Month: March 2020

Create a Plan For Online Success

Roger Maris, a famous baseball player, once said, “You win not by chance, but by preparation.”
The same is true for college; planning for success is a huge step in reaching your goals, and being successful in college. As an online instructor I am often asked, “How do I prepare for online classes?”  Online students don’t need to go brave the crowds for a new outfit to wear on the first day, yet, there are a few things online students should do to prepare for the start of class! Creating long-term and short-term goals is essential for success.
Linking your long-term goal of graduating and advancing your career with your short-term goals of being successful in each class will give you the opportunity to celebrate your accomplishments on a regular basis.
Establishing study times is another way to prepare for online classes. Many students are working full time, have families, and other personal responsibilities, so establishing a weekly schedule with consistent blocks of time each week for working on your online assignments is one strategy for success. Having an effective study area is another step in your online success program. This environment should be a quiet place where you can concentrate, as well as where you have access to the Internet. In your study environment you want to eliminate any online distractions, do not be logged into any chat or social media tools while working on your coursework. Concentrate on one assignment at a time.
Jumping back and forth between assignments will decrease your ability to comprehend the material and successfully complete your assignment. Familiarizing yourself with the course design is another strategy for online success. You will have access to your course syllabus and a tracking calendar. Take note of your instructor’s email address, when are assignments due, how your assignments needs to be submitted, course policies (late policies and attendance), what textbooks are required, and where to get technical support. Once you are familiar with your course you will be able to set that worry aside and be prepared to start your class and be successful. Familiarize yourself with your support services. You have access to an online library with a librarian available 24 hours a day, as well as tutoring. Understanding where you can find these support services will help relieve any stress you may feel when you come across a point where you need support. Having a technology contingency plan is another strategy for online success.
We have no control over what may happen that may stand in our way when we are trying to achieve our goals.  Unfortunately computers and Internet access will inevitably fail, and always when we can least afford it. Having a plan for this is essential. Identify alternative access to computers, whether this is a local library, or a friend or family member’s computer. Have your instructor’s contact information as well as the technology support services written down. Ensure you have a plan for backing up your work. Too often things can go wrong, computers can crash, work is not saved, and having a backup plan for your work will help to eliminate this type of distraction.
Taking college classes online gives you a great opportunity to reach your goals. Your journey to success in college will be filled with many challenges; however, creating a plan for success and being prepared for any situation will help you overcome these challenges, and help you reach your ultimate goal!
Brooke Urban is an adjunct instructor at Bryant & Stratton College Online.  Currently completing her PhD online, Brooke also works in the online admissions department. Prior to Bryant & Stratton College she has worked in the business world for 8 years as a manager and corporate trainer.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Study Links Childhood Trauma With Chronic Disease in Adults

A major study has found that childhood abuse, neglect and other traumatic stressors are major risk factors for chronic health problems later in life.
Almost two-thirds of the participants in the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Kaiser Permanente reported at least one case of a childhood stressor, and more than one out of five reported three or more stressors. As those stressors increased, so did the risks for various adult health problems ranging from alcoholism and alcohol abuse to sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies.
“Using epidemiology and biostatistics, tools of public health education and training, these researchers were able to discover something very important about the breadth of factors that impact children’s health during their childhood, and years later, when they are adults,” said Jan Carney, M.D., M.P.H., associate dean for public health, professor of medicine and lead faculty for the University of Vermont’s online graduate public health certificate program. “Their findings have broad implications for prevention, and are being used by public health, mental health and social service agencies, and healthcare leaders and professionals, both in the U.S. and internationally.”
Participants were asked to report whether they had experienced these stressors:
  • Childhood abuse (emotional, physical or sexual)
  • Neglect (emotional or physical)
  • Household dysfunction (mother treated violently; household substance abuse; household mental illness; parental separation or divorce; or incarcerated household member)
The initial phase of the study was conducted by Kaiser Permanente from 1995 to 1997, when more than 17,000 participants – all Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) members – had standard physical exams and answered questions about their childhood experiences. The study used an ACE score to determine the total amount of stress during childhood.
The study’s principal investigators – Robert F. Anda, M.D., M.S., with the CDC and Vincent J. Felitti, M.D., with Kaiser Permanente – used this information as baseline data. They now are tracking the medical status of the 17,337 participants, 54 percent of whom are female and 46 percent male.
Interest in the study is growing. Recently, the CDC notes, investigators in Canada, China, Jordan, Norway, the Philippines and the United Kingdom have replicated the ACE Study or used its questionnaire. The World Health Organization and several American cities and states are also accessing and applying the data.
In addition, the study has resulted in more than 50 scientific articles and over 100 conference and workshop presentations. Recently, Dr. Felitti presented his findings in October at a Vermont conference of health care leaders, including public health and medical professionals.
Adverse Childhood Experiences and the Impact on Adult Health
Participants in the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Kaiser Permanente reported the number of childhood stressors they had experienced, resulting in an ACE Score. As the number of ACEs increased, so did the risk for the following health problems:
  • Alcoholism and alcohol abuse
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
  • Depression
  • Fetal death
  • Health-related quality of life
  • Illicit drug use
  • Ischemic heart disease (IHD)
  • Liver disease
  • Risk for intimate partner violence
  • Multiple sexual partners
  • Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)
  • Smoking
  • Suicide attempts Unintended pregnancies
  • Early initiation of smoking
  • Early initiation of sexual activity
  • Adolescent pregnancy
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Instructor Blog: Citing for Success

