INCLEMENT WEATHER POLICY

winterWith our region being in the midst of the winter weather season, this is a good time to make sure your organization has a formal policy  in place related to facility closure.

  • Including how the day will be treated for employee pay purposes.

Having such a policy may seem like a simple task, but it has two implications that need to be taken into account:

  • The Fair Labor Standards Act
  • Employee Relations

Fair Labor Standards Act

If the company closes for weather-related reasons, nonexempt employees are notrequired to be paid.  However, exempt employees are required to be paid—without being charged against paid time off (PTO).

  • Nothing prohibits you from reminding exempt employees of the expectation that they are expected to work what ever hours are necessary to “get the job  done”.

So you have three basic options for non-exempt employees:

  1. Mandate that the day be charged against PTO
  2. Allow them the choice of using accrued PTO to cover the day or taking the day as unpaid
  3. Go beyond the Act & pay them without charging the time to PTO
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EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

This is trickier than FLSA compliance—unless your policy calls for option 3. above.  That’s because the other two options result in your differentiating between your non-exempt & exempt employees.

  • Most employers do in fact have different treatment of these two groups in some aspects of employment—some favorable for one group & some favorable for the other group. For example:

arrow-bullet  Non-exempt employees being paid time & ½ for hours in excess of 40 in a week whereas exempt employees typically receive no additional compensation

arrow-bullet  Exempt employees receiving favorable treatment in terms of hours flexibility or some benefit, such as in PTO or life insurance.

  • Nonetheless, differing treatment of pay for the two groups for a facility closure can create an employee relations issue for you to address.

If your organization needs help with this policy (or other policies) or employee relations matters, Trinity’s Team of Consultants can help you.

Posted in HR Management

FINDING & KEEPING GOOD PEOPLE

war-for-talent

Economists project that 2015 will see:

  •  A continued strengthening of the U.S. labor market
  • Job growth approaching or exceeding the estimated 15-year high reached in 2014.

arrow-bulletThe hottest industries for hiring are information technology, financial services, manufacturing and healthcare.
arrow-bulletThe hottest jobs are in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math).

These projections are supported by a number of facts & factors:

  • Executives see an increase in consumer demand
  • 74% of executives plan to expand their businesses
  • In turn, 36% plan to increase their full-time staff
    arrow-bulletUp from 24% in 2014
    arrow-bulletThe most since 2006

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THE BAD NEWS FOR EMPLOYERS IS:

  • The employment market is the strongest it’s been in six years.
  • 86% of North American workers plan to actively look for a new job this year.
  • Employers face the loss of employees, especially those with talents that are in demand & those who are their best performers
    arrow-bulletNearly 60% of surveyed employers said keeping higher performing workers from jumping ship is a top business concern.
  • 75+% of all HR heads say they are already struggling to fill open positions with candidates who:
    arrow-bulletPossess the right skills
    arrow-bulletFit the culture of their organizations

Trinity’s Team of Consultants can help you win the TALENT WAR on both of its key fronts:
check-markEmployee retention
check-markTalent recruitment

For more information, e mail Trinity at info@TrinityHR.net or visit our website at www.TrinityHR.net.

Posted in Talent Acquisition, Executive Search, Employment & Employee Retention

DEALING EFFECTIVELY WITH EMPLOYEE COMPLAINTS

complaints

With employees increasingly raising concerns or complaints to their employers, it is vitally important that organizations have a written policy & process in place stating:

  • How employees are to do so
  • To whom concerns/complaints are to be brought, including what to do when the complaint is about their immediate supervisor/manager
  • What will happen following the complaint’s being raised
  • Employee protection against retaliation

In addition to having a written policy & process, organizations need to know how to conduct an investigation into an employee concern or complaint.  This is especially true when it is related to a violation of employee rights or government regulations, such as:

  • Discrimination on the basis of one of the protected employee classes
  • Sexual harassment
  • Non-compliance with the Wage & Hour Act (aka the Fair Labor Standards Act)

Common & costly investigation mistakes include:

  1. Ignoring the complaint & thus not conducting an investigation
  2. Delaying the investigation’s start
  3. Failing to identify the purpose & scope of the investigation, including answering the following questions as part of the investigation action plan:
    • Who will conduct the investigation

arrow-bulletIs the subject such than an outside party such as the organization’s employment attorney or its HR consulting firm should be involved

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  • What will be investigated
  • What information or evidence is needed
  • Who will be interviewed & in what sequence
  1. Not be thorough enough
  2. Not maintaining objectivity
    • The purpose IS NOT to assume nothing wrong occurred or to exonerate the organization without a basis for doing so
  1. Failing to reach a conclusion
  2. Not preparing a written report
  3. Failing to communicate with those involved, particularly the complaining employee

If your organization needs help with Employee or Labor Relations, Trinity’s Team of experienced Consultants can provide assistance expertly and economically.

