It’s no secret that the country has experienced higher than normal levels of unemployment over the last several years. But even with so many people looking for work, many BSCs are still having trouble finding and retaining good employees.

The success of a business is defined by the strength of its management team. Because typical building service companies have a bottom-heavy business model—a concentration of unskilled labor delivering service at the bottom of the organization and a few managers at the top—it is even more critical for leadership to be well skilled.

The best way to avoid a Form I-9 audit is not to try and avoid an I-9 audit. That approach may seem paradoxical— and understandably so. But immigration is a political hot potato right now, and according to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), building service contracting is classified as a “fissured industry,” or one with varied organizational methods of employment, such as franchising, subcontracting, and independent consultants. Given this, the likelihood of a visit from the DOL, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or another federal agency is more likely now than ever.

Even in today’s sluggish economy, where we have unprecedented high unemployment, we have a work force that is unsatisfied with their current employment. Given this, it’s more than likely that when the economy does improve we’ll see a flood of people leaving us, unless we can determine why they want to leave and then do something about it.

It is important to remember that people are not your most important asset—the right people are. When defining the quality of a potential new employee, knowledge, attitude and whether they are a good cultural fit for your company is vital.

With increasing frequency, clients are inviting me to meetings at which their legal team is present. These distributed workforce employers, often building service contractors, are facing a growing number of IRS audits and legal threats from class action lawsuits, unions, and the states.