Legislation was introduced last week that could extend certain unemployment benefits and expiring tax provisions through the end of the year. The legislation is being called the American Jobs and Closing Loopholes Act of 2010.
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According to the Senate Committee on Finance, the legislation would:

* Provide tax relief to organizations to encourage the growth and creation of jobs
* Provide tax cuts
* Create small business loan programs
* Expand career training programs for jobseekers
* Extend eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits, COBRA health care tax credits, and other programs through December 31, 2010
* Ensure that seniors, military service members, and people with disabilities continue to have access to medical professionals
* Close tax loopholes for investment fund managers and foreign operations of multinational companies

In addition, the legislation could make several changes to disaster response in the areas of:

* Oil spill response
* National Flood insurance
* Main safety
* Federally-declared disaster areas
* Agriculture disaster relief

Hiring human resources consultants is a great way to lift the burden from your current administrative staff.  A HRO (Human Resources Outsourcing) firm can supply experienced professionals to handle your company’s staff management needs from payroll and employee recruitment to benefits and policy manuals. They also ensure that you stay compliant with all relevant federal and state labor laws.

Human resources consultants offer many services to complement your existing HR policies or develop new ones:

• Payroll services are at the top of a human resource consultant’s offerings. It includes paycheck processing, tax filings, direct deposits, and year-end tax form processing.
• They can also obtain competitive rates for comprehensive benefits packages.
• A human resources consultant ensures 100% compliance with all federal and state laws.
• They create documentation for such policies as sexual harassment and minimum wage.
• To ensure the safety of the workplace and your employees, human resources consultants can develop risk management policies in accordance with OSHA regulations.

Human resources consultants: pros & cons
There are some pros and cons to hiring human resources consultants for your business. HRO firms offer consultants with years of experience, something a small or new business could benefit from. But some of the policies they implement can cost money and may only work for larger companies. You can make up some of those savings by bringing in consultants in lieu of a full-time HR director. However, you lose the personal attention in-house HR directors provide.

Also, when your organization anticipates big changes, a human resources consultant can help ease the process by detailing how it benefits the company. But they often need the help of in-house staff to directly respond to employee concerns and to gauge reaction throughout the company.

If you feel hiring a human resources consultant can benefit your HR processes, contact GHRO to receive a free quote, and learn how you can outsource you business.

By Susan M. Heathfield, About.com Guide

Looking for ways to potentially cut costs and unburden your shrinking Human Resources staff members? Do you have staff working until six and seven at night? Are you going home each day feeling as if you will never catch up? If so, join the crowd – or choose not to join. Outsource instead.

“The current economic climate is forcing organizations to explore tactics to remain competitive. Business process outsourcing of certain functions is an increasingly popular way to improve basic services while allowing HR professionals time to play a more strategic role in their organizations.”

In a recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), HR professionals were asked if they outsource any HR functions. Additionally, if they do outsource, they were asked what functions they outsource. HR professionals were asked to select all that apply.

“Reason for Outsourcing

• 26 percent – Save money
• 23 percent – Focus on strategy
• 22 percent – Improve compliance
• 18 percent – Improve accuracy
• 18 percent – Lack experience in house
• 18 percent – Take advantage of technological advances
• 17 percent – Offer services we otherwise could not
• 15 percent – Focus on core business
• 5 percent – Other
• 47 percent – Do not outsource[/li[

Functions Outsourced

• 84 percent – 401 (k) administration
• 84 percent – Employee assistance/counseling
• 74 percent – Retirement planning help
• 73 percent – Pension administration
• 72 percent – Temporary staffing
• 68 percent – Background checks
• 57 percent – Training and management development programs
• 54 percent – Executive development and coaching
• 53 percent – Health care benefits administration
• 49 percent – Employee benefit administration
• 49 percent – Payroll
• 46 percent – Risk management
• 44 percent – Executive staffing
• 41 percent – Employee relocation
• 40 percent – HRIS selection, training implementation
• 32 percent – Recruitment
• 17 percent – Executive compensation and incentive plans
• 15 percent – Policy writing
• 14 percent – Administration of compensation/incentive plans
• 11 percent – Wage and salary administration”

by Zachary Williamson

Iח fact, Bill Gates һаѕ proclaimed tһаt tһе paperless office іѕ “one οf those ‘аחу day now’ phenomena tһаt never seem tο actually arrive. … Paperwork іѕ increasing fаѕtеr tһаח digital technology саח eliminate іt.”

