Posted on Fri, Aug 06, 2010 @ 01:14 PM
Are you finding you are expected to do more with less in your position as Club CFO or Controller? For some time now, we have observed an industry trend towards increasing the role of the CFO/Controller as it relates to human resource management.
I am privileged to speak with Club GM's, Controllers, CFO's and HR Directors on a daily basis and frequently get feedback similar to the above described trend. While the words may change between conversations, the common theme is club staff increasingly are wearing multiple hats.
In many cases, this involves the CFO/Controller picking up additional HR responsibilities. If this is hitting you square between the eyes, download our complimentary white paper to help you establish a strategy to effectively deal with these changes.
Download "Help, I'm the Controller, not the HR Director" here and let us know what you think.
We hope it helps!
Posted on Tue, May 04, 2010 @ 10:36
Recently I completed 90 days of the most intense exercise regimen I‘ve ever endured. While the program was worthwhile for the physical benefits, the real value came from the lesson I learned in self-discipline. The principle the program is based in: deciding, committing and succeeding, have reshaped the way I do business and approach life...
The Program
The program I participated in is called P90X (http://www.beachbody.com/) and many of you may have seen the infomercials, partaken in the program or had friends who have participated. The program's marketing message of "muscle confusion" and "getting ripped in 90 days" succeeds in motivating but fall far short of preparing one for the intensity of the workouts. However challenging, it was worth it and I did achieve some tangible results which I'll share with you in a moment.
Understand, when I say intense, I am not just referring to the difficulty of completing the exercise but the amount of time dedicated to each workout and the frequency of workouts. Each workout lasts between 60 and 90 minutes and the program calls for working out 6 times a week. Given a busy lifestyle including two businesses and three kids (ages 3, 5, 13), the commitment aspect was more intimidating to me than the physical aspect. I am sure many of you can relate - making a commitment like this is a life changing decision.
The Challenge
By the end of three months, I had exercised 72 times in just 84 days! There were a few times I worked out twice in one day or did not work out until after midnight but one way or the other, I survived each one. In addition to time constraints and stretching my physical limitations, there were many other barriers that arose during the course preventing me from reaching my goal.
For example, I suffered from severe allergies and endured three sinus infections during the first six weeks of the program. Many of my workouts occurred inconveniently on the road in hotel rooms, at odd hours and in between business meetings. Additionally, my three year old daughter decided to create a new challenge of her own by refusing to go to sleep until she was absolutely sure I had completed the night's workout. She would find evidence of this by observing me lying in the floor out of breath and in a heap. OK, bedtime!
The Lesson
The workouts seemed physically impossible (at first) and there were obviously not enough hours in the day to complete them. Furthermore, the interruptions, distractions and "reasons" not to do it were nearly immeasurable. Interestingly though, it turns out the real value gained from this experience came about as a result of these and many other challenges encountered. It seemed with every additional obstacle, I began to realize how compelling it can be to procrastinate or give up. How simple it is to find a "reason" not to follow through and then rationalize your decision.
How often does this same principle play out in our work and personal lives? We know what we want to do and make a commitment but ultimately identify a reason not to keep going. Think about your job - what frustration have you repeatedly committed to change but are still living with? What about your personal life? Do you have a relationship that needs repair, a habit that needs to change or a problem that needs to be fixed but you never seem to get to doing it?
Too frequently we stop one prayer, a single step or just shy of the required effort to reach our goal. It has been said, the tragedy of life is not "failure" but "lost potential" in all the times we gave up too early. This experience has affirmed my belief that perseverance is the number one predicator of success. Sure, we may get lucky now and then but think back to your biggest successes and I'll bet you will find a common theme. You kept getting back up when knocked down, you stuck with it when others gave up and you refused to yield to challenges. In short, you persevered.
The Results
I wish I could report that I had a total body transformation as some of the participants on the infomercial and website appear to have had; my physical results were not quite that impressive. However, I did see some significant improvements in weight, strength and flexibility. I lost five pounds of fat, gained six pounds of muscle, increased strength by nearly 100% and saw flexibility improvements beyond measure. I feel better, eat better, sleep better, have more energy and accomplish more daily which I attribute to the empowerment of an increased positive attitude!
