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Sneaky HR Tasks Eating Your Time (and How to Fix Them)

It’s time to tackle those sneaky HR time thieves and take back your calendar. Here’s how.

IT’S HERE!

Your FREE HR Checklist

Here’s your checklist of important tasks related to payroll, benefits, compliance, and general HR. 

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These tasks shouldn’t take up your workweek. But when systems fall short, they do. If you’re a small or mid-size business owner or HR leader, you probably didn’t get into this role because you love tracking down time-off requests, chasing signatures, or answering the same benefits question 14 times.


And yet… here we are.

Studies show that small business owners spend about 16 hours (or two full days) per week on HR-related administrative work.

Most businesses lose valuable time to the slow drip of small, repetitive “this will only take a minute,” tasks that quietly eat up the workweek. Add them up, and suddenly your strategic HR goals, like recruitment, retention, and leadership development, get pushed aside.

Here are some of the most common areas that may be draining your time.

Time-Consuming HR-Related Tasks

They seem small. But over time, these tasks drain your attention, your energy, and your progress.

1. Repetitive Tasks and Rework

Every time you hunt down a missing signature or resend login details, you lose time you could be using elsewhere. The common offenders? Answering the same employee questions over and over:

“How do I add my baby to insurance?”
“When do benefits start?”
“How many PTO days do I have left?”

Sound familiar?


Individually, these are quick answers. Collectively? They’re a constant interruption machine. When you stop to respond, you lose focus, break momentum, and push higher-value work further down your list.

🛠️ How To Fix It:  Uncover the pain points. Which areas are bogging down the process due to repetition? Where can you create a self-service culture? This can mean establishing a simple internal HR hub (in your intranet, shared drive, or HR platform), short FAQs on benefits, PTO, payroll timing, and onboarding, or short videos that walk through routine processes.

Then, train employees to go there first. When someone asks a repeated question, send the link along with your answer. Over time, behavior shifts. HR becomes a source, not a help desk.

2. Correcting Payroll Errors

The latest software makes running payroll seem easy, but if something goes wrong, the liability is still yours. Miscalculating pay, outdated tax information, and manually tracking time off are time-consuming to fix, hard to catch, and expensive if you don’t, not just in terms of costs but also in lost time and eroded trust among your workers.

 



🛠️ How To Fix It:  Automate what you can. Look for tools that let employees request time off directly, route approvals to managers, automatically update balances, and sync with payroll.

When automation handles the basics, HR shifts away from data entry to policy guidance. You’ll still handle exceptions, but you won’t be stuck crunching numbers late at night.

➡️➡️READ MORE: DIY Payroll: Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should 

Or leave it to the experts by outsourcing payroll to an IRS-certified PEO. A PEO can simplify the payroll process with a cloud-based payroll portal for employers, online employee access to pay stubs, W-2s, benefits info, employee handbooks, and secure, paperless direct deposits. They can also take care of onboarding, payroll taxes, IRS deposits, benefits administration, compliance guidance, and provide HR support.

3. DIY Compliance Monitoring

Labor laws change constantly. Posting requirements update. Salary thresholds shift. Leave laws multiply. Keeping up with shifting deadlines, state-level compliance requirements, and studying the IRS’s recently updated guidance under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Trying to monitor all of this yourself is not only time-consuming – it’s also stressful.


One misstep can be costly. In 2025, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $259 million in back wages for nearly 177,000 employees. That’s an average of $1,465 per worker (the most since 2019).

🛠️ How To Fix It:  Don’t carry compliance alone. Get expert help by partnering with a professional. Whether it’s through a PEO, outside counsel, or a compliance partner, get support that keeps you updated on requirements that apply to your business.

➡️➡️READ MORE: Navigating Compliance Minefields

You’ll need advice on tricky employee situations, alerts on multi-state regulatory changes, new pay transparency rules, evolving paid leave requirements, changing wage-and-hour laws, new employment-related laws on AI, and much more. 

🚀 Pro Tip: Stay compliant with our HR Checklist covering the latest updates and deadlines related to compliance, benefits, payroll, and general HR that you need to take care of each quarter. Download your free HR Checklist ➡️ HERE

4. Updating Employee Data in Multiple Places

Name changes. Address changes. Promotions. New pay rates. If you’re entering the same update into payroll, benefits, retirement platforms, and internal trackers, you’re doing triple-plus work and increasing the chance of errors. 


🛠️ How To Fix It: Integrate your systems, invest in HR technology, or work with a PEO. A unified HR platform can help connect payroll, benefits, time tracking, and employee records, among other things.

With better integration, changes flow through automatically. That means fewer entries, fewer errors, and more free time.

5. Handling Every Employee Issue Personally

When you’re the only go-to for every conflict, complaint, or issue, your day gets hijacked fast. Some things absolutely belong with HR. But many could be resolved earlier and better by trained managers.

🛠️ How To Fix It: Upskill your managers by teaching them to give feedback, handle minor conflicts, and document specific issues.  This doesn’t remove HR from the process; rather, it elevates the role, moving them from firefighter to advisor.

Stop the HR Busy Work, Amplify Your Impact

Normalizing HR busy work has real consequences, including burnout. Your top performers may feel overwhelmed by constant overtime or pressure to meet demands. It also creates dependence on key team members, making it difficult to delegate when only a few people hold essential knowledge or responsibilities.

Maintaining inefficient processes limits growth, slows project delivery, and prevents your team from focusing on strategic initiatives. 🛠️ How To Fix It:  Partnering with an IRS-certified PEO can help. By taking on time-consuming tasks, PEOs help small businesses get back more time to focus on productivity and growth. In addition to saving time, a PEO can also save your business money by identifying inefficiencies, streamlining HR processes, and helping you make critical cost-cutting decisions.

Studies show that businesses working with a PEO:

☑️Grow twice as fast and are 50% less likely to go out of business

☑️Have a 12% lower employee turnover rate

☑️Have an ROI of 27.2 % per year, based on cost savings alone

☑️Experience double the annual median revenue growth, with an added 16% increase in profitability

If you constantly feel behind, the fix isn’t more hustle. It’s better tools, clearer processes, and the right support. A PEO can help you stop the small stuff from piling up, so you can invest your time where it matters most. And if you need help, just give us a call at📱 800-446-6567

Find Out What a PEO Can Do for You

If you’re a small to mid-sized business, a PEO can lighten your workload and strengthen your operations. Imagine focusing on growth while experts handle your payroll, taxes, benefits, HR, and compliance.

