4 benefits of continuous learning at work

Nowadays employers strive to increase the value of their team, because they understand it is important for the workforce to expand their skill set and their knowledge, and also because it is an effective way to boost your turnover and minimize company’s operational costs. 

We all know the competitive market we´re living in today, so the opportunities for the team to grow their career is not an optional perk anymore, people are actually expecting this when they join the team.  

4 benefits of continuous learning at work

Happy people with more satisfaction

When people are happy doing their job the result is more productive team members doing their tasks, besides loyalty to the company increases and also reduces turn over. Employee satisfaction has a considerable impact on operational success.

Learning opportunities at work can demonstrate the commitment to team specific members. If employees know they can maintain a high professional skill set while they are in their positions it will naturally improve their morale and attitudes.

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A safe space to fail

Learning and studying while working, taking courses, certifications or other studies can give workers the opportunity to make errors and fail while they feel safe at the same time. At the end of the day it is very difficult to put clients in real danger since workers have the experience and they are constantly applying their knowledge on different scenarios.

Work on internal weaknesses

Employees have weaknesses in their workplace, we all know when people are applying their skills, they can make mistakes too, so it is something that happens to everyone, and a lot of organizations have gaps or weaknesses in their training processes as well. 

The purpose of constant training and development is to give both parties the opportunity to strengthen those skills through learning and development, errors will be diminished after all.

Customer satisfaction will increase

When employees of an organization are exposed to consistent training, it improves their skills on the job and makes them work more professionally and productively. As a result, customers will feel the impact of this elevated service, and it will likely improve their opinion of the company.

Continuous learning means the organization, employers and their employees are always working to reach its maximum capacity, new heights and success within the workplace. Tangible benefits can go from increasing job prospects and helping you stay relevant within the industry to giving your team members a greater sense of self-worth and contentment.

Midtown HR is the company behind a hundred happy companies. We´re focused on simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team. Let’s talk!

Managing remote teams: start doing 5 key activities

The amount of companies and organizations building or managing remote teams It’s been increasing a lot the last few years, and something is clear, with pandemics or without it, remote work is going to be present in companies that have physical offices as well.

To lead a remote team managers may discover they need to loosen their reins a little while in order to find ways to continue to hold employees accountable.

Without the ability to continuously monitor employees in a shared office space, they may find success by focusing more on what gets done and whether it meets well-defined quality standards. It’s helpful, too, to be willing to experiment a little with technology and how meetings are conducted.

Managing remote teams: start doing 5 key activities

1 | A guide for good communication

When everyone is working remotely, a lot of activities and operations are made independently and sometimes you neglect communication, however this is exactly what you should not do, because communication is key. If directors or managers don’t create good and open communication channels or instances, the remote worker will feel forgotten.

This is something that is not easy for larger organizations, so it is important to keep the flow of information about what every colaborator is doing. It’s going to be transparent for companies and workers to know and see everyone’s activities throughout the day. 

2 | Understanding and education about remote work

If you’re managing remote or hybrid work it would be good for you to know the potential challenges you have to face. The thing is you need to know how to maintain employee engagement, and it doesn’t matter where people are located. 

3 | Look for talents that manage themselves

Leading a remote team is not easy, and when a team member is not a good fit it is harder. If the last one is your current situation, think twice about keeping or not that person as part of your team, because maybe they are not following company values, do not have the right work ethic, whatever it might be it could lead to something negative for the whole team.  

One solution is that you should figure out what traits are most important, and develop a way to let your candidate show you who they are when hiring processes are running. Consider some aspects like: Self-motivation – Positive attitude – Team player. 

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4 | What channels are you using?

There are a lot of ways to communicate nowadays, so how you communicate with other team members should not slow down the conversation. Make sure you establish the right channel for each purpose. Ask your team’s preferences and be flexible. Video conferencing for regular reunions could work, chat for quick doubts, text if there’s an urgent need, so whatever works, just go for it.

5 | Resources for all the team

One important aspect is that you need to guarantee access to resources in order to help workers to grow and handle activities efficiently, for instance: books or e-books, courses, certifications, templates, softwares and other tools. Your team needs to be equipped, this is going to help improve productivity and commitment. 

The truth is today managing a remote team is less about strict procedures and more about flexibility and working for the whole team in order to be successful.

Midtown HR is the company behind a hundred happy companies. We´re focused on simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team.

4 essential aspects of inclusion in the workplace

Business owners know that inclusion in the workplace is important and essential In order to have a healthy environment within the company, and also to make diversity programs and all initiatives related to this subject 100% successful.

On the other hand, Inclusion is extremely important for organizations looking to build a strong sense of connection and belonging and also an engaging culture.

