MBA News - HR Outsourcing

Why do we need an HR business strategy?

MBAHRO — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:09:00 GMT

Why do we need an HR business strategy?

Many times we get asked, “Why do we need an HR business strategy?” The reason is that HR can be transformed from a hassle-ridden financial sinkhole into a major data-driven contributor to your executive level decisions.

The benefits of having an HR business strategy can be:

Executives can view and understand the business’ internal trends.
Allows the company to estimate the effect of strategic policy changes.
Illustrates the return on the company’s investment in the benefit package strategy.
Allows management to create a logical link between employee performance and the factors that drive that performance.
Accurate, relevant and actionable reports.
Allows businesses to take their history to model future potential business decisions and the impact of factors outside of the company’s control.

Data-driven reporting in these areas can equip your senior staff with the power to understand the impact their decisions make on your employees. In addition, the HR team can help raise the changes of projects ending on time and on budget.

Why else do we need an HR business strategy?

An HR business strategy can help get answers to things like:

If we invest in growing the sales of our number one product, what is the real cost to scaling the production team to meet the demand?
How do the new HR federal laws affect our bottom line to remain in compliance?
Is our new recruiting program getting a better ROI than the last one?
How has our retention rate changed over the last few years at the supervisor level? What is affecting that?

HR Business Intelligence usually has strong needs for technology for gathering, sorting through and reporting on data sets.

If you are asking, “Why do we need an HR business strategy?”, why not contact us at MBA to talk it over. It’s the kind of question we get asked every day.

Modern Business Associates is an HR company that focuses on payroll and HR outsourcing. We routinely work with clients to help with all kinds of HR and payroll issues. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

What is HR business intelligence?

MBAHRO — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 19:16:00 GMT

What is HR business intelligence?

The answer to, “What is HR business intelligence”, is that it’s a way to draw useful business information from HR areas to help with decision-making. Some popular areas of HR business intelligence provide:

Accurate, relevant and actionable reports.
Allows businesses to take their history to model future potential business decisions and the impact of factors outside of the company’s control.
Enables executives to view and understand the business’ internal trends.
Allows the company to model the effect of benefit and policy changes.
Allows management to create a logical link between employee performance and the factors that drive that performance.
Insights like these can enable you to run your company with a much greater awareness of how one of your biggest expense areas (employees) will be impacted.

HR business intelligence can gain answers to many groups of business intelligence questions, like:

If we double sales of our most popular product, what is the real cost of scaling our workforce to meet the demand?
What will the cost be to abiding by that recent HR legislation?
Is our new recruiting program getting a better ROI than the last one?
How does out retention rate differ, the higher up in the organization you look? How much is that costing us each year?

HR Business Intelligence usually has strong needs for technology for gathering, sorting through and reporting on data sets.

If you are asking, “What is HR business intelligence?”, why not contact us at MBA to talk it over. It’s the kind of question we get asked every day.

Why Is HR Important?

MBAHRO — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:22:00 GMT

Why Is HR Important?

Sometimes the most basic questions about HR can lead to great conversations that help organizations flourish. One of the most basic in the Human Resources field is, “Why is HR important?” As a business owner, understanding that HR is one of the areas where you want to hire experts is a critical criterion for making your company stronger.

Why is HR important? – Support your management

HR can provide training for management to help them work with the diverse set of employees on their teams. Knowing how they could best interact with a Baby Boomer looking for loyalty and stability, versus a Y Generation who may need daily praise, can make a big difference with retention rates and hitting goals. HR can help train managers prevent common mistakes that swell to legal nightmares. HR is a great resource for getting feedback from managers and identifying growing HR trends inside your own company.

Why is HR Important? - Legal Compliance

Legislators on the state and national level have been very busy over the last few years passing legislation changes regarding all kinds of HR topics including unemployment, FMLA, and COBRA. Leaving the compliance to your HR professional can greatly save you on fines and time.

Why is HR Important? - Support Employees

Correctly used, your HR personnel can be great resources for your employees to help field out issues before they leave your premises and make it to the courts. Your HR personnel are in the best position to explain the company’s HR policies and programs so your employees can properly use them. The HR team can serve as consultants to the employees to help them plan their careers at your company, which in turn give your information to help you change the company to better retain them.

Why is HR Important? - Support Execs

By being able to represent your staff’s capabilities and expenses, your HR staff can be of great value when doing strategic planning and budgeting. They can represent the costs of change management in terms of personnel, salaries and expenses. Things like changing products can instigate layoffs, people quitting, needing to recruit different skill sets, and communication with staff. All of these have an impact to your bottom line.

