News for Accredited Businesses
Better Business Bureau Serving Central Oklahoma
February 2012
Second Round of Bogus E-mails Uses BBB Name
Another round of e-mails, suspected to originate in Russia, has begun circulating. This message, encouraging businesses to update their Better Business Bureau files, uses both Alaskan BBB and Council of Better Business Bureau addresses to claim legitimacy. Don’t be fooled. If you need to update information, do it through the OKC-BBB’s website at www.oklahomacity.bbb.org or by directly calling the office during regular business hours.
QUICK BITS....Alarming News! Does your business have an alarm or security system? In the reports of national crime statistics, incidents of everything from minor vandalism to major property theft have gone up incrementally in each of the past five years. Locally, we’ve seen increases in the number of incidents of thefts of copper and other valuable “scrap” metals taken from air conditioners and other equipment ordinarily used by businesses. A recent break-in cost a local construction company nearly $100,000 in equipment. There are a lot of good reasons for business owners to consider an alarm system. First, your property insurance will go down by as much as 20% (depending on the type of system you install and your insurance company). Next, merely posting the signs that your property is alarmed or protected will deter troublemakers – most are looking for an “easy target” and will gladly move on to another establishment without the risk. Lastly, you can tailor the hardware and services to what suits your business and its needs. You may not need a full blown system with motion detectors and video cameras, and the costs of installing a system may be outweighed by your peace of mind. Remember as you consider bids that the hardware is just an initial investment. The monthly monitoring fees will add up to more over time, so make sure you understand the agreement, its limitations, and what services you’ll get for the money….
MAKING THE MOST OF ACCREDITATION: Watch Your BBB E-mail for Alerts!
The BBB sends alerts to Accredited Businesses before we issue warnings in the media. Make sure your company’s e-mail listing with the OKC-BBB is correct. In the past month, the BBB has warned potential vendors away from a dubious selling opportunity and against opening an e-mail containing a crippling virus. To update your e-mail account, contact Leeda Kurtz at 236-5292 or through e-mail at leedabbb@coxinet.net
Helping Your Employees
Spot Employees in a Money Pit…And Help Them Climb Out
Most employers agree that an employee who is enjoying a healthy, stable home life is more productive and valuable to the business. Conversely, employees who have hit a rough patch – an illness in the family, a divorce, or some other source of stress – may become a burden. Proactive business owners are able to recognize employees who are having trouble and many of them will find a way to reach out, offering a “hand up” rather than a “hand out,” and learn that the gesture not only builds employee loyalty, but helps the business remain productive and profitable.
A financial problem may be the easiest for an employer to spot. Where missing too many days in a pay period or slacking off on the job might be indicative of many different problems at home, money trouble can show itself in far more evident ways. Calls from collectors at work, requests to cash in vacation time, or other “money now” issues are clear red flags that the employee needs help.
“In the past,” says one financial advisor, “it was pretty typical for a business owner to come up with a way to fire an employee who got one too many calls from creditors at work. There’s no doubt that those kinds of calls are a distraction from getting work done, and may distract more than just the employee with a debt problem, but more recently, employers have become active in trying to help the employee resolve the problem. If you have a ten-year investment in an employee who gets on thin ice, you don’t want to go through the effort of getting rid of that employee and finding someone new to replace him. It goes beyond whether or not you’re a hard-line employer and putting someone out of work when they’re already having trouble making ends meet. It’s more responsible and ethical, both from the point of view of the business and the individual employee, for you to involve yourself, if only to the point of acknowledging that there seems to be a problem and inviting further conversation. Clearly, it’s up to the employee to take you up on the offer – you can’t push or pry into that person’s private life – but, as a supervisor or employer, you may feel an obligation to end the distractions and put that employee back on track. If your business condition allows it, why not help them out?”