The Challenge
In conclusion, I challenge you to ask yourself "Where do I need to step up my game?" Do you have physical, professional, financial or personal goals you want to pursue but keep finding a reason to give up on? If so, we invite you to share your goals and your success stories here by commenting on this article.
"You do not have to be great to start but you have to start to be great." -Joe Sabah
Posted on Fri, Mar 19, 2010 @ 11:18
I recently made a presentation at the HFTP Development Conference in New Orleans related to helping Controllers at Private Country Clubs deal with expanding human resource management responsibilities. In preparing for the presentation, I discovered there are a variety of conditions that are contributing to a potential "perfect storm" related to the payroll and human resource functions at private clubs. Within this blog post, I'll lay out what those conditions are and how they may affect your club. In part 2, we'll talk about what you can do to protect your club and yourself.
I call the current situation a "perfect storm" not to be an alarmist, but to bring attention to circumstances which are occurring in clubs today that may have a serious adverse affect tomorrow. The major factors influencing potential future issues include:
- The Great Recession
- Rising Unemployment
- Growing Regulation
- Increasing Litigation
- Downsizing at Clubs
Let's dig a little deeper into each of these contributing factors and why it should matter to you, your General Manager and your Board of Directors.
Without doubt, we are in the midst of one of the more difficult economic times of our lifetimes. This means many people, including your club's employees are under financial duress and extraordinary stress. Even though your employees are working, they may have spouses or extended family members that are unemployed. They may also be dealing with a home foreclosure, short sale, evaporation of savings accounts and home equity or any of a host of stressful situations. These types of stressors sometimes spill over and can affect one's work life even when not directly related to one's job. Productivity, attitude and employee relations can all suffer and this can create problems, sometimes big, costly problems. 
Unemployment rates are at historical highs and the "real" rate of unemployment is much higher than the reported rate. This "real" rate includes underemployed and those who have "given up". Additionally, unemployment compensation has become easier to get and has been extended well beyond the traditional allowable time line. This has a multi-faceted affect on clubs. You may find that a segment of your employees see unemployment as a viable alternative to working with reduced hours or working at all. This type of culture can be a morale and productivity killer. Additionally, who funds unemployment? The employer of course... brace yourself for a freight train of increasing premiums, it is coming. This will be a huge factor in future budget years.
We are living in a time when businesses in America are literally under attack. There are currently over 70 Acts affecting benefits, labor and employment and this is only on the federal level. Every state tacks on hundreds more laws and statutes related to how you hire, manage, pay and provide benefits to your employees and you are required to keep up with and comply with each one. If you don't, your club can be held liable and in many cases, you may be held personally liable as well.
Don't think this is a problem that is going away. In an average year, there are over 200 changes to employment related federal law again and all signs point towards increased regulation by the current administration. The very first bill signed by President Obama was the Lilly Ledbetter Act - extending the statute of limitations to file an equal pay lawsuit. Other examples of how this administration is making it more difficult on business (and private clubs are small businesses) is to greatly expand the qualification for the American Disabilities Act (ADA) and to extend and complicate COBRA Benefits.
Our next trend is simply a result of the first three factors. A poor economy combined with rising unemployment and growing regulation leads to an increase in litigation. Have you noticed the increased frequency and boldness of Trial Attorney advertising related to employment? If you can't find a job and can't pay your bills, just sue someone! It is easier than ever to do so and it is happening with increasing frequency. Business Week ran an article that stated Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuits have "exploded nationwide" and the problem has only gotten worse recently.
Finally, the icing on the cake is that in this environment, an industry trend is rising to eliminate so called "non-essential" positions (often including HR Director) and migrating these responsibilities on to another staff member (usually the Controller). In effect, at the most critical time to stay on top of HR issue, we are dumping the responsibility on a staff member that is most likely under trained and too overworked to handle these additional duties. This may indeed prove to be a "penny wise, pound foolish" strategy, only time will tell. What may happen is clubs may indeed find some short term savings from consolidating duties and reducing labor overhead but long term find themselves with much larger expenses and more ominous challenges.
Having solid payroll, human resource and compliance processes in place should be viewed as an investment, not an expense. Similar to an insurance policy in nature, you might save some money by canceling the policy in the short term but what happens if the club burns down?
