Now you might be wondering, isn’t there a way to build a successful startup without all the hurdles? The answer to that question lies in how much passion, commitment, and hard work you are willing to invest in your new business. Startups don’t flop until the owner decides it is time to throw in the towel. The moment the drive to succeed is lost, breaking even and scaling is next to impossible.

If you genuinely want to build a successful startup, there are important factors to consider, many checklists to cross, and several ‘ts’ to cross. You need to understand what habits to adopt as an entrepreneur and what steps to take towards achieving the business of your dreams. Knowing and practicing these steps and principles may be the determiner of your startup’s success or failure.

It is time to ignore all the statistics floating all over the internet about how 50 to 75 percent of all startups fail and focus on how you can put your company among the 30 – 50 percent of startups that succeed. In all, you need to be practical and realistic about the targets you set for growth and try not to rush the process.

Points to consider before launching the business for a successful startup

Stay Positive and Progressive

You need to anticipate success and believe that you are capable of handling big prospects. You should never start a business fearing that you would fail. As an entrepreneur, you need to develop the right mindset and prepare yourself accordingly.

Entrepreneurship is not for everybody. If you have decided to launch your business, dress accordingly, note down your desire, the potential results, and take action towards setting things in motion. With passion, commitment, and willingness to take a risk, you will have a solid groundwork for success.

Make sure you are passionate about the idea

If you have decided to start a business, having a solid idea can be the most challenging or the easiest. One universal secret of successful companies is the founders’ passion – people who discovered the solution to a general problem and were prepared to invest their time and effort into the solution because of their passion. Without that drive, it would be difficult to push through the difficult and trying times, and they would have likely given up.

An easy way is to ask yourself if you really love the idea or you are pushing through it because you think it offers easy profits. Is the idea something that gets you ecstatic or excited? If the thought of making the business your primary source of living thrills you, that’s a great omen. Otherwise, abandon the idea and consider something else.

Hey, this is not to say you can turn all your interests into your business. No. It could be the idea of starting and scaling a business, too. For example, if you want to start a clothing line, you don’t need to be hyped up about the clothes – the main passion could be growing a successful and lucrative business.

The bottom line is that you can never go wrong doing what you love. That is necessarily the passion you need to continue.

Make sure the market is feasible

Yes, you have discovered a solution, and you are passionate about making it work, yet you need to stand back and assess the market. What are your chances? Assuming you manage to scale the business on the something substantial, what is the limit? And essentially, is that limit good enough for you?

Sometimes we all need a reason to keep fighting. Validation is essential for any successful business venture. You aim to solve a problem, but you need to be sure that there is indeed a need for the service or product you are offering. Without that, you are better off moving on to another idea. Conduct stress tests and interview people around you, and get others on the team.

You must have sufficient clarity on the extent of opportunity that lies ahead. Failure to do so is preparing your idea for failure. This is not to dampen your energy, but you have to deliberate hard on any business idea before putting in all your chips. Business building is different from having a day job. The process is something you have to be willing to fight for – for yourself and people working with you.

Evaluate your commitment from the start

Many entrepreneurs fail to realize the importance of commitment when starting out. Your business needs your full attention, and if you are not ready to give that, especially in the early stages of your business, it is better not to start at all. As stated earlier, entrepreneurship is not for everybody. You are either in or out.

A proven way to kill the morale of your partners and employees is becoming the CEO that is barely around. Once your team loses their motivation and engagement, the business is set on the path of failure.

Deliberate on funding

Giving your business your full attention is important, but all that is pointless if you don’t have a funding plan. Development is crucial, but make sure you allocate up to 50 percent of funds to marketing and promotions, business building, and focus groups.

If you have restricted financial resources, you need to know you can take things one at a time. Many startups don’t hire every department in the first couple of years. In fact, you may find yourself and a few employees multitasking in different roles until you are financially ready to recruit.

Prepare to evolve

Since many changes will occur to your company in the early stages, you need to learn how to develop and adjust according to the times. You don’t have to stick to a single idea. Besides, just because you started out with an idea doesn’t mean you cannot diversify your business to accommodate other ideas. You need to be versatile.

A great example is Amazon. The current largest online retailer in the world started out as an online bookseller. Their success story is mostly built on their willingness to diversify as their cash flow blossomed.

Discover ways to expand your business assets and prepare to implement changes as you grow.

Tips to note after starting the business

Make building processes your first priority

In the early stages of your company, creating company policies and guidelines – recruitment, individual roles – will form the defining strategy for lasting success.

You must document every process properly. This is beneficial in several ways – it will help mark out your daily responsibilities and streamline training and development. It is typical for policies and processes to change as you grow. However, having a clear outline of work organization has incredible benefits and serves as the evidence of how far your company has grown and developed over the years.

Customer relations is crucial

After you have kick-started your business, the success or failure of your company lies in how well you treat your customers. You need to gain the loyalty of your customers by making them happy – through quality customer experience. You need to find out what your customer desires are, as opposed to making assumptions.

To attain new heights as an entrepreneur, you need to connect with your clients. It is impossible to build trust if you do not have an interpersonal relationship. Acquiring customers will perhaps be your biggest hurdle after starting your business.

