Don’t Forget to Post OSHA Injury and Illness Data at Your Worksite
Employers who are covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA's) record-keeping rule must post a summary of 2018 work-related injury and illnesses in a noticeable place from Feb. 1 to April 30. Read this blog post from SHRM to learn more.
Employers that are covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA's) record-keeping rule must post a summary of 2018 work-related injury and illnesses in a noticeable place from Feb. 1 to April 30. Here are some compliance tips for employers to review.
Required Posting
Many employers with more than 10 employees—except for those in certain low-risk industries—must keep a record of serious work-related injuries and illnesses. But minor injuries that are treated only by first aid do not need to be recorded.
Employers must complete an incident report (Form 301) for each injury or illness and log work-related incidents on OSHA Form 300. Form 300A is a summary of the information in the log that must be posted in the worksite from Feb. 1 to April 30 each year.
"This information helps employers, workers and OSHA evaluate the safety of a workplace, understand industry hazards, and implement worker protections to reduce and eliminate hazards," according to OSHA's website.
Employers should note that they are required to keep a separate 300 log for each "establishment," which is defined as "a single physical location where business is conducted or where services or industrial operations are performed."
If employees don't work at a single physical location, then the establishment is the location from which the employees are supervised or that serves as their base.
Employers frequently ask if they need to complete and post Form 300A if there were no injuries at the relevant establishment. "The short answer is yes, " said Tressi Cordaro, an attorney with Jackson Lewis in Washington, D.C. "If an employer recorded no injuries or illnesses in 2018 for that establishment, then the employer must enter 'zero' on the total line."
Correct Signature
Before the OSHA Form 300A is posted in the worksite, a company executive must review it and certify that "he or she has examined the OSHA 300 Log and that he or she reasonably believes, based on his or her knowledge of the process by which the information was recorded, that the annual summary is correct and complete," according to OSHA.
A common mistake seen on 300A forms is that companies forget to have them signed, noted John Martin, an attorney with Ogletree Deakins in Washington, D.C.
There are only four company representatives who may certify the summary:
- An owner of the company.
- An officer of the corporation.
- The highest-ranking company official working at the site.
- The immediate supervisor of the highest-ranking company official working at the site.
Businesses commonly make the mistake of having an HR or safety supervisor sign the form, said Edwin Foulke Jr., an attorney with Fisher Phillips in Atlanta and Washington, D.C., and the former head of OSHA under President George W. Bush.
They need to get at least the plant manager to sign it, he said, noting that the representative who signs Form 300A must know how numbers in the summary were obtained.
Once the 300A form is completed, it should be posted in a conspicuous place where other employment notices are usually posted.
Electronic Filing
The Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses rule requires covered establishments with at least 20 employees to also electronically submit Form 300A to OSHA.
Large establishments with 250 or more employees were also supposed to begin electronically submitting data from the 300 and 301 forms in 2018, but the federal government recently eliminated that requirement. However, those establishments still must electronically submit their 300A summaries.
The deadline to electronically submit 2018 information is March 2.
SOURCE: Nagele-Piazza, L. (1 February 2019) "Don’t Forget to Post OSHA Injury and Illness Data at Your Worksite" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/don%E2%80%99t-forget-to-post-osha-injury-and-illness-data-at-your-worksite.aspx/
Recruiting in the Tight(est) of Labor Markets
Are you struggling to attract top talent? Recruiters are left searching for ways to recruit top talent in a seemingly shrinking talent pool. Read on for tips on recruiting in the tightest of labor markets.
The Job Market in 2019 is drastically different than the one we all became accustomed to for so many years. The unemployment rate is two percent for college graduates, and an even tighter market in the growth areas of Digital Strategy and Data. The result is more and more companies going after a seemingly shrinking talent pool of available candidates. What is a Recruiter to do?