⬇️Read more about the advantages of working with a PEO in our series:

🔷 HELP WANTED: HR Team or PEO Partner


Investing in an HR team versus partnering with a PEO, which path is best for your small business? As your business grows, managing HR gets complicated – fast.

Should you build your own HR team or explore the benefits of partnering with a PEO? Here’s how to decide which choice best fits your business. ➡️Link #1Link #1Read More

🔷 NEW RESEARCH: More Small Businesses Are Turning to PEOs


Compelling research from the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) shows that PEOs are helping small businesses scale – a game-changer in 2026.

Working with a PEO isn’t about outsourcing; it’s about upgrading how you manage HR.  It’s about investing in smarter growth, happier employees, and peace of mind. In a business world that’s only getting more complex, that’s a benefit worth having on your side. Thousands of successful businesses are already doing it – and the data proves it works. ➡️Link #2Link #2Read More

IT’S HERE!

Your FREE HR Checklist

Here’s your checklist of important tasks related to payroll, benefits, compliance, and general HR. 

Download Now
AdobeStock_277387980_01
About Propel HR. Propel HR is an IRS-certified PEO and a leading provider of human resources and payroll solutions for 30 years. Propel partners with small to mid-sized businesses to manage payroll, employee benefits, compliance and risks, and other HR functions in a way that maximizes efficiency and reduces costs. For more information, visit propelhr.com
Read More

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The Productivity Playbook: How to Turn Outsourcing into a Strategic Win

Here’s your game plan for turning outsourcing into a winning streak.

IT’S HERE!

Your FREE HR Checklist

Here’s your checklist of important tasks related to payroll, benefits, compliance, and general HR. 

Download Now

Productivity is the secret sauce that separates teams stuck on the sidelines from those with winning streaks. Chances are you’re juggling hiring, compliance, benefits, culture, and about a dozen other priorities . . . all while the clock keeps ticking.

➡️➡️Link #1Link #1Link #1Read More: HR Forecast: What’s Changing & How To Get Ready

Your power play? Outsourcing. When used strategically, it boosts productivity, streamlines operations, and frees you up to focus on what actually moves the scoreboard – your bottom line.

First Quarter: What Productivity Really Means

In HR, productivity isn’t about sprinting faster – it’s about running the right plays at the right time.


True HR productivity means delivering meaningful outcomes with minimal wasted effort. Speed matters, sure, but impact matters more.

Fast hiring doesn’t matter if turnover remains high. Smooth payroll is great . . .  unless errors keep forcing replays.

At its core, productivity is about consistent, high-quality execution that supports your business year-round.

Here’s the basic stat line. The fundamental formula HR teams use looks like this: Productivity = Total Output / Total Input.

📤Output: Projects completed, revenue generated, goals achieved

📥Input: Labor hours, number of employees, or financial costs

It’s simple math but powerful when you track the right metrics.

Why HR Productivity Is For Champions

When HR productivity is dialed in, your entire team plays better.

Here’s what that looks like on the field:

🎯Better Employee Experience. Faster responses, smoother onboarding, clearer policies – all retention fuel.

🎯Stronger Compliance Defense. Mistakes lead to fines, audits, and penalties – that’s expensive. Productive HR keeps risk off the scoreboard.

🎯Scoring Efficiency. In the Red Zone, the stakes are high, and scoring opportunities significantly increase. When your HR team isn’t buried in paperwork, they can make a more strategic impact by focusing on culture, performance, and growth.

🎯Leadership Trust. HR shifts from order-taker to trusted partner.

The results? A productive HR function is the engine that keeps your people – and your business – moving forward.

The Stats Don’t Lie: Proof from the League

The data backs it up:

➡️Flexibility & Remote Work. A Gartner report finds that 43% of employees working flexible hours say they are more productive. Gallup found that fully remote workers report the highest engagement levels.

➡️Engagement Matters. Highly engaged teams are 17% – 21% more productive than disengaged ones.

➡️The Productivity Gap. Top-tier companies grew more productive, while others saw declines due to inefficient collaboration and low engagement.

🎯Winning teams don’t guess; they measure, adjust, optimize, and power up.

The Box Score: Common HR Productivity Metrics


To know how your team is performing, you need the right stats:

📊 Output Metrics. Revenue per employee, output per hour, goals completed vs. assigned

📊 Efficiency Metrics. Time spent per task, employee utilization

📊 Quality Metrics. Accuracy and impact, not just speed

📊 Engagement Indicators. Engagement scores and absenteeism.

📊 Financial Metrics. Total Cost of Workforce (TCOW)

These numbers tell you whether your plays are working and what needs to be redesigned.

Second Half Adjustments

This is where smart teams pull ahead. One of the most effective strategies? Outsourcing to a Professional Employer Organization (PEO).

A PEO helps improve productivity by offloading time-consuming tasks while strengthening the entire employee lifecycle through MVP expertise and next-level HR tech.

🔥Think of it as adding multiple Tom Bradys to your roster.

THE GAME PLAN

Play #1: Reallocate Resources to Core Strengths


The fastest productivity gain comes from freeing your teams from admin overload. By outsourcing, you get:

✅Time Savings. Business owners can spend 20+ hours per month on HR admin-related tasks. Outsourcing frees up time for growth, sales, and strategy.

✅Administrative Relief. Payroll, benefits enrollment, and multi-state compliance tasks move off your plate and into expert hands.

✅A Team of MVPs. Outsourcing gives you access to a team of pros, ready to help when you need it.

Play #2: Build a Deeper Talent Bench that Flexes

An engaged workforce is naturally more productive.

💼 Lower Turnover. Companies using PEOs see 10%–14% lower turnover, reducing disruptions and retraining time.

💼 Big-league Benefits. PEOs provide access to Fortune 500-level benefits, boosting satisfaction and engagement.

💼 Faster Onboarding. Streamlined onboarding helps new hires get in the game.

Play #3: Upgrade Your Tech Stack

PEOs give small and mid-sized businesses access to advanced HR technology without the big-ticket price tag.