Don’t just sit in the office waiting for them. Go out there and meet them physically. Irrespective of how wealthy or influential you become, be meek and stay open to your customer. This will help you discover valuable information that will improve your service delivery.

Occasionally, follow up by reaching out to them. Create surveys and loyalty programs. By listening to them and rewarding them, you are showing them that you don’t care about their money only, you also care about their satisfaction.

Flexibility is important

Accept criticisms with grace and make necessary changes. While it is essential to believe in your original idea, you should never be too proud to accept your customer’s options and make modifications. Evaluate your target audience and find out what they want. Sort through their opinions and feedback and decide which would be the most helpful and beneficial for the customers and the company.

Never get too relaxed

Sometimes things progress so well that you may be tempted to get comfortable. You should never be satisfied with where you are. Instead, aim higher and find ways to expand your reach. Consider setting a goal of increasing your customer base by five percent weekly and monitor these goals through active supervision.

Remember, the number one enemy of progress is comfort.

Stay active in every department

Your attention as a founder will always be required during recruiting, funding, partnerships, policy-making and strategizing. The most successful companies have a leader playing an active role in the day to day operations of the company. Do not sit back and allow the managers to do all the work. Set a standard by managing your employees and creating time for them. Your employees are your company’s biggest asset because their satisfaction affects service delivery. With more happy customers, you are setting your company on the path to growth.

Patience is necessary

Success is not magical, and that breakthrough may not come for some years. Before you succeed and achieve profitability, you need to invest in your company and prepare strategies for continuous efficiency. Most companies attain this status in three years, yet some would struggle for relevance before getting the breakthrough.

Steve Jobs started Apple back in 1976 but didn’t get any significant recognition until 1984 when Apple developed Macintosh computer. Even at that point, they struggled with success until the late 90s when iMac and other consumer products were introduced.

Your patience and resilience are virtues your company needs to scale.

Final Note

As an entrepreneur, founder, and leaders, you need to understand the difference between a brilliant idea and a great company. One will not work without the other. Therefore, put all your chips in and do not throw in the towel when things get hard.

The post What Startup Mistakes to Dodge appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

Eight best practices for managing remote teams that can better improve your remote workforce management

1. Establish Relationships

It may seem that you hire remote workers merely to fill in gaps for workers. Virtual teams, whether freelance or hired, like to feel important to the whole team. They are not just nameless faces in the see of the Internet. It’s vital to make a connection with each of your workers to guarantee loyalty, productivity, and collaboration. It’s simple to engage employees on a more personal level:

• Send out weekly newsletters with updates
• Provide one-on-one time for any important meetings
• Start work days with a greeting 
• Ask about workers lives at home, and don’t mix them up (e.g., “How’d your mom’s surgery go?”)
• Check in on progress and ask if there are any questions or issues

By bringing your virtual team members into a collaborating atmosphere, you’ll give them a sense of pride in their work and their virtual team members.

2. Keep Global Time Zones in Mind

Keep in mind that your workers may be from all across the globe. If this is the case, you’ll find that your workers in Colorado will not keep the same hours as those in Singapore. This can cause issues if you, as a supervisor, want to keep a set schedule. And this is one of the biggest challenges to managing a virtual project team. It’s better to keep your schedule open for any unexpected problems that may arise.

Consider keeping one day aside with hours that fit your most remote employee. That way, if any questions or problems might come up, that employee can reach you. If you cannot make those hours work, hire a contact liaison whose hours better match the most remote time zone. For instance, someone in London will be more likely to have overlapping hours with the Singapore workers.

 3. Focus on Goals

Employee monitoring can be difficult when you have employees working remotely. Are you concerned whether your worker is getting distracted by other things (social media comes to mind) when they should be working? Who hasn’t walked through the office and noticed one or two workers checking out a cat video on Facebook? You’ve likely heard two co-workers chatting about last night’s American Horror Story episode or upcoming holiday plans. It is not uncommon to find workers distracted from their tasks on a daily basis.

The first thing you must consider is whether the tasks you assigned to your virtual team members were completed in a respectable amount of time. You’ll find that remote workers complete 13% more work on average than their office counterparts. Higher productivity may be because of more downtime and flexibility in their work. Without someone breathing over their shoulder, remote teams are more likely to complete the projects given to them in a better time frame.

Still worried about how much work is getting done? Then consider:

• Setting up a tracking system to keep tabs on telecommuters. Some programs take screenshots randomly to show which screens are open.
• Asking for detailed daily reports. This can include a minute-by-minute description.
• Completing weekly or monthly reviews to see if the worker is getting as much done as s/he should be.
• Keeping timesheets. There are many excellent programs to keep track of your employees, such as Time Clock Wizard. These programs can show you who is working too little or too much. Remember, overworked employees can burn out more quickly.

4. Set Expectations

Moving right along from the last tip, you must set expectations for your workers. If virtual teams are unaware that you expect them to complete 15 spreadsheets each week, you may find that you only get a return of five. This would be a much lower number than expected, but it is not necessarily your virtual team’s fault. Did you tell them you expect 15 spreadsheets a week? You could find that they feel stagnant or unchallenged not knowing what is expected of them. When you’re all on the same page, goals can better be attained.