Posted on Thu, Feb 04, 2010 @ 03:47 PM
Outsourcing has been standard throughout the business world for many years and its popularity is now expanding rapidly through the club industry. The driving force behind this trend is related to the economic pressure many clubs are under to reduce operating expense.
Of course, the risk with this approach is service or quality will suffer. To balance the importance of managing expenses and maintaining quality, clubs should closely examine their key business processes to identify which systems are the best candidates for outsourcing. Processes that fit well into an outsource model are typically complex in nature, highly regulated, time consuming or create potential liability.
Outsourcing makes the most sense when three key criteria are met - processes are done better, faster and with more consistent results. The types of outsourcing that meet these criteria can be considered "smartsourcing" partnerships. Unlike traditional outsourcing, which is commodity driven, smartsourcing enables clubs to partner in synergistic ways that decrease expense, increase quality and carry low risk for the club. With smartsourcing, clubs work with highly specialized companies that bring both improved efficiencies and very specific expertise.
SmartSourcing creates an environment where the results of focus, efforts and expertise actually equal more than the sum of the parts. With smartsourcing, clubs become less "people" dependant and more "systems" dependant. This makes the club stronger as it causes a shift of the focus of the club's staff from an "administrative" focus to a "member centric" focus.
Current economic conditions make this a perfect time to consider a company like ClubPay that combines expertise and efficiency to create value for your club. Our approach is simple but powerful. We have done the homework and put together a suite of solutions and services that eliminate the headaches and hassles of payroll and HR management. At the same time, we give you expanded access to your information to enable you to make better business decisions. Finally, we help you control costs by leveraging our economies of scale and expertise.
Posted on Tue, Oct 27, 2009 @ 09:36 PM
Do you care? Do your employees care? Does your board care? Do your vendors care? Three simple words, one small question but the answer may hold the key to whether you or your organization will survive.
Care
In his recent book - Crush It!, Gary Vaynerchuk (host of the fabulously popular website and on line TV show - Wine Library) includes a brief chapter entitled "the best marketing strategy ever". The chapter is so brief in fact, that it consists of only one word - "Care". I think the point that Gary is trying to get across is pretty evident. We need to care about what we do, how we do it and the customers we serve.
We are Starving for Care
As a society, we are starving for care. We want it, even yearn for it and are more than willing to pay for it. Think about how you feel when you buy groceries at that trendy, freshly stocked "market" compared to when you shop at the big box store with the endless rows of bargains and self check-out lanes. Do you feel like one cares more than the other?
Let's face it, we do a lot of business with a lot of companies that don't seem to get the "care" concept. They may care about their paychecks, bottom line and maybe even their shareholders, but do they "care" about their customers?
To prove my point, let me share a couple of personal experiences I have had recently. The names of the offenders have been disguised to protect the guilty.
How many days does it take to deliver a "3 day air" package?
I recently shipped a trade show booth across the country using a popular shipping company, let's call them OOPS. I paid over $600 for OOPS to deliver my package in 3 days. My package arrived 5 days later, halfway through the show. I bet you're thinking OOPS cared about this - think again!
When I called to ask when my package would be delivered, I was told it was unknown, but what was known is that my package was audited during shipment and additional postage was due. No explanation, no solution, no apology - no one seemed to care that I had no booth for my show.
After several weeks and dozens of calls, we have discovered that "3 day air" doesn't actually mean that the package will be delivered in "3 days" OOPS! Apparently there is some small print that excludes the company from actually delivering on its promise - not very caring.
How do you spell OOPS?
My next story involves a major credit card company, we'll just call the company Capitol Two. While trying to dispute the above referenced charge for services not delivered, the following conversation actually occurred. There is no way to do this justice folks, but to just give you the transcript.
Company: Who is the vendor?
Me: OOPS
Company: Can you spell that?
Me: O O P S
Company:What type of charge is this sir?
Me: Shipping charges, postage
Company: Did you receive the merchandise?
Me: Well, yes, I guess you could say that, they shipped it
Company: Did you return the merchandise to the vendor?
Me: How can I return "shipping charges"
Company: OK, thank you very much, please be advised you still must make your minimum monthly payment.
Apparently we don't have enough idiots in this country, we now need to export these jobs overseas. Is it just me or is anyone else tired of dealing with these companies that don't care about you, your time, your money or their integrity?
