This Will Hurt Me More Than It Hurts You…

When I was a kid and I got into trouble, I would hear my dad say, “This is going to hurt me more than it does you.” and from my perspective, that was never the case.  Many people who are currently losing their jobs because of our economic struggles, are hearing similar statements from their employers.  Terms like layoff, down size or restructure are not the words you want to hear after years of dedicated service.  No matter how they say it, you are now unemployed and wondering what to do next.  I believe that companies have a responsibility, even a moral obligation to do something to assist the loyal employees during this very tough and unexpected transition. There are outplacement companies specifically designed to help minimize the impact of this unpleasant circumstance.  One of the best locally recognized outplacement companies is Texas Career Solutions. (no affiliation with Texas LoneStar Staffing) 

Why would a company ever consider using an outplacement company?  Click the picture below and scroll to page 11 to find out!

 

CASH FLOW…STOPPING THE LEAKS

There’s something you can never afford to forget when you are running a business — cash is king! Simply put, cash flow is the money flowing in and out of your business. If your business takes in less money than it spends to produce and sell goods, it suffers from poor cash flow.  Whether your business is a multi-billion dollar empire, such as Bill Gates’, or a tiny mom-and-pop convenience store on the street corner, you have to realize that cash flow is the lifeblood of your business.  In my dealings with small businesses, I have found that so many are concentrating so hard on their actual business practices, whether it is installing sprinkler systems or selling customized promotional items, they are overlooking the intricacies of the financial side of their business.  Small businesses that have limited financial training or are procrastinating on working on their books are having problems staying alive.  Did you know that 63% of new businesses don’t survive six years — and many work-at-home people fail within 6 months!  The primary reason is bad cash management. So the big question is: How do you manage your cash flow effectively? 

 

To read some easy tips I found when doing research on the subject, click on the image below and scroll to page 11. 

Keeping It Local

The May, 2010 issue of the Lewisville/Flower Mound Business Journal is out and we are on the front page again.  YAY!!!  This month’s article focuses on the subject of the advantages to all of us for keeping our spending local to our community.  Here are the bullet points that make up the article.

•  Shopping locally stimulates your community’s economy. 
• Keeping it local boosts the community’s economy through employment opportunities.
• Local business owners are more likely to invest in the communities where they do business. 
• Local businesses help build strong communities and neighborhoods, linking citizens and nurturing local causes.
• Shopping at local stores or restaurants makes them a destination for socializing.
• The customer service at a locally owned business is outstanding.
• Shopping locally keeps non-chain shops thriving and it helps them maintain their uniqueness and authenticity. 

 

Click on the picture below to read the entire article and learn all of the advantages your community gains when we keep it local.

 

When you, as a consumer, buy locally it allows local entrepreneurs to stay in business while investing back into their own community; YOUR COMMUNITY.  Wouldn’t you prefer that the tax dollars you spend, be used to improve the community where you live?

Getting Paid To Hire The Unemployed?

The April 2010 issue of the Lewsville/Flower Mound Business Journal is out and guess what??!!  Our article made the front page!!  WooHoo!!!  This month’s article talks about the different federal and state tax incentives that businesses can receive simply by hiring individuals who are currently unemployed or are working only part time.  Here are a couple of small excerpts from the article.

Two new federal tax benefits are now available to employers hiring workers who were previously unemployed or only working part time. These provisions are part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act.  President Obama signed this bill on March 18, 2010.

The recruiting process can be time consuming and complicated if done correctly.  It is much more than simply running an ad and hiring someone to fill an open position.  Imagine having two qualified candidates, and all qualifications being equal, one may actually be a better selection based on available tax credits to your business.  Check with your tax accountant to find out about more detailed info on all these possible tax credits.  Let’s put America back to work and earn tax advantages in the process.

Click on the picture below to read the entire article and find out how your company can take advantage of these tax incentives.

When Training Stops…So Does Growth!

The March 2010 issue of the Lewisville/Flower Mound Business Journal has hit the mail.  Check out our column, The Insiders View, on page 8 and read about why businesses should invest in employee training on a continual basis.  Below is a sample of this month’s article.

Why Train?  Simple…your people are your most important asset. The most successful companies know that staff training is a long-term investment.  And investing in skills and training is one of the better investments you can make. Constant training must take place and it must include all levels of employees, from new hire training to upper management.