These are a few of the top answers to, “Why is HR Important”. And, don’t forget things like Recruiting, Interviewing, employee orientations, and benefits programs.

What are Strategic HR Services?

MBAHRO — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:06:00 GMT

What are Strategic HR Services?

When we get asked, “What are Strategic HR Services?”, we usually provide the following explanation. From our experience, strategic HR services try to save business owners from spending too much money and time on HR capabilities. The HR services should be focused on letting business owners grow the business, not logging excessive hours with HR issues. HR services should provide:

Legal and Compliance Coverage to help avoid employee claims and to avoid fines.
Employee Policy development, documentation and communication to let employees understand what they need to know.
Benefits program development to create an appropriate set of benefits to retain employees and be in sync with the company’s corporate culture.
Recruiting, Hiring and Terminations best practices to help personnel get through these stages quickly so the company can focus on growth.
Employee coaching and counseling to help the company and employees keep the same expectations.
Payroll Processing Issues are frequently seen as an HR service. Outsourcing your payroll can help to off-load the complexities with taxes, deductions and governmental filings.

These are some of the most common services mentioned when companies call us and ask, “What are strategic HR Services anyway?” Please search through our tips and news areas of our site to see more about each topic, or call for a consultation. We’d be happy to answer any questions you may have about these kinds of services.

What is HR outsourcing?

MBAHRO — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:43:00 GMT

What is HR outsourcing?

As our team is contacted by business owners, we frequently get asked, “What is HR outsourcing anyway?” We love to hear this question because as we explain what HR outsourcing is, we get to share ways that the callers can let go of many time-intensive tasks and really get back to focusing on growing their business. We also lower their stress level by showing them how we’ll help keep them in line with the ever changing legal HR landscape.

What is HR outsourcing? In our view, it’s the ability for your company to rely on professionals who can take care of:

Legal and Compliance - to help avoid employee claims and to avoid fines.
Employee Policy - documentation and communication to let employees understand what they need to know.
Benefits program development to create an appropriate set of benefits to retain employees and be in sync with the company’s corporate culture. HR outsources usually have relationships with benefit providers and can help secure favorable rates.
Recruiting, Hiring and Terminations – HR outsources know the best practices to help personnel get through these stages quickly so the company can focus on growth.
Employee coaching and counseling – Some HR outsources go as far as working directly with employees to help your company and employees keep the same expectations.
Payroll Processing Issues are frequently seen as an HR service. Outsourcing your payroll can help to off-load the complexities with taxes, deductions and governmental filings.

These are some of the most common services mentioned when companies call us and ask, “What is HR outsourcing”. Please search through our tips and news areas of our site to see more about each topic, or call for a consultation. We’d be happy to answer any questions you may have about these kinds of services.

HR Company in Tampa Bay. Providing HR Outsource Services in Tampa and St. Petersburg

MBAHRO — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:17:00 GMT

HR Company in Tampa Bay. Providing HR Outsource Services in Tampa and St. Petersburg

When you look for an HR Company in Tampa Bay, keep in mind that human resources outsourcing is now more than just cost reduction. With a combination of human resource processes and HR software, an HR company can improve workforce performance.

When you enter into a human resources outsourcing agreement with Modern Business Associates (MBA), we act as a strategic back office. An HRO relationship offers clients human resources support in any of four targeted areas:

HR Company Essentials:

Employee Benefits Support
Risk Control and Workers' Compensation Insurance
Human Resources Consulting
Business Insurance Management

In addition, payroll processing can also be a key area to outsource due to the complications with deductions, taxes and reporting regulations.

In an HRO arrangement, clients receive administration assistance, but unlike in a PEO arrangement, a co-employment relationship is not established. Here, all insurance products are client based and employment-related taxes are reported and paid under the client’s federal ID number.

A great first step is to contact a local HR company in Tampa Bay and have them produce an assessment that should include some advice on what may make sense to outsource, and some cost to that outsourcing.

Modern Business Associates is an HR company in Tampa Bay’s St. Petersburg. As a local HR company, we bring an understanding of the liabilities and tax issues specific to the Tampa Bay area. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Best Payroll Services – What to look for

MBAHRO — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:41:00 GMT

Best Payroll Services – What to look for

When looking for the best payroll services, there’s handful of things to look for first. When evaluating the best payroll services, keep the following list of requirements in mind. Take the ones that impact your situation the most.

Customer service is a big one. Knowing they will be responsive and fix problems that inevitably crop up should be a pressing factor in your search.