Plagiarism can seem like a scary word, and it can be difficult to understand everything that is considered plagiarism. Most students would never intentionally steal work from another student or the internet. However, plagiarism also includes:
  • submitting the same document for more than one assignment
  • using a quote or idea from an outside source, such as a website, with no in-text citation and/or reference page listing
While citation can seem involved and complicated, it’s important to remember the purpose of citation. Citing a source shows the reader what information is from an outside source.  When presenting an argument or proposal, you want to show the source that supports your argument. Introducing a source helps orient the reader. For example, let’s say you are creating a proposal to implement a specific kind of software. Your in-text citation might look like this:
According to the Journal of Medical Software, “Software X decreases errors and increases efficiency by 73% through streamlining all patient information” (Hernandez, 2013, p.4).
The reader gains helpful information from this introduction. The name of the publication is listed, which saves the reader from having to scroll to the reference page. Also, the year is part of the in-text citation, which shows the currency of the information. For direct quotes, the page or paragraph number is required.
With the above source, let’s look at examples of plagiarism:
I propose that our office implement Software X to stay competitive in today’s market. Software X decreases errors and increases efficiency by 73% through streamlining all patient information.
The lack of citation leaves the reader with questions. Where is the statistic from? Did the writer conduct his or her own research? If the source is listed on the reference page but not in the text, the reader does not know what, if any, information is from the source listed. Even if the source is listed on the reference page, failure to use in-text citation still constitutes plagiarism. A source must also be listed on the reference page to avoid plagiarism. End citation is critical as it allows the reader to go directly to the source.
 Tools for Citation
  • The APA Guide (located in the FAQ tab) is your best friend for citing sources. Print it, it’s worth the paper! It is organized by type of source. For example, page 11 describes how to cite a source from the Virtual Library both for in-text citation and on the reference page.  A sample paper begins on page 20. There are also two presentations on formatting APA in the same place in the FAQ tab.
  • Your instructor is also a great resource. If you are unsure of how to cite a specific source, post your question in the “Ask Your Instructor” discussion.
  • The Smarthinking tutorial service can provide assistance with citation.
  • There are many free plagiarism checkers online.
Avoiding plagiarism not only preserves your academic integrity, but strengthens your role as a professional. Even if APA is not used in your field, having an understanding of how to integrate a source and provide credit allows the reader to differentiate between the ideas of the writer and an outside source. Strong and accurately cited support can make the difference between a proposal being accepted or ignored!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

TEAM BUILDING EXERCISES AREN’T JUST FOR FUN—THEY’RE CRITICAL TO EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

Companies and employees are increasingly focused on finding a healthy work-life balance, but that doesn’t mean the two need to be entirely separated. We spend the majority of our days in the workplace—which means we spend a majority of our days with our coworkers, and it turns out, we’re happier if these coworkers are our friends, too.
According to recent studies, office friendships increase employee engagement, satisfaction and productivity. LinkedIn found that 46 percent of professionals across industries believe having friends at work is important to their overall happiness. Similarly, a 2012 Gallup report revealed that 50 percent of employees with a best friend at work reported a strong connection to their company—compared to just 10 percent of employees without a best friend at the office.
How can companies encourage office friendships? One way is through team building—even if your employees don’t turn out to be BFFs, they’ll get to know each other better and engage in conversations that don’t revolve around the latest client project. I spoke with Ido Rabiner, CEO and co-founder of Strayboots, an organization that specializes in team building through scavenger hunts, about the importance of team building and personal relationships in the workplace.

Does it really matter if employees know each other on a personal level?

Knowing your teammates better, even just one small new detail, can improve your connection at work and create a healthier office environment. If people are more sensitive and responsive to each other, they’ll be better working together. I’m not talking about invading their privacy, but about getting to know your teammates as people first.

Why is it important to build up teams?

Your “human resource” is the most precious part of your organization. Research shows that companies with a 5 percent increase in employee engagement report 3 percent higher revenues the following year. In other words, team building exercises can have a direct impact on the quality of the work itself, in addition to improving employee engagement and loyalty.

How do you design team building activities to meet employees’ diverse interests?

We deal with this every day because teams, by definition, are diverse and we want to make sure everyone on the team feels included. We work with our clients to incorporate different types of challenges and layers into the scavenger hunt that align with different themes or objectives. All of our scavenger hunts can be fully customized to address a specific need, whether it’s taking the teams through specific areas to get to know their new office location, or adding company-focused questions and branding to improve their knowledge of the business.

When’s the ideal time for team building exercises? Nights? Weekends? During the week day?

Every team has its own agenda and company culture, so it varies from group to group. We’ve seen that most teams prefer doing their hunts in the early afternoon on weekdays, when people are still fresh and can make the most of their adventure. After all, it’s a fun activity and companies want full participation, so weekends and nights won’t work for everyone.

Why is it important to invest in team building exercises outside of actual work?

Employees need to feel that their company cares about investing in helping them become better teammates. Setting aside a special time and place for team building exercises communicates the message that it’s a mutual commitment.

Instructor Blog: Why English 101?

Students may wonder why ENGL 101 is required at Bryant & Stratton College. Why is writing research papers relevant for our students? The two biggest reasons are success in other courses, and to master writing and research skills that will be used in any field.
Success at Bryant & Stratton ENGL 101 is focused on learning how to incorporate research into a paper. This skill will be used in other courses to demonstrate learning in your field. Particularly for the portfolio projects in your field, it is essential to be able to have a basic grasp of in-text citation and the reference page.  Instructors and peers should be able to easily distinguish between outside sources and the writer’s own ideas. Also, being able to discuss ideas from sources demonstrates to instructors a level of understanding of course concepts and is a valuable part of the learning process. Students learn more by incorporating reading material into a research paper than by simply reading it.
One of the institutional outcomes at Bryant &Stratton is information literacy. An institutional outcome is a skill not directly related to a specific program, but essential for the knowledge needed to be a college graduate. Information Literacy means being able to locate information and integrate it into a document. While this may not seem like a skill used in certain fields, it represents essential critical thinking abilities. It is information literacy that teaches us how to look up information, and how to evaluate information for credibility. Information literacy guides us on everything from researching issues related to voting, to discerning which websites to believe on expected salaries.
While students may not actually write papers after graduating, the skills learned in the process of writing papers are essential for other kinds of documents as well as critical thinking in evaluating information. The skills used in writing research papers include outlining, creating a main point, supporting with research, and revision. These skills would be used for detailed emails to employers or colleagues, or a presentation. 
Even if APA formatting is not used, it is still important to have an understanding of how to integrate outside sources to support your own ideas. Strong writing skills are also part of the soft skills employers seek. The article “The Importance of Good Writing Skills in the Workplace” on the Small Business Chronicle website explains that writing skills are part of a how an employee comes across: “People with good writing skills are generally seen as more credible” (O’Farrell 2016, para. 4).  Even work emails are an opportunity to show professionalism. By practicing the skills of writing and research, our students will be prepared to excel in the courses related to their field, as well as possess the writing and research skills needed to be confident in the workplace writing they will need to do, beginning with the perfect resume!

