How to Gain Impact as a Business

How far are you hoping to go with your business? Do like where you are now or are you hoping to one day be a high-impact business like Apple, Google, FedEx, Starbucks, McDonald's, etc.? Being a high-impact means becoming a producer of jobs and products that are actively sought out and often widely recognized. Most businesses dream of providing not only services to their clients but inspiration and innovation on a larger setting.

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Getting to that high-impact state, however, takes dedication. Additionally, making it big requires a few key factors that most major businesses not only foster but encourage. Check out the following tips that will help you succeed as a high-impact entrepreneur.

1. Like the business you’re in. The entrepreneur needs to have a positive attitude about the business they have or wish to have. If you do not like the business or it does not fit well with your interests or ideals, then you are already off to a bad start. When entrepreneurs betray themselves in this way, he or she will never get the business they always dreamed of.
2. Empower yourself. Entrepreneurs should know the importance of seeking information and training their employees well enough so the business runs well. If you want it to grow fast, you need to devote double the preparedness. This starts by having a staff you can rely on to help you reach your goals and delegating properly.
3. Never be “common”. Common for high-impact entrepreneurs is usually a sense of permanent dissatisfaction. For these entrepreneurs, the business is never quite good enough.
4. Innovate. Besides not having to settle, high-impact entrepreneurs should always keep innovating their products or services. Even within the company, high-impact business men and women strive to have the best, whether that's up-to-date time clocks or the best project management system.
5. Be honest. This goes for all sorts of activities. Do not try to grow with shortcuts and ethical misconduct.
6. Be an example. Conducting business honestly is not only a legal requirement for high-impact entrepreneurs, it should be a way of life. Leading by example helps establish not only credibility but also helps foster a connection to your clients as well as your staff.

Beating the Flu

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When flu season strikes, companies don’t want sick workers punching in on the time clock and infecting the rest of the work force. In fact, it is best for ill employees to stay at home when they have the flu or any serious sickness. By taking a structured, organized approach to the flu, your company can be a step ahead, and not have to worry about one person infecting the entire crew.

One very inexpensive way to fight the flu virus is to install brass fixtures. As opposed to plastic and stainless steel, brass and copper actually stop many pathogens from spreading. It has to do with the chemical properties of the metals. Even when infected employees have not yet shown signs of the flu, brass and copper light fixtures and doorknobs will help cut down on the spread of the virus. Brass and copper will cost a bit more than stainless steel or plastic fixtures, but will likely pay for themselves by keeping your workforce healthy.

Giving disinfectant sprays and gels to your workers is much cheaper than losing valuable worker time to the flu virus. When several sick employees are unable to punch time clocks due to the flu, you might wish you had made free disinfectant gels and sprays available sooner. This is perhaps the least expensive way to stop seasonal sicknesses in their tracks.

Staying home when you are sick is the single best way to avoid making the absentee problem worse. Sick workers should not be logging in at time clocks, or anywhere on company property. If someone’s expertise is necessary for a particular project, consider working over the phone or online until the worker is well. It is also a wise policy to encourage all workers to stay away from company grounds when they are ill or think they are about to come down with something.

The flu virus is a serious illness and should be dealt with rapidly and effectively.  Do yourself, and your work force, a favor and be strict about preventing the flu at work.

Why Hire an Older Worker?

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Age discrimination is just as common as race or sex discrimination these days. It is increasingly hard for the older generation to find work. In fact, once a person turns the big 4-0, they are then considered a part of America’s aging workforce. Most people, however, consider this the time when they are in the pinnacle of their working careers.

