Julie Thibodeau, bookkeeper at Criner Construction for six years, spends about 15 to 20 hours a week on benefits and human resources administration, according to company president Robert Criner. Thibodeau’s efforts for the Yorktown, Va., company include helping with everything from organizing the company’s annual pig roast to policing employee use of company cell phones.
“It falls into Julie’s hands to research these things enough to where I can handle them in an effective manner,” Criner says. “She takes care of a lot of it without being told to.”
Sometimes remodelers find that a qualified administrator is worth making an effort to keep. At Atlanta Design & Build in Marietta, Ga., company founder and president Dale Contant offers flextime and a work-at-home option to Vicki Wadsworth, the company’s director of administration.Wadsworth, whose corporate experience has helped improve Atlanta Design & Build’s human resources management, uses the added flexibility to pursue missionary and community service work.
“The big picture is she’s getting her work done, and she’s incredibly valuable,” Contant says. “If she’s able to get it done and she’s happier [because of the flextime arrangement], that kind of thing goes a long way with an employee.”
Even if human resources duties are included in the job description, however, it’s rare that office workers are trained for more than an administrative or bookkeeping role. That means the complex tasks of research and employee education fall to the company owner.
Health insurance is widely reported to be the benefit most desired by employees, but for remodelers (and most other small-business owners) it’s also the most troublesome. On the rise for years, rates for traditional plans continue to soar. New consumer-directed plans offer lower-cost options, but the plans tend to be more complicated, a fact that doesn’t make deciding any easier.
“Health care, I think, is the hardest thing to manage,” Wadsworth says. “You’re trying to find the medical care that’s cost-effective for the company but that provides quality health care without costs that are so high to the employee that the benefit is no longer there.”
Finding a plan isn’t easy. And sudden spikes in premiums can send remodelers scrambling for a new plan — you might have just 30 days to find a new plan or be forced to pay the higher rate.
To facilitate the research process, remodelers typically turn to independent insurance brokers. Brokers know what’s available inside and out. Tell them your needs and limitations and they’ll present you with a handful of potentially suitable plans, making your decision easier. More importantly, brokers have contacts and a deep knowledge of cost structures, which enables them to negotiate far better rates than you would on your own.
“The brokers are the ones you really rely on to tell you what’s out there and what’s best for your company,” says Everett Collier, co-founder of the San Francisco firm Collier-Ostrom.