Develop a Relationship
Enter into the mindset that everyone is a (passive) candidate, not just anyone that responds to your job post on Indeed or Linkedin. I find that the right passive candidate is very responsive to the inquiry along the lines of “you have an exceptional background, would you have 10/15 minutes for an informational call so we could learn more about you and tell you our story?” This accomplishes two things: the potential candidate’s defenses come down so they can’t say they are not in the market, and it develops a consultative relationship between organization and candidate. Now you can start to develop a robust candidate bench!
Tell Your Story
Today’s Candidate, especially those in the millennial generation, aren’t motivated solely by salary, but by the type of work they are doing. Is it innovative, is the workplace diverse (and is that reflected in the organization’s leadership), what is the organization’s standing in their industry and what is their social impact in the community? How is the organization viewed on Glassdoor and other workplace review websites? Develop a strategic plan bringing out the value of your organization, with an emphasis on your employees, and have a vision for your future. It’s mandatory in 2019 that a corporation has to be storytellers, using Video and Social Media, and that story has to be a compelling message to bring in the right candidates. Today’s workplace culture is not a “Grind it out” until retirement, it’s one focused on doing great work and being personally fulfilled.
Employee Growth
Identify multiple successful employee ambassadors throughout your organization that a candidate can speak with before going forward. Think of these conversations as positive interactions of transparency, more fact-finding for both parties and less “selling” the organization, the most sought after candidate pool is also the most sales-resistant. These ambassadors can also help report back to hiring managers their own honest feedback of the candidate and how they would fit into your unique culture. Finally, have clear examples of employee growth throughout the organization, and not always through title. It could be a successful cross-departmental project that an employee led, or skills acquired that made them the SME in the organization. Genuine accomplishment and fulfillment will always resonate more than financial metrics to your key candidate. EQ should be just as valued as IQ in finding the right hire!
SOURCE: McKinley, C. (17 January 2019) "Recruiting in the Tight(est) of Labor Markets" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://blog.shrm.org/blog/recruiting-in-the-tightest-of-labor-markets
E-Verify Is Down. What Do Employers Do Now?
Are you questioning what you should do now that E-Verify, the federal government's electronic employment verification system, has expired? Read this blog post from SHRM to learn more.
What are employers supposed to do now that E-Verify—the federal government's electronic employment verification system—has expired?
Funding and congressional authorization for the program ran out Dec. 22, 2018, as the government went into a partial shutdown after Congress and the White House could not agree on how to fund some agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which administers the system, for fiscal year 2019.
E-Verify compares information from an employee's Form I-9 to DHS and Social Security Administration (SSA) records to confirm employment eligibility. Employers enrolled in the program are required to use the system to run checks on new workers within three days of hiring them.
During the government shutdown, employers will not be able to enroll in E-Verify, initiate queries, access cases or resolve tentative non-confirmations (TNCs) with affected workers.
All employers remain subject to Form I-9 obligations, however. "Remember that the government shutdown has nothing to do with an employer's responsibilities to complete the Form I-9 [in a timely manner]," said Dawn Lurie, senior counsel in the Washington, D.C., office of Seyfarth Shaw. "Specifically, employees are required to complete Section 1 of the I-9 on or before the first day of employment, and employers must complete Section 2 of the I-9 no later than the third business day after an employee begins work for pay."
No Cause for Alarm
Lurie advised employers not to panic while E-Verify is down. "Employers will not be penalized as a result of the E-Verify operations shutdown," she said. "Employers will not be penalized for any delays in creating E-Verify cases. However, employers are reminded that they must continue to complete I-9s in compliance with the law, and when E-Verify becomes available, create cases in the system."
To minimize the burden on both employers and employees, DHS announced that:
- The three-day rule for creating E-Verify cases is suspended for cases affected by the unavailability of the service. "Normally, the employer enters information from the I-9 into E-Verify within three days of hire, but that won't be possible while the system is unavailable," said Montserrat Miller, a partner in the Atlanta office of Arnall Golden Gregory. "DHS will provide a window of time to submit those held cases once service resumes."
