Welcome to the Dresser and Associates User Resource Center. Our goal is to provide you with the most up to date information on HR, Payroll, Management and Benefits Administration. As HR Managers and Abra Suite providers, we have a wealth of accumulated experience related to these topics, so please do not hesitate to contact us.
Software savvy: Why boosting your business's technology can be a smart recession strategy |
 | Article courtesy of Mainebiz.biz
Grim economic news haunts the headlines week after week. With corporate profits lagging and unemployment rising, my knee-jerk instinct as a business owner is to conserve cash at all costs. My "panic brain" wants to hold off on all spending…
 Continue Reading Software savvy: Why boosting your business's technology can be a smart recession strategy |
Winning the 'Talent War' by Growing People … Management's Biggest Job |
 | Article courtesy of HR Management
As managers, we have two primary jobs in the companies we serve: getting business results and helping people grow. The first is easy enough to explain (though difficult to do), but the second job is often underestimated and misunderstood by managers — and by the companies that employ them. But why is it so important to help people grow and develop? It seems as if the supply of skilled and talented people has never been greater — there were 130,000 MBAs granted in 2005 alone. Add the expanding global labor pool, and it would appear that talented people are quite plentiful. Yet a recent Fortune magazine article1 unequivocally suggests that the demand for top talent is greater than ever, creating an auction-like environment for acquiring this talent...
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The Catch-22 of Cost and Experience |
 | Article courtesy of HRnewsWatch.com
Employers bemoan a 'talent loss' tsunami coming when the population bulge of older workers retires. But when push comes to shove, those workers are being shoved. Which raises the question: Do you truly get what you pay for? If so, when substantially lower wages are paid for less-experienced workers, is that detectable in the quality of the product or service? I've sat through many human resource meetings lately in which fears about talent loss are coupled with complaints about the difficulty of finding good workers, particularly in manufacturing and skilled trades...
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Use Employee Retention for Competitive Advantage |
 | Article courtesy of Accounting Management Solutions Inc.
Nearly all hiring managers agree: finding the right talent is never easy, even when the economy is slowing with more people looking for work. One of the most effective long-term strategies is to take care of the people you already have on board so you won’t have to hire as often. 'Hiring remains one of the most challenging aspects that all organizations face. It’s never easy to find the people with the skills you need who also will fit into your culture, and sometimes it’s not easy to keep them,' says AMS Managing Director Jim Cote, who directs the company’s Recruiting Service...
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Protect Your Organization by Managing Change |
 | Article courtesy of HRMetrics.org
Ben Franklin years ago said that the only things certain in life are death and taxes. But in the business world there is another thing certain, and that’s change. Just note the many changes in technology over the last 10 years or the sweeping changes we have witnessed in the competitive landscape, such as outsourcing and globalization. And what about the ongoing changes in customer preferences or the many geopolitical changes? Change is the mantra in the upcoming U.S. election. It’s fair to say that in the business world, things are always changing and will continue to change...
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Leading in the Renaissance Organization |
 | Article courtesy of HRMetrics.org
Pick up any business magazine from the last few years and you’ll read that America is facing an unprecedented labor shortage, the impact of which will be felt nationwide within the next 4 years. The Baby Boomers are leaving the workforce, so we’ll have fewer workers to fill the 3 million more jobs that the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts will be available by 2012. Despite the recent downturn in our economy (some might even say we’re in a recession) we’re still seeing Boomers leave their jobs to pursue other, broad-ranging goals, none of which include a front porch and a rocking chair. Instead, these valued employees, who hold much of their organization’s institutional wisdom, are making different choices...
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Simplify Payroll Tax Compliance |
 | by Nora M. Daly, CPP
American Payroll Association Article
When I started my climb up the 'tax mountain,' I was lucky to have access to a couple of “gurus” in our corporate tax department who were very generous with their knowledge. They took the time to explain to me the implications of new and changing regulations when we added new benefits to our system. Most people don’t have access to individuals with experience or degrees in tax law. For those people, there are other resources to give them an insight into payroll tax law...
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A Guide to Strategic Human Resources Planning |
 | By Workinfo.com
An HR strategy should aim to capture "the people element" of what an organisation is hoping to achieve in the medium to long term, ensuring that: it has the right people in place, it has the right mix of skills, employees display the right attitudes and behaviours, and employees are developed in the right way.
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How to Select an HRIS and Save your Saturdays |
 | by Karen Hollinger
SHRM Forum, HR Technology Exchange, 2004
March 2001 / Reviewed Jan. 2004
Does this scenario sound familiar? It's salary evaluation time, tax season or budget period, and once again you're spending Saturday morning in the office, trying to catch up on the growing pile of paperwork on your desk. It's frustrating to try and run an HR or payroll shop with a mismatched puzzle of spreadsheets and inadequate service providers, and it only gets more complex as your company grows. Like it or not, it's time for an in-house Human Resources Information System (HRIS), also known as a Human Resources Management System (HRMS)...
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It's not rocket science; tips for buying your first HRIS |
 | No author noted
SHRM Forum, HR Technology Exchange, 2004
Nov. 2002 / Reviewed Jan. 2004
If you're buying your first HRIS, take some pointers from Sidney Simon, director of product management for BenefitAmerica and chair of the HR Technology X-Change Advisory Board. Simon spoke at a 2002 SHRM annual conference workshop sponsored by the HRTX. He said the tasks for first time HRIS buyers can be divided into a number of different "shuns"--preparation, investigation, evaluation, selection, implementation and production. By following Simon's advice in each of these areas, you can make the job of buying an HRIS simpler and quicker than it otherwise might be.
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Learn Practical Tips for Implementing a New Payroll System |
 | by William Barish
PayTech – The Official Publication of the American Payroll Association
December 2004
When your company implements a new payroll system, it provides an opportunity to review procedures to determine which are outdated and which can be streamlined. These decisions will require input from all personnel involved in the payroll process ... Whether or not you enlist the aid of a consultant, you'll still need to research different systems.
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The HR Image Makeover: From Cost Center to Profit Maker |
 | by Patricia A. Mathews
Workspan, The Magazine of WorldatWork
May 2004
Call it what you will, the collected "people power" or workforce value of an organization is an asset that is difficult to measure. Similar to measuring physical assets, such as the cost of machinery and equipment, HR measurements have focused on "tangible" items, such as cost of salaries and benefits, training expenses, etc. These items reflect the dollars an organization has invested in its human assets ... But how does HR move its image from cost center to profit maker?
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How does Abra HRMS help companies comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act of 2002? |
 | No Author Noted
Best Software
Jan 2005
Following the bankruptcy of Enron in 2001, Congress responded to heightened public concern about corporate integrity and accounting firm irregularities by passing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 on July 30, 2002 ... Section 404 requires companies to establish, maintain and evaluate an adequate internal control structure related to financial transactions and financial reporting and report on its assessment of internal controls on an annual basis.
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