5. Provide Reliable Tools

• Training videos
• Access to files and folders
• Access to work program
• Communication outlets
• Access to informational tips
• Help desks

These are just a few of the essential tools used to continue your virtual management. Reliable, working tools and access to corporate information is vital for workers. If they cannot access the work page to download the project schematics, how can you expect them to complete the job on time? If there is no help desk, what happens when the system is down, or they have a question? How can the workers complete their tasks when they have no access to the files?

6. Have a Communication Strategy

It is not the first time you’ve heard this in this article, but you must have a communication strategy in place. Donald in payroll can walk into your office to ask you what the office memo meant, but Shirley across the country cannot. Can she call you? Yes, but will she always get through? Do you have a communication liaison to handle any issues that arise for remote teams? Will you use an e-mail and help desk notification system, which can take hours to communicate back and forth, or will you implement a chat dialogue?

Keep in mind that every communication strategy will have pros and cons. Any issues not immediately resolved may back up work for one or more workers. This can cause significant problems in productivity.

7. Provide Incentives

Remember that remote teams are the same as your office workers. Treat virtual members with the same respect and patience as any worker in your company. Also, remember that you can save about $1,250 per employee each year for remote workers. This is because of office and training costs that are often lower per employee. With all this in mind, you should provide incentives to keep remote workers as happy as your office workers.

Many contract positions like hiring out because they do not feel that they are actually “hiring” employees. This can cut down on taxes, benefits costs, and employer responsibilities. This can be a negative, however. A study showed that 40% of employees overlooked by management were actively disengaged in their work. This even included those who received negative feedback from supervisors. However, if you offer incentives to virtual workers, you create a positive work culture, you stand out from other employers, and your remote workers will remain engaged.

Consider offering:

• Paid time off
• Vacation time
• Health insurance
• Company swag
• Gift cards
• Promotions
• Birthday cards
• Subscription boxes

Even something as small as offering praise and feedback helps your remote teams to know they are appreciated. Something like a subscription box can give your virtual team members something to look forward to each month. Consider offering them a list of subscriptions to choose from, or provide a general one that might be appreciated by your workers as a whole. You can even consider gifting an experience through a company, such as Tinggly, where the gifts are unique for remote teams around the globe.

Don’t let remote workers feel left out either. Silicon Valley, the epicenter of startups and remote teams, have companies that provide free lunches, happy hours, and beer cart Fridays for their office workers but leave their “contract workers” out in the cold. Delivering a frosty beer 1,200 miles away may be a little out of the question, but a monthly Starbucks gift card to the top five most productive workers certainly isn’t.

8. Be Transparent

If you want to know how to manage your team, be open and honest with your workers to create a trusting work environment. Allowing your virtual employees to understand your goals and missions keeps you all on the same page and can help yours in overcoming virtual team challenges. If you want to promote transparency as part of your company’s mission, you must abide by the same rules. If you aren’t open, why should your employees be honest and transparent with you? Lead by example.

Try to make all aspects of your business open to the public as well. For instance, providing salaries, even if anonymous, allows workers to feel they are all treated fairly. This will show whether there is a gender pay gap and whether each virtual worker is given the same pay as another who has been with the company just as long. Finally, if you choose to use a tracking system, let your workers know. Employee tracking can often cause worker anxiety. They may feel as if they’re being watched at all times and judged. By being transparent with employee tracking, you are not spying on them, and they do not feel paranoid.

Remember, it is critical that you keep your virtual team on the same page as the rest of your workers. Having a company culture will promote company loyalty and low turnover. Finally, offering incentives and keeping an eye on how much your remote teams are working will prevent burn out and poor work turnover.

The post How to Make Your Remote Teams Succeed with These Management Tips appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

The Most Important thing

Before we dive in and take a look at how to make a schedule for employees, let’s clarify what an effective time management strategy is all about. A common mistake is a focus on the activity rather than the outcome of a certain task. Many managers try to focus on optimizing time in the greatest detail as opposed to focusing on having a clear set of goals and priorities. While most certainly optimizing time and action is important it must be done in a way that propels higher productivity rather than higher stress levels for employees.

What happens without an effective time management strategy

There are some common symptoms of the bad time management plan to look out for when managing employees. These include:

Lack of clarity regarding priorities within the organization

• This results in confusion or prioritizing less important tasks which decrease overall productivity.

Employees exhibiting a reactive state rather than a proactive one

• An employee lacks knowledge of the expectations of them without defining goals clearly. This results in the need to be told what to do, more or less, and blocks further productivity which could be achieved if the opposite was the case.

Overwhelming feeling

• Too many tasks presented in an unorganized way will put off any employee and possibly create stress.

Lack of an ability to say NO when needed

• When there is a lack of clearly set priorities, an employee will not know when they are supposed to decline to do a certain task.

