One highlight from the interview was the following response to this question:

How do you handle the challenges of providing your employees with a living wage and appropriate benefits?

“It is about our responsibility to educate clients and temporary staff of what a responsible prevailing wage should be for their corresponding job. It is our job to try and always pay our workforce a wage that their skills and efforts rightly deserve.

Most of the time, pay rates for our temporary staff are determined by client companies — this is where education is key. The staffing industry is the front line of thousands of jobs in our community, and thus we know and understand thresholds, trends and the pulse of prevailing pay rates.

Benefits are still a struggle for many of our temporary employees, even with the Affordable Care Act. Millenium offers health care options for our employees, but we find that too many are still not choosing to invest in health care, even with the options we provide. I continuously hope and strive for improvement in this arena.”

DeHaven also had a lot to say about the effects an increased minimum wage could have on employment strategy and the bottom line for Nevada employers. Read the full article here.

Millenium Staffing Solutions is a Las Vegas staffing agency. Since opening in 2002, it has grown to include 5 areas of staffing expertise: Administrative/Customer Service, Conventions, Hospitality & Events, Industrial/Skilled Trades, Security Solutions, and Professional Services/Executive Search. Millenium Staffing Solutions is honored to be awarded the 2016 NV SBA Woman Owned Business of the Year.

The post Q & A with Jennifer DeHaven: minimum wage and Vegas economy appeared first on Millenium Staffing Solutions.

Democrat candidate, Clinton, is in favor of keeping the overtime pay rule, established by President Obama, which assures that exempt workers earning less than $47.5k annually, should be re-classified as non-exempt and paid overtime. Giving workers fair pay for hard-worked long hours is the main focus of the overtime rule.

Republican candidate, Trump, opposes the overtime rule, which potentially puts small business owners in the difficult position of deciding whether to raise the pay of salaried managers or struggling to pay them overtime.

The outcome of this issue will have a stronger impact on cities where the cost of living is low versus cities where the salaries are already much higher.

Here are some other issues small business owners will face in relation to adopting the overtime rule:

• Whether raising salaries to meet the exempt point or biting the bullet to pay overtime, the small business owner will undoubtedly need to cut out some positions or replace seasoned workers with less experienced ones that will accept a lower wage.
• Newly re-classified nonexempt managers stand to lose many of the perks, benefits, bonus or promotion opportunities they enjoyed as salaried workers, not to mention the flexibility of their work schedule, when required to work by the clock.
• It’s note-worthy to mention that small business owners may also incur costs associated with compliance issues with regard to accurately tracking the additional hours worked by the re-classified non-exempt managers.
• Inter-office morale may be affected by the perception that a raise in pay for reclassified managers should imply a raise in pay across the board for all staff. The overtime rule does not allow for all possible scenarios in various industries and economies.

Meanwhile, the general tone of the Democratic Party is empathetic to under-paid salaried workers. Those in favor of the overtime rule, and hoping for raised income levels, are quick to respond with these points:

• The overtime rule has no effect on schedule flexibility because workers earning more than $50k generally have more flexible workdays anyway, compared to those that earn less.
• Overtime rule, once it’s in place, will positively affect office morale because as reclassified non-exempt workers earning overtime pay, they will be happier not working unpaid hours.
• There’s no reason to believe that bonus and promotion opportunities will be withheld from re-classified managers seeking to move up in the company hierarchy.
• Major point to consider is that the salary threshold is badly in need of updating. When making a theoretical comparison to its 1975 peak level, with inflation counted in, to date, the average person earning $50k would easily be at $64k annual salary.

According to Lisa Horn, SHRM Director of Congressional Affairs, while an increase of the salary threshold is warranted, the overtime rule is just too extreme, seriously affecting both employers and employees.

The post Election Results Affects Small Business appeared first on Millenium Staffing Solutions.

1. Be involved in the process. When trying to develop a successful PR strategy, it is important to be present during the critical stages of development. Being involved in the early stages can help ensure that the framework for your PR strategy reflects your company as a strong industry leader. This will help the company receive good publicity. In addition, ensure that you review the template your marketing executive designs to help your company get the right attention.
2. Let your voice be heard. It is crucial to establish yourself as an authority in the industry, and let your presence be known. Your strategy should be designed so that any media attention becomes an opportunity for the CEO to demonstrate their professional expertise. To do so, design campaigns that allow the top executives of the company to be the first point of discussion.
3. Create your media. Owned media, such as your company blog, can be a powerful asset by driving an effective PR campaign. This can help create more awareness about your internal operations. Media representatives can rely on your company’s website, or other media, to better understand what your company is all about. Particularly with startup companies, owned media is critical in directing the focus of their audience.
4. Involve experienced professionals. Getting the attention of the media in the early stages can often be tough. However, hiring a PR agency can give you the head start that you need. Letting an experienced professional PR company handle your PR will take a lot of weight off your shoulders. Once your company has more media presence, you may be able to switch to an in-house team.

