Human Resources Description

Aley Moyer

THE CALIFORNIAN 2025 Q4 – Top 3 Actions Security Leaders Should Take to Close Out the Year Strong: Why the End of the Year Matters

TOP 3 ACTIONS SECURITY LEADERS SHOULD TAKE TO CLOSE OUT THE YEAR STRONG: WHY THE END OF THE YEAR MATTERS

Anne Laguzza, The Works Consulting, CALSAGA Network Partner

Many leaders coast into the year-end, thinking about holiday schedules and payroll deadlines. But strong leaders use this time strategically to motivate their teams, solidify culture, and set the tone for the new year.

A well-executed year-end creates momentum and builds trust going into January. Think of this as your final lap of the year—how you finish matters.

Finish the year strong by taking these 3 actions and using our Year-End Closeout Checklist for Security Leaders. (Download our FREE checklist here.)

Action #1: Reflect and Recognize

People will work for a paycheck, but they’ll go above and beyond for a leader who sees and values them.

  • Why it matters:
    Security work is demanding and often thankless. Guards work long shifts, nights, holidays, and often face challenging situations with the public. Recognition builds morale and retention.
  • How to do it well:
    • Hold short team huddles to reflect on big wins of the year (incidents handled well, client relationships strengthened, emergencies managed with professionalism).
    • Give specific praise—call out individual contributions, not just a blanket “good job.”
    • Consider small tokens of appreciation: handwritten notes, gift cards, or a personalized acknowledgment in front of peers.
    • Make sure supervisors are equipped to cascade recognition down to every shift.
  • Anne Tip: Recognition doesn’t have to be expensive—but it must be personal and timely to matter.

Action #2: Reset Expectations and Standards

The standards you set now will carry into the new year.

  • Why it matters:
    Year-end often exposes performance drift—attendance issues, cutting corners, or communication breakdowns. Resetting expectations aligns the team and reduces January headaches.
  • How to do it well:
    • Host a brief, high-energy “Year-End Reset” meeting with each shift or post.
    • Revisit the core priorities: client service, safety protocols, professionalism, and communication.
    • Be clear about non-negotiables going into the next year (e.g. punctuality, incident reporting).
    • Pair it with encouragement: focus on where you’re going, not just what went wrong.
  • Anne Tip: Make this an interactive conversation—ask your team where they see opportunities to improve, and listen to their feedback.

Action #3: Launch Into the New Year With Vision

Leaders don’t just wrap up the year—they ignite the next one.

  • Why it matters:
    Security officers need to know they’re part of something bigger than just shifts and schedules. Ending the year with a clear, inspiring vision helps retain talent and engage your best performers.
  • How to do it well:
    • Share one clear, motivating message about where the company or team is headed in the new year.
    • Example: “In 2026, our focus is building stronger client relationships by enhancing customer service skills.”
    • Encourage each security officer to set one professional growth goal, whether it’s leadership skills, certifications, or mastering a new post.
    • Follow up in January to show you mean it.
  • Anne Tip: People commit to what they co-create. Invite your team to share ideas for improvement and innovation.

Finish Strong, Start Stronger

How you finish out this year sets the tone for the next one.

  • Recognition shows your team they matter.
  • Resetting expectations creates clarity.
  • Casting a vision builds excitement.

As a security leader, you don’t just manage shifts—you shape culture and performance.
Make the final weeks count, and you’ll launch into the new year with a team that’s engaged, motivated, and ready to succeed.

Anne Laguzza is the CEO of The Works Consulting, a CALSAGA Network Partner. As a seasoned business executive with human resources management, leadership development, and performance coaching experience, Anne works with clients from a variety of industries to develop better systems, maximize employee productivity, and enable management to focus on business growth. For more information, check out theworksconsulting.com or email anne@theworksconsulting.com. You can also find Anne on Instagram and LinkedIn.

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Aley Moyer

THE CALIFORNIAN 2025 Q4 – Navigating the Overtime Tax Changes of 2025: What Security Professionals Need to Know

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NAVIGATING THE OVERTIME TAX CHANGES OF 2025: WHAT SECURITY PROFESSIONALS NEED TO KNOW

Nina De Forge, TEAM Software by WorkWave, CALSAGA Network Partner

Important Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal or tax advice or a political opinion. Consult with internal and/or external counsel, as well as a qualified tax professional, for guidance specific to your business and employees.

The security industry frequently depends on dedicated employees working beyond standard hours to meet client demands. Whether it’s handling emergency security situations, overtime is often an operational necessity rather than an option. Upcoming changes to federal tax law regarding overtime compensation are on the horizon and may affect both your employees and your business operations.