Signs of stress or burnout

An effective time management strategy should resolve these issues. When applied successfully, those symptoms should transform into:

• A feeling of satisfaction upon achieving certain goals.
• Having a strong sense of purpose in employees. When they know the reason behind their tasks and their importance, motivation should rise accordingly. Providing them with a strong sense of responsibility means higher morale which will boost productivity as well.
• Awareness and having an action plan. Defining priorities clearly, setting goals and having a detailed action plan empower employees rather than overwhelm them.

How to make a schedule for employees

While it may look simple initially, setting a schedule for employees is a hard task. One has to determine their own needs and carefully plan the resources for each role, plan for future events ahead of time, define any required qualifications for each shift and determine the allocation of shift types. Planning a schedule for employees is connected to the hiring process of a company and thus maintaining an effective time management strategy also means planning ahead of time prior to hiring a future employee.

To maintain a good schedule for employees you should be aware of any non-personnel resources as well. For example, if you are providing transportation for your employees via a third party, that information should be taken into account when creating a schedule and a plan B must be a part of the equation. Creating a schedule is not just about allocating shifts to employees but also about analyzing resources and using them in the most effective way.

There are a few types of shifts or schedule models which depend on the nature of your business. If you have remote employees, maintaining high productivity can be achieved without allocating specific shifts but rather by allowing employees to create their own shift as long as they meet certain goals. If you are following the standard model for shifts, it still might prove beneficial to allow employees to take part in the process of allocating their own shifts as that will not only increase their understanding of the difficulty of this task but also eliminate future road bumps due to lack of communication regarding availability.

Define scheduling rules

1.  The first things you need to do is define scheduling rules. Having a policy about prioritizing swapping shifts, working overtime and qualifications required for a shift will solve potential favoritism misunderstandings. These rules might include:

• Company policies and regulations
• Seniority
• Overtime Status
• Qualification and Certification

Having defined those early on will prevent confusion when a request for a shift swap arises or another similar issue.

Think about all the factors of a good schedule

• Method. Are you using a manager to allocate shifts or employees do it themselves?
• Training. Do the employees connected to the specific shift need any further training and meet all the necessary qualifications?
• All of the above-mentioned scheduling rules.
• Availability. Knowing your staff well is important and knowing when they are available is even more important. While this is rather obvious, sometimes employees feel reluctant to provide information about their personal life to the point where it is hard to predict if they would be available at a certain date or not and it is not always easy to ask absolutely everyone and receive an answer quickly.
• Expenses. Managing resources effectively is very important and sometimes when overtime is taken into account the actual costs might exceed your forecast.
• Productivity. Having a way to track performance levels for different employees on different shifts is crucial and will play a role in maintaining an effective time management strategy.

Prepare for potential pitfalls

Then you also need to make sure you prepare for potential pitfalls:

•  Change in demand. Depending on your business this will vary but calculating the potential change in demand is important. Managing a decline in labour needs is more tricky to deal with and having flexible staff members who have initially agreed to slightly different conditions can resolve this issue.
• Change in availability. Often employees will need to swap a shift and this is best dealt with by a shift-swapping software which allows employees to switch shifts with each other and also makes communicating any information regarding shifts much easier.
• No-shows. Sometimes an employee will unexpectedly miss a shift. In those occasions finding a substitute might be hard. Having a small part of the team ready to take such shifts can solve this issue as well. Those are the first steps to take when creating a schedule for employees. Addressing most potential issues at the beginning of the process prevents them from happening.

Create shifts

Now you have to create the shifts themselves.

One can use a piece of paper or excel or word documents. However, even if you do that there is a chance to miss some of the factors from the first few steps. Probably the best way to go about it would be to use a scheduling app such as Time Clock Wizard as such software usually has integrated all these factors in itself and is the fastest way.

Execution – the best way to ensure an effective time management strategy

You know what an effective time management strategy should achieve, you have a good schedule, now what? Well, sometimes having good time management techniques can be tricky. A good example of this is communication. Clear communication will solve many issues for your company and back-and-forth feedback will increase productivity in general. To ensure employees are as productive as they can be, a company could have a time management training policy which would also gather information from employees by asking questions such as:

• How well do you manage your time regarding most important tasks?

• Is there anything that gets in your way while working?

• What were the most time-consuming activities?

• Which were the least time-consuming ones?

• Do you prefer working in small chunks of time with more breaks or for longer periods of time with longer breaks?

Collecting this information from employees will ensure that any potential pitfalls will be prevented in the beginning and will allow for a better understanding of the employee’s preferences. These questions should be presented as a way to allow for the improvement of the workplace and it must be made clear that the employee‘s position is not in danger in any shape or form whatsoever. Conversations such as these will unveil potential problems and help to see the perception of new employees regarding priorities and other task-related factors.

This, in turn, will help to improve the time management plan. Also, undertaking training to clarify priorities, goals, deadlines and set clear expectations from an employee will solve many of the above-mentioned symptoms of a bad time management plan. However, overly focusing on communication might start to have a more detrimental effect, especially in big meetings. While company culture is important, a healthy balance should be maintained and many managers make the mistake of having too frequent unnecessary meetings.

