HR. Simplified.
By Matt Vaadi
Whether you love dealing with HR issues or hate it, your business depends on human capital. As a leader, you need to be the model for the right way to do things.
Join Matt Vaadi and the team of HR Guhroos as they provide useful and practical HR advice that can be implemented immediately in your company. They will help you grow your business with simple and ethical best practices.
HR. Simplified. Jan 25, 2021
How to Create an Employee Handbook
In this episode, Matt tackles one of the most common questions he receives from small business owners: 'Should we have an employee handbook?' He breaks down whether or not you should have a handbook and what should be included in it. Join him to discover why it's a must-have for your company, covering everything from establishing clear expectations to providing legal protection. He discusses the following topics and more: • The Importance of Employee Handbooks • Do You Need an Employee Handbook? • Getting Started - The Basics • Acknowledgment and Implementation • Keeping Employees Engaged Three Key Takeaways: 1. Employee handbooks are a fundamental necessity for businesses, serving as a blueprint for success, regardless of their size or industry. 2. Handbooks play critical roles in setting clear expectations for employees, providing legal protection in disputes, and defining a company's culture. 3. It's important to make handbooks engaging through visuals and infographics while maintaining clarity in policies, as these documents reflect a company's brand and professionalism. Checkout guHRoo's Handbook building service here: https://www.guhroo.co/employee-handbook/
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Resources
Should You Use An Offer Letter?
In this episode, Matt shared the use of offer letters during the hiring process and how it can help in ensuring a smooth and legally sound hiring process. Join Matt as he explores why offer letters are indispensable and how they can benefit both employers and potential hires. He also talks about the following and more: • Introduction to Offer Letters • Diverse Role of Offer Letters • Crucial Components • Emphasis on Practicality **Three Takeaways** 1. Offer letters serve as written records that define terms of employment, safeguarding employers and employees in case of disagreements or disputes. 2. Utilizing offer letters not only ensures clarity on job expectations and compensation but also helps small business owners comply with legal requirements and obligations. 3. Offer letters exhibit professionalism and commitment, making potential employees more likely to accept offers So should you use an offer letter? Find out the importance of an offer letter. You can get a FREE Offer Letter Template here: https://go.guhroo.co/25-free-hr-templates
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*Are you enjoying HR. Simplified.? Please subscribe and rate us five stars on your player of choice. It helps us continue to improve.
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*Check out the video versions of the episodes as well as other HR tips on our Youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7ddr3iUbx-l2_fE8KaLCUA
Resources
Team Building Games
In today's episode, Matt will go through some excellent ideas for team-building activities that will enhance culture, engagement, and retention.
The advantages of team building include enhanced collaboration, planning abilities, employee engagement, and communication. Employees can connect in a different environment by engaging in enjoyable activities that allow them to perceive each other in a new way.
Teams that function well together can solve problems more efficiently than if each team member worked alone when time and effort are invested in building such teams. In other words, the sum is worth more than the parts.
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*Check out the video versions of the episodes as well as other HR tips on our Youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7ddr3iUbx-l2_fE8KaLCUA
ResourcesHiring a Virtual Assistant | Should you leverage offshore talent to grow your payroll company?
A lot of people are interested in leveraging offshore talent to move their business forward. While this is not a new thing, there are still a lot of limiting beliefs about what you can get help with from offshore teammates.
People are worried about the level of skill, getting screwed over, worried about the quality of the work, don’t trust the systems, and don’t know how to get started.
We are going to help you navigate this. We have completed over 100 contracts with offshore assistants and specialists ranging from general virtual assistants to highly skilled professionals.
We have spent well into the six figures with offshore talent over the last few years and it provides a nice supplement to our local team.
Our mindset is that we can create far more “onshore” jobs by leveraging contract talent to help us grow. In this episode we covered the following and more:
- The types of tasks and projects you can offshore
- Where to find remote talent
- How to set your offshore teammates (and yourself) up for success
- Lessons learned from our experience and how to apply it yourself
- Creating clear expectations and SOP's is the only way to have success with offshore assistants.
