PAINLESS SMALL BUSINESS COST-CUTTING... WITHOUT LAYOFFS!Written by Steve Hartung
Entrepreneurs know that starting and running a successful business is hard work. They also know that growing a small business is like a marathon - long, time-consuming and grueling. However, what many entrepreneurs don't expect is that experience can be like a hurdling event. These hurdles often appear as endless administrative forms, tax reports, and compliance with ever-changing workplace regulations. As race continues, obstacles get taller, especially in administering benefits and competing with large companies to recruit and retain talented employees. Before long, many entrepreneurs are unable to concentrate on business, and they lose speed. Consequently, a growing number of business owners are turning to Professional Employment Organizations (P.E.O.s) to remove these hurdles. P.E.O.s were born out of frustration many small business owners experience when administrative work inhibits ability to grow an organization. To overcome that challenge, a business and a P.E.O. enter into what is called a "co-employer" relationship with existing employees, enabling P.E.O. to serve as business off-site human resources department. According to National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) (www.napeo.org), there are three principal reasons why P.E.O. industry continues to grow rapidly. Chief among them is increase in number and complexity of workplace regulations (there are currently estimated to be more than 4,000 local, state and federal employment regulations). The second underlying factor stems from need of business owners to attract and retain superior talent in a competitive labor market. For example, with a full-service P.E.O., employees at small and medium sized businesses have access to big company health plans, an employee assistance plan (EAP), a credit-union, educational assistance, a 401K plan, and other employee benefits that previously may have been unavailable. Third, business owners seeking to control their operating costs are turning to P.E.O.s to help them better manage administrative expenses. P.E.O.s offer a variety of services. On a basic level, most P.E.O.s assume responsibility for business payroll and related tax filings, unemployment and workers compensation claims, employer regulatory compliance, and for providing basic benefits such as a 401K plan and health insurance.
| | To-the-point... Achieve your business objectives 25-50% fasterWritten by Robert Poulton
As a business turnaround entrepreneur for past 20 years, I have had a lot of conversations with people about what really makes a business work - - oh, yes, that over worked word - successful.Communication... For every communication there is a sender and a receiver. For every communication there is a message. For every message there is a meaning. The message received is not necessarily message sent. What really adds complexity to our communication process is that message may not carry same "meaning" for receiver as it does for sender. Your task as a communicator is to validate that message received is identical to message sent. Hold it, you're not done yet... What about "meaning" contained in your message? You're right... validate that it's identical for both sender and receiver of message. Well, thanks a bunch Bob! You gave me problem without a solution. You're right - I did... but there is a reason for it. I want you to think about what I have shared with you. It sounds simple... it looks simple... Well, if it's so simple then why do so many people and businesses have such a hard time doing it? In a single word - - AWARENESS. We aren't aware of its importance to us. We tend to say what ever hits our tongue and make "assumption" that everyone else knows what we mean. The fact is that I don't know what you think I know, and you don't know what I think you know. Worse yet, we don't know, what we don't know... too bad we can't admit it.
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