Some other time management techniques

Use different units of time

• The common way to approach time is by measuring it in hours. However, for most creative workers, one hour is enough to barely start. Simply shifting the perception of time in regards to the actual amount of time that they need to get a good amount of work done would be more beneficial. Just thinking in this way will help you see through some of the pitfalls of your time management plan. Maybe you are allocating 6 hours in the morning for work in the IT department followed by a meeting and leaving out just 2 hours at the end of the day which might not bring out the most out of a creative person. Placing the meeting in the middle after 4 hours of work though might not result in a drop in productivity.

Be wary of the planning fallacy

• It is a proven human bias to set less than the necessary amount of time needed for the completion of a task. You might end up doing this for your employees or they might do that to themselves and feel disappointment in the end. To avoid this simply measure initially, without any expectations, the realistic amount of time a certain task takes and then set any deadlines. More accurate knowledge equals more productivity.

Make sure you are not getting in the way of your employees

• Sometimes simply letting them work, even if they aren’t doing as well as expected might be better than trying to help them. New employees need time to adopt a new setting and get the hang out of things. Instead, ensure that you are very open to communication and more than willing to help them whenever they ask you to. It’s easier to tell someone that they should be more self-reliable than to make them ask for help more frequently.

Using Time Planning Tools and a Time Tracking App

A good way to ensure that everyone is as productive as they can be is to use a time tracking app. Especially for remote workers, this is a must as a sense of responsibility needs to be present to retain good morale. Knowing how your employees spend their time with high accuracy will increase trust and also allow them to make the necessary adjustments themselves.

Time tracking isn’t just a way to simply make sure your employees are doing the actual work but also as a channel for feedback allowing them to see their week points. A good time tracking app should cover multiple platforms (Windows, Android, etc.) and allow adjustments after the fact in case one forgets to turn off the clock.

Having an effective time management strategy also means using quality time planning tools. Some of these might include:

Priority Tools

• Using a tool that takes one glance to get back on track ensures all employees understand the key priorities of their task. (Focus Booster, for example, is an app the applies the Pomodoro principle to keep your focused on what matters.)

Due Date Tools

• Being able to see deadlines will prevent failing to meet some goals and keep employees mindful of their tasks.

Progress Tools

• In the same fashion as with deadline tools, progress tools provide an interesting perspective for those working in close flexible teams and can increase productivity as swapping tasks between different employees to have them work on fresh assignments can sometimes increase performance levels.

Online Cloud

• Obviously, many businesses still run without having everything of importance located in one place and available to everyone at the same time. Simply using something like OneDrive can do the job.

Note-taking Tools

• Some time tracking tools provide you with the ability to take notes as well. Nevertheless, sometimes it is beneficial to use a separate note-taking platform to enable more fluid back-and-forth feedback. Evernote is a great note-taking application.

Online Calendar

• If you are already using a shift making software you probably won’t need a separate calendar. But if you are not, having one to ensure you are on top of everyone’s plans would be beneficial.

There are also other tools that can set reminders for you. Tools that can post social media content for you and compare productivity among employees. However, their usefulness will vary depending on your niche. In the foreseeable future, Artificial intelligence will also play a big role as it analytical perspective might further illuminate weak points in employees and provide insight that the human eye could have missed. Businesses that implement it in the early stages might benefit a slight boost compared to the competition in terms of overall productivity.

An effective time management strategy will make the difference between a business meeting with roaring success and one meeting with a bankruptcy lawyer. Without being extreme, this is the importance of an effective time management strategy. In the short term, there might not be a great difference between you and the competition. But in the long term, lacking efficiency almost always proves detrimental.

There are plenty of time planning tools and you can easily pick the right time tracking app for yourself. Defining a strong time management plan is easier than before as well as maintaining a good schedule for employees. Communication and feedback from employees remain key to productivity as always. Preventing some of the pitfalls that hide behind a lack of focus on priorities and deadlines, any company can elevate performance levels easily.

The post Why Your Business Needs an Effective Time Management Strategy appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

A direct deposit is a convenient payment option that allows an automatic scheduled electronic transfer from one party directly to your checking or savings account. The most common uses for direct deposit are salary payments, government benefits, pensions, investment payments, and tax refunds. Some people still prefer a traditional paper paycheck but the advantages to this method of payment are virtually nonexistent. While direct deposit is a secure and convenient alternative for both involved parties to a traditional paper check.

Setting It Up

Setting up an electronic deposit is relatively simple. And you will only need to set up the process once with the depositor. The payments you will receive are recurring and will arrive every time the payer initiates a payment or transfer. Using the most common electronic deposit scenario as an example, your employer would inform their bank to transfer your earnings into your bank account. While your financial institution transfers the money from your employer’s bank to your account on the date you are scheduled to be paid.

A prepaid debit card issued to you by your employer that provides another electronic deposit option is. The electronic deposit works identically, but rather than having the funds transferred to your account they are directly paid to your debit card. You can utilize your prepaid debit card to withdraw paycheck earnings from an ATM, or use like a standard debit card.

