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Formalizing your business’s BYOD policy
When the pandemic hit about two and a half years ago, thousands of employees suddenly found themselves working from home. In many cases, this meant turning to personal devices to access their work email, handle documents and perform other tasks. Even before COVID, more and more businesses were allowing employees to use their own phones,…
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Evaluating an ESOP from a succession planning perspective
If you’ve been in business for a while, you’ve probably considered many different employee benefits. One option that might have crossed your desk is an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). Strictly defined, an ESOP is considered a retirement plan for employees. But it can also play a role in succession planning by facilitating the transfer of…
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Checking in on your accounts payable processes
Accounts payable is a critical area of concern for every business. However, as a back-office function, it doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. Once in place, accounts payable processes tend to get taken for granted. Following are some tips and best practices for improving your company’s approach. Be strategic Too often, businesses take a…
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6 steps to easing employees’ fears about innovation
Business owners often find the greatest obstacle to innovation isn’t the change itself, but employees’ resistance to it. Their hesitation or outright defiance is frequently driven by fear. Some workers might worry about how the innovation will alter their jobs — or whether it will even eliminate their positions. Others could reject the concept and…
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Weathering the storm of rising inflation
Like a slowly gathering storm, inflation has gone from dark clouds on the horizon to a noticeable downpour on both the U.S. and global economies. Is it time for business owners to panic? Not at all. As of this writing, a full-blown recession is possible but not an absolute certainty. And the impact of inflation…
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How to keep remote sales on point
The pandemic has dramatically affected the way people interact and do business. Your company likely undertook various changes to adapt to the initial lockdowns and the ongoing public health guidance over the past two years. An interesting byproduct of the crisis is that it created a somewhat involuntary experiment in remote work. Many businesses that…
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6 steps to easing employees’ fears about innovation
Business owners often find the greatest obstacle to innovation isn’t the change itself, but employees’ resistance to it. Their hesitation or outright defiance is frequently driven by fear. Some workers might worry about how the innovation will alter their jobs — or whether it will even eliminate their positions. Others could reject the concept and…
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When hiring, don’t overlook older workers
Is your business hiring? Many companies are — in fact, an employment report released by the U.S. Department of Labor earlier this month revealed that nonfarm payrolls increased by 390,000 in May, and the unemployment rate held steady at 3.6%. As the job market continues to feel the impact of “the Great Resignation,” the competition…
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Is your cloud provider still meeting your company’s needs?
Like many businesses, yours has probably jumped aboard the cloud computing bandwagon … or “skywagon” as the case may be. How’s that going? Some business owners pay little to no attention to a cloud provider once the service is in place. Others realize, perhaps years later, that they’re not particularly satisfied with the costs, features…
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IRS extends relief for physical presence signature requirement
Under IRS regulations regarding electronic consents and elections, if a signature must be witnessed by a retirement plan representative or notary public, it must be witnessed “in the physical presence” of the representative or notary — unless guidance has provided an alternative procedure. Recently, in Notice 2022-27, the IRS extended, through the end of 2022,…
