Business.com |
- How Is COVID-19 Affecting Google My Business?
- How to Use Email Retargeting for Improved Sales and Engagement
- 8 Project Management Challenges with Remote Workers
- The CARES Act: What's in the Coronavirus Stimulus Package for SMBs?
- COVID-19 Q&A: How to Manage Remote Workers and Stay in Touch With Customers
- Should You Hire Full-Time or Part-Time Employees?
- 5 Areas Where Leaders Get Stuck and How to Avoid Them
- 5 Important HR Considerations in the Time of COVID-19
- How Military Training Can Give You a Business Advantage
- What's an Inbound Call Center? Should You Consider Using One?
- Why Your Business Needs Low-Code to Stay Competitive in 2020
- 12 Signs You’re Losing Customers on Facebook
- Small Business Guide on How to Decide When to Lay Off Employees
- Defining Exempt vs. Nonexempt Employees
| How Is COVID-19 Affecting Google My Business? Posted: 27 Mar 2020 01:41 PM PDT  With the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, businesses all over the world are seeing the impacts of this crisis, whether they have more business than they can handle (e.g., grocery stores) or customers have stopped coming in altogether. Unfortunately, even some of the larger companies that help small businesses get the word out to their customers about business changes are seeing the effects of the coronavirus too. I'm talking about Google. Currently, Google My Business has halted a few of its regular services and has limited functionality for other features. What features of Google My Business are affected by COVID-19?The features that Google My Business has halted altogether are reviews, review responses, and Q&A. Until further notice, these features will not be available for Google users or businesses to update. Google also has limited functionality for updating business information at this time, meaning you might not be able to relay business closures to your customers on Google. Other items of information that may be delayed include:
You should continue to update your Google My Business listing when changes take place; however, just know that it may take longer to publish your changes than usual. Google hasn't announced how long this will last, so for the time being, send business updates to your customers by other means. How to get business announcements to customers during COVID-19If you are concerned about how you will announce changes in hours to your current and new customers, I have three tips that can help.
It is critical right now to keep your customers informed to keep business operations running as much and as smoothly as possible. For more information about how COVID-19 is impacting businesses, visit the COVID-19 resource page. |
| How to Use Email Retargeting for Improved Sales and Engagement Posted: 27 Mar 2020 01:33 PM PDT  If you ask any business owner how they engage with their audience, most will tell you email marketing. Why? Well, for starters, email marketing has a mind-boggling 4,400% return on investment. In other words, for every dollar that you spend toward your campaign, you'll make an average of 44 dollars. Email is one of the most widely used methods of communication too. More people are sending and receiving emails than using social media, meaning you have the chance to generate and communicate with a broader range of consumers. The more people you can communicate with, the better chance you have at increasing your traffic and sales. Many of these same people will tell you that they use retargeting email campaigns to keep customers engaged long after they've subscribed. Retargeting campaigns are when you use information you've already gathered about individuals to create personalized messages. I'll share several things you should keep in mind if you hope to start a retargeting campaign of your own. First, let's look at specific instances where email retargeting can help you and why setting goals is crucial to the success of your campaign. When to use email retargetingThere are plenty of instances where you can add retargeting to your existing strategy for a significant boost to sales and your email marketing engagement. The most common use for this technique is when a consumer lands on your website, creates an account, adds items to their cart but abandons their shopping cart. Email reminders can encourage people to come back to complete their order. As a general rule, we suggest sending three emails over the course of a week if you're planning on converting these subscribers. An initial email after they bounce from your page can help you convert a significant segment of users who left. The reason you'll save many of these customers is that, on average, 48% of them will open your message. Retargeting is also an excellent tool for reaching people that have shown interest in your content but not your products. For instance, if someone signs up for your mailing list for blog updates, you can include special promotions to those people based on the content of content they want to receive. We will touch on personalization more soon. Before you start creating your email retargeting campaign, it's vital that you think about your goals. What do you hope to accomplish with this drip campaign? Do you want to see more people engage with your brand? Is your intention to sell more products to new customers? In order to establish your goals, you need to understand your target audience. Understand your target audienceIf you don't know much about your target audience, you're going to have a hard time creating a retargeting campaign. The best way to get a feel for the people who visit your site and subscribe is by creating customer persona profiles. Essentially, buyer personas are informational sheets that help you understand the people visiting your site. You'll want to add details like common pain points, goals and demographics when establishing your personas. Your onsite, social media and email analytics can help you learn about your audience. If you don't have enough information, you can create feedback forms where customers directly tell you what they expect from your brand. Let's say you own a social media marketing software as a service but don't know much about your audience. You can create a poll on your social account where you ask subscribers to pick their most significant issue with social marketing. Take this information into account when you're creating your emails and use it when segmenting your lists. There's a good chance that you'll have several buyer personas for your brand. Each group may be interested in different products or services that you offer. Once you have this data in hand, you can start crafting your retargeting campaign. Segment leads based on behaviorNow that you understand your goals, audience and email retargeting, let's talk about segmentation. Lead segmentation is the process of taking customers that sign up for your email list, browse your website, or engage with you on social media and use that information to create your emails. For example, if you operate an online sporting goods store, you'll likely segment your list based on football, baseball, hockey and more. Segmenting your list allows you to send personalized information based on what they want to see. Imagine if you sent someone who bought football supplies a promotion for soccer equipment, do you think they would bite? The short answer is probably not. However, if you send a repeat customer an email letting them know that you have a new promotion that includes 50% off all football gear, you better believe that they will click through and see what you have for sale. Segmentation is about more than just understanding what consumers like on your site. It also involves understanding how they engage with your brand. Let's say that the same company had a list of subscribers who haven't made a purchase or opened an email in six months. The company could send emails out to these inactive subscribers and encourage them to come back and enjoy a free gift with their purchase. Include personalizationWhile we are on the topic of personalization, there are other elements of your email that you should make personal on an individual basis. You're likely familiar with emails from Amazon encouraging you to come back and purchase the item you added to your cart recently. This is a great way to make your emails even more personal than touching on a topic. When you can show consumers the item they were looking at, they are more likely to come back and complete their purchase. It can also help to include the name of the recipient in the headline and body of the email. When you're retargeting new or existing consumers, you're going to want to make the message seem as handcrafted as possible. Obviously, that's not easy if thousands of people are subscribed to your email list. But there are steps you can take to ensure that your messages look at personal as possible. Research shows that this tactic pays off. Adding a personalization element to your email can boost your open rate by 14.31%. The key is to match up elements of consumer behavior along with the information they provided when they signed up. You can use this data to create emails that look like they were written specifically for that person. As a result, the receiver is more likely to open your email and click through to your website. Back to youRetargeting your email subscribers is a great way to grow your business and build rapport with your audience. There's a good reason that 60% of people have bought a product because of an email marketing message. Email is the most accessible platform online today. The number of people making email accounts is still climbing, and you can bet that a percentage of those individuals are interested in your products or services. It may take some time to master retargeting, but this is one email marketing strategy you need for explosive growth. |
| 8 Project Management Challenges with Remote Workers Posted: 27 Mar 2020 12:31 PM PDT  The digital revolution has been changing the way work is done for years now, but recent developments like the coronavirus have made more companies than ever realize the true value of remote workers. Remote work has plenty of benefits, such as flexible scheduling, increased productivity and reduced operating costs. These benefits, however, also come with trade-offs in the form of communication problems and declining company unity. If you want your remote workers to bring their full value to your business, you need to be prepared to overcome some challenges along the way. In 2020, business leaders need to be prepared to incorporate remote workers into their company effectively. Here are a few difficulties you might run into along the way and how to solve them. 1. Communication snagsIf there's a single key to getting the most out of your remote workers, it's communication. While communication problems can arise in a number of different ways, a lack of clarity is most likely to affect your relationship with remote workers. In an office, projects, and objectives can be constantly clarified and amended. If you're using email, perpetual updates and check-ins can be more counterproductive than anything. When sending out assignments, updates or questions, try to be as thorough as possible to ensure maximum clarity. Remote workers may not be used to needing regular clarification, so make it as unnecessary as you can. 2. Platform issuesRemote workers can often have different levels of engagement with your company – some might be freelancers, others might be full-time employees. For those less connected to your core business, email might be the chosen communication platform. But remote workers you regularly engage with might find constant back-and-forth emails a hindrance to doing business. Email can be tedious and hard to sort through, and constant phone calls are a huge time drain. To smooth over these issues, your company could likely benefit from learning more about project management software. These platforms allow you to make dedicated communication channels for different groups or teams, ensuring that as little gets lost in the shuffle as possible. 3. Scheduling conflictsAlongside communication issues come problems with syncing up schedules. Conflicting time zones or differences in lifestyle can make it difficult to find appropriate slots for critical meetings. Calendar management for remote teams is as important as it is difficult. One of the best ways to get everyone on the same page is to use a calendar-syncing tool or a plugin that allows mutual calendar sharing. That way, endless back-and-forth emails figuring out slots aren't necessary. The right platform allows you to simply select available times and confirm meetings on the fly, streamlining your communication and scheduling at the same time. 4. Lack of accountabilityIf you've never worked extensively with remote workers before, you're probably not used to the dynamics that can come into play. In a traditional office, it's easy to check on an employee and be sure that they are on top of their work. With remote workers, it's not so easy. One of the most effective ways to keep your remote workers accountable is by making your expectations for their work as clear as possible. Setting very clear targets for productivity and quality makes accountability much easier. If issues remain even after outlining expectations, try increasing your contact with them – either over the phone or via video chat. It's almost always easier to work out any issues in person, or as close to in person as is possible right now. 5. Trust issuesIt can present challenges to build unity and trust with remote workers versus in-office employees. Being able to regularly have in-person meetings makes it easy to develop a rapport with someone and build the foundation for a meaningful business relationship. When you only deal with someone on the phone, through video chat, or over email, laying the groundwork for that kind of relationship is much more difficult. While it may sound strange, one of the best ways to get around this is by taking a break from the professional now and then. Checking in on how a remote worker is doing personally or learning about some of her interests off the job is a good way of getting a sense of her as a person, and it's crucial to building trust. 6. Culture disconnectWhile there are businesses that have a strong office culture, that culture can be difficult to transfer fully to your remote employees. The first step you can do is understand what a good remote work culture is and make a set of priorities and values as a company. Even if your remote workers can't make it to Friday drinks, a strong set of objectives allows them to feel like they're part of a larger organization working toward a common goal. Make every effort to include remote workers in office activities. While that's probably easier said than done, even something simple like a fantasy football league can go a long way toward promoting unity. 7. Sluggish movementFor small businesses, agility is often the name of the game. To compete against large competitors, smaller operations need to be able to adapt and react at a moment's notice. Not managed properly, a remote workforce can seriously slow your business in its most crucial moments. Most of this comes down to being overly reliant on older methods of communication, but information silos can be a large factor as well. If big changes are happening, it can be easy to simply forget to tell dispersed teammates important information. One way around this is through an open office culture, a culture that helps free up previously closed channels of communication. Having a companywide chat or a biweekly briefing sent to all employees helps keep people in the loop without putting a drain on productivity. 8. Dips in qualityGallup data shows that more than 50% of full-time remote workers report feeling constantly unengaged in their work – a number that should seriously worry any manager looking to hire new remote workers. While you can't visit each of your remote workers and coach them through every step of their job, you can and should provide detailed feedback on their work. After each major project a remote worker undertakes, give him a full report highlighting what went well and what he could've gone further with. Without an in-office manager to ask, most remote workers are hungry for advice on how they can boost the quality of their work. Remote workers are becoming increasingly crucial to the modern office, but only if they're incorporated properly. By following the steps on this list, you can make your remote workforce a crucial part of your business and profit from it along the way. |
| The CARES Act: What's in the Coronavirus Stimulus Package for SMBs? Posted: 27 Mar 2020 09:26 AM PDT  Update: President Donald Trump signed the CARES Act Friday afternoon following its passage in the House of Representatives. The $2 trillion economic relief bill is designed to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The CARES Act is a sweeping and unprecedented measure to stabilize the economy at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has grinded business to a near halt. What would the stimulus package mean for your business, and how could you take advantage of the relief it would offer? Read on to find out. What is in the coronavirus stimulus package?The CARES Act is a massive $2 trillion stimulus package that includes a wide range of measures to assist businesses, individuals and healthcare organizations as COVID-19 continues to spread across the U.S. Here's a closer look at some of the measures designed to bolster small businesses during the prolonged economic impact of the coronavirus.
