In this day and age of chaos, regulations, and ever changing laws many business owners forget about some of the most important things they can do in their businesses that can help them save time, money, and headaches by properly managing (hiring & firing) the right employees. On the firing end of things and often referred to as “unemployment insurance” employers can have complete control over these claims if they place a higher emphasis on creating less turnover in their establishments especially since unemployment insurance is the ONLY payroll tax a company can actually control. So, how exactly can a business owner control these costs and minimize claims?

Perhaps the single most thing an employer can do to help control unemployment claims is to have a way to manage the Human Resource (HR) side of their business by having policies and procedures in place to properly terminate an employee. This may seem like an easy task but actually implementing an HR program or following the rules can be more daunting then you expect if you don’t return the unemployment report sent by the state within the deadline they provide, as these are often final deadlines and are hardly ever extended and… YES, that is even if you have a valid excuse! 

By choosing not to focus in on a process put in place by most states, “responding to unemployment report” for example, you may ask who else can help you in this process. The answer in simple, as Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) are companies that work hand in hand with business owners on correctly filing and/or returning an unemployment report of an employee that has been terminated. Since one of the main benefits of working with a PEO or deciding on a co-employment arrangement in a small business or any business is that this arrangement or a company without an HR program, now or most of the time has the benefit of having their own HR team to help guide, file, and respond to unemployment inquires.

 The fact is unemployment claims can cost you money and most of the time if not all the time many business owners just don’t have the time to deal or handle these claims properly. However, if you identify your need and understand that a PEO can help you minimize your exposure and claims, while putting money back in your pocket you are headed in the right direction. If you need help finding the right PEO arrangement with a good HR program in place, please feel free to reach out to us, as we have partnerships with some of the best PEOs that pride themselves on HR and handling employee related issues and unemployment claims. Remember as with all SEVEN of our consulting practices, it is our goal to help you focus on your business and not your processes and this is another great example of how we can help you do that in yet another valuable tip of the week brought to you by the team at Seven Times Seven!