Seattle Business Networking Blog

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Washington State’s New Hands-Free Cell Phone Law: Businesses Face Unique Challenges And Issues Regarding Compliance

Speech recognition tools among the technologies, tips that help businesses keep employees safe, productive and in compliance with the law in new guide from DialPro Northwest and Personnel Management Systems

Seattle, Wash. (June 9, 2010) ? As Washington State gears up for its new law that makes hand-held cell phones and text messaging while driving a primary offense, many businesses in the state face their own unique set of challenges in complying with the law: how to handle employees who spend a significant part of their workday on the road.

Two Washington companies, DialPro Northwest and Personnel Management Systems, are teaming up to help businesses keep their employees safe and connected to the office with expert tips in a new guide that helps businesses navigate the unique challenges and issues many face in keeping their employees safe, productive and in compliance with the law.

“Most company HR policies are out of date and need to be updated,” says Jack Goldberg, president, Personnel Managements Systems, a leading provider of outsourced human resource management services. “We encourage businesses to review their policies in light of current employee cell phone usage and the law. Employees should minimize the amount of time they use the cell phone while driving on the job, and to always stay safe by using headsets or hands-free devices when they absolutely need to use the phone.”

“Unlike individuals, many businesses have employees who have to stay connected to the office by phone and email while on the road,” says Dennis Tyler, president of DialPro Northwest, a leading provider of voice messaging and unified communications solutions.? “It is not always feasible for employees to pull to the side of the road. Sometimes a quick response is required to respond to an email message or make a phone call. There are a whole group of business-oriented speech recognition tools that keep employees both safe and connected to the office while offering full compliance with the law.”
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Among the tips and advice available:
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Questions businesses should ask themselves in the face of the new law
Liability and HR policy issues companies need to consider
Overview of technology solutions available to businesses, including state of the art speech recognition tools that allow employees to make calls, check email and more ? all hands free and complying with the law

A full checklist of tips and questions businesses should ask is available online at http://www.dialpronw.com or http://www.hrpmsi.com.

Get Ready for the BIG PARTY PUNCH BOWL!

The Auction Committee will be passing around the BIG PARTY PUNCH BOWL again this Wednesday. Bring some fun items for the party and help SPIKE THE PUNCH!

There are quite a scene outside while we are having weekly meeting at WAC.

Read about it at king5.com

Photos provided by Rowland Studio. http://www.rowlandphoto.com/

We just wanted to remind you that the homebuyer tax credits will expire at the end of this month. An eligible taxpayer must enter into a binding contract to buy a principal residence on or before April 30, 2010 and close on the home by June 30, 2010. So if you or anyone you know is in the home buying market please contact us right away.

Thank you,

Jackie Murphy
Cobalt Mortgage
11255 Kirkland Way Suite 100
Kirkland, WA 98033
Office: (425) 605-3122
Email Jackie Murphy
www.jackiemurphy.com

As always please consult a tax advisor.

I know you did not want to see this, so I waited until this late to post this.

From all of us at Seattle Executives Association to our Executive Director, Glenna HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Many in our association are acquainted with the recently retired Chairman of Argosy Cruises John Blackman. John lost his wife of 54 years on December 23 of last year. A celebration of Mary Blackman’s life is being held aboard the Royal Argosy on Friday January 29, 2010. The event will be held dockside from 5pm-7:30pm. Any Seattle Execs member who would like to attend is welcome to come down and raise a glass with us in support of John and in tribute to Mary. I hope to see you there.

Cheers,
Gary Granquist
Argosy Cruises

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

“Clements was unsuccessfully trying to buy a flag and contacted the Bonney Watson Funeral Home in Seattle, which donated a five-by-nine-foot flag. Clements took it to Don's Attire in Georgetown, which volunteered to embroider the names, working seven hours straight and finishing the job at 3 a.m. today.”

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Bonney Watson and Don’s Group Attire are members of Seattle Executives Association.

Seattle Executives Association President, Shannon Woodman, is Thankful!

Ralph Brukos, of Training Consultants, has been my personal mentor for 10 years. Ralph has worked with Washington Alarm’s sales team and managers for over 20 years. He taught me early on to surround myself with people who want to help you.

During our Seattle Execs classification talks by our Real Estate Agents, Liz Talley, Scott Morton and Boyd Watkins and our mortgage broker, Jackie Murphy, they all said it was a great time to buy a home.

My husband and I consulted Liz Talley of Windermere about selling the home we were in and buying a new one.

I had to ask myself why would a mother of two small children, President of SEA, board member and Vice Chairman of the Washington Burglar and Fire Alarm Association, board member and committee chair for the Community Service Committee for Rotary, Co-chair of the Membership Committee for the Central Station Alarm Association, serve on the auction committee for my girls’ school and run a company want or possibly have time to take on such a daunting task?

I went back to the advice Ralph Bruksos gave me and realized I had surrounded myself with people who want to help me. First, there was my family, second there was Seattle Execs.

I called City Moving Systems and asked thento deliver a SAM unit, which stands for Store and Move, to my home. We packed the unit with extra clutter we had around the house before we put our house on the market. City Moving came and picked it up to store it until we were ready to move into our new house.

I spoke to Jackie Murphy of Colbalt Mortgage and she pre-qualified us for a new home loan.

Liz Talley sold our home and found a new one for us to buy. Liz is wonderful to work with and if you need to take your children along to look at houses, she is great with them.

Jackie and her assistant were amazing and closed on our new house in less than 3 weeks.

Viking Bank holds the mortgage for our new home.

I called Rogers & Norman, who I have been with for over 10 years, to cancel my old policy and write one on the new house. As usual, they were great and easy to work with.

Bruce MacKintosh of Centennial Home Inspections came out on a Sunday to do the inspection. He was thorough and walked us through everything.

City Moving delivered boxes to my house and made sure we had everything we needed.

City Moving loaded up their trucks with our stuff. They sent an inspector from their quality control division out to see how the move was going.

At the last minute, City Moving was able to change the day of our move from a Friday to a Saturday. They were easy to work with and very accommodating.

Chris Schultz of Emerald City Energy came out to look at my windows. He is replacing them in December. The new windows qualify for a rebate.

American Drapery, Blind and Carpet is going to be installing blinds as well as window coverings in my girls’ rooms.

Washington Alarm installed a security system with smoke detectors that is monitored 24/7 and an intercom system.

I am looking forward to working with Keith Anderson of Classic Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning, Tim Sharp of Iron Design Center, Curtis Dahl of Sundance Energy and more Execs in the future.

I want to thank each of you for your help and making our move so easy.

I trust all the vendors in Seattle Execs enough that I did not go out to bid because I knew if I wanted it done right, Seattle Execs members would provide the support and services I needed to get the job done.

Thank you all for being on my team."
Shannon Woodman

Have a very good weekend!



This weekend

Seahawks against Cardinals

Huskies against Oregon State

Cougars against UCLA