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“I am creating an offer letter only because the candidate asked for one but I don’t know what I should put in it.”
Your HR Survival Tip
While an offer letter has not always been legally required, it has always been a good idea. Newer laws require a written offer to candidates, depending upon your hiring process. The biggest problem we see is companies trying to put too much into that letter or not using the correct language…both of which can be problematic. We prefer to keep the actual offer letter quite simple because it can be considered a legal document.
DO include the full details of the proposed position, such as “We are pleased to offer you the non-exempt, full-time position of Program Coordinator, reporting to __.” DO include the date you want the person to start in this position. Hopefully, you already discussed the date they will be available but, if not, use something like “on or before December 1st, 2020.” While you may be anxious for them to begin, you also want to appreciate the fact that they want to give their current employer notice rather than leaving abruptly. How they leave that employer is a [click to read more …]
“I’d like to implement a plan that rewards employees for recommending people they know to our company. What do I need to consider?”
Your HR Survival Tip
Employee referral plans can be a huge benefit to your company and for your employees. When a current employee recommends someone to apply, they want the reward. As a side benefit to you, they often feel responsible for the success of that person and won’t recommend people they think might make them look bad.
When planning to offer a referral bonus, there are more things to consider than you might think:
What is the value of receiving a recommendation from an employee? Recruiting time and money can often cost you far more than paying a referral bonus. We see plans paying $300-$1000, depending upon the position. When does the current employee receive the bonus? Consider how long it takes a new hire to start doing well in the job. Or look at your turnover and determine when most of it happens. If you have a lot of turnover in the first three months, then you want to wait until after that to pay out any bonus. What process needs to be in [click to read more …]
We have a few hard deadlines ahead of us that require action. Start scheduling now to ensure everything is ready and/or done by the deadline.
By 12/31/2020 — Sexual Harassment Prevention Training
If your company has 5+ employees anywhere, including owners, all your California employees must complete their sexual harassment prevention training by 12/31 of this year. This is paid time for the employees so schedule it accordingly. We have had two years to get this training completed so it’s highly unlikely the state will accept any excuses for not meeting the deadline. There are several resources for this training available online, including our training.
On 1/1/2021 — New Minimum Wage
On January 1st, the CA minimum wage increases again for non-exempt (hourly) employees. Companies with 25 or fewer employees must pay $13/hour, while companies with 26 or more employees must pay $14/hour. These numbers will continue to increase by $1 for the next two years. Please check the law in your area because most have a higher minimum wage. For example, the city of San Diego’s minimum wage will be $14/hour on 1/1 for companies of any size.
On 1/1/2021 — New Minimum Salary
Whenever the state’s minimum wage [click to read more …]
“I just don’t understand how unemployment works when I’m able to offer a little part-time work for employees.”
Your HR Survival Tip
We have been exposed to just about every combination of work versus unemployment this year. One of the questions we get most often is how unemployment is affected if you only give the employee a few hours each week rather than full-time work.
When a worker is on unemployment but also works part-time, they are required to report those earnings every two weeks to EDD (California’s Employment Development Department). EDD then does a calculation based on those earnings versus the worker’s unemployment benefits, based on one of two ways:
Method 1 — This is used when that paycheck is more than $100. The first 25% doesn’t count but the other 75% is subtracted from what the employee would have received in unemployment benefits that period.Method 2 — This is used when that paycheck is $100 or less. The first $25.00 doesn’t count but the rest of the paycheck is subtracted from what the employee would have received in unemployment benefits that period.
We appear to be at the end of the Federal add-on to unemployment. However, knowing these calculation [click to read more …]
If you have or were using independent contractors, you know California has complicated it over the past couple of years. The California Supreme Court established the ABC test, which made it very hard to have contractors doing anything related to customers. Then AB5 clarified certain positions could be classified as contractors. While this opened the door a bit, it’s still been hard for most companies to hire contractors and be confident with that decision.
Governor Newsom just signed AB2257, which now opens that door a bit wider. Workers that may now qualify as independent contractors include:
Certain occupations in connection with creating, marketing, promoting, or distributing sound recordings or musical compositions.A musician or musical group for the purpose of a single-engagement live performance event, except in certain conditions.An individual performance artist presenting material that is their original work, creative in character, and the result of which depends primarily on the individual’s invention, imagination, or talent.Still photographer, photojournalist, videographer, or photo editor, as defined, who works under a written contract that specifies certain terms.People who provide services to a digital content aggregator, as defined, by a still photographer, photojournalist, videographer, or photo editor.Fine artist, freelance writer, translator, editor, content [click to read more …]
“I’ve been working with my insurance broker for many years. Lately, when I’ve asked him a question based on something I heard, I find myself worrying about the answers he gives me.”
