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.

Tip of the Month: Be Vigilant of OSHA Record-keeping

Our  "tip" this month is a gentle reminder to all those that utilize staffing services to remember your responsibility to include all OSHA recordable injuries experienced by employees supplied by temp help companies at your facility on your company's OSHA 300 log.

To some there is a misconception that these injuries should be recorded on the staffing company's log. According to OSHA Section 1904.31 the party that provides the employee day to day supervision is responsible for the record-keeping of the injury/accident.

Ryan Staffing Enters 20th Anniversary Year

Officially on July 15th Ryan Alternative Staffing, Inc. will turn 20 years old. We joke that in this industry that works out to about 150 but I'm sure everyone feels that way about their job/employer at one time or another.

What it means to me is that not only have we survived but we have grown and prospered for over  two decades. Sure, we're a lot grayer than when we started, but apparently we have done enough right over the years in our approach to how we treat our clients to still be in business. I know we haven't made everyone happy. What I do know is that it has never been from not wanting to make everyone happy or from a lack of effort in trying. And that is what separates the winners from the losers when you start up a small business in an extremely competitive industry like ours.

So, during 2011 we plan to look for ways to express our gratitude to both our clients and hard working temps that have had a positive impact on our longevity. Without both, there is no doubt we would not be around today. And for that we are thankful.

Sincerely,

Tim Ryan-President
Susan Ryan-Vice President Sales

TIP OF THE MONTH 'Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought doesn't come from a store'

Since starting this e-letter back in the beginning of 2008 I've shared with you over 30 tips that I know would save you both time and money in your utilization of temporary staffing.

If they have helped you impress your boss great. If they have saved your company money, I hope you got a piece. But most importantly I hope that they have helped make your business more competitive and productive. And while coming up with new "tips" every month can be a challenge, I hope to continue offering useful information about the practices of our industry because let's face it.....temporary staffing is here to stay.

So, the last tip of 2010 isn't going to come from me but rather from some famous people sharing a few of their own words of wisdom. Enjoy!

Be nice to your children for they will choose your rest home. (Phyllis Diller)

Buy land, they ain't making it any more. (Will Rogers)

By the time you're 80 years old you've learned everything. You only have to remember it..(George Burns)

If it doesn't fit you must acquit. (Johnnie Cochran Jr.)

If you can't convince them, confuse them. (Harry Truman)

If you cannot beat them arrange to have them beaten. (George Carlin)

If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead and get married. (Katherine Hepburn)

It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to. (Bill Clinton)

No problem is so large that it cannot be run away from. (Charles Schultz/Peanuts)

Never purchase beauty products in a hardware store. (Miss Piggy)

The significant problems we face in life cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. (Al Einstein)

If you can make a girl laugh you can make her do anything. (Marilyn Monroe)

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. (Mark Twain)

Don't cry because it is over. Smile because it happened. (Dr. Suess)

And last but not least it was the great Hut Landon that advised "If a Pit Bull romances your leg, fake an orgasm". Happy Holidays!

Tim's Talking About Facebook, UPS and the EEOC...

FACEBOOK POSTING AND INTERNET POLICIES

According to a recent ruling by the National Labor Relations Board, it is protected concerted
activity if an employee posts on Facebook a derogatory comment about a company's supervisor. A
Connecticut ambulance company terminated an employee for posting a comment that read "love how
the company allows a 17 to become a supervisor". A 17 is code for psychiatric patient. This was
construed to be protected concerted activity.

IMAGINE...

UPS announced recently that they will be hiring 50,000 temps to deal with the holiday season which runs between Thanksgiving through Christmas.

The company expects to deliver 24 million packages alone on December 22, its busiest day. This is about a 60% increase over its daily delivery
volume.

COULD IT HAPPEN HERE?

The largest auto plant in the world operated by Hyundai in Ulsan, South Korea experienced a sit
in strike by 400 temps. The job action has caused lost production of 4300 vehicles through the first four
days. The 400 workers called "irregulars" by the Korean Herald are demanding equality with the full time
employees.

It's interesting to note that the company has filed civil and criminal suits against the striking
workers (not the staffing company) and seeks 42 billion won ($40 million or so) in damages. It the job
action drags on to long it may shut down the entire operation.

EEOC IS BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!

The EEOC said it received 99922 charges of employment discrimination in its last fiscal year...the
highest level in its 45 year history. It also reported collecting $319 million in benefits for workers.

We were recently hit with one of these charges involving a temporary that alleged not being
called for a job assignment because of he was black. Having had my share of these over the years to deal
with, I decided to do something different. For the first time I tried the EEOC mediation process.

