In 1960, Hayley Boling’s grandfather Dr. Richard Boling had a staff of five working at his Elkhart ophthalmology practice. His son, Dr. Richard Boling II, joined him in 1986, which moved the practice forward to two doctors and about 10 staff members. Due primarily to a major push in 2004, Boling Vision Center now employs 60 staff members and six doctors. The healthcare practice includes two locations in Indiana and an ambulatory surgery center.

“He stuck a shingle on the side of the building and thought patients would come, and we have been fortunate that we have had regular business ever since,” says Hayley Boling of her grandfather.

Hayley joined the team in 2009 as CEO after earning her MBA from Taylor University. Her grandfather and father had built a successful business out of caring for eyes, and Hayley has strengthened that success as a leader within Boling Vision Center.

Hayley met Mike Yoder, Servant HR’s CEO, during a post-graduate business class at Taylor University in 2008. During this year, she was wrapping up her studies and carrying out a hands-on orientation to become the CEO of Boling Vision Center. Her father developed the process, which called for Hayley to spend a few months in every single position in the practice.

“I spent time working alongside people, to see the value of our people and their challenges. I was also pinpointing vulnerabilities and strengths,” Hayley says. “It was important to see different elements of the practice and build credibility with other people in the practice.”

With a list of HR challenges that included a growing staff, plans for future expansion and policies that needed improving, Hayley reached out to Mike to see if Servant HR could help. A business’s human resources strategy should complement and support its goals. Boling Vision Center had lofty ones, and Servant HR has served as its trusted partner during some big changes.

“Servant HR helped us completely restructure our organizational chart. This was a huge undertaking for us,” Hayley says. The new chart is based on skill-set value versus longevity. “People were inappropriately placed, and Servant HR helped me as a new leader to identify who needed to be repositioned. And if there wasn’t a position conducive to their skill set, Servant HR helped me dismiss those individuals appropriately. It was a tough situation, and it was good to have a legal perspective and a second set of eyes to support my decisions.”

Servant HR also helps Hayley navigate advances and changes in human resources and is just an email or phone call away if a sticky legal question arises. Hayley says the HR team helps Boling Vision Center stay as professional as possible and play it safe. But business risks aren’t something Hayley avoids when they are worth taking.

“In the next five years, we would like to have four locations. Our next step is moving toward the South Bend marketplace. And we are excited to partner with that community,” she says. Boling Vision is already the preferred ophthalmologist for Notre Dame, so they have luck on their side.

Tis the season for vacations. Whether they’re going on a spring break or a summer getaway, your employees will be planning and asking for time off. While there are many documented benefits to taking that break from work, it poses a few challenges for managers, as well. Here are some key areas that will assist you in navigating the curves on the road of PTO administration.

Know Your Policy

You need to be familiar with your company’s current protocol for acquiring vacation time as well as the spending of that time. There are many puzzle pieces to your company’s plan: mandated time off, accrual rates and caps, carry-over or use-it-or-lose-it, state mandates to pay out unused time and termination considerations — to name a few. Clear documentation and presentation of those policies to your staff help to prevent snags from the beginning. Companies may choose a traditional method such as specified amount of days as vacation days, sick days, and personal days. Others may use a combined PTO system; in essence, this is one large bucket which allows employees to use their time as they see fit. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages for both employer and employee. Both methods can be powerful recruiting and retention tools. If you have questions on which type is the best fit for your company, Servant HR is here to help you consider your options.

Manage Your Policy

Be sure you have clear, well-articulated guidelines for PTO use in place. Can you imagine if all your employees decided to take off the same week? What a nightmare! You need to think through how much notice will allow you to adequately fill the schedule in their absence. Requiring employees to request the time off in advance, with the exception of an emergency, alleviates this problem. An understanding of what constitutes an emergency must also be expressed. Does car trouble qualify? What about an attitude-adjustment day? How ill does a family member have to be? There will be instances when two employees request the same days off and there needs to be consideration for seniority, previous days off or the reason for the request.  Consistent managing and administration of your guidelines will play a key role in the overall satisfaction of your staff and their perception of your company’s plan.