4 essential aspects of inclusion in the workplace

Let’s start defining Inclusion, so first and foremost we can say that it’s been always present in different organizations, but we all know one of the biggest challenges today is to create diverse and really inclusive environments. Truth be told, many companies have figured out the diversity aspect, but not inclusion, so it is great to finally hear a lot about this subject and its importance lately.

1 | Leaders need to be educated about it

The leader is on the front line with workers, so it might be important to have inclusion programs or training in order to understand the basics, what is inclusion and why it is important.

HR managers communicate to leaders they need to be inclusive, but in some cases people don’t know what it means exactly, so bosses at every level should receive training in unconscious bias, which occurs when individuals make judgments about people based on gender, race or other factors without realizing they’re doing it. This will definitely let leaders make better decisions.

2 | Easy access to resources 

Knowing your organization is committed to your well-being and growth is game-changing to workers. Resources like support from managers or diversity and affinity groups enforce the feeling of that commitment. On the other hand, learning and self improvement opportunities know that their company cares about their ideas, aspirations, and everyone’s growth.

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3 |  Create a culture of respect

If employees feel their uniqueness and differences are respected and valued around the organization they will feel safe and they are going to be committed with their duties all the time.

Leaders can support employees in improving respect through diversity awareness training as well, empathy development, and understanding personal biases and their impacts in the company.

4 | Empower employees in the workplace

Everyone wants to make a positive contribution doing their job, so It is important for leaders to give support and to create an environment where each employee’s contribution is valued equally. Leaders can lead by example by showing from the top-down that everyone has a place at the table and should be given an opportunity to participate.

To close this topic, we can say that inclusion always creates employee engagement and a sense of belonging. In order for organizations to have great talent around, they must embrace and encourage engagement. Along with it, organizations need to make sure that they are diverse and have an inclusive environment.

Midtown HR is the company behind a hundred happy companies. We´re focused on simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team. Let’s talk!

HR audit: What is it? Why is it important?

It doesn’t matter how many employees are part of your organization today, there’s always a time when you have to deal with difficulties or issues in human resources. From company policies to benefit packages, job descriptions, wages and salaries, everything that’s associated with your employees must be included in the HR management.

Especifically, an HR audit is an objective examination of your business’s HR policies, practices, and processes. The goal is to look for trouble spots and/or identify ways you can improve. 

You have options, so if you can hire an outside company to perform the audit or you can instruct your HR department to perform an internal audit both are good.

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HR audit: What is it? Why is it important?

Different lawyers recommend that their business clients perform human resources audits as a proactive measure to keep the company out of problems concerning legal issues. 

HR audits are important because they can identify HR successes and HR deficiencies as well. An HR audit every three months, six months or annually should be incorporated into the HR department’s activities and the results can be used to develop improvements in the departmental functions as well as your company’s workforce.

Human resource audit should be designed to objectively revise and evaluate all the strategies, policies, processes and procedures, structure, systems and documents of the organization’s human resource management in order to enhance organizational performance.  

Take into account what follows when doing an HR audit:

• Ensure that legal compliance and governance requirements are being met
• Confirm that business and talent management objectives are achieved
• Identify and manage all human resources management risks
• Make sure the organization’s human resources add real value

HR processes are dynamic so the HR audit is based on the principle that activities have to be re-addressed and refreshed constantly if they are to keep on being quick to respond to needs that are changing all the time. 

Now you understand more about HR audits. We hope this information is helpful for you to make decisions. Midtown HR is the company behind a hundred happy companies. We´re focused on simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team. Let’s talk!

What is company culture and why is it important?

Basically, we can define company culture as the shared values, attributes and characteristics of any organization. It’s referred to the behaviors and attributes of the people within a company, and it makes it self evident when we can observe people interacting with each other, the values they hold and consider important and also the kind of decisions they make.

Your culture impacts everything from performance to how the organization is perceived for the audience, the media or external partners.

The importance of company culture

1 | It defines your company’s internal and external identity

You can make an exercise by writing down on a piece of paper different attributes that best describe the organization’s culture. You might write something like “good work-life balance” or “lots of meetings” or maybe “sharing good moments with team members”.

Now, spend some time thinking about why each of those attributes are important and why is it relevant that your company has a good work-life balance? What makes these culture attributes valuable to your people and customers?

Organizational culture will be present in every aspect of your business because it represents the way you do business. It’s simultaneously your identity and your image, which means it determines how everyone out of the company perceives you.

2 | Organizational culture drives purpose

If organizational culture is defined everything is driven by purpose and clear expectations. This motivates and inspires employees to be more engaged doing all activities and also improves interactions with other people. It also leads to high levels of workforce engagement, which drives productivity. 

3 | Your brand identity communicates power

People make assumptions about businesses based on their interactions within and outside of the company. If we don’t have an organizational culture the image becomes weak, so customers may hesitate to do business with anyone who is associated with the brand. 

