ESCANABA — On Tuesday January 28 local businesses had an opportunity to come together and get presentations on several topics that can immediately help their business. The Employer’s Conference was sponsored by the Delta County Chamber of Commerce, the Delta County EDA, UP Michigan Works & the Radio Results Network. About 60 employers attended the event live at the Commerce Center, while another 20 businesses took advantage of the live stream of the event created by Two Mile Media & Grant Smith. Businesses that participated in the event were given copies of the presentations for their use. Presentation information will be available in the future through the Chamber.

The first presentation was by Maureen Rouse-Ayoub of Varnum Law. She provided a comprehensive overview of the new legislation that will go into effect on February 21, the new Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA). The requirements and regulations businesses must follow to be compliant with the new law were discussed as well as many parts of the law that are causing confusing for our business community. While the new act is set to go into effect shortly, legislators and business lobbying groups are still working diligently to have changes come to the law. Michigan Senator Ed McBroom stopped by the session to give the group the current view of progress with proposed changes and stressed to the group to voice their support for changes to the law any way they possibly can. While the new ESTA legislation is confusing, Maureen did a great job breaking out critical issues for our businesses to focus on during the implementation scheduled for the end of February. The group was also able to have a Q&A period to get further clarification on any topic.

Next on the agenda was Laura Katers Reilly of the Law Firm Kendricks Bordeau. She focused on employer/employee relationships, everything from setting expectations, providing employee feedback, the proper to deliver corrective action and finally how to properly terminate an employee. All of the discussion was based on Laura’s insight from defending employers during ligation cases with former employees. She stressed straight forward communication, documentation of employee meetings, consistency in employee performance feedback and the creation of a good process to track performance. Laura identified common mistakes that employers make that leave them open to the risk of litigation and financial loss. Her presentation was valuable feedback for our businesses.

The group had a great lunch prepared by Matt Wiles Catering. The next session was lead by Jeff Ketchum of Lordstone Business Advisors. Jeff’s message to the team was the important aspect recruiting the right employee has on both the business and the employees long-term success and relationship. He shared ideas with the group on how to effectively advertise jobs to make sure they have a great selection of prospects to review. His message was spending more time upfront on the hiring process will allow the business to spend less time correcting performance, having mistakes and frustration by both parties. Creating a positive employment culture will mitigate some of the risks associated upset or terminated employees.

The last session of the day was from Mary Feuerbach and Kristi Kulas of M3 Insurance. Their message was to let our businesses know that they can do everything correctly and still be at risk of litigation with former and current employees. Kristi lead the group through a product line of policies to help minimize the risk litigation can cause to a business. She reviewed a few really life situations that businesses have had to go through and what were the outcomes. She also gave the businesses ideas to make sure they get the best coverage for their investment. They described many types of coverage employers are looking for in todays environment. They were able to answer the groups questions on coverage that is somewhat new to the market place.

While the day had a lot of conversation and detail to think about, our participants were very positive about the sessions. The Chamber made sure to let them know how much their feedback is valued and asked the businesses to share other topics that they would like to see in a session in the future. It was very apparent that many of the businesses that attend have similar concerns and questions.

It was wonderful to be able to bring the subject matter experts to help our local businesses navigate the current business challenges. The session truly identified the value added relationship between our local businesses & the Delta County Chamber of Commerce partners!

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Ed Legault is executie director of the Delta County Economic Development Alliance