Why Overtime Changes Matter for Your Industry

On July 4, 2025, Public Law No. 119-21, known as “The One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA), was enacted, which finalized significant tax cuts and reforms. Starting in tax year 2025, a new federal tax deduction allows certain employees to deduct the “premium portion” of their overtime compensation—the extra amount they earn above their regular hourly rate.

How These Overtime Changes May Impact Your Employees

Consider a security guard earning $20/hour who works overtime at $30/hour. The additional $10/hour premium can now be deducted from their federal taxable income. However, there are important limitations:

  • Deduction Caps: Capped at $12,500 per year ($25,000 for married couples filing jointly).
  • Income Limits: Phased out when modified adjusted gross income exceeds $150,000 ($300,000 for married couples filing jointly).
  • Tax Type: Applies only to federal income tax; Social Security and Medicare taxes (FICA) still apply.
  • Overtime Type Restrictions: Only overtime required under Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Overtime mandated by state laws, union contracts, or voluntary company policies will not qualify.

How These Overtime Changes May Impact Your Business

Employers will need to make significant adjustments to their payroll and reporting processes.

New Reporting Requirements for Tax Year 2025: Employers must be able to demonstrate a good faith effort in reporting qualified overtime, in cases where qualified overtime was not captured in their system for 2025. They can use “Box 14 Other” for reporting qualified overtime for tax year 2025 pending additional guidance.

New Reporting Requirements for Tax Year 2026: Employers must be able to accurately report qualified overtime, required in Box 12 and identified in their current W2. You must use ‘TT’ – total amount of qualified overtime compensation – when determining the deduction for qualified overtime compensation on Schedule 1-A (Form 1040).

Operational Adjustments: For security operations that rely heavily on overtime, this represents a substantial change to existing payroll processes.

Your ERP’s Role in Supporting Your Success

As a payroll and workforce management partner, leading ERP’s – like TEAM Software by WorkWave’s WinTeam, are  ensuring your systems can seamlessly adapt to these new requirements while maintaining reliability.

Best-of-breed ERPs  should be actively engaged with industry organizations and monitoring regulatory developments to ensure updates to their solution continue to support your compliance efforts.

Key Areas of Focus for Your Business

Key areas that may require attention include:

  1. System Assessment: Review your payroll system’s ability to separate and track overtime premium amounts. Systems must be able to distinguish between the base overtime rate and the premium portion for W-2 reporting.
  2. Process Documentation: Document how overtime premiums will be calculated, tracked, and reported, distinguishing FLSA-required overtime from other forms.
  3. Testing and Validation: Test your systems to ensure accurate calculation and reporting.
  4. Timeline Planning: Develop a preparation timeline that ensures adequate system updates, staff training, and process validation before the requirements take effect.

Interested to see how WinTeam’s in-house payroll system can efficiently manage these complex requirements? Reach out to us for more information.

Important Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal or tax advice or a political opinion. Consult with internal and/or external counsel, as well as a qualified tax professional, for guidance specific to your business and employees.

Nina De Forge joined the team in 2017 and is the Agency Relations Manager. Nina, also known as “9,” has been working with human resources, payroll and tax compliance since the 1980s and has a broad range of experience across each discipline. She is an active member of many industry organizations, including the IRS Information Reporting Advisory Committee and its Nationwide E-Filer’s National Focus Group, the Canadian Payroll Association, the Society for Human Resource Management and the International Association for Human Resource Information Management. She is a published author in the book American Payroll Association Basic Guide to Payroll. Outside of her career work, Nina is a hobby photographer.

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Aley Moyer

THE CALIFORNIAN 2025 Q3 – IMPROVE YOUR HIRING PROCESS: HOW TO RECOGNIZE INDICATORS OF MISALIGNMENT

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IMPROVE YOUR HIRING PROCESS: HOW TO RECOGNIZE INDICATORS OF MISALIGNMENT

Anne Laguzza, The Works Consulting, CALSAGA Network Partner

It’s so subtle that many leaders often miss it, and missing it can lead to hiring an applicant who isn’t the right fit for your organization without even realizing it until much later. But, if you pay attention and notice these, you can more efficiently identify a candidate who is not a good fit for your organization and more easily find a candidate who is.

Indicators of misalignment are any information provided or behavior displayed that misaligned with your organization’s values and expectations. These types of indicators can occur often in the interviewing process, and they can be easy to ignore, if you’re not paying attention.

These indicators include common behaviors like:

  • Calling an applicant to schedule an interview and their voicemail is full.
  • Emailing an applicant and it takes them more than 24 hours to respond.
  • Responses that are actually excuses: My phone wasn’t working; I didn’t have my phone with me; I had a sudden death in the family; I had a personal emergency, etc.
  • Resumes that are submitted but are not current or updated.
  • Not following instructions, e.g. if you ask for a cover letter or letter of interest and they don’t submit one.
  • Applicants who try to take over the interview and ask you questions in response to the questions you ask.
  • Short email without a greeting, use of lower case ”i” or other grammatical errors.
  • You call an applicant and they email you in return.

