|
In This Issue
Late in 2011, the U.S. economy began crackling with signs of increasing confidence, putting American entrepreneurs in a better position than they’ve been in for years, says Karl Schamotta, a senior market strategist for Western Union Business Solutions (WU) in Calgary. Read More
Texas recorded 456 work-related fatalities in 2010, compared to 482 fatalities in 2009. Transportation incidents caused 43 percent of the fatalities, according to a report issued by the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC).
If you need a review of your Workers’ Safety Program, contact Fernando Rivera at eESI today. Read More
Think the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s not serious about investigating how employers use the results of employee background checks? Check out this case.
Pepsi Beverages has agreed to pay $3.13 million and provide job offers and training to resolve a charge of race discrimination filed with the EEOC.
Contact Your eESI HR Department Today.
Read More
After the overspending, overeating, and general overextending of December, it's hardly surprising that so many people choose to spend January turning over new leaves. But even beyond the month of new diets, new workout programs, and new strategies for resisting the siren song of cheesecake, the beginning of the year is the perfect time to try out new ways to manage your money. Read More
1. Auto Expenses
As a small business owner, you are able to deduct some of your automobile expenses. You may be able to expense the cost of a vehicle if you use it for your business. You should always keep track of all your business-related automobile use. You also may be able to deduct a certain amount for mileage. Read More
Years ago, the fellow who was running the IRS at the time told Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine that he figured millions of taxpayers overpaid their taxes every year by overlooking just one of the money-savers listed here.
Cut your tax bill to the bone by claiming all the breaks you deserve -- including some you may have forgotten, and some you may have never even known about. Read More
A couple of years ago, California’s Employment Development Department (EDD) came into the wine country and swept through the spa industry with worker classification audits. Masseuses, working as independent contractors for several spas as well as for themselves, were reclassified as employees. The state taxing agency hit the spas hard with bills for employment taxes, along with penalties and interest. Read More
You’re a busy small-business owner. You have sales to close, employees to hire, leases to negotiate and meetings to attend. Why should you care about office wellness?
Contact eESI for assistance in incorporating a wellness program into your business. Read More
Expecting to get faster and stronger without presenting yourself with challenges and variation is quite futile.
Some might think that the hill repeats I encourage athletes to do are insane but I promise that, despite the burning legs and lungs, they help develop physical strength and mental fortitude, and they can take your fitness to the next level. Read More
Why do most people fail to lose weight or get in better shape? They go all in.
Losing weight is hard. Millions of people try and fail. So it stands to reason the only way to lose weight and get in better shape is to follow a comprehensive, complicated, life-changing program. Read More
Know It To Win It
Congratulations to Carmen from Houston for winning December's Know It to Win It!
January's contest question is the following:
What form do you need to fill out to participate in the VCSP program?
Send the correct answer to eESINews@eesipeo.com within 5 business days from the PeopleTalk release date and you will be entered into a drawing for a prize. Following the drawing, we will contact the winner to verify their contact information and reveal the prize for delivery.
Remember, please send your answer to eESINews@eesipeo.com
In addition, if you know someone who would like to start participating in the PeopleTalk / Know It to Win It contest, have them enter their winning answer too.
Good Luck to All!
If you missed a previous release or simply want to review an article of interest, all our PeopleTalk newsletters have been archived. Read More
|
New Technology is on the Horizon for eESI
We have some very exciting news to share with you! For the last eighteen months, we have been intensely searching the market for the latest technology in payroll, benefits, human resources and risk management to bring to our clients. As we have all seen in our daily lives, technology has evolved so quickly to now include smart phones, mobile apps, social media and other instant information resources that it was only a matter of time before these capabilities would be available in our industry. And now we will start bringing them to you this year!
So what does this mean for our clients? It means that clients and employees will have access to more information than ever before. Clients can access and generate their own reports, record and track information that is important to their business; along with employees having 24/7 access to a secure self-service portal in which they can make changes to their information whenever and wherever the need arises.
