Tim's Talkin' about Drug Tests with the Unemployed, Social Media Labor Issues and the E-Verify Program

ONE BIG TEMP ORDER!

As a result of the earthquake related troubles in Japan Toyota has announced that it will hire between 3000 and 4000 temporary workers. Also, Honda will hire about 1000.

Toyota suffered a nearly 75% loss in production following the quake.

DRUG TESTING AND UNEMPLOYMENT
You would think that with unemployment levels at such a high rate, finding qualified workers would be a breeze. The problem is more and more applicants are failing pre-employment drug tests. What make this more amazing is that most applicants in this job market know they will be drug tested and still can't pass.

According to the agency CSS Workforce NY, a study they performed involving southern tier New York State, somewhere between 30 to 50 percent of job applicants in that area could not pass a drug test.

We see this problem in the staffing industry as well. You combine the drug test issue along with the background check required by many companies and the employable pool of labor shrinks dramatically.

RETALIATION AND WORKERS COMPENSATION CLAIMS
We've discussed the ramifications before about terminating an employee or even ending the assignment of a temporary because they filed a worker's compensation claim.

One aspect of the statute became clearer recently when the Ohio Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the protection of this law does not extend to employees who are terminated BEFORE they file, institute or pursue a claim.

I'm not sure what this ruling accomplishes for employers that don't violate this part of the law but if you do it promotes speedier termination.

BAN THE BOX PICKS UP STEAM
If you don't know what this movement is all about be aware. It is designed to eliminate the "box" on employment applications that inquires about an applicant's criminal history.

Checking the "have you ever been convicted of a felony" box often times eliminates otherwise qualified individuals from employment. This, many say, makes the problem of returning convicted criminals to society even more difficult by denying those that have paid their debt the opportunity to move forward.

A group called All of Us or None has mobilized to pass laws eliminating this practice and has some success in selected cities across the country and in the public sector. Those private sector companies that have government contracts are also in their sights. The belief here is that these type of questions immediately discriminate against individuals convicted of crimes that really have relevance to the job being applied to perform. In some ways they have a point. We are a people of giving second chances....it's the third, fourth, etc. that cause the problem.

E-VERIFY COMING TO A HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT NEAR YOU
The U.S. House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement is starting the process that would ultimately require all U.S. companies to use E-Verify before hiring any employee.
For those that don't know, E-Verify is the governments verification required primarily of those doing work for the government.

On the plus side by fully establishing an electronic system the current Form I-9 process would be eliminated. It would also protect employers using the system from prosecution for having an illegal slip through the hiring process.
On the down side, the law may require re-verification of existing employees within certain time limits.

SOCIAL MEDIA--PART TWO
We discussed the impact of social media and employees being protected via the concerted activity defense. A couple of more cases are making their way through NLRB complaint filings. One involved employees complaining about a company's handling of a sales event that offered customers hot dogs and bottled water. The implied violation here is that the company was being cheap and as a result it impacted on the earnings of sales people. This was a Facebook posting. The other was a termination of five employees that were alleged to have harassed a co-worker via Facebook as well as complaining about working conditions.

The bottom line is tread carefully before you take disciplinary action based on social media communications. Nothing is easy anymore!

BACKGROUND CHECKS AND THE EEOC
According to sources the EEOC will hold a meeting on July 26, 2011 to investigate the use of criminal background checks in the hiring process. The concern is that use of these records may create unfair barriers to those trying to re-enter the workplace.

TIP OF THE MONTH GIVE SMALL BUSINESS A CHANCE

 As more and more large companies shy away from using regional staffing services in favor of VMS operators I can't help but wonder why. The VMS (Vendor Management System) is one of centralized planning that sounds good on paper but at what expense? What it really comes down to is service. And do you really want someone hundreds of miles away, who don’t know you or your special requirements brokering your staffing needs?

Think about this. There is a reason that small regional staffing companies earn 81-85 percent of their business from companies with less than 1000 employees. And that number grows to 90% for those servicing industrial accounts. It all comes down to service. In the light industrial sector of the staffing business there is no such thing anymore as the standard order. It has become very specialized and the national services just are not as proficient in filling these orders as the smaller staffing firms.

So, before you place that next order with that large national supplier take our small business test in this month's RESOURCE and pause to think about where this country would be without small business. The numbers are truly staggering.

                                                      WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT THEM?

Small business is defined as those businesses that employ 500 or fewer employees.

