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Meile plans to grow Titan’s presence in Central New York
SALINA — Titan Insurance & Employee Benefits Agency, LLC is a small firm with a big name — and a Central New York manager who doesn’t shy away from using weighty analogies to compare the company to bigger competitors. “It’s like an elephant turning around in the kitchen,” says Mark Meile, Titan’s district manager for […]
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SALINA — Titan Insurance & Employee Benefits Agency, LLC is a small firm with a big name — and a Central New York manager who doesn’t shy away from using weighty analogies to compare the company to bigger competitors.
“It’s like an elephant turning around in the kitchen,” says Mark Meile, Titan’s district manager for Central New York. “For a national firm, when there are big changes that need to take place, it takes a long time. With a smaller firm that is a little ahead of the curve technology-wise, they’re able to adapt. And that’s attractive.”
Meile heads Titan’s district office in Suite 290 at 290 Elwood Davis Road in Salina. The office, which is Titan’s first foray into the Central New York market, opened about two months ago.
Titan is based in Rochester and also has satellite offices in Canandaigua and Geneva. Its current president and CEO, Michael Gurowski, founded the company in 2006. It has 15 employees.
Only one of those employees is based in Salina — Meile, who joined the company to help it establish and grow its presence in Central New York.
Meile has a personal goal of picking up 10 new clients by the end of the year. He hopes to grow Titan’s Central New York presence to the point where the Salina office will need to add staff members. The number of new employees and timeline for adding them will be dictated by growth, he says.
Meile is confident companies will listen to him about Titan’s offerings. Firms are already concerned with human resources, he says.
“Companies are just wondering what they are going to do,” he says. “The biggest challenges in the last five years are double-digit increases in insurance, especially the medical. Compliance — how do they stay compliant? Human-resources compliance is constantly changing. Health-care reform. And companies really need help.”
The Central New York Titan office is about 240 square feet of leased space at the Thruway Office Building at 290 Elwood Davis Road. Meile is in the office every day, but he spends much of his time visiting prospective clients, he says.
Meile covers Central New York, the North Country, and the Southern Tier down to Binghamton. He will also travel east to Utica, although Titan’s other offices cover areas to the west of Central New York.
Titan specializes in serving companies with between 50 and 500 employees, according to Eric Gilbert, the company’s executive vice president of sales and practice leader. Companies of that size are greatly affected by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the federal health-care reform law, he says.
“Those are groups that are really struggling with several components of health-care reform,” he says.
Expanding into Central New York was a natural move for Titan, according to Gilbert. The firm already served some employer groups that straddled the area between Rochester and Syracuse, so the company was already familiar with both insurance markets, he says.
“We’re a solid Rochester player,” he says. “We have hundreds of clients in the greater Rochester and Monroe County area. But being just in Rochester isn’t a good way to support Central New York. To manage them from afar isn’t a strategy that we want to employ.”
Titan will not be adding any more offices in the near future, according to Gilbert. It will keep the same footprint for at least the next two years, he says.
“I would rather spend time in Central New York growing our presence than strain it by further expanding,” he says.
Titan has generated “double-digit” revenue growth each year since its founding and expects projects to grow at the same rate for the next three years, according to Gilbert. He declined to share specific revenue totals.
In addition to acting as a broker and managing employee-benefit plans, health-care packages, and business insurance, Titan often takes on a consultant role when working with a client company, Gilbert says.
Top interns like variety, Robert Half manager says
Companies looking to attract summer interns might want to work on job descriptions with a little spice of life — variety. “The variety of the internship is usually what attracts the best talent from the student side,” says Robert Nealon, metro market manager for Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE: RHI). “The big thing for any
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Companies looking to attract summer interns might want to work on job descriptions with a little spice of life — variety.
“The variety of the internship is usually what attracts the best talent from the student side,” says Robert Nealon, metro market manager for Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE: RHI). “The big thing for any student looking for internships is, your goal is to do as much work as possible.”
Nealon, who is based in Robert Half’s office in Braintree, Mass., oversees the company’s Syracuse office at 500 Plum St. Robert Half is a specialized staffing firm based in Menlo Park, Calif.
In addition to using variety to attract top-quality interns, Nealon recommends finding a unique role that an intern can fill. That role will vary depending on the type of business, but it shouldn’t be something simple like making copies or coffee.