LEARNING CORNER WITH JEFFREY PFEFFER: HOW HIGH WAGES CAN PAY FOR THEMSELVES

Companies, and even governments, often try to hold down wages in an effort to reduce their labor costs. Following 9/11, when the airline industry experienced mass cancellations, almost all airlines—except for Southwest—not only had layoffs, but obtained large wage concessions from their workers. When U.S.-based automakers struggled to turn a profit, they negotiated two-tier wage structures where new employees would make less money. The recession of 2008 accelerated this trend: “Pay cuts, sometimes the result of downgrades in rank or shortened workweeks, are occurring more frequently than at any time since the Great Depression,” wrote the New York Times in 2009. Pay for the average worker remains constrained today, possibly one explanation for ongoing financial stress and political turbulence.
But contrary to what many company leaders, Wall Street workers and HR professionals seem to believe, employees’ rate of pay is not synonymous with labor costs (which reflect not just the rate of pay but also productivity). Moreover, labor costs have little bearing on competitiveness or profitability. Many companies in Silicon Valley pay very well, but, because of their business models, are extremely profitable. But lower wages do lead to ill health and financial stress, indicators of diminished well-being.
Evidence suggests that if companies paid more, not only would they help their employees, they would actually help themselves. Here’s the logic.

Higher Wages = Higher Profits

In 1914, Henry Ford introduced a $5 per day wage at the Ford Motor Company, more than doubling the prior rate of pay. According to Robert Lacey’s book, Ford: The Men and the Machine, the move aroused the ire of The Wall Street Journal, which accused Ford of “economic blunders if not crimes.” The result: diminished turnover, higher quality workers and higher productivity and profits.
About 100 years later, Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments, generated mammoth publicity—and skepticism from Fox Business—when he announced a $70,000 annual minimum wage for Gravity’s employees. The much-talked-about move drove customer leads through the roof, and Gravity, a relatively small company of about 200 employees, received thousands of employment inquiries. Profits have never been higher.
These are not just interesting examples. They’re consistent with fundamental ideas in economics. The principle of efficiency wages refers to paying above market to improve workers’ productivity levels. As economist Lawrence Katz explained, “High wages can help reduce turnover, elicit worker effort, prevent worker collective action [unionization], and attract higher quality employees.” Evidence suggests that with more motivated and higher quality workers, less supervision is required because the employees are less likely to shirk responsibilities and are more qualified, thereby saving on supervisory costs.
Because of the profit-enhancing, cost-reducing effects of higher wages, in the end, paying more might actually reduce labor costs. Higher wages can, therefore, actually pay for themselves.  
A contemporary illustration of this phenomenon can be seen in University of Colorado professor Wayne Cascio’s detailed comparison of Costco with Walmart’s Sam’s Club. As Cascio documented, Costco pays higher wages and offers more generous benefits than Sam’s Club, making its labor costs higher. But turnover at Sam’s Club was 44 percent, while it was only 17 percent at Costco, saving literally hundreds of millions of dollars on replacing employees. He went on to explain that, “Costco generated $21,805 in U.S. operating profit per employee, compared to $11,615 at Sam’s Club,” meaning that Costco’s more experienced, more productive workforce more than offset its higher cost.
In labor markets, as in many other markets, you get what you pay for.

Minimizing Labor Costs Does Not Equal Increasing Profits

Minimizing labor costs should not be a company’s primary objective. In many instances, even in contract manufacturing, labor costs are a relatively small proportion of total costs. As a senior executive at Levi’s, the clothing company, told me years ago, spending a lot of time trying to reduce costs of something that accounts for a small proportion of total costs—and in apparel manufacturing, labor costs are truly minuscule—is misplaced emphasis.
Companies are much more interested in maximizing their profits, the difference between revenue minus expenses. Profits come from product and service innovation, productivity and outstanding levels of customer service that generate customer loyalty—all things produced by a workforce that is engaged and cares.
So what happens when those factors are missing? The airline industry, with its almost omnipresent wage reductions and conflict with employees, serves as a cautionary example. Joe Sharkey, the former New York Times travel columnist reported that a survey by the Travel Industry Association “found that the consensus among travelers was that air travel was bad and getting worse.” As a result, fed-up fliers deferred 12 million business trips and 29 million leisure trips, costing the airlines the revenue from these 41 million foregone journeys.

So What Can HR Do?

HR executives should take the lead in bringing these higher wage arguments and the associated evidence to senior management so that companies can make more sensible decisions concerning pay levels.
It’s also worth noting that the arguments about holding down wages somehow never apply to the C-suite, where the ratio of CEO to average employee pay has soared over the past few decades. However, the importance of recruiting and retaining talent extends beyond executives to the entire workforce (a notion that HR teams should be championing), which is why paying more can pay off.
To be fair, high pay is only relative (compared to what competitors are offering), which is why if every company tried to put this advice into practice, it wouldn’t work. But given the overwhelming tendency to think that simply reducing labor costs will increase profits, this is not a concern I would worry about. After all, few auto companies followed Ford’s lead, and I don’t see lots of payment processing companies emulating Gravity Payments. 
As economic research has reported for decades, paying people more is not just good for those individuals, it means better business. That’s why some of the companies that pay—and treat—their employees well have the best financial results.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

WHY FAILURE SHOULD ALWAYS BE AN OPTION

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was to focus on moving the needle, rather than achieving perfection. “Get 80 percent of the way there,” said one of our senior leaders, “And fix what was missed later.” It\’s a nugget of wisdom I wish I had learned earlier in my career—and, as such, I\’ve gotten in the habit of sharing it with every new employee on my team.
What\’s wrong with perfection? All too often, we place pressure on others and ourselves to create the perfect report or complete a perfect project. But instead of driving innovation and improving performance (as one would assume), this pursuit of perfection actually stunts creativity and limits achievement.
Think about it: If your goal is to deliver flawless work, you\’re likely going to stick within the boundaries of what you know, whether that\’s your own work or what you\’ve seen others do before you. And while there\’s something to be said for understanding \”what works,\” there\’s more to be said for figuring out what works even better.
Today\’s work landscape values innovation over tradition—coloring outside of the lines over checking boxes. The people (and, subsequently, organizations) that succeed today are the ones willing to try something new. In order to foster a culture of pushing the envelope, you can\’t strive for perfection—instead, you need to make peace with failure.

The Beauty of Failure

Of course, opening ourselves up to the idea of failure isn\’t easy. Our instinct as managers is to guide people towards success, to police growth and ensure that everyone is capable of fulfilling their responsibilities.
Employees don\’t tend towards failure either, because the typical organization doesn\’t reward failure; it rewards a crossed-off to-do list and achieved goals.But it\’s time for a shift in perspective. This doesn\’t mean creating a culture of failure, but creating a culture where the chance of failure is okay. If you want your employees to swing for the fences, you need to ensure that they\’re comfortable striking out once in a while.