Don’t miss this! If an applicant shows behaviors like these ones listed, this is an early warning sign around issues with accountability and points to a potential under performing employee, if hired.

To ensure you don’t miss any indicators of misalignment in your next interview, pay attention to all the information they provide (including behaviors they display) and make a list of potential challenges and strengths of each candidate. Then, when looking at the potential challenges list, ask yourself two important questions for each of the challenges:

  1. Do I have the knowledge to teach or train this person on their potential challenges?

AND

  1. Do I have the time to train or teach them?

You must answer YES to number 1 or you shouldn’t even ask yourself number 2.

These questions will help you truly understand what type of employee you’re hiring, if their behavior aligns with your organization’s values and what will be needed from you as their leader to help ensure they are successful in their new role.

Bottomline: If you wouldn’t accept this behavior from a current employee, don’t make excuses for it in a job candidate.

Hiring the most ideal candidate for your open position can feel challenging, but with the right hiring processes, it is possible.

Looking for more ways to improve your hiring process? Let’s talk about how to make it more productive and increase employee retention! Email Anne at solutions@theworksconsulting.com.

Anne Laguzza is the CEO of The Works Consulting, a CALSAGA Network Partner. As a seasoned business executive with human resources management, leadership development, and performance coaching experience, Anne works with clients from a variety of industries to develop better systems, maximize employee productivity, and enable management to focus on business growth. For more information, check out theworksconsulting.com or email anne@theworksconsulting.com. You can also find Anne on Instagram and LinkedIn.

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Aley Moyer

THE CALIFORNIAN 2025 Q3 – MANAGING EMPLOYEE TIME OFF: INSIGHTS FROM NEW WORKFORCE RESEARCH

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MANAGING EMPLOYEE TIME OFF: INSIGHTS FROM NEW WORKFORCE RESEARCH

Stephanie Petersen, TEAM Software by WorkWave, CALSAGA Network Partner

Many security companies are spending a huge portion of time tracking employee time off requests. It’s a necessary function for your teams…but one that often adds up in terms of administrative burden.

If time off management processes seem cumbersome now, consider this: your staff is probably taking less time than they could. While this might seem like it would reduce administrative workload, the reality is opposite: employees who avoid taking time off when they need it often end up creating more urgent, last-minute requests that are far more disruptive to manual tracking systems.

Recent survey data* shows that 67% of Americans worked while sick in the past year. The reasons employees avoid taking sick days include falling behind on work (26%), fear of being seen as unreliable (22%) and negative judgment from coworkers or supervisors (12%). Among Generation Z workers–who represent a growing portion of the security workforce–52% continued to work while sick, rather than take time off. This can actually compound into more absence management work needed by your team down the road, as 35% of workers who pushed through illness ultimately became sicker and ended up needing more time off work anyway.

The Administrative Reality

Consider what happens with a typical time off request under manual systems. An employee fills out a paper form or sends an email request. A supervisor must manually verify available balances, often by consulting separate spreadsheets or calling the office. Approval notifications happen through informal communication. Payment processing requires additional manual data entry.

Each step introduces delays and potential errors while consuming administrative time. Considering enterprise security companies often employ over 100 people at minimum, the cumulative effect often surprises organizations when they calculate the actual time spent on time off management. Administrative staff track multiple types of leave across dozens or hundreds of employees, often using separate systems for scheduling, payroll and benefits. Errors are common and costly—approving time off that exceeds available balances creates payroll complications, while missing schedule updates can leave posts uncovered.

If this is already the reality your business is facing, imagine if the data was painting a different picture, and 100% of employees were taking sick days whenever it was justified. Even discounting unpaid leave absences, your administrative burden could increase exponentially.

A More Effective Approach

Organizations that have streamlined their time off processes focus on creating workflows that work for employees, supervisors and administrative staff alike. The key elements include employee access to their own benefit balances, supervisor visibility into scheduling implications and automated integration between approval decisions and operational systems.

Effective processes allow employees to submit different types of requests—paid time off, unpaid time off and time off not tied to benefits—while automatically checking available balances. Supervisors receive notifications with relevant scheduling information to make informed approval decisions without phone calls or file searches.

When approval workflows include scheduling context, supervisors can see potential conflicts or coverage arrangements before making decisions. Integration with payroll systems eliminates duplicate data entry, while automated schedule updates prevent employees from being assigned shifts during approved time off.