- Be diligent and patient when hiring. Make sure you have a process in place for evaluating talent.
- Your offshore team should be a supplement to your local team and do basic tasks to start and grow over time.
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*Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://anchor.fm/hr-simplified/message
*Check out the video versions of the episodes as well as other HR tips on our Youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7ddr3iUbx-l2_fE8KaLCUA
About the Host & GuestFind Matt on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattvaadi/
Find Karen on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-altman-748b1a84/
Resources
Tips for hiring remote employees | Best practices for hiring remote employees
In this episode, Matt shares how to find remote teammates. Hiring remote employees can lead to a lot more work, can create some unique issues when determining who is a good fit, and you can make bad hires just as easy. We cover how to define what you are looking for, where to find people, how to actively recruit, and how to be efficient with your time.
I am taking the perspective of the small business owner here, so I will do my best to let you know what can (and should be delegated) and what you should do yourself.
We are going to discuss everything leading up to the interviews. This is the sourcing phase. How do we find the talent to fill the funnel?
Subscribe Now! Enjoying the show?*Are you enjoying HR. Simplified.? Please subscribe and rate us five stars on your player of choice. It helps us continue to improve.
*Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://anchor.fm/payrollin/message
*Check out the video versions of the episodes as well as other HR tips on our Youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7ddr3iUbx-l2_fE8KaLCUA
ResourcesShould you hire remote workers? | The pros and cons of hiring remote teammates
In today’s episode, Matt gets into some of the pros and cons of hiring remote teammates along with his own personal experience leading a hybrid team.
Growing a remote workforce is a trend that was accelerated by Covid-19 but it can be scary if you are used to the old way of doing things.
How do you hire, retain, and engage top talent while maintaining compliance across state lines? This can be a big challenge for small businesses.
We are going to be going through a series on remote work where we will address all areas including recruiting, hiring, performance management, and even terminations. Today we are going to kick it off with should you hire remote workers.
Subscribe Now! Enjoying the show?*Are you enjoying HR. Simplified.? Please subscribe and rate us five stars on your player of choice. It helps us continue to improve.
*Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://anchor.fm/payrollin/message
*Check out the video versions of the episodes as well as other HR tips on our Youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7ddr3iUbx-l2_fE8KaLCUA
Resources
Group Health Insurance Options for Small Businesses | Are You Wasting Money?
In today’s episode, Matt chats with Niko Caparisos, Principal of Prosperity Benefits, LLC out of Savannah, GA. They covered a wide range of topics including health and well-being of employees, group health insurance alternatives, why so many companies pay for perceived security, and more. During this insightful episode, Matt and Niko cover the following topics:
- [02:49] Unique Ways for Companies to Avoid Mistakes in Securing Health Insurance
- [10:08] Alternative Options for Group Health Insurance
- [13:03] The Key Differences of the Types of Insurance for Small Businesses
- [20:18] How Money plays a Role in Long-Term Planning
- [33:11] How does Intermittent Fasting Boost Your Performance
How can your team dominate the competition now and in the future? That is what we want you to do. Let's work together to do this.
More about Niko
Niko Caparisos is the Principal of Prosperity Benefits, LLC, a boutique firm, offering a high level of care and unique service distinctions that are not typically offered at larger brokerages. He is also a Program Architect of Community-Owned Health Plans and has built a health plan architecture to help Georgia-based employers gain control over their health plan spend, provide amazing benefits to staff, and help their local communities.
He is an Accredited Advisor of Health Rosetta, an ecosystem for scaling adoption of practical non-partisan fixes to our health care system by enabling public and private employers and unions to reduce their health benefits spending by 20% or more while improving the quality of care for plan members.
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If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by clicking the link and sharing what you learned.
Click here to share your number one takeaway from the episode.
If you have questions about starting or scaling a small business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!
Engage, Retain, and Grow Your People: The ERG Method for Employee Development
Let’s face it, some people on your team are miserable. They are on LinkedIn right now looking for their next job. According to Gallup, only 30% of employees are actively engaged. That means you have more than just a few miserable people on your team. In this episode, Matt breaks down the three most critical areas of HR that high-performing organizations do right.
