Tim's Talking about FLSA, Paid Sick Leave and Domestic Manufacturing Production Statistics

Try to keep up with me because this months "News" is loaded?

Meal Periods 

The FLSA requires that in order for meal time to be unpaid it must be bona fide.  To be Bona Fide the employee must be completely relieved from duties during the meal period.

So a receptionist answering phones while eating lunch does not qualify for unpaid meal time.

Discrimination Awards Increase

The office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) enforces affirmative action regulations.

The OFCCP recovered a record $67,510,982 in back pay for 24,508 individuals in 2008 . . . A 20% increase over 2007.  New leadership and a bigger budget are responsible.

More on 'We Don't Make Anything Here Anymore'

Those that think we don't manufacture in this country need to get out more.  As a company that provides light industrial labor throughout NE Ohio I know first hand about all the things we make locally. 

Consider these facts:

1. The US provides 45 percent of the total value of finished goods in the world.
2. The US produced $1.7 trillion worth of goods in 2008 which is more than the entire Russian economy.
3. In 2008 the value of our manufactured exports was more than the economy of India.
4. 52% of teens in the country have no interest in a manufacturing career.  61 percent of teens have never visited a manufacturing facility.  Only 21 percent have taken a shop class.

What has happened is that manufacturing jobs have declined from 20 million in 1980 to 12 million today.  The reason for this is because labor intensive, repetitive, jobs have gone overseas.  High tech solutions have increased productivity.  We make more steel today in this country than in 1970 with about 60 percent fewer employees as an example.

It's interesting to note that recently GE just over the state line in Grove City, PA secured an order to make a 100 diesel Locomotives to go to South America.  How many out there even knew these were made close by?

Contagious Paid Sick Leave Coming?

House Democrats have introduced legislation that would require employers of 15 or more to provide paid sick leave to employees that are required to go home as a result of a contagious illness.

The motivation in part may come from a Wal-Mart sick leave policy that punishes those that stay home with H1N1.

FMLA Expanded

FMLA has been expanded to cover those requesting leave to care for a family member that is a Veteran undergoing medical treatment.  This care was not previously covered.

Union Elections

Fewer union elections are being conducted, but the number of union wins is up 7 percent.  Unions are winning at a 73 percent clip in 2009.  Machinists (IAM), Teamsters and Service workers (SEIU) are the big winners.

Now don't you feel smarter?

Tip of the Month: What Payrolling Can Do For You

When the less savvy users of temp staffing hear the word payrolling, their thoughts often turn to Paychex or ADP and their paycheck preparation services.  This is not an unreasonable conclusion.

In the staffing world, payrolling is when an employer has identified a qualified candidate to work at its place of business, but does not have the ability to direct hire the individual.  Instead, the employer contracts with a third party staffing supplier and the individual is placed on the staffing company's payroll as their employee.

Now, you may be asking yourself what the difference is between this and just having the staffing company send out a person to work at your location.  The one and only difference is that you found and selected the candidate and not the staffing company... and this is significant.

In payrolling an individual you have in effect saved the staffing company the cost it incurs in recruiting, selecting, testing, orienting, etc.  As a result, the staffing company can offer you a significantly lower hourly bill rate while you still enjoy the benefits of not having the person on your payroll. These benefits include:

When the jobs end:

1. The unemployment compensation charges and paperwork flow to the staffing service.
2. If the individual gets hurt on the job, the staffing company's responsible for the claim.
3. The entire payroll process is handled by the staffing company including all those time consuming administrative requests for wage info.
4. You save on all the benefit costs associated with your permanent employees.

So, how much savings might you expect from payrolling?

That depends on the nature of the job duties being performed and the nature of your business.

On a light industrial position it would not be unreasonable for your mark-up percentage to be 5% to 10% lower.  On a 12.00/hr bill rate this could amount to between $.60/hr to $1.20/hr plus the sales tax savings.

The reasons for using payrolling services instead of conventional staffing are different but include such scenarios as:

1. A former employee that recently retired is needed back to cover for a vacation or an unexpected quit.
2. A current employee has a child, friend or relative that needs a job and you want to accommodate that person.
3. To get the best possible person that matches your needs you want to do your own recruiting, interviewing, and selecting because you best know your own business.
4. You have a simple need to keep your staffing costs as low as possible.      
5. Unemployment is high and you get an abundance of job seekers coming to your facility any way.

So, in the end, payrolling provides a flexible option that allows employers to maintain control and lower costs while still utilizing the Staffing suppliers HR administrative services.  Payrolling services are ideal for legally retaining independent contractor, retirees and college students by allowing the employer to identify qualified candidates.

With Ryan's service, employers can legally have payroll employee's work on site without the insurance risks or employer liabilities and benefits.      

