|
|
| If you are having difficulty seeing this mail or images in it, you can view it in your Web browser. |
|
| Volume 9, Issue 2 |
|
In This Issue:
 4 steps to bullet-proof your employee handbook
Is it time to start using an electronic I-9 system?
Stop ex-workers from 'stealing' vacation leave
Try these 4 survival-mode compensation strategies
The safest way to handle calls for references and recommendations
 Six tools to help tackle overflowing email
 Employers face plenty of COBRA-related compliance issues
 Relearning FMLA
Family issues resonate with employers
 [8] Steps for smooth sailing in 401(k) rollovers
HR certification requirements to change
 Understanding a unique breed of worker: The temp
 An [interview] question to make a monkey of you
[5 Steps] to rally workers for tough 2009
It isn't always a job behind a posting
Buying wine on a dime
|
|
|
 |
4 steps to bullet-proof your employee handbook
|
|
What well-intentioned document sitting patiently on your shelf is actually a ticking time bomb?...
|
|
Your employee handbook can be a helpful reference providing needed information, or it can turn into a weapon that employees and their attorneys can use against you in court. The choice is yours.
For employers, crafting handbooks is a delicate balancing act: Their manuals must orient new employees, convey corporate culture, provide information, communicate corporate policies and comply with government regulations while, at the same time, not expose their organizations to liability. Fortunately, court decisions as well as state
and federal statutes provide basic protections to employers that operate in good faith. That’s why it’s crucial to train your supervisors in federal/state employment laws and refer them to the employee handbook and other company documents when questions arise. But this guidance is only as good as the handbook itself. To ensure
that your handbook fulfills your goals, be aware of these mistakes most commonly made by employers...
Read the article. Back to top
Is it time to start using an electronic I-9 system?
Since 2004, employers have been authorized to use computerized versions of the federal Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. Now U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is actively encouraging the practice.
Should you ditch paper I-9s and switch to electronic completion, filing and storage of workers’ employment eligibility information? For most employers, the answer is yes. Here’s a rundown of the pros and cons...
Read the article. Back to top
Stop ex-workers from 'stealing' vacation leave
Employers are free to set the terms by which employees earn vacation leave. But what happens to that leave when employees resign or are fired?
Don’t leave that answer open to interpretation—by your employees or a court. Employee handbooks must spell out exactly how much leave employees earn and how much—if anything—they can cash out when they depart. Example:...
Read the article. Back to top
Try these 4 survival-mode Compensation strategies
Smart compensation pros can use this recession as an opportunity to re-evaluate how they pay employees.
You might be surprised what you find when you start taking a close look at your compensation systems. You could discover that you haven’t been spending your merit pay...
Read the article. Back to top
The safest way to handle calls for references and recommendations
As the economy shrinks, unemployment is growing. Chances are, the jobless rate will continue to rise for the next several months.
If your organization plans to lay off workers or already has, brace yourself. Lots of former employees are going to list you and your managers as references when...
Read the article. Back to top
|
|
|
|
 |
Six tools to help tackle overflowing email
|
Cheers. Literally, cheers. When I speak at companies like Cisco and implore employees to find email alternatives, they erupt.
That's how much corporate America hates email. I'm not surprised. We're drowning in it. The average worker receives 200 a day, according to the research firm Basex. What's worse, there's a lot of important stuff trapped in those messages, but if you're armed only with Microsoft Outlook, which treats all messages the same, good
luck plucking out the pearls. Not all email is created equal. Newsletters, status updates, and so forth aren't nearly as relevant to us as a personal note from the boss. What we need are tools that add context and make the inbox less a dumping ground than a jumping-off point for managing our most important projects and relationships.
Thankfully, there are a raft of very exciting tools -- many of them free -- that can help you prioritize email and even avoid it altogether. (Yes, really.) [Here they are]...
Read the article. Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Employers face plenty of COBRA-related compliance issues
With the average cost of a family plan in 2008 totaling $12,680, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s survey on health care costs, employers will pay an average of $8,242 per family plan before deducting that expense from payroll taxes.