“A lot of interns really look for some type of opportunity that has something unique,” Nealon says. “The ability to do something that’s not standard or cookie-cutter across the industry is the number-one thing we hear from students.”
There will be more competition for top-level interns this year as the job market improves, according to the results of a survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). The 2012 Internship & Co-op Survey by NACE found that employers plan to increase internship hires by 8.5 percent over last year.
NACE conducted the survey from Nov. 11, 2011, to Jan. 13, 2012. The organization sent surveys to 952 of its employer members and received responses from 280 organizations.
The survey results showing increased interest in intern hiring aren’t surprising, according to Nealon. Many of Robert Half’s clients are returning their staffing levels to normal after employment cratered during the recession, he says. And when staffing levels go up, so does interest in interns, he adds.
“Intern use is really a big driver for clients to do a lot of projects,” he says. “Most of it is supplemental to help the staff with different projects.”
Many firms are trying to attract students to internships by offering pay, according to Nealon. He pointed to the NASE survey, which found that 99.6 percent of internships are paid.
That is up from 2011, when 97.1 percent of internships were paid, according to the survey. And this year, just 4.2 percent of survey respondents said unpaid positions are at least part of their internship hires, down from 7.1 percent last year.
“The number-one thing [for students] certainly isn’t the compensation side of it, but it’s an extra benefit,” Nealon says. “Not only does a paid internship give you the experience, but it gives you some help with some of the costs associated with commuting to the internship.”
Nealon recommends embracing interns as part of the company once they are on board. Interns value being involved in meetings and seeing how their work fits into a business, he says.
Keeping interns satisfied can pay off for a company, Nealon says. Students often look to turn their internships into permanent work with employers, and businesses can benefit from the chance to hire a former intern, he says.
“It’s certainly a cost-effective way for employers to get a head start on the hiring process in general,” he says. “It’s a great way to get a sneak peak of somebody coming out of school, to get a look at their work ethic.”
EBRI: Workers’ retirement confidence remains low
American workers’ confidence that they will have enough money to retire comfortably is lagging while they remain concerned about jobs and the economy. Those are
Survey: Syracuse MSA has third-best Q2 employment outlook in U.S.
The Syracuse metropolitan statistical area (MSA) has the third-best employment outlook in the country for the second quarter of 2012, according to a recently released survey. A net 21 percent of employers in Syracuse plan to hire in the second quarter, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, which was released March 13. Manpower, a
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The Syracuse metropolitan statistical area (MSA) has the third-best employment outlook in the country for the second quarter of 2012, according to a recently released survey.
A net 21 percent of employers in Syracuse plan to hire in the second quarter, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, which was released March 13. Manpower, a division of the Milwaukee–based ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN), issues the survey quarterly.
Manpower calculates a region’s net employment outlook by subtracting the percentage of employers who anticipate slashing staff from the percentage who expect to increase hiring.
In Syracuse, 23 percent of employers plan to increase staff levels in the second quarter of 2012, while just 2 percent plan to decrease staffing, according to the survey. Another 71 percent of area employers predict their companies will maintain current employment levels, and the remaining 4 percent of survey respondents said they were unsure of their hiring plans.
“We’re seeing [employers] talk to us that maybe in the last two years, they’ve had projects that were on hold or they downsized,” says Tom Winner, regional director at Manpower, which provides a range of temporary and permanent staffing services. “Now people are saying, ‘Call us, we’re ready to talk to you.’”
Winner, who is based in Vestal, directs a Manpower region that stretches from northern Pennsylvania through Vermont. The region includes Central New York and a Syracuse office in Suite 125 at 2 Clinton Square.
Strong employment sectors in Syracuse include health care, business and professional services like call centers, and the manufacturing of durable goods, Winner says. The region has received a boost from strong economic-development organizations, he adds.
“We’ve been involved with CenterState CEO,” he says. “I think they’re doing an excellent job advocating economic development.”
Other Syracuse employment sectors that the survey indicated have strong job prospects are construction, transportation and utilities, wholesale and retail trade, information, education and health services, and leisure and hospitality.
Not all fields have improving hiring prospects. The survey indicates hiring in manufacturing of non-durable goods, financial activities, and government will likely be unchanged in the second quarter in Syracuse.
