Author: decisely1

Employee coaching and engagement are important parts of business leadership. Engaged employees typically reflect happy employees. As a business owner, there are plenty of things you can do to improve engagement levels and boost the overall environment of the company.

Sure, a pool table and catered lunches are awesome perks, but great leaders should also seek to develop their team members. A recent study reported that managers that were coached by others higher up also passed that coaching along to other employees. In short, coaching not only benefits your employees, but it helps you, too. It helps build relationships, improve interactions with and among employees, and provides insights into employees’ perspectives. Bonus: employees get to know you, understand your expectations, and can grow in their roles.

How to Create an Employee Coaching Process

Your coaching process can either be formal or informal. Choose the process that fits with your company culture. The process should provide your employees with expectations, including frequency, coaching length, consistency, and documentation.

Informal coaching programs can be effective, but sometimes lack information, resources, and clear expectations, leaving your employees with little information in terms of next steps. Coaching processes can be adaptable to each manager’s work style, just ensure that all managers are equally invested. In establishing your employee coaching program, define the following five areas in order to maximize the value of coaching sessions and maintain consistency:

• Frequency. Depending on the tenure of the employee and their experience level, coaching should happen either weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. For tenured employees, monthly conversations are appropriate. For recent hires, those who are newly promoted, or employees who are on a performance improvement plan, weekly conversations should be scheduled between the manager and employee at minimum for eight weeks.
• Honesty. Effective coaching happens when trust is established, and both parties can talk honestly and openly. Of course there is going to be an uncomfortable conversation or two. If each party looks at it as honest feedback, then progress can easily be achieved. Be mindful of the employee’s feelings. Try to strike a balance and provide them with viable methods of improvement. Don’t forget to let them know what they are doing well, too. This will help your team member leave the meeting on a positive note.
• Regular Follow Up. Coaches and employees should leave meetings a short list of to-do’s that require follow up by both parties. As a leader, you need to set the example. Make sure you follow through on your commitments, meet deadlines, and follow up as promised.
• Focus. It’s easy in a coaching meeting to go off on different tangents. Set an agenda of topics to be covered at the beginning of the meeting. Allow your employee an opportunity for input. Be prepared to park a lot items that need further information or clarification. Remember, a coaching conversation is about improving an employee’s performance.
• Documentation. Keep detailed notes of all employee conversations and coaching. Use a simple spreadsheet or notebook to record the conversation including date, time, and topics discussed. If an employee’s performance does not progress or if there is a workplace investigation, you need these notes to establish context or an employee’s next performance steps.

Employee Coaching is a Continuous Process

Remember that coaching your employees is an ongoing process. There is no beginning or end. We’re all just stuck in the middle together. You want to make sure your employees are on top of their game and their skill sets are continually improving as they progress through their career. You, your employees, and your business will benefit.

Exempt and non-exempt. You probably have heard of these two terms. Do you know the differences between the two? If you’re a little unsure, keep reading. We’ve got you covered.

What’s the difference between exempt and non-exempt employees?

In a nutshell, exempt employees are not eligible to receive overtime pay. And non-exempt are eligible. Meaning any time after 40 hours worked by a non-exempt employee earns them overtime.

In the simplest terms, non-exempt employees are paid hourly and are eligible to receive overtime pay when they work in excess of 40 hours during the workweek.

Exempt employees are exempt from the requirements defined by the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act). Exempt level employees are paid a salary. In order for a job to be classified as exempt, the job and responsibility must pass something called a “duties test.” Employees that qualify as exempt typically have job duties that are labeled as executive, professional, or administrative.

Expected Fair Labor Standards Act Changes

In 2016, there were a number of changes made about how we compensate and categorize exempt and non-exempt level workers. These changes are expected to impact over half of the U.S. workforce. Here’s 2 of the big takeaways:

The salary minimum threshold for exempt workers will increase.

Although the exact salary minimum isn’t yet confirmed, the Department of Labor has hinted at increasing the minimum from $23,660 to $50,440. This change will result in a number of challenges for small businesses, non-profits, and companies in industries like retail and hospitality who compensate managers at the salary minimum requirement to qualify for exempt level status. Once the change goes into effect, exempt managers will need to have their pay increased to the new threshold or begin receiving overtime for working over 40 hours.

The definition of primary duty is changing.

The term “primary duty” is defined as the “principal, main, major, or most important duty that the employee performs.” The distinction of primary duty is important because in order for an employee to be considered exempt, their primary duty must be central to management job responsibilities.