Why does this matter?
Actively engaged employees outperformed the disengaged employees by 200%. That’s right - 200%. That is a staggering number and should have all of us scrambling to move our people to that level of engagement.
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How do we engage our team members and retain them longer?
While there is not a single action that can achieve this, there is a combination of things. In his best-selling book “Ping-Pong is Not a Strategy: How to Create an Awesome Organizational Culture”, Matt Vaadi outlines the “ERG Method” for engaging, retaining, and growing your teammates.
In this episode we will cover the key principles from the book including how to improve each of these areas of your organization:
- Hiring - Screening, selection, and onboarding of new hires.
- Performance - Shifting to an outcome-focused environment, education and training, and goal setting.
- Training - Develop and lead your people to success by investing in their education.
Regardless of how mature your HR function is at your organization, you will learn something during this spirited session. Matt’s passion and experience helping teams grow will keep you engaged throughout.
How a Shortened Work Week Can Improve Productivity
In this episode, Matt talks with Bryan Murdaugh at Fivable about going to a 4 day work week. Fivable adopted a rotating 4-day work week as an experiment back in May 2020.
In February 2020, Fivable was 100% co-located in their Irmo, SC office. After the 4 day work week implementation, in August 2020 Fivable was located in 4 states, 3 time zones, and just one or two members of their team will find their way into the office during the day.
Fivable’s 4 day work week experiment worked well enough that they are still on that same schedule today. Fivable saw productivity increase, employees needing less PTO, and an overall happier environment.
Listen as Matt and Bryan discuss what the 4 day work week looks like and how Fivable implemented the change while balancing the needs of their clients.
Here are some topics that are covered.- The initial results seen in productivity when Fiveable made the 4 day work week switch.
- How The Fiveable 4 day work week was structured in order to still meet client needs.
- Tools to make remote work successful
- What would Bryan change about the process of going to a 4 day work week?
- What Are Some Simple Automations To Fix Dull Mundane Tasks
About the Guest Bryan Murdaugh
Bryan is a web nerd. He started Fivable in March 2010 to make the web a more beautiful place. That appreciation for beauty has shaped the web into a more useful place. Bryan helps businesses to reach more people, improve the way their business moves data, or tell their business story with eloquence.
Fivable has been particularly successful with innovative hardware startups, service companies, and non-profits afraid they're limiting growth by using paper-based systems, frustrated that their teams depend on multiple systems that don't talk to each other or have a great idea to make their product connect to cloud-based data capture systems. At the end of the day, Fivable creates well-fitting web software systems that help their clients save time, minimize frustration, and maximize profitability.
Navigating the Covid-19 Vaccine as an Employer
Employee Retention Tax Credits - Optimize ERTC to Offset COVID-19 Losses
In this episode, Matt talks to David Young from Rockerbox. David is a CPA, attorney, and Tax Credit. Expert Employee Retention Tax Credits (ERTC) are designed to help small business owners offset the economic losses associated with COVID.
The keys here are not just understanding the credits but also understanding how to best maximize them alongside your PPP loans.
During the conversation, they covered the following (and more):
-> Can you claim an employee retention tax credit?
-> How to determine your employee retention tax credit?
-> How to calculate the 2021 employee retention credit?
-> Are there other payroll tax credits?
-> Who is eligible for ERTC?
-> What are the PPP loan stipulations?
If you have been sitting on the sidelines, it is time to get in the game. Don't miss out on tens of thousands of dollars in credits.
Managing a Remote Workforce
In this episode, Matt and Karen talk about leading a remote team. They discuss how ERG handles their remote team as well as some opportunities for improvement.
They covered everything from hiring to performance management, to keeping people engaged, and much more.
COVID-19 has accelerated a trend that was already reshaping our economy: remote work is here to stay.
Here are some key findings from the 2020 State of Remote Work report:
- 70% of full-time workers in the US are working from home during the pandemic.
- 77% of respondents say the option to work from home would make them happier.
