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Employees in Other States

by | Oct 4, 2023 | Employee Management | 0 comments

Employees in Other States

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

There is an increasing trend within the tree care industry for tree services to either be working in other states or hiring remote employees that live in a different state than where they are headquartered. Many times this offers a greater revenue potential or the ability to get the talent on their team that they need to be successful. In fact, for ArboRisk it’s both. We now have employees that live and work in three different states as our insurance agency’s home office. That has allowed us to expand our brand and secure top tier employees that would not have been an option if we were only looking within our home state. 

But with that opportunity, comes some employee management challenges as every state operates slightly different from each other. There are many different issues you as the business owner must address to do this correctly, from payroll tax and unemployment accounts, sales tax, workers compensation, contractual law and other employment laws, the list of to do’s can get lengthy right off the bat. Your insurance agent, accountant, and attorney should be the first three calls you make to determine what you will need to take care of. 

For this article, I am going to focus on the insurance issues with out of state work or employees. 

The first thing you must do is assess how much time your employees will be spending in each state. Are you looking to have a full time remote employee or crew? Does the employee live in the other state and commute across state lines to work out of your shop? Or is there a new project that you want to take on? Perhaps it’s storm work where locations will be changing frequently? The specifics of your situation could drastically change the requirements of what you need to do. I’ve broken it down into two scenarios; Regular Work/Permanent Location or Temporary Work/Location to help you determine what to consider.

 

Regular Work/Permanent Location
If you are planning on having regular work or employees permanently stationed in another state it is a little easier to comply with. Let’s look at each coverage line to see what you should be concerned with. 

Workers’ Compensation – Because each state handles Work Comp and has different laws with different benefit schedules, you need to make sure to add the other state to your Work Comp policy and assign an estimated payroll for each applicable Work Comp class code. This also applies if you have an employee living in another state, even if they only work in your state. You want to make sure there is coverage for any state that the employee could file for benefits under. If you happen to open a location up in North Dakota, Ohio, Washington or Wyoming, you’ll have to buy a Work Comp policy from that particular state directly. 

General Liability – As long as you are working within the United States, Puerto Rico, US Territories and Canada, your General Liability will cover you. That said, you should report all new locations to your General Liability policy as some insurance companies are not licensed to do business in all states. This means they are not equipped to handle claims that pop up in those states and if they learn of regular operations happening in a state they are not licensed in, they will issue a non-renewal as soon as they can. Like we’ve discussed in many other business tips, it’s much better to build a relationship with your insurance company and be open about the states you are working in than to try to sneak it past them. 

Property & Inland Marine – Your Property policy only covers you at listed locations, so if you have a building or a leased location in another state, add that location to your insurance policy. Inland Marine coverage acts like the General Liability and covers your equipment wherever you go as long as you are in the coverage territory.  

Business Auto – If your vehicles are registered or garaged in a different state than your company’s headquarters, you’ll need to make sure your insurance company knows that as you may be subject to different motor vehicle laws in the other state and need to have different insurance coverages on your policy. 

 

Temporary Work/Location

Workers’ Compensation – Each state has its own definition of what constitutes temporary work. For some states, like New York, the moment your employees step into the state to work you are subject to the Work Comp laws of their state, while in other states, you are allowed up to 90 consecutive days before their laws become your company’s responsibility. Check with your insurance agent to understand the particular Work Comp laws for the state(s) you will be temporarily working in. 

General Liability – The insurance guideline for temporary work when it relates to General Liability coverage is the same as regular work. Check with your insurance company to make sure they are able to provide the best claims service if you were to have a General Liability claim in another state. Have as many details about the temporary work as possible to give the insurance company the full picture of what you will be doing in the other state and why you want or need to take on this project. Again, by building a relationship with your insurance company, you will benefit much more long term than you would from hiding information from them. 

Property & Inland Marine – If your temporary work involves a written or verbal lease agreement to rent a building, storage shed, parking lot, etc., you want to list that location on the property policy immediately. If your equipment is stored temporarily out of state, again, this is a time for a conversation with your insurance company to make sure there won’t be any trouble with a future renewal policy by being open with them. In your conversation with the insurance company, explain as much about the temporary work as possible. 