4 Misconceptions About Exempt and Non-Exempt Status

Regardless of how the FLSA changes in 2016, there are 4 common misconceptions about how to manage exempt and non-exempt employees:

• The use of vacation and time off. An employee that qualifies as exempt may not need to use their PTO if they get sick or work a half day. The PTO and vacation policy should be outlined in the employee handbook. If you need any help creating a PTO policy for your business, HR employee handbook templates are provided by through the Decisely OnDemand HR Support Center along with tips for implementation.
• Exempt employees’ pay can be docked. If an exempt employee has used all of their vacation time, sick time, or any other paid time off, the FLSA regulation does allow docking of exempt employee pay for full day absences. One important thing to remember is that lack of office presence does not mean lack of productivity, meaning an employee could easily be taking calls or answering emails from home.
• Exempt level employees’ hours worked can be tracked. It’s common practice for employers to ask employees who receive a salary to record their hours of work. This is especially important for employers to do now that the FLSA is changing. Once the salary threshold is increased, employers will need to weigh the expense of increasing an exempt level employee to the much higher salary threshold minimum or paying them overtime for hours over 40 worked.
• Non-exempt employees can work off the clock. Because non-exempt workers are paid and compensated on an hourly basis, they cannot work outside of “work” hours. Rather, non-exempt employees should track their hours throughout their specified shifts.

The key here is that your employees know how they are classified and what that means for their work schedules. So long as you stay up to date, so can your employees.

Let’s face it, off-boarding any employee is never fun. It’s the sour lemon, the piece of stale cake, you know, not the bee’s knees, as they say. Regardless, you should have a process in place when it comes to a demotion or termination of an employee. Mainly to ensure a smooth transition, and also to ensure you remain compliant. This is where COBRA comes in.

Off-boarding is a strategic process for transitioning employees out of an organization. This includes everything from equipment returns to exit interviews. Off-boarding also includes employer activities such as processing termination paperwork, calculation of the final paycheck, and ensuring that COBRA paperwork is mailed to the exiting employee.

Defining COBRA

COBRA is short for the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act. Say that five times fast. All kidding aside, COBRA was established in 1986 to provide exiting employees an opportunity to maintain their group health insurance coverage.  Employers who offer group healthcare coverage must notify all employee participants and dependents of their COBRA rights, eligibility, duration of coverage, payment expectations and premium notices.

• COBRA notices are given to employees who are leaving the organization and dependents who are being removed from group coverage.
• Employee participants have the option to continue their coverage for up to 18 months.
• Employee participants have to pay 100% of the cost of coverage including what the employer had contributed in the past, plus a 2% administrative fee.

Improving Your COBRA Communication and Off-Boarding Process

The key to effectively managing COBRA and any off-boarding program is open communication and attention to detail. Here’s how:

• Audit your termination and off-boarding process. Determine potential opportunities that exist for additional communication points for exiting employees. Walk yourself through the existing termination and off-boarding process. Develop a process flow chart that includes how HR is notified of an employee notice, any established communication points that exist between HR and the employee, and information and resources that are provided prior to the employee’s last day.
• Talk to your current HR technology and service providers. Ask them for guidance. Decisely offers templates and guidance on how to manage COBRA and off-boarding.
• Train managers and HR staff. Provide an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document to include terms and definitions. This will provide your team additional information and resources to assist with the process.
• Establish a 90 day off-boarding process that begins when the employee gives their notice. It should establish a work and communication flow that continues beyond when the termination is processed by HR and administrative staff. Off-boarding programs can include exit interviews, updating the exiting employee’s contact information and mailing address and sitting down with to address commonly asked questions you receive from employees after they have left the company.

The off-boarding process isn’t fun, but it is necessary. Programs like COBRA make this process and the overall transition much more efficient for both you and your employees.

You know that saying, no one likes change. The thing is – in the world of benefits and insurance, changes are to be expected. Most recently, OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) has issued a new rule when it comes to reporting workplace injuries.

Sooo what is the new OSHA rule?

OSHA has stipulated that business owners should submit relevant workplace injuries or illnesses electronically. Separately, the new rule states that companies cannot discourage employees from reporting workplace injuries or illnesses. Also known as anti-retaliation provisions. (Say that five times fast.) Luckily, OSHA is giving companies until November 1, 2016 to get in the know. (Luckily, this article is available in September). ?

A bit more detail…

The electronic reporting provisions will begin in 2017. This provision stipulates any 2016 injuries or illnesses listed on the Form 300A should be electronically submitted by July 1, 2017. 2017 injuries should be submitted by July 1, 2018. And, if you thought a pattern was beginning here, it’s not.

Starting in 2019, injury and illnesses reports from the previous year will be required by March 2. (Just to keep things interesting, of course.)

There are four main rules under the anti-retaliation provisions:

1. Employers must let employees know about their right to report any work-related illnesses or injuries.
2. Employers must create a procedure for employees to report work-related illnesses and injuries that does not discourage employees from reporting these incidents.
3. Employers must provide their employees access to workplace injury and illness records.
4. Employees cannot retaliate against any employee for reporting a workplace injury or illness.