How can small businesses take advantage of the coronavirus stimulus package?Taken together, these measures are intended to bolster the U.S. economy as the coronavirus keeps businesses limited or altogether closed. If your small business needs funding to stay afloat during this challenging time, the stimulus package could offer help. So, how can you take advantage of it? How to apply for forgivable SBA loansChris Hurn, founder and CEO of small business lender Fountainhead, said the forgivable SBA loans could offer significant liquidity to cash-strapped businesses in the short term. "These [loans] are really meant to stabilize companies," Hurn said. "What it's going to allow you to do is take your monthly payroll … and apply for a loan of up to 250% or 2.5 times that amount, up to a maximum of $10 million. "These loans are eligible for forgiveness if you retain your prior level of workforce," he added. "Some of these loans may be forgiven in totality. For others, this might just be a working capital bridge to get them to the other side." The loans will be administered through the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) 7(a) loan program. The application process is the same as it is for a typical 7(a) loan, but application fees are waived under the stimulus package. The typical cap of $5 million on an SBA 7(a) loan has doubled to a total of $10 million. Additionally, Hurn said, certain requirements have been relaxed. "There is no determination of repayment ability," he said. "You just have to determine whether the business was in operation on Feb. 15 earlier this year and had employees or independent contractors it paid salaries or wages to. "There are also no personal guarantees on these loans and no collateral requirements from the lender. The maximum interest rate is set at 4%, and there are no prepayment penalties set on these." How to prepare for loan subsidies for existing SBA loan programsIn addition to those loans, the stimulus package earmarks $17 billion for loan subsidies to existing SBA 7(a) and 504 loans. According to Lenin Agudo, executive director of the Pennsylvania-based Widener University Small Business Development Center (SBDC), this essentially makes them interest-free loans. "Loan subsidies basically offer interest-free borrowing," Agudo said. "The subsidized loans are going to be made available, but we need to figure out how. Is this going through banks? Is this going through CDFIs [community development financial institutions]? We don't know this yet." Agudo recommends preparing all financial documents now, regardless of how the exact process plays out. He said every small business should have these documents ready at the very least:
"Next, guidelines will be drafted for each of these programs, and we'll know more about what requisites we have to comply with to access this type of funding," Agudo said. "Once the stimulus package is approved by Congress and we figure out how [aid] is going to be disbursed, look at those SBA partners in your community," he added. "They will be in a position to respond." According to Hurn, there are about 1,700 SBA lending partners nationwide. Those are the institutions most likely to handle the disbursement of stimulus funds, he said, so opening a dialogue and forming relationships now could be helpful once the stimulus package is passed and implemented. "If someone is in really desperate shape, they need to work with the experts," Hurn said. "I imagine most [SBA lenders] will participate in stimulus." If you're looking to open a line of communication with a lender, use the SBA's lender match tool to look up SBA-approved lenders in your area. How should small businesses spend coronavirus stimulus money?If you get funding from the COVID-19 stimulus package, how could you or should you spend it? Business.com's community experts offered their advice. "The best use of funds for SMBs that receive stimulus-related funding will be to use the funding for payroll and rehiring employees previously laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The second priority for any small business should be to use funds for rent payments, mortgage interest and utility payments. If SMBs use the stimulus package for the above and retain the same average number of employees, the principal amount of the stimulus could be entirely forgiven, meaning small businesses will only be required to pay back the interest payments on the stimulus loan issued." – Adem Selita, CEO of The Debt Relief Company and business.com community member "Stimulus funding is meant to cover normal operating expenses such as payroll, accounts payable, rent, utilities, mortgage payments, health benefits, medical leave, etc. It's important to make sure to apply for the correct amount of funding with the appropriate uses. SMBs are not able to use stimulus funding for business acquisitions or real estate purchases." – Matthew Gillman, CEO of SMB Compass and business.com community member Once the CARES Act is signed by the president, it will be up to agencies like the SBA to disburse funds. In some cases, the process of how SMBs can apply for and obtain relief remains unclear, so it would be up to those agencies to clarify, Agudo said. Starting a conversation with local SBA lenders and financial professionals now is key to being prepared when stimulus funding becomes available. Looking for ideas to help your business survive the coronavirus pandemic? Check out the business.com COVID-19 resource page for advice on how to run your business in this difficult time. |
| COVID-19 Q&A: How to Manage Remote Workers and Stay in Touch With Customers Posted: 27 Mar 2020 07:03 AM PDT  The rapid spread of COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, has required dramatic shifts in the way businesses operate each day. Many have limited operations or suspended them entirely for the duration of the crisis. However, others have transitioned to a work-from-home model, with many employees shifting to remote work. For these businesses and their employees, work from home has been a saving grace; although the crisis has already exacted an economic toll, for the moment, these businesses continue to drive revenue and pay their workers. However, remote work in a time of crisis carries unique challenges tied to productivity and management. Further, staying in touch with your employees and customers alike when your physical location has been shuttered can be an immense challenge. To help you address these concerns as you continue to weather the coronavirus pandemic, business.com reached out to our expert community members to discuss how entrepreneurs should approach productivity, remote work, communication and marketing in this difficult time. Work from home during COVID-19While many businesses have been forced to close their doors, many have been able to sustain operations by shifting to a fully remote work model. Unfortunately, drastic changes to working arrangements often lead to concerns around maintaining productivity and meeting job requirements. In a time where employee morale is likely to suffer due to mounting public concern, it is incumbent upon managers to reassure and support their workforce while promoting a healthy work-life balance. Here's what business.com's experts had to say about remote jobs and productivity during the coronavirus outbreak. Q: How can businesses remain operational if they have been forced to close their physical locations?A: "First and foremost, a website is an amazing tool for communication, and letting people know the status of your business is really helpful … Websites can also support sales in a number of ways, and e-commerce does not have to be limited to products. For instance, maybe your operations are suspended, but you decide to offer gift certificates [or] vouchers at a discount that people can use at a later date. You might also presell products and services to allow customers to be first in line when operations resume." – Nicole Krug, founder and digital strategist at Social Light and business.com community member. A: "Businesses can offer the same services online as they did in-person, if possible, either through phone or video conferencing. Businesses can also email clients with a merchandise selection carefully tailored to them, and offer contactless delivery and free shipping. Facebook Live or Instagram Story videos can show merchandise that clients can then contact the business to buy." – Lani Inlander, owner and chief stylist at Real Life Style and business.com community member. Q: How should small business owners ensure productivity when allowing employees to work from home?A: "Don't be nervous about having employees work from home during the COVID-19 outbreak. Working from home leads to a 13% performance increase on average, and there are other working-from-home productivity statistics I've outlined that should quell any anxiety about losing productivity from your workforce while they work from home. It's going to be OK!" – Jayson DeMers, CEO at EmailAnalytics and business.com community member. A: "Set them up for success. Establish clear guidelines, expectations and a communication cadence. Provide team members with the metrics and KPIs which they will be measured by, and make it easy for them to keep track of. When moving to a remote environment, team members must know how they will be measured. This will eliminate unnecessary uncertainty in their daily work." – Lil Roberts, founder and CEO at Xendoo and business.com community member. Q: How does the COVID-19 crisis impact the future of remote work?A: "Based on how the crisis carries out, workers who prefer an in-office environment will need to adjust to remote work. This will leave opportunity for new innovations to help bring those professions remote, as we've seen done with other industries that are already well operating in a remote environment. We may also see an overall drop in interpersonal communication skills. As we've seen with the rise of social media, the younger generation is reliant on texting and nonverbal communications. On a professional level, managers and teams will need to have a heightened awareness on maintaining strong interpersonal relationships." – Lil Roberts, founder and CEO at Xendoo and business.com community member. A: "I think businesses will realize that remote work can and should be a part of every employees' work plan now that they have been forced to get over any technical or mindset hurdles. This will lead to more flexibility for working parents, a softer footprint on the environment, and in the end, lead to higher employee satisfaction and retention." – Lani Inlander, owner and chief stylist at Real Life Style and business.com community member. CommunicationNaturally, staying in regular communication with both employees and customers is crucial. During a crisis, it can be easy for information silos to form, but regular communication guarantees everyone remains on the same page. Remember to update your employees and your customers every step of the way. Our experts advise entrepreneurs to err on the side of over-communication as a way to reassure and support customers and employees alike. Q: How should small business owners communicate with their employees throughout the coronavirus crisis?A: "These are scary times. It is important that clear communication is being delivered to your employees ... Providing clarity on expectations for employees will help retain trust in these trying times. There is a lot of change going on in everyone's day to day right now; your business shouldn't be added to the list of things to worry about." – Adem Selita, CEO of The Debt Relief Company and business.com community member. A: "As an employer, you already know that your employees are your biggest asset, and you should treat them as such! Maintain consistent communication, and be clear and transparent. This could be in the form of staffwide emails, conference calls or messages on a platform like Slack. You should communicate to them the current state of business and what it means for them. Reassure them that you are keeping up with COVID-19 developments and will keep them updated of any changes with the business. At the end of each call or email, you should direct employees to the CDC or WHO websites for medical inquiries; let them know that you are happy to answer any questions they have about the business, and remind them that their well-being and the well-being of their families are a priority. " – Ebony Brown, freelance communications specialist at E. Brown Consulting and business.com community member. A: "Communicate. The best thing to do to ensure long-term success is constant communication. Teams that are moving remote need to have a set plan in place, including how they will meet, how they will communicate issues, how they will prioritize, etc. This should be built for immediate needs and also flushed out for the long term." – Lil Roberts, founder and CEO