Neil Diamond Winners

For our January newsletter, we gave away some awesome prizes, including tickets and CDs from internationally renowned recording artist Neil Diamond.


Check out our list of winners.

Neil Diamond CD winners

1. Susan Lawrence, Account Payable   AGRATRONIX, Streetsboro
2. Gabe Ortenzio, Dillen Middlefield
3. Patti Harrison, Human Resource Manager  Hynes Industries, Youngstown
4. Colleen Maurer,  HR   Paarlo, North Canton
5. Joyce Loychick, Office Manager   Pine Industries, Warren
   

Neil Diamond concert Tickets

AlisonRogers, Human Resources  BJ Alan Fireworks, Youngstown

Probably to nobody's surprise the favorite Diamond song as selected by our loyal poll takers was none other than Sweet Caroline! 

TIP OF THE MONTH YOU ALL USE IT.....FUN FACTS ABOUT THE STAFFING INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Have you ever wondered about the impact the staffing industry has on the working ways of the country. 

Ok, probably most of you haven't but it does play a significant role in how we as a nation staff our places of business. 

My bet here is that everyone that takes the time to read the following list of "did you know's" will find at least one of the facts either interesting, relevant or maybe even a useful piece of information. If you don't, I want to hear from you! Here goes: 

1. In 2010 the average daily employment of contingent labor was 2.58 million. It was 3.21 million in 2000. A total of 9.7 million individuals worked as a temporary during the same year versus 17.3 million in 2000. The average yearly employment since 2000 has been 13.1 million. In a normal year about half of these yearly workers are hired permanently. 

2. While the growth rate of contingent labor bottomed out in 2009 it has been slow to recover to pre recession levels due to less turnover in temp jobs. 

3. If you think you have problems with the turnover rate of temps consider this. Before the recession began the average turnover rate of temps was 328% nationally. In 2010 in had dropped to 277%. 

4. In 2010 one in thirteen of all the workers employed during the year worked as a temporary at some point. Contingent labor as a whole represents only 1.7% of the total workforce. So much for all those that say all the jobs in this country are filled by temps. 

5. At the beginning of the recession in 2008 one in five of all job losses involved a contingent worker. 

6. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics nearly 25 million people in the civilian workforce are now either unemployed or under employed. On top of this, over one million have stopped looking for work. While the population of the United States continues to increase the number of Americans age 16 and over working has declined from 63.4% of the pre recession workforce to 58.2% of the workforce. 

7. According to the Wall Street Journal our unemployment rate will not return to 5.1% (considered full employment) until 2024. 

8. From 2000 through 2010 the average tenure of a temporary assignment was 11.2 weeks. That figure was 12.1 weeks in 2009 and 13.8% in 2010. Clearly the reluctance to make permanent employment commitments is reflected in these numbers. 

9. Full time employment in the staffing industry also took a big hit during the recession. In 2008 the industry employed 310,400. This number declined to 222,700 by the end of 2009. Staffing industry sales also declined significantly dropping from $98.3 billion in 2007 to $72 billion in 2009 before recovering to $84.7 billion in 2010. 

A survey of 13,000 individuals that worked as a temporary reported the following: 

1. About 2/3 of those in the survey rated flexible work time as the most important reason for working as temporary. Nearly 25% have no interest in permanent employment. Six in ten said they took the temp job in hopes of gaining permanent employment. 

2. Of the group 90% said they were satisfied with the staffing firm that employed them. Nearly 91% were happy with the client at which they were assigned and 88% would refer friends. 

3. Eight in ten temps report that the workweek involved full time hours which is defined as 35 or more hours per week. 

From the perspective of the client the following was reported: 

1. The reasons for using contingent labor broke down this way. Fill in for absent workers-80% 

Extra support during busy seasons-72% 

Staff short term special projects-68% 

Source for hiring full time workers-59% 

2. The occupational categories using contingent labor as a percentage of their total employment showed the following. Office and clerical-67% 

Industrial-58% 

Accounting/Finance-28% 

Information Technology-17% 

Health Care-15% 

3. Larger companies are more likely to use contingent labor than smaller companies. For example, 12% of those companies with total employment between 25-99 used temps and 24% of those with 100 or more used. 

4. A McKinsey Global survey of 2000 employers reported that 34% of the survey participants plan to increase their levels of contingent employment. 