The best payroll services have capabilities like:

Ability to distribute the paychecks after they have been created.
Ability to file tax returns on all levels of government.
W-2 and W-3 processing.
Online tools
Direct deposit options
Employee-facing customer service capabilities
Handling the variety of deductions and tax withholdings.
Will they certify the payroll run?
Reporting the way you need it.
Bringing ideas to you about tax credit opportunities

Reliability must be a factor too. Does your interaction with them give you a feeling that they are dependable and will be around year after year?

Here’s a link to the national association of payroll outsourcing to help locate a payroll outsource and to see recent developments in the payroll industry.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with payroll outsourcing. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Occupational Health concerns at a workplace, tips to avoiding workplace injuries

MBAHRO — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:48:00 GMT

Occupational Health concerns at a workplace, tips to avoiding workplace injuries.

Occupational health concerns at the workplace can cause un-needed stress on your workforce and expose you to liability. Your goal, as a business owner, should be to create a safe work environment for your employees. As part of your occupational health plan, you may also consider the health of your customers, suppliers, nearby communities who may be impacted by your business operations.

Create a safety manual and include:

Proper procedures for performing routine tasks that could be dangerous. (Employee feedback on this section is very beneficial to creating a good safety manual.)
What to do in an emergency: fire, natural disaster, etc.
Location of fire-exits and fire extinguishers.

Have an insurance professional or attorney review your manual and policies.

Lastly, make a point that safety meetings and inspections are important.

As inspiration, you might want to focus on two main benefits to a plan:

Keeping Employee Moral High – Keeping your employees (and others associated with the work environment) in a safe and injury-free workplace can go a long way toward fostering happy and productive team.
Avoiding Distracting Legal Situations – A documented plan for employee safety with procedures can help to avoid accidents that may lead to lawsuits. These can lead to legal fees, fines, compensatory damages and lost goodwill from your employees.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with HR policies. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Articles on Payroll Services

MBAHRO — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 20:53:00 GMT

Articles on Payroll Services

We offer a wealth of free articles on payroll services. What to look for. Mistakes to avoid when selecting a payroll service. How to prepare your staff for the transition to a payroll service. Tips for vetting payroll services before you commit.

Come see our extensive library of articles on Payroll Services.

Our HR outsourcing services track record has given us a great view into what kinds of questions need to be answered for a business owner to make a proper decision about their payroll service. Our articles on payroll services focus on helping you through those decisions.

Modern Business Associates is an HR company that focuses on payroll and HR outsourcing. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Cons of hiring an intern

MBAHRO — Sun, 23 May 2010 16:18:00 GMT

Cons of hiring an intern

Internships can be either paid or unpaid, depending on the circumstances. Keep a sharp eye on the current guidelines to stay in compliance, especially when trying to create an unpaid intern program. It’s now very difficult to create a compliant unpaid internship program. Here are a few of the cons of hiring an intern:

Hiring an intern takes time. The candidate search and the interviewing and screening process can take just as much work as a full-time employee hire. Plus, the intern usually only participates in the program for a few months, lowering the return on the hiring investment your team made.
Hiring an intern is usually not free. A recent flurry of political focus has clearly established that federal and state regulators are worried that companies are abusing internship programs and using them for free labor. In general, for an unpaid internship to be lawful under the FLSA, the intern must be properly classified as a "trainee" rather than an "employee." In the meantime, it may be safest to assume that all unpaid internships are unlawful.
Hiring an intern means your full-time staff has to expend effort bringing the employee onboard with orientation procedures and frequently temporary computer access and workspace.
Hiring an intern that is unpaid requires you to abide by a six factor check list produced by the FLSA, including your company receiving “no immediate benefit” from the work performed.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with designing internship programs. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Restaurant Employee Benefit Service Tips For the Small Restaurant

MBAHRO — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:09:00 GMT

Restaurant Employee Benefit Service Tips For the Small Restaurant

Small restaurant owners often find it difficult to compete for talent with larger restaurants regarding employee benefits. In an industry where 100-precent yearly turnover is the norm, most independent restaurants do not offer extensive benefits packages. By outsourcing your payroll and HR responsibilities to a professional employer organization (PEO), a small restaurant can level the playing field, and offer its employees the same benefits as a chain.

Frequently, things as small as direct deposit and a small benefit plans for dental and vision contribute to increased employee retention. Many restaurants see a change by letting an employee benefits service focus on these things for them.

Lower Premiums

The economies of scale provided by PEOs are helpful when procuring and administering health insurance benefits. By pulling all of its clients’ insurance premiums together and aggregating all of its worksite employees, a PEO can contract with providers all over the country and keep annual premium increases lower than average yearly double digit increases currently being experienced.