at Xendoo and business.com community member. Q: How should small business owners stay in touch with their customers, especially if they have been forced to close indefinitely?A: "We are personally reaching out to our clients to assist whenever possible and sending out educational resources to aid them in these trying times. In situations like this, the little things can have a significant impact on retaining client relationships, even if it's something as simple as a quick phone call or text message." – Adem Selita, CEO of The Debt Relief Company and business.com community member. A: "Consumers are hungry for information and a status update about what they can expect from you. While email communications can help, if someone wants information immediately, they'll likely visit your website. It's important to not only have control of your website and know how to update it, but to keep information flowing." – Nicole Krug, founder and digital strategist at Social Light and business.com community member. A: "Businesses should continue their regular email and social media marketing, although it should reflect the current reality. You need to stay top of mind to your customers by figuring out how you can still serve him/her even if your business is closed. Keep sending out newsletters and posting on social media, letting your customers know you are still there, and that you care about them." – Lani Inlander, owner and chief stylist at Real Life Style and business.com community member. Q: How can businesses use their marketing channels to offer support without appearing like they are trying to take advantage of a crisis?A: "Right now people are desperate for information and there doesn't seem to be a lot of it, largely because no one knows if this will last a couple of weeks or the rest of the year. This uncertainty is creating panic, so anything you can do to help people feel in control will help. Think about what you know and how that information might help people, then use your website or social media channels to share that knowledge … The real key is to be helpful. Even if you are doing things under the guise of business development, when you help people, they remember you. That may pay off now or later." – Nicole Krug, founder and digital strategist at Social Light and business.com community member. Q: How can a brick-and-mortar business take advantage of digital properties and tools, even if most of their business hasn't been done online previously?A: "When you think about the fact that people are going to be stuck in their homes and the internet will be the main source of external contact, it actually creates a big opportunity. Yes, right now there's a lot of panic, but soon enough, you'll have a lot of bored people looking for ways to pass the time … It's actually not terribly hard to set up e-commerce sales, but if that's not something you want to mess with, it may be advantageous to encourage people to call to order products from your videos. When you have a person on the phone, you upsell things to go with whatever they're interested in. That not only brings in more revenue but creates an awesome, personalized experience that people will remember you for. – Nicole Krug, founder and digital strategist at Social Light and business.com community member. Communication and collaboration are needed on all frontsStaying in regular contact with your customers and employees – even if digital channels weren't your primary means of communication before – will help keep employee morale and customer engagement high. Especially in a difficult time like the coronavirus crisis, sticking together is what keeps communities strong. For the community of employees, customers and suppliers your business has cultivated, the same is true. By using all the tools at your disposal – your website, social media, email, live chats and collaboration tools – you can ensure that community doesn't fall by the wayside. By offering your support to one another, not only do you help your business, but you help your community as well. |
| Should You Hire Full-Time or Part-Time Employees? Posted: 27 Mar 2020 04:17 AM PDT 
For years, many organizations and companies resisted allowing their employees to work remotely, believing it was impossible for many roles to translate to a remote model. However, once the now-infamous COVID-19 coronavirus hit, everyone got a big wake-up call to what's possible. Seemingly overnight, thousands of workers transitioned from onsite employees to full-time remote workers, raising a new question: What, exactly, do we need from our workforce? Now, questions not only of remote versus in-office workers are being raised, but also of part-time versus full-time employees. After all, many jobs that were thought to require an in-office presence don't, so perhaps some of the old lines between part time and full time need reevaluating as well. This is especially relevant for small businesses that struggle to attract and retain talent. If you're preparing to hire new employees whilst keeping your bottom line in check, you'd do well to consider which roles require a full-time employee and which jobs might be best filled as part-time positions. Here's everything you need to know about full-time versus part-time employment. Definition of full-time vs. part-time workLet's start with what constitutes a full-time versus a part-time employee. There is some leeway on this from company to company, but part-timers are typically employees who work fewer than 30 hours per week, while full-timers work more than 30 hours per week, usually between 35 and 50 hours weekly. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, "The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not define full-time employment or part-time employment. This is a matter generally to be determined by the employer." What are the pros of hiring full-time employees?Full-time employees are the standard in many industries. Some benefits of employing full-time staff are ease of scheduling meetings, perception of loyalty, and more work hours per person.
What are the cons of hiring full-time employees?The short answer is that it's expensive to hire full-time workers. By design, a single full-time employee costs more than a single part-time employee. Even if you do not offer the full-time employee benefits (which many companies are required to do by law, further increasing the costs), 40 hours a week costs more than 20 hours a week. Additionally, when you have to pay for 40 hours per week of someone's time, you may have to settle for a slightly less experienced full-timer, as opposed to a more experienced (and more expensive per hour, but still cheaper overall) part-time worker. What are the pros of hiring part-time employees?The benefit of hiring part-time employees is twofold. Firstly, it's less expensive to pay for fewer hours of work, and a lean but efficient workforce is essential for those living close to the balance sheet. Second, paying for fewer hours of work overall may make it affordable to hire more experienced professionals. While it may seem inefficient to hire workers for less time, that's not always the case. Plenty of studies indicate that workers spend a large amount of time not working while getting paid at work. If you set measurable goals for your part-time employees, you may be surprised what one efficient part-timer can accomplish. Another major advantage to hiring a part-time employee is that it may allow you to get a higher-caliber professional than your small business would be able to afford at full-time hours. For example, if you can only afford to spend $35,000 a year on a salary for a new social media marketer and want a full-timer, you'll have to hire someone with very little experience. However, if you take that same $35,000 and use it to hire someone highly experienced for part-time hours, they may be able to accomplish more in 10 or 15 hours a week than a recent college graduate can in 40 hours or more. More time on the clock doesn't always equal more efficiency. What are the cons of hiring part-time employees?Part-time employees are not available to you 40 hours per week, they may or may not be getting benefits from you, and they may have other clients paying them. Because of these factors, some employers feel that part-time workers are more likely to jump ship if waters get rough. They are viewed as less dependent on income than full-time workers whose salaries (and often health insurance and retirement accounts) are tied to their jobs. However, many companies do offer benefits to part-time employees, which may mitigate this issue (though it would increase costs). Additionally, scheduling part-time employees either on their own or alongside full-time employees can be a logistical hurdle for businesses that aren't adept at flexible scheduling yet. Human resources departments may be reluctant to add a new type of worker to their management routines, and managers may struggle to adapt to having employees who aren't available all day long, but only during certain shifts. What is job sharing?Job sharing is the splitting of one full-time job into two part-time jobs. Job sharing can be advantageous for small businesses that are in early growth stages or having difficulty attracting excellent full-time employees. Many highly skilled professionals are only available for part-time hours, such as some parents, people with disabilities, and people who are seeking greater work-life balance or pursuing other part-time goals, like higher education or starting a business. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, "The benefits of job sharing are said to include increased morale and productivity. Job sharing can also be an attractive way to recruit new employees and retain current ones. In order for a job sharing arrangement to be successful, however, both individuals must be able to handle the position as efficiently as one person." Another benefit is that when a job is shared, if one employee (or one half of the job) doesn't work out, gets sick or simply leaves for a better offer, the job is not entirely unstaffed. Part-time vs. full-time employees – which is better for my business?The short answer is that it depends on your business. If you're not sure how many hours per week a job takes to complete, you might be better off starting with temporary or part-time staff, since they work fewer hours and cost less money. Once you have an idea of the output for the part-time positions in your company, it should be easier to gauge whether you truly need someone for 40 hours or more per week. Many business owners assume that hiring full-time positions means paying for costly benefits like health insurance, but that's only true for businesses that employ 50 or more people. If your business is smaller than that, you have no legal obligation to provide health insurance to any of your employees, regardless of the hours they work. |
| 5 Areas Where Leaders Get Stuck and How to Avoid Them Posted: 26 Mar 2020 02:13 PM PDT  Just as businesses can get stuck at a certain level of performance, leaders can get stuck at a certain level when faced with difficult decisions or choices. Leaders who wish to lead well should consider if they are stuck at a current level of performance and what needs to be done to move both themselves and the organization forward. Every leader can become stuck in their leadership. It is wise to be determined, but every leader must guard against becoming stubborn in the areas where they are stuck. Many decisions or actions can cause a leader to become stuck. Leaders will get stuck at a level of performance when they refuse to get outside of their comfort zone, or they become too comfortable with decisions and situations that they know that is not good for their organization but feel as if they are good enough that they don't need to make a change. It is not the mistakes that hold leaders and companies back, but instead, those areas where the leader is afraid to make a change that they know is necessary but often don't make in a timely manner. After extensive research, CEO Experience has discovered that CEOs and leaders often fall into the same indecisions. The following is a list to consider where you might get stuck in your leadership. Consider each carefully, as those areas will often be repeated ad infinitum in the course of business. These are not one-time decisions or actions, but repeated attitudes and behaviors that move leaders from vibrant and dynamic to being a shallow shadow of the leader that was part of their original design. 