I regret to say the story only goes downhill from here folks, but I care too much about your time to digress any further. Let's talk about something more positive.
How to profit from others' lack of care
If there is a bright spot in all this, it is that the lack of caring on the part of many businesses, both large and small, open up an incredible opportunity for those of us who do care. Recession or not, people like to be around people and buy from businesses that care about them.
This plays right into the hands of private country clubs. Our clubs are a place that members can go and know that they will be cared for. We can be the oasis for a membership that has to deal with an uncaring world day in and day out. When we create this type of environment, our member will say "Screw the Recession" when it comes to maintaining their club membership.
An influential manager from a prestigious country club recently asked me if I had any ideas that might help them engage their employees and get them motivated for the upcoming season. I am going to send him a copy of this article and my single word of advice - CARE.
Care about the quality of the meal, the cleanliness of the club, the condition of the golf course, the smile on the face of the server, the punctuality of the team. As the management team, care about your employees, their personal and professional goals, their families and the tools they need to do their jobs.
As a vendor, ClubPay cares passionately about what we do. We provide a way to help make a tedious and libelous process (payroll) easier, faster and less expensive. When our clients have a need, we care about them, their time line and getting their problem solved. We care about our clients success.
Posted on Mon, Sep 28, 2009 @ 05:53 PM
An estimated 60% of clubs who make the decision to change payroll providers do so effective January 1st. While mid-year conversions are typically very easy to make, if your club has not done so recently, it certainly makes sense to evaluate your options at year-end.
Because so many clubs are facing the challenge of shrinking budgets and decreased administrative staff levels, any opportunity to potentially reduce expense and save time deserves a closer look.
Should your club evaluate its payroll/HR systems?
Take a moment and consider when the last review of your current provider occurred. With some payroll companies, particularly some of the larger providers, fees seem to creep up each year. Payroll companies often offer discounts and low rates to acquire new clients with the strategy of increasing margin through add-on charges and price increases.
If your club has not evaluated their payroll provider in more than a year, then it is definitely time to take a fresh look and ensure your club is receiving the maximum value and return on investment. The following questions can help with making the decision to evaluate your club's current payroll provider and take a look at other options available.
- Has our club experienced any major payroll or tax issues during the past year? If so, how were they handled?
- When help is needed, are we assigned a "case number" or do we get responsive, professional help from someone who understands our business and how we work?
- Has our club experienced price increases over the past year or years? Are the increases reasonable and congruent with functionality and service ehancements.
- Are we being charged additional fees for basic functionality such as reports, direct deposit, and tax filings?
When to start the process for a January 1 conversion...
If your club is considering a January 1 conversion, the time to begin the process is now. In order to take a systematic approach, adequate time must be allowed to do your homework and research before making a decision.
As with any major decision, the first step is take an honest appraisal of your current system to identify its strengths and weaknesses. Once this step is completed, you can move forward with comparing your current solution to other available options.
Some considerations in evaluating companies for a fit with your club include:
- How easy is our system to use? Is our payroll partner really lifting an administrative burden off the club management team and administrative staff or are they just cutting paychecks?
- Does our solution include integrated features that help us manage our club more effectively such as HR management, labor management, and hiring and recruitment tools?
- Does our payroll partner understand our business? Do they accommodate multiple rates, multiple departments, weighted overtime and integration to our club management system?
- Are there other "clubs" using this provider? What has their experience been?
To allow adequate time to do a reasonable evaluation and cost/benefit analysis of making a change, you should target evaluating systems during the September/October time frame and make a decision no later than early November to be prepared for a January 1 conversion.
Budget a couple of weeks for information gathering and analysis. Following your research stage, set appointments with vendors to see the work flow and understand the specific strengths of each system.
Finally, request a detailed proposal to evaluate the soft and hard costs of a change. Don't fall into the trap of evaluating on price only but look at improved efficiencies, time savings, risk management, improved morale/retention and other factors that are related to the payroll and human resource function of your club.
Kick the tires at our 4thQuarter Webinars...
If you just want to kick the tires and see what your options are, ClubPay is offering a complimentary, no pressure, no hassle set of webinars in October. This will give you insight into our two most popular club management solutions - ClubPay and ClubTime. ClubTime is an integrated labor management and time keeping solution and ClubPay is our full-service payroll solution.