There´s something that becomes clear, brands with strong identity attract business opportunities and also job candidates with similar values.

4 | Effective onboarding

Nowadays businesses with an organizational culture are relying on effective onboarding practices to train new hires. Onboarding practices that include orientation, training and good performance management programs help new team members to access the right resources and better transition into their roles. 

5 | Company culture is important for employers too

Company culture is important to employers as well, because workers who fit in with the company culture are likely to not only be happier, but more productive day to day. When an employee fits in with the culture, they are also likely to want to stay with that company more time, it develops fidelity, which reduces turnaround and everything related to the costs of training new people.

Midtown HR is focused on simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team. Let’s talk!

Do HR professionals include risk management as part of their activities?

Human resource professionals include risk management as one of their main tasks and it is actually one of the most important subjects for them, among other activities, since organizations have an obligation to attend to the safety and also the well being of every worker, besides it is a moral obligation to care.

Organizations need to look at all the risks throughout their entire operations and incorporate risk management into all planning and decision making. 

In the United States risk management is regulated under OSHA, because Workers should be protected from occupational risks they could be exposed to. This could be achieved through a risk management process, which involves risk analysis, risk assessment and risk control best practices. It is also desirable to base risk management on solid and tested methodologies.

Risk management as part of main HR activities

Everything can go very well at the company but small situations can become a big issue if you can not deal with them fast enough. Good management of risks can solve problems HR professionals never thought they could face.

Human resource risk management, what is it about?

Employee related risks to your business can be controlled and minimized if you work on risk management. Employee behavior, management or salaries, for instance, can be considered among all the possible outcomes of employee risks.

Businesses need to ensure that people are protected and can avoid any kind of unexpected  issues. Not taking into account employee-related risk can negatively impact revenue, the reputation of the organization, and other relevant aspects.

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Here’s A couple of options to reduce risk management:

You need to have a hiring plan

Don’t hire in a rush, because later on you will have problems. Organize and plan hiring processes in order to  accomplish what you’re looking for. 

Get good guidance form an expert

We know safety is complicated. It is made up of different variables, some of them can be unpredictable. Optimizing safety can be difficult to do, but is not impossible. Many businesses have benefited from partnering with another organization that can help with issues. It’s important  to follow the latest legal guidelines as well.

On boarding and training is key

Define a program that includes details so you can give it to new members of the team on training programs or onboarding processes. ​​Later, you can track all the requirements to ensure everybody completes them. 

Identify risk early on

The sooner you start working in appropriate processes to manage risks the better. When you start a project, think about risk management. If there are no rules today on the organization associated with risk management, you should consider it from now on, this subject should be embedded into all of your work processes and corporate culture.

Something you need to know is that Workers’ Compensation is an insurance that covers employees and companies in the event of accidents at work as well.

Midtown HR is the company behind a hundred happy companies. We´re focused on simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team. Let’s talk!

Employee perks: The benefits in a post pandemic world

Company owners know that just salary is not enough to retain and attract the best talent nowadays. Employee experience is relevant, and organizations should not only focus on clients, because paying attention to benefits and perks our team receives is going to be positive for the whole business health. 

Today employers and HR professionals are adjusting employee benefits plans to this new reality, now more than ever before we need to be caregivers in order to guarantee health and well being for everyone within the workplace. 

Employee perks: The benefits in a post pandemic world

Flexibility is part of the future

Employers that offer flexibility in how, when and where to work are likely to be perceived more favorably by current and future employees. For employers it doesn’t have to be difficult, so you should create a program that defines the types of flexibility that workers can choose, and then later it is necessary to see how it’s performing, and if it’s necessary to change something.

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Offer plans and options for partially remote work, so collaborators can choose the best location for them and also consider the work they are doing during the week. Create options for remote work full time so everyone has the opportunity to work from their home, a coworking space in a different city or even the road while traveling.

Parental perks

This one has become one of the top perks of the last few years. Why? because millenials are now the largest generation in the workforce.  The age range of millennials in 2021 is 23 to 38 approximately, and a lot of them are now becoming parents.

Some of those perks could be daycare stipends, maternity concierge services, fertility treatments and support for college admissions.

Paid time off

The members of the team need time to go away from work and recharge, and this is actually an issue nowadays, because people are not using vacation time as much as they should be. This kind of alternative can boost work productivity 100%, it just needs to be implemented the right way, giving people time to rediscover their love for the company so they can battle burn out.

On the other hand, people need to feel comfortable asking for paid time off, so maybe you need to ask yourself, how is the company culture treating vacation time for everyone? make it a part of your culture and really disconnect when having vacation time.

Career development

Workers want to learn how to do their job the best way possible, and it is something really important for them if they know they got the support of the company when it comes to training, courses or certifications. Professional development and also the ability to make more income and take on other responsibilities within the company, has a big impact on employee experience.