1. Waiting for people to change themselvesOne area where leaders can become confused about where to take the next step pertains to how to lead people effectively. Leaders often feel the tension of needing people to produce while knowing there is a gap in some people's performance. Leaders are called to help people understand how well they are performing and give them the necessary tools to help them improve themselves. Leaders can help expose blind spots and weaknesses in people and move that person from underperforming to a higher level of performance. Waiting for people to improves themselves can often be a defeating leadership move. Leaders should coach employees at all times and in all situations, which includes confrontation, correction and encouragement. Confronting a behavior or an attitude of a team member is challenging work, but leaders should not sabotage themselves and their organization by waiting for people to improve themselves. Keeping secret the truths of an employee's performance not only sentences the team member to a persistent pattern of underperformance, but it also condemns the leader to ineffectiveness and to the consistent problem of addressing people's performance. A leader will never perform at their best level unless they inspire their people to perform at their best level. Small words of encouragement, correction, and insight can lead to clarity about how an employee can reach their highest level of capacity. Exposing the truth to an employee about work behaviors, habits, and blind spots will help both the employee and the organization. Underperforming employees will never help an organization or company reach a high level of performance. Leaders should deeply consider what message or messages they are sending to their team. Everyone in the organization knows when an employee is underperforming, because many of them work with that employee. Often after a poor performer is corrected or removed, many people in the organization express appreciation that the person has been corrected or removed. The leader must be careful not to allow the poor performer to affect their performance as well. 2. Not delegating tasks that others can do betterPeople enjoy following leaders who know and are working in the area of their strengths. Many leaders become stuck because they try to lead where they have no passion, knowledge or talent. When a leader leads in areas where they are not productive, they stop organizational growth and frustrate their teams. People desire to follow a leader who has value and passion. Weak leaders often cause organizations to leak leaders. Department heads and leaders will leave a leader when they feel like they have a bigger and better vision than the leader possesses. Leaders must challenge themselves not to be the smartest person in the room, but to know how to utilize the smartest people in the room to achieve maximum results. Smart people don't enjoy working for a leader who is clueless about how to lead. Leaders who move forward know how to bring a team around them and then release the team to do what team members do best. A significant habit that every leader can master is the art of the ask. Leaders should consistently learn how to ask others for help and to release projects or tasks that others in the organization can accomplish more effectively. 3. Ignoring the significance of situationsTruth is not always easy to face. Stuck leaders are often so focused on their goals and mission that they can't see what is happening around them. When a leader ignores how people are responding or reacting to situations, it can cause the team to lose faith in them. Leaders must evaluate what problem or problems they or their organization are currently ignoring. When leaders understand what will happen to the organization if they don't solve this problem, it can motivate them to act. I encourage leaders to know their order and work their order. What I mean by that statement is that there is always an order to things. First always precedes second. Businesses are built on order through processes and standard operating procedures. I have created a tool entitled "Know Your Order," where I have leaders identify the areas of their company that need oversight in a particular month and then to commit to four decisions or actions to commit each week of the month. When leaders know their order, they know where to focus their time and attention. A business coach or an executive partner can help a leader to execute their focus and their priorities. Sometimes a leader might need someone outside of the organization or situation to best see the situation. An excellent and smart action that a leader who wants to move from indecision to embracing the reality of their organization is to ask their team, "Where should I be focusing my attention?" 4. Refusing to work on passion projectsLeaders receive a vision and a passion for helping their organizations flourish. When leaders lead well, they can often enhance a person's production. When a leader leads without passion, they often see no increase. When a leader dampens the enthusiasm of their team, the team will never produce. Every company needs a dreamer and a dream manager. Every team needs a leader who has a passion and encourages others to find and work on passion projects. CEOs and leaders who stay motivated to lead find passion projects. These high achievers seem to have endless energy. In reality, they have no more energy than other leaders. The secret that these leaders have discovered is finding projects or dreams that inspire them and help them to stay consistently motivated. Passionate leaders understand the value of passion projects and help people on their team to find their energy by allowing dreaming and working on things that matter to the employee. A business or department in decline can be easy to detect. Declining companies and leaders often replace their passion for business or a project for a passion for something less critical. Every leader has a passion; the question becomes which passion they are pursuing. CEOs and leaders should frequently ask their team members about their passions. They should systematically instill the concepts of discovering and working on passion projects. Leaders need to remember their passion and consider what dream they once worked for that they need to reignite. One tool that I use with CEOs is to help them designate those tasks that they are required to do, generate revenue from doing, and receive a reward for completing. What I am referring to in relation to a reward is those tasks that leaders enjoy doing and fulfillment in completing. All leaders are better if they fill their schedules and calendars with at least some tasks that bring a reward to the leader. A leader who burns out is a leader who works on projects and tasks that bring no reward to them. 5. Delaying critical decisionsIt is easy to delay decisions, especially the tough ones. Still, one habit leaders develop that can sabotage their leadership is delaying critical decisions. Leaders who move organizations forward are those who make decisions according to values and convictions. When a leader grows indecisive, they will often lose their team. Leaders are problem-solvers. They are always looking through the organization to find new problems that need to be solved. Leaders who move forward are relentless about solving problems and making decisions today that impact tomorrow. Good leaders recognize the mistake of indecisiveness and quickly move from indecisive to committed. If leaders persist in their indecisiveness, they lose competitive advantage and miss critical opportunities for innovation. When one company moves slowly, competitors who are more agile and streamlined can often gain market penetration. Leaders would be wise to consider what decisions they need to make that they have been putting off and then decide on the first steps to execution they need to implement. I encourage leaders to make one decision a day. A decision a day, especially the right ones, can help a leader move from indecision to commitment to the greater vision. One thing I ask leaders each month is to consider what decision they need to make that day so that they will not have regret 365 days later. That year-view model allows a leader to forecast the power of indecision. Often a leader can delay dealing with a problem because the pain threshold has not been crossed. When a leader has a 365-day view, they can often see the problem growing more prominent and more painful. When a problem becomes painful enough, a leader will work to solve it. Proactive leaders solve problems before they become problems, which is the best way to avoid the problem of becoming stuck. ConclusionEven great leaders can become stuck. In fact, every leader will have moments when they are stuck. In dry seasons or times when a leader feels like things are not moving fast enough, it is essential to review the unstuck actions mentioned above. The ability to identify what is causing a leader to be stuck is the first and most important step of getting unstuck. 5 statements of a leader's current state
Moving a business is challenging, and every leader tends to get stuck. Tenacity is a leadership trait that can often lead to persistence and stick-to-itiveness. However, stubbornness is also an inherent element of this quality that can damage morale and ultimately destroy organizations. Don't become stuck, but stick to the idea of improving yourself and improving your organization. |
| 5 Important HR Considerations in the Time of COVID-19 Posted: 26 Mar 2020 01:38 PM PDT  The global economic impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) is significant. The increase in government-directed "lockdown" regulations since the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a pandemic has companies scrambling to respond strategically to the threat. Many organizations are relying on their human resources teams to help them navigate the changes – and companies without internal HR departments still face critical and potentially costly HR policy decisions. Responding to unplanned workforce management changesThis is a highly complex, unprecedented situation, so there is no clear, universal action template for organizations to adopt. Even federal, state and local government responses to the virus have conflicted as all entities do their best to address the immediate concerns of their respective audiences with the best information available to them in real time. This isn't an isolated situation. Companies of all sizes and across industries are being impacted by this pandemic. Global companies have been impacted by supply chain shortages, declining consumer demand and market insecurity. In the United States, small and local businesses are already feeling the effects of community policies encouraging social distancing to reduce the spread of the disease. Now more than ever, it is critical for our executive leadership teams and HR professionals to collaborate on SMART, people-first policies that will ensure their companies can quickly rebound when we collectively contain the immediate threat from the coronavirus. Here are five key employee-related policies your team should be discussing. 1. Remote workGiven the forced office closures and community quarantine guidance, COVID-19 has brought remote work to the forefront of HR policy conversations. Many organizational design professionals believe that this period of rapidly forced working from home will change the workplace landscape indefinitely. Recognizing that many companies are currently unprepared for a long-term shift to remote work and that not all functional roles are designed for success in a virtual work environment, it is important to define now how your company will address a workplace shift toward remote work and determine program success factors to evaluate trial work-from-home policies. [Read related article: Preparing Your Business for Remote Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic] As a longtime advocate for the strategic adoption of remote work policies, I published an employer guide and developed an accompanying leadership training program for enterprise clients last year. 2. Leave policyIn the U.S., there is no federal policy that requires private employers to provide employees with sick leave benefits. State and municipal policies on sick time vary widely across markets. Despite the lack of federal mandate, many private employers choose to offer sick leave, vacation time or a combined PTO (paid time off) policy as part of a competitive hiring package. Given the largely voluntary nature of leave coverage, different organizations could give very different guidance to their employees. This variance can result in a lot of confusion for employees. Additionally, data has shown that lower-income and hourly wage earners – i.e., those most likely to be financially impacted by local business closures – are least likely to have paid sick time. In times like what we are currently experiencing, employees seek guidance from their social peers regarding what is "normal" in terms of employer leave coverage. Given the ease of digital dialogue on social platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook, there is high potential for policy confusion and coverage gaps to create employee concerns about employer generosity. Perceived company culture, employee satisfaction and employer reputation are key market differentiators in a competitive environment. Any employee concerns around coverage for forced leave could significantly add to the impact on your company's financial well-being. For this reason, I believe that employers should closely examine the leave policies of their key market peers to determine the best coverage choice for this situation. Even if your organization's standard policy is for an employee to exhaust paid sick and vacation time before they can access long-term leave, this unique situation may justify, if not require, a modified policy. 3. BenefitsLike leave coverage, employee benefits vary widely by company. For organizations that do not offer a health benefits program, keep in mind that the current global emphasis on health concerns may increase the importance of health coverage in employees' eyes as a key benefit in a company. Beyond the obvious concerns related to healthcare coverage, the COVID-19 pandemic has raised several other benefits-related issues:
This pandemic may impact our workforce in countless ways. It is important for you, as an employer, to consider how these changes will affect employee motivation and needs. Although your organization may not be able to change healthcare coverage options until an open enrollment window, it could be wise to send out a proactive employee survey asking about their desired benefits. This would help you understand your team and demonstrate your compassion for the employee experience. 4. Objectives and key results (OKRs)2020 was the start of a new decade. Whether for-profit or nonprofit, large or small, most companies set a revised strategy for the decade that included short- and long-term business objectives. Many organizations began this year with individual and team goals tied to employee performance and success targets. For many members of the American workforce, those OKRs tie directly back to their individual employee compensation. There is little doubt that, for most organizations, this quarter will vary widely from the goals set at the conclusion of 2019. That means many individuals in our workforce will miss their performance targets and suffer personal financial impact from this crisis. This issue is particularly important for executives and HR professionals to consider, because employees who are personally financially impacted by this crisis are more likely to leave an employer for a new opportunity. Employee turnover is a costly concern for all employers and could be especially detrimental to businesses that have already experienced financial distress due to the market downturn and quarantine restrictions. It is highly advisable that you take this time to review and revise your OKRs to realistic targets based on the current economic environment and company projections. 5. Talent acquisitionIt may seem counterintuitive to focus on hiring when many businesses are slowing down, but I believe that this situation presents a unique opportunity for strategic employers to revise their 2020 hiring roadmaps, refine their employer brand identity, and source, interview and fill key roles within their organizations. There are several reasons for you to focus on hiring during this window:
Talent scarcity has been a key talking point in HR for the last several years. Countless articles have discussed the need for employers to develop internal talent and inclusively recruit top talent in order to successfully achieve key business goals. Shelley Iocona, founder of ON ITS AXIS, has pioneered the connection between "product and people" and was an early thought leader on this idea. She shares several key tips you can easily execute now in her article "Why Your Talent Acquisition Strategy Rules Your Growth Strategy." [Looking for more business advice on surviving the pandemic? Browse our roundup of COVID-19 business resources.] |
| How Military Training Can Give You a Business Advantage Posted: 26 Mar 2020 12:41 PM PDT  Veterans provide an invaluable service to our country by putting their lives on the line, but what few business owners and commercial actors fail to understand about them is that the advantages of military habit can be enjoyed in the commercial sector too, once veterans have finished their service. By ignoring veterans, business owners and corporate professionals aren't simply shunning selfless individuals who have sacrificed on behalf of others, but are also inhibiting their own success by turning away recruits with highly desirable skills. In fact, having a workforce that's undergone military training can be incredibly beneficial to your company. Here's an exploration of how military training can give you a business advantage, and why companies everywhere should pay serious attention to veterans when the time comes to make a new hire. The advantages of military habitLet's begin by reviewing the myriad of advantages that stem from military habit, or the habits instilled in an individual from their time in the armed services. Whether an individual served in the Army, the Navy or the Air Force, they likely underwent serious training that included not only intense physical but also complex mental exercises. If you enjoy perusing publications that have a military audience in mind, you may find it enjoyable to browse the 10 habits that make veterans stand out in a crowd, such as how they walk or eat. More seriously, you should consider the many advantages you can derive in a commercial environment from time spent in the military. Veterans are used to rigid schedules that simply must be obeyed, for instance, and are thus far less likely to show up to work late. Regardless of which branch they served in, all veterans of the United States armed services must diligently arrive on time when called to service. This will be incredibly good news to those business owners who are sick and tired of offering a job to someone only to find out they don't care enough to show up when and where they're most desperately needed. In addition to that, all veterans of the U.S. armed services understand the importance of respecting their superiors. You don't have to be a veteran yourself to understand how serious it is for a new recruit in the military to talk back to their superior officer. Watch any Hollywood film, for instance, and see how ne'er-do-wells are dealt with in bootcamp when they talk back to their drill sergeants. Hollywood theatrics aside, there's no denying that veterans understand the importance of a hierarchical chain of command and thus fit well into clearly delineated organizational structures. It's worth considering the benefits of military training when you're considering your next investment into GWO training or similar workforce training regimes. Ensuring that your employees' skills are up to date is important, but certain things taught in the military can't be understood or appreciated to the fullest extent possible by those who were never part of it themselves. Consumers love veteransThere are many reasons to hire veterans from an organizational standpoint. Whether it's their respect for authority, timeliness, or ability to work with others on short notice, military service members are obviously ideal for many aspects of the corporate world. What too few business owners appreciate is that consumers also love veterans, which can enable your business to market its products or services in new and exciting ways. When you have a veteran-majority workforce, for instance, you can include that in advertisements to great effect, as customers want their hard-earned dollars to support those individuals who have put life and limb on the line to ensure our freedoms here at home. For proof of that, look no further than the positive press coverage garnered by those companies and startups launched by veterans. Almost immediately lauded solely thanks to the veteran status of the individuals who created these companies, these various brands will benefit from such coverage and attract excellent prospective workers who want to join a business that treats veterans well. Those business owners who foolishly think that hiring a veteran will do nothing for their company are thus well advised to think again. By embracing service members in your ranks, you'll ensure that customers everywhere are more attached to and supportive of your brand than ever before. The advantages of military habit can also come into play here; veterans come from all walks of life. According to data from the Pew Research Center, for instance, today's military is more diverse than ever before. What better way to appeal to our diverse modern consumer base than with a diverse modern workforce that stems from all walks of life? Veterans speak many different languages, look different from one another, worship differently, and generally perceive the world in a diverse set of ways. Failing to take advantage of that fact will leave your company much worse off than it otherwise would be. Financial reasonsThere are also good financial reasons to take advantage of workers who possess previous military training. It goes without saying that some service members will be financially savvy, but the real benefit from hiring them can come in the form of tax credits. Uncle Sam is pleased to reward those businesses who are hiring veterans in need of a new opportunity to make a living for themselves. As a result, businesses everywhere that are struggling under an immense tax burden should consider hiring a diverse, veteran-majority workforce that enables them to collect tax credits that subsequently allow for greater financial freedom in your commercial pursuits. Of the many reasons to hire a veteran today, the tax credits provided for such a situation is one of the most enticing. You can also enjoy the fact that they're natural leaders who aren't afraid to lead by example, which will in turn lead to wiser decision making across your company. Even your workers who were never in the military can thus benefit from military training, as they'll be exposed to it when they interact with and work alongside of their veteran counterparts. Veterans thus save businesses thousands of dollars when the time comes to pay their taxes while also streamlining operations and ensuring that non-veteran employees feel more productive and safe in the workspace than ever before. The truth of the matter is that the immense benefits derived from military training likely can't be precisely quantified, so extensive and diverse are they in their nature. Company managers and small business owners will simply have to content themselves with the fact that it's the right decision for moral, financial, and productive purposes. Not everybody can serve in the United States military, but business owners everywhere can take advantage of the military habits that veterans bring along with them when they enter into the private workforce. By having veterans on your team, you'll be taking advantage of tax credits, ensuring that you have a stable workplace hierarchy, and giving back to those who have already served others in the past. Business owners who are considering making a new hire sooner rather than later should pay attention to the many commercial benefits derived from military training. |
| What's an Inbound Call Center? Should You Consider Using One? Posted: 26 Mar 2020 06:54 AM PDT 
For small businesses, customer service is critical. However, many small business owners are already stretched thin, and manning the phone lines isn't always the top priority. In a country where 90% of consumers use customer service reviews as a factor in their decision to buy from a company, though, entrepreneurs cannot allow customer satisfaction to decline. If you're concerned that your customer service is falling by the wayside, there are always inbound call centers to pick up the slack. What exactly is an inbound call center, though, and how might it improve your customer service? Read on to learn more. What is an inbound call center?A call center is a versatile team designed to man the phone lines of businesses, government agencies, nonprofits or any other organization that needs support. Call center agents are trained to deliver exceptional customer service, buoying your brand's customer satisfaction while freeing up your team to focus on operations. Call centers can be divided into two major categories based on the types of service they provide: inbound call centers and outbound call centers. "The ultimate difference is that inbound is the interaction engaged by the consumer or business trying to connect with you, while outbound is you going outwards towards them," said Marshall Ogen, vice president of business strategy for a family of companies that includes Concentra Solutions, CannabisBPO and PharmaCentra. Some call centers provide both inbound and outbound services based on the client's needs.