Business Auto – When thinking about the temporary out of state exposure for your business vehicles, think about where you are ultimately physically working and garaging the vehicles during the length of the project. All insurance companies understand and accept the fact that you may be driving through various states on your way to a job, so there will not be a limitation of coverage, however, it is important to remember that each state may have different laws for motor vehicle accidents so you could be unintentionally exposing your company to a larger lawsuit if there is an accident. 

 

As you can see, working in a different state other than your home state can cause some potentially large insurance issues for your tree care company. The best way to ensure your company is properly protected is to talk with your insurance agent and gain the approval of your insurance company before you accept work in another state. Creating an open dialogue between you and your insurance company on your operations is the first step in avoiding a costly and stressful non-renewal situation. 


If you have any questions about out of state work, please contact an ArboRisk team member today.

Better Benefits = Better Employees

by | Sep 29, 2023 | Employee Management | 0 comments

Better Benefits = Better Employees

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

We often get asked about employee benefits and if there are any creative ways for tree care companies to offer benefits without breaking the bank. So for today’s business tip, I went straight to one of our referral partners, Jack Brees of RC Risk Advisors and had a great conversation that every tree care company should hear about!

Q: How do Voluntary Benefits help retain and recruit great employees? 

A: As a business owner in today’s retention and recruiting environment, having something that distinguishes you from the other employers can make it easier to recruit and retain employees.  If salary and job type are equal,  voluntary benefits are an area that separates your company from the rest and could make the choice that much easier for the job seeker. 

Q: What are the common Voluntary Benefit plans/programs that tree services purchase?

A: Voluntary benefits such as: Short Term Disability, Life Insurance, Accident plans, Hosptial Plans and Critical Illness plans help the employee navigate out of pocket expenses and are what is typically offered and accepted by tree service employees.  

Q: Do employees need to pay for Voluntary Benefits out of their own pocket?

A: Not any more! While being in the Voluntary business for the past 15 years, employees have typically paid for these benefits, however, RC Risk Advisors has built a partnership with a Wellness Company that implements a Wellness program that ultimately unlocks tax savings to the employee that are then earmarked for the purchase of voluntary benefits. As an added bonus, the business owner also will realize a sizable tax savings per employee annually.  

Q: Can you give an example of the estimated tax savings for a tree service with 9 employees? 

A: Take a business that has 9 employees, once this tax savings program is implemented the business will receive on average $150 a month in savings per employee to spend on voluntary benefits, ($1,800 a year). The business will also experience, on average, $500 of tax savings per employee annually. Add those numbers together and the total tax savings would be approximately $20,700 annually! In both cases, the employee and employer can choose to pay more taxes or use those monies to purchase voluntary benefits that could help their families with out-of-pocket expenses.  

If you have been thinking about bolstering your benefits or want to figure out a way to get creative with what you offer, please reach out to Jack and ask him about how voluntary benefits could fit in with your company!

Documenting Safety Efforts

by | Sep 22, 2023 | Safety | 0 comments

Documenting Safety Efforts

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

One of the common hangups that tree care companies have regarding safety is how to document their efforts. All too often, the owner feels paralyzed by what they think they need to document thereby preventing them from documenting anything. I want to simplify it so you can start documenting the safety and training efforts that you are probably already doing and set you on a path to be able to build a better safety and training program within your company. 

But first, why do you need to document safety and training efforts within your company? The answer is quite simple. You, as the owner of the tree care company, have a responsibility to create a safe work environment for your employees. 

Now creating a safe work environment for an arborist can be quite the challenge with new or multiple worksites each day, a tree care company has a lot less control over the work environment than a plastics manufacturer where all of their work is being done inside four walls. In fact, you will never be able to create a work environment that is completely void of all hazards, however, that is precisely why training your employees on a regular basis is really the only way that an employer can attempt to achieve that goal. Documenting the training that has been done is your way to prove that it happened. 

So, in my opinion, there are three types of crucial safety documents that every tree care company must have. I should mention that obviously, the more training and documentation you have, the better, however, if you are just starting out with documentation, focus on these three types:

1. Written Safety Program Signature Page – If you don’t have a written safety program (or Injury and Illness Prevention Program as it is called in some states), get one right away, either from your insurance agent, TCIA or any of the other online resources out there. This obviously establishes the safety protocols for your company. All written safety programs should have an acknowledgement or acceptance page that each employee signs to confirm that they were given the document and were trained on it. This is the number one document you must keep in each employee file from a safety and training perspective. 