Children’s care

If you want to improve the parental leave benefit, you could also offer child care as a perk for the parents that are part of your workforce. Some organizations provide child care stipends or even create on site daycare places for their employees.

Midtown HR is the company behind a hundred happy companies. We´re focused on simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team.

Payroll processing: 4 things HR managers need to apply

It doesn’t matter the type of industry your business is operating in, there’s one thing every organization should do and it is to process payroll the right way for their employees.

One thing you need to know is that payroll processing it’s going to be a little bit different between companies, because it depends on the organization specific structure, so it’s important to understand how to process and determine the best way to go forward with these activities when it comes to that matter.

Payroll processing: 4 things HR managers need to apply

In order to pay your workforce, gather important information and send all your staff their paychecks on time, HR professional managers need to work in an effective payroll process, manually or using a system. Let’s see next a couple of important things you need to take into account: 

Clean data is a good place to begin 

Employee data needs to be updated on a regular basis to ensure accurate payroll calculation.

Another aspect you need to remember is that misclassification is a common error, and it could impact your employees health insurance and retirement benefits, also tax withholding, so it’s important for you to organize your data the right way month after month.

Verify all the information

When it comes to timesheets, verify you should have a system that can detect inconsistencies in the data. It would be something useful to prevent or reduce risks so you don’t overspend money when you are working on payroll. It will allow you to check out deductions, commissions or tips that employees might have in some cases.

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Know exactly your payroll costs

The right way to go is knowing exactly how much each employee will cost the organization beyond their wages in order to find inconsistencies during each pay period. Take into account ​​gross wages, benefits, tax and National Insurance withholdings for each employee.

It’s important to make payments on time

You´ll have to pay taxes every month and national insurance as well, this is key to stay compliant. On the other hand by paying employees on time consistently you demonstrate that you appreciate their contribution to the workplace and want them to remain employed.

Payroll is much more complicated and detail-oriented than it may seem, and many small businesses find it more cost-efficient to outsource their payroll services to a third-party provider.

Midtown HR is the company behind a hundred happy companies. We´re focused on simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team. Let’s have a conversation!

What are work related injuries?

Sometimes people doubt when they have work related accidents, so the main idea in this article is to clarify and define this concept in order to help you understand what kind of situations you can name a work related injury.

What are work related injuries?

We can define them as any injury, illness, or condition you suffer during the course and scope of your employment. Briefly, this kind of injury falls into the category of physical illness, occupational illness or repetitive stress illness.

Physical illness

These are considered one of the most common workplace accidents. For example, injuries are the result of a staff member’s personal work. On the other hand, they can be injuries caused by other people’s actions, like being hit by a machine, and other general workplace accidents.

Occupational illness

Occupational illnesses are conditions that you contract, develop, or get worse while you are  on your job activities. For instance, if you work in a clinic, you may contract a contagious disease or maybe an illness. 

There are conditions that can develop right away or gradually after years of exposure to work environments and different harsh conditions.

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Repetitive stress illness

This one is the third type of injury that needs to be covered by workers compensation. Repetitive stress illness happens when you do the same task or activity day after day, for years. One of the most common is carpal tunnel syndrome. One thing you need to know is that it occurs across all occupations. 

​​If your job requires you to constantly bend over, lift really heavy objects, scan items, or move in a certain way, you can develop these kinds of illnesses.

Other common work related injuries

Workplace health and safety measures have been increasing the past years, so common work-related injuries rates have been decreasing, however there’s a lot of work left to do in the future in order to completely eliminate them.

1 | Slips, trips and falls.

2 | Muscle strains.

3 | Struck by workers or falling objects

4 | Crashes or collisions

5 | Harmful substances or risk on environments

6 | Fire and explosions

7 | Injuries by persons or animals

Midtown HR is the company behind a hundred happy companies. We´re focused on simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team. Let’s talk!

What are human resources solutions for companies? and what do they need in 2022

If you ask yourself what are human resources solutions you should know this is an umbrella term that refers to different activities and technology businesses use to manage their people. On the other hand, it can include a large set of features and functions for employee management and reporting.

In addition to providing options for storing, organizing, prioritizing and processing information about employees, HR solutions can be more than basic human resources, so we can add functionalities like payroll, talent management, time and attendance, workers compensation, and many other areas.

Human resources solutions companies need in 2022

HR tech

This is a trend nowadays and it’s been growing rapidly in recent years, with large employers around the world widely adopting different HR technology systems from enterprise software companies such as specialized HR tech consultants.

Today workers are migrating or have already done it from their old systems to new cloud platforms. In the meantime, small and mid-sized businesses and their collaborators are also moving to digitize their human resource functions.

