In 1998, Edelman PR had about 1,300 employees, voluntary turnover was roughly 40 percent and its 'sweat shop' reputation plagued them. Exit interviews indicated that the single biggest cause of turnover was lack of mentoring, coaching and training.
Employers who hire unemployed workers this year (after Feb. 3, 2010 and before Jan. 1, 2011) may qualify for a 6.2-percent payroll tax incentive, in effect exempting them from their share of Social Security taxes on wages paid to these workers after March 18, 2010. This reduced tax withholding will have no effect on the employee’s future Social Security benefits, and employers would still need to withhold the employee’s 6.2-percent share of Social Security taxes, as well as income taxes. The employer and employee’s shares of Medicare taxes would also still apply to these wages. Click here for information regarding "qualified employees".
By: Gordon J. Bernhardt, CPA, PFS, CFP®, AIF®
Along with the year long contentious debate over the recently signed Health Care Reform bill, there have also been many misconceptions and falsehoods spread that the Health Care bill is bad for small business. Truth be told, as with most legislation, there is both some good and some not so good. The good is that this bill will do much to counter the skyrocketing costs of health Insurance while cutting a projected 138 billion dollars from the federal deficit between 2010 and 2019 and an additional 1.2 trillion over the second decade which could, in turn, reduce taxes and interest rates. Additionally, Starting with 2010 taxes, small businesses with fewer than 25 employees that pay at least 50% of the health care premiums for their employees qualify for a tax credit up to 35% of your premiums (50% after 2014 if you purchase insurance through an exchange). How much of a credit you'll get depends on the number of employees you have and their average wage. NOTE, This tax deduction is not available to sole proprietors, so you may want a different corporate legal form. The not so good is that there are no caps on health insurance premiums. This may cause insurance companies to hike rates significantly before they have competition in 2014. If a company has more than 50 employees, They will have to provide coverage, or pay a fine beginning in 2014.
I found the article in the April 2010 issue of Harvard Business Review, "Best Practices Only Get You So Far", an interesting read. As HR consultants and practitioners we tend to reference best practices and benchmarking stats quite frequently. However C.K. Prahalad, the Paul and Ruth McCracken Disringuished University Professor of Strategy at University of Michigan's Ross Scholl of Business, believes companies become winners by spotting big opportunities and inventing 'next' practices.
Today my 17-year-old daughter returned from Senegal, Africa with her French class. I admire the tenacity of the 11 students and 2 teachers who visited the third world country to experience a culture unlike their own. Having participated in a teacher exchange program, the students at Oakton High School visited their former exchange teacher, Mr. Jobe, who returned to his native country in June of 2009. The group was in Senegal for a period of 10 days.