1.Small firms represent what percent of all employer firms?

    a. 65%

    b. 50%

    c.  99.7%

    d.  80%

2. How many self-employed individuals work in the U.S.?

    a. 500,000

    b. 1,250,000

    c.  5,000,000

    d.  15,300,000

3. What is the percent of private sector employees working  for small firms?

   a. 50%

   b. 25%

   c.  75%

   d. 10%

4. True or False. Small firms produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms?

   a. True

   b. False

5. How much non-farm GDP is produced by small firms?

   a. 52%

   b. 44%

   c. 68.5%

   d. 12%

6. Between 1993 and 2009 small firms accounted for what percent of the 15 million net new jobs created?

   a. 45%

   b. 89%

   c. 31%

   d. 65%

7. How many new employer firms opened for business in 2009?

   a. 552,600

   b. 89,452

   c. 215,463

   d. 12

8. Most recent census data indicates what percent of small businesses fail in the first two years?

   a. 96%

   b. 18%

   c.  31%

   d. 49%

9. True or False. Small firms hire 43% of all high tech workers?

   a. False

   b. True

10. What percentage of total U.S. private payroll comes from small business?

   a. 14.2%

   b. 62.8%

   c.  44.0%

   d. 82%

Answers (1-a) (2-d) (3-a) (4-a) (5-a) (6-d) (7-a) (8-c) (9-b) (10-c) 

Happy Mother's Day!

Have a safe a Happy Mother's Day from Ryan Staffing!

Tip of the Month --- 10 Things Your Temp Supplier Should Tell You

1. IT'S NOT SOMETHING WE'RE GOOD AT, SO WE PROBABLY CAN'T HELP YOU.
Most staffing companies will take your order (and your money) and promise that they can fill your need without a problem. They tell you what you want to hear, but more times than not they can't meet your expectations. As an example, Ryan Staffing excels at placing unskilled temporary on short notice and in large quantities. Don't ask us to find a Nuclear Engineer because it's outside our pay grade...and we'll tell you that.

2. SORRY, WE CAN'T SEND YOU ONLY YOUNG WHITE MALES TO FILL YOUR UNSKILLED POSITION.
We all like to think that as employers we've moved beyond out and out discrimination in the workforce. Not in all cases....it still happens. And sometimes for a multitude of reasons staffing companies will look beyond doing what is right just to get the business. In the short run they may get away with this. But in the long run by doing this they are not protecting the clients long term interests. Test your service sometime just to see how they handle this issue and if they are willing to put you and your company at risk.

3. THE DESCRIPTION OF YOUR JOB IS SOMETHING WE DON'T DO BECAUSE OF THE SAFETY RISK.
In many respects staffing companies these days must function like insurance companies when deciding what is good business and what is not. Working with companies that have poor safety records or operate in high risk industries can have a devastating impact on all but the giants of the staffing industry. One bad accident can put a temp help company out of business by driving up their workers compensation premiums to the point they can't be price competitive.

4. WE CAN RAISE THE TEMPS PAYRATE $.25/HOUR BUT IT REALLY WON'T PREVENT TURNOVER.
In the real world raising the pay rate of a light industrial temp working for $7.50/hour with no real shot at permanent employment by twenty-five or even fifty cents per hour is not going to reduce turnover by any significant amount. That's just the way it is these days. Having an opportunity for a permanent position with some hope of a future is what will motivate a temp to stay more so that a token pay increase.

5. YOU REALLY NEED TO RECORD THAT TEMPS INJURY ON YOUR OSHA 300 LOG.
A few years back a client insisted that it was not their responsibility to record temp injuries on their log. It got to the point where I was told to back off or risk losing their business. As a couple of our clients will recently attest, you do have to record these injuries based on control over the work environment. The OSHA inspector made this perfectly clear upon their visit. We wound up dropping the "know it all" client....way too many accidents!

6. PRE-EMPLOYMENT DRUG TESTING IS USEFUL......BUT?
Drug testing temps before they start an assignment certainly has its place and serves a valid screening purpose but is it the end all to beat all? Consider for a moment if you were a drug user that needed a job. You know a drug test will be required to be hired. Don't you keep yourself clean for a
week or two before applying for work in order to pass the test? And then go back to your bad habit after starting work?
Random drug testing may be a better solution than pre-employment testing because the employee never knows when the test is coming....kind of like the surprise quiz you use to get in school. Something to consider.
The pre-employment drug test may be more useful in screening out the dummies that know they won't pass but still try.