- The time period during which employees may resolve TNCs will be extended. The number of days E-Verify is unavailable will not count toward the days the employee has to begin the process of resolving a TNC. "Employers can't take any adverse action against a worker with a pending TNC regardless, shutdown or not," Miller said. Currently, an employee who chooses to contest a TNC must visit an SSA field office or call DHS within eight federal government working days to begin resolving it. This period will have to be extended because of the shutdown, she added.
- Additional guidance regarding the three-day rule and time period to resolve TNC deadlines will be provided once operations resume.
Amy Peck, an immigration attorney with Jackson Lewis in Omaha, Neb., advised employers to keep track of all new hires with completed I-9s for whom there are no E-Verify queries due to the shutdown. She also recommended attaching a memo in a master E-Verify file tracking the days that the program was unavailable. "I've seen the discrepancy come up years later during an audit," she said.
"Once the system is back up, work with counsel on how much time employees have to resolve their TNCs," Peck said. "Someone receiving a TNC the day before the shutdown is a different case than somebody who had 10 days to resolve their TNC when the shutdown occurred. Those circumstances should be considered on a case-by-case basis."
Federal contractors with a federal acquisition regulation E-Verify clause should contact their government contracting officers to extend deadlines. "Federal contractors have a particular concern because nobody is supposed to be working who has not been verified through the system," Peck said. "People can be hired, but whether they are allowed to work on the contract before being run through E-Verify is a critical consideration that should be discussed with counsel."
Prepare for the Resumption of Service
Miller said employers should monitor the shutdown. "When it is over, log in to the system and see what instructions there are for creating and submitting queries," she advised. "There is an obligation to create those queries if you are enrolled in the program, even if enrolled voluntarily."
The backlog created as a result of the shutdown might have a significant impact on employers that process many E-Verify cases and specifically on the HR staff and other team members in charge of the process.
"Not all employers will be able to push all their cases through at once when the shutdown ends," Miller said. "If everyone did that, the system would crash. DHS will provide instructions on how to submit queries. Employers will be asked why the query is being submitted after the required three days. In the past, 'Government Shutdown' was one of the options in the drop-down menu."
Peck reminded employers that the loss of E-Verify does not mean there is a prohibition against hiring. "Companies should continue to hire as they need," she said.
SOURCE: Maurer, R. (3 January 2019) "E-Verify Is Down. What Do Employers Do Now?" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/Pages/EVerify-Outage-What-Do-Employers-HR-Do.aspx
Viewpoint: Why Respect, Dignity and Kindness Are Foundational Workplace Principles
Corporate leadership shouldn't wait for disruptive incidents to occur before they focus on the state of their workplace environment. Read this blog post to learn more.
SHRM has partnered with Security Management magazine to bring you relevant articles on key HR topics and strategies.
This is the #MeToo era. The great wave of public accusations involving inappropriate conduct such as sexual harassment between managers, employees and co-workers has washed over U.S. workplaces, unsettling everything in its wake.
But sexual harassment is not the only conduct that can help turn a working environment hostile. Given this, employers who take action now to help establish and solidify a welcoming and hostility-free work environment will be better positioned for the future. Such actions can come in many forms, ranging from zero-tolerance anti-harassment policies and violence prevention training to diversity task forces and team-building exercises.
While they vary, these actions all benefit from a proactive approach. Opposing views and opinions are inevitable among a diverse workforce, but leaders of organizations should not wait until disruptive incidents break out before focusing on the state of the workplace environment. Instead, they can start immediately.
Respect and Dignity
Human resources is a team sport. No one HR manager, no matter how talented or knowledgeable, can completely shoulder the burden of protecting his or her firm from employee issues and litigation. A cohesive HR team, on the other hand, is positioned to tackle anything thrown its way. But when one gear gets out of whack, the whole team is affected and compromised.