📊 Automation. Payroll and tax automation reduce errors and time-consuming fixes.

📊 Employee Self-service. Employees handle PTO, pay stubs, and benefits updates themselves with fewer interruptions for HR.

Play #4: Strengthen Your Compliance Defense


Compliance isn’t optional and managing it internally can drain focus fast. With a PEO on your team, you get:

🛡️Expert Guidance. A team of HR pros helps prevent fumbles and penalties. PEOs stay on top of federal, state, and local regulations, including ACA and FMLA.

🛡️Safety Programs. Proactive safety audits reduce workplace incidents and business disruption.

Play #5: Win on the Scoreboard

All these efficiencies lead to real, measurable stats:

🏆Faster Growth. Businesses using a PEO grow 7% – 9% faster than those that don’t. And are 50% Less Likely to Go Out of Business

🏆High ROI. The average annual return on investment is 27.2% based solely on cost savings.

💥That’s not just a win – it’s a blowout. It’s the stuff championships are made of.

FINAL CALL: Make Productivity Your Winning Play!


How far can you go? Productivity isn’t a one-time drill – it’s a GOAT mindset.

When you measure what matters, optimize repetitive work, and outsource strategically, you’re not just working faster . . . You’re working smarter. That’s for legends.

🔥Outsourcing is no rookie move. It’s a strategic productivity partner that helps HR shift from scrambling to scoring. And keeping that winning streak hot.

Ready to Turn HR into a Powerhouse?

Ready to hear your crowd ROOOAAARRR? 🎉 This power playbook is your first step.

➡️If you need some coaching or a huddle about your productivity game plan, we’ve got you all the way to the Super Bowl winning streak and beyond – just give us a call.

IT’S HERE!

Your FREE HR Checklist

Here’s your checklist of important tasks related to payroll, benefits, compliance, and general HR. 

Download Now
AdobeStock_277387980_01
About Propel HR. Propel HR is an IRS-certified PEO and a leading provider of human resources and payroll solutions for 30 years. Propel partners with small to mid-sized businesses to manage payroll, employee benefits, compliance, risk, and other HR functions in ways that maximize efficiency and reduce costs. To learn more, visit propelhr.com
Read More

Featured

Scaling Smart: How a PEO Prepares Your Business for Growth

Is your business growing? Here’s how a PEO becomes a powerful advantage as you gear up for bigger things.

IT’S HERE!

Your FREE HR Checklist

Here’s your checklist of important tasks related to payroll, benefits, compliance, and general HR. 

Download Now

If you run a small or midsize business, you already know growth is exciting, yes — but also unpredictable, and sometimes overwhelming. That’s exactly why more business owners and HR leaders are choosing Professional Employer Organizations, or PEOs, not just to outsource HR tasks, but to grow smarter, faster, and more sustainably.

The Top 10

A PEO helps you scale without letting the behind-the-scenes stuff collapse under the weight of bigger payrolls, more onboarding, greater compliance risk, and higher employee expectations. It’s like adding an entire HR department overnight, minus the overhead and recruitment scramble. A few advantages include:

1. You Get HR Infrastructure Before You Actually Need It (Which Is Exactly When You Need It)

Most small businesses don’t feel the pain of HR complexity until it’s too late. Payroll errors start multiplying, employees want benefits you’re not equipped to provide, and suddenly you’re Googling state labor laws at 11:30 p.m.

A PEO lays the foundation before those cracks show. Payroll scales without drama. Whether you have 10 people or 110, payroll stays smooth, compliant, and on time. Onboarding becomes a real process and not a scramble. Templates, checklists, digital forms, background screening, and automated workflows ensure consistency as you grow. Policies adjust proactively. A PEO helps you build employee handbooks, update them with new laws, and create clear rules that reduce risk as your headcount increases.

➡️➡️READ MORE:  Are You Ready for 2026? Here’s Your HR Checklist for Q1

2. A PEO Delivers the Big-Company Benefits Employees Want

Here’s the part that often surprises business owners: a PEO can give you access to benefits packages typically reserved for much larger companies.

Because a PEO pools together employees across its client base, you essentially get to “buy in bulk,” accessing high-quality benefits at lower rates. That means you can offer your team robust health plans, retirement savings options, and other top-tier benefits typically reserved for larger companies (and top talent expects).

🎯When employees enjoy comprehensive benefits without compromise, your company is seen as a long-term career option. Retention rises, and as every HR pro knows, that’s a growth strategy.

3. Compliance Stops Being a Guessing Game

Growth = risk.  New states. New regulations. New employment laws. New reporting requirements.

This is where many small businesses unintentionally step into danger territory. The rules change constantly and the stakes are high.

A PEO becomes your compliance command center:

✅They track federal, state, and local employment laws.

✅They help maintain the required documentation.

✅They ensure new hires are classified correctly.

✅They reduce risk with structured workplace policies.

✅And because of the co-employment relationship, many PEOs also share certain administrative responsibilities – meaning you’re not alone if something goes sideways.

🎯Growing is risky. Growing without compliance support? That’s gambling.

4. HR Technology You Don’t Have to Build Yourself

Scaling is smoother when everything is connected, such as payroll, onboarding, PTO tracking, benefits enrollment, performance management, and reporting. But building your own HR tech stack or licensing multiple vendors gets expensive fast.

🎯A PEO delivers the all-in-one HR command center designed for your business. Better data, better workflows, better decision-making.

5. A PEO Frees Up Time (A Lot of It)

If you’re a business owner, your job is to grow the business, not troubleshoot payroll deductions. If you’re an HR manager, your job is to support the people strategy, not drown in admin work.

A PEO takes on repetitive, time-consuming tasks, such as processing payroll, managing benefits, handling tax filings, and preparing compliance documentation. The more you grow, the more time you reclaim, instead of watching your workload escalate with each hire.

6. You Gain a Team of HR Experts Without Expanding Your Staff

Growing companies don’t always have the luxury of immediately hiring a full HR team — HR generalists, benefits specialists, payroll administrators, compliance officers, recruiters, risk managers, the whole lineup.

A PEO gives you access to exactly those roles, on-demand expertise, without the full-time salary load.

