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Managing Remote and Hybrid Workers

January 5, 2023 by Admin

Hybrid work, remotely work from home virtually or work in office onsite, flexible for employee benefit concept, businessman and his colleague virtually get into the computer laptop conference meeting.Whether or not the number of people working from office buildings returns to pre-COVID levels, one thing appears certain: Remote and hybrid work models are here to stay. Business owners and other managers who rely on individuals who are working remotely full- or part-time are refining and elevating their management skills so that they get the best out of their employees.

While managing remote and hybrid workers bears many similarities to managing fixed-base teams, it also has some unique aspects. Here are several best practices you may want to consider and apply to your own situation, no matter your level of experience in prior management of remote workers.

Make Your Expectations Clear and Simple

Clarify the hours when employees should be available and accessible. Give employees performance goals and metrics that define success in meeting those goals. Lay out clear guidelines when it comes to after-hours work-related emails and text messages. You want employees to maintain a healthy work-life balance, one that prevents burnout, and ultimately, keeps them working at peak capacity for your business.

Communicate Regularly

Employees want to know how they are performing and whether they are on track to meet the goals you set for them. Check in regularly with them and communicate your satisfaction or your concerns about how they are doing. Regular check-ins are important; just be aware that you can overdo it, since too much oversight may be resented by employees who feel they are not trusted. It’s important to keep them in the loop about any changes in company policy when it comes to wages, benefits, job openings, promotion opportunities, and other changes that may impact them.

Depending on the demographic makeup of your remote employees, you may have to refine your communication style. Talk with your employees and solicit their opinions on what works best for them — texts, Zoom calls, or other forms of instant messaging.

Listen Attentively

Closely related to good communication skills is the ability to listen carefully and attentively to what your employees are saying. You want to give them the opportunity to express what they think about their workloads and talk about any stresses or frustrations they may be feeling. When you listen carefully to what your employees are saying, you are communicating trust and respect.

Build a Sense of Community

Some workers thrive in environments where they can interact and engage with fellow workers face-to-face. That engagement is less important to other workers. One of your goals managing a remote workforce should be to build connections to workers who feel isolated and out of the loop. Employees who feel this way typically do not perform at their highest level. By staying in touch and by organizing the occasional virtual — or in-person — get together in which you build connections and a shared sense of purpose with employees, you can create a sense of community that can have a positive impact on employees and their level of engagement.

Embrace Flexibility

A rigid approach to managing your remote employees may be limiting and not as effective as a more flexible approach. For example, once you determine that the work is being completed on time and is of a high quality, you may want to give employees some leeway as to the specific times they are working.

The work world has changed in numerous ways over the past couple of years. Your management approach has to stay ahead of these changes, especially when it comes to remote work, if your business is to continue to grow and thrive.

Filed Under: Best Business Practices

Can Your Company Survive a Disaster?

December 21, 2022 by Admin

Incident management, root cause analysis or solving problem, identify risk or critical failure concept, businessman with magnifier monitor and investigate incident with exclamation attention sign.Fire, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes. When they happen, they can destroy buildings, equipment, and hard-to-replace data, and even injure or kill employees. It can take a business weeks, sometimes months, to resume operations after a disaster. Some businesses never recover. You can’t pin down the time or day when a disaster may strike your business. However, you can certainly prepare for one. Preparing for a disaster can minimize the potential damage and may protect you and your employees from harm.

Knowing what to do if a disaster strikes your business is half the battle. Savvy business owners draw up a disaster plan and update it regularly. They consult with experts and draw on lessons learned from the past. Moreover, they designate alternate business sites, emphasize data preservation, and ensure that the business’ insurance coverage is sufficient.

Drawing Up a Disaster Plan

If your business does not already have a disaster plan, now may be a very good time to develop one. Consider forming a disaster planning committee and assign it the task of crafting and implementing a disaster plan for your business. Give committee members the opportunity to attend seminars, meet with experts, and take training courses related to disaster planning.

If your disaster plan is to have any value at all, it must, at a minimum, outline in detail all of the steps managers and employees need to take if disaster hits your business. An effective and workable disaster plan should cover personnel safety and management succession.

Personnel Safety and Management Succession

An effective disaster plan should clearly identify safety areas for employees as well as an evacuation route. Specific individuals should be responsible for confirming that all employees have reached the safety area. The plan should outline a chain of command, indicating the responsibilities and duties assigned to each manager or employee during a disaster.

A list of emergency phone numbers — hospitals, doctors’ offices, and the company’s lawyers and accountants — is an important part of the plan. Be sure to include the home phone numbers of employees and the names of family members who can be contacted in an emergency.

Ensuring management continuity after a disaster should also be a top priority. That requires establishing procedures that detail the responsibilities and duties of each member of the management team in the days and weeks after a disaster. The procedures should clearly define a line of succession and give instructions on how to communicate any changes or information to employees, customers, vendors, and professional advisors. Creating and implementing these procedures helps keep your business operational during a difficult time.