Hope you found this post helpful, you can register for the webinars on our website at Attend a Webinar.
Posted on Tue, Sep 01, 2009 @ 04:17 PM
I recently read Noah St. John's The Secrect Code of Success and while I give the entire book 5 stars, there is one secret that I just can't wait to share. Mr. St. John has discovered a secret technique for achieving goals which may be one of the most useful tools to achieve personal effectiveness ever discovered.
Get a copy of The Secret Code of Success to learn all of the secrets, you won't be disappointed.
What is the secret?
This technique is so deceptively simple that when you first hear about it, you are probably thinking what I was thinking - "no way this works". But, as you will see in a few minutes, it does work! It works very, very well and I believe it will have an immediate positive effect for you.
So, what is the secret? It is what Mr. St. John calls "afformations". Yes, you read that right, "afformations" as opposed to "affirmations". What is an afformation? An afformation, as defined by Mr. St. John is like an affirmation, only phrased in the form of a question and with the assumption of having already occurred.
As I said, this seems deceptively simple and if whether you are feeling skeptical or intrigued right now, I encourage you to read on.
Putting into practice...
Making afformations is incredibly easy. Just think of something you want, phrase it as a question and assume it has already occurred. For example, if you want to lose twenty pounds, instead of stating "I am going to lose 20 pounds", phrase as "Why have I lost 20 pounds?". This simple adjustment yields surprising results.
Since many of my readers work in accounting or management positions in private country clubs, let's look at a real life example for club management professionals. Let's say you want to get your financials out by the 5th of the month. We simply say, "Why do I always get my financials out by the 5th of the month?".
Now, give it a try. Think of something you would like to accomplish, phrase it in the form of a question and say it out loud. Repeat it several times. Take note of how you feel when you ask the question out loud. Do you feel powerful? Do you feel like your goal is suddenly more achievable?
How does it work?
To get the entire explanation, you'll have to read the book. I will attempt to provide you the Reader's Digest version here. The reason this works is that you are essential tapping into your subconscious when you ask a question. You are triggering your subconscious to look for an answer.
When you make a statement such as "I will get my financials out by the 5th every month", your subconscious automatically kicks in with reasons why you can't get your financials out by the 5th. You mind will start telling you things like "I can't do this, my bank statements are in, inventory is never done on time, I have to wait on others, and whatever other negative reasons it can pull up.
However, if you ask the question, "Why do I always get my financials out on time?", your subconscious will automatically to look for reasons why you can accomplish your goal. You will subconsciously start looking for the actions that will lead you to your desired result.
Start asking questions...
Take our your goals or think of what you want to accomplish and write each in the form of an afformation. Get in the habit of reading your afformations out loud each morning and measure your results. Are you feeling more in control and getting more done?
If you decide to give this approach a try, comment on the article and share your results. Likewise, if you decide to read the book, let us know what you think. I hope it helps you get one step closer to reaching your goals.
I have been practicing afformations for several weeks now and the results have been impressive. I will close with a question, "Why did this blog help so many people?"
Posted on Wed, Aug 26, 2009 @ 03:11 PM
Saving "time" at your club...
What is the single biggest expense item in your club's budget? If you are like most clubs, your answer is labor and related expenses. For an average club, payroll, taxes and benefits combines to be 53% of total expenses. So, if your club is looking for ways to reduce expenses (and what club aren't these days), labor control is the first place you should look for savings.
Remember, reductions in labor expense are "cash" savings, not "efficiency" savings. In many cases, there are tens of thousands of dollars to be found by implementing simple labor controls. Ironically, many times a club will spend more time analyzing office supplies expense or phone bills than they do finding ways to control labor expense.
Where does the "time" go?
Labor waste is most often identified in one of three areas - time theft, unnecessary overtime and scheduling issues.
Time theft occurs anytime an employee is paid for time they did not actually work. For example, an early riser shows up early at golf course maintenance and clocks a few of his buddies in before they arrive. Or the "last man out" after a club event clocks out the rest of the crew. In either case, the club is paying for labor that it did not receive.
Overtime is not inherently evil. It cousin, unnecessary overtime is however. Overtime is a strong strategic tool that can be used to effectively manage the peaks of business without over staffing for the valleys. When overtime is unplanned however, it is a very expensive problem.