7. USING A STAFFING SERVICE THAT OFFERS BENEFITS TO ITS TEMPS IS A WASTE OF YOUR MONEY.
The idea of offering temps benefits sounds like a great idea. Things like paid holidays, vacation time, hospitalization etc. can only serve to lower turnover, reduce absenteeism and attract a higher caliber person right? Not really.
Most (not all) staffing companies that specialize in light industrial and clerical staffing that offer benefits place qualifying restrictions on eligibility that make it virtually impossible for the temp to ever collect. In most cases the temp by the nature of the business never reaches the required number of hours worked to qualify for paid time off. In the case of hospitalization the benefit levels and co-pays limit coverage the temp can use and the premiums are mostly paid by the temp anyway which they can't afford. The end result is very few take out the coverage.
This doesn't stop the staffing service from justifying (and charging) a higher bill rate to you in exchange for providing these " phantom benefits" that few receive. A better solution if you want benefits for temps is a" pay as you go" approach where you only pay for those benefits that are actually paid to each individual temp.

8. YOUR EXPECTATIONS ARE PROBABLY NOT REALISTIC.
Ok.....this will obviously be an extreme example but it serves the message. You need 50 temps tomorrow to perform unskilled positions. They must be flexible about shifts and have transportation to your facility located in the middle of nowhere. The job requires individuals that can read tape measures with 95% accuracy, read and write, pass a basic math test and not be color blind. The physical part of the job requires lifting up to 75 pounds, being on your feet all day, and working twelve hour shifts. They must pass a drug test and have a clean criminal background record for the past five years. The starting pay rate is $7.50/hour and if they miss any time in the first 30 days for any reason their assignment will be ended.
Unless your staffing service has SUPERMAN in its name your expectations are a little too high for any service to meet. Those that will tell you differently are just leading you down a path to failure. Most companies that ultimately become disenfranchised with using temps do so from having been told that their unreasonable goals are obtainable...instead of the truth.

9. YOUR STAFFING SUPPLIER IS GIVING YOU A HECK OF A DEAL AND YOU SHOULD STICK WITH IT.
The staffing industry being what it is these days is very competitive. Some might say cutthroat. Every day it seems we must prove ourselves worthy to keep our customers. Competitive bidding is a big part of this process and we all go through it.
Every now and then we lose a client that claims to have found a new supplier that can beat our price, guarantee lower turnover/absenteeism, pay for temp benefits and have a staff person available on call 24/7.
If all that is true, we say you'd be a fool to turn down an offer like that and go for it....no hard feelings. The only thing we'd throw in the pot is that if it doesn't work out give us a holler and we would be happy to work with you in the future.

10. IT WILL TAKE US A DAY OR TWO TO FIND THE RIGHT PERSON TO MATCH YOUR NEEDS.
For some in the industry it is a common practice to buy time on filling a difficult order by sending out a person that is not really qualified to perform the task at hand. The theory is to hope you won't notice the individuals shortcomings at least for a few days while the scramble is on to find a better match.
What your supplier should do is be upfront and provide a few options for you to consider. The first is to wait a day or two and find the right person rather than waste time training the wrong person. Another possibility is to utilize a less skilled person that can perhaps do some of the tasks required until the perfect match is found. Or, you and your service can work out a deal where the staffing supplier provides you some free training time should a perfect fit not be found. At the very least your supplier should be honest about their prospects for filling your order by staying in contact with you a couple of times each day and be understanding should you give the order to a competitor.
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Tim's Talking about Health Care Reform, ADA and BLS

THIS JUST IN.....

Did you know that requiring your employee to be 100% before returning to work could be a problem? It would seem that when an employee with an ADA disability is unable to return to full duty but wants to return to work the employer is obligated to try and see if some sort of reasonable accommodation can be made to return the person to work under restrictions.


Apparently employers are not required to remove essential functions of the job or create a new job in order to make this happen. So, you might want to check out your return to work policy (if you even have one) to avoid one of those hard lessons compliments of the Federal government.


TEMP JOBS SHOOT UP IN MARCH
Temp jobs rose by 28,800 in March to about 2.26 million according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The temp penetration rate rose to 1.73% in March from 1.71 percent of the total workforce.


As we've pointed out before increases in temporary employment bodes well for the economy as temp hires are a pre-cursor to companies adding permanent staff.


WHO SAYS WE ALL CAN'T GET ALONG?
Health care reform being what it is, it is at least comforting to know that all the powers that be were able to agree to repeal Section 9006 of the new law that would have required businesses to 1099 every vendor they use.