What is Needed

To set up recurring payments with your employer you will generally be asked to fill out an authorization form. The authorization form will typically ask for the following:

• The name of your financial insitution
• Whether your account is a checking or savings account
• Bank account number
• Financial institution’s routing number

Your employer will commonly ask for a voided check to accompany the authorization form. Your account and routing are verified using the voided check. Both are located at the bottom of your check. If you do not have any paper checks you may need to obtain a document from your financial institution showing your account information. You may be able to locate a form on your financial institution’s website which has your name and account information pre-filled out which you can submit to your employer. The process for setting up an electronic deposit is similar to non-paycheck deposits.

There are several benefits to electronic deposits:

Convenience

Once your electronic deposit is set up you no longer have to fret about it. Your earnings will deposit directly to your account whether you are working on payday or not. There is no need to collect a check and find the time to deposit it.

Speed

Funds are posted right away when a transfer takes place. And there is no waiting period for a check to clear. Some institutions will even have the funds posted at twelve AM on payday.

Security

With electronic payments, there is no possibility of your check becoming lost stolen. If a paper paycheck found its way into the wrong hands your personal information could be at risk.

Free Checking Access

Some financial institutions will offer free checking or waive your checking account fee if you have regularly scheduled electronic deposits.

Environmentally Beneficial

Paperless checks not only reduce the amount of paper consumed, but they can also reduce the amount of fuel consumed to deliver the checks as well.

The post Setting up Direct Deposit for Your Paycheck appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

As a component of the employee benefits package, most companies offer supplemental life insurance or other ancillary coverage. Some examples include life, disability, vision or even dental insurance. Many workers in the USA today have supplemental or additional life insurance benefits available through the employer for either little or no charge. This life insurance is beneficial when it comes to family protection. Nonetheless, before enrolling there are a few things worth knowing. Employees with a workplace life insurance policy have to know what exactly is included in the plan, the policy limits, and the extent of the death benefit.

Supplemental Life Insurance Eliminates Insufficient workplace coverage

Most employer-sponsored life insurance plans amount to twice the employee’s yearly salary. For instance, workers who earn fifty thousand dollars are offered a one hundred thousand dollar policy by the employer without any costs. Nonetheless, employees with young families have to reach almost five hundred thousand dollars to achieve the necessary coverage. That limit may not be sufficient to cover all the financial requirements in the unfortunate event of death of an employee, or their loved one.

Supplemental Insurance is a form of AD&D (accidental death and dismemberment) insurance policy

In most cases, the life insurance offered by the employer is an AD&D insurance policy, and not a regular life insurance policy. The AD&D policy provides benefits for the family after death caused by accident. And while AD&D benefits range across the insurers, most insurance providers also offer compensation benefits when the employee or family member loses eyesight, a limb or hearing due to the accident cover.

They are a form of funeral insurance

In most cases, this life insurance is a form of burial insurance policy. Usually the plans have flat associated benefits. And coverage amounts can range from five to ten thousand dollars each, depending on the employer’s contribution. The main aim of this life insurance coverage is to provide the employee’s family with sufficient coverage for funeral expenses.

Domestic Partner or Spouse Insurance

In the US, some employers allow employees to buy this life insurance cover for the worker’s domestic partner or spouse. In this case, the policy complements the worker’s term life insurance coverage. But there are a few restrictions, depending on the type of employer.

Supplemental Insurance Policy is not transferable

While most employees would like to work for a single company, the plan doesn’t work well in reality. In the US, an employee works an average of only five years with a single employer. As such, when employees leave or resign jobs, this life insurance is canceled.

This implies that employees have to re-appeal for brand-new coverage at the new job or singly from a life broker or company (based on the employee’s health status and age). It’s not a pressing concern; the only problem arises when particular health complications obscure the employee from qualifying or finding an affordable plan.

A Final Thought

In the US, a lot of employer-supported life insurance policies are not transferable. Hence, the employee cannot take the plans after quitting the job. Employees with a workplace life insurance need to understand whether there’s the alternative of paying an extra premium to their benefit. In case it’s not possible, the employee may want to consider engaging an insurer outside of what is provided at work.

The post What is Supplemental Life Insurance? appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

Child labor laws and reforms were passed in several waves. The last and most comprehensive of which was the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938. Before that, however, was a “perfect storm” of factors and influences that pushed and pulled on the institution of child labor.

Prior To FLSA

Before 1938, children had been working in all kinds of jobs and all kinds of conditions. In the rural United States children were expected to help out on family farms and shops as soon as they were able. Additionally, they were hired out to other family farms in the area.

As more mechanized forms of production became more commonplace in the big cities, people began moving from the country into the cities for better employment opportunities. Furthermore, people began moving to the United States from other countries for work, leading to the opening of even more factories.

At this time, companies had a lot of incentive to hire small children. They could be paid less, they were easier to manage, and they were physically smaller and therefore fit into work space grown adults could not.

Child Labor Advocacy

In the early part of the 20th century, child labor peaked. Shortly thereafter, labor movements began for adult workers, who grew in political power and began demanding better labor standards. The labor movement led to a decline in child labor which was often abusive to children.

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, and the National Child Labor Committee, founded in 1904, shared a common goal. And that was of reducing exploitative child labor. The National Child Labor Committee soon began pushing for child labor reforms at the state level. And those laws were often joined with compulsory education laws. Laws which began picking up momentum in the middle of the 19th century.

