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How to Create a Healthy, Successful Work Environment

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There are plenty of factors to consider when it comes to business success: finances, networking, expansion, etc.

However, while these are important matters, there is one matter that is usually overlooked even though it has the ability to make or break the company—your workplace’s atmosphere.

The health of your company is dependent upon the health of your team, for your business will only go as far as your team promotes it.

Here are a few tips to creating an inviting, successful work environment:

1. Organize

Because there often feels like there is too little time in a day to accomplish everything you need to, you often spread yourself and your employees too thin. Instead of focusing 100 percent of your attention on one task at hand, you spread your focus over too many issues, which leads to disorganization and poor business performance.

Instead, set a schedule and stick to it. Be organized about what needs to be done, when it needs to be, and how it should be done. Set the precedent for your workplace by being organized and delegating tasks efficiently. Do an online company check to see how other business competitors are managing and learn from their actions.

2. Reduce Stress

Whether your business is a brand new start-up or a well-oiled machine, it is crucial to alleviate employee stress. A chaotic atmosphere is overwhelming, which can lead to severe stress. When you and your team are under duress, you are more susceptible to sickness, to financial errors, and business mistakes, among others. According to a Harvard Medical School study of stress, stress can often harm a person “physically, emotionally, and psychologically.”

Getting a handle on stress is the first step. Find a technique or activity that relaxes you and work that into both your routine and your team’s routine. Even in a high-pressure work environment, make sure you emphasize the importance of taking breaks during the workday and relaxing.

3. Goal Oriented

Establish goals and deadlines for you company. You can easily track your company’s success when you have goals that are measurable. Moreover, goals and deadlines help to keep you and your team focused on the tasks at hand. Begin by establishing (on paper) goals you want to accomplish six months or a year from now. Create incentives for your team to keep them working hard and focused. For example, offer your team a bonus if you reach your financial goal. It will keep both you and your team motivated while furthering your business’s success.

4. Comfortable Environment

An environment conducive to success will motivate you and your team. The workplace should be efficient and comfortable—emotionally and physically. Keep the office space at a comfortable temperature and at a comfortable mood. Stress the importance of being a team, which will hopefully dispel any negativity or competition amongst co-workers. Additionally, try to make the office space relaxing by making it as bright and airy as possible and having a designated area as a break room.

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About the Author: Ted Levin is a freelance journalist covering business topics for a variety of websites. He enjoys writing about startup challenges and company culture. 

Making a Healthy Choice When It Comes to Insurance Plans

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ahealthcheckSmall business owners wrestling with the decision of whether to offer group health coverage to their employees have several more months before Obamacare’s small business insurance marketplace is fully operational.

Under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, businesses with 50 or fewer full-time equivalent employees, or FTEs, are not obligated to provide such coverage for their workers.

However, many companies, both large and small, find they can better attract — and keep — top-quality employees if they offer health coverage as a benefit.

SHOP Postponed

The multiple problems following last fall’s launch of open enrollment for individual health coverage prompted the federal government to postpone for a year the opening of SHOP, known officially as the Small Business Health Options Program.

In the meantime, small businesses that want to move ahead with group health coverage can continue to purchase health plans that meet Obamacare standards from insurance brokers.

Also, businesses in states that have their own Obamacare exchanges can buy coverage in those marketplaces.

Guidelines for Eligibility

If you’re among the small business owners who are opting to wait until SHOP is fully operational, here’s what you need to know about the qualifications necessary for participation in the marketplace:

  • You must have a principal business address within the state where you’re seeking to buy coverage or have an eligible employee with a primary worksite within the state where you’re buying coverage;
  • You must have at least one common-law employee on your payroll other than the business owner, sole proprietor, or their spouses. A common-law employee is defined as anyone who performs services for you wherein you can control what will be done and how it will be done;
  • Your business must have 50 or fewer FTEs, including part-time employees, in order to be eligible to purchase health plans within the small business marketplace. Two part-time employees are equal to one FTE. A couple of years down the road, SHOP eligibility will be expanded to include businesses with 100 or fewer FTEs.

Pay o to 100% of Premium

Interestingly, small businesses that purchase health insurance plans through SHOP are not required to pay any of the premiums for such coverage, according to a Forbes analysis of small business options under Obamacare.

Employers can pay anywhere from 0 to 100 percent of the plan’s premium, and employees must pay the rest. This rule applies only to health insurance plans purchased through SHOP, which is the federal marketplace for small businesses, and is not necessarily applicable to coverage purchased through state-operated exchanges.