- 80% of full-time workers expect to work from home at least three times per week after workspaces reopen.
The data is clear: If you want to retain and attract talent, you need to be ready to manage a partially remote workforce.
Managing a remote workforce comes with its own set of challenges. Compliance requirements, logistical considerations, and cultural issues all mean you’ll need to make some adjustments to do it successfully.
Read the full article on Leading a Remote Team and get the guide here: https://www.ergpayroll.com/remote-work-guide/
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What is Servant Leadership? How to Lead Through Giving
In this episode, Matt talks to best-selling author Bob Burg about servant leadership. Bob is the author of the Go-Giver which has sold more than 975,000 copies worldwide. Matt and Bob covered the below topics, and much more:
- The Five Laws of Success - What are they and how do you apply them to your business?
- How do you become more valuable to your team?
- Putting others first is how you create real influence
- Why authenticity matters for leaders and how to execute
- Giving more is the key to getting more from your team
- Lift others up and make them the hero
- How do we use the Five Laws as leaders of organizations?
The question they answered without saying it is; what is servant leadership? The answer, as Bob put it is; you take the focus off of yourself and put it on others.
Did you enjoy the episode? Please rate us five stars and subscribe.
What are your experiences with servant leadership? Share with us on LinkedIn.
You can find Bob at burg.com and you can follow Matt on LinkedIn here.
About the guest
Bob Burg shares how a subtle shift in focus is not only a more uplifting and fulfilling way of conducting business but the most financially profitable way, as well.
For 30 years he’s helped companies, sales leaders, and their teams to more effectively communicate their value, sell at higher prices with less resistance, and grow their businesses based on Endless Referrals.
Bob regularly addresses audiences ranging in size from 50 to 16,000 — sharing the platform with notables including today’s top thought leaders, broadcast personalities, Olympic athletes, and political leaders including a former United States President.
Although for years he was best known for his book Endless Referrals, over the past few years it’s his business parable, The Go-Giver (coauthored with John David Mann) that has captured the imagination of his readers.
About the podcast
HR. Simplified is a podcast for small business owners—the entrepreneurs, the hustlers, and the leaders who are chasing a dream.
Human resources is the most important, misunderstood, and overlooked aspect of small business success. This podcast is designed to give you the insights, best practices, and answers to questions you need to expertly navigate this critical function.
If you want your dreams to come true, you’re going to need a great team. HR. Simplified. gives you the tools to find, build, and keep that team.
About the host
Matt Vaadi is a human resources expert and serial entrepreneur. He’s the founder and CEO of ERG Payroll & HR, a company that helps small businesses streamline and automate their HR function. He’s also the founder and CEO of Grow by ERG, a digital marketing and SEO shop, as well as a founding member of GrowCo, and Columbia, SC-based collective of business owners and co-founders.
Virtual Holiday Party Ideas and Planning
In today’s episode, Matt chats with Amanda Volz, They are talking about how to conduct a fun and engaging virtual holiday party. During this insightful episode, Matt and Amanda cover the following topics:
- Fun ideas for your holiday party
- How to make a virtual holiday party engaging
- Why is it important to have employee get togethers at the holiday season
Have an HR question you would like us to answer? Email us at support@ergpayroll.com with the subject line “Podcast Question” and we will answer it on air.
How to Properly Terminate an Employee
In today's episode, Matt shares some of the ways you can simplify the termination process. He discusses the trouble with the "it's a right to work state" argument and talks through ways to prevent terminations.
If you are forced to part ways with an employee, Matt shares how you can protect your company and treat the teammate with dignity in the process.
Have an HR question you would like us to answer? Email us at support@ergpayroll.com with the subject line “Podcast Question” and we will answer it on air.
Please rate us five stars on your podcast player and encourage us to create more valuable content for you.
How Do You Motivate Employees?
In today’s episode, Matt chats with Nathan Christensen, CEO of Mammoth HR | ThinkHR out of Portland, OR. They are talking about how to motivate employees. During this insightful episode, Matt and Nathan cover the following topics:
- Can you motivate your employees?