Take, for example, how an entire company can be impacted by one disruptive manager. Sam's team was led by a small group of managers who worked well together; they collaborated to achieve goals and boost one another to success. However, a new manager, Chris, was brought on.
Chris had a markedly different type of attitude and leadership style. Chris was demanding and sometimes even yelled at employees in public. He occasionally disparaged another manager's directions to team members and would even threaten a firing in an attempt to improve performance.
A few months after this leadership transition, some employees began to leave Sam's team by choice. But those are not the only changes triggered by the new manager. Some of Sam's team members absorbed the negative qualities Chris exhibited, including degrading public chastisements, gossiping and expressing increased agitation in the office. Chris' overwhelming negativity threw a wrench into a once strong team and threatened to break it down into an unproductive group of individuals.
Before Chris took over, Sam's team members respected one another and successfully accomplished goals. Chris' harsh leadership eroded the members' respect and kindness, causing productivity to decrease and spirits to drop.
How can HR help make sure this type of situation is addressed and avoided? When building a team, it is important to establish respect, dignity and kindness as foundational principles. This will very likely increase productivity and reduce the risk of violent workplace behaviors. When employees feel respected and treated with dignity, they are more likely to treat co-workers and customers the same way. This creates a positive culture within the organization.
To facilitate this, HR should go beyond simply asking employees to be civil and respect one another. They should also explain how to do so, and demonstrate what civility means to the organization by providing examples of positive interactions.
Support the Company's Culture
During my time as a line manager, there were key opportunities for me to support the company culture. All managers can take advantage of the same opportunities, if their organizations are willing to provide them.
For example, orientation sessions are an opportunity for HR leaders to introduce themselves, their department and the values of the organization to those who are being onboarded. Time can be devoted to explaining appropriate workplace behavior through the use of scenario-based situations.
In addition, department team meetings offer opportunities for HR professionals to join in to discuss relevant issues and provide training through small group discussion or case study review. Team members can assess a situation and provide feedback on how it should have been appropriately handled. Using both positive and negative behaviors as examples will help employees understand the difference.
Open houses are another possible venue for educating discussions. HR may arrange with company leaders to have a time where employees stop by, ask questions and participate in discussions that help them understand their role as part of the larger effort to maintain a healthy, inclusive workplace.
Finally, it is important to remember that HR staff should help line managers serve as role models of appropriate behavior. If they are behaving badly by being rude, disrespectful or uncivil, how can HR expect them to help the organization promote a culture that values everyone?
In the end, HR cannot assume that people managers understand what is and is not appropriate. Setting expectations from the start, and clearly demonstrating how to positively act and show respect to co-workers is an effective way for HR to set the right tone—and a more active and effective approach than simply hoping for the best. This will have a ripple effect throughout the workforce, and it will help prevent future breaches of conduct from triggering a domino effect of disrespect, such as the one caused by Chris' behavior.
This article is adapted from Security Management magazine with permission from ASIS © 2018. All rights reserved.
SOURCE: Solon, R. (28 November 2018) "Viewpoint: Why Respect, Dignity and Kindness Are Foundational Workplace Principles" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/hr-topics/employee-relations/Pages/Viewpoint-Why-Respect-Dignity-and-Kindness-Are-Foundational-Workplace-Principles.aspx
How to Handle Employee Requests for Time Off to Vote
Do you know how to handle employee requests for time off to vote? In some states, it is a requirement to give employees time off to vote. Read this blog post to learn more.
Many employees will be eligible to cast their ballot on Nov. 6, but will they have time to vote? Some states require employers to give workers time off to vote, and even in states that don't, some businesses are finding other ways to get employees to the polls.
With Election Day around the corner, employers should be mindful that, while no federal law provides employees leave to vote, many states have enacted laws in this area, said Marilyn Clark, an attorney with Dorsey & Whitney in Minneapolis. Depending on the state, employers may have to give workers notice about their voting rights and provide paid or unpaid time off to vote.
