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VIEWPOINT: The Art of Compliance: Doing What’s Right, Not Just What’s Required
The rest of society got a taste of what corporate compliance officers go through when the COVID pandemic forced restrictions and requirements on the entire population. Suddenly, people were told to wear masks, social distance, and wash their hands more regularly and thoroughly than ever before. Plenty of people didn’t like that, trying to dodge the new […]
CEO FOCUS: Help is Here for Firms Seeking State Pandemic Small Business Recovery Grants
We have heard directly from so many businesses, about the multitude of challenges they face, having been hit hard by the pandemic, including gaps in critical grant funding. [On June 3], along with New York State Assemblyman Al Stirpe, and the South Side Innovation Center, we announced opportunities are available for assisting companies in accessing the state’s
VIEWPOINT: Including More Voices in Decisions May Bring Discomfort & Results
When companies struggle, whether because of a bad economy, poor decisions, or other factors, top management’s reaction is often to become tight-lipped about the turbulent situation. Employees are shut out from strategy discussions, and any ideas they might have for fixing the problem go unheard. But in many if not most cases, such secretiveness is the wrong
VIEWPOINT: 5 Tips to Make Entrepreneurs Resilient When Challenges Threaten their Business
Many entrepreneurs discover that building a business brings difficult challenges, which in turn require resilience to overcome. But simply having the capacity to recover and keep going doesn’t always lead to better results. Resilience in the context of long-term business success also means learning from past difficulties and, as a result, changing direction to the right path.
VIEWPOINT: The Path to Business Success? Treat Employees as Assets, Not Expenses
Any number of factors can cause businesses to struggle. A lack of working capital. Poor planning. Ineffective management. But one factor that always affects business performance is employee engagement and the degree to which employees feel valued by their company. Your company’s profitability depends on its people — and you want your team to be composed of
VIEWPOINT: Record-high public pension-fund return won’t necessarily mean lower pension costs
The cost to taxpayers of New York’s generous (and constitutionally guaranteed) pension benefits for state and local-government employees depends largely on the performance of pension-fund investments. So when Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced recently that the state Common Retirement Fund had earned a record return of 33.55 percent last year — nearly five times the assumed rate —
VIEWPOINT: U.S. DOL Withdraws Independent-Contractor Regulations
On May 6, the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) withdrew its final regulations that would have revised the standard for determining whether a worker is an employee covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or an independent contractor who is not subject to the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime requirements. According to the USDOL, the independent-contractor
VIEWPOINT: How to Find Donors, Volunteers, and Employee Retirees Now
“Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.” — Booker T. Washington Fifteen months has now passed since the COVID-19 pandemic was officially announced. We have an entire country of individuals, apart from our front-line heroes, who are desperately trying to reconnect and return to life in the “new normal.” The three ideas and
VIEWPOINT: Does Your Company Care About The Environment As Much As Consumers Do?
It’s not just a product’s quality that compels consumers to purchase it. More people today care about how the item was manufactured and whether the company is harming the environment. Studies show sustainability is a factor driving customers’ buying decisions. Recent research by IBM revealed that nearly six in 10 consumers surveyed are willing to change
VIEWPOINT: Ask Rusty: Will Taking 401(k) Distributions Affect my Social Security Benefit?
Dear Rusty: I’m 63 and retired from work, but not drawing Social Security. I have accumulated just over $300,000 in my rollover 401(k) IRA. My wife is still working full time, so we have medical, dental, and vision coverage. I have a few questions: 1) When I take IRA distributions throughout the year, do those dollar
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