- How do you help your team to reach their potential
- When it is ok to let your teammates fail
Human resources does not have to be complex. Let’s break things down in a way that can save you time and energy.
Have an HR question you would like us to answer? Email us at support@ergpayroll.com with the subject line “Podcast Question” and we will answer it on air.
More about Nathan
Nathan is CEO of ThinkHR and Mammoth HR, companies that deliver on-demand HR solutions to over 300,000 small and mid-size businesses nationwide. Nathan has been named a “Game Changer” in the HR field by Workforce magazine and was selected by the Portland Business Journal as a member of the “Forty Under 40” class. He is a recognized industry leader, speaker, and writer in the fields of leadership, human resources strategy, company culture.
Nathan's articles on management, human resources strategy, and public policy have appeared in publications such as The Washington Post, Fast Company, Forbes, and Workforce. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Lewis & Clark Law School and as a visiting lecturer at The Wharton School of Business.
How can I support the podcast?
If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by clicking the link and sharing what you learned.
Click here to share your number one takeaway from the episode.
Please rate us five stars on your podcast player and encourage us to create more valuable content for you.
Hiring Mistakes Small Businesses Make, the Candidate Experience, and the Future of Work From Home
In today’s episode, Matt chats with James Hornick, Partner at Hirewell and Careerwell out of Chicago, IL. They are talking about all things hiring, work from home, and employer branding. During this insightful episode, Matt and James cover the following topics:
- What hiring mistakes do small businesses make?
- What is the future of work from home?
- Why is the candidate experience so important?
- Where does content creation fit in your hiring process?
- The value and downsides of assessments
- Why you should be recruiting a diverse team of people
- What is company culture and how do you hire for values?
Human resources does not have to be complex. Let’s break things down in a way that can save you time and energy.
Have an HR question you would like us to answer? Email us at support@ergpayroll.com with the subject line “Podcast Question” and we will answer it on air.
More about James
I’m a Partner at 𝗛𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 and I host Hirewell's 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 podcast. Those are the high points.
Since 2001, we've been a staple in the Chicago business community, helping our clients large and small, grow their organizations by recruiting the top-tier talent they need.
𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱.
The recruiting industry is chock full of single skill set providers, but what companies really want is a partner who can have a broad impact across all facets of their organization, solving whatever hiring challenges they have. And we’ve done just that, building diverse teams of highly specialized recruiters in the highest demand fields:
𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆
𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀
𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 & 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴,
𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀
𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 & 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴
𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀
𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱...
See what our clients say about us on G2: https://www.g2.com/products/hirewell/reviews
Contact me at james@hirewell.com or 312-386-1658.
How can I support the podcast?
If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by clicking the link and sharing what you learned.
Click here to share your number one takeaway from the episode.
Please rate us five stars on your podcast player and encourage us to create more valuable content for you.
Introduction to HR. Simplified.
We take the most common HR questions and simplify them. For the small business leader and entrepreneur that wants to learn what the most effective organizations, with the best culture, do differently.
Whether you love dealing with HR issues or hate it, your business depends on human capital. As a leader, you need to be the model for the right way to do things.
Join Matt Vaadi and the team of HR Guhroos as they provide useful and practical HR advice that can be implemented immediately in your company. They will help you grow your business with simple and ethical best practices.
Who is Matt?
Matt has been in the HR space for over 15 years, hired over 1000 people, and has started and grown two HR companies. He loves it. He loves seeing a group of people accomplish something great. We want to help you achieve your goals as a team.
Who should listen?
Do you deeply value your people? Do you want to make sure you are aware of some of the most pressing issues and learning from how the best are doing things related to HR?
What value are you going to get?
Our focus is purely on providing value to you. This is meant to be a way for you to get access to the same information we share with our clients and to get a peek behind the curtain on some of the conversations we have with other experts in the field.
Format
We are going to turn on the mic whenever we are having conversations, interviews, or even webinars that might be of value. We are going to share anything that you can use.
Does that sound good? Make sure you hit subscribe!