What in the world are the politicians running our federal government thinking?

U.S. unemployment is holding steady at a disheartening 9.6%. That only counts the people that are actually looking for a job. Add the people who have given up trying to find one (the underemployed) and the rate goes to 16.7%. Millions of Americans are struggling to keep their homes and feed their families. Too many of us know someone in that situation.

The pace of fulltime hiring is slow at best while contract or long term temporary hiring is almost robust. This contract hiring in the absence of fulltime hiring is a clear indication that businesses are just not ready to make fulltime hiring commitments and there are no indications that they will change their minds any time soon. From our vantage point as a staffing/recruiting company it is clear that the unemployment situation is not going to get a lot better any time soon.

And it’s not just business that are not hiring. Consumers that make up 70% of GNP spending are not hiring either. I know this is a play on words but it translates to their lack of spending. Consumer spending is at historic low while saving is at an all time high. Consumers are hoarding what little cash they have and until they start spending again and business sees the revenue coming in this malaise is not going to end.

Washington is looking to the small business community to lift us out of this morass yet they keep putting up barriers. It seems clear to this small business operator that few in the present administration or the houses of Congress clearly understand how prudent consumers, business owners/management and investors think. The lack of understanding isn’t surprising when you look at the makeup of the administration and congress. Most of the White house advisors are academics or politicos. Fifty-two Senators are lawyers and thirty-six percent (36%) of the House of Representatives were lawyers when they were elected. Where are all the business people?

What is holding us back from hiring and spending? Ineffective and counterproductive federal actions, based in ideology and not experience, have led to an environment of uncertainty and a huge lack of trust in our federal government.

They don’t seem to believe that the prospect of higher taxes, the lack of finality in financial regulation, the fog surrounding the future cost of the new health care legislation and real worry about how America is going to pay off its staggering debt will keep businesses from investing NOW.

It’s not a difficult concept to grasp nor is business’s behavior hard to understand. The cost of doing business requires prudent stewardship of available resources and that translates to a cautious business investment environment. We have to wait and see what hurdles we are going jump over and what these actions are going to cost before we start hiring and investing.

The just signed tax relief for small businesses (it is very uncertain which they are) is a case in point. Federal tax relief is increased on 2010/2011 investments but businesses have to SPEND $1.00 to get “relief’’ of a maximum of $.37. In a healthy economy tax relief is a great way to stimulate investment spending. But in this kind of environment it is going to take the prospect of increased revenue/income and some predictability of potential increased cost to get most businesses spending again. I believe that is the same stimulation that is needed for the American consumer to start spending again.

The lack of hiring and consumer spending and the fact that business are sitting on a trillion dollars of cash or more should be proof enough.

A. Steven Raab
CEO

The InSource Group

www.insourcegroup.com

“They're all around us, man.”

You may recognize that title as a quote from the character Hudson in the movie “Aliens,” but it is not scary, face-hugging aliens that we’re discussing in this blog. This quote is an ideal lead in to discuss resources available for the information technology needs of a small- to medium-sized business(SMB).

Managing the information technology infrastructure in a SMB is challenging, rewarding and often akin to herding cats. It is a jumble of network administration, development, desktop support, training, project management and planning.

Companies of this size typically have a small IT staff, requiring a mix of general skills with specific areas of focus. The key to a successful technology strategy is to make effective use of a variety of internal and external resources.

Many such resources are widely available, such as consultants that bring highly specialized knowledge and experience for various needs or vendors, who typically have knowledge and best-practices focused around products or services that they are selling. The difficulty with these options lies in the selection and deployment of the right fit for the project.

There are a variety of less-utilized options, however, such as social networking sites, local “user groups” (technology specific club-like organizations) and even surprising assets already within your office walls.

What sparked the idea for this blog was a contractor who was in our office preparing to interview with a client for a position requiring senior-level network storage and backup skills. In the course of the conversation, he was asked a question about a storage need our company is currently struggling with and he immediately offered to help!

After a successful interview with the client, he returned to our office and gave a 30 minute overview on the subject, including suggesting and diagramming several viable options for our company. He provided us with a significantly better degree of understanding of the challenges and possible solutions to our network storage issue. And he did it for free.

While this encounter certainly proved to be serendipitous, recognizing and utilizing ALL of the potential technology assets available to a SMB can lead to a more reliable, sophisticated, well-designed and maintained IT structure without excessive spending and opportunity costs. Think outside the box when it comes to any project or requirement that is outside your IT staff’s existing skill set can yield surprising and positive results.

Jeff Weadock

Information Technology

The InSource Group

http://www.insourcegroup.com

Who is In Charge of Your Career?