➡️➡️READ MORE: HR Help Wanted: In-house Team or PEO Partner

Need help rolling out a new PTO policy? Preparing for benefits renewal? Handling a sensitive employee relations issue? There’s an expert for that. It’s like having a seasoned HR department already onboard, ready to advise you every step of the way.

7. You Become More Attractive to Investors and Partners

Here’s something entrepreneurs don’t always think about: investors love operational maturity. When a PEO is part of your infrastructure, it signals you’re compliant, manage risks well, your HR processes are stable and that you can scale responsibly.

🎯For investors, lenders, and potential partners, a strong HR foundation = reduced risk. And reduced risk makes you a better bet. For acquisitions and rapid growth phases, a PEO can also make integration smoother.

8. A PEO Helps You Build a Better Employee Experience

Growth doesn’t just require more people; it requires keeping the good people you already have on board.

A PEO helps you:

✅Improve communication and access to information.

✅Build modern HR processes that employees trust.

✅Provide competitive benefits

✅Create fair, consistent workplace policies.

🎯A better employee experience leads to lower turnover and higher morale. And in high-growth companies, stability is gold.

9. You Can Expand Into New States With Confidence

Need to hire employees in another state? That’s great for growth, but it creates compliance challenges due to different tax rules and labor law requirements. 

🎯A PEO handles all of it, letting you recruit the best talent in any location without losing sleep or risking penalties.

10. You Scale Strategically

Growth can stress your business when operations lag behind headcount. A PEO aligns both, so you’re expanding strategically.

🎯The result? Smooth transitions. Predictable costs. Cleaner processes. Less risk. Happier employees. And more time to focus on what actually grows the business — not on what slows it down.

Growth Is Easier ➡️When You’re Not Doing Everything Yourself

If you’re preparing to scale — or even thinking about it — the question isn’t whether you can handle growth alone. It’s whether you should.

With a PEO, growth is a plan.

A PEO delivers the infrastructure, expertise, and stability that power growing companies, without requiring a major investment or a staff increase.

Ready to see what a PEO can do? We can lighten your workload and help you drive growth, just give us a call at (800) 446-6567 or visit propelhr.com

🎯PEO Series: The PEO Difference🎯

Learn more about how a PEO can help your business in our series:

🔶HR Help Wanted: In-house Team or PEO Partner. Investing in an HR team versus partnering with a PEO, which path is best for your small business? As your business grows, managing HR gets complicated –  fast. Should you build your own HR team or explore the benefits of partnering with a PEO? Here’s how to decide which choice best fits your business. Read More

🔶Navigating Compliance Minefields. Navigating HR compliance can feel like tiptoeing through a minefield — one wrong move can trigger costly consequences. From pay transparency laws to overtime thresholds, new regulations evolve faster than most small HR teams can keep up with. Here’s a look at the top HR compliance challenges and how to avoid turning small missteps into expensive lessons. Read More

🔶New Research Shows Why More Small Businesses Are Turning to PEOs. The data is in! And it shows how partnering with a PEO will be the smartest move for small businesses in 2026. Recently released research from the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) shows that PEO partnerships are helping small businesses scale. It’s smarter, more efficient, and a game-changer. Here’s what the latest data shows. Read More

IT’S HERE!

Your FREE HR Checklist

Here’s your checklist of important tasks related to payroll, benefits, compliance, and general HR. 

Download Now
AdobeStock_277387980_01

About Propel HR. Propel HR is an IRS-certified PEO that has been a leading provider of human resources and payroll solutions for more than 25 years. Propel partners with small to mid-sized businesses to manage payroll, employee benefits, compliance and risks, and other HR functions in a way that maximizes efficiency and reduces costs. For more information, visit www.propelhr.com

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Affordable Care Act: Rehire Rules

The ACA’s rehiring rules prevent employers from avoiding the need to provide health insurance coverage to employees who they terminate and rehire multiple times.

The final IRS regulations provide that:

  • An employer can treat a rehired employee as a new employee under the ACA if the ‎employee did not have an hour of service for at least 13 consecutive ‎weeks before the employee returned to work.
  • BUT, an employer may treat an employee as rehired after a shorter period of at least four consecutive weeks during which no hours of service were credited if that period exceeds the number of weeks of that the employee originally worked for the employer.

For example:

  • If an employee started employment and worked for six weeks, then had a period of eight weeks during which no hours of service were credited, the employer could treat the employee as a rehired employee if the employee resumed providing services after the eight-week break.
  • If an employee started employment and worked for two years, then had a period of twelve weeks during which no hours of service were credited, the employer would not be able to treat the employee as a rehired employee if the employee resumed work but instead as an employee with a leave of twelve weeks. But, if that employee had a period of fourteen weeks during which no hours of service were credited, the employer could then treat the employee as a rehired employee if the employee resumed work.

More information about rehire rules and break-in-service rules can be found in the final IRS regulations published in the Federal Register on February 12, 2014. 

Read More

The Propel Difference: Best HR Industry Customer Care

What does it mean if the only time you talk to your HR partner is when something goes wrong? How does it make you feel when you never talk to the same person twice?

You call them with a problem and they say they’ll look into it. So you wait and nothing happens.

You call them back and talk to someone new. They say they’ll look into it. So you wait. Maybe it even gets fixed this time around. Not so bad, right?

But if you’re at a growing company, you may be managing several of these relationships simultaneously. You’d like to work with someone for whom communication and trust are more than just talking points in a sales brochure, but who actually backs it up.

That’s the kind of company Propel HR is. And if you’d like to know just how much that a real relationship with an HR vendor benefits our partners, keep reading.

Our Values Guide Us: Family, Community, Charity

Propel HR began as a family company. For us, that meant serving the community of Greenville and build lasting relationships with its citizens, businesses and civic entities, in addition to growing our own successful company.

Those values have defined every customer relationship we’ve forged. They made us who we are today and will continue guiding us as long as we exist.

RELATED READING: Not Just a Living, but a Life

At Propel, we’ve set up our services so that we get to know your business on a personal level over time. That may sound easy, but it’s not. As in any real relationship, it takes time, commitment and trust.

But it’s always worth it. We’ve found that when we know and care about our customers, working together is never a chore, but a partnership that creates lasting rewards on both sides the longer the relationship lasts.

