Can they really sue me for that?

“Can they really sue me for that!” this is statement made by almost every employer who finds out his employees are suing the company. Many small businesses don’t have the resources to staff a human resources department for their business. Some will go as far as arguing that they do not need it. Small businesses are taxed with day to day operations and growing their businesses; they typically aren’t employment law experts. We mustn’t forget that employees need to be appreciated, motivated and guided.

A recent example of a common compliance misstep is Groupon. They are currently facing a potential class action lawsuit by sales representatives who were not paid for overtime. Groupon is not alone; Wage and Hour laws are routinely violated by an estimated 70% of businesses in the US. The Groupon suit says the three-year-old daily-deal business didn't pay sales employees overtime, or under paid them, violating wage laws. Now the new start up that has not yet made profit is battling with its own employees; spending millions of dollars to resolve these issues. It is critical to have a compliance partner to help your business avoid issues and save money spent on costly lawsuits.

Is your company protected? If not, find a compliance expert that can help you navigate through the employment law maze. Complete Concepts Consulting offers a complementary human resources compliance audit to help you take the first step in protecting your business.  We take care of your HR needs and help you focus on what running your business. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how are simplifying HR for small business.

Contributing Writher

Eugenia Tibamanya

Client Services Intern

Complete Concepts Consulting

About us: Complete Concepts Consulting is a human resources consultancy specializing in compliance for small to mid-sized businesses. We offer a non-conventional approach to human resources management to meet the unique needs of small to mid-sized businesses. Our HR methodology has been proven to reduce costs and mitigate risks for our clients.

Contact Us:
Stephen Polutnik
Director, Client Services
spolutnik@completeconceptsconsulting.com
(773) 294-0010


Sources:
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20110909/NEWS07/110909881/groupon-sued-over-unpaid-overtime

What's keeping you up at night?

The age old question that almost every business owner or CEO is asked "What keeps you up at night," has got me thinking. It's 2:34 am on a Tuesday morning and I am up with my mind on growing my business. Asking myself, what’s our competitive edge? What can we offer our target market that no one else does? How do we market it and get our message out?

These are all questions that you may be asking yourself.

What keeps you up at night?

•  Company growth 
•  Managing employees
•  Being a step ahead of your competition 
•  Evolving your business to meet the demands of the changing economy
•  Or one of the many other complex issues business leaders are facing!

Complete Concepts Consulting was birthed out of the notion that business leaders are taxed with so many issues that keep them up at night and managing employees should not be one of them.

We are a cut above the rest offering HR In-sourcing to the companies that need it most, small to mid-sized businesses.

So you are probably thinking to yourself, what is HR In-sourcing, she must mean HR Outsourcing? The answer is no, I mean HR In-sourcing.

So what is HR In-sourcing? 

HR In-sourcing is the best way to describe our full service HR Consulting Methodology. We function as your in-house HR team for a fraction of the cost of staffing one. What differentiates us is we incorporate HR compliance with non-conventional HR practices to meet the unique need of your business. We work within your organization fostering your company's culture and beliefs and pushing forward you goals. We are on-site working with you from strategic level executive planning through day to day administration and everything in between.

We bring you over 25 years of combined HR and customer service experience; knowledge and most importantly we deliver results that save you money and helps you mitigate risk. Our client first philosophy makes meeting your needs our top priority!

To learn more, contact:

Stephen Polutnik

Director, Client Services

SPolutnik@completeconceptsconsulting.com

(773) 294-0010

What's your plan for Succession?

When Steve Jobs recently retired from Apple, it got a lot of companies thinking about their executive successors. Lucky for Apple its new CEO Tim Cook has been with the company for a long time and had already been standing in as CEO with Steve Jobs absences.

What would you do if you were unable to manage your business or if your best manager left the company?

Here are a few tips that can help so that your management successor is ready when you need them:

       1. Identify

Measure the performance of your employees to help you identify your top talent.  This is an objective way of determining the right employees to include in your succession plan for future management positions.

2.   Development

Other than planning who should succeed, develop your staff so that they will be prepared to succeed. Anything can happen between today and tomorrow so be prepared.

3.   Measure outcomes

Keep track of your employees’ successes. Whether they treated a customer well, or they innovated a product; keeping track of their big and small success helps you evaluate your succession plan easier. 

4.   Keep it simple

Usually companies keep adding exclusive complex assessment criteria to the succession planning process in an effort to improve the quality of the assessment. What they forget is that succession planning is a process, so it doesn’t have to be perfect but improve with time.

5.   Stay Realistic

Always be able to distinguish good leaders from good performers.  Usually while choosing successors we tend to look at our best performer. This is good, because we all know that a good leader should also be a good performer. However, the makeup of a good leader is multifaceted. Focus on your best performer(s) and choose someone who can balance both roles.  

One final point to remember is “Only give the promise of succession if there is a realistic chance of its happening!”

Contributing Writer:

Eugenia Tibamanya

Client Services Intern

Complete Concepts Consulting

About us: Complete Concepts Consulting is a human resources consultancy specializing in compliance for small to mid-sized businesses. We offer a non-conventional approach to human resources management to meet the unique needs of small to mid-sized businesses. Our HR methodology has been proven to reduce costs and mitigate risks for our clients.

For more information contact:
Stephen Polutnik
Director of Client Services
spolutnik@completeconceptsconsulting.com

Sources
http://blogs.hbr.org/goldsmith/2009/05/change_succession_planning_to.html
http://hbr.org/

Is your business prepared for a disaster?

Did you know that almost 40% of businesses that close due to disaster never re-open? 

The busy hurricane season is well under way and winter storms are right around the corner.  Natural disasters are not the only threat lurking in the shadows; man-made disasters like fire which is the number 1 threat to all businesses could put you company at risk.

So what’s your disaster plan? How will you stay connected to customers, vendors and staff? How long will it take you to bring operations back online?

Having a plan for natural and man-made disasters that identifies the critical necessities is imperative.

A few important things to include in a business continuity plan:

·  Safety and evacuation plan with employee training

·  Safety/Emergency Committee

·  Temporary work space for immediately following a disaster

·  Communications Plan

·  Technology security and records back-up

·  Accessible  database of customer, employee and vendor contact information

·  List of resources needed

·  Emergency supplies

·  Insurance information readily available

You have to plan in advance to successfully manage an emergency situation.  The plan is just the first step; train managers and employees. Being able to properly assess each situation, use the necessary resources to ensure everyone’s safety and having the ability to recover.

Resources for more information:

http://www.fema.gov/
http://www.weather.gov/
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
http://www.ready.gov/business/index.html
http://www.sba.gov/category/navigation-structure/loans-grants/small-business-loans/disaster-loans



About us:
Complete Concepts Consulting is a human resources consultancy specializing in compliance for small to mid sized businesses. We offer a non-conventional approach to human resources management to meet the unique needs of small to mid-sized businesses.  Our HR methodology has been proven to reduce costs and mitigate risks for our clients.

For more information contact:
Stephen Polutnik
Director of Client Services
spolutnik@completeconceptsconsulting.com