You know those black-and-white posters the state of Ohio issues each year, mandating employers to post them “in a conspicuous area”? Most people probably don’t even notice these bulletin board notices as they get their morning coffee or grab lunch out of the office refrigerator.
But there’s an important tidbit on the 2011 Minimum Wage poster, issued by the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Industrial Compliance & Labor. One small section on the poster details how you long you should maintain records on your employees, and in particular, what information needs to be kept. Take a closer look:
PERMANENT RECORDS TO BE KEPT BY THE EMPLOYER
1. Each employer shall keep permanent records for at least three years, available for copying and inspection by the Director of the Ohio Department of Commerce, showing the following information concerning each employee:
A. Name
B. Address
C. Occupation
D. Rate of Pay
E. Amount paid each pay period
F. Hours worked each day and each work week2. The records may be opened for inspection or copying at any reasonable time and no employer shall hinder or delay the Director of the Ohio Department of Commerce in the performance of these duties.
If you’re in charge of employee records for your Ohio business, you might want to double-check that you’re meeting these requirements (and if you have to choose between “permanent” and “at least three years,” I’d suggest going for permanent) –just in case the folks from the Department of Commerce come knocking.
Like this:
In this economy of 10% or higher unemployment, I think most people with decent jobs would agree they are grateful to be employed and receiving a regular paycheck. With the Thanksgiving season coming up, I’d like to ask you to express your gratitude by helping others find work.
For more than a decade, I have served on the Board of Trustees for Cincinnati Works, a non-profit workforce development initiative dedicated to promoting self-sufficiency through employment. Since Dave and Liane Phillips founded the organization in 1997, Cincinnati Works has helped more than 3,000 people begin their journey to economic self-sufficiency. Each journey begins with one year working at one job, and helps participants support themselves and their families without additional assistance. This video shows what Cincinnati Works has done for just one of its many members:
This holiday season, I’m helping Cincinnati Works promote its mission to help all those who are willing and able to escape poverty. I hope you’ll join me in this effort. Simply donate what you can through this secure fundraising website. Give $25, $50, $100 or whatever amount your budget allows to say you’re thankful for your job this year — and want others to achieve that same sense of financial security.
Your contribution will help produce some amazing results. Check out some of Cincinnati Works’ impressive numbers:
- 600+ employments annually, with 84% retention rate in the workplace (vs. 25% industry average)
- Preferred source of entry-level workers for 55 core employers
- Average wage $9/hour
- Reduction in poverty-related problems including crime, incarceration, school dropout, etc.
- Improved health and dental care access
Thank you for your support, and have a happy Thanksgiving!
A couple of weeks ago, I heard a story on NPR’s Talk of the Nation about how CDs can deteriorate in just a few years — leaving the stored data on CDs vulnerable to disappearing. The featured guest was Sam Brylawski, editor of the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings at the University of California Santa Barbara, and coauthor of the study “The State of Recorded Sound Preservation in the United States: A National Legacy at Risk in the Digital Age.” (If you want to read the entire study, you can download it here as a PDF.)
Many of us save files on CDs to keep them safe and store them for future use (or simply for posterity). Imagine how disappointed — or even downright devastated — you would be if you couldn’t retrieve those files because the CD oxidized, and you had no other copies in another format. Gone. Forever. It’s a scary thought!
I particularly liked one of the preservationist’s recommendations in the Talk of the Nation interview, the LOCKSS technique: Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe. At BIS, we recommend 2+1 Backup: keeping two copies of an important file in one medium (paper, digital, or film—clay tables fell into disuse long ago, and as a practical matter, microforms and other film media also passé), plus a third copy in another medium. In most cases, paper serves as a backup for digital and vice versa.
Example: If you have two CD copies of irreplaceable digital data, you should have another copy printed out. And make sure all three copies are not kept in the same place. Store them in separate, protected locations, so if the worst happens, you can be reasonably sure at least one of the copies will survive.
Here’s another consideration for all that information you have stored on computers or discs. Remember when floppy discs were actually big and floppy? Anyone who wanted to retrieve data from those original floppies today would certainly be out of luck.
Eventually, all computer hardware and software become obsolete. That’s why you should regularly copy forward your important files — upgrade to the new version of the software that created it and store the updated file on your new hardware. Keep things current so you don’t lose key records as technology advances.
Your Turn: Have you ever discovered that you lost a record or file because of how it was saved? What happened, and what lesson(s) did you learn? I’d love to hear your stories.