Better Benefits for Your Staff

Forty percent of businesses that use PEOs upgrade their benefit packages with supplemental health-care choices, including vision and dental care, employee assistance programs and even adoption assistance.

This was the case with Howl at the Moon franchisor, Lee Jerousek, who switched from employing a full time HR manager to PEO, Modern Business Associates, two years ago.

Better communications with staff

Employee benefit services are professional communication experts in being able to help bring new employees onboard. They also help with your communications plan to keep all the employees up-to-speed with the benefits offerings, to help retain them.

Avoiding Employee Claims

Many restaurants have predominately young males and females working together late into the night. This environment tends to create problems in the form of sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. A PEO is uniquely suited to train and develop managers, as well as institute proactive procedures for dealing with problems as they occur.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with employee benefit services. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

What is an ASO?

MBAHRO — Fri, 14 May 2010 18:12:00 GMT

What is an ASO?

Administrative Service Organizations (ASOs), also called “Hybrid Outsourcing”, are used by companies when they don’t want to move their entire HR organization to an outsource service provider. It allows for the business to outsource one or several difficult or time-intensive HR processes, such as payroll or benefits-plan administration. It is not uncommon for a business to have a relationship with multiple HR outsources, each experts in specific services.

Core Concepts of an administrative service organization (ASO):

Functionally the same as a PEO
No co-employment relationship
No Shared Status (Employees remain 100 percent yours).

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with ASO issues. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Employee Benefits Cost Advantages to Restaurants that outsource HR

MBAHRO — Wed, 12 May 2010 18:14:00 GMT

Employee Benefits Cost Advantages to Restaurants that outsource HR

When a restaurant considers outsourcing its HR functions, it normally takes into account some estimated employee benefits cost advantages. But many of the advantages go beyond having your employees take advantage of group benefits rates through the PEO company.

By using an outsource, restaurant owners can relieve themselves of the costly administrative burdens of managing:

Claims management
Direct Deposits
Payroll Taxes
Applying the complex laws governing wages and tips that can make managing restaurant payrolls extremely difficult to manage.

A PEO can help reduce the employee benefits cost and the risk of compliance penalties through:

Arranging for competitive health coverage.
Creating a I-9 compliance evaluation, which ensures that all employees are compliant with INS regulations and avoiding penalties.
Performing a payroll process audit to make recommendations to stay in compliance with Fair Labor Standards Act regulations.

In a recent survey, the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) found that a small business owner will spend 10 percent more time complying with workplace regulations than they did ten years ago.

Employee benefits cost reduction when firing or laying off staff.

PEOs can help restaurants make informed choices when planning to offer benefits to workers that will be fired or be a part of a layoff. Whether a company has an overworked HR staff in-house or no HR at all, a PEO allows restaurant owners to spend more time focusing on managing their restaurant.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with employee benefits costs. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Slip and Fall Workmans Comp – Tips for Risk Management for Restaurant Business Owners

MBAHRO — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:11:00 GMT

Slip and Fall Workmans Comp – Tips for Risk Management for Restaurant Business Owners

Slip and Fall Workmans comp insurance covers the slips and falls, as well as occasional accidents, but accounts for one the fastest growing labor costs. Premiums for workmans comp have risen 50 percent nationwide in the last three years - the fastest pace in a decade, according to the New York City-based Insurance Information Institute.

Due to food handling and preparation, restaurants have to comply with more regulations and compliance issues than ninety percent of the general business population.

Today workplace health and safety is more crucial than ever before to a small business’s long-term success. Dealing with the unexpected, the Swine Flu scare, along with constant recession-driven layoffs, is driving the cost of workers’ compensation premiums.

Workmans Comp accidents cost money such as direct costs:

Medical expenses
Compensation expenses

There are indirect costs as well. If lost, these items can easily cost you many times the direct costs.

Loss of Production
Loss of Time
Lowering of Employee morale
Drops in Customer Service

One option to deal with these risks is to partner with an HR outsource, like a Professional Employer Organization (PEO). A PEO routinely implements risk management processes to keep expenses down. For more than two decades, workmans comp (including slip and fall) risk management has been a central component of the total human resources solution PEOs have been providing. They routinely review and document the claims experience to understand the frequency and severity of claims. Results of these reviews help you avoid excessive costs and employee claims.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with Slip and Fall Workmans Comp. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.

Our St. Petersburg/Tampa, Florida HR company can help you in five key areas.

MBAHRO — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:10:00 GMT

Our St. Petersburg/Tampa, Florida HR company can help you in five key areas.