Talk about killing trees....and can you imagine how many new IRS employees would have needed to be hired to play with all that paper?


QUICK DRAW McDRAW ANSWERS
1.(c) 2.(d) 3.(a) 4.(b) 5.(true) 6.(3) 7.(a) 8.(d) 9.(true) 10.(?)

Tim's Talking About the EEOC, Doctor's Notes and Youthful Discrimination

FINALLY IN THE FOREFRONT...AND STAYING OUT OF TROUBLE!

At long last there is a new trend in employer discrimination and we at Ryan Staffing have nothing to worry about. Did you know that the EEOC recently held a hearing to discuss potential discrimination facing unemployed job seekers?

Although the unemployed are not a protected group, hiring practices that exclude the unemployed from consideration could have a disparate impact on protected groups...Hispanics or African-Americans who have higher unemployment rates as an example.

In the temp business, nearly everyone we hire is unemployed because very few people quit full time employment for a temp job. Further, to keep payroll tax costs down we try hard to first place those that are actively collecting unemployment benefits.

Tip of the Month: Can Your Staffing Company (And You) Survive a Disaster?

Just think about all the technology out there and how we have come to rely on all of our little electronic devices to manage our daily lives. Think about everything you do on-line and the lack of "hard copy" paper support we rely on to perform basic tasks like bang and bill paying. 

While I marvel at watching those manipulate their Smart Phones, I don't really care if one never lands in my lap.

I'm old fashioned....I worry a lot and I like to be able touch things that make my life tick.

Tip of the Month: A Little Reflection Never Hurt Anyone

This month in a candid interview with himself Tim talks about life in the staffing industry, the 20th anniversary of Ryan Staffing, the business climate locally and lots of other interesting stuff about temps that may help improve your bottom line. 

QUESTION: Congrats on hitting the 20 year milestone. That's quite an accomplishment in this day and age with all the failings of small businesses and the deep dark recession we've been in. How have you managed to hang in there?

TIM: Thanks for that atta-boy...it hasn't been easy. To quote a line from Christmas Vacation..."I had a lot of help from Jack Daniels". 

Seriously, I think the key has been our strategy to be the best and not the biggest. Every time we have gotten away from doing that the bottom line and customer service has suffered. We've also managed to keep a core group of full-time staff together for a number of years, which has been invaluable.

QUESTION: So, how is business these days?

TIM: It is  surprisingly good. Our volume in 2010 was up significantly from 2009, which was our slowest year since 1994. We are hearing good things from our clients about business picking up throughout 2011 and the ASA index of staffing employment continues to rise.

QUESTION: Are the reasons for companies to use contingent labor still the same as they were 20 years ago?

TIM: I would say so. Everyone is constantly trying to lower their costs and that is what we provide our clients. I just read the results of a cost survey of large companies (over 1000 employees) that use contingent labor. They reported median overall savings through the use of a flexible workforce to be about 15 percent in 2010. 

QUESTION: Aside from still being here, what's been your biggest accomplishment personally and that of Ryan Staffing in the past 20 years?

TIM: Personally without a doubt it's been not wearing a tie to work for the past 20 years. I kid people, but seriously I invented the concept of "dress down" days back in 1987. As far as Ryan Staffing, it has to be our making the INC. 500 list in 1996. We were the 47th fastest growing company in the U.S that year. It's the same list Microsoft was on years before, so that was pretty neat.

QUESTION: Let's face it, temps are often the butt of the late night comics crowd and are often portrayed in a  in a not so positive way....call it stereotyped. Does this bother you?

TIM: Not really. Those that blame the current high rate of unemployment on temps or the loss of manufacturing jobs in this country are kidding themselves. 

Temps make up less than two percent of today's labor force. And recent numbers show that the USA still leads the world in manufacturing....about 40 percent more than China in 2009. 

Most all temps are hard working individuals working at low pay rates without much in the way of benefits mostly for the hope of getting hired permanently. Those that poke fun at temps couldn't last two days doing what they do. And no, you won't see me guest staring on Undercover Boss just for that reason...I know the truth!

QUESTION: What do you hate most about your job these days?

TIM: That's easy...it's all the legal challenges we have to face daily. Fighting bogus workers compensation claims, challenging unemployment compensation determinations, getting sued for things you haven't done and so on and so on. 

It has become never ending and very frustrating. It is without question why small business failures are up and jobs are going overseas. That and all the administrative activities you must comply with, courtesy of the government bureaucracies and politicians. 