Different types of time off can be tracked appropriately—planned vacation, unplanned sick time, family leave and unpaid absences—supporting compliance requirements while giving managers visibility into usage patterns.

What Success Looks Like

Effective time off management produces measurable operational improvements where your team spends less time processing time off requests. Administrative efficiency increases when routine tasks become predictable and errors decrease. Employee satisfaction improves when policies are clear and processes are accessible. Operational planning becomes more reliable when time off patterns are visible and well-documented.

Better processes also support workforce retention. When employees can easily access their benefits and understand their available time off, they’re more likely to plan appropriately rather than creating last-minute scheduling challenges. Clear processes reduce the administrative barriers that can push employees toward competitors with more accessible policies.

The investment in improved time off management—whether through better manual processes or integrated systems—typically pays dividends across operations. Reduced administrative burden frees staff for strategic activities. Better information supports more informed scheduling decisions. Accurate tracking supports compliance efforts while reducing payroll errors.

For security companies evaluating their current approach, the priority should be identifying specific operational pain points. Some organizations benefit from policy clarification and standardized forms. Others need better tracking tools or integrated workflows. The most successful improvements address real administrative challenges while supporting both employee needs and operational requirements.

*Read more about the referenced survey data by visiting teamsoftware.com.

Stephanie is a passionate product manager with a demonstrated history of working in various roles in the software industry, who loves building and using products that add significant value to people’s day-to-day lives and businesses.

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Aley Moyer

The Californian 2025 Q1 – DON’T BE CAUGHT OFF GUARD: AVOID SURPRISE RESIGNATIONS WITH STAY INTERVIEWS

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DON’T BE CAUGHT OFF GUARD: AVOID SURPRISE RESIGNATIONS WITH STAY INTERVIEWS

Anne Laguzza, The Works Consulting, CALSAGA Network Partner

Picture that one employee who you can always count on. They have a positive attitude and regularly perform at the highest standards. Everyone on the team likes working with them, too.

Now imagine, sitting down at your desk on a seemingly uneventful Tuesday morning only to open your email and find a resignation letter from that employee. You’re immediately confused and feel panicked. All you can think about is how you have to now scramble to keep them. Unfortunately, in my decades of experience in Human Resources, it is too late. It’s unlikely that anything you do at this point will retain that employee.

This situation is very common for leaders, but it is avoidable. The most effective strategy to avoid this shocking moment and increase retention is for leaders to conduct stay interviews.

What is a Stay Interview?

Most commonly, leaders conduct interviews only during the hiring process and when someone leaves the company. Stay interviews are conducted by leaders at scheduled intervals with their direct reports throughout their employment. Stay interviews are proactive, one-on-one conversations between a supervisor and their direct reports where the supervisor essentially checks the temperature of the employee.

The feedback collected during the stay interview provides leaders with the opportunity to know well in advance if there is anything prohibiting that team member from doing their best work and provide solutions before the person considers looking elsewhere for employment (and definitely before they give their notice).

How do leaders conduct Stay Interviews?

Stay interviews are most effective when leaders schedule them at regular intervals throughout the year with their direct reports. Start with scheduling 2 stay interviews a year with your administrative team and supervisory teams individually.

Leaders should also consider scheduling stay interviews during times of internal transitions or changes and when external events may impact employee morale and productivity.

When you sit down one-one-one with your direct report, ask open-ended questions to find out:

  • What aspects of their job do they enjoy the most?
  • What aspects of their job do they enjoy the least?
  • What tools/training do they need/want to perform their job at the highest level?
  • Are there any road-blocks preventing them from meeting your expectations?
  • What do they need from you, as their supervisor, to be successful?

The stay interview is a time to collect feedback and for idea sharing between the leader and their direct report. The overall goal is to provide a space to have an open discussion about ways to keep your direct reports engaged and identify solutions to any problems before they lead to a resignation.

What are the benefits of Stay Interviews?

A stay interview is a leader’s best tool for retention and creating a place where their direct reports want to come to work. Stay interviews provide various benefits to leadership:

  • Build trust and loyalty: According to iHire’s 2024 Talent Retention Report, people who left their jobs voluntarily in 2024 did so named “poor company leadership,” “unhappy with manager/supervisor” and “toxic or negative work environment” as the top 3 reasons for exiting. Leaders can improve their manager-employee relationships through stay interviews as a way to demonstrate that they value their employees’ opinions and are there to help problem-solve, two key factors in building trust and loyalty.
  • Get ahead of challenges: Stay interviews allow leaders to find out how their employees are actually doing. Through open ended questions, leaders can discover problems between processes and/or people, providing an opportunity to be able to help with solutions early on.
  • Retain high performers: Stay interviews provide valuable insight into keeping your high performers engaged. Are they happy with their position? Do they want to be challenged with new opportunities? Checking in with your high performers at scheduled intervals is a simple step that will ensure they feel valued.

