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| SMB HR: Terminating with a Return |
Photo: Ted takes an early retirement with a good Termination Pay Package and no one got hurt.
by John Beagle
During periods of economic downturn, SMB employers cut employees. Sometimes as much as 50% of a staff may be cut. In many small businesses, cutting 1 or 2 people is cutting 10% or more of the total employees.
It's hard to let go of under-performing longer term employees. Often times longer term employees have expert authority in shorter term employees eyes. Sometimes longer term employees think they run the place. Unlike larger corporations, employers in SMB companies often are friends with and know their entire staff. Letting go of someone who has worked for 5 or more years is difficult, but often times, necessary.
So how do you go about letting an under-performing senior employee go? The answer is Termination Pay. Yes you can pay employees to leave and reduce risks and costs.
In a bad economy, it is either kill or be killed. If a SMB doesn't cut costs as revenues and margins decline, then they are out of business. When you terminate, you run the risk of resentful employees may post bad or misleading information about you our your company, they may send out email to all the employees that damage you our your company, they may even litigate to get more money!
With termination pay, you may leverage your position with the employee. Often times you may level with the employee that maybe now is a good time to part company.
Put together an out-the-door package including all kinds of pay, benefits and terminology.
Pay
There's sick pay, vacation pay, personal day pay, retro pay, bonus pay, advanced pay, what ever the employee has accumulated. Mention all this pay, total the pay and summarize for the employee. You may even consider paying until the end of the year, month, week as additional incitement to take a leave.
Benefits
How long will you extend any benefits including health insurance or other insurance such as life. Retirement fund summary and future flows into the fund. Review all benefits stopping and continuing with end dates.
Terminology
Calling it a layoff or early retirement is often the best way to handle these things.
"We needed a layoff so Ted volunteered to take an early retirement."
Help the employee save face with the other employees. Often times a more direct approach to a layoff of a senior employee is the best approach. Tell rather than let employee find out through the grapevine.
Saving Face
Saving face and enriching the employee is probably the best way to avoid lawsuits, bad email and social dis. Avoid getting slapped on Facebook, keep from being unlinked in Linkedin, read nice things when you Google your name and keep the 'left behind' employees well balanced by looking at termination pay as an investment. Your return on that investment is lower legal fees and a better, more productive work environment.
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| SMB Staffing Service Skillstorm Acquir... |
Staffing firm Kavaliro acquires the Orlando and Charlotte offices of Skillstorm
Orlando, FL - July 7, 2010 – Kavaliro today announced its entry into the arena of technical and professional staffing solutions via the acquisition of the Orlando and Charlotte offices of Skillstorm, a leading provider of specialized staffing services across the nation. Forged from the owners, leaders, and top producers of SkillStorm and a recently acquired federal government contracting firm, the new company marches onward, better positioned to serve their clients with a more dynamic and proactive approach. Kavaliro represents an extension of the shared vision that true strength comes from a collaborative and open-minded environment where employees, clients, candidates and consultants all are supported and empowered to succeed.
The decision to step out of the comfort zone of their successful endeavors was not an easy one to make, but partners Mark Moore, John Mahony, Diane Symes-Mahony and Bill Peppler relished the opportunity to grow and nurture something they could call their own. Peppler explains, "The four of us considered where we stood, and we realized we wanted to run our own company, one that was streamlined and more agile, and one in which our employees were given the freedom to grow". After constructing a savvy business plan and agreeing on a mutually beneficial buyout with their other business associates, they were ready to move forward with their brainchild, Kavaliro.
Derived from Esperanto, the international language of collective harmony and mutual understanding, the term Kavaliro means "knight", and it pays homage to the institution that brought the friends and partners together, the University of Central Florida. Years after their time at UCF, the partners bring their respective work experience and expertise back together in this new venture. The acquisition of the Charlotte and Orlando offices of SkillStorm was a natural next step.
Kavaliro will continue the work of its predecessors in providing outsourced technical solutions to state and local government agencies. The acquisition will also allow for continued specialization in project management consulting, outsourcing, and staff augmentation solutions within the areas of information technology, engineering, healthcare, and green energy. Altogether, the entity will offer a wide array of technical and professional staffing solutions that will serve a diverse client base that currently spans 13 states, with plans to serve clients nationwide.
All 125 of the current internal and external employee base will be retained, with plans to add 2-3 internal employees in both Orlando and Charlotte before the end of the summer. Management estimates that they will add another 60 high wage external positions before the end of the year. The newly formed entity will be headquartered in Orlando.
About Kavaliro: By using best practices and optimal employee recruiting strategies, Kavaliro provides employers with integrated staffing solutions, providing only the most qualified professionals who can fill both project and permanent positions in order to ensure the ongoing success of all types of businesses.