Create Opportunities to Miss the Mark

Encouraging failure is not only antithetical to the traditional way of managing, it\’s also risky. As a manager, how do you allow employees to fail without discouraging them or jeopardizing your work?
The key is to think about failure strategically. Yes, allowing someone to miss the mark on any initiative is inherently messy and unpredictable, but if you approach the possibility of failure with a purpose, you will ultimately achieve more in the end.
First, be deliberate about providing opportunities where failure is an option. A culture of innovation isn\’t simply created by telling employees to take risks and think big—you need to create actual opportunities for them to do so. In addition to providing your team with projects and responsibilities where they can excel, provide them with \”stretch assignments\” that exist just beyond their comfort zone.
Second, step outside of the comfort zone with them — if you\’re going to put people in a situation where failure is either imminent or highly probable, be ready to coach them back out of it. The last thing you want to do as a manager is put someone in a position where they might fail, and not provide them with the resources (whether it\’s yourself, a fellow teammate or a mentor) to fix it.

The Secret Sauce

The ultimate secret to fostering a positive view of failure is feedback. From the beginning to the end of a project, managers should create a culture of open communication with employees.
This starts by setting the right expectations: Don\’t give your employees a stretch assignment unknowingly—this will only confuse them, and likely stress them out. A stretch is achievable, but with a degree of risk. Tasks that are easy to complete will create a sense of boredom in employees. Let\’s say you\’re planning a training session for your department. You want Molly to lead the session; and while she\’s helped you put together slides and materials for past events, she\’s never presented one herself. Sit down with her and let her know you want her to take on the next session, but emphasize that you\’re intentionally putting her in an uncomfortable place—you don\’t expect her to know exactly what to do, and that\’s okay.
Next, ask about Molly\’s concerns, and define a way to assuage them during the process: What are your biggest hesitations? What will you do when you\’re lost? Where do you want my help? Then, provide guidance along the way, but make sure she\’s developing and practicing it on her own first. If you want Molly to grow, you should be there as a sounding board for the stretch project—not a collaborator.
Finally, after the presentation, ask for her feedback first: What went well? What went poorly? What would you do differently? Then, offer your own commentary — and make sure you deliver it in the best way. Molly might prefer feedback \”right between the eyes,\” whereas Mike prefers you couch criticism between praise.
Offering opportunities for your employees to take a risk will not only encourage them to proactively think outside the box, but also show them that failure is not the enemy. Complacency is the enemy—and in our dynamic, fast-paced world, it\’s the ones who dare greatly who ultimately succeed.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CREATE A \’CULTURE OF FAILURE\’?

In my last post, I discussed the importance of failure in company culture. In order for people to take risks and push the envelope, they need to have a certain level of comfort with defeat. In other words, you don\’t only need to walk before you run to succeed—you also need to be okay with stumbling every once in a while.
But what does this \”culture of failure\” look like, and how is it achieved? Embracing failure isn\’t about patting people on the back when they miss the mark—at its core, a culture of failure is about feedback that helps you make the mark next time. If you want to progress as an individual or as a company, you need to be willing to identify your weaknesses and maximize your strengths.
However, even the most self-aware people are limited in their ability to identify these strengths and weaknesses on their own. They need help—and, based on my experience, they want help. If you look at recent research on the millennial generation—which, in many ways, I believe strongly reflects the desires of every generation—you\’ll find that almost everything points back to the desire for growth and development, for continuous feedback. Most people are craving conversations that push them to the next level. The question is, how do you get there?

Build Structured Communication

Creating a culture of failure comes down to communication—communication between employees and managers, between managers and VPs, between VPs and the C-suite. As director of talent management at Cornerstone, I\’ve focused a lot of my time and energy on fostering the type of communication that leads to a company and workforce not only open to risk-taking, but prone to it.
At Cornerstone, we train managers to provide their employees with \”stretch projects.\” The key to these projects\’ success, however, doesn\’t lie in giving the assignment—it lies in the conversations that occur before and afterwards. Prior to the project, the manager asks the employee, \”What\’s your likelihood for success? What\’s your expected failure rate? What are your obstacles?\” After the project, the manager debriefs with the employee to identify successes and failures on both ends: \”What were the unforeseen obstacles? Was the task as clearly communicated as possible? Were the challenges identified individual blocks, or systemic blocks? And if they were systemic blocks, who should have gotten on your side?\”

Teach People to Ask For Feedback

With structured communication, employees will begin to feel more comfortable taking on stretch assignments. First, because they know the goal isn\’t success—it\’s growth. And second, because when they fail—and, usually, they are bound to \”fail\” in some sense—they will have a deep understanding of how to succeed the next time around.
The second benefit of structured communication—and another step toward fostering a workforce comfortable with failure—is that it will teach people to be comfortable with feedback. When most people ask for \”feedback\” today, I\’ve found that what they truly expect is congratulations. Why? It\’s not that they don\’t want to improve—it\’s just that they aren\’t used to hearing constructive criticism, and are therefore unsure of how to handle it.
Structured communication familiarizes both employees and managers with receiving and providing tough feedback. After a few stretch assignments, employees will learn to be their own best advocates and managers will learn how to truly coach their employees. Instead of asking, \”How did that go?\” employees will learn to ask, \”How could that have gone better?\” And instead of a nonchalant \”Good job!\” managers will be able to provide both congratulations and criticism.

Prioritize Growth

Last but not least, it\’s not enough to simply encourage employees and managers to communicate or discuss feedback. It needs to be a formal part of your culture, embodied by your values. Because as I\’ve learned during my career, there are two truths about culture: 1) Culture can be made and 2) Whether you consciously make it or not, culture will happen.
If you aren\’t mindful and strategic about integrating failure into your company culture—through formal communication, trainings and leadership by example—you won\’t realize the eventual success that comes from risk-taking. It is critical to prioritize manager feedback, employee reviews, and general stretch assignments. As a CLO or CHRO, you can beat the drum of \”failure is a good thing\” all you want—but unless you formalize this belief, and immerse your workforce from the start in a company that encourages feedback and growth, you won\’t see a true cultural shift.
An excuse I hear all too often is, \”I want to give feedback—it\’s just that I\’m too busy.\” The hard truth is that at the end of the day, your employees are the only thing you should always have time for. If you\’re too busy for them, then you\’re failing to invest in the future of your personal career, team and company. Like all good things, this is easier said than done—but as I\’ve learned throughout my career, your biggest failures will take you farther than any small success.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CREATE A \’CULTURE OF FAILURE\’?