Don’t be caught off guard. It is possible for leaders to know truly how each of their employees are doing in the workplace and understand ways to keep them engaged so the entire company performs well. The key is to maintain open communication by regularly conducting stay interviews.

Interested in learning more about how to effectively implement stay interviews? Join us for a free live webinar on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 10 a.m. PT. Register to attend by clicking here.

Anne Laguzza is the CEO of The Works Consulting, a CALSAGA Network Partner. As a seasoned business executive with human resources management, leadership development, and performance coaching experience, Anne works with clients from a variety of industries to develop better systems, maximize employee productivity, and enable management to focus on business growth. For more information, check out theworksconsulting.com or email anne@theworksconsulting.com. You can also find Anne on Instagram and LinkedIn.

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Aley Moyer

The Californian 2025 Q1 – THE SECURITY INDUSTRY’S NEED FOR EARNED WAGE ACCESS

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THE SECURITY INDUSTRY’S NEED FOR EARNED WAGE ACCESS

Ryan Faith, TEAM Software by WorkWave, CALSAGA Network Partner

Even as the security industry works to improve its hiring rates, the labor market remains challenging for companies with distributed workforces.

A major problem? High employee turnover.

To mitigate this significant staffing issue, security companies must consider the value of strong retention programs and look at options that provide employees with additional benefits – like earned wage access.

What is Earned Wage Access, and why is it helpful?

Earned wage access provides a way for employees to receive pay for hours they have worked, without waiting for the next scheduled payday. This seemingly minor perk has proven to be an impactful benefit, with one security company attributing it to helping them earn a Great Place to Work Certification.

According to Bankrate’s 2024 Annual Emergency Savings Report, a staggering 59% of Americans are uncomfortable with their level of emergency savings. Another 93% of hourly workers find that managing their finances is stressful, with 71% saying that stress has a negative impact on their mental or physical health, according to PwC’s 2024 Employee Financial Wellness Survey. That same report discovered that one in three full-time employees say that money worries have negatively impacted their productivity at work.

As the traditional paycycle can unfortunately leave employees feeling financially vulnerable, this benefit gives your employees control over their finances and a way to easily reduce stress. Ultimately, this can improve their mental and physical health and helps promote improved productivity, which can increase operational efficiency throughout your business.

What are the Immediate and Long-term Benefits?

Employee Benefits

The immediate benefits to implementing earned wage access include instant financial flexibility, reduced financial stress and improved financial wellness of your employees.

It allows employees to access their earned wages immediately, so that they can use it to cover life’s expenses when the unexpected occurs, and it can help them build healthier financial habits to ultimately achieve their financial goals. In fact, 60% of earned wage access users say that they feel less stress about their finances following activation of the service, according to a 2023 user survey from earned wage access provider, DailyPay.

Employer Benefits

Earned wage access brings just as many benefits to you as the employer as there are for your employees.

First, it helps alleviate the ongoing labor issue – on average, companies see an increase of employee retention as high as 36%, according to a survey of internal data between TEAM Software and partner DailyPay.

Second, it helps provide a competitive advantage. On average, the same internal survey showed that 86% of companies with an EWA solution believe it helps uniquely separate them from their top competitors. In an industry that always struggles with retaining top talent, this helps retain more people — resulting in better operational performance overall over other companies.

Lastly, it is simple to activate with no ongoing management of the feature. Your employees will have access to their earned wages before payday without disrupting your payroll cycle or your revenue. It’s a win-win for all parties involved.

Software Integration for Easy Activation

Earned wage access is currently an add-on feature available through TEAM Software’s ERP solution, WinTeam. For more information on the benefits of earned wage access and TEAM Software’s solutions built specifically for security companies, visit us at teamsoftware.com.

Ryan Faith, Account Management Team Lead at TEAM Software by WorkWave

Ryan is a customer advocate who partners with TEAM Software by WorkWave customers to help identify where software can make their businesses more efficient, competitive and profitable. In his six years with TEAM, Ryan has worked alongside many of the world’s leading security firms and has developed a specialized understanding of the unique challenges faced by the industry.

 

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Aley Moyer

The Californian Q4 2023 – Lead Your People Well Everyday: Tips for Effective Leadership

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Lead Your People Well Everyday: Tips for Effective Leadership

Anne Laguzza, CEO – The Works Consulting, Network Partner

Laws change. External factors impact the industry. Clients’ needs shift. There are many outside influences that impact how your operations function and the responsibilities of your team. However, what doesn’t change is the principles of effective leadership.

Follow these three tips to effectively lead your employees everyday – no matter the external factors. 