Now much of this is subjective, but OSHA states that companies cannot implement any program that encourages or incentivizes keeping accident or injury rates low. Throw the gold stars and brownie points out – at least for this.

Just remember – the most important thing is to stay-up-to-date on requirements, know your options, the rules, and remain compliant. Check the Decisely blog often to keep up with the ever-changing world of benefits and insurance.

As your business continues to grow, freelancers and contractors are a great opportunity to gain additional resources. They can help you scale by assisting with various projects and needs, from accounting to marketing. Many contractors have specific sets of expertise and can help you prioritize your resources effectively. Outsourcing is best when you have projects that may not call for the hiring of an additional full-time employee. We’ve outlined some of the biggest benefits that freelancers can bring to your business:

Flexibility

When you first launch your company, you may not be able to hire a team of full-time employees. Freelancers can help you with any projects or services you need on a temporary basis. This flexibility can save you money in multiple ways, mainly in terms of fixed costs when it comes to your payroll. Contractors transform your payroll into one of variable costs. Additionally, hiring a contractor can come in handy as the demands of your business move up and down, especially if your business is seasonal.

Experience

Think about any time you may have searched for freelancers or contractors. Typically, you’ll search for very specific terms based on what you need. This is one of the biggest advantages to freelancers: they usually have a specialty. Whether that is digital marketing, writing, or graphic design – freelancers can help you meet very specific needs for your business.

Affordability

This goes hand in hand with the flexibility of freelancers. Freelancers can typically work from wherever, which means you won’t have to deal with any overhead costs. It goes beyond your payroll – this includes travel costs, training, configuring office space, etc. This way, you’ll get the right contributions to your company while still maintaining independence between your business and the contractor.

Results Driven

More often than not, freelancers stake their reputations on results. They value client feedback and most want to deliver the right results. They’ll understand what’s important to your business or what’s crucial to the project that’s been given to them. For freelancers and contractors, they are building a business of their own in terms of their passion and their expertise. Most will focus on doing the best they can for your business. And that helps move your business forward.

Apart from being a fun acronym to say, HIPAA has a ton to do with employee privacy and employee benefits. However, this federal regulation can be quite confusing. That’s why we’ve prepared this handy guide with the 4 most important factors for HIPAA compliance.

First let’s start with the basics, like what HIPAA actually stands for and why it is important to be compliant with HIPAA standards.

What Does HIPAA Stand For?

HIPAA is short for the Health Information Portability and Protection Act of 1996. The HIPAA Privacy Rule establishes just that: privacy when it comes to medical records and personal health information. This Rule applies to businesses with at least one of these three:

• Health plans

• Healthcare clearinghouses

• Healthcare providers that conduct certain health care transactions electronically

The rule requires appropriate safeguards to protect the privacy of personal health information. It sets limits and conditions on the use and disclosure of information. The rule gives patients the right to examine and obtain a copy of their health records and to request corrections. Because we want everything copacetic, don’t we?

Are Employers Required to Enforce HIPAA?

If you as an employer pay for a portion of an employee’s health plan, you fall under HIPAA privacy guidelines. Lucky you, this is because you help pay for a portion of the cost of medical care.

HIPAA protects the following types of personal medical information (i.e. this is information that should not be shared):

• Patient date of birth

• Patient full name

• Patient diagnosis

• Patient medical record number (MRN)

It’s likely that as an employer, you have access to this information as part of the benefit enrollment process like the one Decisely offers. With Decisely you have access to dedicated, licensed health insurance brokers to help you through difficult compliance questions like this on a daily basis.

On the off-chance you don’t feel like making a call, how does HIPAA really affect a small business? How do you manage those doctors’ notes, leave of absence paperwork, or requests for Family Medical Leave?

Here’s the 4 ways HIPAA impacts employers and HR:

• Protect sensitive healthcare information. Employers collect personal health information of their employees as well as dependents of the employee. To meet compliance standards, this information needs to be stored in a secure location, like a steel vault buried 10 feet underground. Or more realistically, a separate facility like the Decisely secured, cloud-based platform. 😉
• Provide HIPAA training for employees with access to sensitive health information. Company representatives who are responsible or involved in collecting this protected information should receive annual HIPAA training.
• Protect FSA or wellness program information. Sensitive health information is shared by employees in a number of different ways. This includes things such as employee annual benefit programs and new hire benefit enrollment. Don’t forget to secure and protect information for flexible spending accounts and employee wellness programs, too!
• Protect Occupational Health Records. Also known as OHR or Employee Health Records, these records include the results of post-offer employee physicals, workers compensation claims, and other workplace injuries covered by OSHA. The bottom line is this: keep all of this information secure and safe.