So, if you are one of those companies that normally hire the tech-savvy hotshot — you may want to rethink your hiring strategy a little. Here are some reasons why you should hire older employees rather than younger ones:

1. You know what you’re getting. With older employees, you know what you are going to get just by checking their work history and background check. You will be able to determine if they are the fit you are looking for, while with an employee right out of college you won’t have that work history to look back on.
2. Older employees will have lower benefits. Yes, lower benefits. When you reach a certain age, you won’t have dependents like children to worry about. Medicare, which starts at 65, will not go on a company’s tab either. In fact, many older employees would rather work part-time rather than full-time which means that benefits are decreased even more so.
3. Flexibility. Older employees have no children and they usually have no extracurricular activities to go to which mean odd shifts and those hard to fill time slots on the time clock get filled easily.
4. Wise beyond their years. This saying tells it all. When you sat down in front of your grandparents and they told you how to do something that seemed farfetched, you listened anyways because you knew that they were wise. This same thinking goes into the business world. Older workers have been around for a while and it can be beneficial to hear what they have to say, especially if they have been in one sector for decades.
5. They are eager. Just because they are older doesn’t mean they don’t want to learn. In fact, they love to learn and older workers are just as capable of learning new techniques just as much so as younger workers.

What Makes a Quality Leader

Every business needs a good leader to thrive. Delegating tasks, keeping employees motivated and setting a great example for the team are among the key qualities for leadership. Check out the following five things that help define a confident and successful leader: 

1.   Articulate Interests. Ensuring harmony and balance in the team is the basic task of a leader. The biggest challenge is to reconcile the different interests that coexist in the same organization, articulating them in a productive way.

2. Maintain Open Channels With Your Team. For employees to assimilate the values and principles that guide the business, it is essential to communicate with clarity and objectivity. Likewise, it is important to be open to hearing what everyone has to say on various topics. This establishes a trust relationship with the group, creating harmony and an encouraging environment.

3.  Establish And Verify Work Patterns. The standardization of work processes is crucial for a company's performance. It is the job of a good leader to establish these processes. It is important also to have effective methods to verify compliance with these processes, whether it be time clocks to ensure hours worked or weekly reports.

4.     Promote A Culture Of Innovation. Creating an environment conducive to innovation is also the task of a leader who wants to see your business take off. It is important to encourage and foster the diversity of ideas in order to make the work environment more creative and innovative.

5.     Train More Leaders. A good leader is one who knows how to identify and encourage other leaders within the business. That means looking for people with innovative and motivating character, exercising a positive influence on the group.

Become More Productive This Year

We all know that our everyday lives are not easy. We only have 24 hours to take care of our business, our personal lives and still try to find some room to relax. One way to helping you etch out time for the latest episode or to take a job is to be more productive.

Here are some tips to help you become more productive both at home and in the office in 2013:

1.     Arrange: Get your desktop organized. Everything must be easily accessible so you do not waste time looking for something.

2.     Say "no": Only say "yes" when necessary or possible. Avoid doing things that take up time or cause stress.

3.     Schedule right: When scheduling a new task, take into account factors such as queues that take time, displacement and transit time.

4.     Simplify: At first, it seems that everything we do is essential, but it is not. Choose the tasks necessary to your goals.

5.     Consider life as a whole: Divide your day into parts because doing everything at once will only stress you out and kill productivity.

6.     Focus and concentration: Keep a to-do-list. Leaving things vague will bring distraction and forgetfulness.

7.     Organizing methods: There are many theories about personal organization. You need not follow any, but knowing them and select the ones you are interested. Getting better time clocks for your office would be one great way to organize the office space.

8.     Find your own way: Create your own methods of doing things that get the work done and keep you focused. Methods are different for everyone.

9.     What’s your interest in productivity: What do you want to do with your time? Remind yourself of what productivity brings.

10.  Do not miss the focus: For those who want to gain productivity and efficiency, the key is to analyze your situation, find out enough about it, find a technique that works well, and use that technique to help re-focus other time on your own personal goals.

How to Respond When Things Go Wrong – Part Two

Every company should be prepared to face problems. The important thing is to not expect them to happen and then react. The ideal thing is to think ahead and make plans that contribute to fixing the damage before it happens so that the damage to your business is minimal, even after a serious incident.