Surveys repeatedly show that, generally, employees value training:  Both technical training to keep current in the industry and training in other areas that will build their personal (soft) skills and open up opportunities for advancement and promotions.  This leads to a motivated staff that is more productive and better at their jobs, which translates to positive results for your business.  Businesses that make investments in their people typically have lower employee turnover.  This can be directly associated to higher customer satisfaction, which in turn can be translated into higher profitability. 

Click on the picture below and scroll to page 8 to read the entire article and find out why ongoing training is essential to the success of your business.

Can I Ask An Applicant That?

The January issue of the Lewisville/Flower Mound Business Journal has hit the stands.  Our column, The Insiders View can be found on page 8.  This month’s article focuses on questions that cannot be legally asked on an application or during an interview.  Avoid the possible risk of a lawsuit by learning what can be legally asked.

Below is a sample of this month’s article.

The objective of an interview is to gather relevant information.  Interviewing is not simply asking questions though.  It requires a great deal of preparation and pre-planning.  It also requires a great deal of knowledge about federal labor and discrimination laws.  Without proper training, an interview could cost you a lot of time and money in court. 

To see some samples of questions that you CANNOT LEGALLY ask an applicant and suggestions of alternate, yet legal ways to ask some questions, click on the graphic below and scroll to page 8.   

Many believe that behavioral interviewing is a great indicator for future success.  Watch for February’s column entitled “Behavioral Interviewing Tips.”

Are You My Employee? The 1099 Contractor Debate

Texas LoneStar Staffing is proud to announce that we are now a monthly contributing columnist in the Lewisville/Flower Mound Business Journal.  Look for the column called The Insiders View.  Each month we will write an article that might be of interest to hiring managers. 

Below is a snippet of our December article.

As the economy is making its slow turn around, we in the staffing industry are seeing a trend.  We are getting many job orders from businesses wanting to hire individuals as 1099 contractors.  But do you know the rules and regulations for doing this?  It is critical that you, the business owner, correctly determine whether the individuals providing services are employees or independent contractors.

 

Play it safe!!  It is very important for small businesses to understand the employee vs. independent contractor requirements. If you are in doubt as to how to classify a worker, always classify them as an employee.  Correctly classifying workers BEFORE they perform services can save your business confusion, hassles, and possible fines. 

Watch for next month’s article entitled “Can I Ask An Applicant That?”

 

If you wish to read the whole article, please click on the picture below and go to page 8.

Company Loyalty: Dead or Dying?

Organizational focus has been in survival mode through this tough economic downturn.  The employees and leaders have been constantly stressed over possible job loss and feeling excessive anxiety.  And, of those employees and leaders who were not let go, they were expected to accomplish much more work with less support resources. 

According to most surveys, a lack of appreciation is the #2 reason why employees leave for other opportunities.  The #1 reason is most often associated with lack of advancement.  Money is usually in the top five but not ever the top reason why employees leave. 

Most companies forgot to “appreciate” these loyal employees through this recession.  But guess what?  The downturn is now at a temporary truce and the real battle is about to begin as the economy recovers.  And these companies are at risk of losing their top talent! 

Why?  There is going to be a tremendous desire for new opportunities and advancement among the high-potential leaders.  Only 10% of these people lost their jobs during the recession.  Less than the normal amount of these individuals got raises, some took pay-cuts and almost all were assigned many more responsibilities and worked longer hours due to the reduction in the workforce.  But, because of the work conditions and expectations during the down times, now these employees feel NO LOYALTY to their current employers.  So the minute they feel it is safe, these top employees and leaders will probably flock to other opportunities. 

What’s the Silver Lining for Companies?

 

Although the above paragraphs paint a bleak picture, there is a silver lining.  It’s a wonderful time for strong companies to accelerate out of the down turn by doing a couple of things.

1) Focus intently on retaining your best talent…NOW…not 6 months from now!  Start launching efforts to rebuild the company culture and restore trust from these employees.  How?  There are several options. 

a)      New leadership may be needed, so entertain the thought of hiring new leaders that haven’t been tainted by the down slide of the company culture during the  tough times.  New ideas are always good. 

b)      Identify who your top talent is and communicate with them constantly about their value to the company and their potential within the company.  Start charting exciting and attractive career paths for them within the organization.

2) With so many disgruntled, talented employees looking for a change, you now have the ability to “hand select” these talented people from your competitors who have damaged their corporate culture beyond repair.  Figure out how to find and contact these people to let them know that you are a company that cares!!!