I just did not have the time or energy to deal with the avalanche of paper required to fight the charge outright. We did end up paying some money to resolve the matter after about four hours of back and forth at the EEOC office in downtown Cleveland.

I'm not sure if I would take the same approach again. It would probably depend on the circumstances. If
you're interested in my experience, should you face the same situation, give me a holler and I'll be glad to
share.

TEMP USE UP LAST QUARTER

According to the ASA staffing firms employed an average of 2.6 million temporary workers per
day in the 3rd quarter and 8.1% increase over the prior quarter. At the same time, the staffing index
remained steady in November but up 18% from last year at the same time.

Tim's Talking About the Improved Labor Market, Interviews and Interns...

GETTING BETTER!

According to CareerBuilder.com thirty two percent of companies with 500 or fewer employees plan to hire in the second half of 2010. Twenty-one percent will hire full time while 11% will hire part-time and 6% will hire temps.

At Ryan Staffing we have seen strong use of temp help throughout 2010. Our client volume has increased over 80% from 2009.  While that may not be a totally fair comparison because of the recession it still represents a return to our volume levels during the pre-recession years of 2007 and 2008.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

HEALTHCARE REFORM UGH!

According to a poll taken by Strategic Benefits Solutions eighty-eight percent of high level corporate big wigs are expecting higher health care costs post reform and 65% view the legislation unfavorably.

KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS

Those of us a bit on the north side of 50 remember Art Linkletter and the segment of his afternoon show where he conducted interviews with children under the age of 8 years or so. Out of the mouths of babes often came some very funny talk. Well, it turns out interviewees say the darndest, nay dumbest things too when looking for employment. Consider these:

• One interviewer asked a candidate recently how she handled heavy workloads. Her answer included running in to the bathroom and crying. Didn’t land the job.
• An interview for a secretary inquired about the important parts of a job for her. Working close to a Bloomingdale’s didn’t get her a job offer.
• Then there was the phone interview scheduled for 3:00 p.m. When the applicant answered he asked for time to leave the bar he was at and ultimately begged off the interview for being a little drunker than he anticipated. Not good.

One recent mother brought her baby too the interview and proceeded to breast feed the child.

And then there was the candidate that showed up late for the interview complaining about the long commute and how he was glad not to have to do that everyday.

Those of us that have been around the HR blocks a few times I’m sure have a few new stories to share. If you have a good one, e-mail us at info@ryanstaffing.com and we’ll share them next month.

DO YOU USE INTERNS?

Those private for-profit organizations that utilize unpaid student interns need to be knowledgeable of the circumstances that allow these positions to legally be compensation free. For example:

                * Training received must be similar to training that would be given in an educational setting

                * The internship experience must be for the benefit of the intern not the organization.

                * The employer providing the training receives no benefit from the activities of the intern and in

                   And may actually impede the operation at times.

                * No job is promised  or entitlement to a position assumed at the end of the internship.

                * Regular employees are not replaced by the intern.

                * Both parties understand that the intern will not be compensated for the internship.

Basically, you can’t use internship programs as a method for getting free labor. Internships should be a way for companies to provide “real world” experience to potential job seekers while at the same time showcasing their organization to the community and future recruits.

TIME MARCHES ON

As we all get older you start to catch yourself getting a touch nostalgic as well. And when you are in the jobs business like we are at Ryan Staffing you catch yourself thinking about all the occupations that you no longer place people.

I can still remember the Fuller Brush man visiting my mom and selling her a broom that I swear we used for forty years. The elevator operators fascinated me as a young kid at downtown Higbees…what a cool job I thought at the time. And the milkman that came every morning and who my mom swore was not my father (kidding). Think about some of these and at the same time put them in perspective with our current unemployment problems:

                *Inspectors, testers, samplers, sorters and weighers

                *File Clerks

                *Elevator Operators

                *Gas Station Attendants

                *Iceman

                *Milkman

                *Switchboard Operators

                *Typists

                *Machine Feeders

                *Shorthand/Dictation Clericals

I guess it all comes down to progress but it was still neat to meet the Good Humor man every afternoon on a hot summer day.

COMING TO AMERICA?

Get this one. In Brazil a court recently ruled that McDonalds must pay a former Manager $17,500 because he gained 65 pounds while working there for 12 years. The 32 year old man felt forced to sample the food every day to monitor quality. The company also offered its employees free lunches which added to his problem.

McDonalds in Brazil was reported to being “weighing” its options (honest I did not make that up). Can you imagine the impact on the folks at Budweiser?