The post 4 Ways CEOs Can Create an Effective PR Strategy appeared first on Millenium Staffing Solutions.

1. Redefine work. Diverse candidates have a wide variety of skills and experiences. It is important to discard traditional job descriptions and replace them with performance-based job descriptions. This description should define the job as a series of major and minor performance objectives.
2. Shift to a performance-qualified attraction process. When trying to attract diverse candidates, it is important to advertise what the person will be doing in the job and the impact the job has on the company and customers. This will give potential candidates a better understanding of the job, rather than a list of requirements.
3. Implement narrow casting. If the job is a true career move you only need a few strong people at the top of the funnel to hire one great candidate. By implementing social media and other marketing campaigns, it is relatively simple to engage in conversations with each candidate.
4. Expand your diversity referral programs. Effective passive candidate recruiting efforts consist of direct sourcing and proactive referral programs. Before looking for job seekers, think of people you know that would succeed doing the job you want filled. It is important to consider these individuals and if they would be wiling to consider a career move.
5. Sell the discussion, not the job. Great people are more than willing to explore the opportunity of a career move with a credible recruiter or hiring manager. Going slow is the number one rule for passive candidate recruiting.

A great way to be successful in hiring diverse candidates is the ability to depart from the existing hiring processes. Learn more about how Millenium can help with your hiring process.

The post 5 Ways to Hire for Diversity appeared first on Millenium Staffing Solutions.

1. Focus on your social talent brand. A company’s talent brand is how they are perceived on the social web. This includes the mission, vision, and corporate culture of the organization. Talent brand is a significant and vastly under appreciated way to reduce a business’ cost to hire and its ability to attract clients. It is essential to ensure your company’s image, in words, photos and videos, is consistent across all social media platforms.
2. Enable your employees to evangelize. One of the most effective ways to attract candidates is to have employees spreading the word that the company is a great place to work. Encourage and empower your employees to Tweet and post on other social media platforms about their work and office culture. Appropriate photos are a great way to catch the attention of potential employees.  According to a 2014 survey from Monster, 65 percent of respondents would consider an opportunity for a new job if they learned about it from a personal connection.
3. Cultivate positive exposure. It is key for your company to be celebrating itself by putting out a variety of written and visual content. These can include photos of events, everyday happenings at the office, corporate blog posts, and posts with relevant hashtags. Include updates on what is happening in your industry and in your company, especially job openings. Consistency is key to keeping an engaged audience and attracting quality candidates.

The post 3 Ways to Be Constantly Recruiting Through Social Media appeared first on Millenium Staffing Solutions.

1. Lawyer up on data collection. Collecting data to show that a problem exists or to break through denial at your company is sometimes necessary. However, if the data is not collected under attorney-client privilege, it will likely be discoverable and your good-faith efforts could be used against you. Give careful and thoughtful consideration to how you work with your employer’s lawyer to maximize the likelihood that the privilege will apply to every circumstance.
2. Analyze positions qualitatively. Once you have documented pay gaps, never assume that they are all attributable to gender. There are often legitimate business reasons for wage differences. While quantitative data provides a starting point, it is essential to assess the relevant qualitative factors at play to determine if changes need to be made.
3. Allow negotiations. Many professionals feel that it is necessary to ban salary negotiations due to the theory that allowing such bargaining inherently benefits men. However, this idea only reinforces the stereotype that women aren’t capable negotiators and takes away an individual’s power to play a role in determining their own pay. How someone negotiates may be relevant to whether you hire him or her. It is better than a behavioral question. Instead, it creates a behavioral simulation.
4. Reconsider asking about salary history. When information about prior salary is asked, we may be unintentionally maintaining the gender gap created by previous employers. This sometimes ends up in a material increase to compensation but could still be less than the candidate deserves. Consider eliminating the salary history question from your applicants.
5. Train your leaders. A woman should not have to choose between being well-liked or well-paid, so educate your leaders about the unconscious biases that can come into play in cases where women negotiate no differently from men. Once people are made aware of their own prejudice, they are less likely to unconsciously engage in it. Simply training leaders to be aware of their own can have a great impact on closing the gender gap.

The post 5 Tips on Closing the Gender Gap appeared first on Millenium Staffing Solutions.