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Talent management

We´ve checked out this solution in previous posts and in general terms it is the process of recruiting, developing, evaluating and compensating employees. 

One thing you should know is that this is mostly managed in separated applications or in a talent management software that consist of different modules to manage recruitment and onboarding of new members, also learning and development, performance management, workers compensation management and payroll.

Performance management

If we talk about the feedback part of HR, we’ve come a long way from the old days when we just had a brief chat with people to know more about what they are doing and start giving suggestions. Today, there are a lot of companies that understand the importance of tracking performance and giving feedback in a different way.

Today’s performance management technology lets organizations give and receive continuous feedback to workers and managers. If companies are using software that can track people’s progress and give valuable insights, it will allow us to understand how we can get better. This also helps managers to support their employees when necessary.

Midtown HR is the company behind a hundred happy companies. We´re focused on simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team. Let’s talk!

Jobs with flexible schedules: Should I offer this option to my team?

Flexible hours and jobs with flexible schedules it’s not something uncommon anymore, today a lot of traditional employers are offering these alternatives to collaborators. As an employer, we know you might not completely be sure about offering that kind of alternatives to your workers.

One thing we need to understand is that employees and employers can benefit from flexible schedules. Smart employers know that these are good for both productivity and well being of their people, in fact it also applies for them or the owners of the companies.

It’s been a long process, it has taken some time for everyone to change the traditional expectations of a 9 to 5 workday because we are so used to that. Truth is the benefits of flexible work can help businesses stay ahead of the competition.

Jobs with flexible schedules: Should I offer this option to my team?

Let’s define workplace flexibility as an agreement between employer and employees. 

This kind of agreement usually refers to some components like:

1. Employers can choose where they work from.
2. It is possible to create a work schedule that fits best for them.
3. Schedule their work day the way they consider is the best.

A survey made for Flexjobs (remote and flexible jobs site) took five thousands workers and asked about what they really want for their careers, of those surveyed, 68% said that they’d “consider changing careers”, and they’d rather make changes to have better work-life balance than to receive a higher salary.

This data shows what people are prioritizing, more than anything else after pandemic times, and it’s important to know for companies that are constantly attracting new talents. The situation we all live in the last two years is shaping a new economy, where flexibility takes a huge role.

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There are some workers, specifically front-line workers, who need to be on site at a certain time every single day to make sure customers receive the best attention, so making flex schedules available to these people is important and it is also more of a balancing act. There´s no doubt this can be a big incentive to attract motivated front-line staff.

It is beneficial for employees and employers

To close the article we can say the potential advantages are well known, including an improved work-life balance, greater autonomy and improved morale. On the other hand it’s important for employers to recognise the business benefits of flexible working options too. 

It’s not just collaborators who stand to gain from those alternatives, because companies can actually reduce costs, improve output and increase loyalty when schemes are implemented the right way.

Midtown HR is the company behind a hundred happy companies. We´re focused on simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team, ¡Let’s talk!

Teamwork skills: how to practice it with your employees?

Teamwork skills are essential if you want to get great results with colleagues. Several times in your life you´ll probably be working with other people in different areas, sometimes in school, at the university and of course at your Job. Truth is the better you connect with others while doing tasks the more successful your team will be at achieving goals.

One good thing is that experience makes it better, because if we’ve been through different situations to accomplish some projects, for instance, in the future we´ll be able to handle hard times and take advantage of good times together as a great team. 

Teamwork skills: how to practice it with your employees?

The skills we have when we work with a team are vital to success, and enabling people to be really successful when they collaborate is a critical part of the broader employee experience. Nowadays, leaders are responsible for putting teams together and making sure that they do succeed. 

Some examples on how to improve team working skills

1 | Define your teams mission and purposes 

Something everybody needs to understand when being part of a team is that we all should share the same mission and go after the same goals. This principle is actually above individual goals within the workplace.

As a team, reaching goals together is more valuable than individual efforts. Individuals are still important, but for getting maximum teamwork success, everyone needs to commit to a common goal.  

2 | Be effective when it comes to communicate

Lately we’ve been working remotely more than ever before, so communication has never been such an important part of our Jobs. On the other hand, challenges and opportunities are near because now people are coming back to offices as well. 

In any given situation good communication is key to resolve issues and to prevent different bad situations and also to build a sense of camaraderie between all participants.

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3 | Openness and trust are important

Teamwork is definitely focused on trust, because it’s a key ingredient for team activities. Trust is present when you encourage others to speak freely without fear of an angry response. You’ll also notice the insights and a lot of creativity starting to come up as people are less afraid of expressing themselves.

4 | Everybody in the team is important and accountable

Everyone’s responsibilities relate to having clear roles and knowing exactly what’s your part within the team. Leaders can model accountability by accepting that things haven’t gone as well as planned, and also celebrating every success of the team.

