Many of you know I am a big baseball fan (more on that next month), and everyone knows the famous line: “If you build it, he will come,” from the movie Field of Dreams. Did you know it is also one of the most misquoted lines ever? Most people believe the line is if you build it, they will come, but I digress.
I have been fortunate to work with many different industries, businesses of varying sizes, and people at all levels throughout my career. Many business owners believe that if they build it (referring to their business), customers, employees, etc., will come. If only it were that easy!
One thing I know for sure is that clients/customers will show up when they need to. Usually, clients will have an issue, and when they have hit their threshold for the pain, they will search for a solution. Tony Robbins often talks about how human behavior is driven by the desire to avoid pain or obtain pleasure. In my experience, usually when the pain becomes unmanageable is when people are more motivated to seek out a solution. Pain is often the catalyst for transformation.
Lately, I have heard from more and more business owners that they hate doing business in California, and it gets harder and harder every day. As a business owner, I share that frustration. We have stringent labor laws, complex regulations that business owners must comply with, not to mention environmental regulations that impact specific industries. Of course, it is costly to live here too. Would I like to change things to be easier, especially for small business owners? Yes, but would I move out of California? No!
So, what does this have to do with Field of Dreams? When I started my company, I focused on recruiting because that was the most prominent need for business owners. Recruiting is a universal problem. When the economy is good, you post a job and get three resumes in 30 days. When the economy is terrible, you can post a job and get 1,000 resumes in 30 minutes. How do you find the right person for your company? Recruiting top talent needs to go beyond posting a job online.
Fortunately, we have created an excellent recruitment program and have an amazing recruiter, Melissa. She is sharing her insights into successful recruiting in her latest blog. One of our goals this year is to help educate our clients on how to recruit new team members more effectively. More on that later this year. California employers have multiple issues keeping them up at night, recruiting is just one of them!
Pain Point: Noncompliance
As I mentioned, California has complex regulations and strict labor laws, so we have created a number of audit programs to ensure you follow best practices and, more importantly, the legal requirements for doing business in California. Every day, we hear of more companies receiving significant fines for noncompliance. The Department of Industrial Relations recently issued a news release stating that they are investing $18 million to prosecute wage theft. According to the press release “This funding will enhance the capacity of public prosecutors to take action against wage theft – ensuring that labor laws are enforced, violators are prosecuted, and employers are deterred from engaging in practices such as unpaid overtime and minimum wage violations.” Cal/OSHA has also increased the maximum penalties for certain violations in 2024. California is not taking violations lightly, and neither are we. In addition to our audit programs, we are running a Compliance Audit Special that reviews over 300 elements that, if not compliant, could lead to violations and steep fines. Contact me for details .
Pain Point: How Can I Keep Up With Changes?
How can you keep up with all the legal changes when you are focused on your business daily? Don’t forget about our ongoing webinar series. We are constantly looking for new topics, and sometimes, we must revisit issues when laws change. Be sure to sign up for part 1 of our two-part webinar series on Demystifying Leaves of Absence. Guidelines for California Businesses. If you missed a recent webinar, you can watch the replays on our YouTube channel. We are always interested in what is on your mind. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me if you have questions or would like to suggest a webinar topic.
Pain Point: Payroll As business owners, your problems have evolved, and what was manageable in the past is no longer something you can undertake. Your pain points have helped us transform our offerings to assist you, including payroll services. Our HR professionals efficiently manage and administer payroll on your payroll software platform. Our team will create your payroll process to ensure your employees are paid correctly and on time, which can end payday drama!
These are just some of the services we offer when your business pain becomes unmanageable, and you decide it is time to transform it. All of our services exist because our clients have come to us looking for solutions to their pain. Creating and expanding Ethos has been hard work and emotional investment in understanding our client’s businesses and how to help them succeed. So, do we have a field of dreams? Yes, but we didn’t build it on our own; we built it with all our clients in mind because The Magic of Human Connection® drives everything we do!
Cheers!