SmallBiz Brainiac

It’s time to turn my attention toward executing the business plan I’ve been working on for the past 12 months. Hey everybody, welcome to the FINAL episode of SmallBiz Brainiac! Yes… I’m ending this podcast. That’s hard for me to say, actually. This has been a labor of love for me and I’ve learned so… The post 150: Thank You and Goodbye appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

Should you empower your Managers to make their own hiring and firing decisions? Please say, yes. Thank you so much for joining me today as we discuss hiring and terminating employees. Specifically, who in your organization should be responsible for recruiting, interviewing and hiring candidates? Who should be responsible for carrying out the unenviable task… The post 149: Managers or HR, Who Should Handle Hiring and Firing? appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

It doesn’t matter if you are guilty or not, an employment discrimination claim is going to cost you. EPLI stands for Employment Practices Liability Insurance. The free report available on our website, smallbizbrainiac.com, called “8 Steps to Lowering Your Employer Liability”, is all about buying EPLI insurance. The very process of preparing the complete the application… The post 148: Should I Buy EPLI? appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

Total compensation statements show employees how much you’re actually investing in them. Today I want to talk to you about your employees total compensation. No, total compensation is not simply the employees annual salary. It is more than that. It refers to the total cost of employing an individual. Why is this important? I believe… The post 147: Understanding Total Compensation appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

The city of Minneapolis has bought into the voodoo economic theory that they can regulate the labor market and bend it to their will. Even if you don’t have employees in Minneapolis, you need to stay on top of all the local HR laws because they are a sign of things to come. Especially if you… The post 146: Minimum Wage Madness in Minneapolis appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

A Big challenge with remote employees is communication. Some managers fall victim to the “out of sight, out of mind” syndrome. Having remote employees away from your main or corporate office is nothing new. With today’s technology however, it has become increasingly more prevalent. Businesses are no longer forced to look in their local market… The post 145: Challenges With Remote Employees appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

Nine million people lost their jobs in the Great Recession, and over 150,000 businesses shutdown.  Create a plan for dealing with it before it happens again. I’ve spent 3 episodes teaching you what a recession is and what economic indicators you should be watching to signal danger. I’ve tried convincing you that we’re on the verge… The post 144: How HR Should Prepare For A Recession – Part 4 appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

If you don’t take HR seriously, no one else in your company will either. I know you are serious about your business. You’re serious about the work that you do to service your clients. Are you carrying this seriousness over to your own employees? You want, and frankly need, your employees to be your biggest… The post 143: Be Serious About HR appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

Yahoo Finance reported in 2016 that 93% of the entire stock market move since 2008 was caused by Federal Reserve policy. In parts 1 and 2 we learned that a recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months. We also learned there’s NOT a consensus among economists… The post 142: How HR Should Prepare For A Recession – Part 3 appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

Even though Form I-9 revisions seem insignificant, failure to comply can result in fines. Today we’re going to focus on some changes that have recently been made to the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 by the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services. Overview of Form I-9: The Form I-9 has been in use since 1986 for the… The post 141: Form I-9 Revisions appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

The Federal Reserve has injected over $4.5 trillion into the economy to speed up the recovery from the Great Recession of 2008. In Part 1 we learned a recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months. We also learned there isn’t a standard formula you can apply… The post 140: How HR Should Prepare For A Recession – Part 2 appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

Updating employee name changes with the Social Security Administration is priority number one. Today we’re going to go over what is involved for your HR and payroll team when an employee decides to change their name. Why on earth would someone change their name? Well, there are a variety of reasons why a name change could occur.… The post 139: Employee Name Changes appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

A recession is defined as a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months. Were you in the workforce back in 2008? Chances are you were. Do you remember the impact the “Great Recession” had on your business? I sure do. We lost over 30% of our clients within a few… The post 138: How HR Should Prepare For A Recession – Part 1 appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

How do I maintain a safe work environment now that recreational marijuana is legal in my state? Legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes is trending upward with more and more states opting to legalize the drug even though marijuana is still considered illegal at the federal level. Regardless of how you view the use of… The post 137: Recreational Marijuana Legalization appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

Furthermore, many colleges and universities fail to help students graduate with the skills necessary to secure high paying jobs in today’s workforce. Are you confused about the differences between an apprenticeship and an internship? An apprenticeship is an on-the-job training program which includes job related instruction, typically provided in a classroom setting. Apprenticeships can last… The post 136: Apprenticeship vs Internship appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

The number of employers using social media to screen candidates is at an all-time high. Today I wanted to go over a type of pre-employment screening that is becoming increasingly more popular as time goes on. Pre-employment screenings, or background checks are nothing new. In fact, we have discussed background checks before on this show.… The post 135: Social Media Screening for Employment appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

OSHA says a post accident drug testing policy which deters and discourages employees from reporting a claim is illegal. In part 1, I introduced you to the 3 new provisions in OSHA’s recordkeeping rule that took effect on January 1, 2017. On this episode we’ll learn more details about the provision that prohibits you from retaliating against your employee for… The post 134: OSHA Claim Reporting Retaliation & Post Accident Drug Testing Rules – Part 2 appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

Penalties for violating the Fair Work Week law range from $500 to $2,500 per occurrence depending on severity. Back in 2016, Seattle passed their Secure Scheduling Law. This law actually takes effect on July 1, 2017. You can hear more about the Seattle Secure Scheduling Law by going to our website, www.smallbizbrainiac.com and pulling up episode… The post 133: New York City’s Fair Work Week appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

OSHA calls this new power an “important new tool” to ensure employers maintain accurate records. Effective January 1, 2017, OSHA’s new Recordkeeping rule took effect. There are two main parts to the new rule. I told you about the Recording and Reporting part in episode 89 on December 6, 2016, but I didn’t cover the… The post 132: OSHA Claim Reporting Retaliation & Post Accident Drug Testing Rules – Part 1 appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.

Davis Bacon Act – Just another stupid federal law with major unintended consequences like pricing out smaller contractors and taxpayers overpaying for services.  Today I wanted to discuss certified payroll and how it differs from your normal everyday payroll practices. First of all, what is meant by certified payroll? Generally speaking, certified payroll occurs whenever… The post 131: Certified Payroll – The Davis Bacon Act appeared first on SmallBiz Brainiac.