Human Resources

A Seven Point Checklist for HR compliance

Is Your Organization Playing by the Rules? Avoid fines and optimize your team’s productivity by following the legally established norms of employer/employee relations. Here is a step-by-step guide to doing just that: 1. Get Registered with both the IRS and your state/local revenue agencies to enable payments of your payroll taxes. Which brings us to our next point… 2. Withhold taxes accurately. After all, under-withholding could leave you in...

The 3 Most Common HR Mistakes

And How to Avoid Committing Them Yourself Leading a professional team in a way that is conducive to productivity and legally compliant can be more challenging than it sounds. Here are three frequent pitfalls that you should keep in mind: #1: Not Documenting Performance of Existing Employees. Even in a small company where you know every employee personally, conducting formal performance reviews on a consistent basis is very important....

Setting Social Boundaries with Employees

How personal is too personal? Humans are social individuals and many of us enjoy interacting with other people – both on a business and personal level. We spend an average of about 40 percent of our time at work so the chances of your personal life diving into your business social life are high. But having personal conversations in a formal office environment is something you should be careful...

Salary vs. Hourly Employees – How should you pay your hired help?

The decision on how to pay your employees can be hard. You not only have to decide how much you will pay them but you must decide whether you will pay them on an hourly or salaried basis. Laws and benefits exist for both ends of the spectrum that you should take into consideration when deciding. Pros and Cons of Paying Salary Wages A benefit of paying employees a...

A Quick Age Discrimination Q&A For HR Managers: 3 Facts Every Employer Should Know

Understanding applicable laws and regulations is crucial for employers who want to avoid making HR mistakes. This is especially true in respects to discrimination laws, as failure to comply can be quite costly in terms of fines, lawsuits, and public perception of your organization. Below are three important (and often misunderstood) questions about age discrimination regulation in the US. Question: Who is Protected by Age Discrimination Laws? Answer: The...

Remote Teamwork

There are many benefits to working with remote employees and contractors — from reduced payroll costs to increased efficiency to schedule flexibility and much more. However, challenges such as coordinating teamwork and managing the legal status of your employees can also arise. If you do opt to work on a project with a remote team, then you may find the following 5 tips helpful. • Simplify, clarify, and assign....

Legal Product Laws and How they Affect Your Organization

In 1963, the Equal Pay Act prevented wage discrimination based upon sex across the United States. One year later, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 expanded those protections — forbidding any employer from discriminating against workers based on “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” Additional federal laws would eventually protect workers based upon pregnancy status, genetic information, bankruptcy, military service, disabilities, age, and citizen status, as well. State...

Staying Compliant with New Ban the Box Laws

Across the nation, state and city governments are passing laws forbidding employers from inquiring about criminal record status until late in the hiring process. In fact, even the federal government has taken a position — federal employee applications no longer include questions regarding conviction status. At this rate, it appears as if, sooner or later, criminal records may be added in some form or another to legal non-discrimination lists...

Managing Client Relationships

Staying on positive terms with your clients can be just as important as the quality of your products or services. Retaining customers is about more than just giving them good value on a good product — it is also about being perceived as convenient, reliable, and willing to go the extra mile. Here are a few simple tips that can help you manage customer relationships more effectively: Manage Customer...

What to Do When An Employee Breaks the Rules

Whether it’s a habitual bad apple committing another infraction, or even a model employee making a sincere mistake, employee discompliance is never an easy topic for employers to deal with. After all, workplace morale, employer-employee relations, staff completeness, and even legal actions all potentially lie in the balance. However, such issues cannot be ignored — especially when they are serious and/or ongoing in nature. In this article, we will...