5. A breakdown of the least expensive type of contingent labor as reported by a survey of buyers showed the following: Agency temp-56% 

Outsourced workers-19% 

Internal temp pool-18% 

Independent contractor-7% 

6. A similar breakdown on the highest quality source of contingent labor reported: 

Agency temp-32% 

Outsourced worker-32% 

Independent contractor-20% 

Internal temp pool-17% 

7. Buyers reported their future plans for usage of contingent labor for the 2012-2013 period in the following manner: Use fewer-13% 

Use about the same-35% 

Use more-52% 

That's all I got...more than enough for most I'm certain. Now, if anyone made it to the bottom here without finding at least one point of interest or knowledge e-mail me at tryan@ryanstaffing.com and I'll make it right somehow for having wasted your time...really! 

Tim's Talking About I-9 forms, Facebook and the NLRB and a the latest temp staffing numbers

I-9'S AND COMPLIANCE....TIME TO TAKE A LOOK? 

According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary John Morton, "We are increasing criminal and civil enforcement....and imposing smart, tough employer sanctions". 

A record number of administrative audits (the tool of choice) were performed in 2011..a 375% increase from 2008. Fines for substantive violations can be as much as $16,000 per violation. Even HR professionals have been arrested! 

So, it could be a good time to review your policies and procedures to make sure they are up to speed before learning the hard way. 

WHILE WE'RE ON THE SUBJECT OF COMPLIANCE... 

It would also seem that the EEOC folks were busy in 2011 setting a new record by receiving 99,947 charges of employment discrimination. The agency $455.6 in payments for workers through administrative and court actions which was also a record. 

Charges of retaliation were the most common making up 37.4% of all charges followed by race discrimination (35.4%) and sex discrimination (28.5%). ADA relief was also at record levels taking in $103.4 up 35.9% from 2010. 

FACEBOOK, THE NLRB AND PROTECTED ACTIVITY 

You may have heard that Facebook and the other "social media" crowd have created an entire new concern for employers and that involves the rights of employees to converse about their terms and conditions of employment via the internet. 

While the gripes of an individual have been found not to be protected a Facebook conversation amongst a group of employees over a transfer issue was protected speech. 

While employers can develop policies and rules concerning this subject, the NLRB has come on and warned that "employer policies should not be so sweeping that they prohibit the kinds of activity protected by federal labor law, such as the discussion of wages or working conditions among employees". 

So, before you go and fire somebody for complaining to a co-worker about their rate of pay via the internet you may want to seek counsel. You can also visit the link to the NLRB Report On Social Media for more useful information (www.nlrb.gov). 

TEMPS MAY BE MORE A PART OF THE WORKFORCE THAN EVER 

Traditional theory has always held that temps are in high demand as the economy comes out of a recession only to drop off as the economy picks up steam. Not so perhaps this time. 

Temp jobs have been 15% of the total number of jobs created during the first 21 months of this latest recovery. This is by far the highest percentage experienced in the past six post recession periods according to BMO Capital Markets. One general consensus coming from all the pundits is that 8% unemployment is here to stay for quite some time. 

THINK ABOUT THIS BACKGROUND CHECK SCENARIO 

An individual in his early 20's is convicted of involuntary manslaughter, shooting a man to death 30 years ago who had threatened harm to him and his family. Should you deny him a warehouse position that he is otherwise qualified to perform because of his conviction? 

I think everyone's sense of fairness would say no, yet this situation actually recently took place involving a Pennsylvania staffing company. 

It serves as another gentle reminder that arrest and conviction records being used in the hiring process have come under growing scrutiny of the folks at EEOC. The caution here is against the use of blanket policies that tend to discriminate against certain employee classes. 

Tip of the Month: Sometimes What You Don't Know Can Hurt You

It is that time of year when the words IRS start to become a concern for most of us. Whether it is your own personal tax return or tax issues for the corporation at which you work, the iron fist of the Internal Revenue Service is ready to "make you pay" one way or the other. 

A big topic of discussion around this time of year is the classification of independent contractors. 

According to the folks at SI Review over 25% of their recent survey respondents had no idea at all if all their workers were properly classified. Another 62% were confident that at least some of their workers were probably misclassified. Only 13% were confident that they nailed it and had everyone in compliance with the law. 

So why worry? Well, a whopping 40% of buyers reported that their independent contractor pools have been audited by an outside agency....usually you guessed, the IRS. And, these audits took place within the past six months. This translates in to high risk! 