As a business owner in St. Petersburg, FL, you should know that companies that outsource their HR needs to an HR company are now doing it for many more reasons than just cost savings. Companies are now using their HR outsources to increase workforce performance, too.

Check that your HR company is acting as a strategic back office by using their experience, HR processes, and software to support these five key areas:

Payroll Administration
Employee Benefits Support
Risk Control and Workers' Compensation Insurance
Business Insurance Management
Human Resources Consulting

A comprehensive assessment of your current business practices can outline the areas that would best serve your company's human resources outsourcing needs. Please feel free to review the summary of HR services we offer at Modern Business Associates to help brainstorm your needs when looking for an HR company in St. Petersburg, FL.
Modern Business Associates is an HR company in St. Petersburg, FL. We take pride in working with our St. Petersburg and Tampa clients, as well as clients from across the nation. Our clients outsource their HR needs to us. Please contact us for more information about utilizing an HR company and any specific questions about our services. Our goal is for you to make the best informed decision for your St. Petersburg or Tampa-based company.

HR Outsourcing in Florida. HRO Options

MBAHRO — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:14:00 GMT

HR Outsourcing in Florida. HRO Options

As a business executive in Florida, outsourcing your HR department may be one of your biggest decisions this year. One aspect to evaluating outsource candidate companies is their location. If your company is in Florida, wouldn’t you like the increased trust factor in knowing your HR outsource is also in Florida and intimate with issues specific to your state?

MBA has been a shining star in Florida area over the last ten years. You should know that we’ve received multiple awards drawing praise for the services and support we provide our clients. As your fellow Florida HRO, we have unique aspects to our services to better serve your company:

Better understanding of your own employees and how to take action required based on issues specific to Florida. (like, “How should the housing market affect my recruiting efforts and relocation packages?” Or “How do I handle a multilingual job candidate that is still working on their citizenship?”)
More personal process to learning about how our Florida HRO can help you and starting a relationship together via face-to-face conversations with our new account staff.
Lower live training costs, due to less travel being required by MBA staff based in St. Petersburg, Florida.
An HRO based in Florida means more personal attention to your account.
We’ll have a better understanding of Florida state-wide issues, and your county legal and financial HR factors.
Better understanding of future legal and financial developments (like state laws that affect your company HR policies, etc.)

Our knowledgeable Florida HRO team includes HR specialists with legal backgrounds, employment tax professionals, certified payroll processors, licensed insurance agents and award winning customer service professionals. Our products and services are designed to offer you back-office support so you can focus on new revenue.

Will your PEO have what it takes lower your employee turnover?

MBAHRO — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:17:00 GMT

Will your PEO have what it takes lower your employee turnover?

As a large business executive, you may be considering outsourcing your payroll or HR issues. Savvy Professional Employer Organizations have developed specialized services and delivery systems that cater to needs specific to larger companies.

A common requirement from large businesses working with professional employer organizations is for the PEO to be able to deal with HR issues like employee morale and turnover.

You probably consider your employees as your most important asset. You should view your PEO selection as a choice to further protect this important asset. As opposed to small sized companies, your large business probably needs constant attention for HR issues.

We’re talking about needs beyond the traditional human resources services such as policy development, background checks, drug testing, compliance, discipline, termination, and employee relations.

Large companies also expect their PEOs to provide value-added services that make it a true strategic human resources solution. Businesses like yours are increasingly expressing their desire for long-term strategic human resources programs and practices that benefit the bottom line, as well as short term.

Through human resources assessments and strategic discussions with businesses like yours, PEOs have discovered that the "missing link" between human resources and the bottom line has been the absence of employee involvement. As a result, large PEO clients are requesting strategies in critical areas that impact their bottom line:

Human resources recruiting
Selection
Retention
Turnover
Absenteeism
Morale
Development
Performance
Complaint resolution
Communication management.

Are these areas of need issues in your company, too? Try to get a sense of whether your PEO has a history of solving these kinds of issues relating to human resources.

Recruiting of your own HR people to help work on these issues should be an area of expertise. Ask them about it. Your internal HR team should anticipate working with the PEO in developing and implementing proactive human resources services. Make sure the PEO you’re considering has the capability to do this in a professional, organized and timely way. Exposing your HR people to an unprofessional representative from the PEO is a quick way to lose their confidence.

At Modern Business Associates, our knowledgeable Florida HRO team includes HR specialists with legal backgrounds, employment tax professionals, certified payroll processors, licensed insurance agents and award winning customer service professionals. Our products and services are designed to offer you back-office support so you can focus on new revenue.