Syracuse’s second-quarter survey results are stronger than those from the first quarter of this year or the second quarter of 2011.
In the first quarter of 2012, a net 7 percent of employers reported plans to boost hiring — 13 percent of firms planned to increase staff levels, 6 percent planned cuts, 73 percent expected to maintain current levels, and 8 percent did not know what they would do.
In 2011’s second quarter, the net employment outlook notched 10 percent. That’s because 16 percent of employers expected to increase staff levels, 6 percent planned to decrease staffing, 76 percent expected staff levels to remain the same, and 2 percent were uncertain about their plans.
Syracuse’s employment outlook in the 2012 second-quarter survey trailed only two MSAs that were tied for first place — the Greenville-Mauldin-Easley MSA in South Carolina and the Knoxville MSA in Tennessee.
The net employment outlooks in those areas registered 24 percent. Among Greenville-Mauldin-Easley survey respondents, 26 percent of employers anticipated increasing staff levels. Only 2 percent planned to decrease their number of employees, and 67 percent expected to maintain their current staffing levels. The other 5 percent said they did not know their plans.
In Knoxville, 25 percent of employers planned staff increases, 1 percent expected cuts, and 73 percent planned to maintain their current employment levels. The final 1 percent said they did not know what they will do.
Businesses are more optimistic about hiring across the country, Winner says. Nationwide, a seasonally adjusted net 10 percent of employers plan to hire in the second quarter of 2012. That’s up from 9 percent during the first quarter of 2012 and higher than the second quarter of 2011, when the net employment outlook was 8 percent.
Nationally, 18 percent of employers indicated they plan to increase staff levels in the second quarter, and 6 percent expected to cut their payrolls. That yields a non-seasonally adjusted net 12 percent of employers planning to hire. Once seasonal adjustments are applied, a net 10 percent of employers plan to hire, according to Manpower.
Among remaining survey respondents, 72 percent expected no change in hiring plans and 4 percent were undecided.
“I think people have a more positive outlook, and they’re making some investments that they didn’t make six months or a year ago,” Winner says. “A lot of things have to do with attitude.”
The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey includes a sample of more than 18,000 employers in the top 100 MSAs in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. So, the Binghamton and Utica–Rome MSAs were not included. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.61 percent at a confidence index of
90 percent.
Motivating Employees: Three Tactics to Get Desired Results
The most important asset contributing to a company’s productivity is the energy and efficacy of its employees. More than financial figures or public-image potency, employee productivity is crucial. The importance of keeping your workers focused and dedicated can’t be emphasized enough — so how are you, as an employer, able to motivate your employees? The
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The most important asset contributing to a company’s productivity is the energy and efficacy of its employees. More than financial figures or public-image potency, employee productivity is crucial. The importance of keeping your workers focused and dedicated can’t be emphasized enough — so how are you, as an employer, able to motivate your employees? The key element to remember is the idea that happy employees are motivated employees. You don’t need to throw money at people to motivate them; in fact, there are far more powerful inducements in the workplace.
Recognize and utilize individual strengths
Pay attention to your employees’ work, and note the areas where individuals tend to shine. Perhaps you have a writer on your team, or a creative thinker, or an organizer. Note the specific areas where people stand out, and put those skills to good use with individual assignments. Your employees will know that you have paid attention to their work and feel encouraged to take pride in that recognized work. Targeting their individual skill sets tends to increase their satisfaction in the work they’re doing — and from your standpoint, it’s just good business sense to maximize the “resources” you identify among your team members.
Natural leadership is one of the assets you should assess among your employees; do you have a worker who tends to rally the team, keep meetings or projects on track, or focus problem solving in the group? All too often, people who display leadership skills are promoted out of the jobs where they shone and into “management” positions. Consider, instead, how you could harness a natural leader’s talents without removing that individual from the job in which they perform so well. A “peer leader” (as opposed to a manager”) can strengthen a team from within rather than from above.
Positive interpersonal interactions
Never underestimate the power of a smile, a personable conversation, or a sincere compliment. People who feel valued and appreciated, and who know that their good work doesn’t go unnoticed, will continue to take pride in their work and do it well. Pleasant behavior can “go viral,” spreading through an office or work environment; a person who has just been complimented may walk away smiling and say something pleasant to another person. Be aware that negativity can go viral just as easily, and have devastating effects on workers’ morale.