1. Communicate Daily

Communication is a critical component of actively managing your officers. Regular communication solves issues, often before they arise, and instills confidence in your workforce.

Effective communication is made up of 10% words + 35-45% tone + 45-55% body language. Go beyond text messages, instead have a voice or video conversation. Taking that extra step to make a voice or video call is critical to effectively communicating important assignments and avoiding miscommunications that happen when only using text. This is especially helpful for officers who work solo without seeing anyone in management for weeks or months and can get disconnected quickly.

Regular, effective communication builds trust with your team and boosts employee morale.

2. Convey Appreciation

 Conveying your appreciation for your people is another critical principle of effective leadership. You can do so much to make your officers feel valued and important with very little effort or cost and see an incredible return on your investment.

When I worked internally in the industry, my job was to turn around morale and reduce employee complaints among the 600 employees. I was able to do both, just by recognizing the “human” in these officers and treating them with respect with every interaction. The leadership of our company was very good at getting out in the field and communicating with officers and shaking hands. These interactions made our employees feel valued and important.

A simple phone call or other personalized communication to individual officers from the leader of your company to say thank you will go a long way in ensuring your officers feel valued.

3. Set and Communicate Clear Expectations

When you set expectations and communicate them on a regular basis, you provide your team with a clear path for success.

When your employees face a new or unexpected situation, they – on their own – will be able to reason through the problem and find a solution that aligns with your expectations and represents your company appropriately because you were so clear on communicating those expectations.

Another benefit of regularly communicating expectations regularly is that critical performance conversations will be easier to have with your employees because you have set expectations and can clearly point to where performance has not aligned without any confusion.

As we close out another year and look ahead to changes that every new year can bring, it’s important to  stay focused on what never changes – effective leadership because effective leadership builds high performing teams. 

Anne Laguzza is the CEO of The Works Consulting. As a seasoned business executive with human resources management, leadership development, and performance coaching experience, Anne works with clients from a variety of industries to develop better systems, maximize employee productivity, and enable management to focus on business growth.

Prior to founding The Works Consulting in 2001, Anne served as the Regional Human Resources Director for a Fortune 500 distribution company where she led a merger transition team and was responsible for strategic planning, implementing new policies and procedures, workforce restructuring, compensation structures, and integrating the work cultures for over 600 employees.

In addition, Anne was formerly the Human Resources and Training Director for a start-up entertainment company where she organized and implemented a company-wide change management program that involved new company direction and strategic planning. Prior to her work in the entertainment industry, Anne served as the Regional Training Manager for a nationwide retailer where she developed and launched a multi-state training program for human resources managers as part of a corporate expansion project.

Anne earned her Master of Arts degree in Organizational Management from Antioch University, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of California, Riverside. She is an active member of the Society of Human Resources Management, and is a board member for Harbor Interfaith Services and an advisory board member for Arthritis National Research Foundation. Anne has taught human resources and management courses at Long Beach City College and California State University, Dominguez Hills, and volunteers at non-profit organizations teaching interviewing skills to adults seeking re-entry into the workforce.

Social Media Links:

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/annelaguzza/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/TheWorksHR/

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/annelaguzza/

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Aley Moyer

The Californian 2022 Q4 – Connecting Workforce Management in 2023

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Connecting Workforce Management in 2023

Brianne Stephan, Sr. Director of Product, TEAM Software, Network Partner

Optimizing core operational functionalities now can prepare your business for the new year. 

Year-end is a natural opportunity to begin evaluating your current processes to ensure optimization before you launch into next year’s activities. As you evaluate ways to improve processes and gain efficiencies, it’s important to factor workforce management into the equation. 

It’s time for a gap analysis. 

Take a minute. Think about how many software solutions you have running across your business. How are you handling HR and benefits administration, versus time and attendance? How are you proving service delivery to your clients? What areas are still manual, or tackled by pencil and paper? 

Once you conduct this audit, take a hard look at what you’ve got. Then, consider what’s missing. 

It might be a good idea to take an internal tour of your company. Talk to each department, your guards in the field and your stakeholders in the back office. What are the things they’re spending the most time on? Are there roadblocks creating bottlenecks in service delivery?

Once you really grasp an all-encompassing list of wants, needs and already-haves, then you can really start filling the gaps. 

Common gaps.

In our conversations with industry contacts, there are some common gaps that are typically uncovered in this process. 

Time constraints across all departments.

Every part of business operations takes too long. Entire overhead roles are dedicated to manual benefits and time off management. Your managers are chasing down employees for paperwork, scheduling and job assignments. Duplicate data entry and redundant processes are eating into what really matters: your clients and your contracts. 

Lack of visibility into operations and performance.

