Personnel Concepts Attuned to Obama Changes

There's some glee over at Personnel Concepts, even among those who may have voted otherwise, at the thought of the changes being sought and made by the Obama administration on the labor law front.

Change is like the ka-ching of a cash register to firms that help businesses comply with workplace regulations and laws, and not just labor law poster and information firms like Personnel Concepts.

Labor and employment lawyers' eyes also grow wide these days as they ponder the opportunities under the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Human resources firms are busy scheduling seminars and offering training courses on CDs and in books for the changes to Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Americans With Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAAA).

There's more change to come, so look for companies that deal with labor law and workplace regulations to develop new products and programs, and new products and programs mean additional opportunities for sales. Ka-ching.

Recessions never do hit everyone equally, do they?

Personnel Concepts Ending Its Final Notice?

Rumblings have been emanating from Ontario, Calif., that Personnel Concepts may be going to bite the bullet and do away with its "Final Notice" marketing campaign.

FInal Notice has been both a boon and a bane to the company, as it's proven to be an effective tool in drumming up sales but also a source of complaints by those who say it looks too much like an official government document. (Which is why it works so well, no doubt.)

I've found a discussion of the topic over at another blog.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

(BTW, Personnel Concepts is the pioneer in the labor law compliance poster industry and still the industry leader.)

Personnel Concepts' White Paper Predicts Future

Well, not quite, but Personnel Concepts--the labor law poster pioneers--has added a white papers section to its home page, and one of the featured papers looks at labor law changes coming under Barack Obama.

Prominent among the anticipated pieces of legislation is something called the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has christened "Armageddon"--the end of free enterprise in America.

EFCA, also derisively called "card check" because it enables employees to unionize simply by signing unionization cards and shunning any secret ballots, looked to be a shoe-in at the start of the Obama administration, but recently speculation has surfaced that some previous supporters are having second thoughts.

The bill is reportedly going to be introduced in the House of Representatives today. Passage in the House, which is wildly stacked in favor of the Democrats, is almost a sure thing, but the Senate--with its 60-vote cloture rule--is more iffy, and that's where the reported defections have taken place.

We'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, I'm sure Personnel Concepts will keep us posted.

Personnel Concepts and the Digital Approach

Personnel Concepts, the virtual founder of the labor law poster industry with its trademarked All-On-One approach, is now catching up with the fact that we live in a digital age. Insiders tell me that a big push is on to convert many products to digital format and also, sometime in the near future, to make these available as instant downloads, saving customers both time and shipping charges.

Already, Personnel Concepts has come out with two digital kits, one to create a fire prevention plan (required by OSHA) and another to produce an emergency action plan (ditto on OSHA). I haven't seen the products work, but I'm told that the end-user just answers a bunch of on-screen questions (after popping in and loading the CD), and the program goes to work creating the documents to be printed out and distributed to the workforce. Next up, I hear, is an Ea-zY Forms Creator (cute, that a-to-z part, but they had to explain it to me!) that encompasses many of the routine forms that employers use frequently.

Check out the products here and here.

Personnel Concepts and Its 'Final Notice' Tactic

A firm that markets labor law posters out in California called Personnel Concepts has gained a lot of notoriety, not all of it positive, for its Final Notice campaign.

I've received these marketing pieces in the mail, and they do look a lot like an "official" government notice, which evidently freaks some people out. However, if you look through the letter, it's really just a reminder that you need to stay current with labor law and safety notification requirements. I actually think it's kind of clever--sure got me to open it, anyway.

If anybody has any thoughts on the "Final Notice," please use the comments section. I'd like to hear your experience.

The Never-Ending Regulation Mill

Anyone out there ever try keeping up with all the workplace regulations foisted on us business owners by the federal and state (and sometimes local) governments?

Try reading through the latest iteration of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) that came out Nov. 17, 2008.

You need a guidebook to wade your way through it, so why bother? Don't we have better things to do, like surviving in a challenging economy?

Fortunately, we don't have to spend hours and days pouring through these gov regs, as I call them.. There are a bunch of Web sites, blogs and newsletters that can help yus cope with complying with workplace regulations.

I have several such sites bookmarked on my browser, but I also rely on Personnel Concepts to keep me informed, which they do quarterly, and daily on their site. They do the research and then keep me up to date.

There are other providers out there that I've checked into, but Personnel Concepts seems to have been around longer and honed their skills better.

More on keeping up in future posts.