One of the reasons my company, BIS, has succeeded over the last three decades is our strong relationships with customers. From our helpful, knowledgeable records center staff to our friendly drivers who pick up and deliver boxes, we all like to stay in touch with what customers want and need.
Once upon a time, we used old-fashioned notions like the telephone, mail and even in-person meetings to maintain those relationships. And guess what? We still do! But we also have grown and changed with the times — and offer more convenient ways to continue those conversations online. We hope you’ll check out what we have to offer and join the discussion.
Like BIS on Facebook: If you’re already on Facebook, we’d really like you to like us and maybe even post a hello on our wall. We’ll let you know when we have something new or fun to share.
Follow BIS on LinkedIn: By following our company, you’ll stay connected to our employees and see new jobs listed on this professional social networking site. If you’re a customer or contact, we’d also like to connect with you on LinkedIn individually.
Watch BIS videos on YouTube: We’ve made a few short videos to help educate customers on records control (with more to come!) — please watch the ones we’ve posted and share them with colleagues who might find them helpful.
Subscribe to Just for the Records, the BIS Blog: You can get the latest posts from this very blog via email (just click the email subscription button in the sidebar) or your favorite feed reader. We’ll keep you current on the records issues that could affect your business.
We’re looking forward to hearing from you, and here’s to a long, happy relationship!
I’ve been in the records management business for 30 years (but who’s counting, right?) During that time, I’ve learned a thing or two about best practices for business — from Cincinnati’s smallest mom-and-pop operations to Fortune 500 global corporations.
People often ask me which records they should hang on to and which records they should shred. Here’s what I tell them — and what I want to share with our blog readers. Think of these as “Frank’s Rules of Thumb”:
- Keep what you must to achieve compliance. The definition of “compliance” may change over time, so take note of new legislation or policies that affect you. It’s smart and savvy to play by the rules and do what’s asked of your business.
- If it’s not required or you don’t plan to actually use it in the next 12 months, throw it away. No use in letting unnecessary papers pile up or e-files clog up your servers. Clear them out and let them go. It’s liberating (literally and figuratively!)
- What you have can produce more risk and liability than what you don’t have. Some people think they should hold onto anything and everything “just in case” — but what if the case ends up hurting your business? If you don’t need something for compliance or your own purposes, you are better off getting rid of it.
- The less you retain, the easier and faster you can find it. Think about your kitchen. How many times have you tried to match up a lid with the right-sized container for leftovers? All those mismatched lids and containers do you no good if you can’t put two together. It’s the same with your records. When you have to go through so many extras to retrieve what you really want, you’ll waste time and effort.
- The less stuff you have, the less it costs for storage boxes and the labor to pack and label them. Believe me, we’re more than happy to keep and manage as many boxes as you’d like. But we don’t want our customers to waste money. It’s more important to us that you manage your records (and your budgets) wisely.
- The smaller your volume of stored records, the easier it is to keep them organized and purged according to your company policy. If you’re concerned about the risk and liability of the items you keep, you want to make sure you only have them as long as you need to. But with an excess of files, it can be overwhelming to stay on top of things and limit your risk. With less to keep track of, you can be more in control.
- These same concepts apply to computer files and other electronic records. They may not take up physical space the way paper does, but e-files can certainly weigh heavily on your computer systems. And they’re just as much of a liability and hassle. Minimize electronic records, too. You’ll be glad you did.
Your Turn: Are you wondering about something your business should be holding on to? Or letting go? Leave your question in the comments — I’d be happy to offer my professional opinion.
Just when you think your business complies with the major privacy and security rules–HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley immediately come to mind–another piece of legislation throws you for a loop.
So it happened with the Federal Trade Commission‘s new Red Flag Rule, which requires financial institutions and creditors to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs. A lot of business people I’ve talked to are confused about what the Red Flag Rule will mean for their companies when enforcement begins Dec. 31, 2010 (though this has been delayed numerous times in the past three years).
If you’re unsure about the Red Flag Rule, take a look at this FTC Business Alert to get a good overview of the legislation. I also like this free downloadable guide from the FTC called Protecting Personal Information. The 15-page guide outlines five key principles that a sound data security plan is built on:
- Take stock. Know what personal information you have in your files and on your computers.
- Scale down. Keep only what you need for your business.
- Lock it. Protect the information that you keep.
- Pitch it. Properly dispose of what you no longer need.
- Plan ahead. Create a plan to respond to security incidents.
After reading up on the Red Flag Rule, if you still have questions or concerns about compliance, please get in touch with us. We’d love to talk with you about how BIS can help your company get a handle on this important issue.
Do you want to increase the competitive success of your business? If so, consider the value of outsourcing.