You’re relying on word of mouth or paper daily activity reports to ensure the work you need done is actually getting done. Your clients are demanding comprehensive reporting before committing to a new contract or added scope of work. You have no data to support proof of quality delivered or to renegotiate contracts when needed.

Field access and employee engagement.

Guards don’t have a way to access their schedules and shift expectations, manage what training they need to stay on top of, or even communicate to managers while out in the field. The tools they have to track their time or review tasks are hard to access or tracked only on paper. And, they send multiple messages to your admin team every time there is a question because they can’t access their own time off balances, insurance or pay stub information. 

Keep these common concerns in mind as you review what’s working, and what isn’t working, for your operations. 

I know what I’m missing. What’s next?  

Of course, we all know having a list of wants and needs doesn’t necessarily mean a point solution is needed for every single person every single time. 

Software is intended to make the work of a business easier. With automation, you can drive efficiency and improve the effectiveness of day-to-day activities – saving time, money and resources along the way. 

Still, piecing software together can often serve the needs of one department, while creating nightmares in another. That’s the problem with siloed data, a hidden challenge many companies in the security industry are dealing with every day. 

Siloed data happens when individual departments or teams use a standalone system to accomplish their work. It can create inconsistencies in reporting, duplicate processes, manual error and incomplete information. On top of that, it increases the amount of support contacts your company has to manage if issues arise, multiple release notes to keep on top of for features and enhancements, and even more billing requirements for your finance team. 

So, the next step in your gap analysis should be to think about what functions make the most sense to come together under a single, integrated software solution. 

Through this approach, you break down those data silos, creating a single source of truth to work through across your departments. 

An all-in-one approach.

We recommend an all-in-one approach to resolve your gap analysis. An integrated workforce management software dives into connecting core areas of your business, from the back office, to operations, to guards in the field. Plus, it reduces cost and risk, improves information accuracy and simplifies processes in the long run. (If you want to go the extra mile, think about integrating your financial and accounting operations, too – an ERP solution can get you there.)

These benefits equate to less time, money and resources spent on manual workforce management, which frees up time to focus on what really matters to your business (like building client relationships).

What Brianne Stephan, Sr. Director of Product, loves most about her role is the collaboration between Users, Business and Technology.  She is passionate about product strategy, design thinking principles and new product development.  Brianne’s focus at WorkWave is on the global product strategy and bringing modern technology and features to the product portfolio.

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Aley Moyer

The Californian 2022 Q3 – Best Practices for Intake and Onboarding

BEST PRACTICES FOR INTAKE AND ONBOARDING

Simplifying paperwork, avoiding liability, and more best practices for today’s hiring climate.

Nina “Nine” De Forge, Agency Relations Manager, TEAM Software by WorkWave

Between employment contracts, payroll and benefits forms, handbooks and standard operating procedure information, and emergency contact forms (to name a few), the onboarding process of a newly hired officer can be time consuming. Add into the mix the ongoing challenges of hidden turnover, where new hires leave during or soon after onboarding (or, never report for their first day of training), and your HR teams are bound to feel like they’re climbing an uphill battle.

The good news is there are some best practices your team can put in place to ease the process.

1. Simplify paperwork. Much like asking too many unnecessary questions during the hiring process can deter job candidates in a tight labor market, the sheer volume of onboarding paperwork can overwhelm your new hires. If you’re still collecting onboarding documentation manually, with managers collecting physical copies of documents in the field or via unsecured email processes, you’re well aware of just how hard it can be to finalize an employee’s paperwork prior to importing into their employee master file.

Automating onboarding processes speeds up the process, and reduces the number of errors that can occur during otherwise manual documentation and processing. (Plus, it gives you the option to securely store documentation digitally, so you don’t have to maintain countless filing cabinets.)

2. Use the most updated, necessary intake forms. Reducing the amount of paperwork your team needs to collect isn’t always an option, as certain documents are required by the government or corporate policies.

For example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently modified several standard forms to fully implement a nonbinary ‘X’ gender marker in addition to male and female indicators and an ‘Mx’ in the selection of prefixes. This change was made to help support nonbinary employees in the workplace. These forms are typically required of businesses with 100 or more employees (or federal contractors with at least 50 employees). Look for updates in your software solution to help support this change and decrease your company’s risk of liability. (For example, TEAM Software is already working on a user interface that will support the nonbinary gender marker in this format.)

3. Don’t forget about making onboarding easy on both sides. At TEAM’s recent annual client conference, a client said this, and it bears repeating: 

“Onboarding should be quick and easy. It has to be easy for the employee, so you can get them on the job and on the path towards retention, faster. But, it also has to be easy on the company.” 

