Carefully screen executive recruiters
Dear Karen: Our firm usually brings executives through the ranks, but I need to replace a vice president quickly. Do you have any advice for using a “headhunter”?
Answer: Executive recruiters, also known as headhunters, find, vet and interview individuals for executive positions, presenting top candidates to the business owner. They may charge a flat fee or request a percentage of the recruited executive’s first-year salary.
Ask colleagues for referrals to recruiters who are familiar with your industry and have placed employees in similar companies. Make sure you check references, understand price structure and ask what guarantees they offer.
“I made a $27,000 mistake using a headhunter outside my market who cold-called me,” public relations executive Steve Simon said. He discovered belatedly that the recruiter used Monster.com listings to identify candidates. “If you get any inkling that you are dealing with someone who has a used-car salesman mentality posing as a recruiter, then the red light should go on,” he said. “Look for a recruiter who treats potential clients with respect. . . . They should look out for your best interests.”
--
Guidelines for a wellness program
Dear Karen: Can a small business start a corporate wellness program?
Answer: With medical insurance an increasing burden, wellness programs are becoming more popular, even with entrepreneurial firms. Look for a program that is flexible and provides measurable results.
Sue Parks, chief executive of WalkStyles Inc., a fitness company, said you would need to commit more than a few months before you see your employees’ health improve. Form a “wellness committee” and put key employees in lead roles where they can drum up enthusiasm, rather than having the program be imposed from the top down. The plan also needs to comply with federal laws that ensure employee confidentiality and privacy.
--
Automatic retirement plans
Dear Karen: With my employees expressing fears about recession, I plan to invest in a retirement plan. I’ve heard that employees are sometimes reluctant to participate. Would automatic enrollment be resented?
Answer: Get information on several retirement plan options and then talk to your employees about what they need.
Although studies have demonstrated that U.S. employees don’t spend much time thinking about their pension plans, a new survey shows that workers at small and mid-size businesses are increasingly embracing automatic retirement savings plans.
The Well-Being Index released recently by the Principal Financial Group showed that 48% of workers polled at companies with 10 to 1,000 employees agreed that employees should be automatically enrolled in their employer-sponsored 401(k) retirement plans with a standard savings component. That’s a big increase from the 7% who approved of automatic enrollment a year ago.
Lack of financial resources is the top reason workers cited when asked why they would opt out of an automatic enrollment plan. When there is no pension plan in place, the survey found, employees either do not establish their own retirement savings or use poorer alternatives.
--
Got a question about running or starting a small enterprise? E-mail it to ke.klein@ latimes.com or mail it to In Box, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.