Encourage Your Policy

Don’t let all these details scare you from encouraging your employees to take their well-deserved time off. Many studies show overworked employees are less productive and more prone to stress, exhaustion and illness. Clearly, both you and your co-workers benefit from a little rest and relaxation. Ensuring that it’s relaxing for all parties involved just takes some well-designed, managed policies.

So, take the time to evaluate your current plan. If it comes up lacking, the experts at Servant HR can assist you in implementing a policy that suits your company culture and then — go take a vacation!

Jayne Blazier is staff accountant at Servant HR, providing accounting and bookkeeping functions for us and our clients. She is also a mother of two grown children and has four grandchildren, ages 2-9. You might not know Jayne because her role typically takes place behind the scenes. One of her major responsibilities is making sure clients’ payroll taxes are paid on time and correctly. In this Q-&-A, we asked Jayne to come out from behind the curtain and tell us a little about herself.

Many people dread tax season. What’s your take on it and how do you approach it with a positive attitude?

Since I work for business clients opposed to individuals, my tax season is technically over by the end of January or beginning of February. But I understand the stress individuals feel around this time. It just happens two months sooner for me. My strategy is to prepare as much as possible ahead of time by double checking things and making sure we have done what we can to stay on task and get everything done on time.

If you could change one thing about tax season for Servant HR, what would it be?

I would have every state report taxes the same way. We file everything electronically, but every state has different ways that they want forms to be filed. To make one simple payment, a new process often presents itself. I would love to have some consistency.

What are your tax-season words to live by for business owners or HR managers?

Make sure you’re prepared and know what you’re doing. If you aren’t prepared and sure, the repercussions can be ugly.

What kinds of challenges do you enjoy at Servant HR?

One somewhat challenging thing is balancing bank statements without incident. This may sound corny, but every time I have a reconciliation issue, it is challenging and rewarding to find the answer. I’m a numbers person. I enjoy figuring out why something is off $10 or $1,000.

What do you enjoy most about working at Servant HR?

Even though I don’t personally interact with our clients as much as other members of our staff do, the closeness of our culture and team allows me to serve our clients. This is uncommon in many corporate settings. Our clients just know that their taxes, insurance invoices and 401k contributions are being taken care of. It’s out of sight, out of mind.

Since 2008, Fishers and Hamilton County, Indiana, have accepted dozens of accolades for being exceptional. Among the list are the following:

• #1 Top 10 Cities for Families in U.S. – The Learning Channel (TLC)
• Healthiest County in Indiana – Community Health Network
• Top 100 Best Places to Live in America (#8 Ranking) – Money Magazine
• #11 Best Place to Move in the Country – Forbes
• Best Place to Raise a Family – Hamilton County (#1 Ranking) – Forbes

Jeff Leffew, our founder and president, chose to plant Servant HR’s roots in Fishers because this is where he lives and is raising his family. He wanted his business to be a part of this booming community on the edge of Indianapolis. We see this kind of attitude a lot in Hamilton County. Employers and employees want their work lives and their personal lives to complement one another. A strong work life in which you are happy, well compensated and appreciated, for example, will have an effect on the quality of your life outside of the office.

Many of the elements that go into making a business an exceptional place to work fall under the area of human resources. It is our job at Servant HR to help employers set themselves up to be a positive part of their employees’ lives. This kind of positivity can benefit families and even entire communities. Empowering employers to be a positive force in their communities is an exciting part of our work.

Becoming an exceptional place to work

Many of our 60 clients ask how can they can be “best in class.” They want to know how they can become an “employer of choice.” First, employers must care more for the positive impact of such efforts on employees than they do about receiving a fancy accolade. Business leaders must have a desire to create a culture of not only financial success but also a place of stability based on more consistent employment, longer tenures and low turnover. An exceptional business is one that builds a culture of relationships and loyalty.

When Servant HR is evaluating a company’s culture, we evaluate a lot of areas, including policies and procedures, benefits, management and employee training and talent development. These are the types of things that would indicate if a company is stable and growing. If we find that an area is weak, we help the employer develop that area through our HR Coaching and Counseling.

