More changes to employment law came this week courtesy of the state of Massachusetts.  In an effort to close the wage gap between men and women, Massachusetts has become the first state to bar employers from asking about applicants’ salaries before offering them a job, instead requiring companies to state salary information for positions up front.

Typically, companies base the salary offered to candidates on their previous salary.  However, if an individual has been paid lower than their male counterparts in the past, they will continue to lag behind if their new salary is based on their old one.  Massachusetts is requiring companies to base the salaries for their positions on the duties and its value to the company.

Is the Wage Gap Real?

Although things have improved greatly for women in the workplace, there is still a gap between the salary of men and women who perform similar or the same duties.  According to the US Census Bureau, that gap is currently 21 cents; women are paid 79 cents for every dollar that men earn, and they can find no offsetting factors to justify the gap.

Not Just For Women

While this law will not go into effect until July of 2018 and was a bipartisan effort, it should not be seen as a victory for women.  This law will help ANYONE who was offered a lower salary in the past.  Men and women alike have had the experience of being offered a position at a lower salary than expected or even advertised, due to their salary at their current or previous employer.  Instead of having a lower salary follow a candidate around for most or all of their career, Massachusetts is attempting to level the playing field by requiring companies to base salary on the duties and requirements of the position alone.

Some believe that this is only the beginning and more states will follow in Massachusetts footsteps.  While some may see this as a negative, any company that wants to do the right thing (or already is doing the right thing) will see this as the positive step in the right direction that it’s intended to be.

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The new overtime rule will take effect in December of this year, and will change how overtime is calculated.  Currently workers had to earn at least $23,660 annually or $455 per week to be considered exempt from overtime pay.  The new rule states that workers earning less than $47,476 annually or $913 per week will be eligible for overtime pay (time and a half) for work over 40 hours per week, based on the salary of the lowest wage census region, the South.  In addition, the new rule will also allow employers to use nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments (including commissions) to satisfy up to 10 percent of the new standard salary level.

With this change, over 4 million workers will now be eligible for overtime pay.  In addition, there will be some implications as to employee classification, as some people who are currently classified as exempt may become hourly.

The goal of the new overtime rule is to make things easier on workers, particularly middle class Americans, who end of working long hours without extra pay.  Companies will have to either pay them for the extra hours they work, raise their salary, limit their hours to 40 per week, or combine any of the above to make it work.  Although this is typically a problem of larger companies, we know that these things always trickle down to smaller businesses where the impact can be greater.

While there is still time before the changes go into effect, it would be wise for all businesses to take a hard look at their employees, their job duties and classification, and the hours they work.  Small businesses can be hit particularly hard if there are changes to employee classification and/or pay so it would be in their best interests to get a handle on payroll now.   In particular:

• Keep excellent track of hours worked. While this can be tricky (employees don’t all work at one location, drivers, telecommuting, etc.), now is the time to take stock of how your employees are keeping track of work hours to make sure it is an accurate reflection.
• Review employee classifications. This is one that comes up again and again for good reason.  If your employees are classified properly, it can lead to a work of trouble – expensive trouble.  Make sure you have good, accurate, updated descriptions of the duties performed at your worksite and have them properly classified.  Don’t use employee classification as a way to save money.
• Take a look at your total compensation package. Many small businesses still don’t recognize that base salary alone is not the total picture.  The total compensation package should be looked at, as it may be easier to make incentive payments or bonuses instead of offering a larger salary.  Although the new rule only touches upon bonuses, commission and incentive payments, remember that as a small business you have much more to offer.  The total compensation package can include:
  • Base salary
  • Bonuses
  • Stock options
  • 401K contributions
  • Health benefits
  • Wellness programs
  • Insurance
  • Tuition reimbursement
  • Other perks (discount programs, company discounts, memberships, chair massages, catered meals, earned time off, etc.)

Although we don’t know the effect the new rule will have yet, it is definitely worth it to take a look at it and determine how it will affect your business.  You can find a fact sheet on the rule here.

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Being the super nerd I was, after listening to the entire album, I read everything on the album and the liner.  That’s when the genius of him hit me, even at a young age.  I realized that although he was only 10 years older than me, he had written all the songs, played all the musical instruments and sang all the vocals.  Instant admiration.