Compliments on an employee’s work should be specific and individual. A blanket statement such as, “Good job, everyone,” does not tell individuals that their contribution has been noted or appreciated. Additionally, if someone in the group has not contributed significantly, such a sweeping statement can actually foster resentment among those who did work hard on a project, and see the non-contributor equally recognized. Generally speaking, workers are more likely to remain devoted to a job — even with lower pay — where they feel valued rather than in an environment where they feel their work isn’t appreciated, even with higher pay.
Foster a sense of pride and ownership in employees
When your employees become personally invested in a project or product, they will be more motivated to give it their best effort. Share goals and outcomes with your team members — let them see the “big picture” and the results of their work. When you make the work meaningful to them, they’ll be more satisfied doing it.
Consider also the possibility of allowing some latitude in the execution of a project. Presumably, you have hired people who really know what they’re doing, and you may be surprised by the creative ideas they bring to the table. Set up the parameters for a project, clearly communicate your expectations regarding the outcome, and let your team members contribute their own ideas about how that might be achieved. Once again, if they’re personally invested in the process — as well as the outcome — that sense of ownership on their part will benefit you and your company.
Steven R. Brown is the CEO of Johnston, Iowa–based Quality Communication Solutions. This article was provided by and is reprinted with the permission of Liverpool–based Contemporary Personnel Staffing, Inc.
Why Owners Decide to Exit Their Business
Are you between the age of 45 and 55? Have you owned your business for 15 to 30 years? Is your personal net worth tied to the value of the business as a going concern? Does your company enjoy a strong reputation in your industry and in your community? Have you received inquiries from buyers?
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Are you between the age of 45 and 55? Have you owned your business for 15 to 30 years? Is your personal net worth tied to the value of the business as a going concern? Does your company enjoy a strong reputation in your industry and in your community? Have you received inquiries from buyers? Have you investigated the exit-planning process and all that it entails?
The answers to those questions will help you to build your “seller profile.” They answer “the who” part of the equation. But it is more important to know “the why” of deciding to exit your business. In an earlier article, I talked about “the how” fact that there are 34 ways to exit your business. For practical purposes however, we can reduce that number to just a few — sell, give, liquidate. But now, let’s take a look at why owners tell us they want to exit their business.
When we reach a certain point in our business and personal lives, we may start to feel that our energy bucket has a little leak in it. Vince Lombardi said that, “fatigue makes cowards of us all.” I think he probably meant that when we get tired we don’t want to take as many chances or that our risk tolerance is at low ebb. Fatigue can rob us of the willingness to take on new competition, or fight through another economic down cycle. It doesn’t mean that all we want to do is sit around or take naps. Quite the opposite, in fact. We probably are looking to re-direct our activities from the business to our avocations or maybe even to a new business.
We hear from owners that it may be time to take some chips off the table. We have a mantra in our firm that you must be financially independent of your business or striving to get there. It’s a lot easier to roll the dice with the economy or new competition or needed credit for growth when you are secure in the fact that you can retire when and how you want. Many times, the owners who want to take some chips off the table are less than financially prepared and are hedging their bets. This is an important situation — maybe the most important — to solve.
What if it’s time to take the company to the next level but the debt or equity that is required is just too much? Many times that comes coupled with a management team that may have grown stale or feels frustrated that we, as owners, will not pull the trigger. Either way, it is a strong reason why owners want to exit their business. If family is involved in the business, and hasn’t the skill or desire to grow the business, may also dictate your exit plans.
How about spousal pressure? How many times have you heard recently that your spouse is asking you to take more time, be more relaxed, and enjoy the fruits of your labor a little more? It is a powerful influence. The best answer for this “why” is that you have a well-drawn plan with the right people in the right seats on the bus and your financial house in order. This pressure may go along with health issues or other family issues. In any event, it is a strong reason owners give us for why they wish to exit their business.
The single best way to handle all the above “whys” is to have an exit plan. A plan that will include all of your personal and business goals, an awareness of your company’s worth, a knowledge of all of your exit scenarios, and methods of protecting your wealth.