That’s why we strive to incorporate our beliefs in the way we do business and provide what we hope is the best customer service in the industry. Here’s how:

  • We Believe Your Payroll Relationship Matters

    Payroll services are a commodity these days. Most vendors get it right most of the time. That’s fine, so long as there’s never a problem. It’s the moment something doesn’t go quite right that you discover just how much more valuable a real relationship would be.

    In an industry where too many companies push you through in the door, set you up, and never talk to you again, Propel HR believes that “getting it right” is the least we can do.

    We check in with you on a regular basis — not just in the beginning — to make sure your company is properly processing its payroll and meeting its compliance deadlines. 

RELATED READING: The Changing Tide in HR

Then we go many steps further. We look closely at your expectations and strive to meet them. We discuss your future goals and the ways to achieve them. We help your company spot areas to improve and suggest ways to change things for the better.

  • We Believe a Longer Relationship + Better Service = Increased Growth

It’s unfortunate that so many ASOs treat businesses like yours as just another part of their process. It’s become so common that many in-house human resources people now expect poor customer service from their HR vendors.

We set a higher standard. When Propel is your ASO, a member of our service team is your dedicated contact — never a call center rep, but someone who works on your issues personally while always striving to learn more about your organization.

  • We Believe Relationships Must Be Earned, Not Sold

Some vendors will tell you they always have the best product at the lowest price with the best customer service, and that you should always outsource everything with them.

At Propel, we let our genuine concern for your business do the selling. Our team will provide ongoing assessment of your existing HR strengths and weaknesses and help you see new ones as you grow.

If you have a problem area, we’ll show you why it exists and the right way to fix it. And if we do have the solution, we’ll show you how and why it works.

  • We Believe Only Real Relationships Foster Genuine Customer Care

If you’ve ever worked with big HR outsourcers, you know that many of them are more interested in your business than your appreciation, trying to upsell you than getting to know you, and creating dependencies instead of helping you become a better company.

When they treat their customers as mere pocketbooks or problems to be gotten rid of, no real vendor relationship exists at all. Their promises of care are impossible to fulfill.

Real customer care means delivering on that promise. By building real relationships, Propel can do something its HR competitors can’t: say we care — and prove it.

We would never have it any other way. Why should you?

If you want an HR partner that will invest in caring for your company, please give us a call at (800) 446-6567, email or contact us online.

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ACA Compliance – How to Determine If You’re an Applicable Large Employer (ALE)

Whether an employer is an Applicable Large Employer (ALE) under ACA depends on whether the employer had an average of at least 50 full-time employees during the previous calendar year. This number includes full-time equivalent employees.

If an employer did NOT have at least 50 full-time employees during the prior year, the employer is NOT an ALE for the current calendar year.

Keep Paying Attention: Rules Will Change

In 2015, employers were permitted to determine their ALE status by using any consecutive six-month period from 2014. For 2016, this method can no longer be used. Employers must now calculate the average employees who worked during all 12 months of the 2015 calendar year. 

Calculating Your Business Size

To determine its size, an employer must:

  1. Determine the number of full-time employees employed during each month of the prior calendar year.
  2. Determine the number of full-time equivalent employees employed during each month of the prior calendar year.
  3. Add the totals from each month and divide by 12.

Calculating Full-Time Equivalent Employees

Full-time employees are those who work an average of 30 or more hours per week. 

The number of full-time equivalents is determined by adding up the hours worked by part-time employees during the month and dividing by 120. 

This gives you the full-time equivalent count for that month. To calculate your yearly average, you must repeat this process for each calendar month. 

Round Down, not Up

If your final average is not a whole number, it is rounded down. For example, if you employed, on average, 49.8 during the year, you would round down to 49.  

If the result is less than 50, the employer is not subject to the ACA rules for the current year and need not take any other action.

Remember that in making your ALE determination, related entities or control groups are counted together for the determination. 

See ACA Count – Control Group for additional information.

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August Nonprofit Spotlight: TreesGreenville

TreesGreenville is a membership based non-profit founded in 2005.  Their mission is to plant, promote, and protect trees in Greenville County.  The organization plants trees in parks, schools, and neighborhoods, promotes the benefits of trees, and protects the urban forest by teaching people how to properly plant and maintain trees.  

The TreesGreenville team plants trees with the help of volunteers and their Corporate Partners most Saturdays October-March.  

Find Volunteer Opportunities (all ages welcome) here:  www.treesgreenville.org 

2006 – 2016:  10 Years of Planting by the numbers

  • 247 Tree Plantings (41% Schools; 29% Parks & Greenspaces; 19% Neighborhoods)
  • 4,425 Tree Planted
  • Over 5,000 Volunteers Engaged
  • 84 different species planted

TreesGreenville’s Impact:  At maturity, the 4,425 trees they have already planted will remove the equivalent of over 48 million miles of car emissions, each year! 

TreesGreenville Turkey Day 8k

The goal of the TreesGreenville Turkey Day 8k is to raise funds and awareness for the organization’s urban forestry programs.

THE EVENT:

The 8k run will be held on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 24th, 2016, beginning at 8:00 a.m. in downtown Greenville.  There will also be a 5k family run & walk for all ages and a 1/4 mile tot trot for toddlers.

THE PARTICIPANTS:

Nationally, Thanksgiving Day is the most run holiday of the year.  The Turkey Day 8k made the list of the top 25 attended races in South Carolina in its inaugural year.  The race continues to grow and in 2011 the Turkey Day 8k became the largest 8k in South Carolina. The past three years, the course was in downtown Greenville. In 2015, they had over 2400 registrants for the 8k run, 5k Family Fun Walk, and ¼ mile tot trot. Through the generosity of participants and sponsors this race will continue to grow and be a well-established premier race in Greenville County.

Register to Run, Walk, Trot, or Volunteer:  www.turkeyday8k.com 

Contact Info:  Joelle Teachey, Executive Director, TreesGreenville, 864-313-0765 or jteachey@treesgreenville.org

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How HR Directors Can ‘Wow’ Underappreciating Executives

Great HR professionals know their value. In some cases, their own executive teams may need help seeing it. When HR finally gets a seat at the executive table, much is said in the confused looks directed at them. Some may think…

“Who invited HR? They just do the hiring, firing and paperwork. How are they supposed to add to our bottom line?”