2. Initial Training/Onboarding Documentation – Your written safety program should also include a list of training topics for a new hire. Often referred to as orientation or onboarding, this initial list of training topics guides the tree care company on what to train the new hires on. After each employee has gone through a training topic, have them and their supervisor sign a document to be kept in their employee file stating the following:

    1. When the training was done
    2. Name of the individual being trained
    3. Who the trainer was
    4. Topic of the training
    5. Where/how the training was performed (in-person, on the job, online, etc.)
    6. Any additional follow up training required?
    7. Signatures by employee and supervisor/trainer

3. Ongoing Training Sign-in Sheets – The third type of documentation that you should have within your tree care company would be proof of on-going training. This training can happen in a number of ways, but is done after the initial onboarding training. Examples of ongoing training would be, Tailgate Safety Meetings, All Company Safety Training Days, Specific training like Aerial Rescue or First Aid/CPR, etc. For each of these training events, make sure to have sign-in sheets that list the same information above for the Initial Training. These sign-in sheets are typically kept in a Company Training File as they will be focused on a group of people and not one specific individual. 

Again, the more documentation that you have from a safety and training perspective the better, however, if you have been unsure on what to document, start with these three types of documents. If you would like help developing a stronger safety culture within your company, reach out to a member of the ArboRisk team today to begin our Thrive Safety Package. We will work with you one-on-one to improve your safety culture no matter where it is today.

Safety Pays

by | Aug 30, 2023 | Safety | 0 comments

Safety Pays

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

One of our goals at ArboRisk is to help tree care companies embrace the idea that safety should be looked at as a profit center versus as an expense. The idea is quite simple in that the safety efforts that you embark upon ultimately lead to higher productivity and profitability for your entire team because you are not dealing with injuries and all of the costs associated with them. Because not everyone buys into a statement like that immediately, I want to highlight a fantastic resource that you can use to illustrate this point…OSHA’s “Safety Pays” website. 

OSHA’s Safety Pays website serves as an interactive tool that enables businesses to calculate the potential financial benefits of investing in workplace safety measures. It aims to showcase that by prioritizing safety, companies can not only protect their workers but also realize substantial economic advantages. The site is a testament to the fact that a safe workplace is a profitable one. 

The Safety Pays website offers several key features that make it a valuable resource for tree services of all sizes: 

Individual Injury Estimator – My favorite part of the website is a user-friendly interface (Individual Injury Estimator) that allows you to choose an injury type and enter your profit margin to determine how much that injury would cost your company both in direct and indirect costs. 

For example, if an employee at a tree service suffers a shoulder strain, the estimated cost of that injury will total over $67,000! 

In this example, I used a profit margin of 15%. If your profit margin is higher than that the financial impact to your company would be a little lower, however, if you’re running under that profit margin, the impact of this injury will be felt even more. The website calculated that the direct cost of the injury will equate to $32,023 and the indirect costs would amount $35,225 to total $67,248! In case those numbers don’t mean much to you, think about this. With a 15% profit margin, this injury would require the business to produce an additional $448,320 in sales to cover these costs. 

Can you afford to do $448,000 of work for free?

Safety Pays Tool – The Safety Pays Tool is your chance to get a more customized experience and allow you to compare your company to the industry average. This tool is especially helpful when looking at budgeting for new equipment or perhaps investigating the cost/benefit of a full time safety director. 

Educational Resources – The website isn’t just about numbers; it also provides educational resources and case studies that illustrate real-world examples of companies that have benefited from safety investments. 

How can you utilize the Safety Pays website within your tree service? 

During your next Safety Meeting, pull up the website and go to the Individual Injury Estimator. Ask your team to throw out an injury type. Then enter in your company’s target profit margin and reveal the results of the calculator to the team and watch their reaction. Even more powerful tie the estimated additional sales to the number of jobs that equates to by dividing the sales number by your average job cost. If these numbers don’t open people’s eyes within your organization, nothing will. 

