18 - The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday October 11, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Money can't buy happiness particularly with employees Think giving your employee a generous raise will keep her loyal, motivated and less likely to jump ship? Don't count on it. "It's rarely ever about the money," says Andrée Mercier, a principal with global human resources company, Hewitt Associates. "No matter what the generation, babyboomer or Generation X or Y, it comes down to three motivators: stimulating work, supportive management and work-life balance." These factors will not only help retain employees, but also recruit high-quality new ones. Canada's low unemployment rate, coupled with a large wave of retiring workers and a migration of skilled labour to western Canada, has made finding and keeping talented people a number one priority for many companies. This is even more important for small businesses where high employee turnover can wreak havoc with productivity and bottom lines. A Hewitt Associates' Best Employers in Canada study shows the country's top 50 organizations scoring top marks in dealing with HR challenges they have lower turnover among both their fulltime (27% lower) and part-time (48% lower) employees, receive more applications for job openings and experience better business results. How do they do it? "By focusing on engagement," says Mary Karamanos, senior vice-president, human resources, with the Business Development Bank of Canada. "Engaged employees are generally more motivated, more productive, give better service to clients and are generally happier"," she says. "A large part of engagement comes down to the way you manage and communicate with your employees. Be open and honest, share information, be inclusive and ask your employees for their input." Engagement begins before an employee has even been hired. How you word a recruitment ad influences the type of applicants who come forward. While you want to make the position and the company sound as enticing as possible, be careful what you promise. Mercier says branding your company is good idea and helps you to attract the right kind of people, but ensure the employee's experience lives up to the hype: "Our surveys show there's a big drop off in engagement after about 12 months, when the honeymoon is over. So, if you're branding yourself as a sexy place to work, be sure you can deliver on what you're selling." THE CHALLENGES OF GENERATION Y Generation Y (ages 18-25) employees represent a potentially huge talent pool more than 70 million in North America alone. And unlike many Gen Xers and babyboomers, these highly tech-savvy Gen Yers are adept multi-taskers and extremely achievement- and goal-oriented. They are also likely to change jobs every couple of years. For small companies, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity.A company with only a dozen or so employees will have limited opportunities for promotions, but they are often more flexible in their ability to structure the job around a person's skill sets. For example, if you have a receptionist with a background in communications, get him or her involved in developing a communications strategy for the company, writing press releases or even a company newsletter. CONTINUED ON PAGE 20 Did you know... that if you own a business and you go bankrupt or are sued, you can lose not only your business assets but also your family assets? The question is what can you do to prevent such an occurrence. Some businesses are relatively benign when it comes to the exposure to Lawsuit but others have a high degree of risk. If your business is in the latter category, here are some of the steps you can take to minimize your exposure: Step 1 Incorporate your business; in this way, any lawsuits would be limited to the assets of the Corporation; the foregoing would also apply to any claims your creditors might have in the event of a bankruptcy. Step 2 If your business is capital intensive, incorporate a separate company to hold all the major assets of the business; again, should a lawsuit be filed against the Company or your business fail, there will be no assets for your creditors to attach. Step 3 If your business is made up of more than one distinct business, it may be wise to incorporate separate companies for each business as, if one business fails, you will not lose the other businesses. Step 4 Only one spouse should be a Director of the Corporation as well as being all The statutorily required (President, Chairman Of The Board, Secretary-Treasurer) officers. All family assets including the house, bank accounts, mutual funds, investments, etc. should be transferred into the name of the remaining spouse. In this manner, should certain liabilities survive the corporate umbrella, once again, there will be no assets in the hands of the Director for the creditors to attach. You cannot do this after legal proceedings have begun Step 5 Transfer all your investments and RRSP's to funds that are administered by life insurance companies as creditors cannot attach any funds held under the life insurance 'umbrella'. In addition, some life insurance companies will guarantee your capital even if the life insurance company itself goes bankrupt. Written By E. L. Foster, President of The Incorporators / The Tax Advisory / The Business Advisory Inc., Oakville Beaver Readers' Selection First Place Diamond Award winners in the categories of Incorporation Services, Tax Preparation Services and Business Advisory Services for the last six years. ARE YOUR BUSINESS AND FAMILY ASSETS PROTECTED IN THE EVENT OF A LAWSUIT OR BANKRUPTCY? CALL THE INCORPORATORS NOW FOR A FREE ASSESSMENT OF YOUR BUSINESS AND/OR PERSONAL SITUATION. 25 YEARS S 25 5 YE 2 YE 25 YEARS 25 YEARS ED FOSTER THE TAX ADVISORY iding Personal And Corpor Income Tax Planning And paration Services To Comp Individuals for over 25 yea Who Should Incorporate? · Any business whose annual net profit is in excess of $20,000; · Any business which has a risk of being sued which in today's litigious society is just about ev Why Should I Incorporate My Business? · · · · To To To To pay less inco protect your business and family assets from your creditors. give your bus protect your b Why Should I Have `The Incorporators' Incorporate My Business? · Our rates are one-third to one-half that of our competition. · The Articles of Incorporation that we prepare for you will be designed in such a way as to provide you with maximum flexibility in your personal and corporate income · We have been incorporating companies for over twenty-five years. FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CALL US AT 905-469-8777 OR VISIT US AT ONE OF OUR WEBSITES COMMITTED TO REDUCING THE INCOME TAXES THAT YOU PAY www.thetaxadvisory.ca 25INCORPORATORS25 Y YEARS S Y YEARS S 2 25 25 YE YEARS 2 25 YEARS YEARS ARS 25 25 25 5 YEARS YEARS 25 25 YEARS THE Incorporating Businesses for over 25 yea Combining The Best Of The Legal, Business And Income Tax Planning Processes. THE BUSINESS ADVISORY Providing Ideas For Sales Growth d Solutions To Business Pro To SmallAnd Home Based Business for over 25 years. SERVING SMALL AND HOME BUSINESSES FO R 25 YEARS COMMITTED TO INCORPORATING YOUR COMPANY THE RIGHT WAY THE FIRST TIME www.theincorporators.ca COMMITTED TO MAKING YOUR BUSINESS A SUCCESS www.thebusinessadvisory.ca 25 Y YEARS 25 S 5 S 2 25 YEARS 25