Having doubters among management is hard enough, but the hardest thing of all is when your value goes unnoticed.

When the rest of the business doesn’t see or appreciate the contributions from the HR department, it can be hard to move your business forward. It may also be a sign that culture problems are growing within the organization.

By initiating a dialogue that educates executive leadership on the value of human resources and collaborating with them to build an effective “people strategy,” HR managers help businesses can help create lasting growth while finally winning the appreciation they deserve.

Learn to Think Like an Executive

As a human resources director, making your seat at the table count can be a challenge. The biggest hurdle is often getting executives to understand not only the solutions HR offers, but also to get them to accept the challenges they face as their growing businesses become small enterprises.

It begins with empathy. You can’t expect to change anyone’s mind about HR if you don’t take the time to understand how they think.

Although most are great with people, many successful leaders have surprisingly little exposure to human resources. Many build their business themselves, hire staff one by one and play the central role in building their cultures. As the business grows, however, the process can get watered down. Hiring shifts to managers and the culture they’ve worked so hard to build doesn’t get passed down the line.

RELATED: Hiring the Right Talent

And now that the human resources department is sitting at the table, they look at you and think:

Things aren’t how they used to be. So many new seats, so many faces coming and going. Productivity has dipped, customers are complaining, employees aren’t happy, margins are disappearing. And now all this administration, all this compliance . . . .

What’s the point of all this growth if we can’t even control what we’re growing into?

And here comes the HR director demanding we cut into revenue even more.

But HR, of course, contributes to the same revenue goals as any department. As the HR director, it’s your job to make business leaders understand how.

  1. Start With Revenue
    Bad hiring and high turnover are profit killers. Replacement and training costs are already high. They’re even higher when you consider lost productivity, workload sharing, and the fact that each quit or termination will likely lead to more.

    Calculate and present those losses to your organization. Show them what could be saved if the bleeding was stanched. Don’t be afraid of bring up bad news. Even if they cringe, you’ll show everyone around the table that you share their main concern.
  1. Vividly Describe What You Do
    Those who see HR merely as a place where the nitty-gritty gets done may think it a banal discipline. Sure, you’re in charge of a thousand-and-one little tasks, but do they even know how you fit into the big business scheme?

    Before you jump into a hundred-slide presentation defending what you do, try a little vivid imagery.

    Like this:

    When it comes to growing your business, you’ve gotten used to pushing the boat yourself. But using your HR department to execute a personnel strategy is like building yourself an engine.

    Without HR, you’re just a big boat floating on the current. Help us build the right engine, and we can use it to take your business wherever you’d like it to go.
  1. Identify the Big Problem and Offer the Solution
    Eventually business leaders find that what worked during their first few phases of growth doesn’t beyond a certain size. Once they grow too big they can’t get as much from their employees. They find it hard to retain good people.

    It may be a culture problem. When things were small, leaders could keep an eye on everything and be seen by everyone. Now that they’ve grown, the business itself must do more of the stewarding. Without a good HR strategy created together with the executive team, cultural fragmentation inevitably creates personnel problems.

    Investing in a real HR strategy helps businesses scale beyond the point of diminishing returns. Through processes and policies, the influence of senior leaders is once again carried forward.

    Human resources teams become ambassadors of company culture, facilitating communication between employees and organizational leaders, which helps maintain a positive work environment as companies grow.

Smiles Around the Table

Human resources deserves the appreciation of executive staff. If you don’t have it, it’s probably a sign that you’re not on the same page as the company’s other leaders.

It takes convincing. Directors must quantify losses and estimate gains that prove to senior leadership that HR is good for much more than cutting checks, pushing paper and handling the occasional complaint.

RELATED: ‘The Golden Rule’ Still Applies When Managing Talent

Show them how recruiting and engagement may have gone off the rails, offer analysis and strategy to get it rolling once again, and convince them that bridging the gaps between employees and leadership isn’t just a nice thing to do, it can add more revenue to the bottom line than they ever knew was possible.

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The TOO Valuable Employee

Most companies have at least one. The employee who drives the team crazy by complaining and adding drama to the workplace, yet their work is so valuable that everyone puts up with it. They push boundaries and often lack proper respect of peers and managers, yet everyone deals with it because the employee is a tremendous producer.

Can an employee be TOO valuable?

  • Do you ever excuse bad behavior by saying, “Oh, that’s just John, he can be like that”?
  • Do you ever tiptoe around an employee so you don’t make her mad?
  • Do other employees recognize that one employee gets preferential treatment?
  • Have you ever adjusted a job description to fit one person instead of hiring a person to fit the job description?
  • Do you ever feel trapped because one employee in your organization has the most knowledge and you worry what will happen if he quits, goes on vacation, or gets sick?

In business, you need many valuable employees, but you never want any one person to be too valuable. Life happens and people go on vacation, get sick, or decide to look at new opportunities. Business can’t be compromised because one person is out.

Yet, at one time or another, most companies are guilty of having an employee who is too valuable. The salesperson who brings in the biggest deals yet treats the team with disrespect. The operations guru who is mean to co-workers but can handle complex client issues. The employees who have deep institutional knowledge of your company or strategic client relationship, but poor team cooperation.

An employee who is treated differently or who has become too valuable can demoralize the rest of the team. Plus, as the business owner, you feel trapped. Steps must be taken in order to change the dynamic.

Begin changing the dynamic today — Here’s how:

  • Continually cross-train. In small business, this is vital, but often overlooked due to time and resources. Team members must be cross-trained to cover any absences and keep business operating properly.
  • Document bad behavior & meet with the employee to provide productive feedback. The employee may not know how their behavior is effecting the team. Sometimes people need to be reminded of the rules of the workplace. Don’t wait until an annual review, feedback should be clear and frequent. Link #1Read more about effective performance reviews here. 
  • Monitor employee morale. If one employee causes too much trouble, other employees may become disgruntled or worse, may quit. Don’t let one bad apple spoil the bunch. 
  • Be prepared to make the difficult decision to terminate the relationship (if necessary). Hopefully, good communication and proper management can turn the situation around, but always be prepared for the worst and shore up any business shortcomings ahead of time. Link #2Read more on terminating employees here. 