In my last post, I discussed the importance of failure in company culture. In order for people to take risks and push the envelope, they need to have a certain level of comfort with defeat. In other words, you don\’t only need to walk before you run to succeed—you also need to be okay with stumbling every once in a while.
But what does this \”culture of failure\” look like, and how is it achieved? Embracing failure isn\’t about patting people on the back when they miss the mark—at its core, a culture of failure is about feedback that helps you make the mark next time. If you want to progress as an individual or as a company, you need to be willing to identify your weaknesses and maximize your strengths.
However, even the most self-aware people are limited in their ability to identify these strengths and weaknesses on their own. They need help—and, based on my experience, they want help. If you look at recent research on the millennial generation—which, in many ways, I believe strongly reflects the desires of every generation—you\’ll find that almost everything points back to the desire for growth and development, for continuous feedback. Most people are craving conversations that push them to the next level. The question is, how do you get there?

Build Structured Communication

Creating a culture of failure comes down to communication—communication between employees and managers, between managers and VPs, between VPs and the C-suite. As director of talent management at Cornerstone, I\’ve focused a lot of my time and energy on fostering the type of communication that leads to a company and workforce not only open to risk-taking, but prone to it.
At Cornerstone, we train managers to provide their employees with \”stretch projects.\” The key to these projects\’ success, however, doesn\’t lie in giving the assignment—it lies in the conversations that occur before and afterwards. Prior to the project, the manager asks the employee, \”What\’s your likelihood for success? What\’s your expected failure rate? What are your obstacles?\” After the project, the manager debriefs with the employee to identify successes and failures on both ends: \”What were the unforeseen obstacles? Was the task as clearly communicated as possible? Were the challenges identified individual blocks, or systemic blocks? And if they were systemic blocks, who should have gotten on your side?\”

Teach People to Ask For Feedback

With structured communication, employees will begin to feel more comfortable taking on stretch assignments. First, because they know the goal isn\’t success—it\’s growth. And second, because when they fail—and, usually, they are bound to \”fail\” in some sense—they will have a deep understanding of how to succeed the next time around.
The second benefit of structured communication—and another step toward fostering a workforce comfortable with failure—is that it will teach people to be comfortable with feedback. When most people ask for \”feedback\” today, I\’ve found that what they truly expect is congratulations. Why? It\’s not that they don\’t want to improve—it\’s just that they aren\’t used to hearing constructive criticism, and are therefore unsure of how to handle it.
Structured communication familiarizes both employees and managers with receiving and providing tough feedback. After a few stretch assignments, employees will learn to be their own best advocates and managers will learn how to truly coach their employees. Instead of asking, \”How did that go?\” employees will learn to ask, \”How could that have gone better?\” And instead of a nonchalant \”Good job!\” managers will be able to provide both congratulations and criticism.

Prioritize Growth

Last but not least, it\’s not enough to simply encourage employees and managers to communicate or discuss feedback. It needs to be a formal part of your culture, embodied by your values. Because as I\’ve learned during my career, there are two truths about culture: 1) Culture can be made and 2) Whether you consciously make it or not, culture will happen.
If you aren\’t mindful and strategic about integrating failure into your company culture—through formal communication, trainings and leadership by example—you won\’t realize the eventual success that comes from risk-taking. It is critical to prioritize manager feedback, employee reviews, and general stretch assignments. As a CLO or CHRO, you can beat the drum of \”failure is a good thing\” all you want—but unless you formalize this belief, and immerse your workforce from the start in a company that encourages feedback and growth, you won\’t see a true cultural shift.
An excuse I hear all too often is, \”I want to give feedback—it\’s just that I\’m too busy.\” The hard truth is that at the end of the day, your employees are the only thing you should always have time for. If you\’re too busy for them, then you\’re failing to invest in the future of your personal career, team and company. Like all good things, this is easier said than done—but as I\’ve learned throughout my career, your biggest failures will take you farther than any small success.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CREATE A \’CULTURE OF FAILURE\’?

In my last post, I discussed the importance of failure in company culture. In order for people to take risks and push the envelope, they need to have a certain level of comfort with defeat. In other words, you don\’t only need to walk before you run to succeed—you also need to be okay with stumbling every once in a while.
But what does this \”culture of failure\” look like, and how is it achieved? Embracing failure isn\’t about patting people on the back when they miss the mark—at its core, a culture of failure is about feedback that helps you make the mark next time. If you want to progress as an individual or as a company, you need to be willing to identify your weaknesses and maximize your strengths.
However, even the most self-aware people are limited in their ability to identify these strengths and weaknesses on their own. They need help—and, based on my experience, they want help. If you look at recent research on the millennial generation—which, in many ways, I believe strongly reflects the desires of every generation—you\’ll find that almost everything points back to the desire for growth and development, for continuous feedback. Most people are craving conversations that push them to the next level. The question is, how do you get there?

Build Structured Communication

Creating a culture of failure comes down to communication—communication between employees and managers, between managers and VPs, between VPs and the C-suite. As director of talent management at Cornerstone, I\’ve focused a lot of my time and energy on fostering the type of communication that leads to a company and workforce not only open to risk-taking, but prone to it.
At Cornerstone, we train managers to provide their employees with \”stretch projects.\” The key to these projects\’ success, however, doesn\’t lie in giving the assignment—it lies in the conversations that occur before and afterwards. Prior to the project, the manager asks the employee, \”What\’s your likelihood for success? What\’s your expected failure rate? What are your obstacles?\” After the project, the manager debriefs with the employee to identify successes and failures on both ends: \”What were the unforeseen obstacles? Was the task as clearly communicated as possible? Were the challenges identified individual blocks, or systemic blocks? And if they were systemic blocks, who should have gotten on your side?\”

Teach People to Ask For Feedback

With structured communication, employees will begin to feel more comfortable taking on stretch assignments. First, because they know the goal isn\’t success—it\’s growth. And second, because when they fail—and, usually, they are bound to \”fail\” in some sense—they will have a deep understanding of how to succeed the next time around.
The second benefit of structured communication—and another step toward fostering a workforce comfortable with failure—is that it will teach people to be comfortable with feedback. When most people ask for \”feedback\” today, I\’ve found that what they truly expect is congratulations. Why? It\’s not that they don\’t want to improve—it\’s just that they aren\’t used to hearing constructive criticism, and are therefore unsure of how to handle it.
Structured communication familiarizes both employees and managers with receiving and providing tough feedback. After a few stretch assignments, employees will learn to be their own best advocates and managers will learn how to truly coach their employees. Instead of asking, \”How did that go?\” employees will learn to ask, \”How could that have gone better?\” And instead of a nonchalant \”Good job!\” managers will be able to provide both congratulations and criticism.