Health care and benefits’ role

A reasonably robust benefits package can help a company attract and retain the right kind of people for its culture, taking one giant leap forward to becoming a great place to work.  As we can see from our federal government’s move into universal health care, the issue of benefits is a huge one, both locally and nationally. As a full-service benefits broker, Servant HR helps employers attract and retain employees, while being cognizant of how much more expensive health care has become. An approach to benefits should be holistic, using creativity to establish diverse benefits packages as well as more traditional health plans and 401k plans to support both short-term and long-term benefits.

One of the best ways to deal with the rising cost of health care is to help educate our clients on different options including consumer-driven health care offerings. Employees should understand the types of benefits they have, how to get preventive care when it is needed and how to participate in wellness programs if they are interested in them. For an increasing number of employers, health saving accounts are becoming an important part of their packages. This type of account helps employees make smart choices for their health and budgets.

Partnering with strong businesses

Fishers and the Indianapolis area is a great place to do business. One of the biggest advantages for Servant HR is that our focus is on small and medium-sized businesses that want to have the freedom to focus on revenue-generating activities and their core strengths. We can serve these businesses as their HR partners, helping them move toward becoming exceptional places to work. These types of businesses have found great success in Hamilton County.  We like being where we live and where smaller businesses thrive. It’s a great fit for who we are at Servant HR.

If you have questions about the path to becoming an exceptional employer, please contact Servant HR at 317-585-1688 or email info@servanthr.com. 

(Photo above by Jennifer Driscoll, courtesy of Town of Fishers.)

Anyone in this position will likely have many questions: Can they really take my paycheck? How much can they take? Will I lose my job when my employer finds out? Is there anything I can do about it? The answers below may help you understand your rights and what to expect if you find yourself facing a wage attachment.

What is a wage garnishment?

Wage garnishments typically result from unsecured debt (such as credit cards) that has gone unpaid and ignored, or from delinquent tax situations or back-owed child support.  A creditor or debt collection agency can file a lawsuit as a last ditch effort to recover an unpaid debt.  If the court rules in favor of the creditor, a judgment may be issued that requires an employer to garnish (or “attach”) the debtor’s wages, sending a portion of each paycheck to the creditor.

How much can they take?

The amount of earnings that can be garnished in a work week or pay period is restricted by Title III of the Consumer Credit Protection Act  (CCPA).  If a pay period covers more than one week, weekly pay calculations must be used to determine the amount garnished. The amount is typically the lesser of:

1.) 25% of an employee’s “disposable earnings” (money left over after regular taxes are withheld), or

2.) the amount that disposable earnings are greater than 30 times the federal hourly minimum wage

Example:
If an employee’s disposable earnings are $217.50 ($7.25/hour x 30 hours) per week or less, there can be no garnishment. If disposable earnings exceed $217.50 but are less than $290.00 ($7.25/hour x 40 hours), any amount over $217.50 is subject to garnishment. A maximum of 25% can be garnished if disposable income is $290.00 or higher. (Example provided by US DOL website.)

Wages may not be garnished by more than one creditor at a time unless the primary garnishment does not take the full 25% allowed by law. (These garnishment restrictions do not apply to certain bankruptcy court orders or debts due for federal or state taxes.)

Child or spousal support orders are always given priority over any other wage garnishment.  Federal law for child support and alimony allows up to 50% of disposable income to be garnished if an employee is supporting another spouse or child, or 60% if not supporting another spouse or child. An additional 5% can be garnished for support payments that are 12 or more weeks in arrears.

Can I lose my job over this?

Employees are often embarrassed when faced with garnishment, because it means that their employer will now be made aware of their financial situation. The CCPA does protect an employee from being fired because of a single wage garnishment; however, in some states, that protection goes away if more than one garnishment occurs within a 12-month period.

What can I do about it?

If you are facing a debt that you are struggling to pay, the best plan of action is to act early and reach out for help. Speak to your creditors, work out a payment arrangement and stick to a repayment plan.  A counseling agency may also be able to help you negotiate lower payment arrangements with a creditor. State law requires creditors to provide adequate notice of any pending legal action, but once a judgment has been issued and the payment arrangement is set by the court, your options will be very limited.

