Employee Time Theft – You Can’t Afford To Ignore It

Do you have an employee who is always late? One who makes or receives personal phone calls daily or one who sneaks out a couple of minutes early on a regular basis? What about an associate that is on their cell phone texting through out the day or who clicks off the computer screen as soon as you walk into their office? If you do you have an employee that is stealing time pure and simple.

Have you ever stopped to consider what these types of employee time theft are costing you? An employee who robs you of 5 minutes per day 5 days per week is stealing the equivalent of approximately 2.8 days per year assuming an 8 hour work day.

If you pay an employee $15 an hour and that employee is stealing 2.8 days per year, it’s costing you $396 per year considering a factor for payroll taxes and employee fringe benefits.

If your employee steals an hour a day 5 days per week the cost of the theft has just skyrocketed to 33 days per year and $4,680 again considering a factor for payroll taxes and employee fringe benefits.

How can you control expensive employee time theft? Clearly state policies in the personnel guide and have employees sign it to be sure they have read the guide and understand the policies. The guide should include policies on personal phone calls, cell phone use, internet use and working hours as well as policy relating to tardiness.

Let your employees know how much you are willing to tolerate—you can disallow personal phone calls except in the case of an emergency. Talk to “tardiness” offenders—tell them their pay will be docked or worse—remind them that everyone in the office is a professional, and professionals don’t punch a time clock. Make it clear that cell phone use of any sort or “surfing the net” will not be tolerated UNLESS it is business related.

The key is to be aware of the situation, bring it to the employee’s attention, specify the ramifications should they fail to modify their activities, and consistently enforce the penalty you have set. If it’s clearly a matter of policy, you take the emotion out of your reaction and simply make a good business decision.

This article was written by Gary Field, CPA at Numerico, PC. Click here to view Numerico’s website.

History Repeats Itself

I contributed a column to a newsletter in March of 1992 which was headed as “Straight Talk from Gary Field, CPA.” The column started out as follows;

“Last year, General Motors (GM) lost $7 billion in North America. Management’s long overdue response: close the Willow Run plant and others. The UAW leadership’s response to the Willow Run closing: belligerence and inflexibility. GM, the UAW, and all of us business owners need to get the message: the market has a way of sifting out the weak, the lazy and the uninspired.”

The column continued;

“Allegedly, GM has a long – term rebound plan on the table, but I have to wonder. Without responsible leadership at both GM and the UAW, the plan is meaningless. The leadership from GM and the other “Big Three” recently made fools of themselves with their incessant whining about Japanese competition. Is this responsible management? The UAW and its membership’s Japan bashing and position regarding Willow Run are equally irresponsible. Until GM and the UAW assume responsibility for their poor management, they can forget the “rebound plan”, its not going to happen”

I hate to say it but as the adage goes “the rest is history.”

As business owners, we must vow to build our companies on a foundation of responsible employees. We must understand that there are only two types of employees: those who produce reasons (irresponsible) and those who produce results (responsible.) Your job is to identify, hire, train and retain those who recognize that they are the cause that creates the effect. An “it’s not my responsibility” mentality is a prescription for disaster. Witness the current state of the auto industry.

By making good hiring decisions, our employee base is composed of people who understand the importance of responsibility, integrity, purpose, excellence, self development, service and cooperation; a base of people who are of the right character and interested in creating. With a well thought-out hiring process employers can make good, sound hiring decisions and avoid employing a “union mentality” such as that spawned by the luxury of a labor monopoly the UAW once had.

Despite an excellent hiring process, however, occasional bad hiring decisions are inevitable. They can only be minimized. Nevertheless, with a foundation of responsible people, an irresponsible person inadvertently hired cannot

survive for long. Responsible people connected to the “success principles” will purge their ranks of people that are not like – minded.

Perhaps some readers will think that I’m kicking the auto industry when it’s down. Quite frankly, I don’t care. They are a clear and timely indicator of what one can expect from bad management. Certainly, an unwillingness to assume responsibility isn’t limited to the auto industry. I am equally appalled at the teachers that don’t teach and public servants who don’t serve.

The list goes on, but that’s not the point. The point is that success can only be attained after a solid foundation of principles have been laid down and adhered to. Attempting to build a business without the base of principles would be like straightening the chairs on the deck of the Titanic.

So, now hear this. Like the game we all played as kids, “tag, you’re it!” Now what are you going to do about it?

This article was written by Gary Field, CPA at Numerico, PC. Click here to view Numerico’s website.

Leaders tout Entrepreneurship | Detroit Free Press

The Detroit Free Press (Freep.com) has been following all of the developments at the National Summit this week in Detroit and posting the latest to their blog (See excerpt below).  This morning the hot topic was the recent rise in entrepreneurship.

It is essential that new businesses have all of their ducks in a row so that they are protected personally from the debts and liabilities of their new ventures, they take the best advantage of tax laws, and so that they are prepared for future success.

We advise contacting an attorney, as opposed to going it alone.  Demorest Law Firm, PLLC provides these services and can help you start your new company, and then help it to grow.

Excerpt from Freep.com Blog

11:42 a.m. | According to several business and academic leaders at the summit this morning, now is the time to start that business you’ve always dreamed about.

“Entrepreneurism is going to be the key to the economic recovery not just in this country but in the world,” James Turley, CEO of Ernst & Young LLP, declared at a town hall this morning.

Nearly a decade after the dot com bust, becoming your own boss is hip again.

Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan, boasted to the audience that 15% or 6,000 of the students recently admitted to the school had started a business during high school.

“We’re in the perfect time in the history of this country to encourage this,” she said. “Let them loose.”

U-M now provides 100 courses that are in some way engaged in entrepreneurism, Coleman said.

What exactly does being entrepreneurial mean?

One panelist, Eva Chen, CEO of Internet security firm Trend Micro Inc., had the perfect Twitter-like response: “Using limited resources to create something that you want.”

By Katherine Yung

via Leader: Ford ready to compete | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press.

The Pride of a Craftsman

Demorest Law Firm is a member of the International Society of Primerus Law Firms, an international organization of smaller law firms.  Demorest Law Firm is the exclusive member of Primerus‘  Business, Corporate and International group for the Detroit area.

Membership in Primerus is very selective, and the member firms must abide by the Six Pillars of Primerus.  In a recent article of Paradigm, Primerus‘ quarterly magazine, six members of Primerus were asked to write articles about the Six Pillars.  Mark Demorest was asked to write about excellent work product. Although this article is directed at law firms, it is an important reminder for all businesses in what it takes to be successful.

A copy of his article from the Winter 2009 issue of Paradigm can be downloaded by clicking the link below.

DOWNLOAD A FULL COLOR PDF

This article was written by Mark S. Demorest, Managing Member of Demorest Law Firm. Click here to view his professional resume.