You’ve just grown to have 20 employees. Did you know it comes with COBRA responsibilities?

MBAHRO — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:41:00 GMT

You’ve just grown to have 20 employees. Did you know it comes with COBRA responsibilities?

Here’s one tip when terminating employees or reducing their hours:

Employers offering group healthcare plans (including medical, dental, and vision) likely are covered by the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), or an even more restrictive state or local law.

COBRA notices need to be issues correctly to avoid penalties.

Under COBRA, an employer with 20 or more employees must provide terminated workers and workers whose hours have been reduced (as well as qualified beneficiaries) with an opportunity to continue group coverage, usually for up to 18 months. (Continuation costs are borne by the employee.)

You can be fined both excise taxes and Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) penalties for failing to properly notice employees, and can even be held liable for an unnoticed beneficiary's medical claims and related legal fees.

A note about using a third party administrator:

To ensure compliance, if you use a third party administrator, you must notify your administrator within 30 days of an employee's termination or reduction of hours; in turn, the administrator has 14 days to notify the employee and other beneficiaries of their right to continue coverage.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with HR issues. As a Professional Employee Organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics including designing processes for terminations and COBRA notifications.

Are your discrimination claims going up? You need a HR outsource. Here’s why.

MBAHRO — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:50:00 GMT

Are your discrimination claims going up? You need a HR partner. Here’s why.

USA Today recently ran an informative article, based on recently release EEOC data, on why your discrimination claims are going up. Understanding the effects of recent market and discrimination law changes will help you better prepare for what’s ahead for you.

Contributing Factors to more claims:

Changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act last year made it easier for people with treatable conditions to say they are disabled (epilepsy, diabetes, etc.) Legislation signed into law by President George W. Bush before he left office directs courts to apply the definition of disability more generously.
We have a more diverse workplace with people from all over the world and made up of many races.
The economic environment seems to be contributing to employees being more aware of their rights.
Changes at the EEOC filing processes (and EEOC website) have been made it easier for an employees to learn about their rights and to file discrimination charges.

In part because of these changes last year…

There was a record number of job discrimination claims based on disability, religion or national origin last year. 93,000 discrimination claims were filed during the 2009 fiscal year, a 2% decrease from the record set in 2008, but still the second-highest level in the commission's history.
Charges of discrimination based on national origin rose about 5% to 11,134 claims
Allegations of race discrimination remained the most frequently filed complaint, accounting for about 36% of all filings last year.
Religious discrimination claims rose less than 1%, to 3,386 claims.
The largest increase in any category was a rise of about 10% to 21,451 claims, for disability discrimination.

It is a lengthy and tedious process for companies to actively deal with EEOC compliance paperwork, and many details can often be overlooked until it is too late. To help businesses keep up with their paperwork and discrimination law, there are a growing number of professional employee companies that manage these kinds of HR and EEOC issues for their clients.

Modern Business Associates deals with these kinds of issues on a frequent basis. As a Professional Employee Organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of issues.

What does PEO stand for?

MBAHRO — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:57:00 GMT

What does PEO stand for? What is a PEO?

If you’re asking yourself, “What does PEO stand for?”, then you should know that, professional employer organizations (PEOs) are in the business of being an outsource for companies that want to focus on their core business model. PEOs provide the ability to outsource:

Human Resources
Employee Benefits
Payroll
Workers’ Compensation

Many businesses today see the value in outsourcing the parts of their business that don’t focus on their expertise at revenue-producing and operational efforts.

A few benefits of using a PEO are:

Lower payroll processing costs with higher reliability concerning documentation and regulatory requirements
Using their HR legal resources to lower their risk of employee lawsuits
Professionally dealing with compensation and unemployment insurance claims.
Improved employment practices, compliance and risk management to reduce liabilities.
Access to a comprehensive employee benefits package, allowing clients to be competitive in the labor market.

“What does PEO Stand For?” – Let Modern Business Associates help you through the process of understanding how a Professional Employer Organization can help your bottom-line this year. As a PEO, Modern Business Associates provides a wide range of personnel management solutions through our team of HR and payroll professionals. Contact us about your PEO questions today.

Benefits of Performance Appraisals include Compliance Protection

MBAHRO — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:06:00 GMT

Benefits of Performance Appraisals include Compliance Protection

A performance appraisal system, when properly managed, provides you with a means of measuring, maintaining, and improving your employee’s job performances. Through the job performance appraisal program, your company can:

Validate hiring decisions
Recognize employees' job performance strengths and weaknesses
Identify employees who are ready for promotion or greater responsibilities
Assess training needs

From a compliance perspective, you should be able to rely on performance appraisals to justify the full range of personnel decisions, including discipline and termination actions.