For example, employers purchasing coverage through California’s state-operated exchange must pay at least 50 percent of the premiums for such coverage.

No matter whether you plan to pay 100 percent, 50 percent, or none of the premiums for health coverage offered to your employees, there’s a significant tax benefit to buying through SHOP.

Premiums for all such plans are paid with pre-tax dollars. This means that whoever pays the premium — employer, employees, or both — gets a nice tax break.

Control the Coverage

Choosing a health insurance plan from SHOP allows the small business owner to control the coverage that is offered to employees and, as we’ve already seen, to decide how much, if any, to pay toward employee premiums.

If your small business has 25 or fewer FTEs and you decide to pay 50 percent or more of the premiums for health plans purchased from SHOP, you may be eligible for a small business tax credit for the premiums paid.

In order to be eligible for this tax credit, your employees must average less than $50,000 per year in annual wages. Forbes reports that many employers that are eligible for this tax credit are forgoing it because the calculations involved are “slightly cumbersome.”

4 Levels of Coverage

As a small business owner, you can select the level of coverage that will be available to your employees.

As for individual health plans, the four main levels of coverage are Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

According to HealthCare.gov, these categories have nothing to do with quality of care but rather describe “the way your employees and the plan can expect to share costs for health care.” In other words, bronze plan coverage would require a higher copay for health services than would be charged under the other metal categories.

HealthCare.gov points out, however, that all plans available through SHOP must provide a set of essential health benefits.

Such benefits include ambulatory patient services, emergency services, hospitalization, maternity and newborn care, mental health and substance use disorder services, prescription drugs, rehabilitative services, laboratory services, preventive and wellness services, and pediatric services.

When evaluating health insurance plans in SHOP, you can compare side by side what services are available under the four levels of coverage.

As noted above, all must provide for the essential health benefits, but higher level plans are likely to have additional benefits.

And, of course, higher level plans cover more of the costs of services and thus have lower copays, if any.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of Vichaya Kiatying-Angsulee / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: Don Amerman is a freelance author who writes extensively about a wide array of business and personal finance topics.

Should You Give Out Raises?

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araiseIn 2013, the average company gave out a 3 percent pay raise. That average is expected in 2014, as well.

As a business owner, how do you know how much to give and who to give it to? And how can you keep everyone happy in the process?

The job market is tough, and fortunately your employees are aware of your company’s overall circumstances.

New graduates learned in college that one of the challenges they would face after school would be answering how to position yourself for best paying careers, so they, too, know what it’s like to be out in the real world.

How to determine who deserves a raise

As a small business owner, giving out raises at the right time to the right candidates is an important aspect of your job.

Employees like to know they’re doing a good job and they like to be recognized for their hard work, most likely in terms of more money.

Employees that may potentially deserve a raise are those that:

  • Consistently work hard – Do you have an employee that is willing to stay late or work overtime when needed? Does this employee do so with a smile on their face? Employees that go above and beyond their normal job responsibilities are the first that should be recognized. They care about your company and want to see it succeed. Hard workers almost always deserve raises, assuming your company can afford it.
  • Offer something unique to your company – Maybe this particular employee isn’t the hardest worker, but maybe he or she does something valuable and irreplaceable for your business. For example, if you run a small construction business and have one drywall specialist who consistently gets rave reviews from customers, offering a raise to keep the employee around is worth it. It shows you value their work and know it would be hard to find a replacement.
  • Meet or exceed their goals – If an employee regularly meets or exceeds sales goals, for example, they are most likely deserving of a raise. Without good, hard-working employees who sell your product or service, you wouldn’t have a business. Reward them.

How to keep everyone happy

When it comes time to give out raises, employees may start to gossip on who did or didn’t get a raise. This can cause tension and jealousy in the workplace, and may cause some valued employees to leave if they feel underappreciated.

To keep everyone happy, hold a one-on-one meeting with each employee, if possible.

Go over their position in the company, why they are or aren’t getting a raise, their strong points and what they can do to improve. Explain your position as a business owner and what your goals are long-term.

By making the employee feel like a part of a team (which they are), employee gossip should be decreased whether or not you offered them a raise.

For those that didn’t receive a raise, you could consider offering additional incentives.

These can include a few extra paid vacation days per year, allowing them to work from home one day per week or offering a more flexible schedule in the office.