Alternate Business Sites

Getting your business up and running after a disaster is much easier if you have an off-site facility for storing backed-up data vital to your operations. You’ll need to be able to access customer and vendor lists, accounts receivable records, and other critical records if you are to resume operations quickly. Make sure you identify and classify corporate data according to its importance and begin to back it up as soon as possible.

It may be worthwhile to look into alternate business sites, essentially office complexes with computers, work areas, and phones. When disaster strikes, you would move your personnel to the alternate site.

Insurance Coverage

Review your business insurance policies to identify any potential shortcomings in your coverage. Business interruption insurance, which compensates a business for the loss of all or a portion of operating income when normal operations are disrupted by disaster, is a key element in business insurance planning. Take the time to periodically reexamine your business’ umbrella liability, fire, vehicle, and property insurance. Keep several copies of all your policies at different locations.

Don’t Let Your Plan Gather Dust

Make sure key employees receive a copy of the disaster plan. Keep it updated. Practice emergency drills. A proactive approach can potentially minimize the impact of a disaster.

Filed Under: Best Business Practices

What’s Your Business’s Fallback Plan?

November 2, 2022 by Admin

Plan B, alternative solution or business strategy plan to have secondary for emergency case, fallback option or business choice, confidence businessman leader present Plan B while standing on old A.

Like many small business owners, you may plan on working until you are ready to retire. And, once you reach that point, you may expect to sell your business and live off the proceeds. Or, you may have partners or children who can keep the business operating once you are ready to step away.

However, smart business owners plan for all eventualities. They plan for success but they have a fallback plan in case their efforts don’t bear fruit. As a business owner whose business is probably by far your biggest asset, it makes sense to think about those things that could go wrong and take steps to protect yourself now.

What steps should you consider taking that can protect your future financial security? Consider these contingency strategies:

Put a Retirement Plan in Place

The only constant in business is change. And many changes can harm a business’s financial viability. What would happen to your retirement dreams if your business experienced a serious setback? New technologies come along and make some businesses obsolete. New competitors erase older, established firms and economic downturns impact consumer and business spending. Natural disasters can seriously damage a business’s operations and cause widespread financial loss.

Funding a retirement plan during your working years can help protect your future financial well-being. Additionally, a retirement plan can provide important tax benefits. For example, your contributions to your retirement plan are typically tax deductible while earnings on investments in your retirement plan account grow tax deferred until you begin taking distributions.

As a small business owner, you can choose from a variety of tax-advantaged retirement plans. Each option has distinct advantages and disadvantages when it comes to costs and the burden involved in plan administration. The input from your financial professional can be helpful when reviewing the appropriateness of a particular retirement plan with regard to your business’s specific situation.

Establish a Buy-Sell Agreement

If you have one or more partners or co-owners, it makes sense to have a buy-sell agreement. A buy-sell agreement helps ensure that you (or your beneficiaries) will receive fair compensation for your ownership interest. The agreement also facilitates the orderly transfer of ownership and management. A buy-sell agreement can be drafted among shareholders of an S corporation, partners of a partnership or an LLC, or even between an owner and a key employee.

When carefully crafted, a buy-sell agreement can:

  • Help provide a smooth transition of control, management, and ownership to those who wish to continue running the business
  • Spell out the financial aspects of the transition
  • Establish a fair and reasonable price
  • Help ensure the financial security of your family and other beneficiaries in the event of your unexpected death
  • Create a built-in buyer for your interest in the business
  • Establish, under certain circumstances, an estate tax value for the stock.

There are two basic types of buy-sell agreements: cross purchase and entity purchase (stock redemption). With a cross purchase agreement, the remaining owners agree to buy the departing owner’s interest in the business individually. With an entity purchase agreement, the business itself agrees to buy the selling partner’s ownership interest.

Life insurance is a common way of funding a buy-sell agreement. The proceeds of the policy are used to buy out the departing owner’s interest in the business.

Develop a Disaster Plan

No matter where your business is located, it is a wise precaution to assume that a natural disaster will impact it at some point. Adequate preparation can minimize damage to your systems, your equipment, and your physical plant, and may even protect you and your employees from harm. A key component in preparing for a natural disaster is a disaster plan.

Your disaster plan should include sections on personnel safety, management succession, and data preservation. It should outline the steps employees and managers must take in the event of a disaster.

Filed Under: Best Business Practices

Retirement Savings Tips for Millennials

October 14, 2022 by Admin

Portrait of african american woman with crossed arms wearing apron standing in botanical store. Smiling young woman in botany store standing between plants looking at camera. Happy small business owner working at flower shop standing surrounded by plants.If you’re a millennial, retirement may barely register in your consciousness. Between paying down student loans, trying to take that first step on the housing ladder, or other financial priorities, you may have little time to think much about your life 35 years from now.

However, you shouldn’t wait until later to start planning for retirement. Retirement success can depend greatly on getting an early start on saving for your future. Here are some basic tips that can help put you on the path to retirement security.

Live Within Your Means

Tip number one is to spend less than you make. That way, you will have some money left over from your paychecks for other purposes, such as saving and investing.