If we take this into account everybody will feel they can take risks, and also they know it´s o.k to lose sometimes so, it’s not going to be an issue to be vulnerable as well.

Good teamwork skills will give us more chances to move forward in our professional careers. If we develop and make the most out of these skills, people will see you as someone with a great attitude who thinks the company’s goals are important. 

Midtown HR is the company behind a hundred happy companies. We´re focused on simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team.

Check out this 5 ways to encourage employee productivity

Every company wants to get the most out of their employees but also want to keep them happy in order to accomplish great results, and the truth is that since the world is changing a lot the way we work, organizations are evaluating ways to encourage and really motivate their workforce.

Some business owners incentivize using different methods like inspiring, dictating speeches and conferences and giving perks or other incentives to motivate employees to do their best job.

Check out this 5 ways to encourage employee productivity

1 | Always be transparent with all the team

When collaborators know what’s happening at different levels within the organization they feel included and connected. It’s also good to ask questions to different employees in orden to get their opinions, maybe with surveys, so they feel directors and managers are listening and they perceive and understand that everyone wants to get better or wants to improve processes.

2 | Know the skills of team members and match to tasks

One thing that is going to maximize efficiency is understanding the skills of different members of the team, so this way you´ll be able to match those to the tasks, and the results are going to be better, for sure. 

If you ask your employees to be great at everything they do it is not something 100% efficient, so instead before assigning a task you can verify and ask yourself: if that one is the person best suited to accomplish the activity? If not, find someone else whose skills match with the task required.

3 | Give incentives to people

You are going to encourage your employees if you actually give them reasons to do it, so recognizing good work they have done and giving them different rewards will make them feel great and they will continue increasing their productivity.

For instance, public recognition might be appreciated for one member and sometimes people appreciate just one private message with a “thank you” or expressing gratitude for the support received and the great job done.

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4 | Flexible hours are valuable and appreciated 

It’s known this kind of perks are demanded for workers and also appreciated. With the option of flexible hours throughout the day to do different tasks workers would have more time to do activities needed with family and kids, so If workers know flexible schedules are possible it will increase work productivity. Happy team members spend more time solving problems than complaining.

5 | Special bonuses

You are going to be amazed with outcomes and results related to tasks and company objectives when you offer special bonuses. Something clear is that they are not offered all the time, but when you really think it’s needed to increase productivity and to increase profits, it is definitely something that could help.

Midtown HR is focused on simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team, ¡Let’s talk!

Which are the most helpful health benefits employees need?

According to different studies, salaries are not the main thing people take into account when they are making decisions to get a new job, you´re probably thinking the most important offer is the amount of money per month employees will pay but this is not the case all the time.

There’s a huge percentage of people that would prefer good benefits than a raise in salary. Any form of compensation paid to employees over and above regular salary is considered a benefit. For instance, this can include health insurance, retirement benefits, and workers compensation.

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The most helpful health benefits employees need

Health insurance

According to the Health Insurance Association of America, health insurance can be defined as “coverage that provides for the payments of benefits as a result of sickness or any kind of injury. It’s referred to insurance for losses from accident, medical expense, disability, or accidental death and dismemberment”

One thing you should know is that health insurance is an important factor in retaining and recruiting employees, as well as maintaining productivity or employee satisfaction. 

Flexible options when it comes to remote work

The traditional working schedule in the week is not the favorite one for a lot of employees today, so you can have arrangements with people and rotate days within the week in order to work remotely.  

On the other hand employees may choose a different work schedule to do personal activities or to meet family needs. Alternatively, employers may initiate various schedules to meet their customer needs. These kinds of alternatives are really valued for employees nowadays.

Child Care benefits

One of the most difficult things for people is to organize everything related to child care while they are at work full time, so companies offering child care benefits are going to call people’s attention. Back-up childcare assistance are examples of the kinds of cost-efficient and effective benefits businesses should offer.

The truth is that productivity of workers increases if they know their children are safe while they are busy, and also they feel good because there´s no extra charge for that.  

Midtown HR is the company behind a hundred happy companies. We´re focused on simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team.

How does health insurance work with a PEO?

There´s no doubt an essential requirement in these times is health insurance, because it basically works by protecting people’s assets from some high costs of medical care. Business owners know their companies should provide good coverage associated with this subject. It’s actually considered the second largest expense for companies, after the salaries.

Managing health insurance the right way is key to administrate costs while adding value to the plans for your employees. 

After a company signs a co-employment agreement with a PEO, employees will have access to the same health plan offered to all the businesses that have signed co-employment agreements with the PEO. 

Previous paragraph means that your employees can have access to health plans that are usually expensive for small or mid-sized businesses to offer, and this is because there’s a big amount of employees to absorb the risk of anyone getting sick, or having some other issue related with health.