Consider this as well. If the IRS doesn't get you, the individual just might. How you say? Most often it starts when the "independent" goes to file for unemployment benefits or a worker's compensation claim and is denied. Or a claim is made for overtime pay or other benefits paid to your full time staff. Can anyone say Microsoft? 

What do we suggest you do if you think this may be an issue? The first thing to do is visit the IRS.gov website and take a look at the qualifications needed for an individual to be properly classified as an independent contractor. 

If you think you have a problem, contact Ryan Staffing and we can help you establish the individual as a payroll employee of Ryan Staffing at a rate that is very affordable. This provides continuity of the employee's services and compliance with the law so that you can rest easy. And one less thing to worry about can't ever be bad right? 

Tim's Talking About Business Tax Hike, Manpower in Vietnam and Whistleblowers

THE BUSINESS TAX HIKE NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT 

As many of you know, the Federal unemployment tax rate is 6.0% of the first $7,000 of an employee's wages which was reduced from 6.2% in the second half of 2011. Employers have normally received a credit of 5.4% from the payment of their state unemployment taxes making the net FUTA rate .6%. 

What you might not know is that because Ohio is one of 20 states that have not paid back borrowed funds from the Federal government that 5.4% credit will be reduced to 5.1% in 2012. This .3% reduction in the credit will continue to take place every year the money is not paid back by the State of Ohio. 

It could be worse. Michigan is now in its third year of "default" and their credit deduction for employers is down to 4.5%. This in effect represents a tax hike for all Ohio employers that nobody is talking about! 

ATTENTION ALL YOU MANPOWER USERS 

I suppose this should not bother me as much anymore. But growing up in the 60's and knowing about all the tragedies of the Vietnam War, I still said ouch when I came across this announcement. 

Manpower Group signs new deal with Vietnam

It seems that Manpower recently signed a new three year deal to partner with Vietnam to continue working to develop that country's local labor market. They are now the first 100% foreign owned employment services company with a license to operate in Vietnam. 

So aside from the war issue, Manpower is now working hard to exploit the low skilled, low wage labor force of Vietnam that continues to take jobs away from the United States. 

Something to think about. 

TEMP OR NOW TEMP YOU JUST CAN'T DO IT! 

This is the message sent out by OSHA recently in a case involving the termination of an employee for filing a worker's compensation claim. That message sent out by the Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA stated, "This case sends a clear message that OSHA will not tolerate retaliation against workers for reporting a work-related injury."

The case involved a Nebraska based Union Pacific Railroad Company employee and was filed as a whistleblower complaint. The company was ordered to pay back wages, compensatory damages, attorney fees and punitive damages. 

You can find detailed employee whistleblower rights information under OSHA at www.whistleblower.gov. 

IF YOU THINK TEMP COMPLAINTS ARE NOT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY...Think again! 

Blockbuster recently settled a discrimination lawsuit brought by the EEOC to the tune of $2 million that involved alleged sexual harassment and racial discrimination against female temps by male supervisors at one of its distribution centers. 

The incidents took place in 2004 and 2005 and involved seven female temporary employees, four of whom were Hispanic. The alleged acts included sexual favors, offensive racial remarks, yelling and forced resignations among other things. 

The EEOC attorney pointed out that "Employers who are customers of staffing agencies have a responsibility to protect their temporary workers from unlawful discrimination". 

Frankie Vali and the Four Seasons contest winners from October 2011 newsletter

The winner of last month's contest for the tickets to see Frankie Vali and the Four Seasons was Stephanie from Fastener Tool in Solon. As an added bonus, we also gave away twelve Frankie Vali CDs to go along with the tickets to the following readers:

• Charlotte Rowe - Mantaline, Stow
• Cindy Craver - American Way, Lordstown
• Dorothy Mitchell - Xaloy, Boardman
• Debbie Tefs - Hubbell, Wadsworth
• Pam Kochman - Radix Wire, Cleveland
• Ron Serich - Goodwill, Youngstown
• Linda Barron  - Toys R Us    
• Brandon Lands - Hygenic, Akron
• Christine Zaletel - Swagelok, Solon
• John Angelilli - John Zidian Company, Youngstown   
• Don Snyder - Aqua America, Canton

Tim's Talking About Ohio's Minimum Wage, a Lesson Against Payroll Scheming and Small Business Hiring Prediction

Ohio Minimum Wage Rate Rising

While you probably have heard by now that the Ohio minimum wage rate for most will increase to $7.70 per hour January 1, 2012 did you know that Ohio has only had its own rate since 2007? That's right, Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2006 creating our own rate with an annual CPI review.