If you have already received notice that your employer has received an order to garnish your wages, you may be upset or angry. But it is important for you to understand that your employer is obligated to comply and garnish your wages according to the legal order. If you have already made other arrangements for repayment of the debt, contact your creditor directly or appeal to the court. If the amount being garnished is causing undue hardship in paying other bills or properly providing basic needs for your family, you can hire an attorney and set up an appeal to the judge to reconsider the amount.

Remember, it is always better to tackle the issue early on and work out a way to satisfy your creditors before a wage garnishment is issued as a last resort.

This article is intended as general information and should not be used as legal advice. Please visit the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division page or call 866-4USWAGE for more information.

Yet many employees are leaving this free money on the table. According to a survey by Hewitt Associates, 22% of 401(k) participants do not contribute enough to get the maximum company match.

Haven’t started yet? Servant HR administers many different retirement plans for our clients. Look through your employee handbook or talk to your benefits administrator to see what plan your company offers. Find out when you can participate in your employer’s plan, and follow these two simple steps.

1) Join as soon as you are eligible.

Ask for a copy of the plan booklet (called the Summary Plan Description, or SPD) to learn your plan’s rules and requirements. Retirement plan rules vary. Some plans require that employees be at least 21 years of age and have a year of service with the company before they can participate. Even part time employees can sometimes be eligible if they work a certain number of hours per year.

2) Contribute as much as you are able.

If you think you can’t afford to have much taken out of your paycheck, consider starting with a small percentage and increasing it by just 1% or 2% each year. Or, you could plan to increase your salary deferral any time your salary increases. Your contributions will be deducted from your salary pre-tax, and your investment will continue to grow, tax-deferred, until you take it out. To make changes to your contributions, request the proper form from your plan administrator. You might also have online access which allows you to make deferral changes through your plan’s website (though some plans only allow deferral percentages to be changed at certain points throughout the year).

Don’t worry. Any money that is deducted from your paycheck for your 401(k) plan, and any earnings on that money, is 100% “vested”—meaning that it will always be 100% yours. (There are some restrictions as to when/how you can take that money back out of the plan.) You do not necessarily have an immediate right to contributions made by your employer, however. Ownership of those funds is earned by providing years of service to your employer, according to a “vesting schedule.” These schedules can vary, so you should review your SPD for the specifics of your plan.

Your employer’s retirement savings plan is a key component of your future financial security. It is important for you to understand how your plan works and what benefits you will receive. Servant HR has helped many employees to understand and receive these benefits. And although you may not be able to contribute the maximum allowed by the IRS each year ($17,000 in 2012—$22,500 if you are over 50), you should try to contribute at least enough to gain the benefit of any matching funds your employer offers. Remember, it is FREE MONEY!

Learn more about the benefits of retirement savings at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/savingsfitness.pdf

Many employers may overlook the necessity of workers’ compensation believing it does not pertain to them or their company. But consider these two rather bizarre claims:

• An employee was proving that he could carry an air compressor and strained his back.
• An employee tripped over a dog and injured herself while meeting with a customer in the customer’s home.

Yes, you may have guessed it, these claims were found in court to be compensable. At Servant HR, we receive frequent questions regarding workers’ comp, such as:

• Why am I required to have coverage?
• Why do I have to pay when no one ever gets hurt on the job?
• Why do particular employees cost so much, despite having reasonably “safe” jobs?
• Shouldn’t health insurance cover any injuries?
• Does workers’ comp really have to pay if it is clearly the fault of a negligible employee?

By definition, workers’ compensation is an alternate way for employees to recover costs for work-related injuries, rather than suing their employers. Workers’ compensation includes an “exclusive remedy” component, meaning if an employee gets hurt at work, his bills and typically his lost wages, are paid. However, exclusive remedy also ensures that the employee can’t file a lawsuit against the employer, in most situations. It’s an exchange of rights and benefits for both the employee and employer. The workers’ comp system provides employees with the security of knowing they can recover for work-related injuries without the complexity and uncertainty of a lawsuit.