Health insurance definition in simple words

This is a type of insurance that covers medical expenses that arise due to different illnesses. These expenses could be related to hospitalisation costs, cost of medicines or doctor consultation fees.

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How does health insurance work with a PEO?

The changes we`ve been facing since last year are difficult for all of us, so chances are everyone is thinking about health insurance as the most important benefit that can be provided. Here’s how health insurance works under a PEO:

1 | PEO`s have more options when it comes to health insurance carriers, because they have access to more product offerings they can make available to everyone. 

2 | With a PEO you’ll find not only a better product, but an easier way to manage health insurance costs and administration.

3 |  They can manage the whole carrier relationship from the very beginning, starting when you select the policy that fits the employee’s needs, till the end of the year when it is necessary to renew.

4 | Employees will be really satisfied with the options, since PEO offers health insurance that really adds value to their life, besides this way companies protect the investment made for employees.    

If you want to know more about how you can remove the considerable time and all activities related to managing health insurance plans we are here to help you. MidtownHR’s is focused on simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team, ¡Let’s talk!

HR compliance: What are the important things owners need to know?

Different business owners agree HR compliance is really important for companies of different sizes. There’s something we need to understand when it comes to a PEO that gives support to companies, and the thing is they are not a replacement for HR departments, they´re actually an extension.

Compliance is a broad term, but it essentially refers to the rules that your business must follow in order to protect your interests and your employees. From local statutes to federal regulations, it’s PEO´s job to understand the requirements and to keep you compliant.

Since it is a little bit strange to find a company that’s 100% expert on its core business and also in the employee administration area, it’s here where PEO´s can help a lot.

Here´s a short HR Compliance definition

HR compliance is basically the development of procedures and policies that ensure your business carries out fair practices according to every law and regulations.

HR compliance: What are the important things owners need to know?

The value a PEO offers is that they allow companies to focus on their expertise, so they can grow and thrive. PEOs can help with several services, an it depends on what you need:

1 – Payroll and tax administration

2 – Employee benefits and benefits administration

3 – Workers’ Compensation – Risk management and safety

4 – HR compliance

PEO´S manage activities they are expert on

When you work with a PEO they absorb different activities to ensure your company maintains compliance with state and federal laws, some of them are specific to particular businesses. Something you need to take into account is that you need to choose the right partner.

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Stay always compliant

If you’re not staying compliant this is going to negatively affect your business in terms of cost as well. On the other hand, in times like these the professional employee organizations can give important advice about the new normal and everything related to HR management during pandemic or post pandemic times. 

The right compliance activities can influence employee development, retention and also hiring new team members. It’s fundamental that you understand your goals and your current strategies for growing the business. This is going to help you clarify any doubt you could have about how compliance best practices can make a big impact when we refer to decision making.

MidtownHR’s is focused on simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team, ¡Let’s talk!

How to help your team improve their remote work practices?

We all know that in the last two years a lot of workplaces had to adjust to keep employees safe and follow various health and safety measures. The biggest adjustment is probably the remote work. This type of workers and also employers working from home are increasing.

Today both employers and employees know how beneficial a work from home option can be, with many companies shifting to full-time remote or offering flexible work solutions indefinitely. So, from that point forward it’s essential to maintain certain best practices in order to be successful.

How to help your team improve their remote work practices?

1 | Organice flexible schedules

With the right organization it’s possible to work in different periods of time throughout the day and not the traditional 9 to 5, so planning and good time management is the key to achieve all the tasks we want, both in professional and personal routines.

Every department has its own pace and dynamics, so as a manager it would be something good to talk with your employees in order to find the best schedule for each of them. At the end of the day the majority of people end up working standard hours even in remote work.

2 | Define goals

Working from home requires discipline, no doubt about it, it’s necessary to accomplish some specific task day to day in order to meet the established goals, so as a manager one good practice is to set clear expectations for employees. Start following weekly update meetings and short term goals, so everyone will know and understand what tasks need to be done and prioritize.

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3 | Trust is important

It’s true, managing a remote team is not easy. Managers need to lead and guide people from different locations, time zones and also different backgrounds. As a remote manager you have to create a healthy environment and a good working relationship between all team members.  

One thing we need to understand is that remote teams need space and some freedom to manage their work efficiently, so over communication and micromanagement can affect productivity in a negative way.

According to different research, when employees feel empowered at work, it directly leads to high job satisfaction, retention and good performance.

4 | Manage documents in the cloud

Storing your documents and files in a cloud data center makes it possible to have access and share them anytime you want and in an efficient way. One of the main advantages when you follow this approach is the ability to edit documents online regardless of your location or device. This function can also be extended to co-workers, clients, partners or maybe suppliers. 