Perhaps no coincidence, state unemployment figures have been higher every year since. Since 2007 the Ohio rate has now increased from $6.85 to the upcoming $7.70 per hour and is $.45 higher than the current Federal rate.

And did you know that the Federal Minimum Wage Act created in 1938 set the first minimum wage at $.25 per hour. Currently 30 states have a rate that mirrors the Federal rate. The highest state rate is the State of Washington at $8.67 per hour. Several southern states have no state minimum wage and Georgia has the lowest rate at $5.15/hour.

Know Who You Are Doing Business With!

A former owner of a  Massachusetts based staffing company was sentenced to seven years in prison for running a $30 million under the table payroll scheme. Apparently Michael Powers paid the money under the table to workers over a five year period to workers to avoid paying the payroll taxes on the funds. The IRS will also get $9 million in past due taxes as part of the sentence.

Take A Lesson From The CAT

If you are a stock watcher you may have noticed that heavy industrial equipment maker Caterpillar has been on a roll lately having beat earnings estimates for the third quarter by about 25%. 

What you may not know is that Caterpillar has increased its "flexible" workforce 35.1% in that same quarter. The company's flexible workforce totaled 27,385 up 7,117 from the third quarter of 2010. Full time traditional employment was up 18.7%.

TD Bank Reports 16% Of Small Firms Hire

According to the survey 16% of all small businesses plan to create at least one new position during the  fourth quarter of 2011. Another 69% reported they plan to keep staffing levels the same.

Another 66% expect to meet or exceed revenue projections during the current quarter. The survey serves to point out the importance of small business in getting things turned around in this economy.

Tip of the Month: Give A Small Business A Chance...If You Can

With all the talk about "Small Business Saturday" coming up after "Black Friday" and before "Cyber Monday" it should be no surprise that we support using "locals" whenever we can here at Ryan Alternative Staffing.

When you are a small business owner (like us) and you've gone down that path of starting something from scratch, taking all the risks associated with being a start-up along with the daily grind of worrying whether you're going to make it you appreciate others in that same boat. But it is more than that...

Consider that 99% of businesses with payrolls in this country are small businesses and that they employ more than half of all workers and create 80% of all new jobs. This means that there is a good chance that a friend, neighbor or family member depends on those that support small business.

Small business accounts for about 60% of U.S. GDP and has created 93% or 21.9 million of the new jobs created in America since 1989.

Some say that if you want to get this country moving again small business is the engine to do this. You want to lower unemployment....create an environment to help start-ups. You want to increase the tax base....turn the creative juices of entrepreneurship loose.

The Clinton Administration created 20 million new jobs....many came from start-ups. Think about Amazon starting in a garage and now employing 30,000 people.

Ronald Reagan said in a 1988 speech to students at Moscow University of all places that, "The explorers of the modern era are the entrepreneurs, men with vision, with the courage to take risks and faith enough to brave the unknown. These entrepreneurs and their small business enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States."

The most important thing you (personally) or your company can do is obviously to support small business owners with your business. Supporting political candidates that support small business initiatives is another way. If you need a few more reasons consider these:

*Keeping Dollars In The Local Economy

*Local Job Creation

*Local Decision Making

*Local Prosperity and  Community Well Being

*Product Diversity*

All that small business owners ask for is a chance to provide you or your place of business their product or service. We don't expect special treatment and we know that we have to deliver the goods so to speak.

So the next time you get ready to call for temporary staffing services look past those "giants" and give us little guys a chance. It just may be the best move you've ever made.

TIP OF THE MONTH: GETTING INSIDE THE AVERGE TEMP'S HEAD

Last month we took a brief survey of our active temps and applicants for temporary employment to gain some insight on their thought process about issues temps face every day. While the results was not all that shocking to us it may serve some use to those using temporary staffing services to get the most bang for your buck.

For example, the number reason why a temp quits an assignment before it is over is because it became apparent that there was no chance for permanent hire. Next was inadequate job training ahead of the pay rate being too low.

When it came to deciding to accept a temp assignment permanent hire opportunity was again the most important factor followed closely by pay rate and somewhat surprising, job location.

A combined total of 55% of those responding rated the quality of job training received at the start of the assignment as either excellent or very good. Those less satisfied felt they were just handed over to another worker, sometimes another temp to teach them the ropes. Similarly, 38% thought the safety training received was very thorough while 24% said they received no real safety training beyond using their own common sense.