If you are looking to boost the safety culture within your company or perhaps just want confirmation that you are doing what you can, reach out to a member of the ArboRisk team or sign up directly for our Thrive Safety Package. We work one-on-one with tree care companies every day, helping them get every one of their employees home safe each night.

Managing Open Proposals

by | Aug 28, 2023 | Business Strategy | 0 comments

Managing Open Proposals

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

Even the most successful sales arborists do not close every proposal they present every time. In fact, the majority of proposals delivered in the tree care industry are not accepted until days or weeks after the initial presentation. So how you stay in touch with your prospect during that time has a huge impact upon your closing rate. Here are a few things to consider when following up with a prospect on an open proposal.

Set Follow-up Expectation – Whether you hand deliver or email a proposal to someone, let them know when you will follow-up with them regarding the proposal. This takes some pressure off of them immediately and also sets the expectation of how you will work with them. This also does a lot more as it builds trust with the prospect, as long as you adhere to the expected follow-up time frame. People want to work with a tree care company that does what it says it’s going to do. 

Immediate Confirmation – The best way to start the follow-up process on an open bid is to confirm receipt of the proposal immediately with the prospect. If you are hand delivering the proposal, this is obviously easy, however, more and more tree care companies are emailing proposals to their prospects. If you are emailing proposals, it’s imperative that you give a quick follow-up phone call to the prospect to let them know their proposal has been emailed to them. We know that most people don’t answer the phone any more anyways, so this call will most likely be a voicemail to the prospect. Doing this ensures that the prospect will know to look for the proposal and may eliminate confusion if the proposal gets stuck in a Junk Email folder. Obviously, this is the perfect time to also let them know you’re available for questions on the proposal. 

Utilize Technology and Teamwork – Many tree care companies use automated email campaigns for marketing purposes, but few utilize them for sales management. Get your marketing and sales team together and have the marketing team explain the functionality of the software that you are using currently to the sales team. The sales team will then inevitably have ideas on what would help them stay in front of the prospects better. If you are a smaller company, chances are the marketing team consists of the same people as your sales team. That is totally okay as well and probably gives you more reason to spend a little time during a weather day to figure this out. Most of the CRM’s (ArborGold, SingleOps, etc.) will have technology available for you out of the box that can be customized relatively easily. 

Internal Follow-Up Organization – Being organized with your open leads is a must as well. Included in many of the CRM’s will be a method of setting tasks or follow-ups to yourself as the salesperson to remember to check back with that prospect. Learn how your system works and become a dedicated user of that technology. It may feel clunky at first, but there is not one sales person in the world who can remember every single detail about each open proposal and when to follow-up next without help. If your company doesn’t have a CRM, create a simple follow-up spreadsheet in Google Drive (so you can share it with others if you need to) and ensure you enter information at the end of each day and look at it every morning during the work week to stay current with the prospects. 

Use Testimonials – Using testimonials from happy customers during your sales process can give you a huge boost when looking to close more open proposals. If you don’t have testimonials from your own jobs that you’ve sold, work with other sales people to get a handful of testimonials from various job types. Insert these testimonials into an automated sales follow-up campaign or better yet, get them printed as postcards and mail them to your open prospects at a regular interval. If the testimonial states what type of work was done and how pleased with the job your team did, it will make it easier for the prospect to accept your bid. 

Expiration Date – Like with everything, the prices you charge today, may not be the same as what you will need to charge in 6 months. Make sure when you are delivering a proposal there is an expiration date on it so they know that the price is locked in until that date. Some people may look at this as being gimmicky, but in reality it will protect you from a customer accepting a very old bid and expecting you to do the work at the proposal price. It also sets up a true closing date so you can take it off your open proposal list and move to a lost lead list. Too many sales arborists get overwhelmed when they have too many open proposals and then the follow-up to the real opportunities is hindered. 

Communication and responsiveness with the prospect are the two keys to successfully managing open bids effectively. If you or your team is struggling with staying on top of the open proposals or with your closing rate in general, reach out to a member of the ArboRisk team and ask them about our Sales & Marketing Thrive Package. We will work one-on-one with your company to help you better your sales process and close more of the jobs you want.

Click here to obtain a copy of the Sales Sweet Spot worksheet to help you understand which services you offer fit best with your ideal customer.

Click here to learn more about our New Heights Package and how it can help you identify your ideal customer and services and grow your business!