I-9 FORM COMING HOME TO ROOST

The Obama administration has plans to increase the number of I-9 audits as part of the great immigration reform debate. This process which has the government auditors checking social security numbers on I-9 forms to see if they are real is an attempt to manage the whereabouts of the over 7 million or so illegal aliens in the USA. George Bush apparently relied on worksite raids as his method of enforcement.

In the second half of 2009 ICE agents found 22000 suspect documents out of 86000 received. Fine collection is up six fold and Abercrombie and Fitch got touched up for a $1,000,000 fine for violations at its Michigan stores.

The message here is that you may want to make sure your staffing supplier is performing these checks in the proper fashion.

Tip of the Month: Get What you Pay For!

As I was browsing through my recent edition of SI Review (Staffing Industry) I hit upon a survey taken of benefits staffing firms offer temps. Benefits for temps has always intrigued me because it is a classic case of paying for something that sounds good but really isn't. First for the survey. It found that staffing firms offer the following benefits to temps:

•                 Paid Vacation 57%          
•                 Dental Insurance 51%
•                 Unsubsidized medical coverage 51%
•                 Life Insurance 45%
•                 401(k) employee only contributions 42%
•                 Subsidized medical coverage 40%
•                 401(k)match 30%
•                 Paid sick days 26%

What we have here is a lot of feel good fluff with little meat to it. Let's look at paid vacation/holidays. These are a great benefit to retaining long term temps and reducing turnover if they ever meet the qualifications to earn them.

Most staffing companies require the temp to work anywhere between 1200-1500 hours in the prior 12 months to get paid vacation/holidays. The problem is that most never make it. And because the staffing company has to factor the cost potential for having to "possibly" pay out these benefits, in the end the customer pays for something the temp never sees.

Most of these other "benefits" are mostly paid for by the temp. Unfortunately the temp either cannot afford  his/her cost of the benefit or the coverage is so weak as to not be worth the trouble it goes unused. I mean really, how can an $8.50/hour pay rate support the cost of medical coverage? Once again the customer may be picking up the tab for something that sounds better than it really is.

So what is the answer? We suggest that you pay for the benefits you want temps to earn only as they earn them. Vacation pay is the easiest example of this strategy. Rather than have your supplier build this cost in to their markup, only pay for vacation that is actually earned and paid to the temp working at your facility. This way you don't pay for something that you in theory don't use.

Many of the staffing suppliers that advertise great benefit packages for temps do so knowing that they can bill you upfront for these programs touting reduced turnover and higher quality temps as the real benefit. Unfortunately for you, all they really benefit is your suppliers pocketbook.

I will admit that the value of benefit packages is better served for those of you utilizing professional staffing/contracting personnel (i.e. engineers, accountants, IT, etc.) where packages are needed to recruit top talent. Not so for much of the unskilled labor and most of the office clerical world.

So be sure you're getting what you pay for!

November Browns Trivia Contest

Congratulations to Bill Rohan from Simon Roofing. Bill is the proud winner of the Dec. 26 tickets to Browns/Ravens, as part of his Browns Prize Package.

Have a great time at the game Bill!

As for everyone else. Here are the answers to the Trivia contest. I retyped the questions below.

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

--
1.What year was the start of the Cleveland Browns in the All-American Football Conference (AAFC)?
a.1944
b.1948
c.1952
d.1946

2.The Browns entered the NFL in 1950 and made the championship game seven of the their first eight seasons. What was their record in those seven games?
a.3 wins, 4 losses
b.6wins, 1 loss
c.4 wins, 3 losses
d.2 wins, 5 losses

3.Which of these players was on the Browns roster in the 1950's?
a.Doak Walker
b.Joe Schmidt
c.Chuck Noll
d.Jack Christiansen

4.In the Browns first ten seasons who was their main quarterback?
a.Otto Graham
b.Milt Plum
c.Frank Ryan
d.Bill Nelson

5.Which position did kick returner Joshua Cribbs play at Kent State University?
a.Wide Receiver
b.Cornerback
c.Quarterback
d.Running Back

6.How many playoff games did the Browns win during the 1970's?
a. 3
b. 0
c. 1
d. 6

7.What team did the Browns defeat for their final playoff victory of the 20th century?
a. New York Jets
b .Houston Oilers
c. New England Patriots
d. Pittsburgh Steelers

8. What was the Browns record in their first season back in 1999?
a. 2-14
b. 4-12
c. 3-13
d. 7-9

9. How many NFL Championships did the Browns win while HOF running back Jim Brown was a member?
a. 0
b. 3
c. 4
d. 2

10. The Browns finished with a winning record during the regular season every year of Jim Brown's career?
a. False
b. True