In 1916, and under pressure from these two organizations during the height of the progressive movement, the United States Congress passed the Keating-Owen Act. It was the first federal child labor law. It regulated interstate commerce that involved products produced by children under certain ages. But the Supreme Court rendered it unconstitutional saying it violated the commerce clause of the Constitution. In 1918, Congress tried to levy a tax on business with child workers, but Congress again stuck this down.

Finally in 1924, Congress passed an amendment allowing the federal government power “authorizing federal child labor legislation…”  But it did not have enough state support to be ratified.

The Effects of The Great Depression on Labor

The Great Depression changed political attitudes in the US, particularly with regards to child labor. There were not enough jobs for working adults, and President Roosevelt’s New Deal acts sought to limit child labor. In 1936, the Public Contracts Act limited the ages that boys and girls could work on goods that supplied to federal contracts. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act set the minimum working age for children both during and outside school hours.

Not only did these laws go a long way in curbing abusive child labor practices, but able-bodied adults were able to get jobs that had previously gone to children.

The post The History of Child Labor Laws appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

Compensatory Time Vs. Overtime Pay

For organizations that have flexible work schedule programs, compensatory time may be offered to employees in lieu of overtime pay. This would apply when workers exceed the 40 hours per week limit. The paid time off can be given to salaried employees who are asked to work extra hours under flexible schedules.

Employers must make sure that they compensate their employees for paid time off. And it should be at the same rate that they would have paid those employees for overtime. An employer may be held in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) if it fails to use identical rates for compensatory time and overtime pay.

Who Qualifies for Compensatory Time?

The answer to this question depends on whether the employee is exempt or nonexempt. Since exempt employees do not qualify for overtime pay under the FLSA they are often given compensatory time to reward them for the extra time that they put in. On the other hand, nonexempt employees are commonly covered by the employment regulations of the FLSA, which demand that they must be paid overtime pay for extra hours worked. Therefore, this group of employees are ineligible for compensatory pay. These employees cannot qualify for comp time because of the requirements of the FLSA.  This law expressly demands that they must be paid for every additional hour that they have worked in excess of the normal 40 hours per week.

Employers must acquaint themselves with the rules and regulations that govern compensatory time and overtime pay in their states. Failure to compensate nonexempt employees in accordance with the law can land an organization in serious legal problems.

Is Compensatory Time Offered to Employees in Both the Public and Private sectors?

Formally recorded and structured compensatory time occurs frequently in the public sector where employees are represented by unions. Most private sector employers do not offer compensatory time to their salaried exempt employees. This is due to the fact that they don’t want these employees to take on an hourly work mentality. These employers prefer their employees to embrace mindsets that promote job accomplishment and goal achievement. And  doing what it takes to complete a job in good time and with acceptable quality.

This leads us back to the question:

Do Salaried Employees Get Compensatory Time?

The answer is yes and no. It is “yes” if the employees are classified under those who are nonexempt and work for the public sector. Therefore, you must you must be nonexempt and also work for the public sector to received comp time for the accrued time worked past the 40 hours per week threshold.

The post Do Salaried Employees Get Comp Time? appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

Prior to enacting the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, the United States didn’t have a minimum wage. Employers could pay their workers whatever rate they chose. Since enacting the law, however, the federal and state governments have dictated a minimum wage to employers. While the least acceptable wage is established by the federal government, individual states may require businesses operating within that jurisdiction to adhere to a higher wage requirement. Read more about the aspects of employment covered by law and the FLSA Regulations and computing overtime pay.

Nationally, the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, and the majority of states do adhere to that hourly rate. States with a significantly higher cost of living do try to compensate by also establishing a higher minimum wage. California, for instance, has enacted a $10.50 hourly minimum wage. While some cities in the state have established a minimum pay rate that’s even higher than the state minimum. As of January 1, 2018, the state of California will add a .50 cent increase to their minimum wage.

Each consecutive year will see another increase of $1.00 to bring the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2022.

San Francisco will see a minimum wage of $15 by the start of 2018 and Los Angeles will see the same wage requirement for employees of large companies by the year 2020.

Outside of California, Montgomery County in Maryland has raised their minimum wage from $10.75 to $11.50, an increase that was established in July of this year. Chicago pays an $11 minimum wage with plans to bolster that rate up to $13 by 2019. Elsewhere in Cook County, plans to increase the minimum wage to $13 will take effect by 2020.

When Can a Company Elude the National and State Minimum Wage Requirements?

While state and local governments may allow for certain changes to the federally mandated minimum wage laws, not all businesses must comply with the minimum wage laws at any level. For example, an employee who receives tips is only required to be paid a $2.13 minimum wage under federal law. The stipulation is that the amount received in tips, plus the $2.13 hourly wage, must equate to the standard $7.25 hourly requirement. In cases where the total does not equate the federal minimum wage of $7.25, the employer is required to make up the difference.

For workers under the age of 20, employers must pay $4.25 per hour. This is regardless of how much the employee receives in tips. This requirement applies to the first consecutive 90 days of employment. Following this probationary period, the worker must be paid $5.85 per hour.