Editor's note: Looking for a call center service? We can help you choose the one that's right for you. Use the questionnaire below to have our vendor partners provide you with free information: What services can an inbound call center provide?Call centers do more than just manage the phone lines, which is why many have rebranded as "contact centers." Today, many call centers also handle email, social media, live web chat and even text message marketing. Through a variety of services ranging from basic message taking to full-scale customer service, inbound call centers aim to improve the overall customer experience. "What outsourcing to a call center does for a small business is helps them in areas they might not have proficiency in," Ogen said. "It expands your hours of operation; it gives you a redundancy if something happens – vis-a-vis coronavirus – [which means] you have a backup plan, so your business has continuity." Many call centers are flexible in the services they offer, working with each client to determine their goals and the best strategy to achieve them. However, several services are common across call centers:
The best inbound call center services offer bilingual or multilingual support, improving your ability to connect with customers who speak languages other than English. Many also offer mobile applications, so you can stay connected to your outsourced customer service team at all times and monitor their performance. When should your small business outsource to an inbound call center?To take full advantage of the services a call center provides, you need to know when the time is right to outsource your customer service. If you already have a high customer satisfaction rate and it isn't burdensome for your staff to manage the phone lines and your other communications channels, you could probably save the money. However, if you're concerned about maintaining that level of customer satisfaction as your business scales up, you might consider outsourcing. Here are some signs you should think about hiring an inbound call center:
"I would say to a small business owner that it's really simple," Ogen said. "You need to make sure that your customer experience and customer journey are just as important to your business as whatever you're actually selling. [Call centers] are skilled in the art of making sure you have positive customer experiences to drive your business forward." Inbound call center pricing modelsSo, what does an inbound call center typically cost? The simple answer is that it depends on your service needs and expected call volumes. However, that doesn't illuminate what you can expect from the industry very much. When investigating call centers, keep the following factors in mind: Shared vs. dedicated agentsBased on the services you require, a call center will use either shared agents or dedicated agents. Shared agents handle incoming calls for all the call center's clients. They are generally reserved for simpler, scripted tasks like taking messages or patching calls. Shared agents typically have a per-minute rate. Some call centers charge a monthly fee for a package of minutes, while others bill as needed. Dedicated agents work solely for you. They are more familiar with your business and can handle complex services, such as customer support and sales. These agents are more expensive than shared agents and generally billed at an hourly rate. Some call centers also offer semi-dedicated agents. This model is also billed at an hourly rate and available for more complex services. Semi-dedicated agents usually have two or three other companies to manage as well and are slightly less costly than fully dedicated agents. Incremental billingIt's important to watch out for incremental billing in the call center industry. Many call centers round up the time spent on a call to the nearest sixth second. That means a call that lasts 61 seconds would be rounded up to 66 seconds. Six seconds represents 0.1 minutes, so a 66-second call would appear on your bill as "1.1 minutes." While it is common for companies to round up to the nearest sixth second, the best call centers don't round up at all, instead billing second to second. On the other hand, some companies round up even higher than the nearest sixth second, in some cases rounding to the nearest minute. Consider a company's incremental billing policies when comparing rates; the difference in price could be significant. FeesSome call centers charge setup fees, incidental fees (such as holiday fees) and recurring fees on top of usage rates. You should always thoroughly examine any contracts before signing. Also ask the sales representative for a detailed breakdown of any and all costs, including fees. "To give an honest rate, you really need to understand the goals of a program, the reporting technology required, training, etc.," said Ogen. "Rates can fluctuate all over the place. My warning or caution is if anybody just throws out a rate, they're not a partner; they're just transactional." You can pay call centers for as many or as few services as you need. For example, a business that only needs agents to take after-hours messages can keep costs low. If you want to outsource your entire customer service department, from handling inquiries to placing orders to managing complaints, your bill is naturally going to be higher. Discuss your goals and strategy with multiple companies to make sure you're getting the best deal for your budget. Call centers can help small businesses improve customer experienceInbound call centers can do a great deal to help small businesses improve their customer service. While big businesses have an advantage when it comes to manpower, small businesses can still offer a polished, professional consumer-facing brand with the help of call centers. Whether you just need someone to capture caller information after your business has closed for the day or you want a comprehensive customer service partner, inbound call centers can meet your needs. Take your time, do your homework, and find an inbound call center that will grow with your business as a partner. It might just help you grow your customer base in ways you never thought possible. |
| Why Your Business Needs Low-Code to Stay Competitive in 2020 Posted: 25 Mar 2020 03:06 PM PDT  What is your business and IT doing to embrace digital transformation? If the answer is not low-code, you may be missing your mark. Here is a look into why low-code is taking over business app development and promoting digital transformation, and why companies who are not using low-code yet are already falling behind. Digital transformation is a need, not a wantDigital transformation has been a buzzword in the business world, and for good reason. Customers expect seamless experiences with companies they interact with, similar to the technologies they use in their day-to-day lives. Operations need to be more efficient than manual work can achieve, creating a need for new tech solutions in business process automation. This has made digital transformation go from a potential strategy idea to a mandatory goal for companies hoping to remain competitive in the future. Digital transformation is easier said than done, however. CIOs need to shift their focus from tech management to projects that foster business growth and prepare for future innovation. The IT department's backlog can double or triple with development projects while they spend upwards of 60% of their time maintaining the company's existing IT infrastructure. And if you think expanding your IT department is the solution, you might have a hard time with that; the demand for IT experts heavily outweighs the market supply, and even if you succeed, you're paying a substantial amount for a fraction of improvement. There are currently over 200,000 developer job openings in the U.S. alone, with only 30,000 graduates entering the workforce per year. Entering the era of low-codeTo work around this IT obstacle in the path of transformation, more and more companies are looking towards low-code technology. Low-code was recognized by Forrester in 2014, and defined as "platforms that enable rapid delivery of business applications with a minimum of hand-coding and minimal upfront investment in setup, training, and deployment." Low-code uses drag-and-drop features and a visual interface to develop apps. Similar to Legos, users can connect pre-configured modules together using simple logic as the platform automatically generates the code for them. This visual method of app development is both significantly faster and easier than developing via coding, and practically anyone can do it without extensive training. With its fast and easy development capabilities, high adoption rates and scalable cloud deployment, low-code technology quickly made its way up to one of the most popular topics in business technology. Organizations in nearly every industry from The Hershey Creamery Company to the Salvation Army have started to implement low-code platforms within their business to streamline workflows, automate processes, and optimize their operations. The list of companies using low-code is ever-increasing as well: Gartner estimates that by 2024, 65% of business app development will be done via low-code. The low-code market was valued at $5.6 billion in 2018, and is expected to be worth $52.3 billion by 2024. Additionally, the global market growth of low-code from 2019 - 2024 will likely reach 45.2%. The business pains low-code addressesSo why are all of these companies looking to low-code for their transformation needs? Because automation of work is a vital part of digital transformation. This means businesses need a lot of apps and solutions, which is exactly what low-code effectively addresses. Traditionally speaking, app development usually involves IT, and IT has a limited ability to make apps. Hand-coding apps from scratch can be a lengthy process, and can take months or even years to fully develop and deploy. To make matters worse, IT departments generally already have a lot on their plate to attend to before they can begin these new projects. As the demand for new apps grows, so does the IT backlog. This is what creates an IT delivery gap. Companies that do not address this are essentially dooming themselves to painfully slow transformation initiatives, and are quickly left behind in the market by more innovative competitors. Low-code solves this problem by turning regular end users into developers, formally known as "citizen developers," who have no formal coding or software development skills. For businesses, this means any employee within the company – from HR to sales reps – can develop their own apps to automate their work. Despite the lack of coding used within the development process, citizen developers can use low-code platforms to create apps that are both scalable and complex with little to no IT involvement. This closes the IT gap, increases the speed in which apps can be developed, and accelerates digital transformation. In essence, low-code expands the number of potential developers a business has from the amount of IT experts to the total number of employees. With development at the forefront of innovation, any company of any industry can become a software company creating necessary business solutions on the fly. How low-code accelerates digital transformationLow-code platforms are not only useful for citizen developers: both IT and citizen developers can use it to create apps. While citizen developers relieve the professional developers of several tasks, IT departments can manage their own backlog of development tasks much faster with low-code. This is because low-code, as the name implies, can still involve coding. This means that when a development task comes along that is very large in scale or requires customization via hand-coding, experts can use the platform to do so without having to create the app from scratch. This results in both professional and citizen developers cooperating to cover the entire company's development needs as a result. Low-code platforms essentially take a business's software development process and flips it on its head. Not only does it democratize the development process, it also speeds it up significantly. Using visual tools, anyone can automate their business ideas within minutes – not months. This in turn ensures that any company utilizing low-code is innovating constantly, keeping up with the ever-changing tech-oriented business landscape. Any process from employee onboarding to lead generation can be automated faster than ever before, fostering growth and digital transformation. If your business does not have a digital transformation initiative, you may be risking your competitive edge throughout the 2020s. However, digitally transforming an entire company is easier said than done. IT departments can only develop so many new technologies within a given timeframe, and expanding an IT department to keep up with development demands is unrealistic. Low-code technology can alleviate this barrier to transformation by making every employee within your company a citizen developer, allowing them to automate their work faster and easier. Companies around the world have already started implementing low-code platforms and have experienced great success in doing so. Low-code is here to stay, and it is only going to become more important to digital transformation initiatives in the 2020s. So if your business wants to innovate, grow and transform in the coming decade, low-code may be the solution you're looking for. |