Workers’ comp can be thought of as an insurance policy for your company. Just like home owners and life insurance, you are required to regularly pay, even if you never have to use it. The rates are determined from the statistics and probability of an accident or hazardous situation for a particular occupation.

If a claim is made by an employee, a workers’ compensation insurer generally reviews the case and verifies any issues. As the exclusive remedy, any injury happening in the workplace is generally covered, even if an employee is negligent. However, an employer may choose to dispute a claim, for example, if he believes an injury is not related to work or is being put-on. Regardless, it is generally in the best interest of the employer to get the employee back to work even on limited duty, rather than being paid lost wages from the policy.

For answers to your workers’ compensation questions or to find out more about how Servant HR can help with all of your HR needs, please contact us today.

Have you ever wondered why we pay federal income tax? It might surprise you to learn that the U.S. government once relied mainly on customs taxes as its primary source of income. It was actually the enormous cost of the Civil War (1861-1865) that led to the establishment of the first federal income tax.

Several years later, in 1942, a “pay-as-you-go” income tax system was developed to ensure that everyone paid their appropriate taxes. This system is still in place today, as employers continue to be responsible for withholding a percentage of your paycheck for federal taxes. The amount withheld is based on several factors that you report using Form W-4:

• Your marital status – single or married (If you´re married, you can opt to withhold at the higher single rate.)
• The number of withholding allowances you claim. (Allowances determine how much money will be “ignored” when calculating your tax withholding.)
• Any additional fixed dollar amount you would like withheld from each paycheck.

The more allowances entered on your W-4 form, the less income tax the government withholds from your pay. This increases your take-home pay. However, if you have too little taken out, you’ll owe money to the government when you file your annual tax return. If you have too much withheld, you’ll get a refund. Although getting a large refund may seem like a good thing, it basically means you’ve given the government what amounts to an interest-free loan throughout the year.

You may want to review your withholding amount if any of the following is true:

• You had a big refund last year
• You owed more money last year than you could comfortably pay
• You had a life or financial situation change that affects the number of allowances you can claim or the amount of tax you will eventually owe (e.g., marriage, birth of a child, purchase of a home). You have 10 days after the event to file a new Form W-4 with your employer.

Most tax experts agree that the best course of action is to adjust your withholding so that your tax payments will equal your actual tax liability for the year. Worksheets are included with Form W-4 to help you figure out what changes you should make to your withholding amount. You may also find related IRS publications useful: Publication 505 (“Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax”) and Publication 919 (“How Do I Adjust My Tax Withholding?”). These publications, as well as an interactive withholding allowance calculator, are available at www.irs.gov.

If you file a new W-4 with your employer and end up with a bit more cash each paycheck, don’t automatically spend it. Consider opening an account where that extra money will earn you, and not the federal government, interest.

It’s that fascinating time of the year when we start thinking about what we want to achieve in the coming year. Many of us go through the well-worn process of stating the weight we want to lose and how many more hours per week we want to spend with our families. On the business front, we talk about revenue goals and tightening up our belts on overhead expenses. More aggressive types may expound upon their plans for expansion. There is no end to what we may say is our focus for the coming year, perhaps even incorporating these into vision statements or business forecasts.

Semantics can get in the way of progress. Is it important to decide whether the door is scarlet, paprika or plain old red when all you need to do is open it? But when it comes to goals and resolutions, a better understanding of their meanings can be important

A goal is “the purpose toward which an endeavor is directed; an objective.” A resolution is something that you “make a firm decision about.” In other words, to set a goal is to purpose yourself to move in a certain direction, whereas to make a resolution is to decide your desired endeavor will come to pass because you will it to be. A resolution, by definition, is much more definitive than a goal. I think it is important to understand the difference between these terms before rattling off a list that will supposedly guide how you improve yourself and your business each year. Ask yourself whether you will be effective by setting a goal or by making a firm decision. The choice is yours.

My primary resource for developing my goals each year is the Bible, specifically Joshua 3:5 and Luke 14:28. I use these two verses to motivate and give me purpose behind why I set goals. They remind me that I need to be prepared to be used by God and to give my all to Him. Thinking about a new year, I also hearken back to Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time. This book always reminds me to get the “hard things” done sooner rather than later.

