Partnerships with insurance brokers can sometimes expose small business owners to terminology they’ve not heard before. In this blog, we’ll be sharing some of the most common business insurance terms, together with a brief introduction to what they refer to, so you can be better equipped going into your next meeting with your business insurance broker. Mod: Your company’s experience modification rating (EMR) is sometimes referred to as a mod. This value will tell you how y

It is imperative that all employers provide a productive work environment that is free from discrimination. Discrimination refers to employment decisions that are motivated by a protected characteristic. Employment decisions may include, for example: hiring, firing, transferring, promoting, demoting, benefits, compensation, and other conditions of employment. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it u

In recent years, there’s been increased attention on the importance of a best-in-class Customer Experience (CX). According to Zandesk’s 2022 CX Trends Report, 61% of respondents would switch to a competitor after just one bad interaction or experience with a company. Yet, many leadership teams and managers struggle to assess the value and success of their customer service. Luckily, with the help of a few key metrics, employers can create actionable plans to improve the qual

Whatever you want to call it, companies across the country are faced with a dilemma. How can they attract, hire, and retain employees? In February 2021, Anthony Klotz, a management professor at Texas A&M University, started using the term Great Resignation to describe the large numbers of people quitting their jobs. In April 2021, close to 4 million Americans had quit their job. This trend has not stopped. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey reported that in the eight

Fitness classes. Nutrition challenges. Team building exercises. All of these are great examples of workplace wellness programs designed to help support both the physical and mental wellbeing of employees. Effective wellness programs not only help employees, but they also improve engagement, increase overall productivity, and can help with recruitment and retention efforts. But there is a new wellness challenge for today’s employers. FlexJobs reports that that remote work has

With summer quickly approaching, there is an increased risk of heat illness for employees who are exposed to working conditions in high temperatures. Heat illness refers to any serious ailment caused by too much heat. This includes heat exhaustion, cramps, and heat strokes. Both employers and employees need to be (a) aware of the dangers and early signs of heat illness, (b) knowledgeable about how to prevent it, (c) aware of helpful OSHA tools, and (d) prepared to take action

The competition for employees is at an all-time high, making employee retention a priority for all small and mid-sized business owners. As a business owner or member of an executive team, you’ve spent a lot of time hiring and training your staff; but have you spent enough time proactively creating a strong and positive culture that results in an engaged workforce with high retention rates? Three actions that are needed to create an engaged workforce are: Hire, Train, and Re

When it comes to employee performance reviews, even the most prepared managers can succumb to certain pitfalls. These mistakes can potentially lead to lower employee morale and engagement and the next thing you know, you are looking for a replacement. This is time-consuming and costly anytime, but with the Great Reshuffle and the intense competition for talent, it becomes even more important to nurture the employees you have, and effective performance reviews can help. So, to

Now that the darkest days of the pandemic are behind us, business owners may finally feel like they can breathe again. That’s not to say that the pandemic didn’t create lasting changes to how we conduct and manage business. One of the biggest changes was the rise in distributed teams: employees working remotely in different physical locations versus a common workplace. Distributed workforces rely upon virtual communication and collaboration to replace in-person interactions

What would happen to your business if a key member of your staff announced their retirement or resignation? Do you have a succession plan in place? An important part of managing risk and running a resilient business is being prepared for critical roles becoming vacant. A study done by the Corporate Leadership Council reveals that 76% of companies are less than confident in their ability to fill vacancies in leadership roles in the next 3-5 years. Succession planning is the

We are constantly told that employee engagement is critical to a company’s overall success but it seems that many companies still struggle with providing a workplace environment to support that. A recent Gallup survey suggested that more than 80% of people are not engaged at their jobs. According to The Engagement Institute this lost productivity from disengaged employees costs the country up to $550 billion each year. Given that people in the U.S. spend more time than ever a

Meetings are an inescapable and almost daily occurrence for most employees. Most of us cannot imagine work without them. However, many people complain that meetings can be time-wasters. In fact, 71 percent of senior managers surveyed across a variety of industries said they were unproductive and inefficient. However, meetings should be a tool used to strategize in order to advance company goals. So why are so many meetings missing the mark? The simple answer may be that we ha

What has the greatest impact on employee engagement? Salary? Benefits? Perks? Free snacks in the break-room? Nope, it’s managers. According to a Gallup report, “The State of the American Manager,” the difference between a bad manager and a good manager can account for 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores. That same study reports that 1 in 2 employees has left a job to get away from a bad manager. When you look at the data, it becomes apparent that a key element t

A study by Intuit, a financial software company, has predicted that by 2020 nearly 40% of American workers will be independent contractors. The gig economy is growing and people are more willing to take on short-term, temporary employment. There are both benefits and challenges to employers who hire “gig workers”. Some of the benefits that employers may find: Flexibility: Hiring contract workers to take on individual projects allows your company to be lean and agile. The hir

It is always unfortunate news when you learn that an employee you know and work with has been diagnosed with a serious illness. Americans are now facing a real world health crisis. For example, in 2017, almost 50% of deaths in the US were attributed to heart disease and cancer. So what do you do when you find out someone you work with has been affected by one of these or any other serious illness? Our first instinct is to want to help the person in a kind and compassionate ma

Employee management is often used as a catch-all term for anything that has to do with training, skill building, or career development. But each of these three aspects of employee management needs to be looked at individually and the method used changes based on the desired end goals. Managing: When people think training, managing is what they really might mean. There are jobs and tasks that need to be completed to keep a business running. When managing people to complete th

Romjul. Have you heard of it? It’s not the latest new frustrating piece of furniture to assemble from Ikea. It is the Norwegian custom of taking the week between Christmas and New Year’s off from work. A time to unplug, reconnect with family and friends, and take some downtime. In business, some call this the “missing week” and you’ll find arguments on why it can be beneficial to take this time to work. However, in the interest of work/life balance, the Norwegians may be doin

GlobalWorkPlaceAnalytics.com recently published research that shows more than 80% of the US workforce would like to be able to work remotely at least part of the time. The remote workforce is growing. In recent blogs we asked the question “Can Remote Workers Benefit Your Business?” and helped provide some guidance on “Finding Rockstar Remote Employees”. In today’s blog, we will talk about managing remote workers and the responsibility a company has to those workers. Being an

It is hard to turn on the news and not feel concerned. It is an unfortunate fact of life that disasters and tragedies happen. Sometimes we have warning, like the recent hurricanes that have hit much of the country. Even though we knew they were coming, we still can’t always prepare ourselves for the aftermath of these natural disasters. Sometimes tragedy strikes when we least expect it and in places where we feel it shouldn’t. Ordinary people, doing ordinary things are hurt

If you’re a small business owner, you know your largest expense is your workforce. But behind that number are the individuals that make up your workforce. And to get the best bang for your buck, you not only need to attract super-star talent...you need to retain them. It’s hard to pin down a figure on how much of a financial hit your company takes when you lose a valued employee. SHRM (The Society for Human Resource Management) estimates you are losing between 6-9 months of t