Workers used to be able to count on their employers to train them, provide them with substantial medical benefits, and give them a job for life. In exchange, workers were fiercely loyal to their employers and considered their personal contributions in relation to the organization as a whole.

Times have changed, and workers can’t count on having their careers planned out for them by their employers. As a result, one would expect professional environments to hum with the energy of employees taking charge of their careers. However, I have noticed and am concerned about a lack of personal responsibility in today’s workplace. Too frequently, I encounter an attitude of entitlement, an expectation that everything is owed to the individual with little regard of the consequences to the organization, and a lack of dedication to doing the job right.

It seems that many of us still think that somehow, our employers are responsible for guiding us through our careers. Here’s the bottom line: Your employer, family, church or friends can’t solve the complex, protracted career issues we all face, such as how many jobs — or even careers — you have until you retire; if you can retire. You must become the master of your fate.

How can you do that? The biggest changes you need to make are in your attitude towards work. Here is a short list of things within your control that you can act on immediately to start taking charge of your career:

• Develop and maintain an entrepreneurial spirit

• Be a lifelong learner and pursue individual education

• Look for and implement ways to add value to the organization

All too often, workers settle for the status quo and become complacent about their careers and comfortable with the day to day routine – especially when they are getting paid for it. What they fail to realize is that complacency can kill a career.

Whether you have been complacent about your work, or you have been more involved in planning your professional future, there has never been a better or more critical time to fully assume personal responsibility for your own career.

Adapted From the Dallas Business Journal Article by:

James Thompson

President

The InSource Group

Read the full article on the InSource Group web site.

Reputation - You Build It Every Day

During my youth, my father (a 20 year Air Force veteran) used to tell me; “You are born with just one last name, you need to work hard to protect its reputation”. That was good advice to remember. The same holds true with your professional reputation.

Building and maintaining your reputation can be one of the hardest tasks you will ever undertake. Why? Because your reputation is built every day, it is not just a static event. Furthermore, consistent execution on a day in and day out basis on any task is a challenge. Few are as important as your reputation. It is important to recognize that your reputation is what others believe about you, not what you believe about yourself.

Most everyone is aware of the high profile visibility surrounding the departures of Robert Moffat, ex-SVP of IBM, and Mark Hurd, ex-CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Each had reputations of being squeaky clean, fiercely loyal, and two of the most effective leaders in a Fortune 50 company. Both lost their jobs in disgrace. Hubris and poor judgment effectively ended their public careers.

Beware of letting a prideful act tarnish or even ruin a lifetime of building your good reputation, no matter how innocuous it may appear at the time. As a litmus test, if you are not willing to have your mother read about it on the cover of the Wall Street Journal, you probably are at risk of exercising poor judgment. People and companies have long memories. The advent of technology and social media can easily magnify the awareness of a poor decision.

A good reputation allows you to aim higher in life, personally and professionally. A good reputation attracts positive attention, and can inspire others to do well. A good reputation can never be bought; it can only be earned. A person with a good reputation does not need to worry about what others think about them, for their actions speak louder than words.

Go out and do something good for yourself and others today.

Wayne Rampey

Vice President

The InSource Group

www.insourcegroup.com

HIRE Act – Are you taking advantage of it?

The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, is aimed at economic recovery and enacted in to law on March 18, 2010 However, employers need to act quickly; this is a time-limited program that expires December 31, 2010.

The Instant Savings (Payroll Tax Exemption):

The HIRE Act of 2010 provides a payroll tax incentive for employers to hire workers who have been unemployed for 60 days or more, which in turn promotes job growth. Employers, who hire unemployed workers this year, qualify for a 6.2% payroll tax incentive that, in effect, exempts them from their share of Social Security taxes on wages paid to workers after March 18, 2010. The reduced tax withholding has no effect on the employee’s future Social Security benefits, and employers will still need to withhold the employee’s 6.2% share of Social Security taxes, as well as income taxes.

The Rebate (Retention Bonus):

In addition to the 6.2% Social Security tax savings, businesses can claim an additional general business tax credit, up to $1000 per worker, when the new-hires are retained for at least one year. This tax credit is taken when the business files their 2011 income tax return. For each unemployed new-hire, that completes 52 consecutive weeks of employment, the employer can claim the income tax credit equal to, the lesser of $1000 or 6.2% of the wages paid during the 52 weeks. This $1,000 maximum credit is equivalent to about $16,130 in wages per new-hire. Therefore, if an employer has 10 new hires that are paid at least the minimum of $16,130 each, the income tax credit would be $10,000.