Everyone on your business team should provide value every day, but beware when you allow one employee to become too valuable. Plan strategically to avoid this happening and remember that the value of your organization is in the whole team, not just the individual players.

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2016 ACA Changes: Loss of Transition Relief

Now that you have completed your 2015 Form 1095-C reporting for all employees and submitted your 2015 Form 1094-C filing to the IRS, it is time to look at 2016 ACA compliance.

The complete and partial transition relief that was available in 2015 is no longer available in 2016, so you need to be ready.

For your 2016 plan year (taking effect on the first day of your 2016 plan):

  • The 2015 transition relief for Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) with 50-99 full-time employees and equivalents is gone. All ALEs must comply with the ACA’s employer mandate requirements.
  • In 2015, ALEs needed to offer health insurance coverage to at least 70 percent of their full-time employees. Starting in 2016, ALEs must offer ACA-compliant coverage to at least 95 percent of their full-time employees to avoid penalties.
  • In 2015, for ALEs with 100 or more full-time employees, if the ALE did not offer coverage to its full-time employees, the per-employee penalty was calculated after subtracting 80 full-time employees. In 2016, that reduction has been decreased significantly, so only the first 30 will be deducted from the full-time count in calculating the penalties.

Now is the time to review your 2016 ACA compliance, but you don’t have to go it alone. If your business needs guidance navigating the complexities of the Affordable Care Act, please don’t hesitate to contact us. 

Our ACA team’s decades of experience in employee benefits, combined with our detailed knowledge of the nuances of ACA legislation, can help to keep your business compliant. We’ll perform a rigorous analysis of your company’s benefits offering to identify gaps that could lead to costly fees or fines, and our team of ACA experts will help you identify the most cost-effective path to full and lasting compliance. Simply submit our contact form or call us at (800) 446-6567 to get started.

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Save the Date: Read Up Book Fest on Aug. 6!

Read Up, Greenville is a celebration of Young Adult and Middle Grades books and authors. Saturday, August 6th will be a full day of book sales, author signings, panel discussions and keynote speakers. The day will feature nine panels specific to different themes and three keynote addresses. 28 Middle Grades and YA authors and artists will be on the Peace Center campus (click here to view the entire author lineup).

The event is free to all with the exception of the keynote events. 

Ticketed events include:

  • Bon Secours St. Francis Health System presents Jay Asher, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling novel Thirteen Reasons Why. August 6th at 10:00 am in the Gunter Theatre with book signing opportunity immediately following.
  • The Fred Collins Foundation presents Holly Goldberg Sloan, critically acclaimed author of Middle Grades, YA books, including Counting by 7s. Holly has also written eight family feature films, including, Angels in the Outfield. August 6th at 1:30 pm in the Gunter Theatre with book signing opportunity immediately following.
  • Closing Keynote includes Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, co-authors of All American Boys, a 2016 Coretta Scott King Honor book, which chronicles two teens – one black, one white – grappling with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school their community, and ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension. August 6th at 6:15 pm in the Gunter Theatre with book signing opportunity immediately following.

Each keynote presentation is $7.00 or all three for $15.00.

Scholarships are also available!

If you love reading or love a teen who loves reading, then Read Up is for you! 

View the full event schedule & purchase tickets at www.readupgreenville.com.

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“The Golden Rule” Still Applies When Managing Talent

One of the best professional compliments I ever received followed one of the most difficult conversations I ever had. I had just delivered a disciplinary action for an employee who had been with the company for several years. This employee was a vital asset because no other employee had the knowledge or experience to do the job she did. In turn, this employee had become overconfident and frequently disrespected other employees and even managers.

During my conversation with this employee, I explained that while her actual work performance was good, her poor attitude made her very difficult to work with. As a supervisor herself, this employee berated her team and sometimes even other leaders in the company, which was unacceptable.

Sometimes supervisors wait until they are at their boiling point to have performance discussions with employees. As a result, the message can be rude rather than constructive. When I was a new employee, my supervisor once told me that my department was “the worst he had seen in his six years with the company.” During that moment, I felt only felt hurt, and not motivated to actually improve. The performance message was clouded by his offensive delivery. When I encountered someone on my team treating other employees like I had been treated all those years ago, I addressed it.

The employee immediately became defensive, raised her voice and wanted to argue her side. I cited the conversation we were currently having as evidence of her inappropriate conduct. I never raised my voice and convinced her to lower hers. I listened to every point she made, validated her when she was correct and challenged her when she wasn’t correct. Point by point, I was finally able to get her to see her behaviors the way the rest of the team did and to explain the impact of those behaviors on the department.

Following that conversation, one of my colleagues, who had been a manager for much longer than I had, told me that she had learned something from listening to this conversation. She complimented me on my ability to discipline this employee and “still leave her dignity in check.”

What many people fail to realize is that incivility is counterproductive. Addressing performance issues when you’re upset is not a good practice and can ultimately cost the company. According to an article in the Harvard Business Review, employees who feel that they have been treated poorly:

  • 48% intentionally decreased their work effort,
  • 47% intentionally decreased their time spent at work,
  • 78% said that their commitment to the organization declined and
  • 25% admitted to taking their frustrations out on customers!

The Golden Rule that we learned in kindergarten still holds true. Even when performance is not meeting expectations, treating employees the way you like to be treated and delivering messages the way you would want to receive them is still the best policy.

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Not Just a Living, But a Life

As I write this, my husband is in Rwanda working with Zoe Ministry, a program that empowers orphans to overcome extreme poverty. This journey has been eye-opening and life-changing for Hubert, and even though I am not with him, it has also given me the opportunity to reflect.

My husband, Hubert, in Rwanda with Zoe Ministry

Volunteerism and giving back to the community is an integral part of our family values. We are trying to raise our children to be good citizens of the world. We teach them the importance of serving others whether through large acts, like a mission trip, or small acts, like helping a neighbor.

The value of giving back is also evident in our business. Propel HR is a family-owned business, and even as we’ve grown, we’ve continued to hold on to our core family values. Propel HR invests in local and regional nonprofit organizations, sponsoring many charity events and donating to many causes, but “giving back” is not just about giving money. Time donated in service is just as important as money and often it’s even more rewarding for the volunteer.