Most employers offering health care to workers in the U.S. will be required to comply with the COBRA provisions of the $787 billion stimulus package by March 1. The mechanics of the law are straightforward. The challenge for employers will be to comply with the law by the time the COBRA provisions take effect, which is the
beginning of the first coverage month after the bill’s approval. That is March 1 for many employers. The departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services are expected to issue...
Read the article. Back to top
|
|
|
|
 |
Relearning FMLA
Keisha-Ann G. Gray is senior counsel in the Labor & Employment Law Department of Proskauer Rose in New York and co-chair of the Department's Employment Litigation and Arbitration Practice Group. It's out with the old and in with the new, as updated FMLA regulations go into effect. In the first of two columns on the subject, we look at the
changes in definitions and eligibility, including the expansion of FMLA rights for military families and an extended timeframe for making FMLA decisions...
Read the article. Back to top
Family issues resonate with employers
Employers estimate that one-third (32 percent) of their U.S. transferees in 2007 were women, according to the Family Issues report from Worldwide ERC, the association for workforce mobility.
"The family unit and household have changed over the years, and that makes a difference in the way U.S. employers manage their relocation programs," said Jan Hatfield-Goldman, ERC's vice president of Research and Education. "The traditional family with a working father and stay-at-home mother now represents less than...
Read the article. Back to top
|
|
|
|
 |
[8] Steps for smooth sailing in 401(k) rollovers
Companies currently are under heavy pressure to reduce their costs and benefits departments are among the first places they look. In response, 401(k) plan sponsors can turn to rollover management programs, which establish procedures to manage
terminated participants and provide them with access to assistance as they leave a plan.
By managing the terminated participant population, plan sponsors can rebalance their ratio of current-to-former participants, and diminish the costs they incur for former employees' retirement benefits and their future legal risks. The typical 401(k) plan has a significant percentage of terminated participants, thanks to a variety of
factors, including automatic enrollment, regulators' request to cease automatic cash-outs of low-balance accounts, high turnover among employees and an increasing number of layoffs in today's economy. In certain industries, the percentage of terminated participants in a plan can be as high as 30%. By removing them, a plan
sponsor can possibly reduce plan costs, sometimes significantly. [Best practices Plan sponsors should make sure their rollover management program follows these best practices:...]
Read the article. Back to top
HR certification requirements to change
The HR Certification Institute (HRCI) is set to steepen eligibility requirements for certification with a greater focus on education and an extension of the required years of experience.
The changes will take affect in 2011. This could be a positive development for employers, as 44% of HR professionals claim that certified HR employees have a positive impact on their company's financial performance, according to the HCRI Value of Certification Survey released in June 2008. Similarly, 48% report that their
company believes that hiring HR professionals gives them a competitive edge. "The new eligibility requirements reflect the need for...
Read the article. Back to top
|
|
|
|
 |
Understanding a unique breed of worker: The temp
A temporary workforce can offer talent managers strategic opportunities as a component of a well-balanced workforce portfolio.
They can increase the efficiency and ROI of the hiring process; offer new, cheaper cost centers for workforce planning; and enhance a company's ability to remain profitable through market cycles. Maximizing the value of a temporary workforce requires identifying areas of alignment between temp workers' needs and business
goals. Temporary workers come to work with widely varied goals, expectations and needs. How effectively they perform depends on how well talent managers can match their aspirations with their roles in the company.
One Size Does Not Fit All
To maximize the strategic value of a temporary workforce, talent managers must evaluate temporary workers needs' according to two things:...
Read the article. Back to top
|
|
|
|
 |
An [interview] question to make a monkey of you
Worldwide Panel LLC, a small market-research firm, is getting flooded with résumés for four vacancies in sales and information technology.
However, officials expect to reject numerous applicants after asking them: "What is your greatest weakness?" Candidates often respond "with something that is not a weakness," say Christopher Morrow, senior vice president of the Calabasas, Calif., concern. "It is a deal breaker." The weakness question represents the most common and
most stressful one posed during interviews. Yet in today's weak job market, the wrong answer weakens your [prospective employees] chances of winning employment...