Once you’ve identified that an employee has a cash flow problem, what are your obligations? Some managers – maybe most – would rather ignore it, but smart managers who see an investment in keeping their employees on the job would take a different approach. In private, they’d quietly approach the employee. “We’ve gotten some strange calls this week asking for you. Is there a problem I should know about?” “Seems like you’ve been cutting out of work a little early lately. Can we fix that?” Giving the employee the opportunity to share the issue may be enough to end it. Beyond that? How willing are you and what do you consider your obligations to assist the employee? Without coaxing the response, offering to assist an employee to resolve the issue might be the kindest gesture you can make. Is it worth allowing the employee to cash in unused vacation time? Could you manipulate a schedule to allow the employee to pick up some overtime pay? The more creative you are, the more highly evolved the culture of your business. Obviously, there are important considerations when looking over the employee’s shortfall. Be aware that, in moving forward to help (in whatever form you might feel is appropriate) you may be setting a precedent that future employees might try to defraud or take advantage of in some way.
You may also learn far more than you wanted to know about your employee’s lives and, philosophically speaking, what happens if that employee opens up about a problem you couldn’t have anticipated and didn’t want to deal with? What if, for example, the employee confesses a drug or alcohol problem is draining his finances? One attorney suggested that, provided the employee volunteers the information and you have properly disclosed a company policy against such addictions, you risk far less knowing about the problem than not knowing about it, and the knowledge gives you the ability to take whatever steps you choose to deal with the issue, all the way from footing the bill for rehab through terminating the employee and not looking back. (In fact, if a driver employed by your business admits to being a heavy drinker, you may be liable if you knew that condition and he gets into an accident while on duty under the influence.)
Maybe you’re not in a philosophical or financial position to help directly when an employee has money trouble. You might still offer some advice. For employees who have hit a serious financial shortfall that interferes with their ability to pay bills, you might recommend that they seek help from Consumer Credit Counseling Service in Bethany or another local debt relief service. (Too often, people turn to online for-profit debt reduction or consolidation services for assistance and discover too late that, for the convenience of relatively anonymous transactions, their repayment schedule includes payments to the consolidation company itself.) If they are willing to share or you know that their financial situation is more serious, you might recommend that they seek legal counsel.
The more you can do, especially if you can become creative, to calm the employee’s financial worries, the more likely they will remain productive employees. You certainly aren’t obligated to assume your employee’s debts, but, as a business owner or manager, it’s at least within your ability to consider policies or other relief for a valued employee who has hit tough times.
“There are all kinds of reasons people run into financial trouble,” the advisor goes on, “and not all of them are the employee’s fault. Sure, someone might overspend on gifts during the holidays or have a gambling problem, but it’s far more likely that a child got sick, the car broke down, or some other incident beyond their control sapped their savings. And, then, maybe they got hit with another unexpected expense. A lot of people are living paycheck to paycheck these days and face terrible decisions about which bills get paid or what they can afford to do with their money, and most are inclined to ignore collection calls until things boil over. If you’re hearing about the problem outside their home as a third party, things are probably pretty bad. As an employer, you may even be indirectly contributing to the problem, and that’s not hard to understand. It’s a tough marketplace today. Depending on your type of business and where it fits into the economy, you may not be paying your employees as much as you’d like…or even as much as they deserve, and savings are at a record low in America today. You can’t exactly fault someone for falling behind on their bills when the economy is this soft. If you can help out, even in a way that doesn’t cost you or your business anything but the time it takes to listen and offer some advice, you’ve lifted a huge burden from that person and demonstrated that you care about them as a person. That can mean a lot when the employee sees an opportunity that pays more in your market or otherwise would cost you an experienced person in your line of work.”
Any employer might consider a creative plan to help relieve an employee’s financial woes, but it would be wise to consult with your business’ attorney – and maybe your accountant – before taking action.
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Check out OKC-BBB President Bob Manista's blog at http://oklahomacity.bbb.org/blog/ to learn more about what's "behind the scenes" at your Better Business Bureau.