Prioritize Growth

Last but not least, it\’s not enough to simply encourage employees and managers to communicate or discuss feedback. It needs to be a formal part of your culture, embodied by your values. Because as I\’ve learned during my career, there are two truths about culture: 1) Culture can be made and 2) Whether you consciously make it or not, culture will happen.
If you aren\’t mindful and strategic about integrating failure into your company culture—through formal communication, trainings and leadership by example—you won\’t realize the eventual success that comes from risk-taking. It is critical to prioritize manager feedback, employee reviews, and general stretch assignments. As a CLO or CHRO, you can beat the drum of \”failure is a good thing\” all you want—but unless you formalize this belief, and immerse your workforce from the start in a company that encourages feedback and growth, you won\’t see a true cultural shift.
An excuse I hear all too often is, \”I want to give feedback—it\’s just that I\’m too busy.\” The hard truth is that at the end of the day, your employees are the only thing you should always have time for. If you\’re too busy for them, then you\’re failing to invest in the future of your personal career, team and company. Like all good things, this is easier said than done—but as I\’ve learned throughout my career, your biggest failures will take you farther than any small success.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

CAN YOU GET AWAY WITHOUT AN HR DEPARTMENT?

Human resources professionals manage your company\’s most important asset: your people. From regulations and compliance issues to hiring, developing and engaging employees, HR pros are the key to staying competitive in today\’s talent market.
But while the value of talent management is great, investing in a sole HR employee—let alone an entire department—can seem out of reach for many small businesses. The consequence? Some studies suggest that a lack of HR directly impacts business success—research from the Stanford Project on Emerging Companies during the first dot-com boom found that companies who invested in HR expertise first were the fastest to go public and the least likely to fail. But this doesn\’t necessarily mean you need HR on day one.
We talked to a handful of talent management professionals and small business owners to get their take on where HR should land on the totem pole of priorities for your small business.

Consistency, Compliance and Culture

\”They shouldn\’t wait,\” says Arlene Vernon, President of HRx, Inc., an HR consulting firm. \”Some businesses see it as an expense, rather than seeing the financial and operating benefits a skilled HR person can bring,\” Vernon says.
There are many laws, regulations and compliance issues HR handles. For example, once you reach 50 employees your company must offer the Family and Medical Leave Act, says Vernon. If you have 50 full-time equivalents, compliance with Affordable Care Act is required. Then there is the issue of employee conflict, performance reviews, salary negotiations, recruiting, interviewing, orientation, on-boarding and more. The list of duties HR handles is long.
\”Statistics regarding HR staff to employee fluctuate by industry, but the standard is approximately one person in HR for every 100 employees,\” Vernon says. \”However, when companies reach 50-75 employees, it\’s typical that the first HR person is added.\” While a company can outsource parts of HR to make operations easier (such as benefits and retirement administration) and hire consultants for handbooks, compensation analysis and recruiting, at a certain point companies need a central person to ensure consistency, compliance and support your organization\’s culture.
\”If you\’re at the questioning point of whether to add HR or stay [with the] status quo, most likely you already have the need,\” Vernon says.

Focus on the Long Term

If you do \”get away\” without an HR department, what exactly are you getting away with? That\’s the question HR Business Partner at Sandia National Laboratories and consultant Max Dubroff, SHRM-SCP, posed. If your answer relates to saving money, he says, you\’re thinking too short term.
He offered one of his clients as an example. The leadership thought it was doing fine after more than 12 years of success and growth to more than 350 people, but a new operations leader saw a missed opportunity and brought in the company\’s first HR professional. She lowered turnover from more than 200 percent annually to 92 percent and cut avoidable costs in unemployment and workers compensation by more than 70 percent over nine years. This enabled the company to grow in many ways, including tripling the size of the company and adding new lines of business.

People Are Your Most Important Asset

If you believe people are your most important asset, you better have someone in charge of your human capital, says Kim Shepherd, CEO of Decision Toolbox, an outsourced recruitment solutions provider. She sees HR as necessary for companies with 500 to 3,000 employees.
\”If your firm is poised for rapid growth, it\’s a good idea to welcome HR to the senior table,\” says Shepherd, who has more than 20 years of experience and is a recognized global thought leader in the industry. \”There has been plenty of proof that an \’A player\’ has a strong ROI. Whether you outsource or insource, spend some money on this function.\”
For companies below 500 employees, Shepherd suggests outsourcing the HR function, noting that there are plenty of seasoned professionals for hire on a part-time basis. HR plays a role on two sides of the fence—compliance and the talent lifecycle. But companies can look internally to help with the more culture and development-focused HR functions if they don\’t have staff in place.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

WHAT I\’VE LEARNED ABOUT EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT TRAINING

Success in the new world of work is less defined by checking boxes, and more defined by thinking outside of them.
This shift has inevitably impacted the way we see management: In the industrial economy, management was defined quite literally—managers oversaw employees clocking in and out, completing tasks and adhering to safety regulations. In the knowledge economy, however, the role of management is more nuanced. Managers are not only responsible for overseeing work, but also crafting team culture, teaching hard and soft skills, and helping individual employees flourish.
The bottom line: Modern management is a hard job, and as Steve Dolan, a consultant at 2020 Talent Management, writes, even the most talented employees struggle with it. The solution? If you want great managers (and, subsequently, more engaged employees), you need to invest in teaching great management skills. I recently kicked off a five-month, intensive global management training at Cornerstone, and wanted to share my takeaways thus far on designing a program for real impact.

1) Create Room for Different Perspectives

Management is a multifaceted role. By selecting participants with diverse experiences—whether it\’s across levels, departments, offices, countries or all of the above—you\’ll be able to better prepare people for the multiple personalities and situations they\’ll encounter as managers.
At Cornerstone, our training program includes people from the UK, France, Germany, Australia, Singapore, India and more, and the participants include both new and veteran managers. The rich tapestry of experience and perspective they bring to the table is invaluable; in addition to providing a global understanding, the diverse group gives people an opportunity to collaborate with people they wouldn\’t traditionally encounter.
But as we learned in the first few months, you can\’t just bring a group of people together—literally or virtually—and expect magic. You can create a community, but that doesn\’t mean you\’ve created community. Make sure participants have plenty of opportunities to interact with each other—as a whole and in small groups—and, as a moderator, offer up your own vulnerabilities and problems as a manager in order to make the program a safe space for discussion.