Even in states where there is no voting leave law, it is good practice to let employees take up to two hours of paid time off to vote if there isn't enough time for the employee to vote outside of working hours. "Encouraging and not discouraging employees should be the general rule," said Robert Nobile, an attorney with Seyfarth Shaw in New York City.
Encourage Employees
"Here in the United States, too many people don't vote because they don't have time due to jobs, child care and other responsibilities," said Donna Norton, executive vice president of MomsRising, an organization of more than 1 million mothers and their families. "Getting to the polls can be especially challenging for people in rural communities [or] single-parent households, and those who are juggling multiple jobs."
About 4 in 10 eligible voters did not vote in the 2016 presidential election, according to research conducted by Nonprofit VOTE and the U.S. Elections Project. And voter turnout has been historically lower for midterm elections, such as this year's, which are held near the midpoint of a president's four-year term, according to Pew Research Center.
"Businesses can help solve this problem by making sure that all employees have paid time off to vote," Norton said.
Some employers are offering solutions by making Election Day a corporate holiday, offering a few hours of paid time off for employees to vote and giving employees information about early and absentee voting, according to TheWashington Post.
Giving employees time off to participate in civic or community activities tends to improve worker performance, said Katina Sawyer, Ph.D., an assistant professor of management at George Washington University. Employers who are offering paid time off to vote will likely reap the benefits through improved employee attitudes and performance.
Know the Law
Employers in states with voting-leave laws should be familiar with the specific requirements, as some state laws have a lot of details. Even in states without such laws on the books, employers should check to see if there are any local voting leave ordinances in their cities.
Employers required to give workers time off to vote should plan for adequate work coverage to ensure that all employees can take time off, Clark said.
In many states, the employer may ask workers to give advance notice if they need time off and may require that workers take that leave at a specific time of the workday. In some states where leave is paid, employers might have the right to ask employees to prove they actually voted. Most states prohibit employers from disciplining or firing an employee who takes time off from work to vote.
"Ultimately, fostering an environment that generally encourages employees to exercise this important right is a good practice to mitigate the risk of a potential retaliation claim," Clark said.
Although state laws vary, "the general theme across the U.S. with respect to voting laws is that employees will be given time off to vote if there is insufficient time between the time the polls open and close within the state and the time employees start and finish work," Nobile said. "Typically, two to three consecutive nonworking hours between the opening and closing of the polls is deemed sufficient."
Some state laws provide unpaid leave to vote or do not address whether the leave must be paid. Oregon and Washington no longer have voting leave laws because they are "vote-by-mail" states.
In some states, such as California and New York, employers must post notices in the workplace before Election Day to inform employees of their rights. Employers might have to pay penalties if they don't comply.
The consequences for denying employees their voting rights can be harsh, with some states even imposing criminal penalties, Clark noted.
Create a Policy
At a minimum, employers should adopt a policy spelling out the voting rights available to employees under applicable laws, Clark said. For businesses that operate in states that don't have a voting-leave law, employers may still wish to adopt a policy outlining their expectations about time off for voting.
Multistate employers may elect to adopt a single policy that includes the most employee-friendly provisions of the state and local laws that cover them. "By taking this approach, employers avoid the administrative burden of adopting and promulgating multiple policies for employees working in different locales," Clark said. All voting-leave policies should be sure to include strong anti-retaliation provisions, which make clear that the employer will not take any adverse action against employees for exercising their voting rights.
"It's important to remember that the law sets the floor," said Bryan Stillwagon, an attorney with Sherman & Howard in Atlanta. "Companies with the happiest and most-engaged employees recognize that positive morale comes from doing more than what is required."
Nagele-Piazza, L. (29 October 2018) "How to Handle Employee Request for Time Off to Vote" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/legal-and-compliance/state-and-local-updates/Pages/How-to-Handle-Employee-Requests-for-Time-Off-to-Vote.aspx
Dana Wilkie contributed to this article.