Posted in Employee & Labor Relations

HIRING THE RIGHT PERSON

hiring-rightWhy is hiring right so important? The quality of your organization’s products or services starts & continues with quality people.

  • Quality is all about the people who are performing the work!

 

Here are some reasons why companies sometimes make the wrong hiring decisions:

  • Over-reliance on a candidate’s resume

arrow-bullet  A resume is an advertisement written to have you “buy” the candidate!

  • Some candidates interview really well, but don’t perform at that level. Others don’t come across well in an interview, yet are excellent performers.

arrow-bullet Too many managers wanting to make their hiring decision based on how well the candidate interviewed.

The most common reason an organization chooses to do their own managerial or executive search is the perceived additional cost of using a search firm. This reasoning often fails to fully take into account:

  • The lack of attention to other important matters due to the time spent by an internal person doing the search
  • Successful searches require advanced, specialized skills that may not be possessed internally, such as:

arrow-bulletNetwork to find individuals who are not actively seeking new opportunities

arrow-bulletEvaluative skills to determine which candidates are the best matches

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  • The emotional energy expended, momentum lost & progress not made due to a bad hiring decision

arrow-bulletPlus the financial expense typically associated with exiting a bad hire

Here’s how the use of services from a search firm can help ensure you “hire right”:

  • Discover candidates you might never find on your own

arrow-bullet Including from targeted companies/competitors

  •  Conduct in depth, probing interviews to provide better candidate screening
  •  Do psychometric assessments related to candidates’ competencies & behavioral styles
  •  Effectively determine the compensation package needed to land your candidate of choice
  •  Prepare offer letters with the necessary restrictive covenants to protect your company’s interests (for example, non-compete agreements)

If your organization has a talent acquisition need, Trinity can conduct an effective, highly professional search on your behalf & at a very competitive fee.

Posted in Talent Acquisition, Executive Search, Employment & Employee Retention

2015 PROJECTED PAY RAISES

pay-raise

For 2015, base salary increases are projected to be 3.0% across almost all industries.  The two exceptions are:

  • The oil and gas industry projection is higher–4.0%.
  • Hospital employees are expected to be lower—2.0%.

2015 will mark the 4th consecutive year  that pay increases have hovered at or just under the 3.0% increase mark

The table below shows the average increase by employee group  from 2008 to 2015, with minimal differentiation by group:

 

 Group  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014 2015 Proj
Executive 3.9 1.4 2.4 2.8 2.9 2.9 3.0 3.1
Exempt 3.7 1.8 2.4 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.9 3.0
Hourly 3.6 2.0 2.4 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.8 3.0
Union 3.4 2.2 2.5 2.6 2.5 2.6 Not Avail Not Avail

 

Research shows that:

  • Base pay increasesThe condition is defined as special info cialis samples an inability to have an erection or hard enough erection to penetrate the partner. tied to individual performance (“pay for performance” or “merit increases”) remain the cornerstone of compensation plans
  • Companies are increasingly emphasizing variable pay in the form of annual incentive compensation based on a combination of company performance & individual performance

arrow-bullet

More companies are recognizing that having all of their employees participating (not just executive & management level ones) is a key ingredient to achieving their organization’s financial, operating & other goals.

If your organization needs help with designing or refining its compensation strategy & related plans, Trinity’s Team of talented Consultants can provide assistance expertly and economically.

Posted in Compensation & Performance Management

NEWLY ISSUED FEDERAL CONTRACTOR NON-DISCRIMINATION REGULATIONS

OFCCP

In December, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published a final rule that prohibits federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The rule requires federal contractors covered under existing Executive Order 11246 to include:

    • an equal opportunity clause, updated to include sexual orientation and gender identity, in all contracts that are new or modified after April 8, 2015.

arrow-bullet The OFCCP also noted an EEOC ruling that discrimination because a person is transgenderis sex discrimination in violation of Title VII.