Here is the second part of a two-part series with tips on how you can respond when things go wrong in your company.

·  Be Ready To Respond: You should already have your emergency action plan (EAP) written by now, so at this point you want to make sure that your staff know about it. It is important that each one knows what is expected of one another when an emergency pops up. It doesn’t matter how big or how small the emergency is. In fact, it is vital that you do “test runs” every month to keep them fresh on emergency procedures. You should keep in mind that no plan is ever perfect until you put it to the test.

o   Here are some areas of training you should focus on:

§  Basic first aid

§  Use of fire extinguisher

§  Emergency equipment shutdown

§  Building evacuation procedures

§  Emergency notification procedures

§  CPR

·  Recovery Procedures: Once the first the steps are in the books, it is vital that you get back in the swing of things and get your business up and running again. Make sure you have a plan for how you will recover after a disaster happens. Think about these questions:

o   Will you need another location?

o   Are you able to obtain replacement equipment?

o   Do you have someone to clean up the business?

o   Is it possible to recover any lost data on time clocks or other instruments?

o   Can your staff get to work?

o   Will your workers be able to reach you?

o   Can your suppliers still get you the goods on a regular basis?

How to Respond When Things Go Wrong – Part One

No business is ever safe, especially a small business. In today’s economy, a business can go under in a heartbeat and not always because of financial woes. For instance, employees could be injured, important information may be lost due to computer errors, or even a natural disaster can destroy your factory, office, or working space.

While it’s impossible to be prepared for every disaster, thinking ahead and having contingency plans is always a good idea. Being ready for the unexpected can help you keep your cool as well as your business. Here are some tips for planning for the worst:

1.     Figure out everything that could go wrong. This is important because it tests the vulnerability of your business. This goes well past simple things like time clock software being broken and encompasses things like mass computer failure or integral machine break-down. When looking at the risk assessment you should keep these things in mind:

·       List all the risks or threats your business can face.

·       Determine how vulnerable your business is to these threats.

·       Start prioritizing the threats.

2.     Develop a strong business plan. This will be known as an “EAP”, or Emergency Action Plan, which will help deal with everything you listed in step one. Sometimes these plans will be set by law and, at other times, you will be responsible for setting up the procedures. Here are some tips to help you through this step:

·       Write a clear written policy of your company’s chain of command.

·       List the people who are responsible for assessing risks to property and people.

·       Include instructions on how to shut down any equipment you may have.

·       Record facility evacuation procedures.

·       Include forms needed or procedures required to report any emergency.

With some forethought, you and your business can be ready for any number of incidents or accidents. While it is impossible to prepare for anything, having emergency protocol set can help deal with the unplanned incidents as well.

How to Delegate Productively

As a manager or leader in your business, you will find yourself delegating out work at some point or another. While proper delegation makes for a well-run and productive team, improper delegation of tasks can side rail and entire project. There are a few tricks that all managers can use to help make sure that tasks are proportioned out fairly, that hours on the time clock are met, and that work is set out in a way that encourages work instead of inhibits.

To reduce the risk of problems when delegating work, start by issuing smaller, easier tasks first. This limits the damage that can be caused in case someone fails. This also will help build the self-esteem of the person who took that responsibility if they succeed.

You should never limit yourself to just explaining what they should do either. When people realize how their work fits in the process, they can react better when things go wrong or when you are not present. Having a chance to innovate can sometimes bring out the best in employees.

Take a look at these other tips which will help you be a better delegator:

1.     Choose things that you can delegate “up”. This means picking things that are simple enough that you can pass off to an assistant like checking emails, picking up dry cleaning and so on.

2.     Choose things that you can delegate “down”. These are the items that you want professionals handling. For instance, you will want to hire an accountant or bookkeeper to do the numbers.

3.     Provide crystal clear instructions. Being able to delegate successfully starts with getting through to your people clearly. If someone doesn’t understand something, make sure they do by talking things over.

