Do You Have a Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan?

How close is California to a natural disaster? As close as the Gulf Coast was to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita! Experts say that Californians are ill-prepared and businesses could suffer a similar fate with little hope of rebuilding unless business owners and management teams take proactive steps to create a Recovery Plan BEFORE disaster strikes.

Is your company prepared?

Prepared for earthquakes, terrorist attacks, fires or workplace violence? Having an Emergency Preparedness Disaster Plan is only the first step in recovering from such calamities.

• How long will it take your company to return to regular business operations?
• What will it take to get back to regular routines and schedules?
• How will you effectively staff your company during the recovery?
• How long will it take insurance proceeds to arrive in order for you to establish temporary facilities?

You cannot predict the timing and type of disasters that can strike our businesses; however, what you can do is prepare a plan to resume operations as quickly as possible. There are common elements to all disasters that you will need to consider:

• Loss of employees and support structures
• Loss of valuable client and business information including accounts receivable and bank statements
• Loss of access to technology and facilities

What is involved in creating such a recovery plan?

• A mission statement: What do we intend to achieve? Success is measured by staying in/resuming business ASAP!
• Establishing a recovery team and defining their roles
• Establishing calling trees
• Reviewing types of recovery available/suppliers/secondary and temporary facilities
• Ensuring adequate interim cash access/flow
• Creating a staffing plan
• Summarizing the business interruption concepts
• Setting goals and objectives (short and long-term) and timelines in which to reach final preparedness
• Understanding what your competition is doing to prepare
• What are the costs associated with preparing, administering and updating a plan?
• What resources should be considered when writing a plan?
  

Our New Service can help you!
Employers Group is pleased to announce its NEW Emergency Planning/Business Recovery and Continuation Consulting Services.

Effective December 1, 2005, members may engage experts at the Employers Group in this crucial area of planning! We have created an all-inclusive package of services relative to disaster preparedness and business recovery. You can purchase the package at preferred pricing or tailor a package that best suits you, dependent upon your business needs.

The $3,500 Package includes:

• Four hours of consulting time to identify pre and post disaster risks
• Review of existing plan(s) including but not limited to: Injury & Illness Prevention Plans, Fire Prevention and Emergency Evacuation Plans
• Total site assessment (provided to members under the attorney/client privilege setting forth hazards found)
• Assistance with recovery plan design goals and objectives
• Training of the disaster recovery team
• Preparatory training of all employees
• Establishing communications (weather and calling trees)
• Identification of external organizational assistance (i.e., Red Cross and local agencies)
• Annual review of recovery plan for business changes/growth/enhancements

For more information, contact Leslie Hollis, at (714) 545-5017, or email her at lhollis@employersgroup.com.

Time Is Quickly Running Out: Conduct Your Harassment Prevention Training Before Year's End

As of today, November 16, 2005, there are only 45 days left to complete your harassment prevention training before the end of the year. Of course, taking weekends and holidays into account, you really have much less time!

According to the state, if you employ 50+ employees you need to train all those employees who direct the work of others. Most companies define those they need to train as a lead person and above; however, keep in mind that the definition may include employees you don’t think of as a typical manager of supervisor. Also keep in mind that executives, including company presidents, need to participate.

Employers Group has 3 options to get this training done on time:

• Conduct On-Site Training. Trainer availability is limited, but dates are available. Contact your professional services manager right away to get your program scheduled. (Spanish Available)
• Begin an On-Line Program. Fast, informative and interactive training gives you ultimate control to quickly train your employees on a variety of topics, not just harassment prevention. (Spanish Available)
• Attend a Public Program. Send employees to one of our public programs listed below. Call 800.748.8484 to register or register on-line.

New EXPRESS Training Program
Employers Group is also excited to introduce an Express Training Program (available only to EG members).

Just provide us with the names and email addresses of those you’d like to train, we will send you an order acknowledgement form with the cost. Once this is signed and returned, we will assign on-line harassment prevention courses to the employees you select via email. Course completion certificates will be mailed to you after training is completed. Get started with training immediately by contacting us at (800) 748-8484 or email to training@employersgroup.com. Program also available in Spanish.

Regardless of what method you choose, Employers Group realizes the necessity to get this training done quickly. Please contact us ASAP to help you get in compliance.

HR Practices and Benefits Survey is Here!

The Most Comprehensive Human Resources Report for Pay, Time-Off & Reimbursement Practices!

Are you doing all you can to retain your quality employees?