What HIPAA Doesn’t Protect

While HIPAA requires employers to secure employee and dependent medical information, it does not protect certain limited medical information. For instance, if an employee requests sick leave for a day or something longer such as a leave of absence, they should share some basic medical info to support their request.

Most importantly with HIPAA, remember to seek out the latest compliance standards or work with your team to provide information and training for your business. This on-going training will help to handle employee medical information, formal or informal workplace accommodation, and maintain positive employee relations.

We all are familiar with Batman, right? You know, the vigilante with a black cape and black leather suit – most recently portrayed by Christian Bale and Ben Affleck in the movies. Basically, Batman is the community’s protector – at least in the world of comics.

Why the Batman interest? Well, ERISA is the U.S. Department of Labor’s “Batman” when it comes to Americans’ retirement assets. No seriously, it really is. Read on to learn how.

In more detail…

Passed in 1974, ERISA, short for the Employee Retirement Security Act, is a federal law pertaining to private industry pension and healthcare plans. Why do you need to know about it? It is super important. Businesses must remain compliant with the legal jargon under ERISA. Working with licensed brokers like Decisely can ensure your business is compliant.

To really let you in on what this act is all about, ERISA ensures that any funds placed into retirement plans during an employee’s working life will be safe and secure when that employee goes to retire. Hence the “security” part of the act.

For pension plans, ERISA stipulates when an employee can become a participant in the plan, how long an employee can take time away from their job before their pension plan is impacted, and if a spouse can participate in the pension plan in the event of the employee’s death.

Let’s be clear here: as an employer, you do not have to offer any form of pension plan. ERISA simply outlines the minimum requirements for you if you do decide to offer your employees this option.

Here are the requirements…

ERISA states that you must provide employees readily available information on the features and funding options for retirement and pension plans. Not only that, but it also sets the standard for participating, vesting, and accrual options. Essentially, how often an employee can contribute to their plan and how much they can contribute.

Let’s not forget about plan fiduciaries. Holy big words, Batman! To make it a bit clearer, a plan fiduciary is a person that has discretionary control in terms of managing the plan and the assets in it. A fiduciary also has the power to change the investments in the plan. On the flip side, ERISA also protects plan participants (mainly your employees) by giving them the right to sue for any breaches by their fiduciary.

Phew! You may be thinking all of that is a whole lot of big words and even more to remember, but like I said, working with the right broker ensures your compliance. So you can continue to go about your business with no sweat. And without capes no less.

What do Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, and even Inspector Gadget have in common? They know anything and everything about investigating. And sometimes investigations are necessary in the workplace. A proper workplace investigation helps you manage EEO Charges, Department of Labor disputes, and other employment law situations.

The type of workplace investigations you will encounter working in HR will vary from compensation complaints, sexual harassment, abusive managers, to even simple incidents like reports of smoking on company property.

Develop and Communicate a Workplace Investigation Process

A workplace investigation process is more than a checklist. It creates a protocol that should be communicated to all employees.

The leadership team should understand all facets of the process. It’s important to be trained on receiving and communicating employee complaints, and on the mechanisms that exist for employees to air their grievances. These might include, but are not limited to: talking to a manager, a member of human resources, or reporting a concern anonymously.

Plan and Anticipate Investigation Challenges

Conducting workplace investigations is a challenging, but important, responsibility for HR professionals. When it comes to employee investigations the best defense is an aggressive offense. As a leader in your organization, develop communication channels to ensure that managers know how to handle countless situations that may arise.

4 Tips on Conducting a Proper Workplace Investigation

• Document, Document, Document. From employee statements to your investigation notes, the more information you have, the better you can provide a proper recommendation.

• Establish Expectations. When conducting interviews and taking statements with employees, it’s important to establish expectations with all parties involved. Be upfront and discuss the importance of maintaining confidentiality, refraining from retaliation, and the consequences involved if the former two are not followed.

• Gather Evidence. Apart from interviews and statements, check employee files and other workplace incidents or documentation. In my retail HR career, it was common to request and review video footage from common areas like the sales floor, cash registers, and parking lots to determine a timeline of events. Don’t forget to look at past investigations and outcomes to determine if there is an established precedent.

• Be Objective. As the investigator, be objective. Avoid passing judgement on anyone involved in the investigation. Be prepared to conduct interviews and investigations that involve employees from all parts of the investigation. One of my first workplace investigations was an abuse complaint made by an employee against a manager. This manager was also my peer. Yet I knew I had to remain professional, objective, and uphold confidentiality at all times.

Communicating Your Investigation Results and Recommendations

At the close of your investigation, it’s important to sit down with your management team and openly discuss the results and your recommendations. These conversations are not always easy to have, especially if they involve disciplinary action or a move to terminate an employee. Be direct, provide solid reasoning to support your recommendations, and be open to relevant feedback. And in no time, you’ll be saying, it’s elementary, my dear Watson!