Read the article. Back to top
[5 Steps] to rally workers for tough 2009
It's been a brutal year. Many workers are burned out, anxious and exhausted. 2009 doesn't look any better. So how can managers rally employees for the hard slog ahead?
We checked in with Tom Rath, a workplace consultant at Gallup and co-author of the upcoming book "Strengths Based Leadership." He says it's critical that managers pay attention to morale now. "There's more fear and insecurity in workplaces today than I've ever seen," he says. "If managers can do a good job of helping employees to feel
secure and see light at the end of the tunnel, they might actually boost per-person productivity." Many managers can't reward workers financially, he adds, so "emotional and psychological" kudos are "even more important." He gave us five steps managers can take to motivate employees...
Read the article. Back to top
It isn't always a job behind a posting
Employment Ads on the Web Can Lead You to Marketing Pitches, or Worse; Ways to See Which Ones Are Sincere.
In October, Tom Greene was invited by email to interview for a vice president position he had applied for through CareerBuilder.com. Before accepting, the sales and marketing executive called the search firm that posted the ad to ensure it was indeed a job opportunity. Mr. Greene didn't want a repeat of two years ago, when he agreed to
an interview in the same circumstances only to find there was no position available. Instead, he had received a pitch from a career-marketing service costing up to $10,000, starting with a $6,000 upfront fee. Mr. Greene didn't want a repeat of two years ago, when he agreed to an interview in the same circumstances only to find there
was no position available. Instead, he had received a pitch from a career-marketing service costing up to $10,000, starting with a $6,000 upfront fee. This time, the 53-year-old was assured by phone that the job was real and he wouldn't be asked to dig into his wallet. But after driving a half-hour from his home in Colonia, N.J., to meet the firm's recruiters...
Read the article. Back to top
Buying wine on a dime
A year ago, Rick Jelovsek regularly paid $20 or more for a bottle of wine at retailers near his Johnson City, Tenn., home. But after stock-market declines shaved 20% off the value of his retirement accounts, he began choosing bottles in the $12 range.
"I'm making sure I'm going down in price, and I'm double-checking that it's either [rated] a good wine or I've gotten a recommendation," says the 64-year-old retired physician, who recently enjoyed a bottle of Spanish wine, Borsao Tres Picos Garnacha, for less than $12. In Denver, customers "are drinking a little bit less, a little less
quality, a little less expensive," says Clif Louis, owner of the Vineyard Wine Shop, which mostly sells boutique wines. His sales have been down about 9% in the past seven months. As recession grips the country, drinkers are discovering fine wines on a beer budget. [The prices mark a trend toward less-expensive varietals, such as...]
Read the article. Back to top
|
|
|
Forward to a Friend:
Do you have a friend that would like to receive HRWatchsm?
Perhaps you know a peer within your organization, or associate at a partner company that would
benefit from applying to receive this publication. Inviting a friend to experience the benefits
of joining the BusinessWatch Network is easy! Just FW: this newsletter to the person you know who
may have an interest and ask them to click here http://www.businesswatchnetwork.com Your friend will be glad you did!
|
|
|
If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from HRWatchsm
simply change your status,
or send a letter requesting opt-off to:
The BusinessWatch Network Privacy Mailbox, 1321, Marblehead, MA. 01945
DISCLAIMER: HRWatchsm and the BusinessWatch Networksm are service marks of DMS.
All other trademarks or service marks contained in this email are the property of their respective owners.
At the time of publication, all links in this e-mail functioned properly. However, since many links point
to sites other than businesswatchnetwork.com, some links may become invalid as time passes.
DMS Inc. supports the DMA Privacy Promise and
Guidelines for Ethical Business Practice. We are committed to the proper use of
email and to protecting consumers from fraudulent or inappropriate
offers. Privacy Policy
|
|
|
| | |
