Resource book gives Missoula businesses tips on handling, motivating employees

Missoula area businesses looking for a little guidance in putting together an employee handbook, researching employment laws or just motivating their employees can find the answer they’re looking for in a resource book produced by the Missoula Job Service Workforce Center.

By JILL FITZSIMMONS for the Missoulian in "Picture the Progress ’03"

Released earlier this year, the 200-page business resource guide assists organizations when human resource questions arise. The guide, also available on disc, is free. About 650 books have been given away so far, says Kay Strayer, business consultant at Job Service and co-author of the book.

The book has been well received by businesses who have picked one up, Strayer says. Many have said they needed a tool such as the guide for a long time. Others have said they read it from cover to cover, Strayer says.

“They’re going fast,” she says.

Job Service is hoping the book will make businesses’ jobs easier and serve as a quick reference guide, Strayer says. The book also has been good for the agency when people call with questions, she adds. Many times business consultants there can point callers to a specific place in the book, she says.

The resource guide is modeled after a similar book put out by the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce and Flathead Job Service. While the Kalispell project received federal grant money to pay for the project, the Missoula Job Service, a state agency, has not. However, the office here saw it as too valuable a commodity to pass up, says Wolfgang Ametsbichler, manager of the Missoula Job Service.

The business guide is written by the office’s three business consultants: Strayer Barbara Kennedy and Deborah Derrick Gass. The consultants, who provide their expertise to area businesses at no cost, used the Kalispell book as a guide and added information specific to Missoula.

The book covers human resources issues that some small business owners might not know how to handle. After all, supervising people can be one of the more difficult jobs for business owners, Kennedy says.

Many times, small businesses also are so focused on the day-to-day work, they don’t have time to delve into the human resources end of the operation, Gass adds. The book is a good starting point, she says.

Chapters in the resource guide include hiring, retaining and tools; training; employment laws; developing your business; business forms and government contacts.

Job Service envisions the guide being made available to small and medium-sized businesses that don’t have human resource departments. However, that doesn’t mean anyone will be excluded if they ask for one, Ametsbichler says. For example, companies looking to move to the Missoula area from out of state might find the guides useful, he says.

While the resource guide is meant to be a tool for area businesses, it also is a chance for Job Service to show the business community the kind of knowledge, expertise and information that is available to them. Job Service programs focus heavily on the needs of the business community.
Job Service, which plans to print more of the books next spring, encourages businesses to request any additional human resources assistance not covered in the guide.

Call us for Information

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Deborah J. Derrick Gass, PHR

542-5751

[email protected]

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Barb Kennedy, PHR

542-5789

[email protected]

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Kay M. Strayer

542-5768

[email protected]

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