Then came the first of many live performances.  The first time I saw him, he only had For You behind him and was still virtually unknown.  He was actually the opening act of the concert, the spot reserved for local/regional talent that was up and coming in those days (I’ve racked my brain trying to remember the headliner of the show.  Don’t quote me on this, but I think it was Rick James.  Anyone who grew up in Milwaukee and went to every concert that came through like we did – help me!).  So this virtually unknown artist hits the stage with his long permed hair, wearing black bikini underwear, high-heeled thigh boots and a long-tailed suit coat.  I wish I could say that there was an instant connection with the crowd but there wasn’t.  A few people like myself had heard his music and were into it, but many didn’t know who he was and his unique style, both musically and appearance wise, was too out there.  Those who were in the boat with me as fans already, however, were even more impressed.  Not only was he this incredibly talented musician, he walked to the beat of his own drum.  He knew that just starting out he could probably have just worn regular clothes and played more secular music to gain notoriety, but that wasn’t Prince.  He didn’t do things the easy way.  He put in the work.

Of course after a few more albums and B-side hits he became the Prince we all know and love.  Anyone who’s seen him live knows that his work ethic did not stop in the studio.  He shows were simply amazing.  He truly gave you everything when he performed.

I feel very blessed to have witnessed the Prince experience from the beginning.  Not only from a talent perspective, but to have watched a human being put their all into their craft.  RIP Prince Rogers Nelson.  Heaven just got a whole lot funkier.

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1. No one player is greater than the team. The young people who give their all during these games know that it takes everyone on the court to perform in order to get the victory. No matter how big a prospect an individual player may be, it takes all 5 people working together and playing in sync to get the victory.
2. You have to push yourself to limits you may not have even known you can reach. Make no mistake, in order to excel at anything, you have to work hard. When I was playing competitive sports in high school and college, I knew the preparation for the season was a year round endeavor. It took weeks spent at camp during the summer, hours and hours of drills, making intelligent nutrition decisions, sacrificing parties and nights out, and working out until your limbs feel like jelly. Many people don’t know what heights they can reach because they never push themselves.
3. David really can beat Goliath. We see Cinderella teams and major upsets every year during March Madness. There’s always that team that gets overlooked or taken for granted who surprises everyone with a great upset victory or a long tournament run. Regardless of the ranking or the size, each and every team in the tournament has to potential to win it all.
4. Know your place. While only 5 players from each team can start the game, there are crucial players who don’t start. For many teams, players actually have more value coming off the bench, giving starters a breather or filling in gaps due to injury. Knowing that your value may be in a role that won’t be high-profile doesn’t diminish your importance to the team.
5. Don’t worry about stupid things. I’ve rarely seen a team celebration that was segregated by race, size, age, nationality, family income, or place of birth. During March Madness, teams will feature players that represent many corners of the world. When victory is felt, it is felt and celebrated together, and is the agony of defeat. These young people celebrate with all their teammates, and could care less about things this society keeps trying to separate us on.
6. Never give up.  One of the greatest thing to watch during March Madness is to see a team giving their all, even when they know their chances of making a comeback or winning are slim to none.  However, they still push hard and leave it all on the court.  Those players know that the score is not the only thing that matters.  Loses will happen; it’s how you deal with them that will make a lasting impression.

Hmmm, going through these lessons from March Madness, it seems like they’d apply in other areas of life, huh?

Okay, I’ll give you a break today and won’t go into details about how these lessons can be applied to businesses or our personal lives. But I will take the time to mention that in case you don’t have cable and can’t bear to miss any games, the NCAA has an app in the Microsoft Store which will allow you to watch every game for free. Here’s the link in case you’re interested. Happy watching!!