Perhaps you saw the recent article in the Cincinnati Business Courier about outsourcing at BIS. I first became aware of the power of outsourcing after reading what has become a classic Harvard Business Review article entitled “Beyond Products: Services-Based Strategy.”
My key takeaway from that article? Many companies outsource activities like payroll, legal services, office cleaning, and HR. What really distinguishes BIS among family-owned concerns is that outsourcing is one of our fundamental business philosophies.
Unless a business function will help BIS create and maintain a strategic advantage, we look for an outside organization that can do it better than we can do it for ourselves. We even outsource non-traditional functions such as marketing and sales management.
Small- and medium-sized family-owned companies can’t hope to achieve the level of internal expertise available in the marketplace. So why try? Instead, look at a variety of external sources with core competencies in the business functions you need. These sources can offer updated skills, outside perspective, and a wealth of experience on a part-time basis that would be neither available nor economically feasible using full-time employees.
At BIS, if what we do internally does not add value for our customers, we look for a way to “hire it out.” That mantra has taken BIS a long way since its founding in 1980. The more non-core functions your business sheds, the more you will be able to sharpen your strategic focus.
Have you ever had a business problem that seemed insurmountable — until you talked to the right person who had a surprisingly simple solution? First, you think “I wish I had thought of that!” Then, you realize your problem can be fixed and you can cross another big task off your to-do list.
This very phenomenon happened by chance at a committee meeting I attended recently. After the meeting ended, the committee chair (who is the vice president of HR at her company) and I were discussing personnel records. She mentioned that her legal counsel advised her to dispose of all corporate HR records seven years after the “date of action” (when the record was created).
“How’s that going for you?” I asked her. “It isn’t,” she said, explaining that identifying and disposing of every “expired” record in a timely manner was too complicated, time-consuming and overwhelming for her HR department to handle. So they just gave up completely, and didn’t purge at all.
I pointed out that if the records were scanned and saved in digital form, it would be easy, quick and painless to follow her legal counsel’s advice. They could simply date each record in a computer database, and set up a system to delete the record when it reached its seven-year expiration date.
That sounded pretty good to her, so she asked if my company, BIS, offered such a service. At that moment, I had to tell her no — but after our conversation, I realized this kind of thing would benefit a number of our customers. And that’s how our new BIS4HR™ document imaging offering was born!
Now, my committee chair friend can hand off the complex task of HR records purging to us. We can scan documents as they are received, and they become scanned images that are precisely indexed on a separate internet server, where they can be accessed instantly by any authorized person. (And of course, deleted after they’re no longer relevant or useful.)
Click over to the BIS site for six benefits of HR document imaging and see how we could take something off your to-do list.
Your Turn: Ever have an ah-ha conversation like the one I had with my VP of HR friend? Please share your story about a seemingly difficult problem you solved when you talked to the right person or company.
I was on a sales call talking to the CEO and CFO of a manufacturing company about what they should do to get better control of the business records. At some point the CFO said, “There’s so much to do, I just don’t know where to start!” The CEO responded, “Well, we gotta start some place!”
That’s the way it is in business: You gotta start some place.
Business managers often seek help because their business records are a mess. They don’t know WHO should be responsible for cleaning up the mess. They have no record of WHAT is in their records room. Though their inactive records are supposed to be in the storage area, they don’t know WHERE things are. Most importantly, they don’t know WHEN to dispose of their old records.
The result is they never do get started. Their old records just sit until there is a problem. Usually the problem is they have run out of storage space. They’d better hope the problem is NOT an audit or a lawsuit, because in both of those cases, having too many old records is likely to be more harmful than having too few. To learn more, watch this informational video about records liability and risk.
Learn more about how BIS can help your company get started managing your records.
Do you settle for “pretty good” or “excellent” when it comes to the quality of your company’s service? BIS’s Total Quality Goal is to provide what customers consider to be the right things, done the right way, on time, the first time, every time. Does that sound like striving for “perfection”? It is supposed to. Why? Because that’s what customers really want: a flawless experience.
Service-oriented business should try to get everything “right.” Will mistakes be made? Sure. We all recruit from the human race. The important thing is to aim for excellence, so your customers get everything they want.
BIS’s accuracy rate has been measured at 99.993%. Is that “good enough”? We don’t think so. To people on the street, correctly handling business records may not be as important as safely landing jetliners, but it is to us. Our customers do not pay us to make mistakes. They DO pay us to get things right—every time.
Learn more about how BIS can help your company in its pursuit of quality.
Frank J. Albi
