According to a recent survey by the Profit Sharing/401k Council of America, 401(k) plans will remain a top priority in 2011 as many companies plan to restore contributions that were reduced or suspended due to economic troubles.

Of the 14.8 percent of companies forced to shelve matching contributions during 2008–2010, over a third have already restored contributions, with an additional third planning to restore contributions by mid-2011.  During that same two-year period, over 70 percent of companies’ matching contributions remained unchanged, while 10 percent actually increased.

The survey also found employee participation in 401(k) plans rests largely on matching funds. Of companies with suspended matches, 78.1 percent reported a decrease in employee participation.  Of companies with non-suspended 401(k) matches, nearly a third reported an increase in employees contributing to the plans.

Additionally, the survey showed that companies are more actively involved in managing their 401(k) plans and disseminating information to their employees.  Companies also focused on employee education, investment advice, and monitoring their plans for optimal returns.  In 2010, the vast majority of 401(k) plans changed their investment lineups to replace underperforming funds.  Plan fees have also come under greater scrutiny.  This increased attention to plan management may be a result of companies appointing committees to review fund performance—94 percent of surveyed companies used such a committee.

According to CNNMoney, this New Year may bring new hope—and new jobs—to the unemployed 9 percent of America’s workforce.

Some leading economists project 2011 will bring 2.5–3 million jobs to U.S. payrolls.  This forecasted increase is triple 2010’s expected job gains and marks the biggest one-year increase since the ripe dot-com labor market of 1999.  While these jobs will not be enough to restore the 8 million jobs lost during the economic slump, nor will they significantly impact the unemployment rate, they indicate an encouraging trend.

Why do economists think this trend is coming?  First, job openings increased 17 percent from June to October 2010, which is up approximately a third from earlier in the year.  Second, initial jobless claims recently fell to their lowest rates since the summer of 2008.  Third, on the business side of things, capital expenditures have been increasing, which are good indicators of future hiring and expansion.  The final, and arguably most interesting, measurement of the pending trend is a slow but steady increase in the number of day-care workers, which signals more parents have jobs.

New job creation is a heartening indicator of pending economic recovery.  More jobs mean more income is distributed to the American people, which mean those people have more money to spend and to stimulate businesses.

It’s 2011, and with a new year brings a new way to steer your small business toward success!  One strategy you might not have considered: enlisting a professional employer organization (PEO) like Global Human Resources Outsourcing to take care of your business’ Human Resources needs.  By partnering with a PEO like GHRO, your business will benefit from a skilled and efficient Human Resources team at a fraction of the cost of maintaining an internal HR department.

So what can GHRO do for your business?  Our experienced specialists provide all the services of complete HR and payroll departments.  We’ll act as your personal staffing agency; start to finish, from developing a customized recruitment strategy, to screening potential candidates, to assisting with employee selection and negotiations.  Additionally, we’ll function as your payroll department, keeping abreast of the latest payroll laws and regulations.  We’ll also act as HR consultants and risk managers, monitoring safety and workers’ compensation law, government compliance, and employee benefits.  We can also help you establish an employee wellness plan, an employee handbook, and other strategies to best fit your business’ unique needs and goals.  With GHRO, you can efficiently outsource the employee relations that can stress your business’ time and budget.

With GHRO on your side, you’ll be gaining a trusted business advisor, just like your CPA or attorney.  So let us assume the risks and responsibilities of maintaining your employees while you concentrate on your core business.  We have a package to meet the needs of any small business.  Contact us today to see how your business can benefit from GHRO!

As we look toward a new year, many of us start thinking about how to change ourselves for the better.  That’s where the New Year’s resolution comes in.  Several consistently popular resolutions across the years: to lose weight, to exercise more, to manage stress, to quit smoking, and to drink less alcohol.  What do all these resolutions have in common?  They’re related to health and longevity.  As we look toward a new year, why not consider giving your employees the gift of health through an employee wellness program?

Wellness programs focus on employees’ physical well being, including medical requirements and general health.  Wellness programs offer a variety of health-related solutions, which may include weight loss plans, stress management training, smoking cessation programs, nutrition coaching, physical fitness advice, behavioral health therapy, and physiological testing, like blood pressure screenings and cholesterol checks.  If your business already offers an employee wellness program, why not give the gift of a special alternative therapy, such as a massage session?  Your employees will thank you well into the New Year.

How can healthy employees benefit your small business?  Perhaps the most obvious way is through reduced absenteeism.  Healthy employees show up ready to work and to keep productivity levels high.  They also arrive with improved morale and loyalty, since well-cared-for employees are more likely to feel appreciated by and connected to their employer.  This also contributes to the invaluable harmonious workplace.  Healthy employees also provide the business with reduced health care and insurance costs and, indeed, lower overall costs.  Dollar for dollar, the investment into an employee wellness program is well worth the return.

If your business is interested in establishing an employee health and wellness program—or improving upon an existing program—GHRO can help with our HR Total Solutions Package.  With GHRO Total Solutions, your business will be on its way to an employee wellness program, and it will also have direct access to unlimited services, such as asset protection, cost containment strategies, and turnover reduction strategies.  With nearly one hundred years of combined HR experience, GHRO’s team is committed to meeting your HR needs.  Visit our website to receive a free quote.