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• Ethan’s father was a role model for his behavior, who himself told a police officer he made more in a day than he did in a year when he was stopped for a traffic violation. No record of the outcome of that stop could be found.
• At 15 Ethan was caught drinking in a vehicle with a naked, passed out 14-year-old girl but was not punished.
• His mother, with whom Ethan lives, could not recall the last time she disciplined him.
• Ethan was allowed to not only drink at an early age but drive himself to school at 13. When the head of the school questioned his parents about this, his father threatened to buy the school, then removed his son from the school when he decided not to buy it.
• Ethan’s father is currently awaiting trial after posing as a police officer and displaying a fake badge.

Now these are just the highlights I gleaned from a 2+ minute video looking into the inner workings of the Couch family. But after my outrage at how the irresponsibility of a few people has negatively affected so many, I had to stop and take a step back. Why? Because I’ve worked in Human Resources for over 25 years, and this behavior isn’t as rare as it should be.

Although not this extreme (i.e. resulting in the deaths of people), too many business owners and executives run their businesses like the Couch family. We know who the problem children are, where the bottlenecks in our processes are and the situations that need to be dealt with and laid to rest, but we just don’t deal with it, burying heads in the sand and just hoping for the best. When Tanya Couch was asked during deposition about Ethan not facing any consequences when he was caught drinking in a vehicle at 15, she stated that while she should have known that he would probably do it again she just didn’t think he would. Kind of like that employee who has managed to break almost every rule in the place yet not only manage to still have a job but have no record of any conversation regarding their behavior in their file. No record of their poor behavior to be found.  Sounds a little bit like an affluenza employee, huh?

As a long time HR person, I’ve had to do some unpleasant things. Verbal and written warnings, terminations, discussions about body odor, personal hygiene, improper clothing, sexual harassment, and the list goes on. I can say without hesitation that it was never a pleasant experience and it never gets any easier. However, it has to be done in order to create a collaborative, fair and well-functioning working environment. Good parents have been doing this for years. It’s not easy to punish children, take away favorite items, spank bottoms, or issue groundings. But it’s done to demonstrate that bad behavior has unpleasant consequences, with the goal of raising a human being that will make better choices and understand that their wants and feelings don’t come above others.

While shaking our heads at the affluenza parents, let’s take a moment to think about our work environments and how we’re contributing to affluenza employees. I wish I could tell you that it gets easier dealing with employee issues but that would be a big lie. Dealing with problem employees and difficult work situations doesn’t get easier. However, what I can say is that in dealing with these situations quickly and fairly, you create a work environment where not only will there be fewer instances, but you will create a culture where employees support each other and discourage bad behavior before it has a chance to grow. But it has to start from the top, i.e. the corporate version of the parents. If you teach your employees that certain people can get away with everything and face no consequences, not only will you create a negative and resentful environment as they watch people get disciplined for doing far less than the favorites, you will lose the great employees you need to sustain your business. And the bad employees will have no incentive to ever leave or change their behavior. And even the Couch family doesn’t want their house overrun with a bunch of Ethans.

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The world of recruiting has changed in recent years. With so much emphasis placed on locating candidates who fit into the company culture, companies and recruiters spend lots of time and energy narrowing down what can be hundreds of applications. Through a process that can include phone/video interviewing, testing, 2 and 3 in-person interviews, background and reference checking, and drug testing, getting to the top candidates is no small feat. Although it’s great to find that high performing superstar who if all goes well will accept your employment offer, the road should not end for the remaining candidates, especially the top runners up. This is especially important for small businesses to do, as locating candidates who fit into your culture can be harder, not to mention the expense of recruiting can be a larger percent of the budget than a larger company.

If you’ve gone through an extensive recruitment process and identified top candidates, the 2nd place, 3rd place and maybe even more candidates have the potential to be great fits for your environment. They just weren’t the best fit at that particular moment. However, won’t it be easier in the future if you already have at least a basic relationship with these backup candidates to quickly fill future openings? They already have a lot of information on your company and have established some rapport with staff/managers so it could pay off in the long run to cultivate that relationship instead of starting over with a new batch of unknowns.