For example, if a performance appraisal reflects poor job performance by the employee and this employee is later terminated, the you can point to the performance appraisal to show the employee was not performing to standards. If, however, an employee with overall weak performance is given a good or even average appraisal, and the employee is later terminated without interim discipline, the performance appraisal will have the opposite result — the employee may use it to show the termination decision was not justified and instead, was based on a discriminatory or other unlawful factor.

A well designed and administered performance appraisal program can go far to protect employers from certain legal challenges to employment decisions.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with performance appraisals. As a HR outsource organ, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics including compliance protection.

How to avoid age discrimination issues during layoffs.

MBAHRO — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:07:00 GMT

How to avoid age discrimination issues during layoffs.

There are a variety of reasons for an employer to offer severance to an employee who is separating from employment (e.g., to settle threatened or actual litigation, as a goodwill gesture in the event of a layoff), but in virtually all situations, the employer is going to insist that the employee sign a release as a condition to receiving the settlement payment.

This article outlines some of the most important issues, specific to age discrimination, employers should consider when drafting such waivers. In all circumstances, it is advisable that outside counsel review all agreements.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) has a list of requirements that must be incorporated into your release. They focus on making sure the departing employee does not waive any right or claim under ADEA unless the waiver is “knowing and voluntary”. This means the release must:

Be "written in a manner calculated to be understood" by the employee; and
Specifically refer to the employee's rights or claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act; and
Only waive rights or claims that arose prior to the date the waiver was signed; and
Provide consideration; and
Advise the employee to consult an attorney prior to executing the release; and
Allow the employee at least 21 days to consider whether she will sign the agreement; and
Allow the employee at least seven days to revoke the agreement.

Keep in mind, a release under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act may not preclude an employee from filing a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or participating in an EEOC investigation.

A release agreement can serve useful business purposes, including, but not only, litigation prevention and avoidance. To achieve its objective, however, the waiver must be carefully drafted to ensure that if challenged, it will be enforced.

Outsource Human Resources – Tampa

MBAHRO — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:08:00 GMT

Outsource Human Resources – Tampa

Outsourcing some, or all, of your human resources processes for a Tampa company is an important decision. As a Tampa business owner, your human resources capabilities can hinder your growth with time-consuming paperwork and expose you to legal complications that can be avoided by leveraging a local Tampa Bay human resources partner.

We enable you to off-load your:

Payroll Administration
Workers’ Compensation
Benefits Support
Human Resources
Tampa Bay local knowledge. Possibly the most important aspect of our business is the monitoring of legislative changes and keeping your HR procedures and policies up to par.

These services are designed to offer you back-office support so you can focus on new revenue and avoid situations that lead to lawsuits.

Our knowledgeable Tampa Bay human resources team includes employment tax professionals, certified payroll processors, licensed insurance agents, employment law attorneys, and award winning customer service professionals.

The Local Advantage:

As a Tampa Bay human resources outsource, that is a local company just like you, we bring a unique style of support to you through our understanding of Tampa Bay legal, weather and political issues. For example, you probably want your HR outsource to understand the legal and policy complications that come with hurricane season:

Staff refusing to come to work do to sandbagging their house
Staff demanding to leave early to get batteries from the hardware store.
Staff asking for paid leave when their house takes some damage and they need the time to repair it.

Your contacts at MBA will be looking at the same weather map at their desk as you are when you contact them with urgent questions.

WARN act can ruin your layoff plan, are you at risk?

MBAHRO — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:11:00 GMT

WARN act can ruin your layoff plan, are you at risk?

Here at Modern Business Associates, we frequently deal with federal labor and employment laws and how they affect our clients. Laws relating to layoffs have been a hot topic lately. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN act) is one such hot legal issue.

The WARN act sets forth specific notification requirements for covered employers undergoing certain layoffs. (States including California, Illinois, Maine, and New Jersey have enacted similar legislation expanding an employer's notification obligations.)

In part, the WARN act requires employers with 100 or more employees to provide workers with 60 days written notice of:

Plant Closings
Mass Layoffs

Under the WARN act, a "plant closing" is a permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment resulting in an employment loss of 50 or more employees during a 30-day period.

Under the WARN act, a "mass layoff" is either a reduction in workforce resulting in a single-site employment loss of at least 33 percent of the site's employees (a minimum of 50 employees must be affected), or an employer's overall loss of 500 or more total employees.

