Human Resources Tag

U.S. Department of Labor Withdrawing Independent Contractor Rule

The U.S. Department of Labor announced the withdrawal – effective May 6 – of the “Independent Contractor Rule,” to protect workers’ rights to the minimum wage and overtime compensation protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Department is withdrawing the rule for several reasons,...

10 May, 2021

From the HR Support Center: How to Help Employees Communicate More Effectively

In an ideal world, communication would be easy. We’d immediately know exactly what to say or write. Emails, Slack messages, and reply threads would practically write themselves. And there’d be no confusion about what anyone meant, ever. Of course, communication never works that way. We stare...

06 May, 2021

Are Your Employees Cross-Trained?

When employees quit or miss work for some reason, when layoffs become necessary, or even when it's just a matter of busy season, cross-trained employees can step in to minimize disruption. Simply put, cross-training is about showing employees how to do each other's jobs. Cross-Training Has...

03 May, 2021

From the HR Support Center: Key Practices to Keep the Workplace Safe

In 1970, when Richard Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act into law, an estimated 14,000 workers were killed on the job every year. Fifty years later, that number is down to 5,333, but safety in the workplace remains a paramount concern, and not...

29 April, 2021

Employee Overpayment Can Lead to Problems

You may have overpaid an employee because someone entered the wrong information into the system. Or maybe the employee or his or her supervisor submitted inaccurate data. Either way, this type of error is usually easily fixable. You do have to follow certain procedures, however. Reclaiming...

26 April, 2021

From the HR Support Center: Can I require employees to turn on their cameras during meetings?

Yes, generally, you can require employees to have their webcam on during meetings. You may, however, want to take things like low internet bandwidth, equipment failure, software incompatibility, mental health, environmental circumstances, privacy issues, and other reasonable concerns into account when setting expectations. For example,...

22 April, 2021

IRS to Recalculate Taxes for Unemployment Break

Legislation signed in March allows taxpayers who earned less than $150,000 in modified adjusted gross income to exclude unemployment compensation up to $20,400 if married filing jointly and $10,200 for all other eligible taxpayers. The legislation excludes only 2020 unemployment benefits from taxes. Because the change...

19 April, 2021

From the HR Support Center: An employee says that the stress of the job is affecting their mental health. How should we handle this?

This employee may just need to talk through their concerns and get your help prioritizing or delegating. They may, for example, feel like every single thing on their to-do list is life-or-death by Friday at close of business, when that’s not really the case. Some...

15 April, 2021

Back to the Office? Not So Fast…

Lockdown restrictions are lifting and in-person offices are feasible once more. But the news is being handled differently from one company to the next. Business owners need to consider what their workers want before they start planning for how — or whether — they will...

12 April, 2021

From the HR Support Center: Can we ask employees for proof of COVID-19 vaccination?

You can ask employees for proof that they’ve received the COVID-19 vaccine, but you need to be careful about how you ask for it and what you do with the information. You should ask employees to provide proof that only includes their name, the date of...

08 April, 2021