6 Books on the Future of Work That Every HR Professional Should Read
What do the next 50 or 100 years have in store for organizations and workers? Read this blog post for six books on the future of work that every HR professional should read.
As HR professionals and organizational leaders, it seems we are increasingly bombarded with messages about disruptive innovations and the changing nature of work. While calls to prepare strategically for the "future of work" might sometimes seem over-the-top, it doesn't change the fact that we've seen tremendous shifts in the global economy (including the labor economy) and technological innovation over the past 50 years that have had significant implications for the nature of work.
So what do the next 50 years have in store for organizations and workers? How will disruptive technologies like robotics, artificial intelligence/machine learning, pharmacogenetics, quantum entanglement, virtual presence/augmented reality, 3-D printing, and blockchain (among many others) influence future labor markets?
Here are six books I believe every HR professional and organizational leader should read to better understand these trends and the drivers influencing the shifting trajectories in the future of work.
1. The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts(Oxford University Press, 2017) by Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind
The Future of the Professions closely examines the intersection of rapidly advancing innovative technologies and the shifting nature and transformation of work and the professions, providing theoretically grounding and ample examples of emerging technologies, organizations and work arrangements. It is intended for organizational leaders and policy practitioners of all stripes who are interested in the effects of disruptive technologies on the future of work.
2. The Future of Work: Robots, AI, and Automation (Brookings Institution Press, 2018) by Darrell M. West
In The Future of Work, West sees the U.S. and the world at a "major inflection point" where we have to grapple with the likely impact of an increasingly automated and technologically advanced society on work, education and public policy. The insights provided will be useful to those who manage others and to those who are managed in the workplace of the future.
3. Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future (Basic Books, 2016) by Martin Ford
Rise of the Robots is a somewhat unsettling vision of a future world dominated by artificial intelligence, machine learning and highly automated industries, where most members of the current workforce find themselves replaced by technology and machines; in other words, a jobless future. Based on recent economic and innovation trends, Ford argues that the rapid technological advancement will ultimately result in a fundamental restructuring of corporations, governments and even entire societies as middle-class jobs gradually disappear, economic mobility evaporates and wealth is increasingly concentrated among the elite super-rich.
4. Gigged: The End of the Job and the Future of Work (St. Martin's Press, 2018) by Sarah Kessler
Gigged examines the shifting psychological contract between organizations and workers, discusses trends in the organization of work, and documents the movement in recent decades away from traditional employment models and toward part-time work and contingent employment arrangements such as independent contracting and project-based "gig" work. While such work has always been a part of informal economies around the world, the trend is increasingly common in traditional organizations as well, bolstered by the success of companies like Uber and Airbnb.
5. The Future of Work: Attract New Talent, Build Better Leaders, and Create a Competitive Organization (Wiley, 2014) by Jacob Morgan
In The Future of Work, Morgan continues the argument that the world is changing at an accelerated pace. He demonstrates that the way we work today is fundamentally different from how previous generations worked (due to globalization, technological innovation and shifts in the composition of national economies) and suggests that the future of work will be drastically different from what we experience today (a shift from knowledge workers to learning workers), where employees can work anytime and anywhere and can use any devices.
6. Shaping the Future of Work: A Handbook for Action and a New Social Contract (MITxPress, 2017) by Thomas A. Kochan
Probably the most academic book on this list, Shaping the Future of Work acknowledges an increasingly digitized economy and examines the resulting shift in social contract with regard to work and the professions. Kochan provides a road map for what leaders across contexts need to do to create high-quality jobs and develop strong and successful businesses.
What Does All This Mean?
In the next 50 years, we will likely see:
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A continually shifting geopolitical landscape.
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Continued movement from linear organizations to a more latticed/connected framework.
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The displacement of jobs and the hunt for talent in a more automated economy.
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An increasingly mobile and flexible labor force, and a push toward a reskilling agenda within organizations to continually leverage human capital value.
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Technological advancements that continue to disrupt traditional organizational models and shift the very nature of work and professions.
