Resources

After a magical first meeting, Betty was sure she had found “the one.” All the bells and whistles looked amazing as the sales rep showed off the product on his personal computer. The reports were pre-populated for her to view, and at that moment, everything just felt right. Now it’s almost payday and Betty is racking her brain because the numbers just aren’t adding up. She’s called customer support three times, but no one seems to be available. Where are they when you really need them? Despite the magic of that first encounter, Betty was beginning to have second thoughts.

Anyone who has worked in the restaurant industry knows it is not always a picnic. I speak from experience! At the age of 14, I had to get a job and start paying all of my bills, minus room and board (thankfully, the bills were few because $5.25 an hour only goes so far). Surprisingly enough, running up and down a food line adding more lettuce and pickles was not as fun as it sounds. To succeed in such an industry takes many things, but one you simply cannot leave behind is enthusiasm.

California employers already have a myriad of employment laws to comply with, so what’s one more? California Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed into state law the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014. Effective July 1, 2015, all employers — no matter the size — must provide paid sick time to their employees, including part-time and seasonal workers who have worked at least 30 days in a year.

Every successful company knows the key to employee retention is engagement, yet according to a study by Dale Carnegie & Associates, 71 percent of all employees are not fully engaged. That means nearly three-quarters of the workforce are not performing to their best ability, which negatively affects revenue and morale.

If you’re like me then you are a Fantasy Football gamer. Your Sundays are consumed with NFL RedZone, checking your phone for score updates, watching the injury report and monitoring for the latest potential waiver wire pickups. But as you are probably also aware, Fantasy Football bleeds over into the workweek, creating a source of comradery between coworkers but ultimately costing employers big bucks.

If you could choose any job in the world, what would it be? King of Cashola, Prince of Payroll, Master of Awesome? This is exactly what one nonprofit allowed their employees to do and it resulted in an overwhelmingly positive response. Can it work for you?

Dear Payroll Manager, Thank you for making it rain every payday. No employee understands everything you do to make sure their paystub is accurate and on time. Pay rates, taxes, insurance, bonuses, garnishments, PTO, expenses and a whole lot more have to come together seamlessly every payday (or people come unglued). And more often than not you don't even get thanked when it all goes right. That's just not fair. We were going to write you a card for National Payroll Week, but we thought you could use a better payroll system instead.

Hiring for fit may be stunting your company’s growth. Sure your company culture may be the bee’s knees now, but if you continue to scale, two years into the future your culture might not be recognizable. With that said, not everyone has a culture they can rave to their friends and family about and the fact that you do is something to write home about. However, in order to be a sustainable company organizations have to be willing to transform, balancing profit-centered business practices with people-centered business models.

It’s five o’clock somewhere; can you access your payroll information? For instance, can you easily pull past pay stubs, enroll in benefits, request time off or submit your time sheet right from your phone or laptop? If not, you’ll be delighted to know this is all possible with the proper technology.

What if I told you that you were more likely to injure yourself at work than if you dove into shark-infested waters? In honor of one of the most important weeks of the year (Shark Week), we want to alert you of ten workplace hazards to avoid that occur more frequently than shark attacks. If you don’t take precaution you could become the next victim of a third-degree coffee spill or a protrusive file cabinet attack.

Despite their bad rap, sharks aren’t quite the bloodthirsty animals Hollywood has made them out to be. While Jaws may have been the box-office champ of its time, reality paints a different picture of these toothy sea creatures. Thanks to that 1975 film, its sequels, its rip-offs and other pieces of pop culture across several media – including Discovery’s ever-popular, annual Shark Week – we fear sharks.

Retail managers are known for wearing numerous hats: overseeing the store’s books, ordering supplies, scheduling and, of course, managing employees. Putting together employee schedules is a task most time-consuming, yet is also the backbone of a store’s success. If not enough workers are scheduled, the manager could end up with dissatisfied or lost customers. On the other hand, if too many employees are scheduled, the shop risks losing money.