There are only a few areas in the country where small businesses are ahead of those in many other U.S. markets yet the effects of the recession are indicated by the 7.5 percent unemployment rate in June, the highest in more than 16 years, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.
As a result, small business owners are being forced to focus on their operations as never before. Everything must be evaluated in terms of need, liability, cost and return on investment.
Currently, the national news media is saturated with stories about the proposed national health care reform and, to a lesser extent, the latest minimum wage increase and identity theft. These issues are of importance to small business owners and their employees. Another that should be on the radar screen of business owners and their employees is identity theft protection and legal service plans.
The reason is simple: in a time of economic volatility and increased fraud, small business owners are more likely to need access to legal services – both for proactive purposes, such as creditor debt collection, information security and for preventative purposes, such as lawsuit defense and insider fraud. Ironically, this is the time small businesses can least afford the high cost of “hourly fee” or “flat” fee services of most corporate law firms.
A pre-paid legal service plans benefit the small business in two distinct ways. First, from an operational perspective, there are a variety of plans that can be tailored to the needs of the business owner for a fixed monthly rate. These plans include a suite of legal services, such as: legal consultation, legal correspondence, contract and business document review, fraud compliance and trial defense services – provided by attorneys from a provider law firm with local market experience.
Secondly, identity theft protection and legal service plans can be incorporated into the company’s human resource benefits package for employees. As a group plan, this can be offered as a voluntary benefit, managed through payroll deduction. Participating employees gain access to legal services and consultation on a variety of personal issues, such as buying a home, divorce and creditor disputes. In addition to assistance with the number one crime in America, identity theft. The Society of Human Resource Managers has reported that legal service plans are a valued human resource benefit and one of the fastest growing voluntary benefits in recent years. Additionally SHRM’s legal editor wrote an outstanding article on company liability with multiple types of identity theft.
In addition to cost control, legal service plans and identity theft protection offer business owners’ access to timely and accurate information. Being able to contact a specialist in a specific area of business or tax law or fraud issues is not something many business owners would do, yet the peace of mind in knowing the right decision was made and action taken, based on expert knowledge cannot be overstated.
The use of legal service plans in small business continues to grow as the owners and their employees recognize the benefits and cost-savings these plans offer. Perhaps the current recession has served as a catalyst or tipping point toward a new direction in the delivery of legal services and identity theft protection.
To learn more about Michael Hill, an information security specialist, privacy professional and nationally recognized as an identity theft expert >> – http://idtprofessional.wordpress.com/about/
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