So what does this all mean for HR professionals and organizational leaders? What are the core competencies of organizations that are prepared for these technological disruptions? How does the shifting nature of work influence needed HR competencies?
Regardless of what the future holds, these are questions we need to be asking and discussions we need to be having so that we are prepared for the future of work.
SOURCE: Westover, J. (5 September 2018) "6 Books on the Future of Work That Every HR Professional Should Read" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/book-blog/pages/6-books-on-the-future-of-work-that-every-hr-professional-should-read.aspx/
Bringing personal services to work
Onsite employee benefits and personal services are now within reach of many employers. Read this blog post to learn more about onsite employee benefits.
Onsite employee benefits that go beyond big-ticket items like health clinics, gyms and child care centers are now within the reach of many employers.
When Cassandra Lammers, vice president of total rewards at Audible Inc., a publisher of audio books in Newark, N.J., wanted to encourage employees to schedule regular dental visits, she focused on the large percentage of the firm's employees who are part of the Millennial generation. These younger workers tended not to use their dental benefits, claims records showed.
To address the situation, Lammers began researching mobile dental services, looking for a vendor that would provide dental care onsite during the workday. That was not as easy as it sounded. "Most of these services are designed to help the elderly and the disabled who are not able to get to a dentist's office," she noted.
Also see: 6 Employee Benefits Trends in 2017
After many months of looking, Lammers connected with Henry the Dentist, a mobile dental office that parks its trailer at an employer's location for a few days to provide onsite dental services. The trailer offers state-of-the-art dental services and can serve three patients at a time.
The biggest selling points for Audible were the convenience for employees and the fact that all of the dentists were in-network providers for the company's dental plan, so audible does not have to pay for the service.
"We now schedule a few days each quarter to help employees get into a normal cycle for dental visits," Lammers said. The initial visit was scheduled to last only two or three days. However, employee demand for appointments was so great that the visit lasted six full days to serve 189 employees. Lammers expects to schedule five days per quarter going forward.
"The feedback from employees has been fantastic, and they love the convenience," she said.
Alexandria Ketcheson, marketing and brand director at Henry, said that under the company's current employment model "all our dentists are full-time employees of Henry," and that "a large part of our promise to our corporate clients is that their employees will see the same medical staff during every visit."
Fill'er Up
Onsite benefit programs should be designed to save employees time and to make their lives easier. Miami-based Carnival Cruise Line offers a range of onsite benefits to accomplish just that, including dry cleaning, a coffee shop and deliveries from a flower vendor every Friday so that employees can buy fresh flowers for the weekend.
"This is all part of our effort to be an employer of choice," said Tami Blanco, the company's vice president of shoreside human resources. "We focus on providing services that employees use or need regularly. Employees want to spend their time off with family, not running errands."
Also see: Our Employee Benefits Team
One of the more popular onsite benefits is access to Neighborhood Fuel, a service that comes to Carnival Cruise employees in South Florida and fills up their gas tanks in the parking lot while they are working.
By using a smartphone app, employees can request a fill-up, leaving the gas cap door ajar on their cars. Once the fuel truck completes the fill-up, the app sends an alert with the total cost of the gas.
So far, half of Carnival Cruise's Miami-based employees have signed up to use the service, and 75 percent of those employees say it is of great value to them, Blanco said.
Beware Upselling
When an employer offers any onsite benefit to employees, it comes with an implicit endorsement of the vendor's services, so it's important for employers to proceed with caution when choosing those vendors.
Also see: The Most Desirable Employee Benefits
Carnival Cruise Line, for example, often offers new services to one group of employees as a pilot project to see if it is something the company wants to offer to all employees.
Before offering onsite dental care, Lammers not only read the reviews of the dental providers working for Henry the Dentist but also asked pointed questions about how the service ensures the safety of employees while they are walking to and from the mobile facility and while they are inside receiving treatment. "We also wanted to understand how they operate [and] how they interface with employees, ensure confidentiality, et cetera," said Lammers, who inspected the mobile dental facility personally.