Scheduling issues include clocking in early, clocking out late and getting paid for unearned time off. For most positions within the club, it makes sense to restrict employees' ability to clock-in early or clock-out late. Additionally, having solid controls in place for confirming leave requests and ensuring earned time is available can be help your club stay on budget.
What is the solution?
Implementing a labor management system addresses all of the above issues and is a very simple and affordable process. Bio-metric time clocks, online scheduling and leave requests and automatic notification of employees approaching overtime are just a few of the tools available to make it easy for your club to enforce its time and attendance policies.
Show me the money!
The impact of implementing solid labor controls can be enormous. Consider an example of a club that has 150 employees and sets a goal to save five minutes per employee per day. For the sake of simplicity, we will assume each employee is full time, works 250 days per year and costs the club an average wage of $12/hour.
- 150 employees x 250 days per year = 37,500 days
- Save 5 minutes per day = 187,500 minutes or 3,125 hours
- 3,125 hours at $12/hour = $37,500 per year
Why not plug your numbers in and play around with what your savings might be if you can pick up just five minutes per day per employee. Now take a look at your overtime expense for the year and determine estimate how much is "smart overtime" and how much is "unnecessary overtime".
As you can see, the numbers add up quick. The conclusion is most clubs can accomplish major reductions in labor expense with little or no impact on service levels.
Posted on Thu, Aug 20, 2009 @ 12:16 PM
I recently found the answer to this question in my own backyard, literally.
But before I get into that, let me tell you what smartsourcing is not - it is not the same as outsourcing. Outsourcing is done primarily to reduce costs and save time. On the other hand, smartsourcing is more strategic and looks at both the tangible and intangible impacts. Reducing costs and saving time are the results of smartsourcing, not the reasons to do it.
The answer in my backyard...
I recently had a personal experience with the concept of smartsourcing. But, in my example, I was smartsourcing and did not realize it until I made a decision to bring the process back in-house.
For years I have smartsourced the maintenance of my yard, but this summer I began to consider bringing this work in-house. My rationale was to save money and provide a way for my 13 year old to increase his responsibility and earn some spending money.
I accomplished one of my goals - my son now earns a nice allowance every month. However, my goal of saving money never materialized. Worse, my yard has never looked worse. The edging is sloppy, yard is full of weeds and I have large brown areas where I applied too much fertilizer.
So, even though I am spending far more time working on my yard, the quality has gone down and the cost has gone up. Let's take a look at the numbers and results before bringing in-house...
- Yard Service - $100/month or $1,200 annually
- Results are a beautiful lawn with no worries, my time focused on my family and business
Now, let's look at the numbers after bringing in house
- Equipment purchased to bring in house - mover, trimmer, weed eater, edge and blower - $750.00
- Maintenance of equipment - $250/year
- Fertilizer, pest control, etc... - $300/year
- Allowance increase - $35/month
- Total first year costs - $1,720
- Ongoing annual expense - $970/year
- Results are yard looks rough and a few hours a week are spent working on it
So, it does not take an MBA to see my return on investment in dollars is pretty weak but more importantly, my return on investment in "results" stinks!
Smartsourcing Defined for Clubs
Smartsourcing means outsourcing a core club business process so that it is done better, faster, more consistently, at lower cost and with less risk. For example, my lawn was maintained at a higher level, with virtually no time invested by me, at a high level of consistency, for less investment and without having to worry about making a mistake that would kill the grass.
With smartsouring, an environment is created where the combination of skill, focus and effort actually equals more than the sum of the parts. With smartsourcing, your club finds partners that bring a high level of expertise and innovation to a club business process that falls outside of your core focus - creating great member experiences.
Smartsource partners bring more to the table than just time savings and cost reductions. They bring a faster, better and more effective way of doing things. Unlike traditional outsourcing, which is commodity driven, smartsourcing enables clubs to partner in synergistic ways that decrease expense, increase quality and carry low risk for the club.
Conclusion
Current economic conditions dictate that every business process should be evaluated to determine if strategies to reduce cost/improve quality exist. In some cases, process improvements may be made in-house and in other cases, partnering will make more sense. When partnering is the preferred direction, clubs should take the time to carefully evaluate both the tangible (decreased costs, saved time) and intangible (less risk, better quality) impact.