Our clients asked, so our clients shall have! Please keep your suggestions coming. We value your input and certainly will incorporate as much as we possibly can. We plan to finalize the new software platform by the end of February and will begin beta testing on April 1st. If you would like to be a part of that process, please let us know by contacting your Payroll Specialist. We would love to include you and would appreciate your assistance in fine-tuning the software to fit client and employee needs.
There will be more information to come in the next month so be on the lookout. Exciting stuff indeed!
What You Should Outsource to Amp Up Efficiency
What odd jobs have you outsourced in order to increase your company's overall productivity? Thomas of Las Vegas, NV
The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). Founded by Scott Gerber, the YEC is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the country's most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to youth unemployment and underemployment and provides its members with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of a business's development and growth.
No. 1: Mail
From Eric Bahn of Beat The GMAT
Packing up a product and mailing it at the post office is ridiculously time consuming—especially when the package is going overseas (visa forms are no fun). I just pay an outsourced temp on TaskRabbit $10 an hour to buy my envelopes/boxes, package up my products, and mail them at the post office. This saves me a dozen hours at least each week.
No. 2: Advertising
From Anthony Saladino of Kitchen Cabinet Kings
We outsourced the creative behind our YouTube advertising initiative to several low-cost providers. The results were interesting to say the least. We received video from a rapping female in a hot dog costume, a torch juggler, and a semi-pro basketball player slam dunking on the court.
No. 3: Video Transcriptions
From Tim Jahn of Entrepreneurs Unpluggd
When I first decided I wanted to start providing text transcriptions of my video interviews with entrepreneurs, I transcribed them myself. After a few interviews, I realized I could pay somebody to do it much quicker, which allowed me to devote my time to tasks I was faster and better at.
No. 4: Logisitics
From Danny Wong of Blank Label Group, Inc.
After packaging tons of shirts ourselves in FedEx boxes and carrying them in suitcases and backpacks to the FedEx office, we realized we just didn't want to do it anymore. So, we started paying some of our best friends to do it, which turned out to be the least fulfilling job they had ever done. Finally, we decided to partner with a logistics company who handles all our shipping and handling.
No. 5: Payroll
From Lauren Maillian Bias of Luxury Market Branding
I outsourced payroll with my first company when I hired my third employee. Payroll is time intensive and keeping track of deductions, liabilities and tax payments can get cumbersome. Outsource payroll to a trusted automated service and you will gain hours of productivity each pay period.
No. 6: Data Mining
From Brenton Gieser of JoynIn
Mining data for market research, PR, or sales purposes is one of the most important and most tedious tasks you will encounter. Always outsource tedious tasks and focus on the creative and implementation side of your business.
No. 7: Trade Show Marketing
From Lucas Sommer of Audimated
At trade shows you shouldn't be at your booth, you should be at everyone else's booth making relationships. I have outsourced "bodies" at several trade shows to man the booth, give the pitch and sign people up. Meanwhile, my time is freed up to make contacts and drive new business.
No. 8: Our Name
From Ryan Holmes of HootSuite
When HootSuite first came to fruition, it was named BrightKit. This didn’t fit with our brand so we offered a $500 reward and crowd-sourced the name. BrightKit was transformed into HootSuite.
No. 9: Virtual Assistant
From Nick Friedman of College Hunks Hauling Junk
One of our franchise owners actually outsourced his online dating so that he could focus on his company's productivity. He hired a virtual assistant to act as himself by going online and setting up dates via the internet. The owner would then attend the dates, but he was able to avoid the time and effort spent leading up to the date online. He rewarded the virtual assistant with bonuses.
No. 10: Security
From Michael Sinensky of Village Pourhouse
I used to hire only in-house security guards for my bars but the tedious search for the right guards and lengthy training process would cause nights where we were understaffed. The straw that broke the camel's back was finding out in-house guards were almost impossible to insure for assault and battery so we outsourced to a security company to supply the guards. Even though I could save 20% across the board on this line item, it's more efficient for us to outsource.
Read More
|