Kavaliro accomplishes much more for their clients by passing on the time and cost benefits of reduced back-office bureaucracy. The company represents an extension of a vision shared by a group of seasoned staffing professionals who have developed strong relationships in the industry and who recognize that true strength comes from a collaborative and open-minded environment where employees, clients, candidates and consultants all are supported and empowered to succeed. For more information please visit http://www.kavaliro.com.
Source: Kavaliro Staffing Services
Contact: Cristina M. Calvet-Harrold, +1-407-832-4814 cristina@kavaliro.com
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| SMB Online Payroll Services |
 WorkingPoint Announces Addition of Online Payroll Services
Internet-based small business management solution introduces payroll services through partnership with Business Online Payroll
December 15, 2009 – San Francisco, CA – WorkingPoint™, Inc., the developer of easy-to-use online business management software for small businesses, announced today the addition of a new, convenient small business online payroll service that will enable WorkingPoint's subscribers to run payroll for their employees at an affordable price. WorkingPoint's payroll service is enabled through a partnership with Business Online Payroll, which specializes in online payroll processing for small businesses. Much like WorkingPoint, Business Online Payroll offers a comprehensive, full service online solution for small businesses.
Subscribers of Business Online Payroll can dependably calculate employee wages and deductions; deduct, deposit and file all federal, state and local taxes; track employee benefits; pay employees by direct deposit at the bank of their choice or by printing a manual check; provide comprehensive online reports that are readily accessible day or night; and eliminate IRS penalties and handle IRS notices.
Through this payroll service, WorkingPoint subscribers can save up to 50% compared to traditional payroll models. They can also preview payroll online to check for accuracy before processing, access payroll reports online and export them easily, and speak with a friendly, U.S.-based payroll expert when needed. For employees, this service provides email notices alerting them they've been paid. Plus the employer can grant employees secure online access to their individual pay stubs and payroll history.
"Our subscribers have been asking us for payroll services, and we are pleased to be able to provide them with a comprehensive set of services at a reasonable price," said WorkingPoint CEO Tate Holt. "Small business owners look to WorkingPoint for complete, uncomplicated solutions that manage their whole business, and this offering helps us meet their needs."
The payroll features are another addition to WorkingPoint's premium services offering and will be available immediately. WorkingPoint is continuing to expand its services in other areas as well before the end of the year with the recent addition of new features designed to help subscribers more easily complete their income taxes and a new tool that enables customers to collect invoice payments with PayPal.
About WorkingPoint, Inc. WorkingPoint develops easy-to-use software for small businesses, independent contractors, and home based businesses. The WorkingPoint solution is the first comprehensive, fully integrated, online system that combines everything a small business owner needs to successfully establish, manage and grow a business. With WorkingPoint, small business owners can manage bookkeeping, expenses, invoicing, contacts and inventory. The web-based WorkingPoint application combines and seamlessly integrates all of these critical functions and more into a single solution – saving a small business valuable time and money. WorkingPoint is a fully secure, web-hosted service that offers free and premium service levels. The company's goal is to help the over 26 million self-employed and small business owners in the U.S. run their businesses more efficiently and successfully. For additional information, visit www.workingpoint.com.
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| Health Care Reform Impact on SMBs |
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HEALTH CARE REFORM – some good, bad and ugly issues for SMB employees and employers. by Shep Sepaniak, Managing Partner, Fritz-McDonald CompanyAmerica's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 in multiple forms in House and Senate proposed ... |
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Religious Bias: Ensure Your Policies Steer Clear of Discriminationby Work Place Training CenterEmployers are generally familiar with the protocol for handling sex or racial discrimination and harassment claims. But what happens when an employee c... |
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| SMB COBRA Changes for 2009? |
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If the Obama administration gets its way, SMBs may include certain subsidies to help terminated employees keep their health care. Democrats want to provide a tax credit to employers who pay all or part of the COBRA premimums. The credit will of... |
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| With a nearly filibuster-proof Democratic majority in the Senate, the misleadingly named bill: Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) seems likely to pass early in the Obama administration.
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| SMB Case Study: HSA Switch One Year In |
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by John BeagleStarting last November 1, 2007, I switched my small business to an HSA or Health Savings Account. Here is the original story: SMB HSA Case StudyDuring the next ten (10) years, we will be posting comments from employees, ad... |
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| HSA Tax Information for SMBs |
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by Mary Black, Nenni and Company The employee contribution to the SMB HSA is taxable thru payroll, unless plan is a section 125. If employee portion is taxed thru payroll, they can deduct on their federal tax return, which in turn is deduc... |
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