4.     Empower the staff. Give your employees enough responsibility to make them feel special. It goes a long way.

5.     Letting go. Some people can do tasks better than you can. Let go and let those with the strengths in that task do said step.

6.     Invest in long-term success. Choose employees that will stick around for a long time but make sure they are worth having around as well.

Do not forget the reality of the learning curve: the first task delegated does not always run optimally. Do not be tempted to take the matter into your own hands. Give your employees a chance and teach them where they went wrong. You will often be surprised at the improvement rate that shows.

Time Management at the Office

Every business is looking for a way to become more efficient while using less manpower. Each CEO wants to spend less money on manpower while increasing productivity. If you are in one of these situations, where the boss is making you take on more work in less time then you may want to continue reading.

Here are 9 tips on how you can increase your time management at work:

1.     Finding out which system works best. You should start out your week by writing down everything you should do that week followed by a daily calendar.

2.     Take back your calendar and what’s left of your life. Make sure you live with a purpose and ensure that technology is your slave, not letting technology enslave you. Be sure to remember that “neat” is not the same thing as “organized”.

3.     Project planning. Having the right software for planning projects is ideal. Microsoft Outlook is perfect for planning. You should also learn how to micromanage.

4.     Learn how to manage interruptions. This step will save you plenty of time. You will be interrupted every single day but how you react to it will define you as a time-saver.

5.     Get your calendar back. Taming a calendar is hard work, but it can be done. The first step is keeping the most important objectives first.

6.     Delegate a “must do” list. Every person will have things that they must do so keep these things separate so you do not forget them. Sometimes you will not be able to get around to the task and therefore you must choose someone else to do the work.

7.     Perform productive meetings. Meetings are important parts to a business. It all starts with people getting to work on time. Ensure that your time clock is up-to-date.

8.     Manage your projects, not the time. Know what is due and what can be put off in favor of something that is more critical.

9.     Create meeting templates. That way you know what to say and in what order, reducing time spent in the meeting.

How to Communicate Effectively With Your Employees

Your position as an owner or a manager doesn’t mean that you have to be hard on your employees all the time. You can be a listener when you need to be and caring when you have to be. Improving your manner and method of communication can help your business culture improve as well as give your employees the motivation to show up in the morning.

Look at the tips to help you communicate better with your staff so that productivity and efficiency are maintained and/or improved.

1.     Take Your Time When Building Relationships. Besides looking at job obligations, giving staff feedback and speaking about attendance concerns, a significant component of your function is to find out things about your staff. Once you understand your current employees’ individual performance styles, tastes and desires, you will gain their trust.

2.     Be A Great Listener. Very good communication is something that both parties must learn. Once you initiate interactions with staff, greet these individuals personally and listen closely and sincerely. Know about the other person’s gestures and vocal tones.

3.     Give Effective Feedback. Make sure your employees know that they are invaluable assets.

4.     Diversity.  Your workplace comprises of folks from widely different backgrounds who add up to achieve a common goal. Understand that they are all there to get treated as individuals although they also want to be judged independently.

5.     Personal Issues Do Arise. Every employee is going to have problems at home or away from work. Punching a time clock on time will not be as easy as everyone believes issues bring an individual down. Make sure you cut your employees some slack from time to time.

Management Tips for Accurate, Efficient Payroll

Payroll management involves more than monitoring the time clock. Nowadays, the payroll function is as complicated as ever, especially with federal government oversight of corporate accounting practices, several different types of automatic deductions, and international staffing. In such an environment, payroll calculations are usually automated, though some smaller companies still use a manual system to compute paychecks and hours worked. However, even in the case of entities with fewer than 50 workers, automated time clock systems are very common.

The best way to make certain that there are no major errors in payroll checks is to use a reliable and consistent method of calculating all check amounts. Whether your company uses electronic time clock systems or online time loggers, be attentive to keeping accurate records of hours worked for each employee.