Some employees would rather work four 10-hour days, for example, than five 8-hour days.

See what would be valuable to those employees and offer it to them, especially if you wanted to give them a raise but simply could not afford it.

Photo credit: businessnewsdaily.com

About the Author: Sarah Brooks is a freelance writer living in Glendale, AZ. She writes on personal finances, small businesses and travel.

Keeping Your Employees and Budget Healthy

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asuccessHealth insurance can turn into a crazy puzzle for small business owners.

Where larger companies, by law, must provide health insurance to their employees, small businesses have more leeway; however, this sometimes can just add to the confusion.

The bottom line, if you can afford to offer good medical coverage and health insurance to your employees, no matter how many you have – do it.

What if it’s a financial struggle?

There are instances where offering health insurance may not be feasible to your company financially.

If your company is small, you may not legally have to offer health insurance so you can consider these things in deciding to offer or not….

• Longevity of employees – It’s rare that part-time, independent or short term employees will receive medical coverage, and you’re not obligated to do so. Save the insurance benefits for your full time, permanent employees.

• If you have a tiny company, say just a handful of employees, you are not legally in a place to provide health insurance. If it’s financially not possible, you may choose to wait until your company grows financially and physically to offer health coverage.

• With the new laws in place under Obamacare, many small businesses can qualify for tax incentives by providing health coverage to their employees. Before writing it off as not possible, take a look into what you may gain by offering health insurance.

How does offering health insurance to your employees help you?

If you can, it will pay off in the long run if you provide health benefits to your employees….

• For one, some possible great employees may pass you up for a company that can provide health coverage for them. You don’t want to risk not getting the best because you don’t offer health care plans.

• Your employees may be more apt to stay for the long haul if they feel comfortable with the health care plan you can offer. People will shift companies depending on health care these days, as it a big expense to pay for it on your own. If you can offer it, do so.

• You can help your employees by avoiding lapses in health insurance coverage. When they come on board, you can have your plan go right into effect rather than having your employees search out medical insurance in the midst of taking on a new job.

• Employees with an insurance tie will feel more invested in the company itself and this can improve their satisfaction, engagement and overall well-being with your company and their job.

• You’ll save on sick days and illness within the work place. Those with medical coverage are more apt to visit a doctor than those without. Though you may lose a few hours or a day to a doctor visit, it beats a week or more for those who don’t get the needed medical care. It also can prevent sickness from spreading in the office, like strep throat or the flu – two things which can really take an office down.

No one likes to talk about medical coverage – it’s a big expense and a lot to think about it.

But if you want happy, healthy employees, you probably need to consider it.

Photo credit: hipstercrite.com

About the Author: Heather Legg is a writer covering topics related to small business, health and well-being, and social media.

Why Did That Employee Just Get Fired?

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afiredBosses have many hats to wear, at least that is the case in numerous offices these days.

Given that many companies have slimmed down their employee rosters in recent years, it is not uncommon for those running companies (especially smaller businesses) to find themselves doing some tasks that were typically handled by their HR person over time.

In some instances, bosses are having to say goodbye to employees for one reason or another. One of those reasons is simply issuing a pink slip because the man or woman did not live up to the expectations set for them when they were hired.

While letting someone go is oftentimes difficult, it can very well be justified in certain cases. Even though it can be a hard decision for a boss to make, the end result is typically harder on the employee, he or she now finding themselves out of work.

For those employees that may be walking a tightrope at work, there are some telltale signs that their jobs are on the line. Whether you are in your very first job or a veteran of the employment world, take note of some warning shots that should grab your attention.

They include:

The Obvious

In a bad state of mind

If you have been coming to work under the influence of drugs or alcohol, if you’ve been stealing (not just money but supplies or other things at work), or if you’ve been skipping work, getting fired would probably be no surprise.

Some actions are simply inappropriate at work and are good reason to be let go. You know if you’ve done these things and chances are so do your employers.

The Not So Obvious

Taking too much time off?

Maybe you’re not, in so many words, skipping work, but you’re spending a sizable amount of time out of the office.

Do you take every other Friday as a personal day or roll in late every Monday? Do you always have an excuse to miss a meeting or call?

Sure, things come up in life, but if something big comes up where you need more time, you need to discuss with your managers. If you notoriously have taken time off for no good reason, or without prior approval, that may be the reason you just got fired.

Using work time inappropriately or wastefully and/or disrupting others

Maybe you did always come to work, but how did you use your time?

