Author: Stephanie

6 Must-Have Benefits Every Business Needs to Attract the Best Team

By Delmar Johnson

If you’re looking to hire within your business, there are 6 key things you should have in place to help you stand out among other recruiters. Read below to learn how to find the best talent for your business.

When it’s time to hire employees, you do it with the hope that they will be a part of your team for the long haul right?

Of course you do! It’s important to create a company culture that promotes your core values and beliefs. CLICK TO TWEET

Why?

Because all employees are looking for the same perks… BENEFITS!

I’d venture to say that the first thought when business owners hear “benefits” is typically healthcare coverage.

This makes total sense with the legal changes over the last several years.

But there are other benefits besides Healthcare that you can offer to your employees.

Let’s take a look at some MUST HAVE benefits for you to consider in your business

1. Minimum wage and overtime pay

While there is a federal minimum wage, states may elect to raise the minimum wage within their borders. The minimum wage can be modified by a change in federal law.

2. Employees time off to vote, serve on a jury and perform military service.

Employers big and small understand that civic duty and serving the country is admirable and support those decisions.

3. Pay state and federal unemployment taxes, thus providing benefits for unemployed workers

Unemployment insurance benefits are mandatory and vary by state. However, employees terminated with just cause typically do not receive unemployment benefits.

4. Workers Compensation

If an employee suffers an accident on the job, workers’ compensation insurance usually pays for medical costs, and time off in some cases. Workers’ compensation varies by state, and the federal government administers its own program for federal workers.

5. Social Security payment credits

When an employee works a certain number of hours in the job, the employee receives Social Security credits. These credits are applied toward retirement benefits when the employee reaches retirement age.

6. Comply with the Federal Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)

When your business has at least 50 payroll employees FMLA must be implemented as an option when employees must take a leave of absence due to family and medical leave (e.g., pregnancy, caring for a spouse, adoption and more) The truth is, benefits are a company’s bargaining chip! CLICK TO TWEET

When considering which benefits to offer, think of what is appealing to potential employees.

What will make a top prospect choose your company over the competition?

Let’s be honest, how often are benefits mentioned when a company is being recommended to a job seeker?

EVERY TIME!

Even before submitting a resume, prospects want to know if there will be medical and/or dental plans.

Is there a retirement package? Are there allotted hours for leave?

You know, the basics!

In summary, these are my best tips to attracting the best team to help you build your business. Creating the right package, not only benefits employees but benefits your business and contributes to the culture of values you’ve created.

Ghosting, Is It Today’s Worker New Way of Saying I’m Out?

By Delmar Johnson

Has it gotten that bad in the workplace? Or is the job place economy undeniably good? According to the New York Times this could possibly the best time for the American labor market in at least 18 years and maybe closer to 50.

Most of us have heard the word “ghosting” being associated with a bad date or ditching out on a party that you weren’t really into. But today it seems like ghosting (leaving without notice and nobody can find you) is on the rise in the workplace. It’s a term that doesn’t have longevity in the vernacular, so there is not a lot of stats on it, yet it is showing up in the industry across the nation. And since there aren’t many stats on it, I’ll just give you my take on what ghosting by employee is all about in the workplace today.

Now if you’ve done any type of job and been in the workforce for any length of time, you have probably heard the term “at will”. If you are employed at will, your employer does not need good cause to fire you. Doesn’t mean you don’t have rights under state and federal laws, because you do. But for the sake of this article, lets look at the very simplified perspective.

An employer can terminate your employment; however, I see “at will” as being a two-way street. Just as they have a right to fire you, you as the employee have your own will and option to leave when you feel like it.

Sometimes depending on your position and industry there may be some specific parameters around how you leave a job, for instance maybe a doctor or a tenured professor may require you to truly give notice not to have unnecessary backlash in leaving. Or maybe as a Corporate Executive, who has a parachute clause that’s attached to how they terminate their employment, it wouldn’t be very wise to just “ghost.”

However, if we look at it from a general working-class population, many employees may feel like they have not been treated properly, or they’re being underpaid and overworked, or could it be their work schedule has no flexibility and it’s affecting their life outside the workplace walls. Honestly there could be a plethora of things about why they’re choosing to ghost their employer. Now by society and workplace terms it’s always good etiquette to give the employer an advance notice no matter the reason you’re leaving. For example, a week or two-week notice; depending again on what type of job you have. Yes it may leave a bad taste in the employer’s mouth about how a worker left, but again let’s go back to the fact that if you are living in an at-will state which all states are, except Montana, the possibility of “ghosting” can and obviously will occur.

Again at-will truly can apply to both sides of the fence, even when the job market seems strong and the economy is seemingly booming. Today there are so many ways to make a living and earn the type of income you as an individual believe you deserve, whether through a job or entrepreneurship.

Ghosting to be clear, is not necessarily something I agree with or would do myself. Hey, I have 25 years in this HR game, so there’s a certain way that I conduct myself however, I also see this as we are living in a time now where people are choosing to live their life very differently then maybe 20 or 30 years ago in the workplace.

The economy may be better for some and the job market may be better for others; however people personally I would venture to say are dealing with other things outside of the workplace, like illness mental-health issues, family issues, could again be so many things that they’ve even lost a concentration in the workplace and they have consciously decided you know what “I’m going it figure it out in my own way.” So as an HR consultant to entrepreneurs and small-business, I will continue to look at how this new way of leaving employer, ghosting, as it’s being called and how it is truly going to affect the workplace.