We all know that the "first day" on the job comes with some anxiety. We found 48% reported having a client rep waiting for them and spending a fair amount of time orienting them on expectations and helping them get off to a good start. The negative was the 34% that arrived with nobody to greet them and not being sure where to go. Another 10% reported being turned over to another production worker upon arrival and told to do whatever that person tells you to do....not a great start. Imagine, not one of our survey participants said the first day was the greatest time of their life because they were put in an air conditioned conference room with unlimited coffee and donuts to devour while watching videos about the client for four hours.

Given a choice 41% described their last temp experience as one where they were given the impression that they were nothing more than cheap labor without any future working for the client and that they could be replaced tomorrow....OUCH! On the plus side, 21% felt as though they were an important part of the process by the way they were treated by others and that there was some potential future at the client. About 31% put their impression somewhere in the middle.

We also directed a few questions towards how our staff was perceived. About 45% said that our staff did an excellent or very good job in the overall placement process from start to finish. Nearly 14% seemed to think that we did not present the job accurately or that the placement was a complete waste of time and that they would not be returning. On a similar note 59% graded the Ryan Staffing experience positively with 24% not being happy campers at all mostly due to never being placed on assignment.

One of the biggest problems in the staffing industry is the temp that accepts an assignment and then fails to show up for the first day of work without calling anyone. This is the dreaded NCNS..no call/no show in industry lingo. The number one reason why this happens according to our survey is that the temp after the fact gets home and decides that the job is to far away for the pay rate and that the staffing company will have no problem finding someone else to take their place (35%). A close second is that they receive a better off from another service and they know they will never return to the original service anyway so "what the heck" (31%). It's funny but 14% used payback for not being placed quicker s the reason.

It would seem from both the perspective of the supplier and the user that some easy opportunity exists to make the temp experience more productive by putting ourselves in the temps shoes and asking how we would like to be treated.....is that not true about a lot of things in life?

Tim's Talking About Ohio's Minimum Wage, Election Season and Canada's Job Push

Ohio Minimum Wage To Go Up

In case you have not heard, the Ohio minimum wage will increase by 30 cents from $7.40 per hour to $7.70 per hour on January 1, 2012. This impacts all Ohio employers with annual gross receipts of $283,000 or more. Those with less can pay the Federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Sometimes I think I should own stock in those companies that make all the bulletin board legal posters.

Staffing Employment Up

Staffing employment went up 3 percent in September from August according to the ASA. The index stands at 90 for the first time this year but is still 1.2 percent lower than the year ago reading.

World Series OF Wine Winner

Renee Seitz, Wellman Products is last month's lucky winner of a pair of tickets to the 2011 World Series Of Wine at the Terrace Club in Progressive Field. The 16th annual event provides a spectacular wine weekend with a variety of 400 wines from over 150 fine wineries. Proceeds from this charity event all go to support local public television programs.

Election Day Fast Approaching

With election day fast approaching on November 8th keep in mind that Ohio election law can impact the rights of your employees.

Specifically, you cannot threaten to discharge or discharge an employee for taking a reasonable amount of time to vote (reasonable of course is not defined).

It against the law to refuse to permit an employee to serve as an election official.

And of course you cannot beat an employee up for not voting the way you want....I simplified it.

The point is employees have election day rights and before you get in trouble for trampling all over them you might want to check out the basics.

One Way To Cut Our Unemployment Rate-Canada's Hiring

According to the federal immigration minister of CANADA of all places, it is looking into ways to tap the U.S. labor force for anticipated shortages in parts of our northern neighbor. While our rate remains stuck over 9% the rate in Alberta is 5.6% mainly from a renewal in oilsands development.

According to the minister, "a lot of skilled tradespeople in the U.S. could walk straight into productive jobs here". Canada imported some 185,000 of these workers from around the world last year.

Lookout Independent Contractor's

Last month the U.S. Department of Labor held a "ceremony" where that department signed an agreement with the IRS to coordinate efforts to nab those posing as independent contractors to avoid paying taxes. Amnesty is being offered to companies that may be violation of the provisions related to this misclassification" issue.

Changes In Background Checking Coming?

As expected Governor Jerry Brown of California signed Assembly Bill 22 in to law which greatly restricts an employer's ability to use credit reports in the hiring process. While it excludes most positions that have confidential access or financial/proprietary information duties it does start a trend that has led to the "Ban the Box" movement across the country.