Some modern time clocks do a variety of calculations that were unheard of just two or three decades ago. And some old systems still work, despite their age. A punch card system works well for organizations that have fewer than 50 workers.

For large firms, time loggers work well. In these computer-based systems, workers check in via their computer terminals. In some cases, computer-timing programs use a magnetic terminal for swipe cards. Large companies are especially susceptible to time fraud due to the impersonal nature of the systems and vulnerability to hacking. Some of the higher-end programs contain subtle but effective safeguards against such activity.

Whether large or small, every business should keep a separate bank account for payroll funds. In fact, a patchwork of federal and state laws require certain types of entities to maintain separate accounts for payroll purposes. Aside from the purposes of the law, it is a wise practice to label a bank account specifically for payroll. When tax time comes, companies who have accurate records and segregated accounts will be in a better position to prepare accurate tax returns quickly and simply. When it comes down to it, a time clock is the basis for vital payroll calculations, pure and simple.

Common Payroll Mistakes to Avoid

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The IRS has several rules and regulations when it comes to governing payroll. Your mission, whether you are a business owner or payroll manager, is to avoid running into problems with the IRS. Avoiding an audit is a goal for anyone, and can be done partially by not making mistakes with payroll.

Payroll seems so simple. Yet, one mistake can bring problems both from the government and your employees. According to the IRS’s “Employment Tax Research Project” payroll mistakes tend to fall into four categories. Whether because of wrong time clock data or deliberate fraud, payroll mistakes tend to occur in:

·       Fringe benefits

·       Worker misclassification

·       Payroll taxes

·       Executive compensation

Broken further down, common payroll mistakes made by businesses tend to boil down to:

1. Classification of Employees as Independent Contractors

2. Failure to Subject Vendor Payments to Backup Withholding

3. Failure to Issue Form 1099s

4. Not Including the Fair Market Value of Gift Cards, Prizes and Awards in Employees' Income

5. Failing to Timely Deposit Withheld Taxes

6. Failure to Timely Deposit Withholding Taxes on Vested Restricted Stock and Exercise of Stock Options

7. Incorrectly Excluding Expense Reimbursements from Reportable Wages

8. Failure to Include Nonqualified Deferred Compensation in Executives' Incomes

9. Not Including the Appropriate Value of Taxable Fringe Benefits in Employees' Income

10. Excluding Travel and Commuting Expense Reimbursements from Employees' Income.

Avoiding these mistakes can be as easy as investing in a new time clock or even hiring outside payroll management. Either way, it is always in your best interest (and your employees’ interest) to have an efficient, effective payroll system in place.

Working With Others

If you share workspace with others, there are quite a few written, and unwritten, rules you should know. Of course, not all common work areas are the same, but in general, it is best that you try to be self-sufficient.

A time clock might be at the entrance and perhaps you need to punch in or just use it for specific jobs. Know the rules about the time clock and who should use it.

It also helps to know how much talking and chatting is tolerated. Some workspaces are silent, but most allow at least a moderate hum. Try to learn the upper limits of noise and adhere to the common rule.

Keep in mind that you should not bother others with questions that pertain to your own work. If you are self-sufficient, moderately quiet, and know about time clock rules, a common work area can be your friend.

The secret to getting along in common work areas has to do with friendliness. Try to stay in the social network and do not abuse the allotted time for work in the area. Often, shared workspace is used for events in the evenings, so you need to know when to make a timely exit. A visible time clock can help with this detail. Networking with the other employees and respecting the space usage policy are two habits that will make you a good neighbor to your comrades.

Finally, remember that the kitchen area is for your use, but the food is not. Unless a food item is specifically marked as a group item, do not touch it. Bring your own food and eat it in the kitchen. If others do the same, everybody will be happy and there will be no bad feelings about ‘stolen’ meals.  

The Uses of a Punch Time Clock

The time clock has become a very important tool in the business. Time clocks can not only help monitor work places but can also establish a clear vision of the working time in the company. A punch clock has many benefits for all parts of an enterprise, as well as for management employees.

