|
HOW ARE WE DOING?
  
- Bright Spots
- Economic Dashboard
- 5 Services You Should Use This Month
- National Chamber Challenges Overtime Rules
- Development Leader Speaking at Workforce Event
- Reducing Workers Comp Costs
- Simple Scorecard to Rate Your Operations
- Credit Card Changes Coming
- Recommended Reading
- Calendar of Events
BRIGHT SPOTS ECONOMIC DASHBOARD The latest Economic Dashboard for Muskingum County has been published to the Chamber website. The dash board is provided in partnership with the Muskingum County Library System. It provides a snapshot of the state of the local economy by measuring unemployment rate, home sales, auto sales and a handful of other indicators. 5 MEMBER SERVICES YOU SHOULD USE THIS MONTH - Wage & Benefit Survey - We are kicking off the 2015 Muskingum County Wage and Benefit Survey this week. All chamber member businesses are invited to participate, and we urge you or a member of your staff to complete the survey online anytime between now and October 1st. The information we gather from this survey is vital to our ongoing economic development efforts and will help local employers in their planning and budgeting. The survey link can also be found on the homepage of www.zmchamber.com. All of your information will be kept strictly confidential and will not be made available to anyone except as anonymous and cumulative results.
- Marketing Solutions Center - Visit the Chamber's online Marketing Solutions Center for ideas on how you can use chamber services to promote your products, highlight your accomplishments, publicize your events, and more. This web based guide suggests one or more of our services based on what you are trying to accomplish.
- SizeUp LBI -Area businesses now have access to a great new service that enables them to look up information about the local marketplace. SizeUp LBI (which stands for Local Business Intelligence), is a free online resource for demographics and business data that can help you make business plans and better understand how you measure up to competition, where you customers are, and how you should be marketing to them. The new SizeUp service is brought to you by the Chamber's Muskingum Growth Partnership.
- Muskingum County Job Fair - A job fair for Muskingum County employers who are actively hiring will be held on Thursday, October 1 from 2 pm to 6 pm at the Muskingum County Welcome Center. There is no cost for employers (Muskingum County only) to participate but you must reserve a space in advance. For more information and to reserve your space contact tpoorman@zmchamber.com. The Job Fair is presented by WHIZ Media Group, WYBZ 107.3, the Port Authority, OhioMeansJobs-Muskingum County, the Muskingum Valley Human Resource Management Association, and the Chamber.
- SBC - The Student Business Connector (SBC) is a new tool we are creating for use by students, parents and educators who are seeking work-based learning opportunities for high school and college age students. It will also be a way for employers to help educate the community's young people about the real world of work and the expectations of employers. This in turn improves the preparedness of the local workforce over the long term, retains young people in the area, and helps students identify rewarding career paths. WE NEED YOUR HELP! We need you, as an employer, to participate in a survey we are now conducting to gather information about what opportunities you offer for students to engage with your businesses. Please tell us if you offer internships, jobs, job shadowing, tours, presentations and more. This is the information we need to build the Student-Business Connector tool, which will be designed in simple directory format (see the employers who have signed up so far at www.zmchamber.com/student-business-connector.html ).
NATIONAL CHAMBER CHALLENGES OVERTIME RULES The proposed changes to overtime regulations, promulgated by the U.S. Department of Labor, are being challenged by the United States Chamber of Commerce and other business groups. (Note: The local chamber is not a branch or chapter of the U.S. Chamber but we frequently draw on them for information on federal issues such as this.) "The proposed changes increase the salary threshold by 113%, to $50,440, larger than any previous increase. Employees paid less than this amount automatically qualify for overtime. Only individuals earning over this amount are subject to a duties test that creates "white collar" exemptions for executive, administrative, professional, or computer duties. DOL also proposed to increase this threshold annually, another very troubling provision." Read more on this issue from the US Chamber. DEVELOPMENT LEADER SPEAKING AT WORKFORCE EVENT John Molinaro, President, CEO of the Appalachian Partnership for Economic Growth (APEG), will be speaking at the meeting of the P-20 Council for our region on September 18, at 10 am in Cambridge. He will be talking about how manufacturing has changed in SE Ohio, about workforce development, and about the needs of employers and the tie to education. The meeting as a whole runs from 9 am to 1 pm. Register and find more details at http://new.aop20.org/registration. REDUCING WORKERS' COMP COSTS The Ohio Chamber of Commerce offers free webinars on topics related to managing your human resources. A webinar on "Proactive Approaches to Reducing Workers' Compensation Costs" is coming up on September 23. Visit the Ohio Chamber's site for more information or to register. SIMPLE SCORECARD TO RATE YOUR OPERATIONS "Simple scorecards not only give you meaningful feedback, but more importantly, they automatically focus your attention on those fewer, better things that make a difference in your business." Read more from Inc.com. CREDIT CARD CHANGES COMING Inc. Magazine recently published a good article about changes that are coming to credit cards and your ability to process them. "An important deadline is nearly here for all retailers who accept credit cards in their bricks-and-mortar stores. By October 1, you'll be expected to have upgraded your card terminals to accept so-called EMV cards--short for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa. These are the most advanced generation of credit cards, equipped with small microprocessors that secure point-of-sale transactions by encrypting the personal information of the cardholder." Read more. RECOMMENDED READING
You can also add your own event by clicking the submit event button at zmchamber.com.
Goss Supply & Rental
Longaberger Country Club
Norvell Hearing Aid Center
Partyland Supply Co.
|
