Flashings

Show you care

Simply showing you care for employees may be enough to spark their enthusiasm. For example, provide new employees with "survival kits" on their first day of work. The kit should include work materials, such as your company's employee handbook, and fun items, including movie theater tickets and office toys to make them feel welcome.

In addition, you can invigorate a staff meeting by having your management team prepare and serve lunch to employees. You also can make your employees feel more involved in company improvements by hosting a company New Year's party at which employees make a list of changes they would like to occur during the year.

Other motivating tools include allowing employees who have met sales goals to send flowers to anyone they choose. And during your busy season, send gift certificates to employees' spouses and significant others as a thank you for being understanding while employees work overtime. You also can promote employee health by scheduling fruit or vitamin deliveries to the office.

Source: Adapted from 1001 Ways to Energize Employees, as cited in The Working Communicator, May 2001 issue.

Will New York adopt IBC?

In November 2002, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City Department of Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster and New York City Council Housing and Buildings Chair Madeline Provenzano issued an executive order to study the feasibility of adopting the International Code Council's International Building Code (IBC) in New York City. A code commission has been developed to study IBC.

"By studying and potentially adopting IBC, the city will streamline one of the largest hurdles to construction," Bloomberg says. "Our current building code's complexity often is an impediment to new construction and drives up the cost of building in New York. A continuously updated building code will help generate more affordable housing and make New York a more attractive place to do business."

New York City's current building code is the largest, most complex code in the United States.

Small businesses could get tax cuts

President Bush's proposed $674 billion economic plan to boost the U.S. economy and encourage its recovery includes provisions that would restructure small businesses' tax benefits. It's estimated that 23 million small-business owners would receive an average of about $2,042 in tax cuts from the plan.

The plan has two main provisions that would benefit small businesses. First, small-business owners' personal income tax rates would be reduced if they include company profits on their individual tax returns. The provision would cost about $64 billion. Second, small businesses would be allowed to deduct up to $75,000 for new equipment purchases. Currently, the deduction for capital investments is $25,000. This provision is estimated to cost about $16 billion during the next 10 years.

In addition, the plan would eliminate stock dividend taxes, a provision that would save investors about $364 billion during the next decade. This provision would benefit small businesses with C corporation structures.

According to the provision, owners of C corporations could change payroll processes to take advantage of tax cuts by compensating employees with dividends rather than salaries. In addition, C corporations can deduct health benefits from income taxes. Experts speculate the provision may cause millions of small-business owners to change their incorporations from the S corporation structure, currently the majority, to the C corporation structure.

Insurer records charge for asbestos claims

Travelers Property Casualty Corp., Hartford, Conn., said it will record an after-tax charge of $1.3 billion for the fourth quarter of 2002 because it increased its reserves to pay asbestos-related claims.

The decision came after Travelers Property Casualty conducted a study to assess the state of its asbestos reserves. The study involved an extensive review of the company's exposure to asbestos losses.

As a result of the study, Travelers Property Casualty said it increased the reserve from $950 million to $3.4 billion. The increased reserve will cover all pending and final claims, including Travelers Property Casualty's liability in a proposed $2.7 billion asbestos settlement in 2002 with PPD Industries Inc., Pittsburgh.

"This reserve strengthening reflects a conservative view of trends that have become clearer during the past few quarters and our estimate of the projected ultimate cost of our asbestos liabilities," says Robert I. Lipp, Travelers Property Casualty's chairman and chief executive officer. "The study was extremely comprehensive and included a review of past settlements, all active policyholders, litigation and potential nonproduct exposures. The study also considered the potential for new claims from unidentified policyholders, as well as exposures to insurance industry pools."

The $1.3 billion charge will result in a $27 million loss, amounting to 3 cents per share, for Travelers Property Casualty in 2002. Before taxes, the charge is $2.55 billion, $670 million of which is funded by reinsurers and $555 million from former parent company Citigroup Inc., New York. Ultimately, Travelers Property Casualty hopes the charge positively will affect its earnings and forecasts a $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion operating income for this year.

Identifying future company leaders

Because employees, including supervisors, may resign from your company, it is a good idea to nurture those employees who understand your company's culture and have the potential to take a supervisor's place. You often can identify a future leader by studying work ethics and behavioral traits. Be on the lookout for the following traits in your employees:

• Emotional strength. Demanding projects cause various emotions in people. A leader must be able to suppress his emotions while being sensitive to the emotions of others.
  
  
• Ego strength. A leader must be able to risk his ego to gain employee trust. For example, a leader should be able to say to an unsure employee, "I'm just as scared as you are."
  
  
• Optimism and realism. If doubts arise, a leader's optimism should assure his employees a difficult project will be completed properly. A realistic leader will know when a project plan isn't working and when to try again.
  
  
• Open mindedness. A leader should have a strong vision but be open to new ideas and information. An open-minded leader will be more interested in the outcome of his vision than the vision itself.

Source: Adapted from Fast Company, as cited in Leadership Strategies, January issue.

Manufacturers form EPDM association

Carlisle SynTec Inc., Carlisle, Pa., and Firestone Building Products Co., Carmel, Ind., have formed the EPDM Roofing Association (ERA), an independent trade association developed to provide education about EPDM roof systems to the public and construction industry and promote the application of EPDM roof systems.

"From the inception of the single-ply commercial roofing industry more than 40 years ago, EPDM has been providing long-term, dependable roofing solutions for specifiers, contractors and building owners," says Nick Shears, ERA's chairman of the board and Carlisle SynTec's vice president of sales and marketing. "Carlisle and Firestone have embraced technological initiatives to improve system performance and installation efficiencies. Together with other industry representatives, we actively will promote these membrane systems in the roofing market."

In January, ERA elected representatives from Carlisle SynTec, Firestone Building Products and various material suppliers to its board of directors. ERA's primary goal is to devise a plan to develop technical information and promote awareness of EPDM roof systems.

For more information about ERA, contact Carole Rogin, ERA's communications director, at (703) 684-5020; fax (703) 684-6048; or e-mail crogin@clarionmanagement.com.