With certain exceptions, employers who fail to comply with the WARN act, face substantial monetary liability. An affected employer must identify and adhere to its obligations under the WARN act and its state counterparts.

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with complex HR issues. As a Professional Employee Organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics including designing plans for layoffs and HR communication plans appropriate to federal labor laws.

Large company benefits management needs from a professional employer organization

MBAHRO — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:36:00 GMT

Large company benefits management needs from a professional employer organization

As a large business executive, you may be considering outsourcing your payroll or HR processes. Savvy Professional Employer Organizations have developed specialized services and delivery systems that cater to needs specific to larger companies.

A common requirement from large businesses working with professional employer organizations is for exceptional benefits support.

In today's competitive job market large businesses know that a strong benefits package is a major inducement for attracting and retaining top talent.

Large businesses use PEOs to offer benefits beyond the standard health, dental and as 401(k) plans. A more comprehensive benefit package provides you with a way to distinguish your company from competitors and gain a competitive edge.

In addition to the standard offerings, large clients are requesting a broader array of benefits, such as health savings accounts, employer assistance programs (EAPs), pet insurance, homeowner's insurance, and Section 529 pre-paid college plans.

Make sure you ask whether your PEO has relationships with service providers to make these standout benefits available to your employees.

Get upfront PEO-contract clarity on HR and Payroll Outsourcing fee structures from a professional employer organization, to prevent hassles down the road.

MBAHRO — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:03:00 GMT

Get upfront PEO-contract clarity on HR and Payroll Outsourcing fee structures from a professional employer organization, to prevent hassles down the road.

With the changing business environment and the need to focus on generating revenues, many business owners are considering outsourcing the payroll, tax, insurance and employee benefits support tasks for their businesses. Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) are designed to take on these duties for you. It is not uncommon for one PEO company to structure its fees differently from others. Building trust with your HR outsourcing company is critical to the relationship’s long term success.

When looking at a PEO contract, here’s a list of things to ask upfront, to prevent misunderstandings down the road.

“Do you bundle your fees?”

Traditionally, PEOs bill their service package in either a bundled or unbundled format.

PEOs opting for the unbundled invoice method list the services individually on the invoice.

The payroll amounts
Employment-related taxes (FICA, FUTA, SUTA)
Workers' compensation premiums
Administration fee charged by the PEO
Benefit costs

PEOs using the bundled invoice approach combine all the service fees, occasionally breaking out the Benefit Costs. Either method is fine, just be sure that you understand what is included in a bundled fee.

“What if the workers’ compensation rates or group health insurance premiums change during the contract? How will those changes affect my bill?”

It’s in the best interest of the PEO company to secure the best rates from insurance carriers, but those rates do change. You need to have a clear understanding regarding how those rate changes will affect the PEOs fees during the contract period.

“Does your Client Service Agreement cover all of these questions?”

A PEO agent should be able to provide a well drafted client service agreement (CSA) that outlines the responsibilities of the PEO and identifies all services for which the client is being charged. Just like with any other contract, it is important that you, as a business owner, understand the agreement you are entering in to.

“Do you utilize an IRS Section 125 plan in calculating payroll taxes?”

PEOs can use an IRS Section 125 plan to reduce the tax liabilities for your company, which means they can calculate the payroll taxes based on the reduced taxable wages. Check to see if the PEO utilizes a Section 125 plan and find out how the tax reduction is reflected on your invoice.

The PEO contract should be drafted in such a way that little question can be raised during the contract period of how fees will be applied. The partnership between client and PEO can be mutually beneficial, provided these considerations are addressed early in the business relationship.

At Modern Business Associates, we handle these kinds of questions every day. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to professionally answer any questions you may regarding this topic and how it applies to your specific company.

Benefits of Performance Appraisals include Compliance Protection

MBAHRO — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:18:00 GMT

Benefits of Performance Appraisals include Compliance Protection

Validate hiring decisions
Recognize employees' job performance strengths and weaknesses
Identify employees who are ready for promotion or greater responsibilities
Assess training needs

From a compliance perspective, you should be able to rely on performance appraisals to justify the full range of personnel decisions, including discipline and termination actions.

A well designed and administered performance appraisal program can go far to protect employers from certain legal challenges to employment decisions.

Alternatives to Layoffs

MBAHRO — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:20:00 GMT

Modern Business Associates frequently deals with layoff and other HR issues. As a HR outsourcing organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics including designing plans for layoffs and appropriate HR communication plans.

Unemployment Insurance

MBAHRO — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:13:00 GMT

This white paper, published by Ernst & Young, a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services, reviews the impending increases in unemployment tax and how employers may be affected.