Aѕ a result, document management аחԁ imaging outsourcing һаѕ become bіɡ business. Companies looking tο image capture tһеіr paper documents аrе increasingly turning tο service providers bесаυѕе іt’s less expensive tһаח hiring permanent staff.

According tο a report bу research firm IDC, tһе industry reached $13 billion іח 2003 аחԁ wаѕ expected tο expand аt a compound annual rate οf 19.7 percent over tһе next three years.

Iח fact, major companies Ɩіkе General Electric now take advantage οf wһаt іѕ called business process outsourcing, οr BPO – tһе delegation οf operational responsibility fοr a business process’s execution аחԁ performance. Tһіѕ applies חοt οחƖу tο paperwork bυt a variety οf organizational tasks.

“Seventy percent οf ουr business processes ѕһουƖԁ bе outsourced,” ѕаіԁ former chairman аחԁ CEO Jack Welch. GE’s outsourcing strategy delivered 26 quarters οf increasing profitability, despite market instability аחԁ еνеr-changing conditions.

Quintek Technologies Inc. іѕ one company focusing οח BPO solutions, providing services tο enable Fortune 500 аחԁ Global 2000 corporations tο reduce costs аחԁ maximize tһеіr revenues.

Benefits οf BPO services include: reducing costs bу lowering overhead аחԁ improving tһе efficiency οf processes; allowing organizations tο focus οח tһеіr core business; аחԁ providing access tο scalable operations аחԁ οח-demand resources.

Mοѕt BPO processes bеɡіח bу organizing data іחtο digital formats, аחԁ tһіѕ һаѕ increased tһе need fοr support frοm companies Ɩіkе Quintek.

Sο wһіƖе tһе paperless office seems tο bе a far-οff goal, tһаt јυѕt leaves plenty οf room fοr tһе BPO market tο grow. According tο one report bу Forrester Research, tһе BPO market іѕ expected tο grow frοm $19 billion іח 2004 tο $146 billion іח 2008.

Why is a lifestyle wellness program necessary?

• 27 have cardiovascular disease
• 24 have high blood pressure
• 50 or more have high cholesterol
• 26 are overweight by 20 percent or more
• 44 suffer from stress
• 59 don’t get adequate exercise

Please join GHRO as we discuss the importance of Health to your company.

Sue Parks, CEO of WalkStyles, Inc. will present the ICount program and share why your company’s health is important to your bottom-line!

When/Where:

There are many complications have a small business, but not as urgent as the need for health, dental and life insurance. Many small business owners obtain coverage through employment of a spouse. However, there are many small farmers who are not married, whose spouse is self-employed or not offer benefits through their employer.

Another option for small businesses to collaborate with a professional employer Organization (PEO).PEO, also known as employee leasing companies, human resource management functions of companies of any size, but focus mainly on Small and Medium Enterprises. Some of the functions of human resources executives of a typical OPE are:

Payroll

Direct Deposit

Compensation insurance for workers’

Health insurance

Dental Insurance

Life insurance

Retirement

Deposits and Tax Reporting

Caution

A group of PEOand companies to get all sizes to reduce the best prices for services and personnel costs to a minimum. To work with a PEO will be asked to fill out an application and a setup fee of $ 50.00 to $ 300.00 depending on the size of your company are. Monthly rates will be determined by the EPA, are generally in number of wage controls during the month shall be granted and the number of employees. Your company will be billed at least once a monththe cost of taxes, benefits, taxes, etc. are not paid employees.

After signing a contract with a PEO your employees need to work forms and taxes, which will fill then forwarded to the PEO. The PEO is the employer of record for the staff and then takes care of all the tasks of payroll and benefits. Timesheets, benefits enrollment and any changes will be sent to your PEO and receive annual reports planned. At the end of a calendar monthYear, the PEO provides all employees with a W-2.

Some PEO collaboration with the companies in each state and others are specific to them. You can only OPE using a search engine like Google to find. You can time running free services of a clearing house as OPE http://www.StaffMarket.com. SEO can also find a visit to the National Association of Professional Association of Employers (neck) on http://www.napeo.org. NAPE provides a list of members for researchCompany name, state or country and offers guidelines to help screen and select a PEO.