| 12 Signs You’re Losing Customers on Facebook Posted: 25 Mar 2020 01:49 PM PDT  Facebook marketing is growing. According to recent research, 77.6% of small businesses use social media to promote their business. Facebook is the leading channel of choice with 45% of small businesses surveyed stating that they have a dedicated Facebook page. The research, conducted by BIA Advisory Services, a market intelligence leader, surveyed 1,000 small businesses during Q3 of 2016. That's a 4% increase from the year prior. Those numbers aren't surprising when you factor in the number of daily active users, which Facebook reported as 1.62 billion as of September 2019. That leaves ample room for small businesses to brand and grow their businesses. However, there is a right way and a wrong way to accomplish social media marketing and branding and not all Facebook marketing campaigns meet success. 1. Fewer people are seeing your postsUnless your following has dropped, chances are that at least some of your audience is seeing your posts. So, the question then becomes "Is your audience ignoring your posts." People read business posts for many reasons. Sometimes it's to gain brand, product or service insight, learn something new, to be entertained, or something else. However, if you're finding that your posts are not being seen or read by your audience, then that may be a clue to review your content — past, and present, to determine what has been working and what hasn't. That brings us to our next topic — engagement. 2. Your customer engagement has droppedWhen Facebook engagement drops, the problem is often varied. Sometimes the problem is post wording. Sometimes the message simply doesn't connect with your intended audience. Sometimes there are too many promotional posts or not enough variety. Like articles and blogs for your website, Facebook marketing posts need to go beyond the sale to add value to your audience. Unlike longer content, though, social media posts must capture your audience's attention faster and in fewer words. In fact, to drive engagement, it's best to keep Facebook posts to a maximum of 50 characters, according to Social Pilot, a SaaS social media marketing tool. That means power-packing your social messages for maximum impact. 3. Your Facebook posts lack varietyThere is such a thing as "overdoing it," which is easy to do if you're just starting out or lack social media marketing expertise. Sometimes, it happens with entrepreneurs as well. Facebook ads or promotional content fill your Facebook profile covering product or service information, sales, and sometimes new product announcements. Although that might garner some initial attention, the effect will be short-lived. To boost the impact and build your brand with Facebook marketing, you'll want to add a variety of content to the mix. 4. You're not connecting with your followersSpeaking of variety, consider how it allows you to connect with your followers and, ultimately, your customers. Depending on your business, a variety that connects might include instructionals, information related to your products or services — interesting ways a customer might use your products or why, tell a brand story, include interesting video, graphics, statistics or trending industry news that might interest your consumer or more. Variety is the spice in your Facebook marketing efforts that helps you better engage with your followers. Whether your content is original or curated, find something that speaks to your brand, products, and services, and to your audience and let the sharing begin. 5. No one is sharing your postsSharing is caring, right? The problem is that if no one is sharing your Facebook posts, then your content or marketing campaign might need an evaluation and adjustment. It's inevitable that some posts will be more share-worthy than others. To improve your success rate, look back at some of your more successful posts and determine what stood out about them. Try some A/B testing. The problem might resolve by rewording the initial post and maybe including a visual. 6. You're losing followersSometimes losing customers is more literal than the wording of the content you're posting. It's normal to lose some followers, but if they're leaving in droves, then it's time to evaluate why. Are your messages aligned with your brand, products, and services? Are your messages interesting and add value to your audience? If you answered "yes," then another problem might be that you're not attracting the right audience. If you're using Facebook paid marketing, then make sure you use the audience demographics tools to define your target audience. No brand can appeal to everyone. Focus on who your ideal customer is. Research what interests them, what their needs and desires are, and adjust your Facebook marketing campaign accordingly. If you're using organic marketing on Facebook, then re-evaluate the keywords or hashtags that you've been targeting and adjust as needed. 7. You're not attracting the right audienceThe audience that you're targeting can make or break your Facebook marketing campaign. Make sure you narrow your results according to the demographics of your ideal customers. From there, post content that appeals to your audience. If you're still not gaining traction, research the competition and stay on top of consumer-facing industry trends. Social listening tools can help you learn what your audience is talking about, what they care about, and what challenges they're facing that you might offer a solution for. 8. You're not gaining any new leadsRegardless of how much you publish, if you're still not gaining new leads, take a step back and evaluate your cover image and your content. According to Social Media Examiner, a concise cover image should signal what your business is about, contain a simple call-to-action, and your logo. Clarity produces more leads. Another consideration is your content. Avoid hard-selling content types and, instead, drive leads with content that delivers valuable information to your customers. 9. Your backlinks are underperformingIf your Facebook page isn't the problem, it could be that your backlinks are not performing as anticipated. Building out a stream of backlinks takes work and careful planning. Although including backlinks in some of your Facebook marketing posts is essential, you'll need to go beyond the social platform to really gain traction. If you haven't done so already, consider guest posting on websites relevant to your business or industry. You could also respond to relevant, audience-generated questions on the social search engine, Quora — just make sure that your answer is substantial and offers insight and authority. 10. You're Facebook marketing ads aren't sellingJust as backlinks can underperform, so, too, can Facebook marketing ads. Don't turn off your ad sets too early. It's a common mistake. Remember, ads take time to reach a sizable audience. Aim for a goal for your ad to reach a certain number of people before making any changes, including ad optimization. Also, look at your specific conversions, not the overall conversion, to determine the actual cost per conversion. The overall conversion may not provide you with an accurate picture of your ad performance, especially if you're tracking more than one type of conversion. 11. Your website isn't landing on first-page search resultsSpeaking of conversions with Facebook marketing, the same, general idea applies to funneling traffic to your website via your Facebook posts. This is another area that you can track if you're using Facebook ads to gain landing page visits. If not, then organic means can still get you there, but you'll need to get a bit more creative with your posts and not blatantly sell. Some businesses have been successful in gaining traffic by leading to a popular blog post or an interesting landing page. Do you have any special events or promotions coming up? This might be one option to obtain a backlink and generate more traffic. Another might be a new product or your company's latest research report or blog post. Mix it up for variety to keep your marketing efforts interesting for your audience. 12. You're not earning positive influencer PRPositive PR can do much to grow a business, but how you obtain it matters. You can only do so much with Facebook marketing. To gain some positive PR, you'll need to step beyond the bounds of your Facebook posts and reach out to other avenues, like HARO, or helpareporterout.com. HARO can connect you with writers looking for interviews or expert quotes or comments that they can use in the articles they publish. In exchange, your name and business receive an honorable mention and, if the article is digital, a backlink to your website. It's a chance for you to lend your industry knowledge for some positive PR. Always request that the writer provide you with a copy of the live link once the digital article is published. You can then promote the article on your website and on your business Facebook page. Don't forget to comment on the post to announce to your audience why you're sharing. The final wordIt's normal to occasionally lose some customers or followers on Facebook. It happens all the time. Some people might not like your Facebook page because your page is not a verified page. Facebook page verification is simple and easy. Some people drop off and others join in. However, if you're losing customers in large numbers and consistently, that doesn't mean the end for your Facebook marketing campaign. Instead, re-evaluate what you're currently doing versus what you could try. Marketing plans are not set in stone for a reason. They must be periodically evaluated, tested, measured and adjusted. A successful marketing campaign takes a lot of work and marketing know-how. If you lack the time or expertise, consider contacting a professional marketer with proven skills to handle the tasks for you. |
| Small Business Guide on How to Decide When to Lay Off Employees Posted: 25 Mar 2020 12:58 PM PDT 
While the lamentations about mass layoffs as a side effect of the coronavirus are nothing if not prescient and economically frightening, for small business owners, the challenges of COVID-19 pose an immediate moral and financial quandary. As the weeks wear on, more businesses deemed "nonessential" are being told to shutter their doors or risk being in violation of the law. Since the closures are related to an emergency and not scheduled seasonality, small business owners are in the unusual position of not only having a workforce that may not be able to work at all, but they also don't have any idea when normal business will resume. Job loss is never something to be taken lightly. Just as the futures of workers must be considered and safeguarded, so, too, must the futures of business owners and their families. These are unusual, though not wholly unprecedented, times. It is our hope that this guide offers you the information and resources you need to make the best decision possible for your business, employees, family and community. What's happening with businesses and COVID-19 right now?As the conditions of the coronavirus evolve, so, too, does the impact it has on businesses in different regions of the country. Staying abreast of local news is the best way to know what restrictions are in place in your area, but if you're in a mostly unaffected region (for the time being), looking at what's happening in more densely populated areas in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast may be a good indicator of what's coming your way in the next several weeks. Most states have business guides for operating during the coronavirus. Check yours for information about safely operating (for essential businesses) and shutdown guidelines (for nonessential businesses). Additionally, we are updating our COVID-19 resources hub daily. Here, you'll find links to important government guidelines, as well as access to resources for financial relief. Organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Administration are also directing their efforts toward promoting relief for small businesses. Alternatives to laying off employeesLaying off employees falls into the worst-case scenario for small business owners. There are alternate ways to cut your payroll costs without permanently laying off your workers. Here's what some businesses are doing to cope with COVID-19 related shutdowns:
While things like reducing overtime and eliminating bonuses aren't the best way to win over employees, in the wake of an unpredictable global pandemic, both are understandable. Explaining to your workers that you are taking these measures to avoid mass layoffs may soften the blow. Before you act, however, consult with a lawyer to make sure none of these measures violate contracts you have with employees, vendors or leasing agencies. When should I consider laying off employees?While grocery stores are experiencing unprecedented sales, many other businesses are unable to do much business at all. If yours is a small business that is currently unable to operate or has experienced a significant downturn due to recent events, it's time to look at your balance sheet and start planning. Look at your payroll costs and available funds.Step one should be to assess your monthly payroll costs and check that number against your available funds to see if you have enough capital to either float the business entirely, or if you need to supplement it with your savings, depending on how much business you've lost due to atypical operations. You'll need to project out and see just how long you can continue to pay your current staff while your business is closed or operating at a reduction. Evaluate your employees, and reproject your payroll.Next, you need to look at whom you can realistically afford to lose and keep your doors open, either now or in the future. This is tough, because everyone in a business adds value, but in extreme circumstances, difficult choices must be made. Some business owners prioritize those who drive more business, like salespeople, while others take a performance approach and eliminate bottom performers across several departments. Once you have your skeleton crew established, costs included, do another projection. Adjusting for lowered business, how long can you operate with a decreased staff and (possibly) decreased hours? If you can continue to operate indefinitely with fewer staff members, then you have your answer, and you know the way forward is to eliminate nonessential staff. Whether you do so immediately (with or without a severance package) requires further thought and planning. If, on the other hand, the numbers don't work out (or, at least, not for long) even with as many costs cut as possible, you may have to consider a full shutdown. Consult with experts before