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  • updated equal opportunity language in job postings and advertisements and display an updated poster that the OFCCP is currently creating.

If your organization needs help with regulatory compliance, Trinity’s Team of Consultants can provide assistance expertly and economically.

Posted in HR Legal & Compliance

IS YOUR TEAM OFF “TRACC”?

track

As leaders we sometimes miss the signs that our team is not functioning at an optimal level.  Although the causes of this vary from team to team, there are some common characteristics that you can look for. The five characteristics that indicate your team may be off “TRACC” are:

  1. TRUST  –  Do team members have complete trust in one other?  — as evidenced by:
  • Openness
  • Transparency
  • Vulnerability
  1. RESULTS-FOCUSED Are team members totally driven to achieve organizational performance objectives, without regard to their own egos, interests or agendas? 
  1. ACCOUNTABILTIY Do team members take personal accountability? Do they hold their teammates accountable?
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  1. COMMITMENT Are team members willing to go above & beyond to ensure the team is successful?
  1. CONFLICT Managed properly, conflict can be very beneficial. Does the team artificially display harmony in order to avoid conflict?

Trinity’s Team of Consultants can expertly and economically help you to:

  • Assess your team
  • Improve its performance

For more information, e mail Trinity at info@TrinityHR.net or visit our website at  www.TrinityHR.net.

Posted in Teams & Teambuilding

33% INCREASE IN “WAGE THEFT” CLAIMS

wage-theft“Wage theft” is the term used to describe when employers underpay or don’t pay employees what they are required to.  Typically, it is related to:

  • Overtime payment
  • Misclassification of employees as exempt from overtime
  • Violating minimum wage rules
  • Misclassifying individuals as employees instead of independent contractors

Sometimes this occurs unintentionally.  However, the U.S. Department of Labor & state Wage & Hour Offices do not accept this as a defense against fines & penalties. Claims at both the federal & state levels have risen dramatically in recent years.

  • Since 2010, claims have increased by 33%!
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  • A recent survey showed that the average employee is receiving $2,600 less than required by law.

To ensure compliance, Post & Shell, a Philadelphia law firm, has said that “an audit of wage & hour practices by an external party can help an organization…address potential problems.”

Trinity’s Team of Consultants can provide your organization with an HR audit expertly and economically.

Posted in HR Legal & Compliance

IS YOUR COMPANY OVERCONTRIBUTING TO ITS PENSION PLAN?

moneyMany companies do not know about or take advantage of the pension funding provisions of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) Act that was signed into law on July 6, 2012.

 

  • Although the Act is primarily known for authorizing funding for the nation’s highways and for extending low interest rates for federal student loans, it also included a series of pension provisions related to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Pre-MAP-21 Act:

Traditional defined benefit (“DB”) pension plans are generally subject to minimum funding rules designed to make sure that plans have enough money in them to fund promised benefits.

  • Pre-MAP-21, employers were required to use a 2-year average of interest rates.
  • As a result, today’s historically low interest rates would have meant that employers would have had to put in significantly more money than expected into their pension plans in order to meet their benefit liabilities.

Post-MAP-21 Act:
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The MAP-21 Act changed the mechanism for determining interest rates to be used for funding pension plans.

  • Instead of a 2-year average, employers can use an average of interest rates going back 25 years in order to calculate their minimum required funding contribution.
  • Consequently, employers are able to contribute significantly less money into their pension plans today while fully meeting their federally mandated funding liability.
  • It turn, taking advantage of this provision is a boost to your cash flow.

If your organization needs help with its pension plan [401(k), 403(b), defined benefit or defined contribution plan}, Trinity’s Team of Consultants can provide assistance expertly and economically.

Posted in Benefits Management

WHY IS INVESTMENT IN DEVELOPING LEADERS ON THE RISE?

leadershipFor the second consecutive year, U.S. organizations have increased their investment in developing their leaders.  In the most recent year, companies have increased this by 14%, with the biggest increase being with small companies.

The biggest reason for this is that CEOs & other executives recognize that organizations with sound leadership development programs outperform their competitors.  Here are some eye-opening statistics about those organizations that have invested in leadership development;

  • 7 times better business results, such as profitability
  • 12 times more effective in accelerating growth

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If your organization is thinking about a leadership development course, Trinity is available for a no cost, no obligation discussion.

Posted in Organizational & People Development