Managing documents in the cloud it’s a plus when it comes to security, collaboration, permission, backup, recovery of documents and cost.

Now you can apply these remote work practices.

MidtownHR can help your company with simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team, ¡Let’s talk!

4 tips for effective human resource management

After everything that happened in 2020 with the start of the global Covid-19 pandemic affecting companies of different levels, we can ask ourselves: how can we lead Human resource management and functions in the next years to come? and the answer definitely should consider the development of a digital transformation strategy but, more importantly, extends beyond technology to take into account people-centric issues.

Human resources management is about the life cycle of employees in an organization: recruiting, hiring, onboarding, training and separation. 

Today HR goes beyond this process because at its core HRs main goal is to support all the human talent within the company.  As businesses continue to adapt to the new routines, we all know existing employees will need more support than ever before.

4 things you need to apply for effective human resource management

1 | Employee wellness programs and other benefits

It’s no secret that the stress levels of people have been increasing the last couple of years, so to keep their good mental health, HR managers should advance with workplace wellness programs to strengthen employee’s wellbeing and to have a work-life balance as well.

Care for your employees making activities that include different benefits and wellness practices such as healthy lunches, entertaining activities with the team, festive celebrations and also interactive video calls with groups or maybe the whole company. On the other hand, it’s important to educate your employees about mental health issues like anxiety, stress, or depression and how to handle them.

2 | Organization is key to management

Stay organized, it’s fundamental that you be always able to find documents in the right place, and for corporations of different sizes it’s also important to use one good software to keep things neat and well administered.

If you are well organized, you’re going to avoid headaches when there are a lot of things to manage at once. Multitasking is an important word here, and it’s one of the main things that HR managers should be great at. There are potentially lots of issues you need to face if you don’t keep things that way.

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3 | Successful companies are transparent

The greatest companies are conformed by a group of human beings who are productive and collaborative through mutual trust. Great human resources management is crucial because it builds trust through encouraging authenticity in different levels and keeping transparent measures in place around the business. 

All this is going to help you build a solid relationship with each collaborator, and it’s going to improve work results at the same time.

4 | Remain compliant it’s a must-do

If you stay compliant with all state and national regulations you’re going to avoid a lot of unpleasant issues, it’s part of the human resource department to stay on top of that. Your HR team needs to understand how these legalities impact the overall company. 

Avoiding noncompliance will put legal actions against the company far away. For instance, if one employee communicates that he thinks there are unfair employment procedures, this could affect all company practices.

Now you understand how to make your human resource management more effective. MidtownHR can help your company with simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team. MidtownHR is on a mission to create a world of optimistic entrepreneurs.

5 employee benefits that will make the workforce love your company

Nowadays the companies agree that if you want to keep your talent happy and really engage there´s more than just salaries. People are your most valuable asset, and to come up with great non monetary benefits for your employees is something that would determine if they’re going to stay for a while.

About employee benefits and what they really are

Employee benefits are related to indirect payment for your workforce, for instance, it can be medical health plans, dental plans and vision insurance. Jobs can vary a lot in terms of benefits, maybe one of them offer a high salary proposition, but the other one offers great benefits, and this is definitely something people take into consideration before getting onboard.

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Employee benefits that will make workforce feel joyful

Let’s take a look at some examples related to the most important benefits companies offer today:

Short term disability

It’s basically done to protect both counter parts (employee and employers) under circumstances associated with workers that can no longer do their job activities because of illness or other injuries.

Whole life insurance

This benefit provides permanent coverage when it comes to the life of the person. One thing you need to know is that whole life insurance lasts for a policyholder’s lifetime, as opposed to the term life insurance, which works for a specific amount of time/years.

Hospital advantage

You can use these benefits as it fits your needs. It offers different benefits such as ambulance transportation, emergency room benefits, preventative care, among others.

Employee Entertainment Benefits Program

These benefits are associated with food, drinks, gift cards and other types of leisure activities. This is a great way to reward and also to retain employees with exclusive discounts maybe, or special offers and benefits for events.

The most important health care benefits

Medical 

With different kinds of coverages the employees can receive treatments that they need from a medical healthcare provider, and also preventive consultations, maybe check-ups and some emergency services.

Dental

Basically these are benefits that help you pay the price when you go to the dentist for prevention and different services, for instance, teeth cleaning, X-rays and fillings.

Vision

Vision insurance is normally used to describe health and wellness plans designed to reduce costs for routine preventive eye care (eye exams in general).

If you want to know more about other great benefits your employees can enjoy visit this link and discover a wealth of additional perks, from insurance protection to retirement plans for your workforce.

MidtownHR can help your company with simple solutions for payroll and taxes, propose benefits that really feel like benefits, keep up with employment law and also help protect your team. MidtownHR is on a mission to create a world of optimistic entrepreneurs.