As outsourcing becomes increasingly common in today’s business world, one unlikely partnership is defying the odds and teaching a message of tolerance.

A small but persistent stream of Israeli technology companies are putting good business sense before political conflict by teaming with their Palestinian neighbors in the West Bank.  Israeli branches of Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and Microsoft are all outsourcing work to the Palestinian territories.  Such partnerships mark a trend over the last three years of Israeli technology companies turning to Palestinian engineers and programmers instead of traditional outsourcing to Europe, India, or China.

Tapping employment resources in the West Bank makes smart business sense.  Palestinians are ambitious and work in the same time zone as Israeli workers.  Outsourcing to a West Bank company also costs roughly half the cost of outsourcing to an Israeli company.  While it remains cheaper to outsource to India or China, many Israeli companies prefer Palestinian workers because the workers demonstrate more loyalty and a tireless work ethic.  Also, and perhaps most surprisingly, Israeli workers are finding their Palestinian counterparts are not so different as they once thought.  They are able to put politics aside to work together on common goals.

Not all Israelis and Palestinians are able to overcome their political differences, which complicates parts of the outsourcing agreement, such as face-to-face meetings.  Although offices may be a few miles apart, the Israeli military prevents most cross-border meetings because of security concerns.  Special permits are required to cross the maze of fences and walls separating Israel from the West Bank.  While difficult to arrange, face-to-face meetings are becoming more common, with the military’s cooperation.

Some hurdles remain in the partnership between Israeli technology companies and Palestinian engineers and programmers, but the existence of such outsourcing means leaps and bounds in a hostile political climate.  The trend may have only just begun; one Palestinian firm received 20 inquiries from Israeli companies this year alone.

The economic and unemployment crises appear to be taking their toll on the traditional ways Americans obtain health insurance.  Gallup’s latest health insurance poll shows a new low in November: just 44.8 percent of Americans report receiving health-care benefits through an employer.  This figure is down from 50 percent in January 2008, when Gallup first began tracking it.  While the percentage of Americans with employer-based health care continues its steady decline, the percentage of Americans with government-based health care, such as Medicare, Medicaid, or military/veterans’ benefits, remains elevated at 26 percent.  At the time of the poll, nearly one in six Americans report having no health insurance—a figure which rose sharply in late 2008 and has remained high.

These figures arrive amidst continuing turmoil around ObamaCare, which, in part, would require all Americans to buy health insurance starting in 2014.  A Virginia U.S. District Court judge recently ruled this portion of the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, which makes the future of American health care even more uncertain.  A major goal of ObamaCare is to decrease the number of people without health coverage, even if those people have to purchase insurance on their own.

So far, the percentage of uninsured Americans is elevated but holding steady.  Instead, while employers are steadily eliminating health-care benefits, government-based programs are picking up new candidates in baby boomers eligible for Medicare and in unemployed workers relying on Medicaid.

Everyone’s favorite federal organization, the IRS, recently released guidelines to help business owners distinguish employees from independent contractors.   The IRS is following up these guidelines with random audits of employee classification.  Sure, classifying an independent contractor can save your business money in taxes, overtime, and workers’ compensation, but if the IRS finds the contractor should actually be an employee, that business will face stiff penalties.  To avoid this costly and all-too-common mistake, remember these tips the IRS wants you to know about classifying employees.

1.  The IRS uses three characteristics to determine the relationship between businesses and workers: behavioral control, financial control, and type of relationship.  All of these factors will affect whether a worker is rightly an employee or an independent contractor.  If a business has behavioral control, it has the right to direct or control how a worker performs the work, via instructions, training, or other methods.  If a business has financial control, it has the right to direct or control the financial and business aspects of the worker’s job.  Finally, the IRS examines the type of relationship, or how a worker and the business owner perceive their relationship.

2.  If you, the business owner, have the right to control or direct the work to be performed and also how the work will be performed, then your workers are most likely employees.

3.  If you, the business owner, can direct or control only the result of the work to be performed—and not how that result will be achieved—then your workers are most likely independent contractors.

4.  If you have misclassified workers as independent contractors, you may face a hefty bill come tax time.  In addition, the IRS can assess penalties for failure to file required tax forms and pay employment taxes.

5.  If any doubt remains whether a worker should be an employee or an independent contractor, both employers and workers can file IRS Form SS-8: Determination of Worker Status for Purposes of Federal Employment Taxes and Income Tax Withholding, which lets the IRS make the classification call.

GHRO recently posted a blog about age discrimination and younger workers, and how Generation Y’s stereotypes unfairly prevent them from getting hired.  While no law protects young workers from ageism, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967 protects employees over age 40 from traditional age discrimination.  Based on this law, the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission received 22,778 charges of age discrimination in 2009 alone, of which the commission resolved 20,529 and recovered over $72 million in monetary benefits for charging parties and other aggrieved individuals (not including monetary benefits obtained through litigation).  Age-related charges make up roughly one quarter of all discrimination charges filed with the commission.  Despite the number of age-related claims falling since 2008, ageism remains a potential problem for employers, particularly in this volatile economic climate.  So what is age discrimination and how can it be prevented?