Many are exempt from the minimum wage law. Some examples being babysitters working a casual schedule, companions for elderly persons, and fishing workers. In cases where the minimum wage law does apply, it’s up to the worker to ensure that the employer is paying the appropriate wage. If there is a discrepancy, a complaint can be filed with the Compliance Section of the U.S. Department of Labor Employment Standards Administration Wage and Hour Division.

The post What is the Law Regarding Minimum Wage? appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

The two most confused phrases among first time employees are gross pay versus net pay. The simple way to remember the difference between these two is that gross pay is what you earned before taxes have been deducted. While net pay is what remains after taxes are deducted. Read more about the law with regards to minimum wage and the FLSA regulations.

Tracking Net Pay

Net pay is important to track from one pay period to another. If wages are directly deposited to your bank account, you will receive a payroll voucher. This will list all of the taxes deducted from your gross pay.

The voucher usually includes a copy of a payroll check with the words, “Non Negotiable” stamped on the authorized signature line where your employer normally signs your check.

The reason it is important to track your net pay is so you can verify all deductions are accurate. Please note those that change during the course of your employment year. The amount of your paycheck after taxes depends on the gross amount paid to you by your employer.

Know Your Payroll Tax Deductions

In order to know what your take home pay will be, you need to know which payroll taxes have been deducted. and what the amounts of these deductions are. These include:

• Social Security
• Medicare
• Federal Withholding
• State taxes like state unemployment, state income taxes & state Medicaid

All deductions are found on your payroll voucher as year-to-date (YTD) and current pay period deductions. This is along with current deductions and total amount YTD.

Rate of Taxation

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) designates each employee’s wages in income tax brackets. To know what your paycheck after taxes will be, you need to know what your particular income tax bracket is for the year in which you are paid.

Note that these brackets change from year to year due to inflation adjustments.
Ref: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/taxbracket.asp

When you were hired, you filed a W4 form provided by your employer so he could withhold current, correct payroll tax deductions from your wages. When you filed the W4, you listed your tax status as single, married with or without dependents. This is a factor in what your taxable income is and what your take home pay will be.

Example: Employees who file as single and earn less than $9,325 annually are taxed at 10 percent income tax bracket rate for 2017. The average for those earning wages of more than $9,325 and up to $37,950 for 2017 would be at 15 percent and $37,950 and $91,900 wages are taxed at 25%. As annual income increases, taxable income amounts also increase. In the U.S., tax brackets range from 10 percent up to 39.6% for those earning over $418,000. Ref: https://www.efile.com/tax-service/tax-calculator/tax-brackets/

Average Tax Rates on Taxable Income

In the U.S., you may likely fall into the average tax rate category. According to the IRS, employees pay an average tax rate of 31.5 percent on their wages.

To configure your take home pay, find your annual rate of income and the tax bracket into which your income falls on a federal and state level. This allows you to have a clearer picture of your paycheck after taxes. If your annual income before taxes is $80,000 and your tax bracket is 25%, you can configure what your net income will be. The best way to ensure you receive the wages you earned is to make sure you know how your wages are taxed. Find out the best time tracking app to maintain productivity.

The post Gross Pay Versus Net Pay appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

HRA Plan Overview

Your employer creates an HRA account for each employee. There’s no cost to you, as your employer is responsible for funding. Pre-tax dollars fund the HRA at the beginning of each plan year. As long as funds are available, then you can use the funds to pay for eligible expenses. In some cases, your funds carry over from one plan year to another. However, it depends on the type of plan chosen by your employer.

An HRA isn’t the same as a health savings plan or a flexible spending plan. The plans are often confused, and therefore it’s important to know which one your employer provides.

Eligible and Ineligible Expenses

Eligible HRA expenses are those paid for out of pocket for medical care. Anything that diagnoses, cures, treats, or prevents diseases or illnesses is generally covered. Transportation for medical care is covered as well. You, your spouse, and eligible dependents can use the funds.

Any costs paid for with an HRA can’t also be reimbursed under any other health reimbursement plan. In other words, you can’t double-dip and get reimbursed twice for the same expense.

Ineligible expenses include things like elective cosmetic surgery, teeth whitening, herbs, family or marriage counseling, and imported prescription drugs.

Maximum Reimbursement

The maximum available from the HRA is equal to the available balance. It’s possible that the amount you need will exceed the balance. If that happens, then the remaining balance will process when the funds are available.

Some plans are limited by an account cap. Funds can’t exceed the cap, and your employer won’t add funds until the balance is below the cap. You also forfeit any funds in your plan if the funds don’t roll over into the next plan year.

Requesting Reimbursement

To request reimbursement, you must complete a Request for Reimbursement form. Proof of purchase or service is required. Valid forms of proof include statements or itemized receipts from your doctor, a pharmacy receipt, and a written prescription and receipt. For insurance premium reimbursement, you need a copy of the billing notice with proof of payment.

Speak with Your Employer

The high cost of medical care is a concern for many people. Being able to recoup some of your medical costs is a great financial help. The savings add up, as you don’t have to pay taxes on the money in your HRA or on the reimbursed expenses. Read more about how employees achieve work life balance.

The post How Do HRA Insurance Plans Work? appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.