2) Consider Scalability

For a long time, we had two main management trainings at Cornerstone: one for brand new managers and one for experienced managers. Both were two-day, in-person trainings, and went well: They were relatively simple to execute and participants enjoyed them. The problem? The programs were far from scalable.
In our latest program, scalability was a huge influence. The pilot program has two \”cohorts\” of 14 people each, but as a company of 1,600 employees, we asked ourselves, \”How can we eventually expand this to anyone who wants to take it?\” The answer was designing the program to be almost entirely online. The new program consists of e-learning courses, TED Talks, an interactive online community, reading assignments and a 45-minute virtual seminar once a month. The only in-person contact is a one-on-one with me three times over the course of the program (which can still be done virtually for international managers).
Additionally, an online program provides more flexibility—we are able to adjust the program prior for each cohort to ensure it\’s relevant.

3) Think Long-Term

Training is often thought of as something to check off the on-boarding list, but in the case of management training, it needs to be ongoing to have the most impact. In part, that\’s why we decided to take the long-term approach to our program, designing it like a college course. Every month, we have a theme: 1) back to the basics, 2) time management, 3) situational leadership and feedback, 4) communication and 5) engagement and motivation.
The benefit of a long-term program is that it offers training in practice: Participants can apply the lessons in real-time. For example, one participant had two talented people on their team applying for one job opportunity. The manager shared that she used the skills from our training to communicate to the employee why they didn\’t get the job in a way that made them feel empowered and inspired to keep improving. The length of the program also provides more opportunity for participants to be “player-coaches.\” Every month, we select a small group of participants to be discussion leaders, bringing their experience, research and thoughts to the group.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that even managers needs management, and mentors need mentorship: Every employee has a myriad of goals, tasks and behaviors—no matter their seniority. Investing in a thoughtful, integrative management training program will bring out the best in your mid- and upper-level employees, which in turn will bring out the best in your company.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

WHAT I\’VE LEARNED ABOUT EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT TRAINING

Success in the new world of work is less defined by checking boxes, and more defined by thinking outside of them.
This shift has inevitably impacted the way we see management: In the industrial economy, management was defined quite literally—managers oversaw employees clocking in and out, completing tasks and adhering to safety regulations. In the knowledge economy, however, the role of management is more nuanced. Managers are not only responsible for overseeing work, but also crafting team culture, teaching hard and soft skills, and helping individual employees flourish.
The bottom line: Modern management is a hard job, and as Steve Dolan, a consultant at 2020 Talent Management, writes, even the most talented employees struggle with it. The solution? If you want great managers (and, subsequently, more engaged employees), you need to invest in teaching great management skills. I recently kicked off a five-month, intensive global management training at Cornerstone, and wanted to share my takeaways thus far on designing a program for real impact.

1) Create Room for Different Perspectives

Management is a multifaceted role. By selecting participants with diverse experiences—whether it\’s across levels, departments, offices, countries or all of the above—you\’ll be able to better prepare people for the multiple personalities and situations they\’ll encounter as managers.
At Cornerstone, our training program includes people from the UK, France, Germany, Australia, Singapore, India and more, and the participants include both new and veteran managers. The rich tapestry of experience and perspective they bring to the table is invaluable; in addition to providing a global understanding, the diverse group gives people an opportunity to collaborate with people they wouldn\’t traditionally encounter.
But as we learned in the first few months, you can\’t just bring a group of people together—literally or virtually—and expect magic. You can create a community, but that doesn\’t mean you\’ve created community. Make sure participants have plenty of opportunities to interact with each other—as a whole and in small groups—and, as a moderator, offer up your own vulnerabilities and problems as a manager in order to make the program a safe space for discussion.

2) Consider Scalability

For a long time, we had two main management trainings at Cornerstone: one for brand new managers and one for experienced managers. Both were two-day, in-person trainings, and went well: They were relatively simple to execute and participants enjoyed them. The problem? The programs were far from scalable.
In our latest program, scalability was a huge influence. The pilot program has two \”cohorts\” of 14 people each, but as a company of 1,600 employees, we asked ourselves, \”How can we eventually expand this to anyone who wants to take it?\” The answer was designing the program to be almost entirely online. The new program consists of e-learning courses, TED Talks, an interactive online community, reading assignments and a 45-minute virtual seminar once a month. The only in-person contact is a one-on-one with me three times over the course of the program (which can still be done virtually for international managers).
Additionally, an online program provides more flexibility—we are able to adjust the program prior for each cohort to ensure it\’s relevant.

3) Think Long-Term

Training is often thought of as something to check off the on-boarding list, but in the case of management training, it needs to be ongoing to have the most impact. In part, that\’s why we decided to take the long-term approach to our program, designing it like a college course. Every month, we have a theme: 1) back to the basics, 2) time management, 3) situational leadership and feedback, 4) communication and 5) engagement and motivation.
The benefit of a long-term program is that it offers training in practice: Participants can apply the lessons in real-time. For example, one participant had two talented people on their team applying for one job opportunity. The manager shared that she used the skills from our training to communicate to the employee why they didn\’t get the job in a way that made them feel empowered and inspired to keep improving. The length of the program also provides more opportunity for participants to be “player-coaches.\” Every month, we select a small group of participants to be discussion leaders, bringing their experience, research and thoughts to the group.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that even managers needs management, and mentors need mentorship: Every employee has a myriad of goals, tasks and behaviors—no matter their seniority. Investing in a thoughtful, integrative management training program will bring out the best in your mid- and upper-level employees, which in turn will bring out the best in your company.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

WHAT I\’VE LEARNED ABOUT EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT TRAINING

Success in the new world of work is less defined by checking boxes, and more defined by thinking outside of them.
This shift has inevitably impacted the way we see management: In the industrial economy, management was defined quite literally—managers oversaw employees clocking in and out, completing tasks and adhering to safety regulations. In the knowledge economy, however, the role of management is more nuanced. Managers are not only responsible for overseeing work, but also crafting team culture, teaching hard and soft skills, and helping individual employees flourish.
The bottom line: Modern management is a hard job, and as Steve Dolan, a consultant at 2020 Talent Management, writes, even the most talented employees struggle with it. The solution? If you want great managers (and, subsequently, more engaged employees), you need to invest in teaching great management skills. I recently kicked off a five-month, intensive global management training at Cornerstone, and wanted to share my takeaways thus far on designing a program for real impact.