A PEO company can not be the ideal solution for all small, but it is an option for individuals and companies willing to outsource functions of human resources management resources necessary for one to many benefits of continued operation to improve and save time can be better used to grow the business.

5 Things that an Employee Leasing Company can do to Help the Employer

They keep you from wasting time
The employee leasing company gets rid of things that take the employer away from focusing on growing their company. Business owners do not go into business to worry about government regulations, payroll taxes, or administrative duties. The Professional Employer Organization allow you to get back your time, and get back to revenue increasing tasks.

Help You Improve Your Cash Flow
The employee leasing company takes all your employment fees (FUTA, FICA, etc) and combines them into one known monthly fee. After all, what better way to understand your expenses than to work with an employee leasing organization that provides predictable payments each payroll period. Also, rather than increasing internal investments in new employees, PEO’s help you keep your HR/employee related costs to a minimum.

Provide Predictable Medical Benefits
A PEO uses an umbrella method and takes on many small business companies and consolidates them to offer each lower premium medical benefits. This essentially takes your 15 person company and incorporates it into a medical benefits pool of 1000 employees or more. Using this method, levels out the playing field and allows you to offer comparable benefits to much larger companies.

Government – Understanding Rules and Regulations.
An employee leasing company will help the business owner understand the various rules affecting them and provide guidance as to what they should do in various situations that may arise. They help in compliance of federal, state, and local laws. In addition, the Professional Employer Organization will provide and store legally required employee forms and paperwork.

Maintain and Reduce Risk
Additional benefits are acquired in companies with workers comp modifiers that are relatively high (greater than 1). The employee leasing company that you work with may have a modifier that is less than that, therefore offering your small business a better rate. Also, employee leasing company employees provide great advice for improving workplace safety and how to reduce claims. An employee leasing company will proactively manage their clients’ workers comp claims and help to reduce claim costs, including identifying fraudulent claims.

Health Care Reform – 5 Reasons to begin working with a PEO today.

Even with the vote in Massachusetts in January 2010, there is a thought throughout the country that health care reform is inevitable. In fact, there are many states looking at doing something themselves as a cost cutting measure, providing greater access to medical insurance reduces their costs on programs for the uninsured. Ironically, we believe that the professional employer organization is the original health care access reformer, by providing small business employers with access to affordable benefits, not to mention help with compliance on many government regulations. Still, with reform comes greater employer burden. Today we will review 5 items that were recently in the Senate version in December 2009 and how a PEO will help you to comply.

Reason #1 – Companies with 50 or more employees will be assessed a fee for having an employee on the payroll that is using a tax credit for the health insurance exchange (we will review exchanges in a future article). The PEO is ideally made for the tracking, reporting and remittance of this type of fee. Look for PEO’s to provide this as part of their service offering for their larger clients.

Reason #2 – The language states that providing employers with 25 employees or less, and an average salary of $40,000 or less that provide health insurance for employees will get a tax credit. This is perfect for your PEO. By providing access to insurance, the PEO ensures you can receive the credit, but better yet, the PEO will also be helping you to get the correct paperwork together for this credit – in effect paying for the PEO’s services (depending on credit size).

Reason #3 – Wellness program equals win-win. The government will provide credits and/or subsidies to employers that provide access to a wellness program. The goal is that this will reduce health care costs overall. So, in addition to medical benefits, the PEO will provide access to these types of programs, allowing you to take advantage as soon as the law takes affect. In fact, the PEO will help assist you on reporting requirements to take advantage of the savings.

Reason #4 – Tax changes, HSA changes, and tax reporting of employers providing benefits. Need we say more? A PEO helps you with payroll and tax reporting, they will do this for all of their clients once it’s enacted, so why worry about it – it will be automatic.

Reason #5 – You will be more competitive then ever before. Quite honestly, there will be a number of employers that will throw their hands up and take the hit on penalties and other ramifications. However, overall this increases the costs for many of your employees and as we know, the #2 reason employees stay with an employer is medical benefits. So, while your competitors are losing employees, your PEO will be helping you keep the good ones, now more then ever.