Now I’m not talking about a lot of extra work here. It’s really quite simple, and can easily become a part of a regular routine. It starts with the regret process. Gone is the days of sending impersonal regret form letters that said nothing more than you didn’t get the job but thank you for your time. If you want to create a funnel for your company for future recruitment/hiring activities, it starts with providing more information to candidates as to why they were not your first choice. This can be a quick face to face meeting or a telephone call, but it should not be a letter (You’ll still need to send a letter, but your first contact with them should not be the letter). Be honest about the experience or skills that they were lacking. You can also take this opportunity to discuss other areas/positions or departments in your company where their skills and experiences may be a fit. The idea is to focus on the positive traits that they possess and the fact that your company thinks very highly of them. Ask their permission to keep in touch with them so they can update you on what they’re doing and you can keep them abreast of openings at your company. After that, it’s just a quick email or voicemail every month or so to keep track of them. Once an opening that fits their skills is available, you’ve already got warm candidates.

This method can also apply to candidates who turn down your job offer. A quick call to them after a few months may show that things aren’t going so well at the other job they accepted instead and they’re interested in speaking with you again.

The point is to not think about recruiting as ending once the position you are recruiting for is filled. People come and go throughout a company, and it’s impossible to predict when an opening will pop up. Don’t start fresh every time you have an opening. By cultivating relationships with candidates who have already expressed interest in your company and verse visa, you can have a funnel of candidates available at all times. While there are plenty other things that you can do to nurture that funnel, the bottom line is to make the most of your recruitment efforts at all times instead of only when there’s a job opening that needs to be filled.

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I get so excited about Small Business Saturday. What a great example of supporting communities by shopping at and celebrating all that small businesses do across this country. By starting the promotion of Small Business Saturday early, I hope that more small businesses have time to join in and promote themselves. Even if you’re not a small business owner, it’s a great opportunity to explore and support the small businesses in your community. Many of them have events around Small Business Saturday so it can be a very festive atmosphere.  It’s also the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and a little exercise will help that turkey hangover.

Now in its 5^th year, Small Business Saturday is gaining momentum. American Express, the creator of Small Business Saturday, reported that in 2014 88 million people got out and into small businesses on Small Business Saturday, spending an estimated $14.3 billion at small independent businesses that day.¹

If you are a small business, there’s still time to create a buzz around your shop for Small Business Saturday. Visit the website www.shopsmall.com for information on how to list your business on their directory of local small businesses across the country. They’ve also supplied lots of information on how to create an event, free downloads of marketing materials and more.  If you’re not a small business owner, the site can help you find participating small businesses in your local community.

Don’t let this opportunity to promote your business and help your community pass you by. Sign up for Small Business Saturday and have fun with it! You may be surprised at the gems you may find right in your own backyard.

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Although I typically stay away from politics, this is not about Democrat vs. Republican, conservative vs. liberal.  This is about getting involved in your local community.  This is an opportunity to voice your opinion about where things are headed and which direction you believe they should be going.

Regardless of your political affiliation, please take a moment to review the candidates on the ballot in your area.  The internet makes this so much easier than in days past.  See what initiatives are up for a vote and what the impact of them will be.  In just 5-10 minutes of internet searching, you can go into that voting booth armed with the information you need to make an informed decision.  No matter how busy we are, we can carve out 5-10 minutes to help make our communities, cities and states a little better.

Okay, I’m going to get political for just a moment.  I truly believe that politicians don’t want you to be an informed voter.  They would like nothing more than for us to make important decisions like these based on sound bites and 30 second clips from our favorite news source.  By keeping us uninformed of the real issues, we can continue this climate of childish name calling amongst ourselves while ineffective people remain in office, collecting salaries for doing little to nothing to make our cities better.

Please, take a few moments to find out about the issues in your local community and vote today.

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Marketing videos have been shown to convert better than any other marketing method.  The problem is that marketing videos can be expensive, especially for a small business.  Enter customizable video templates.  Not only are they affordable (especially with a 40% discount – that’s under $10!), you can use them again and again.  Just switch the slides up, add new info, photos and music and you have a completely different video.

We have numerous templates to choose from; however, I wouldn’t be too concerned with the categories.  Since you’re going to be customizing it anyway, it’s best to look at the demo videos and simply select the one that best fits your business and likes.

We offer a wide range of licenses, and even have an option for Paradise to complete the video for you, great for the small business that is growing fast and needs a little extra support.  EVERYTHING is available for 40% off so this is a great chance to grab hundreds of dollars worth of services for just over $50.