Restrictions Apply:

As with all sales, there are certain restrictions and regulations that apply. To obtain this instant savings and rebate, first, qualified new-hires:

1. Must be unemployed for 60 continuous days or more, prior to being hired; or, if working part-time, could not have worked more than 40 hours total during the 60 days prior to being hired.

2. Must sign and Affidavit (Form W-11), which is their statement to item number one.

3. Must not be a relative of the owner of the company

Second, employers:

1. Must hire qualified new-hires between February 3, 2010 and January 1, 2011

2. Can receive the tax credit when replacing a current employee, but only when that employee terminates voluntarily or is terminated for cause.

3. Cannot claim the payroll tax exemption and the work opportunity tax credit (WOTC), but can claim both the WOTC and the retention bonus.

The HIRE Act, can provide a huge savings to mid-market and smaller companies.

Lisa Pettigrew

Human Resources Manager

The InSource Group

www.insourcegroup.com

In Praise of Feedback

We firmly believe that we don’t praise people enough. Yet even the smallest positive remark can be genuinely rewarding and act as a powerful motivator. Everyone likes to know if they are doing a good job, and it’s easy to pass on positive information to deserving workers; you just have to recognize the opportunity and take the time to do it.

Providing frequent, truthful and direct feedback helps people understand how their work is being evaluated and what is expected of them and feedback is a key component in motivating and retaining employees. For companies that employ contractors, this can be difficult since the client manager typically supervises the contractors work. Through our years of IT staffing and recruiting, we have developed a simple yet effective system to recognize and provide feedback on performance while it is still timely.

All of our employees’ weekly time sheets have a “Performance Assessment” section that all client managers complete. Simple, yet it is an extremely powerful tool and an effective vehicle for communicating positive performance quickly and efficiently and also highlighting any issues that may have arisen. This capability provides an excellent vehicle for sharing information among all parties. Collecting the information is only part of the process; the real key is evaluating and disseminating the information in a timely manner. Positive feedback is communicated as quickly as possible, and in the rare event that a corrective action needs to be taken, it can be easily identified and managed accordingly.

Client managers develop a level of comfort with specificity in regards to performance related matters knowing that they have a vehicle to use for communication that will be acted on rather than flowing into a black hole. Contractors appreciate the fact that their performance is being honestly evaluated by the people they work for on a daily basis. Our job as the staffing firm is to facilitate communication, for the most part, good news.

Below are a few client comments we have had the privilege to pass on to our contractors:

• “(contractor) continues doing a super job as we transition to final prototype build. He has helped drive the group in task and completion that has supported successful product demonstration. I personally appreciate his flexibility, positive attitude and adaptability when day to day priorities are modified based on near term needs.

• “(contractor) has really been quick to pick up new tasks and is a real self starter. He finds the resources that he needs to get the job done.”

• “(contractor) has excellent customer service skills. He has been the fastest person I have ever seen come up to speed in our very complex environment.”

In these instances we make sure the contractor receives the accolades and feels appreciated. In the few instances where client managers have identified areas of concern, which may have not been communicated otherwise, we address those areas specifically with our consultants to ensure improvement. This has played an important role in The InSource Group maintaining its extremely high level of client satisfaction.

A simple concept enabled by a repeatable process has given us the opportunity to give praise where praise is due. Now that is genuinely rewarding.

Brett Schaefer& Mark Stevenson

Sales Managers

The InSource Group

www.insourcegroup.com

Team Building and the Art of Whirlyball

What happens when you throw a group of seriously competitive, energetic and strong-willed people who work together into a completely different situation; one that involves bumper cars and whiffle balls? Lots of trash-talking, future visits to the chiropractor and a rollicking good time.

Our industry, IT recruiting, is fast-paced, competitive and often requires a high degree of diplomacy. Seeing our staff all compete in a no-holds-barred competition was not just fun, but educational. Each and every team worked hard together and played in a manner that would make any World Cup coach proud. We’re a highly competitive bunch, but this can also result in conflict. As issues arose in the games they were resolved quickly, effectively and amiably. This, in turn, brought about a greater focus on winning. Hmmm…could this somehow translate into a workplace lesson?
Playing Whirlyball gave us the opportunity to let loose, have fun and not worry about our actions impacting our business. In return, everyone gained new insight into those around them. While playing, we all let off a lot of steam and came out of the event happy, sweaty, relaxed and with some great stories to tell.

While such training as the Meyer’s Briggs personality testing is worthwhile, it was good to mix in something completely offbeat. I gathered a great deal of understanding about how a lot of my coworkers deal with things without the strictures of a professional environment. Such fun and educational experiences should be a regular part of any company’s training regimen.

Next time, I’m shooting more and driving into fewer walls!

Jeff Weadock
Information Technology
The InSource Group
www.insourcegroup.com