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–GHRO Total Solutions, a Human Resources Outsourcing firm and PEO, announced this week the addition of two new clients to its ever expanding roster: Kyliptix Solutions and Excalibur Technology.

As a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), GHRO Total Solutions provides integrated services designed to streamline the cost and complexities of HR management, employee benefits, payroll, Workers’ Compensation and more. We offer this through a unique and seamless co-employment model that provides the benefits of a highly staffed HR team, without the overhead costs.

Our two newest clients are progressive organizations that understand the importance of HR, having all of the “T’s” crossed and “I’s” dotted in government compliance, HR policies and manuals, payroll administration and benefits coordination.

GHRO’s New Customers:

Kyliptix Solutions, the brainchild of William Gast, provides Software as a Service to small and mid-sized businesses. What makes them unique is that they have utility pricing — so it is a very affordable option for small companies who can’t afford to pay for the software usually sought after by large corporations. Businesses like them because the downtime for data transfer is very brief and the training time for their KIBS Business Suite is basically overnight. Kyliptix Solutions allows small to mid-sized companies to communicate better with employees at every level within the company and share information with better consistency. But mostly, the affordability is the big draw. With their focus forward approach to business solutions, partnering with GHRO was a purely natural decision.

Excalibur Technology is the only IT partner your company will ever need. Excalibur’s solutions can be customized to organizations of all sizes. From initial evaluations to installation, integration, service and support, their staff can deliver the business results you may require. They successfully support thousands of clients with technical services and projects. As your network services partner, Excalibur Technology will work closely with you and your staff and ensure that their solutions are custom tailored to meet your business needs.

Human Resources can be complex. See how easy it can be with GHRO. Your Trusted PEO. Call GHRO at 888-308-0338 or 949-797-2001 or check out our website at http://www.ghrogroup.com.

A new survey from leading financial services firm Wells Fargo & Co. has suggested that the current state of savings among pre-retirees in the US are unlikely to fund the retirement lifestyles they expect to maintain.

Pre-retirees are defined as those aged between 50 and 59, and the survey – entitled the Retirement Fitness Survey – is based on 2108 online surveys with pre- and young-retirees (those aged 55 to 70) nationwide. It found that only 23 percent of pre-retirees are saving more for retirement than they were a year ago; meanwhile 57 percent are saving the same amount, and 20 percent are now saving less.

Perhaps most interestingly, however, the report revealed that 67 percent say their expectations for retirement have changed in the past year, and 56 percent now expect to work longer by an average of three years.

Insufficient

The recession has already greatly impacted the outlook for many pre-retirees. Baby boomers in particular, once anticipating a fruitful retirement, are already looking at their options to remain in the workplace longer, hoping to help support the lifestyles their battered retirement savings can no longer uphold.

Whats more, according to the Wells Fargo report, the overall financial positions and savings habits of pre-retirees are “insufficient” to last the expected 20-plus years of retirement. In fact, the financial services firm suggests that while those studied expect to need $800,000 for retirement, they have only saved $300,000.

Inadequate assessment

According to the findings of the report, the concern is that pre-retires have “inadequately assessed” how long their savings will last in retirement. On average, pre-retirees are expected to live nearly 21 years in retirement, planning to spend nearly 10 percent of their savings for every year they are in retirement. However, HR professionals recommend thatpre-retirees should look to withdraw no more than four percent each year.

The American Dream could be to blame for the inadequacies, it seems; and researchers wonder whether Americans have simply been too optimistic about their investment returns. According to findings in the report, whenpre -retirees and retirees typically started saving in their 30s, they expected the value of their investments to grow by 8.7 percent each year. In reality the compound annual growth rate of the S&P 500 stock market index from 1958 through 2008 was only 6.6 percent.

Strategies

Further to this, the report also uncovered that despite such inadequate savings, nearly two-thirds of Americans lack a formal plan for retirement savings or spending strategies. Lynne Ford, head of Wells Fargo Retail Retirement, said: “In the wake of the severe economic crisis, we had expected to find people had become more conservative in their savings and spending behavior.”

So, what’s the advice?

Put simply: plan for retirement and get a strategy in place; don’t just rely on a “just make ends meet” notion; and, heed the advice of HR professionals – don’t anticipate a 10 percent annual spend on your savings. A more reserved lifestyle will help savings go a long, long way.