Beyond the value of volunteering to both the community and volunteer, there is also real value for businesses to promote a culture of giving back.

  • Employees who volunteer in the community enhance their job skills and gain different experiences that will prove valuable in the workplace. For example, an accounting professional who teaches in a local school improves his presentation skills.
  • Companies that engage in group charitable projects improve teamwork and increase morale. Just think of the corporate teams who participate in charity walks and cheer each other on as they cross the finish line.
  • When businesses promote a volunteer culture, employees feel more loyal and proud of their employer. The 2011 Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT survey found that millennials who frequently participate in workplace volunteer programs are twice as likely to rate their corporate culture as positive.
  • Your employees will feel less stress. According to UnitedHealth Group, Doing Good is Good for You: 2013 Health and Volunteering Study, employees who volunteer are less stressed and healthier.

As businesses, success is not determined solely by our bottom lines or even the quality of our work, but also by how we contribute to our community. It has been said that, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

As business leaders, we all have an obligation to give back. It’s not about recognition or accolades. We give because we have been fortunate and we feel a sense of duty to help others. And in the end, our goal is to make a life, not just a living.

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Beyond the Bathroom Bill

South Carolina may have avoided the “bathroom bill”, but the debate has certainly brought transgender issues to the public eye. It has made all of us think a little more about this issue and how it affects our own life. 

First, let’s properly define transgender. Transgender is the state of one’s gender identity or gender expression not matching one’s assigned sex. Transgender is independent of sexual orientation. Transitioning is the term used to describe the process through which a person changes his or her outward gender to the gender he or she identifies with. The transition process is different for everyone and it may involve social changes, medical steps, and changing legal documents.

Legally, there are many state and local laws that prohibit discrimination against transgender people. Recently, the Department of Justice took the position that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extends to gender identity, including transgender status. The EEOC which interprets and enforces Title VII has seen an increase in cases related to transgender discrimination. In fact, both OSHA and the EEOC have recently issued fact sheets to help employers regarding bathroom access for transgender employees.

It is important to know the laws, but what do you do when your employee, Joe, walks into your office and informs you that he is now Jane?

Here Are Some Thoughts to Guide You:

  • Some employees may feel uncomfortable with Jane. Jokes may arise and harassment may follow. Have a zero tolerance policy on harassment. All employees, Jane as well as the rest of the staff, should feel safe and respected.
  • Add diversity training that includes gender identity and expression.
  • If an individual identifies as a specific gender, then treat them accordingly. Use the proper pronouns and preferred name. Make sure all employment forms are changed to reflect this identity.
  • Allow employees to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify. If this causes issues with the other employees, then re-group and find a solution. The employer must address all employees’ fears and concerns which is no easy task. Get HR involved and make a good faith effort to determine which facilities are appropriate.

Non-discrimination policies address conduct in the workplace, not individual personal beliefs. These protections do not require anyone to change their religious or moral beliefs. Rather, the legal protections help to ensure that all employees may perform their jobs free from discrimination.

And most importantly, don’t forget the HUMAN in Human Resources. Talk to your employees, make them feel comfortable and always follow the Golden Rule (more on that here). Regardless of whether you are talking to Jane or Joe, your employee is still just a person who wants to be respected. 

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Hiring The Right Talent

What separates a “star” employee from just another “warm body” in your company? This seems to be the million-dollar question many managers have as they begin the dreaded task of hiring new employees. Contrary to the seemingly unavoidable uncertainty with new hires, some solid hiring routines can make the task adding to your current staff less daunting.

1. Assess the job.

Determine what competencies are required for the position you are filling. What skills and abilities are necessary to get the job done? Current job descriptions are critical for this step. Having a clear picture of the essential duties and responsibilities for the position help determine what it takes to be successful in that role. For example, if an employee is required to prepare financial reports as significant part of their role, the right candidate will need to be detail-oriented in addition to possessing finance or accounting skills.

2. Consider the company culture.

It is equally important to consider the company’s work environment in this assessment. Know and understand the company culture, the team with which the new hire will work, the clients the new hire will interact with, etc. The “people-factor,” also known as interpersonal or soft skills, needed to succeed in a role can be easily overlooked. If a company values innovation and teamwork, for example, it would be important to gauge these values in potential candidates.

3. Gather information about your candidate.

How do you assess a candidate to ensure they will meet your company’s needs? There is where conducting an effective interview comes into play. The industry best practice is to use behavior-based interviews. Not only does behavior-based interviewing provide the company with examples of demonstrated ability to meet certain skill sets, but also, when executed correctly the interviewer can probe deeper into motives, values and traits that are not gained by reviewing a resume and/or checking references alone.

The interviewer’s job is to gather as much relevant information about the candidate as possible. Many interviewers feel as though “it’s the candidates job to sell themselves.” While the ability to interview well can be valuable to a company for some roles such as sales or customer service positions, this skill may not be essential for others, such as highly analytical positions where employees usually work independently.

The interviewer should not only ask behavior questions but be willing to rephrase them and ask follow-up questions to make sure they are getting the information they need to make a good hiring decision.

For example, a good behavior-based interview question is:

“Tell me about a time that you were on a team that had to accomplish a goal.”

Some great follow-up questions might be:

“What was your role on the team?

“Was it assigned to you or did you choose it yourself?”

“What contributions did you personally make to the team?”

With the additional probing questions, the interviewer can also gather more information about the candidate’s initiative and follow-through in addition to their ability to work with others.

When making a hiring decision, it is important to trust your process. If you’ve done the pre-work and know what you want from a candidate, and you’ve done your due diligence to gather as much information about the candidate as you can, see if the two align. Many times hiring decisions are made in haste to fill an opening that has remained vacant for too long. There is an inclination that “somebody is better than nobody.” Fight this urge as this is not true. In most cases, teams work better when they are leaner than when they have the added burden of carrying dead weight. With the latter, not only is the work hard, but you have added a morale issue, which makes it feel even harder.

If you are not thrilled to add someone to your team, pass. Never settle or you may just end up with a “warm body” that is taking up space where your “star” should be. 

For more on the hiring process, please read this blog post by our friends at PTG:

 http://www.palmettotg.com/blog/2016/05/19/why-we-dont-open-unsolicited-resumes/

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