As an example, little old Ryan Staffing has to complete four separate Census forms every year for the government. We process about 30 court orders for child support deductions a week and about 100 claim forms concerning unemployment compensation issues a week too. 

QUESTION: OUCH! Well then, what is a good day?

TIM: The best day of the year is when I get to bring my collie Murphy to work on his birthday and take him to PetSmart. Getting positive feedback from our clients about our staff also makes me smile, but don't tell anybody.

QUESTION: So Tim, What does Ryan Staffing have coming down the pipeline in the next 12 to 18 months or so?

TIM: We hope to continue to make use of certain technologies available in our industry to improve service delivery to our clients and communication with our temporary staff. 

For example we plan to expand our use of social media outlets to communicate job openings to our temp database to fill client requests quicker. These same outlets will be used in various recruiting activities. Imagine receiving a job offer via text mail instead of the phone call. 

Using specially designed telecommunication software programs to remind people of start dates, interview appointments etc. are also being planned for use later in the year. 

One of our biggest accomplishments in 2010 was successfully converting all of our employees from paper paychecks to debit cards (pay cards). This has been well received and has eliminated almost all of our paycheck issues that have been around for years. We definitely plan to push ahead utilizing these technologies.

QUESTION: Anything planned for the 20 year birthday party?

TIM: Nothing official. You know 20 years just includes Ryan Alternative Staffing, Inc. 

My beautiful wife Susan started in the industry in 1979 and I started in 1984. It's a long story but we've effectively been self employed in the industry for 32 and 27 years respectively. 

Back to your question, we're kicking around a few ideas and hope to do something special to mark the occasion late in the year.

QUESTION: Well, this has been a real interesting learning experience for me. We'll have to continue it later in the year.

TIM: You can count on it. I love talking to myself.

(Next time Tim will talk to himself about how he would save a bundle using temps, staffing industry rip-off's and more stuff about the past twenty years.)

Tim's Talking about TORT, Temps in the Labor Force and Manufacturing Expansion

THE COST OF LITIGATION  

As a company, Ryan Staffing has from time to time been the victim of lawsuits that are frivolous at best and extortion at worst. It has always grated at me when I've agreed to pay out nuisance dollars to settle a lawsuit when I know we've done nothing wrong. The cost of litigating almost always exceeds the cost of settling by tenfold or more...so it becomes a business decision.

Most of us remember the McDonalds hot coffee lawsuit.

It was filed by Stella Lieback and has now honored her by the creation of the "Stella Awards" for the most frivolous lawsuits filed during the year. A recent winner purchased a 32 foot Winnebago motor home. To make a long story short she was driving it home on the freeway and set the cruise at 70 mph. She then left the driver's seat to go back and make a sandwich. 

The Winnebago crashed (duh) and she prevailed to the tune of $1,750,000 and a new motor home because the company did not put in the owner's manual not to leave the driver's seat after engaging the cruise control. 

I feel much better about my own legal problems after reading this story on the internet...which of course makes it true, right?

ARE TEMPS THE PROBLEM?

If you listen to local talk radio, you will often hear the jokes about temps and how they are the cause of all the unemployment problems in the country. Not true.

Temps share of total employment is still well below the peak levels of the late '90s when it was a shade below two percent. The current share of temp employment is 1.6 percent of the labor force. So, maybe it's time to blame China or NAFTA for the problem and give the poor temp help industry a break.

FEDEX GROUND DRIVERS PROPERLY CLASSIFIED INDEPENDENT

A recent court ruling determined that FedEx Ground drivers were properly classified as independent contractors. This huge lawsuit, which involved multiple states where the drivers challenged their status, found that the "weightiest factor" in making their ruling involved the right to control issue.

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY UP

January's manufacturing activity in the U.S. expanded by the fastest rate since May 2004. The index rose to a  reading of 60.8 up from 58.5 in December and the highest since the 61.4 2004 number.

This is backed up by increases in the Staffing Index which measures growth in the employment of temporary help and traditionally indicates positive economic growth. That index in January stood at 89 up 13% from the same period a year ago.

Tim's Talking About Credit Checks, EEOC Settlement and Opiates Trend

EEOC AND CREDIT CHECKS

You may recall that recently the EEOC advised against the use of credit checks as part of the hiring process because they tend to impact more adversely against minorities or females. Well that advice has now turned in to a lawsuit against Kaplan Higher Education Corporation for using the checks to discriminate against black job applicants through the way it uses credit histories in its hiring process.