Be a Disciplined Saver

Save as much as you can as early as possible. Give yourself a savings target and stick to it. Decide, for example, to save 3% of your income for retirement and increase that percentage every year. It won’t be long before you are contributing the maximum allowed for an employer-provided retirement plan. Set aside some or all of any tax refunds, bonuses, and pay raises for an emergency fund and your retirement savings account.

Understand the Time Value of Money

Compounding is the magic ingredient when it comes to building your retirement nest egg. It is simply the process of earning money on your savings and then earning money on your earnings as well as your savings. The longer your money is invested, the greater the potential benefit from compounding.

Learn About Investments and Investing

Knowledge is power when it comes to investing. If you feel you lack the patience to study investing, see if your employer’s plan has a target date retirement fund you can consider.

Focus on Your Goal

Remember, saving and investing for retirement is a long-term goal. Have a plan and stick with it. Stay focused on your long-term goal of retirement security and don’t let short-term market changes knock you off course.

Filed Under: Retirement

The Money Market: The Basics You Need to Know

September 8, 2022 by Admin

Young finance market analyst in eyeglasses working at sunny office on laptop while sitting at wooden table.Businessman analyze document in his hands.Graphs and diagramm on notebook screen.BlurredInvestors should consider the advantages and potential risks before investing in money market mutual funds.

If you’re looking for a place to park money temporarily or if you’re simply trying to maintain a cash cushion, a money market mutual fund may be an investment to consider.1

Money market mutual funds typically invest in high-quality, short-term securities, such as U.S. Treasury securities, certificates of deposit, federal agency notes, and commercial paper. Tax-exempt money market funds invest in municipal securities issued by state and local governments. They generally pay dividends that are exempt from federal and/or state income taxes.

The ease with which you can buy and sell shares may make money market mutual funds an appropriate place for assets you’ll need in the short term. Funds frequently offer limited checkwriting privileges, making withdrawals simple.

Breaking the buck. Money market mutual funds are structured to maintain a stable net asset value (NAV) of $1 per share. A fund “breaks the buck” when its NAV falls below this amount. Breaking the buck is rare. But since money market mutual funds are not FDIC insured, investors will lose some of their original investment when this happens.

Understand the risks. Low risk doesn’t mean no risk. Potential risks for investors include interest-rate shifts, unanticipated redemptions, major credit downgrades for firms represented in the fund, and loss of purchasing power should returns fail to keep pace with inflation. Before you invest, review the fund’s holdings. Keep in mind that the fund offering the highest return generally presents the most risk.

A different investment. A money market account (MMA) is not the same as a money market mutual fund. MMAs are deposit accounts that pay interest at a rate that’s typically higher than the rate earned in a savings account. Money market accounts generally are FDIC insured, may require a minimum balance, and often limit transactions.

Ask your financial professional if money market mutual funds are a good option for your portfolio.

Source/Disclaimer:
1An investment in the fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Although the fund seeks to preserve the value of your investment at $1.00 per share, it is possible to lose money by investing in the fund. You should consider the fund’s investment objectives, charges, expenses, and risks carefully before you invest. The fund’s prospectus, which can be obtained from your financial representative, contains this and other information about the fund. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money. Shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

Filed Under: Investment

Business Owners: Keep That Shield Intact

July 13, 2022 by Admin

LLC (Limited Liability Company) - acronym on wooden cubes on the background of a cactus and banknotes. Business conceptYou face plenty of challenges as a small business owner. Finding ways to protect yourself against lawsuits is a major one. You may be able to add protection by structuring your business as a corporation or limited liability company (LLC). Both these entities may shield the owners’ or members’ personal assets from the company’s debts and liabilities.

The protection isn’t bulletproof, however. Requirements must be met, and the separation between the owners or LLC members and the business must be clearly established. Evidence to the contrary could spell trouble.

The Corporate Veil

In the face of a legal challenge, if you’re not following proper protocol, a court may decide your business isn’t being operated as a separate entity from the owner(s) — despite the existence of a corporation or LLC. That could lead to a legal decision to “pierce the corporate veil,” a term that means the owners’/members’ personal assets can be used to satisfy business debts and liabilities.

Follow Formalities

Corporations must meet strict state requirements regarding bylaws, director and shareholder meetings, issuing stock and recording transfers, fulfilling annual state filing requirements, and paying corporate taxes. There are fewer requirements for LLCs, but members would be wise to follow the guidelines for corporations.

Document Diligently

The best way to show that your business is operating properly is to document everything. Keep minutes of all major management meetings and record all business activities and decisions. Keep these records with your other formal business documents (including contracts your company is party to) for a minimum of seven years.

Capitalize but Don’t Commingle

It takes money to run a business. There are several ways to capitalize your business: You and the other owners or members might fund it, you might take out a loan, or you might find new partners who are willing to fund you. Regardless of what method you choose, be sure to document all important financial transactions.

Never commingle your personal assets with business assets. Establish separate bank accounts and credit cards for your business, keep property and equipment separate, and file separate income tax returns.

Filed Under: Best Business Practices

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