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1. Assess your employees’ work values. Before considering hiring a new employee, it is key to assess the candidate’s personality to identify workplace values. This will help you gain a better understanding of what you need to do as a manager for this specific candidate. Another idea is to ask them to identify their top characteristics or values they would like to see implemented at work. This will allow you to get to know your employees better, and also mold the workplace into a more comfortable environment.
2. Assign a mentor to new hires. Assigning a mentor to new hires is a great way to gain insight into what employees need from you that they might not feel comfortable approaching upper management with when they are first hired. A mentor allows a new employee to experience different roles and responsibilities. By doing so, the new employee will better  be able to discover which department they are most successful in. A mentor can evaluate an employee and give employees placement suggestions that will be beneficial to the employee and the company.
3. Recognize a job well done. It is far easier to blanket every employee with a thank you, rather than specifically thanking and recognizing those who genuinely deserve praise. Recognition is a powerful motivator to employees, but only if used wisely. Praise to employees who are undeserving can frustrate high performers and reinforce low performance. It is critical to pay attention to those that are deserving of praise, and offer it genuinely.

The post 3 Things Managers Can Do to Increase Employee Engagement appeared first on Millenium Staffing Solutions.

Yesterday the 2016 Nevada Small Business Awards were held at the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino. Jennifer DeHaven, President of Millenium Staffing Solutions was awarded the Woman Owned Business of the Year. Jennifer said, “This is truly an honor. We could have never received this award without the wonderful clients who believed in us from the beginning and who still trust us with their business today.”

Millenium Staffing is privileged to associate with the other companies who were awarded yesterday. Each small business has worked hard to earn the trust and support on the Las Vegas community. Despite being small businesses, these companies have a lot to offer. Next time you need a service, be sure to give these small businesses a call! Congratulations again to all the awardees:

Small Business Person of the Year: Bradley Burdsall, Owner, The Egg Works and Egg & I, Las Vegas
Minority Owned Business of the Year: Enrique Villar-Mendez, President, Radioactive Productions, Las Vegas
Women Owned Business of the Year: Jennifer DeHaven, President and CEO, Millenium Staffing Solutions, Las Vegas
Family Owned Business of the Year: Robert and Danielle Quirk, Owners, Lincoln Heating and Air, Sparks
Veteran Owned Business of the Year: Robert Daniel, President, Pridestaff, Las Vegas
Rural Business of the Year: Rick and Ann Lattin, Owners, Lattin Farms, Fallon
Microenterprise Business of the Year: Jarrod Mesloh, Owner, Nevada Tannery, Fallon
Entrepreneurial Spirit Award: David Croasdell, Hopping Professor of Entrepreneurship, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno
Young Entrepreneur of the Year: Randi Hecht, Owner, Intellitext, Reno
8(a) Graduate of the Year: Brian Howard, President, DS3Tek, Las Vegas
Women’s Business Advocate of the Year: Leanna Jenkins, Director, Nevada Women’s Business Center, Las Vegas

Small Business Advocate Lifetime Achievement Award: Bob Cushman, SCORE Counselor, SCORE, Las Vegas

A huge thank you to the sponsors of this event, Vegas PBS and the Small Business Administration for their support and efforts with this process!

Millenium Staffing Solutions is a Las Vegas staffing agency. Since opening in 2002, it has grown to include 5 areas of staffing expertise: Administrative/Customer Service, Conventions, Hospitality & Events, Industrial/Skilled Trades, Security Solutions, and Professional Services/Executive Search.

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1. Understand what employee loyalty means. Employee loyalty is an umbrella term for emotions that make employees feel attached to their current employer and are less likely to search for other opportunities elsewhere. When striving to increase employee loyalty, it is key to increase the positive emotions and decrease the negative emotions that employees feel while apart of the organization.
2. Offer competitive and fair compensation. A large aspect of employee loyalty is compensation. Employees expect to be paid as much as they could earn doing the same job somewhere else. If they do no receive this amount they will feel de-valued and are far more likely to search for employment elsewhere. Employees also expect to be paid as much as their peers who are doing the same work. A simple way to establish competitive fairness is to publish everyone’s compensation.
3. Hire more referrals. One easy way to ensure a connection between employees and the company is to create a referral bonus and have an employee referral program. This provides a way for employees to recommend their friends and results in a lower employee turnover rate.
4. Give employees more control. Employees who feel that they have more control and who are truly engaged in their work are more likely to remain loyal to their current company. Companies that have employees who are making decisions rather than simply following orders have a 31% lower turnover rate. 
5. Remove unnecessary uncertainty. Today’s workplace contains more uncertainties than in the past. This is often a result of the economic changes that constantly disrupt stable markets. In order to alleviate stress over these uncertainties, it is important to strive to make work more predictable. This can be done by simply keeping employees briefed as well as giving them advance warning when changes are approaching.

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