We’ve included a demo video here so you can see how great these videos can look.  You also receive links to the photos and music used in the demo if you want those.  We have tons of music and graphics on hand so if you purchase through us we can help you with these.  If you have any questions or suggestions for future video templates feel free to contact us at contact@paradisebizconsulting.com.

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Before we get started, we have to acknowledge that staff training and development have changed drastically over the years, and for good reason. In the olden days, employees stayed with one company for many years, and some worked their entire year at one company. I grew up in that type of household: my father worked for the same company for over 30 years. However, this type of loyalty from employees is not the standard anymore. One big reason for this is the loyalty TO employees changed drastically. Whereas the employee could depend on the company to have their best interests in mind when determining policies and benefits, corporate greed and a strict focus on the bottom line took over and companies were no longer looking out for and appreciating their employees. It became about how much profit could be made for the stockholders and a few bigwigs at the top. I also grew up in this type of household: I watched my mother dedicate over 20 years to a company who without notice closed its doors and had to be forced legally to pay the employees the money it owed them.

With that said, choosing how to develop employees can be difficult. It can be a big investment for a small company, and there’s a chance that the employee will take that new development and use it to land a new job with a different company. So is it worth the investment? Absolutely.

A well-trained staff is one of the best ways to keep your business not only working well, but prospering. It’s hard enough out here, so having to repeatedly address issues and bad behavior because staff are not properly trained is not only frustrating, it can hit you hard in the pocket if customers decide they’re also frustrated with your staff. But while it’s definitely something you want to do, how and who you develop are key. It’s all in the implementation.

Here are some tips for small businesses looking to develop their employees without spending a lot:

1. Invest in a good new employee orientation program. When you don’t have lots to spend, you have to make sure that you establish a solid foundation for new hires. Take the time to talk with your employees and find out what are the things they feel are most important for success at the company. Also find out what they liked most and what needs improvement from their experience as a new hire. Use this information to develop a nice program for new hires. (NOTE: I’d also add that if you take the time to survey employees to get feedback on the company culture, you’ll want to use this information when hiring also to help you find better fits for your environment.)
2. Establish coaching and mentoring programs. These types of programs as great for not only developing employees, but they also establish a succession pipeline for your organization. Few things can hurt a small business more than when a leader suddenly leaves and there is no provision for a replacement. When you see a star employee, regardless of where they are in the organization, have a process in place to find out what their career goals are and match them with someone in your organization who can help them develop the skills they need to advance.
3. Make sure your organization has great communication. This may seem like a strange point for a post on employee development but you’d be amazed at the positive outcomes you can reap with open communication. When you take the time to have communication that goes both ways, employees have a greater understanding of why decisions are made, policies are what they are and where the company is going. This gives employees buy-in and allows them to see themselves having a future in the company. They feel like their opinion and growth matters – they’re not just an object that the company is using to accomplish their goals.
4. Train your supervisors. While employees don’t stay at companies as long as they used to, the one thing that has remained constant is the important of front line supervisors, and having a poorly trained or just bad boss is still one of the top reasons people leave a company. All the hard work of developing employees will fly out of the window if the person they’re reporting to is difficult, a poor communicator, unfair, etc.  Make sure your front line management is trained and fully equipped to properly develop their staff.
5. Be proactive. Even if you don’t have things in place yet, take the time to talk with your staff and let them know you appreciate their work and that you’re working on new programs to develop them. Don’t wait for the good ones to walk out the door. (This goes back to that open communication stuff.) Being proactive also applies to addressing bad behavior of the not-star employees. Although employee development programs are not the place to address these issues, it goes without saying that by being proactive in taking care of bad behavior, you have a greater chance of turning the not-stars around and hopefully turning them into better employees who you can then develop into stars.

Employee development programs will always be a gamble. Even if you don’t spend a lot of money on them, there’s still a chance that the newly developed employee will leave. However, the benefits outweigh the negatives. Not only will you have a great performer at your organization for their tenure, you’ll also be a stronger company and be in a better position to find another star.

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