Onboarding is an inherently complex task, with moving parts that involve not only HR, but finance, IT, operations and more. Add in typical security industry employee turnover percentages and amplified repercussions still being felt by the labor market, and this could very easily be a recipe for burnout. By establishing clear, concise processes, taking advantage of self-service options when you can, and leaning into automation, the administrative side of onboarding will reap the benefits of a streamlined workflow.

Nina De Forge joined the team in 2017 and is the Agency Relations Manager. Nina, also known as “9,” has been working with human resources, payroll and tax compliance since the 1980s and has a broad range of experience across each discipline. She is an active member of many industry organizations, including the IRS Information Reporting Advisory Committee and its Nationwide E-Filer’s National Focus Group, the Canadian Payroll Association, the Society for Human Resource Management and the International Association for Human Resource Information Management. She is a published author in the book American Payroll Association Basic Guide to Payroll. Outside of her career work, Nina is a hobby photographer.

 

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Aley Moyer

The Californian 2022 Q3 – Three Tips to Reduce Overtime, Now.

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THREE TIPS TO REDUCE OVERTIME, NOW. 

Plus: Things to keep in mind when dealing with overtime during a labor shortage.

Gail Tutt, TEAM Software by WorkWave

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: the best way to reduce overtime is to stop it before it starts. It’s a little cliché, especially when overtime (and, unfortunately, non-billable overtime) is an inherent part of the security industry. Still, there are several tactics you can use to get a handle on overtime and manage labor costs. 

1. Know your service-level agreements. This doesn’t just mean at the executive level. Because SLAs dictate the service standards and pricing obligations you’re required to deliver to your customers, it’s imperative that any employee who is involved in managing your company’s scheduling is well versed in bill and pay rates by contract. By ensuring understanding in all scheduling roles, you can prevent costly mistakes (like wage creep, which can occur in a variety of scenarios, but especially when officers are scheduled for overtime shifts outside of the scope of what’s budgeted per job.) 

By knowing your SLAs inside and out, your company is also setting up the foundation for best practices in job costing. With industry-specific software solutions to assist in the heavy lifting of tracking and analyzing job performance, you can see at a glance which jobs are lending themselves to your profit margins, and which are under performing.

2. Don’t forget about compliance. In some cases, there’s no way around scheduling overtime without compromising your compliance with state and federal labor law regulations and overtime rules. In our industry, there are compliance risks posed from misclassification, recordkeeping and other hour and wage-related activities that can turn your timekeeping and overtime tracking into a headache. Earlier this year, even, this entity reported a wage settlement (with waiting time penalties) due to an upheld ruling alleging an employer failed to include meal period premiums on wage statements. A different case in 2021 found the California Supreme Court upholding that employers are required to pay meal and rest break violation premiums at the same rate as when paying overtime. Translation: these costs add up quickly.

While many integrated workforce management solutions don’t track compliance for you, they do provide tools to more easily prove compliance. Look for feature sets which include things like time and attendance (including punch times), scheduling, regulation monitoring and reporting to gain well-rounded visibility into your compliance.  

3. Become friends with your data. This point is straightforward: dig into your data early on in your scheduling process. In available TEAM solutions, we recommend including criteria like parameter searches for available guards that fit within the bill rate specified per job. That way, your schedulers will only be able to assign officers to shifts whose rate fits the given budget (see our first point).

Often, we find companies can implement at least one of these tips to help prevent and improve overtime. But we also recognize that the current labor market throws a new wrench into the mix. When it’s hard to find officers to fill shifts in general, of course it becomes more likely for regular shifts to turn into overtime to stay on top of SLAs. While there’s no easy answer, it’s possible resolving this particular overtime challenge can be addressed by refocusing on retention.

Start by taking a few steps back to analyze what your voluntary separations look like. Are officers leaving for higher hourly rates or benefits? Or are they leaving for more flexibility in their schedules? Maybe they’re pivoting careers into adjacent industries or taking even bigger leaps into entirely new verticals. The common theme of all these scenarios is that it is likely not a separation on bad terms. This could be an opportunity to think outside the box in the form of a self-scheduling program. This way, employees stay in your employee management system (as part-time or ad hoc employees) and can pick up shifts based on when they want to work (even if they are employed elsewhere). While it may not work for everyone, it is an interesting tactic to reduce overtime needs while increasing employee retention.

It’s hard to theorize if there will ever be a world without overtime in some capacity. But, there are steps you can take to improve this metric now. See how at teamsoftware.com. 

Gail has spent over 35 years in the private sector as a senior level finance and operations manager across multiple industry. Most recently CFO of a regional security company in San Jose, CA, Gail now works providing invaluable insight and expertise as a business consultant with TEAM Software.  Her hobbies include breeding and showing standard wirehair dachshunds, hiking and spending time with her family.

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