There are many organizations that seemingly did everything right during the down turn to reduce costs.  The executives in the organizations took the lead in pay cuts.  The organization reduced the workforce slowly, basing the layoffs on merit, as much as possible.  The organization did what they could to help those laid off find other work.  They continued to invest scarce resources on leadership development.  And most of all, the organization kept the lines of communication open, so that employees could understand why the company needed to do what they were doing.  The net result has been minimal damage to the company culture and employee loyalty.  The good news is that the top leaders and employees will be inclined to stay with the company.  The bad news is that your organization is now a very attractive recruiting ground for those organizations that didn’t fare so well.  So, I’m thinking that all organizations should start now to follow step one outlined above. 

One thing is true.  In business, we all have the opportunity to gain market share away from our competition if we have the right employees.  In a recovering economy, keeping the right employee is the real challenge.  Has your company done everything it can to appreciate those loyal employees that kept your doors open during this tough time?

Behavioral Interviewing Tips & Techniques

Helping Employers Fing Their Next STAR Employee

Hiring employees is one of the most important decisions any organization, and any hiring manager will make. Good hiring decisions positively impact an organization and drive business results. In the reverse, bad hiring decisions are costly; affecting productivity, quality, and morale. So when it comes to talent management, organizations that spend more time up front preparing for and conducting the interview will see a positive return on their investment. The alternative is a tremendous investment of time and resources managing and resolving issues related to a bad hire.

A manager’s goal with any hiring decision is to prepare for and conduct the interview to gather enough quality information to improve the odds of making a good hiring decision.  But we all know that no one gets it right all the time. To use a baseball analogy, noone is going to bat 1000, but a hitter that improves his batting average from 250 to 300 has a huge impact on the performance of the team. Organizations that implement a sound hiring and interview strategy can significantly impact the odds of achieving their business goals.

The Hiring Challenge

If your company is like most, HR’s role in the hiring process is to provide recruiting expertise and value add by ensuring that hiring managers only spend time with quality candidates who meet or ideally, exceed their requirements—improving the odds that a good hiring decision will be made. However, with many professional positions, oftentimes HR does not understand the technical skill sets required for a successful hire.   

For example, most jobs can be described in three dimensions: 

• Environment – The environment refers to the type of responsibilities to be performed.  
• Job Type – The job type separates management from support staff.  
• Experience Level – Experience levels for job types are entry, mid management and C level.

In other words positions can be thought of as development or support, supervisory and high level involvement in direction of company. Because people working in all three job types could be using the same skills, understanding what each type does with these skills is necessary.  

It stands to reason then that someone with a non-supervisory background can find recruiting and sourcing for these positions to be overwhelming—how then can he/she plan a sourcing and staffing strategy when they don’t understand the basic requirements?

If you would like to have a copy of the remainder of this article, please visit Texas LoneStar Staffing’s website and click on the blue button on the left hand side, toward the bottom of the page to create an Employer’s profile.  It will only take a few seconds, as it only consists of company contact information.  Upon receipt of your profile, we will email you the complete 10 page article.  The remainder of the article contains valuable information on items to consider when interviewing a candidate, how to conduct a behavioral interview and even sample questions to make sure are asked to the candidate during the interview.  So sign up today and get your copy for free.  You will want to keep it handy as our economy recovers and you find yourself in need of “Star Employees”.

Free Seminar…Sign Up Today!

Helping Employers Fing Their Next STAR Employee

Please join us for the next upcoming seminar entitled:

 

Walk The Talk

 

The seminar will be presented by Next Foundation’s Dr. John King.  Dr. John King   Dr. King’s Walking the Talk course coaches men and women how to live lives of integrity by syncing their personal standards with their evolving goals, passions & aims.   Topics Covered: Values Proposition The Power of Personal Integrity Small Shifts for Significant Change Dynamic Speaker and Best-Selling Author Dr. King’s clients often describe his presentations, books and programs in this way: “I now have the courage and confidence to change”…”Inspiring and motivating”…”Principles that I can apply today!”  Dr. King delivers training programs tailored to clients’ specific leadership needs, as well as courses on personal growth and goal-setting. The author of a range of books, Dr. King offers customized training materials to reinforce the leadership principles he teaches.

 

When:  Saturday, September 19, 2009
9:00am – 12:00pm; light continental breakfast served at 8:30am

Where:  129 Pecan Street, Keller, TX  76248

To Register:  Call 1.877.484.8186 to reserve your seat.  Seating is limited so call now!  Mention Texas LoneStar Staffing to attend for FREE!  This is a $349.95 value.  Don’t get left out!

“There is no secret to success!”
Dr. John King, Best-selling Author, Founder and President of Next Foundation