acting.Perhaps you're an expert already and don't require outside opinions, but if not, we strongly recommend reaching out to trusted experts you have at your disposal, such as lawyers with whom you have an established relationship, accountants, and even other business owners in similar industries. This step is especially vital if you are likely to go through mass layoffs or firings. For example, if you take the approach of eliminating employees who are the poorest performers, you need to make sure you fall within your legal rights, as this may technically be considered a firing rather than a layoff, and different laws may govern each depending on the employment type of the worker. You don't want to end up in the middle of a wrongful termination lawsuit. If you're at all unsure of what you need to offer in terms of severance or notice, or if you're uncertain about your financial projections and next steps, now is the time to seek outside advice. The closer you get to your breaking point, the fewer choices you will have anyway, so even if your business isn't being immediately impacted by COVID-19, you should prepare now. No one ever laments being too prepared during an emergency. Create an action plan.Once you have a general idea of how you'll proceed, depending on your business's circumstances, as well as local developments in relation to the coronavirus, create an action plan. Plan out how you'll execute job cuts to ensure the process is as painless as possible. Consider how and when you'll notify your human resources department and managerial staff, as well as how you'll carry out logistical tasks like sending out final paychecks to those made redundant. The more specific you make each step, the easier it will be to carry out a layoff if or when it comes to that. Balance sheet realities and making the tough callsCommunication is a cornerstone of good leadership, and that's doubly true in times of great volatility. Whatever your plan is, whether it be closing temporarily with the understanding that your staff's jobs will be waiting for them, closing permanently, offering hazard pay to public-facing employees, or creating a pay package to help your workers who cannot do their jobs, be clear. Be clear about what you are doing, why you are doing it and how your plan will be rolled out. Explain your thought process and what is and isn't feasible. When faced with uncertainty, many people behave reactively without a thought toward the next stage, after the dust has settled. As devastating as the effects of COVID-19 are, time will march on. For your business (or at the very least, your reputation in business) to survive, you need to be calculated in how you handle the next steps. Several companies have been lambasted by the press for laying off large numbers of employees in ways that look callous and uncaring, and people may remember these actions for years to come, long after the coronavirus is under control. Act with sensitivity, transparency and an eye to the future. A good rule in assessing your communications to your employees is to imagine your words in a news article. If the way you're handing layoffs or firings were in the news, how would it sound to the public? This is a real possibility as many newly unemployed workers take to the internet to voice their displeasure at being out of work. There's no way to make layoffs entirely palatable, but you can mitigate backlash through strategic, compassionate communication. How to lay off employeesLaying off employees is never easy or fun, but there are best practices to guide you. Business experts and human resources professionals alike advise that you get your message across with as much transparency and empathy as possible. It's OK to explain how you feel, to express regret at the situation you're all in and to explain why you're doing what you're doing. A layoff during a crisis like COVID-19 is different from a layoff due to poor business practices or outsourcing. Be as honest and forthcoming as possible. In addition to being tactful and honest in your communication to employees whom you'll no longer be employing, it's vital to stay in communication with your remaining workforce. Workers who are staying with your company after mass layoffs may feel stressed about their own job security or angry about their colleagues who were let go. Manage your expectations on how people respond, as some amount of anger or distrust is to be expected. Any way you can reassure your remaining staff while still being honest about the situation your company finds itself in should be an immediate priority. What about offering severance packages?One way to soften the blow of unemployment is with a severance package. There is no hard and fast rule about severance pay, but many employers offer pay commensurate to experience at the company. You may offer one week's pay for every year an employee has worked for your business, thus rewarding seniority while still giving everyone something. Another option is to offer a flat sum to each employee regardless of their duration of employment, though this is less common. If offering severance packages is not within your ability, you can, at the very least, help your employees get the resources they'll need to file for unemployment (or find alternate employment). Creating a resource packet on collecting unemployment benefits (provided you run it by a legal expert to make sure it's accurate and not likely to get you into trouble) may help your staff that's being let go and show that you're not kicking them out the door without a thought. Bottom lineJob cuts are tough on everyone, but there are resources available to you and your staff to help you through the COVID-19 pandemic. Share your experiences, and connect with other small business owners who understand what you're going through. Check out our COVID-19 resource hub for valuable information and financial resources. If you've found ways to avoid a mass layoff and keep your full-time employees during this difficult time, please share your experiences in the business.com community. We want to hear from leaders like you! |
| Defining Exempt vs. Nonexempt Employees Posted: 25 Mar 2020 05:25 AM PDT 
According to federal regulations, employees fall under one of two categories: exempt or nonexempt. Employers cannot classify their employees based on personal preference; instead, they must follow preset federal guidelines that determine how employees are classified. It is important to be knowledgeable about both federal and state classifications. Misclassification can be very costly, and penalties can be given retroactively. What is the difference between exempt and nonexempt employees?To comply with labor laws and wage regulations, business owners must know how to properly classify employees. Lauren Blair, attorney and author at FreeAdvice.com, said the key differences between exempt and nonexempt status are based on an employee's job responsibilities, decision-making authority, and compensation. "The factors that determine whether an employee can be classified as exempt or nonexempt are governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) federal regulation, which is administered by the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor (DOL)," Blair told business.com. "The DOL will not just accept what the employer calls the employee. Rather, the regulations are designed to scrutinize the reality of someone's job." Based on the criteria set forth by the FLSA, an employee is either eligible for overtime pay (nonexempt) or ineligible for overtime pay (exempt). Exempt employeesExempt employees are typically salaried, white-collar workers who are exempted from (i.e., not eligible for) overtime pay, regardless of how many hours they work per week. A common misconception is that all salaried employees are exempt when in fact, there are several guidelines that an employee must meet before they qualify as exempt. According to the FSLA, your employee must pass each of the following tests to be considered exempt:
"Under the duties test, there are a number of different categories of workers who are exempt from the overtime requirements, the most common of which are the executive exemption, the sales exemption, the professional exemption, the computer exemption, and the highly compensated employee exemption," said Blair. Although employees must meet all the aforementioned "tests" to be qualified as exempt, there are a few exceptions. For example, highly compensated employees are almost always considered exempt. These employees must make a minimum of $107,432 per year (previously $100,000 per year). The new DOL ruling also made additional threshold changes, allowing employers to use nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments to account for up to 10% of the standard salary level. Nonexempt employeesIf an employee doesn't meet all three of the qualifying tests for exemption, they are deemed nonexempt. Nonexempt employees are typically paid at an hourly rate (at least minimum wage) and tend to have more flexible schedules. (Keep in mind that salaried employees who don't meet the salary level or duties requirements may also be deemed nonexempt.) According to FLSA overtime rules, nonexempt employees are eligible to be paid overtime wages (generally time and a half) for every hour worked over 40 hours per week; however, check with your state overtime rules to see what constitutes overtime pay – each state calculates this differently. For example, a nonexempt employee in California is entitled to overtime pay if they work more than 8 hours per day, more than 40 hours per week or more than 6 days per week. They are also eligible for double-time overtime pay under qualifying circumstances (e.g., working more than 12 hours in a workday or more than 8 hours on the 7th day of the workweek). Although many nonexempt employees can qualify for work benefits like health insurance, paid time off and retirement contributions, this is not always the case. Seasonal and part-time employees are often disqualified from receiving benefits, but this can vary by company.
Editor's note: Looking for the right online payroll service for your business? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you about your needs. Which type of employee is better for a small business?There are benefits and drawbacks with each classification (exempt and nonexempt), and the best type for your business depends on your unique situation. Do you need employees with more expertise (exempt) or flexibility (nonexempt)? Leslie Tarnacki, senior vice president of human resources and general manager at WorkForce Software, provided a scenario for determining when you would classify a worker as exempt or nonexempt. "If my small business was a small engineering architecture firm, most employees would be exempt based on a professional categorization," said Tarnacki. "However, if I ran a small boutique or retail shop, those employees would most likely be nonexempt. It depends on what type of small business you're talking about." Generally speaking, if you are looking for long-term employees with a high level of knowledge, experience and responsibility, those workers would fall under the exempt status. (Again, though, an employee must meet all three FLSA tests discussed above to truly be considered exempt.) Nonexempt status is typically conferred to employees who partake in short-term seasonal work, work part time, and whose jobs involve a low level of expertise and responsibility. Common employee classification mistakes to avoidMisclassifying employees can be detrimental to your business. When an employer misclassifies an employee, they face financial repercussions; for example, retroactive benefits and pay. Tarnacki said that two of the most common employee classification mistakes that employers make involve the employee's job title and salary pay. "Giving someone a fancy title, like manager or assistant manager, doesn't mean they're automatically exempt; it's the duty, not the title, that matter in the classification," said Tarnacki. "When businesses simply pay someone a salary as opposed to an hourly rate, they often assume that the employee is exempt, but it doesn't necessarily translate, because it's the duties that count." An employee must meet all three tests (salary level, salary basis and duties) to qualify as exempt. If you switch someone's job title or wage type, ensure that you are reconsidering every aspect of their position before reclassifying them. Employers sometimes make mistakes when reclassifying an employee's status from nonexempt to exempt. Blair said that simply upgrading titles and restructuring pay from hourly to salary may not be sufficient when, in reality, the duties and the responsibilities of the position don't meet the criteria of any of the exempt categories listed in the regulations. "Some [employers] view overtime payments as a financial burden, and they try to cut corners by giving hourly jobs fancy titles and paying hourly wages on a salary basis, which can land them in serious legal trouble," said Blair. "The most important thing for employers of any size is to never classify an employee as exempt simply to avoid overtime pay." There are a few industries that can be especially tricky when classifying employees, such as retail sales (e.g., trucks, cars or farm equipment) and office workers (e.g., paralegals and secretaries). Tarnacki said that the transportation industry (e.g., drivers, airlines, trains and cruise lines) can be especially tricky because sometimes employees can be paid per drive/trip and have a set rate that may or may not qualify them as exempt. If you have any questions about how you should classify your employees, it is always best to speak with an expert in your industry. "Don't ignore classification issues because it can be costly to correct misclassification," said Tarnacki. "If a business discovers that they had an employee classified incorrectly, there's more risk in hoping that the issue goes away … you could be facing damages, back pay, costs related to litigation and attorneys that cost much more in the end if the issue is identified." |
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