Misc Muses

For years, PayReel has been helping clients avoid going through what has been known to be a painful and expensive ordeal. Being audited by the IRS or Department of Labor is not, in itself, a sign of any wrongdoing. But an audit often uncovers illegal practices that have embarrassed and even toppled otherwise healthy businesses.

So, a little over a month ago we were quietly holding our collective noses to the grindstone, when the mail arrived with an envelope bearing the seal of the Colorado Department of Labor. Inside was a concisely worded letter informing us that PayReel had been chosen, at random, for an audit of our employment records. How poetic is that? The authors of numerous whitepapers, newsletters, and e-blasts on the subject must now don the government equivalent of a hospital gown and walk down the hall with our arms full of files and our backsides open to inspection.

Were we worried? Well, maybe a little. Our clients depend on us to avoid worker misclassification and keep accurate records. You just never know what could have been missed. But we were also feeling pretty smug about being right all this time regarding the odds of being audited.

The day of the audit arrived. The auditor couldn’t have been nicer or more professional. It took her two full days to go through our Colorado files. At the end of day one, we were golden. We had the swagger of a blacksmith who’d just been asked for a hammer. “So what size handle do ya’ need?” The auditor was almost as impressed with us as we were with ourselves.

Day two started off well enough, and we grew more confident with each document that was reviewed. That was the last feeling I remember having before my boss walked into my office. In the scheme of things, it was a small error. Easily corrected. But there went our no-hitter. No bogey-free round. No triple double for PayReel.

Alas, dear reader, humility has come to Golden, Colorado. And it’s sitting right here in my office.

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It’s old news that the Obama administration increased funding to the Department of Homeland Security’s ICE division (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).  It’s also been widely reported how this increased funding is being spent.  Like the Employer Compliance Inspection Center which houses a team that expressly targets I-9 audits of large businesses.  With all the press, it’s hard for me to understand why ICE is saying it believes that 99% of all employers have erroneous I-9’s in their files; that it finds an average of five errors per audited I-9.  Actually, it’s not that hard to understand.  The federal Form I-9 is a one-page document that comes with 68 pages of instructions.

Complexity aside, ICE is on a mission.  In 2010, they doubled their number of audits conducted.  Compared with 2008, fines levied have increased 10-fold.  Just ask the folks over at Abercrombie and Fitch.  They just paid a $1M fine for a third-party’s improper electronic storage of their I-9’s.   Bold as ICE.

Ever heard of E-Verify?  If not, you will, soon.  This ICE program initially gave employers voluntary access to an internet database to verify a worker’s employment status in the U.S.  As of today, E-Verify is now mandatory for some or all businesses in the following states:  AL, AZ, CA, CO, GA, ID, IL, IN, LA, MI, MN, MO, MS, NE, NC, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, UT, and VA.

There may have been a time when the risk of non-compliance was, shall we say, manageable.  Me thinks those days are over.

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Once you get past all the legal jargon, it’s a really simple question:  Does the Constitution of the United States give Congress the power to compel every citizen to either purchase health insurance or pay a penalty?

Our Supreme Court justices listened to arguments for three days in late March and are expected to hand down a decision in June.  The smart money is on a 5 to 4 decision … either way.  If the Affordable Care Act is struck down, the federalists will shout “Freedom!” in their best Mel Gibson/William Wallace accents.  If “ObamaCare” survives intact, the liberals will proclaim “Four More Years!” in their best Ted Kennedy.

At this point in the proceedings, it looks as if Justice Anthony Kennedy will be the swing vote.  His comments and questions during the three days of hearings have supporters of the law on an emotional roller coaster.  And just in case he begins to lean too far in opposition, the Obama administration has already fired a shot across his bow.  Last week, the President (a constitutional law scholar in case you’ve forgotten) raised another simple question for us simple-minded citizens to ponder … Does the Supreme Court even have the authority to overturn legislation passed by Congress?