According to our June HR Practices and Benefits Survey, not only do two-thirds of all firms have a formal educational reimbursement plan, but more and more companies are paying for non-job related courses. A possible explanation for this growing trend may be that more companies are betting that by increasing their employee-friendly benefits package their retention rate of quality employees will increase as well. Employee retention and training costs are a problem being faced by the employer community. According to Wilson Beach, Chairman of Abigail Abbott Staffing Services, the average length of employment is only 2.6 years. By offering non job-related courses employers are offering more incentives for an employee to stay longer with that particular company.

In order to help you establish or update your own reimbursement practices, Employers Group Research Services is happy to announce:

The June 2005 HR Practices and Benefits Report has arrived!

This in-depth survey has everything you need to benchmark all of your HR policies. From education reimbursement practices to group-term life insurance to sick leave practices, you’ll find it all in this comprehensive report.

View Sample Pages SAVE Today! E-Book for $75! CD available for $112.50!

The New June 2005 Edition Includes data on the following:

Data within both the CD and E-Book are displayed by employee size and by major industry groups. Whether you choose the CD or the E-Book version, these reports will help you better tailor your benefits plan to today’s current practices.

Order Now

If you have any questions, please contact us at 1-800-748-8484 Ext. 3969 or email us at surveys@employersgroup.com.

Abra HRMS with Payroll Your Way

Whether you like to do your payroll in-house or outsource to a service bureau, you can now do it either way with Abra HR and Payroll. EG has partnered with one of the top ranked HRMS/Payroll software companies, Sage Software, (formerly Best Software) to bring you the leading Abra HR—and give you a choice in how you process your payroll.

You can choose their traditional payroll module, fully integrated with the rest of Abra’s leading HR software, or you now have the option to move your payroll to their cutting-edge, web-based outsourced solution. The low-cost, web technology service provides total payroll and tax compliance and easily integrates with Abra HR for a full HR/Payroll solution.

With this easy to use, comprehensive, fully-outsourced service, you benefit from:

• Standard Payroll Available 24x7: standard payroll reports, real-time customer notification and no penalties guarantee
• Employee Payment: printing paychecks from your desktop (optional printing and delivery), check signature imaging and direct deposit service
• Tax Filing: federal/state and local tax table updates and calculations, federal/state and local tax filing, and year end (W-2) processing service
• Reporting: standard payroll reports, real-time electronic payroll reports, payroll pre-register confirmation report, real-time “out of the box” General Ledger posting, benefit accrual tracking, report delivery option and state new hire reporting
• Integration: same look and feel as Abra HRMS interface and syncs all HR data with payroll service, including benefits enrollment, employee attendance, payroll transactions

The total payroll solution from a single source!

Sage Software has exactly what you have been looking for. For more information on Abra HR, Abra Payroll or Sage Payroll Services, call Joyce Weldon at 213-765-3999 or e-mail jweldon@employersgroup.com.

Thankful for Forms

As Thanksgiving approaches, it is a good time to look at even the small things that one could be grateful for in doing our jobs. Sometimes what one person is thankful for another finds to be a “pain.” Employees, for example, might be thankful for a stable job and the advantages of having fringe benefits, but the many required forms they must fill out in the lifetime of their job may be something they’d rather forget about. HR Managers, on the other hand, might put forms on the top of their Thanksgiving lists due to the many times they have been lifesavers.

Getting help with your forms!
Any resource that can help managers develop and implement these forms also deserves a spot on the list. But with all of the crises that HR professionals must deal with on a daily basis, who has the time to create forms?

THE “book of forms” is here.
The good news is that with the invaluable “Book of Human Resource Forms” you don’t have to. In this up to date publication authors Richard J. Simmons and Rita M. Bojalian, have developed over 200 personnel and HR forms that will greatly simplify many personnel administration tasks. These include a vast collection of forms that guide those responsible for personnel administration through the entire employment relationship, from its inception to its conclusion, and beyond.

The sample forms and letters include:

• Job Applications
• Offer Letters
• Counseling Forms
• Performance Improvement Plans
• Disciplinary Action Plans
• Layoff Notices
• Leave of Absence Forms
• Change of Status Forms

…and many more. This publication is an essential resource for every employer. Any one of the forms will pay for the entire cost of the publication.

Unquestionably a must-have for any complete HR library, this book and many others are available through the EG Store at discounted member rates. For more information you can visit our web site at www.employersgroup.com/products/books/index.shtml. Or call our Member Service Center at 800-748-8484 to speak with a representative.