1) Create Room for Different Perspectives

Management is a multifaceted role. By selecting participants with diverse experiences—whether it\’s across levels, departments, offices, countries or all of the above—you\’ll be able to better prepare people for the multiple personalities and situations they\’ll encounter as managers.
At Cornerstone, our training program includes people from the UK, France, Germany, Australia, Singapore, India and more, and the participants include both new and veteran managers. The rich tapestry of experience and perspective they bring to the table is invaluable; in addition to providing a global understanding, the diverse group gives people an opportunity to collaborate with people they wouldn\’t traditionally encounter.
But as we learned in the first few months, you can\’t just bring a group of people together—literally or virtually—and expect magic. You can create a community, but that doesn\’t mean you\’ve created community. Make sure participants have plenty of opportunities to interact with each other—as a whole and in small groups—and, as a moderator, offer up your own vulnerabilities and problems as a manager in order to make the program a safe space for discussion.

2) Consider Scalability

For a long time, we had two main management trainings at Cornerstone: one for brand new managers and one for experienced managers. Both were two-day, in-person trainings, and went well: They were relatively simple to execute and participants enjoyed them. The problem? The programs were far from scalable.
In our latest program, scalability was a huge influence. The pilot program has two \”cohorts\” of 14 people each, but as a company of 1,600 employees, we asked ourselves, \”How can we eventually expand this to anyone who wants to take it?\” The answer was designing the program to be almost entirely online. The new program consists of e-learning courses, TED Talks, an interactive online community, reading assignments and a 45-minute virtual seminar once a month. The only in-person contact is a one-on-one with me three times over the course of the program (which can still be done virtually for international managers).
Additionally, an online program provides more flexibility—we are able to adjust the program prior for each cohort to ensure it\’s relevant.

3) Think Long-Term

Training is often thought of as something to check off the on-boarding list, but in the case of management training, it needs to be ongoing to have the most impact. In part, that\’s why we decided to take the long-term approach to our program, designing it like a college course. Every month, we have a theme: 1) back to the basics, 2) time management, 3) situational leadership and feedback, 4) communication and 5) engagement and motivation.
The benefit of a long-term program is that it offers training in practice: Participants can apply the lessons in real-time. For example, one participant had two talented people on their team applying for one job opportunity. The manager shared that she used the skills from our training to communicate to the employee why they didn\’t get the job in a way that made them feel empowered and inspired to keep improving. The length of the program also provides more opportunity for participants to be “player-coaches.\” Every month, we select a small group of participants to be discussion leaders, bringing their experience, research and thoughts to the group.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that even managers needs management, and mentors need mentorship: Every employee has a myriad of goals, tasks and behaviors—no matter their seniority. Investing in a thoughtful, integrative management training program will bring out the best in your mid- and upper-level employees, which in turn will bring out the best in your company.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

WHY SMALL BUSINESSES ARE OUTSOURCING HR

For eight years, Mickey Swortzel, founder of vehicle control systems start-up New Eagle, watched her employees\’ health-plan costs steadily increase. Then, in 2016, she made the decision to outsource her one-person HR department to ADP, one of the largest companies in the quickly growing market of Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs).
This is not an uncommon story among businesses today. In the last few years, the outsourced HR industry has taken off, bringing in an estimated $165 billion annually and nearly 85 percent of all firms—not just small businesses—now turn to an outside organization for at least some of their HR functions.
What\’s the motivation behind this growing trend?

More Affordable Benefits

For Mickey, like many others, the primary reason behind making the switch to a PEO was to lower healthcare plan costs and the ability to offer employees benefits that were previously unaffordable. \”My number-one reason for outsourcing was to reduce the cost of our health plans, and joining with a PEO allowed better group rates,\” Swortzel says. And the switch paid off: The prices of family plans were cut in half at her company and her employees now save an average of $5,000 annually.
\”Outsourcing gave us benefits that I couldn\’t afford—or even obtain at any cost—on my own,\” she says. By giving her small businesses the opportunity to access ADP\’s Fortune 500-level benefits, she also made the company more competitive when trying to recruit top talent amid a field of much larger competitors.

Sharing Legal Liability for Compliance

The increasingly complex regulatory environment that small businesses have to navigate makes it nearly impossible for a small HR team to stay up to date with compliance issues like the Affordable Care Act, worker\’s compensation, workplace discrimination and much more. HR outsourcing firms often shoulder some or all of the legal liability for maintaining that compliance.
\”There are things companies have to do because it\’s the law,\” says Deanna Arnold, president of Employers Advantage HR Company in North Carolina. \”And small business owners have so many things they need to focus on that when issues come up, they can find themselves unintentionally in trouble. By establishing compliance we protect these companies.\”
\”Between the complexities of payroll, hiring, administration and organizing huge companies, it\’s often better to shift some of the responsibilities to others who are more focused and more qualified,\” explains Pierre Tremblay, HR director for Dupray, a Montreal-based company that sells steam cleaners and irons internationally.

Changing Perceptions and Evolving Services

Of course, outsourcing isn\’t right for all companies. Arnold recommends that once companies have 50 or more employees, they should start bringing some HR functions in-house. The downsides of HR outsourcing are most evident in areas like employee engagement or recruiting, where in-house HR people are in a better position to develop the culture, and reflect the values, of the company.
For Swortzel, the decision to outsource one of her core business functions was a tough one to make. \”I\’m in peer groups of other executives, and they were shocked that I was thinking of using a PEO,\” she says. \”It scared me too. I thought they would tell me how to run my business, who I could hire and fire.\”
Arnold says this is a common misconception about modern HR outsourcing. While outsourcing won\’t necessarily provide the same amount of culture or engagement support as in-house HR, most firms try to embed themselves with the clients as much as possible: \”We actually partner with the employer and employees to create work environments where they thrive.\”
Continuing to foster the human side of HR is vital to the success of both the business and HR as a whole. An important part of the service Arnold\’s company provides is offering her clients\’ employees a friendly face to speak with when they have questions or concerns. \”I have a team of five HR business partners who actually work on-site in some clients\’ offices for a set number of days or hours per week,\” she explains. \”We fully integrate into that organization, and even when we\’re not there, we\’re always reachable if they get injured or have an issue.\”
Swortzel says her experience was the opposite of what she had feared. \”It has been a true partnership. They\’re not interested in running my business, they want us to be successful,\” she says.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1