Are you even remotely interested in how our republic functions (or dysfunctions)? If so, the drama doesn’t get any better than this.  Imagine the fallout if the Supreme Court declares the law unconstitutional.  Our healthcare system will still be in need of reform.  It’ll still be an election year.  And the voting public will quickly begin asking “So now what?”

Let the finger pointing begin!

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How are social media-savvy companies rising to the communication challenges presented by YouTube?  One way is by recognizing and embracing YouTube’s emphasis on content versus presentation.

“In the midst of a fabulous array of historically unprecedented and utterly mind-boggling stimuli … whatever.”  Thomas de Zengotita

Put in less poetic terms, we’ve been so bombarded by high-def, high-speed, high-concept content, less really has become more.  Sincere, unscripted content will stop us in our tracks and grab our attention.  We find raw or casually edited footage somehow more believable, and in some cases more enjoyable than its polished counterpart.  And it’s a lot cheaper, which means corporations can afford to do more communicating closer to the events which trigger it.

Enlightened companies also understand that YouTube-enabled, ridiculously honest communication runs in both directions.  At once beautiful and frightening, comments (aka “What did you think of my video?”) give us an unfiltered view into the minds of our audience … instantly.  It’s hard to assign value to the heartfelt words “You suck!” in response to your latest product announcement video.  If you’re truly fortunate, the commenter will elaborate on your product’s shortcomings in a way that is genuinely useful.  And thanks to tools like YouTube’s Insight, companies can access a plethora of demographic data, statistics on content popularity, hot spots within videos, etc.

Then there’s SEO.  We can’t get enough of it.  So preoccupied are we with how much traffic comes to our websites from Google, we hardly noticed that YouTube is now the world’s second largest search engine.

So what is to become of slick and scripted video content?  Well, I still have suits and ties hanging in my closet.  I look forward to most occasions that still call for them.  Likewise, I can’t imagine a Super Bowl Sunday populated exclusively with homemade videos of somebody’s cat falling on a bag of chips.  The world has changed, that’s all.  It’s gotten faster and easier to communicate in the visual medium, but there will always be a place for professionally produced content.  In fact, I can attest to the fact that a steady diet of hamburger heightens one’s appreciation for steak.

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That all-too familiar shaky cell phone video has changed forever how information and ideas are shared.  Once the bastion of the MTV generation, YouTube has now enabled (or forced) the evolution of corporate communications.

Ask any recent MBA grad and they’ll extol the virtues of timely, relevant communication in motivating a company’s workforce.  During the 1990’s, only the largest corporations could afford the luxury of widespread video communication to keep employees and investors informed about the latest products and strategic initiatives.  This was a time when corporate communication managers were the gatekeepers of information flowing from the mountaintop.  Whether in the form of a live broadcast or a professionally produced video, information was vetted and polished to a high corporate gleam.

Then, in 2005, three friends launched YouTube.com and changed everything.  By the summer of 2006, YouTube was the fifth most popular site on the internet.  Every minute, 20 hours of video is uploaded to the site.  That’s 1,728,000 minutes of content per day … every day.  It’s hard to imagine anything that can’t be found on YouTube. There’s everything from changing a tire, to heart bypass surgery, to the latest Beyonce’ video, to Tim Cook’s first message to Apple employees as their CEO.

But why is an Apple internal corporate video even on YouTube?  Perhaps the more interesting question is “how many people put it there?”  Corporate Communication Managers are no longer gatekeepers of information.  The cell phone camera and YouTube have effectively RIF’d that job title. Today’s Corporate Media Coordinators have necessarily evolved into wranglers of information, guardians in the battle against misinformation.  New media have created new ways of relating ideas and facts, and the sheer speed of information flow makes it all too easy to confuse ideas as facts.

Whether it’s a revolution in Libya or a layoff in Finance, people (employees) are turning to social media for insight and answers.   And just because your company is small doesn’t mean a video of last week’s fist fight on your loading dock isn’t about to go viral.  Now, more than ever, in corporate communication … speed can kill.  A slow response to a negative video can kill reputation, brand equity, and employee morale.

So, how are enlightened companies rising to this new media challenge and even benefiting from the YouTube effect?

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