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
- Sex – Federal: Equal Pay Act of 1963 & Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Familial status (Housing, cannot discriminate for having children, exception for senior housing)
- Sexual orientation (in some jurisdictions and not in others)
- Gender identity (in some jurisdictions and not in others)
- Disability status – Federal: Vocational Rehabilitation and Other Rehabilitation Services of 1973 & Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
- Veteran status – Federal Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974
- Genetic information – Federal: Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act
2011 – A Changing Job Market
July 5th, 2011Fortune Magazine is reporting that major corporations are starting to return to college campuses for recruiting.
Bank of America Corp., for example, plans to offer jobs to 1,300 new graduates in 2011, and Microsoft Corp. will be aggressively hiring as well. In fact, planned job offers for recent graduates are up 19.3 percent from 2010.
What does this mean for small business? There are more job options for the best employees. Small employers need to recognize the very high cost of turnover (300% of annual compensation, according to SHRM) and take steps to improve retention.
InFocus Partners has tools and strategies for small businesses to compete with the large employers for the best employees!
The Value of Outsourcing Human Resources
June 21st, 2011Outsourcing has become increasingly popular in both large and small business in today’s marketplace. Human Resource outsourcing is the practice of using external partners to perform administrative tasks that are normally handled in-house. These tasks include the services that InFocus Partners specializes in: Payroll Processing, Workers Comp Administration, Employee Benefits, and HR Support.
The number one reason why companies outsource their Human Resource functions is to reduce costs. There are other important reasons why a business owner should consider outsourcing their HR:
- Increase production
- Focus on business and strategy
- Improve Accuracy in Filings and Reportings
- Reduce Labor Costs
- Access to more competitive benefit plans
- Legal Compliance
- Save time