Regardless of whether you are a goals person or a resolution person, the more important issue is that you take time to evaluate, plan and prioritize what you hope to achieve in the coming year. Just wishing it will happen generally gets you to the same place you are now.

A Gallup poll based on over 30 years of research and more than 17 million employees shows “engaged employees are more productive, more profitable, more customer-focused, safer and more likely to withstand temptations to leave.” But how do employers actively engage their employees? Servant HR helps our clients answer these tough questions. We challenge the same-old-same-old thinking to meet the demands of today’s marketplace. Get your creative juices flowing by reading how we recently partnered with client Cornerstone Autism Center to implement a new way of interacting with its employees.

Company Profile: Cornerstone Autism Center improves the lives of children who struggle with autism, those who love them and those who provide therapy. Cornerstone offers caring, encouraging one-on-one treatment, resources to carry progress into family homes and daily life, and professional rewards for staff who serve. Cornerstone seeks to create a long-term resource for those affected by autism to thrive and succeed. The business has been a client of Servant HR since July 2010.

Engagement Challenge: The leaders of Cornerstone understand the importance of employee engagement. To grow and develop theirs, they asked us to successfully launch their entire new year in one business day. Success meant not only introducing and explaining HR initiatives, policies, handbook changes, goals and the company vision, but it also meant having a great time and communicating how integral each member was to the team. We began the planning by discussing what Cornerstone desired to accomplish both in tangible goals and the overall impression of the day. Filtering the schedule through the lens of engaging the employee was paramount its success.

While Cornerstone could sit employees in a room and hammer through our list of information, that would only reach one of its goals. If the business failed to engage its employees while communicating the details, the likelihood of them integrating these new concepts was slim. Cornerstone wanted the employees to know they were working for an organization that genuinely cared about them. This in turn, would make them passionate about their company and its goals.

Action: With this in mind, Servant HR worked with the Cornerstone leadership team to design the Make It Happen event. It began with hot drinks, pastries and fruit. We greeted the employees with a mixer game to allow them to get to know each other better in a fun way. Slideshows highlighted the progress of the past year — both in the physical changes of their locations and the amazing changes in families’ lives they had influenced.

The nuts and bolts of handbook changes were more palatable over chocolate fountains and fixings (a “Hershey’s Handbook”). Sitting through the new policies and procedures was more tolerable when employees knew there were two massage therapists waiting for them upstairs. Though we didn’t dole out shoulder rubs, members of our team at Servant HR were on hand to answer questions or just give a face to the address or voice that Cornerstone’s employees often read in email messages or hear on the phone.

Cornerstone also wanted this day to be a time of recognition. A survey sent out the week prior to the event asked employees to nominate a colleague who best exemplified the company mission statement. These nominations were tallied and the employees were recognized in front of their peers by the Cornerstone leadership team. Throughout the Make It Happen day, good food, fun, relationship-building, valuable insight and information were interspersed to create an all-around great time. Hors d’oeuvres and karaoke capped off the event.

Value: Following the Make It Happen event, every Cornerstone employee expressed appreciation to the company’s leadership team for being a part of this innovative company. Employees walked away from the day recharged and excited to be part of this amazing team. The event served as a valuable tool in Cornerstone’s efforts to support its tradition of successful employee retention and internal culture. Such engagement encourages employees to be more passionate about their personal responsibilities as well as the company’s overall goals and values. From the Servant HR perspective, we know that many Cornerstone employees are now more comfortable calling us to ask questions or discuss problems since they have met us in person.

Did this “event” take work and planning? Absolutely! Was it worth it? Without a doubt! (We have not even addressed the negative impact a disengaged employee has on your company. Give us a call and we’ll explain.) Cornerstone’s leadership team is already discussing plans for this fall’s Make It Happen event.

Your Employee Engagement: Has this case study raised some questions in your mind? What is the employee experience in your company? Do you know how to gauge this within your company? What strategies do you have in place to encourage healthy, engaged employees? Are you ready to begin implementing steps to improve it? Servant HR is ready to come alongside you to make your company the very best organization it can be. Contact us to get started.

Photo credit: Cornerstone Autism Center