Did you surf the Internet, updating your FB status and checking your fantasy football team instead of getting necessary work done? Did you chit chat with fellow workers more often than discussing relevant work topics? Did you consistently keep others from getting their work done either by distraction or other poor conduct?

Lastly, did you make some online comments about a co-worker, perhaps your boss? Even though sites such as Reputation.com and others can help limit hazardous online profiles and comments, you need to be smart from day one about what you say on the Internet regarding your job, particularly as it relates to your online reputation management.

All of these could get you fired, as you are there to be productive and let others be productive, too. If you want social time, go out for happy hour after work.

Insubordination

So maybe you never really mouthed off to your manager, but did you always do what he or she asked of you?

If you didn’t follow up on your responsibilities and expectations, that’s insubordination and a pretty good reason for getting fired, especially if your managers have ever had to speak to you about it before.

Lying on your résumé

Did you fib a bit on your résumé thinking it’s fine, everyone does? It’s not really fine, and if you did, you are probably getting fired for that.

Just because you got the job doesn’t mean that your résumé is null and void. Your employers have expectations of you from that résumé, and if you lied on it, your credibility and trustworthiness are gone; you probably are, too.

What to do?

If you’re fired, you’re fired.

But you can get a fresh start – get out there and find a new job – then work ethically, diligently and responsibly and keep that job.

Have you ever been fired from a job? If so, what did you take away from the experience?

Photo credit: foxbusiness.com

About the Author: Heather Legg is a writer who covers a variety of topics from careers and family to the business world.

Is Rehiring Those You Laid Off Smart?

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Experiencing a recession or other financial issue that requires you to lay off employees is one of the most stressful times a small business owner can go through.

But re-hiring those laid off workers may come in a close second if you’re not prepared for legal and other issues that may arise.

Discrimination Claims

If you’re not careful, you may end up receiving a discrimination claim when you start hiring back your laid-off employees. Remember: Fair employment laws apply to rehiring laid-off workers, just as they do to new hires.

Protect yourself by writing a clear rehire policy that lays out exactly how you’ll make the determination about who you’re going to bring back, and when.

For added protection, have an attorney read over your policy to make sure it can’t come back to haunt you in the case of a discrimination suit.

List Your Rehire Criteria Carefully

While writing your rehire policy, be cautious about your list of criteria you’ll use to decide who gets to come back.

Re-hiring based on skills, training, and knowledge of your company and procedures are excellent choices. Re-hiring based on whether or not you can still afford that employee’s salary can lead you into hot water.

Older workers tend to earn more, having worked their way up to higher salaries. If you eliminate rehires based on salary, you may be ruling out these older workers — leaving you open to an age-based discrimination claim.

Embrace Transparency

When you’re making your layoff decisions, and again when you’re rehiring workers, aim to be as transparent as possible about the reasons for both actions.

Employees who are laid off without a real explanation for why they were chosen may harbor resentment toward your company, which can cause morale and trust problems when you bring them back.

When you make your layoffs, ensure that your workers understand what you’ll do about their positions if things change.

If you lead employees to believe their old positions will be waiting for them when business improves, you’re setting yourself up for problems.

Offer Alternate Positions If Necessary

Unless your business operates under a collective bargaining agreement or union pact, don’t be afraid to offer your laid-off workers alternate jobs within your company.

In some cases, your financial situation may force you to eliminate some positions or departments, and you may not be able to bring everyone back at their old pay scale.

If you have to rewrite job descriptions and compensation terms, make sure your workers fully understand them — and the reasons for the changes.

You should also interview laid-off workers for the jobs, so you can reassess their skills and expertise before hiring them back.

And, if your company is in a position to start rehiring, but can no longer offer full-time work to laid-off employees, consider offering part-time positions.

Many workers may decide part-time work is better than no work at all. Just be careful: Don’t promise that these part-time positions will turn into more hours or full-time salaries in the future if there’s no guarantee.

Re-hiring employees you laid off can be a little touchy, especially if word gets around the Internet that how you are doing it is being called into question. Not only can it cause issues with your staff, but your online reputation management could take a hit with customers too.

But if you have a solid plan in place and make sure your workers understand the process, you can make it as painless as possible for both them and yourself.

Photo credit: instanthrsolutions.com

About the Author: Freelance blogger Angie Mansfield covers a variety of subjects for small business owners. From business growth to marketing, her work will give you tips to keep your business running smoothly.