Holiday Greeting from Ryan Staffing President Tim Ryan

It's time for a reality check.  If I may be so crude, 2009 sucked.  Or did it?

For sure, those that lost their jobs it did.  And for those that lost loved ones it was hard.  But the nice thing for me about the holiday season is that it provides a short moment to put aside those things that stressed us out all year long and take a look at what is really important.

First and foremost is that if you're reading this it means you are still on this side of the grass. . .  not bad.  And hopefully you have friends and family that surround you with love and support that comes in handy for all of us from time to time.

If you had food on the table, running water, flush toilets, clothes on your back and all of the other day to day necessities of life that we sometimes take for granted you're in pretty good shape.

With the holiday being a religious time of the year hopefully you've been able to find or keep your faith in God in some fashion and realize that no matter what, everyone of us has been given a life on earth that holds some meaning and purpose.

Most all of us don't need to be rich or famous to be happy campers.  We'd just like to struggle a little less at times, right?

So, when you look at the things that are really important, perhaps the end of the world is still a ways off.

From all of us at Ryan Staffing we wish you a Blessed Holiday Season and a better 2010 than 2009!

Sincerely,

Tim Ryan, President

Ryan Staffing Expands Our Digital Reach

As demand for temporary staffing continued its steady rise in November, according ot the American Staffing Association's monthly report, our business picked up.

Usually when we get an influx of more jobs to fill, we go straight to the newspaper. But this time, we're backing away from that and pushing digital opportunities to advertise.

Last week I started our Google AdWords campain. Although it has started out slow, it did not cost us an arm and/or a leg to try the ad platform.

Google sent me a free $100 to start advertising. It was easy to start up and the billing system is ideal because it works in the customer's best interest.

You only pay when someone clicks on your ad. Google has applications that help to optimise your ad campaign because its in their best interest to get your ad clicked on.

So it drives people to your site in the most cost efficient manner possible.

Your per click cost depends on the amount of clicks you get in a given period. Currently we're paying $.19.

The other digital initiative we're taking is advance to Facebook. I am currently designing our Facebook page, which will work much like our Twitter page, a means for forwarding employment news and job openings.

We may also start advertising on Facebook, a decision we'll make in the next few weeks. I haven't looked into too much, but Facebook advertising appears to be very similar to Google.

But because the Facebook platform requires users to compile personal profiles of each other, it may be an ever more efficient method for advertising if your clients (people you want to reach) are registered with Facebook.

Our digital media approach has been to expand our voice in as many cost efficient ways as possible. Craig's List has been our most successful application. Twitter has been our least successful.

As I learn from our experience, I'll make note of it here in the blog and in our monthly newsletter.

WSJ: Job Cuts Comming As Stimulus Fades

Uncle Sam pumped $5.04 billion dollars into Ohio's economy (alledgedly creating 17,085.89 jobs) and $787 billion into the U.S. economy (allegedly creating 640,329 jobs), according to Recovery.gov.

But as construction jobs wrap up, some of those employees will be losing those new found jobs.

Here's an article from the Wall Street Journal Dec. 1 that goes into greater detail.

WASHINGTON—Highway-construction companies around the country, having completed the mostly small projects paid for by the federal economic-stimulus package, are starting to see their business run aground, an ominous sign for the nation's weak employment picture.

Tim Word, vice president of Dean Word Co., a heavy-construction company in New Braunfels, Texas, said his income is now coming mostly from projects that are winding up. He said that in normal times he has about $100 million of signed contracts in hand. But that number has fallen to $30 million, and the pipeline is empty. In the past two years, his work force has shrunk nearly 40% to 260 from 420.

"Having something to bid on is the lifeblood of the industry, and it's running out," said Mr. Word. He isn't sure what will happen next year without new projects. "There's no pavement fairy that's going to help."

Since the recession began in 2007, employment in the construction industry has fallen by 1.6 million, the Labor Department says. Though the housing sector accounts for many of those job losses, road builders have also suffered, and executives in the industry expect layoffs to rise next year.

More broadly, the Congressional Budget Office late Monday said it estimates that the federal stimulus package sustained between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs in the third quarter, and raised gross domestic product by 1.2 to 3.2 percentage points higher than it would have been without the program.

The construction industry's unemployment rate, including related extraction businesses, such as gravel processing, climbed to 19.1% in October, up from 10.7% a year earlier. The transportation and material-moving sectors saw unemployment rise to 11.6% from 7.9% over the same period.

State officials and local contractors trace the industry's woes to the recession and the collapse of the residential and commercial real-estate markets. In addition, they cite the federal government's delayed plans to enact a transportation bill. In one version, the law would have provided $450 billion for highways and infrastructure projects over the next six years.

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