Bruce Grieshaber is a certified business exit consultant and senior consultant at Grenell Consulting Group, specializing solely on exit planning. Contact him at bruce@grenell.com
Sure, the Supreme Court’s decision is important. But there’s more to it than that. Obviously, the high court’s decision on Obamacare will be monumental. That’s because it deals with two clearly defined foes, pitted against each other. One believes the Constitution tells us what government can and cannot do to us. The other believes that
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Sure, the Supreme Court’s decision is important. But there’s more to it than that.
Obviously, the high court’s decision on Obamacare will be monumental. That’s because it deals with two clearly defined foes, pitted against each other. One believes the Constitution tells us what government can and cannot do to us. The other believes that concept is old-fashioned. We might call them the “play-it-by-ear crowd.”
But there is an equally monumental issue at play beyond the court — a clear majority of Americans do not want Obamacare. They have not wanted it from the start. The more the president pitched it, the less they wanted it. They remembered that the more their moms pitched spinach, the more they hated it.
Now, politicians sometimes shove new laws down our throats. Laws a majority doesn’t want. But these normally deal with small aspects of our lives, economy, and society. Obamacare deals with a huge chunk of our economy. It affects every one of us. And since a majority of us does not want it, our elite lawmakers ought to listen.
The reason that folks reject the Obamacare plan is clear — many believe it is wrong for government to force us to buy something. In this case, health insurance.
Many believe we have enough government already. The plan adds hundreds of new bureaucracies to the jungle in Washington. It adds many thousands of new bureaucrats. That includes 4,000 new IRS agents to chase down the fees and taxes. Just what we need, eh? Anyone who looks at an organizational chart of these bureaucracies and how they connect must believe the chart is a joke. It would confuse even Rube Goldberg.
Many dislike the lies and sloppiness. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the president promised the plan would cost an extra $900 billion. Now they say it will cost twice that. And the CBO always, always under-estimates costs. Medicaid cost 10 times what the CBO promised. Folks don’t like that deceit.
The president solemnly promised insurance premiums would go down. They have gone up — a lot. He promised no one would lose health insurance from an employer. Now government reckons at least 3 million people will lose their insurance. For starters. Folks don’t like stuff like this.
To lots of folks, Obamacare is like a house built by a guy who only knows how to build with steel. The powder room is stainless. The bathrooms, too. The floors as well. Because this guy knows only steel. The guys who designed Obamacare know only government. You ask them to solve a problem and their only material is government.
In other words, we could do better. Sure, we can improve health care in this country. But we can do so without armies of new bureaucrats. We can do so without increasing government’s powers and without allowing government to gorge on more of our economy.
How can we do this? Let us have government lay down some rules. Some standards. Some requirements. Then let individuals and businesses and hospitals and doctors operate within those rules. In this way, government fulfills its responsibilities. It protects its citizens — by laying down rules that accomplish this.
If this sounds naïve to you, consider the IRA industry. And the 401(k) and 403(b) industries. One hundred million workers. Trillions of dollars. All the players perform within guidelines from government. Guidelines that protect workers’ money. There is no big IRA or 401(k) department in Washington. There is no army of bureaucrats spewing out mountains of regulations.
We could do the same with health care.
Why, then, did the president and Congress create the stainless-steel monstrosity they did? Virtually none of them have worked in the private sector. Virtually all are millionaires. Their government health-care plans are free or cheap — and comprehensive. Their pensions are so rich they would make you gag.
In short, they are a pack of elites. And they never bothered to climb down from their plateaus to ask us lowly peasants what we might want in health-care reforms.
Maybe if the Supremes kill this monstrosity, our leaders will go back to square one. And at square one, perhaps they might listen to a few voices from outside their beltway bubble.
They could do a lot worse than this. That is the problem. They already have.
From Tom…as in Morgan.
Tom Morgan writes about financial and other subjects from his home near Oneonta, in addition to his radio shows and new TV show. For more information about him, visit his website at www.tomasinmorgan.com
Fulton Cos. gets National Grid grant for expansion project
PULASKI — The Fulton Companies announced it has received a $221,000 capital-investment incentive grant from National Grid for infrastructure improvements to support the company’s 112,000-square-foot
Lockheed wins $1B contract for helicopter work
OWEGO – Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has a new five-year contract worth $1.05 billion to provide more than 200 digital cockpits and mission systems and
POMCO Group to administer benefits for health reform CO-OP
SYRACUSE — POMCO Group will be the benefit administrator for a new nonprofit health-insurance plan in New York that is being created under the 2010
Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.