Your HR Survival Tip
As with any profession, it’s important to stay up-to-date with the changes in your industry and with technology being used in the industry. Too often, when we start working with a new client, we find the insurance broker doesn’t know the answer to our questions…and we believe they should.
While loyalty is a fabulous thing, you may have to decide if your loyalty really belongs to your broker or to your employees. You may not like “breaking up” with your broker but you do need to take responsibility for the choices you make affecting your employees. We all use brokers to provide us with those choices.
We recently heard a client’s broker say he wasn’t really “techie,” so he was unaware that technology started playing a big role in insurance enrollments years ago. Whether you are enrolling directly online with the carrier or using an online broker-provided service like Ease, being able to have employees enroll online (by smartphone or computer) is [click to read more …]
“I have employees who want to work from home. However, we’ve never done this before and I’m not sure how it works.”
Your HR Survival Tip
There has never been a higher demand for the ability to work from home as there is right now. But the demand was high even six months ago because technology continues to improve and many workers prefer to work from their own home. First, however, your business needs to be structured and prepared.
If you look beyond today’s health concerns, the ability to work remotely has and will continue to be considered a benefit only available or offered to certain employees. Many industries aren’t able to function without employees on-site, such as manufacturing, transportation, construction, and those using laboratories.
An employee might think it’s easy for them to work from home, particularly if they are an office worker. However, as a business owner, you need to think of the whole picture:
Timekeeping — Are employees able to record time worked online from any computer? How can you ensure they are still taking meal and rest breaks? Are you set up to use electronic signatures?Productivity — What electronic methods do you have set [click to read more …]
“I’m confused. When talking about an employee’s regular pay, I’m assuming it’s the same as their base pay. However, now I’m hearing something different. Are these the same?”
Your HR Survival Tip
An employee’s base rate may be the same as their regular rate. However, many times, the regular rate is actually higher than the base rate because the regular rate is based on a calculation and includes more things.
The base pay is the hourly rate you pay the employee and it’s no more complicated than that.
The regular rate, as mentioned, is a calculation based on money paid to the employee for more than just hours worked. It includes those hourly earnings, non-exempt salary, commissions, production bonuses, piece-rate earnings, and even the value of meals and lodging. Also included is that stipend you might pay the employee toward a personal insurance policy instead of providing company health insurance.
What does not count toward that regular rate are gifts, holiday pay, vacation pay, sick pay, expense reimbursements, discretionary bonuses, profit-sharing, overtime pay, and ERISA-qualified retirement plan contributions.
Why does this matter? Because when an hourly employee works overtime or uses sick time, you can’t just pay [click to read more …]
“I now have about 30 employees and have heard about employee engagement but I don’t really know what that means or why it’s important.”
Your HR Survival Tip
Employee engagement, in simplistic terms, means employees are involved in your company rather than just having a job. If the employee is just coming to a job, they can easily replace that job with a different one. However, if they are engaged with your company, they feel needed and important and that emotional connection often results in much better retention and happier employees.
Involving employees in the business isn’t that hard to do. People love to give their opinions and many just need to be asked. Management often gets so wrapped up in the big picture, they don’t really know how the front line is doing. If you think about it, that front line may not have a management title but they are often the ones with great ideas that could save you money or increase production.
If we walked into your company and started talking with employees, how would they answer these questions?
Why is what you are doing important to this company?Do you have ideas of how your work [click to read more …]
“As we come to the end of the year, I’m considering bonuses for my employees. Has anything changed I need to know?”
Your HR Survival Tip
Employees typically love to receive cash bonuses at any time. However, as a business, you need to consider whether you are taking full advantage of this particular benefit so your business benefits, too.
The laws have become very picky about non-discretionary bonuses. A non-discretionary bonus is one that is expected and, often, the amount the employee might get is also known based on certain criteria. Many companies have had their bonus plan in place for so long it would likely be considered non-discretionary for legal purposes. Non-discretionary bonuses must now calculate an overtime amount based on any overtime worked by hourly employees over the bonus period. Yes, it’s another strange calculation California requires so let us know if you need help with it.
If you want a discretionary bonus plan, employees should haven’t any expectation of a bonus, should wonder if there will even be one, wonder when it might be, and have no clue about how much they might receive. Does your bonus plan fit this? If not, it could be considered [click to read more …]
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