Under the ADEA, older workers may not be discriminated against in any aspect of employment, including hiring, termination, wages, job duties, promotions, layoffs, training, and fringe benefits.  Even companywide policies that adversely affect applicants and employees over age 40 may be illegal if they are not based on a reasonable factor beyond age.  While those factors are controlled at the management level, the ADEA also protects older workers against harassment, which can be perpetuated by all levels of the business: supervisors, coworkers, even clients and customers.  Age-related harassment includes making age-related remarks.  Even if such remarks don’t seem to be serious, they can have a severe impact on older workers and can create a hostile work environment.

Training can help raise employee awareness of discrimination and can curtail such remarks.  It may surprise many employees to learn that extensive researched has shown no correlation between age and job performance.  In fact, a seasoned veteran can bring hard-earned experience and positive mentoring opportunities to the business.  Older workers typically show better judgment and care when performing their duties.  They are also less likely to arrive late to work, to be absent, or to quit.  To prevent age-related harassment, educate employees that all employment-related comments and actions should focus on job performance, not employee age.  Also post an anti-discrimination policy that includes harassment definitions, solutions, consequences, reporting processes, grievance procedures, and anti-retaliation language.

Such simple, proactive measures can go a long way toward eliminating ageism in the workplace.  The goal is to create an environment where employees of all ages feel welcomed, included, and valued.

As a small business owner, how much do you enjoy thinking about payroll management?  Let’s face it—getting payroll just right requires time and effort.  Upcoming federal health care reform is about to create more payroll work while you’ll already be worried about W-2 distribution and year-end figures.  That leaves less time to stay on top of other changing regulations and to make sure your numbers are accurate.  Whether you think payroll isn’t so bad or whether you call it the dreaded P word, wouldn’t you rather concentrate on your already busy schedule and let GHRO take care of your payroll needs?

Here’s a look at the many ways your small business can benefit from outsourcing payroll management.

Cost Reduction

Does your small business pay a premium for an in-house payroll service?  Perhaps you have one employee saddled with all your business’ payroll operations.  However you manage your payroll, is that method the most efficient and cost-effective choice?  If your business has fewer than 20 employees, outsourcing your payroll operations could likely save you money.  Crunch the numbers for yourself.  Calculate the wages dedicated to payroll-related activities and be sure to include time and money spent on paycheck printing, paycheck distribution, and tax document preparation.  Compare your business’ numbers to the payroll service packages offered by GHRO.  You might be surprised!

Accuracy

Payroll errors can wreak havoc on your books, anger your employees, or worse—cause you to receive a certified letter from the government.  With over one hundred years of combined HR experience, GHRO’s experts will keep your payroll error free and will help your business avoid costly IRS penalties caused by late or incorrect filings.

Consistency

Government forms, regulations, and withholding rates are changing at a pace that makes it tough to keep up!  Something as simple as using outdated tax tables can mean hefty penalties for your business.  GHRO’s staff works to stay on top of the latest federal, state, and local requirements.  You can feel confident the latest knowledge will always be at hand; it won’t rotate out with your business’ bookkeeper or payroll officer.

Cost reduction, accuracy, and consistency are just a few ways that outsourcing can improve your business’ payroll management.  Most important, outsourcing with GHRO provides peace of mind that your payroll services are in good hands.  If you’re ready to spend less time worrying about the dreaded P word, contact GHRO today.

To help reduce costly mistakes, an increasing numbers of companies are turning to a professional employer organization (PEO) to have better access to experienced HR consultants who can help with many time-consuming HR functions.

A Professional Employment Organization is a single source provider of HR outsourcing that will serve as a human resources department for client companies who want to utilize their services to reduce costs and raise efficiency.

PEO’s provide experienced human resources specialists who perform the duties of a staffing agency while also extending HR consulting and management of payroll services, risk management, employee benefits and other human resources functions.

The reason PEO’s work so well for small and mid-sized companies is because they assume the responsibilities and risks of employee maintenance.

When hiring a PEO, client companies enter into a practice referred to as co-employment. They take on the burdens of procuring and retaining employees as well as the tasks of assuring government compliance and the requirements of safety and workers compensation by becoming their employer of record for tax and insurance purposes.

A  PEO supplies companies with administrative services, reduced liabilities, benefits outsourcing, employee benefits, employee handbook, employee/labor relations, employee leasing, HR consulting and HR management.

A full service PEO will provide the following:

• Payroll Services
• Recruitment  services
• Risk Management
• Employee Benefits
• Human Resource Services

Hiring a PEO means a company can focus on their core business and cost-effectively outsource the expense and often complex employee relations that can strain a company’s budget as well as deflect from achieving their overall goals.

A professional employer organization will enable business owners to enter into a co-employment relationship knowing that the successful management of employees is in the experienced hands of human resources administrators whose number one priority is to save their client company time, money and effort.