Punch clocks help record time in and out by employees and workers. Not only are these time cards used for payroll, but they can also be used to help monitor how much time is spent on specific projects as well as on working schedules of specific departments. In addition, punch time clocks can help provide a clearer image of what the bottom line of the company is, and is not, completing.

More modern time clocks offer other features. Building security, including management of time management, secure entry and management of movements in different spaces are just a couple of things that a time clock can do for a small business. User management with access controls for visitors whether they are customers or suppliers and parking management. A time clock can intervene to control access or entry point in a building to identify, authenticate, authorize or prohibit the attendance areas for which it is programmed.

The advantage of the time clock for various stakeholders of the company, department heads, and administrators lies in the ability of terminals to record and make available comprehensive information. Information from the time clock is pulled off as easy as it is put on. Employees will time stamp their hours simply by “clocking in”. Payroll will then break down the hours and then count log the time they clocked in and clocked out, totaling the hours up and then cutting a check.

In the end, while a punch time clock is not for everyone, there are numerous other options on the market that offer a variety of features. Do your homework and decide whether a punch clock is for your or if a different model would better suit your needs.

Implement a Time Clock System Effectively

Implementing a time clock system for your company involves a bit of thought. Depending how many employees you have, how large your facility is, and what level of security you need, you will want to invest in a time clock system that is just right. There are currently so many different systems on the market you might be confused by the selection. Keep in mind that a simple time clock can meet most of your needs if you use it correctly. Larger, more elaborate systems typically involve computer software that monitors hours worked, employees names, and dozens of other parameters.

Be sure to put the time clock in a place where every worker will see it. This is crucial. If you put the device in an out-of-the-way location, you risk losing valuable data, as some workers will not see the clock and will begin work without logging in.

It is wise to put a large, company bulletin board near the time clock in order to make it a gathering place for your personnel. When the clock is in an open location, which gets a lot of traffic, there is less chance for fraudulent behavior.

Perhaps the most vital aspect of time clock management is making sure that every employee knows how to operate the device. Most companies hold training sessions when a new clock system is purchased. After that, try to make time clock training a standard part of each new hire’s orientation.

Some of the newer, biometric time systems are quite expensive, but are perfect for organizations that need high security. A biometric time clock uses fingerprints, iris scans, or other physical characteristics to track employee access to the building and to log the proper number of hours worked. Usually, the more expensive the time clock, the less chance there is for fraud.

Keeping Telecommuters on Track

Almost 30 million American workers can do part of their work from their home or remote locations, according to a recent survey performed by the people at International Telework Association. With 1 in 5 workers telecommuting, getting everyone to punch in on the time clock, together for a meeting, or to check-in can be difficut. Fortunately, the employee time clock is one way that you can keep track of telecommuters.

Managing telecommuting technology is tough, but managing the workers can be even tougher. Telework has a habit of amplifying organizational weaknesses and if the company is already weak in the terms of management, then the policy needs to be updated before the teleworking begins. Teleworking can force a manager to sharpen simple managerial skills, not only to streamline the work force but also to make sure the job gets done when it needs to be.

Here are some ways you can create the best environment for teleworkers, and for your company overall:

Implement a great employee time clock system – A solid web-based, employee time clock will help you keep track of your employees, remotely and in-office.

Identify some tasks that are suitable telecommuting - List positions that aren’t good for telecommuting first, as this will be much easier. Then examine what’s left and decide if telecommuting is viable.

Establish ground rules - Make sure every employee is on the same page. Set rules for telecommuters in terms of what needs to be done.

Be prepared to enforce the rules - If a decision comes up to where you need to make a tough call, make sure you can do it.

Practice effective management - Calling regular meetings is a must. Be sure your telecommuters are aware that just because they are not in the office doesn’t mean they are exempt from team meetings.

Provide effective support - Always support your workers. Just as they reach out to you, reach out to them as well.