Once employees begin using any onsite service, employers should check in periodically to make sure employees are happy with the service and comfortable using it. For example, if employees feel a vendor is putting pressure on them to buy more or to upgrade, that's something an employer may want to address directly with the vendor so that employees don't feel pressured.
SOURCE: Sammer, J (5 July 2018) “Bringing personal services to work” (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/benefits/pages/bringing-personal-services-to-work.aspx
What to Know in the Immigration Debate Now: “Queen-of-the-Hill”?
What will be the fate of those who dream to come to America? Explore the immigration debate in this article from SHRM.
Immigration reform is filled with complexities. Just to name a few are the politics, the body of law and policy and often the use of terms that only add confusion. During the 2007 immigration debate, I recall the term “clay pigeon” (a Senate floor procedure) confused even the experts. Right now, the term that is turning heads is “Queen-of-the-Hill”. So why does it matter you ask? Well let me explain.
A bipartisan group in the House has called on leaders to consider a proposal for a "Queen-of-the-Hill" (most votes wins) immigration rule (H. Res. 774) and urge action to vote on a legislative solution for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. SHRM and CFGI are members of the coalition for the American Dream which issued a press statement in support of action.
A vote on this issue matters because earlier in the year votes in the Senate failed. Right now, 190 Democrats and 50 Republicans in the House (a majority of the House) support H. Res. 774 and a debate and vote on immigration DACA related proposals. If Congress, could begin to move proposals forward there might be a chance (if even a small chance) to break the logjam on immigration reform.
Specifically, "Queen-of-the-Hill' is a House procedure that has not been used since 2015. The procedure would require separate votes and consideration of (four immigration) proposals on the House floor and members could vote in support of as many proposals as they want. The proposal that receives the greatest number of votes would be adopted. If none of the proposals receive a majority-of-the-votes, then none of the proposals would be adopted.
The proposals that would get a vote under H. Res. 774 include:
- The Securing America's Future Act (HR 4760), a bill that would allow DACA recipients to apply for three years of work authorization and deferred deportation that may be extended if they qualify. The bill also includes other provisions like mandatory E-Verify, historical limits to family sponsored green cards, a reallocation of visas to employment-based green cards and a new agricultural guest worker program.
- The House DREAM Act (H.R. 3440), a bill that would allow DACA recipients and DACA eligible individuals to apply for work authorization and deferred deportation, legal permanent residence and a five- year path to citizenship if they qualify.
- The USA Act (H.R. 4796), a bill that would allow for DACA recipients and DACA eligible individuals to apply for work authorization and deferred deportation and legal permanent residence if they qualify.
- A yet to be unveiled bill from House Speaker Ryan (R-WI)
Whether there is any chance for success will be up to House leaders, as the House bipartisan group is asking leaders to support H. Res. 774. However, the resolution may be far from successful. House Speaker Ryan (R-WI) has publicly stated he does not believe it makes sense to bring a bill through a process that only produces something that would get vetoed by the president. In this scenario, it is possible that any immigration bill that could pass the House might not make it through the Senate let alone find support from the president.
Given, the president’s resistance to many DACA related proposals, perhaps in the end, he will be the “King” of this “Queen-of-the-Hill” strategy.
This article was written by Rebecca Peters of SHRM Blog on April 23rd, 2018.
The Cadillac Creep Will Impact Your Econo-Health Plan
How will the Cadillac tax affect you in the near future? From SHRM, get the details in this article.
As an HR Professional in 2010, I recall thinking, as I struggled to wrap my mind around the myriad of complex provisions included in the ACA, that the Cadillac tax was probably one provision that I didn’t need to concern myself with. After all, it was years in the future and only applied to those other, richer plans, right? Time for a fast forward reality-check.
The Cadillac tax has been delayed in the past but is set to begin in 2022 on high-cost employer-sponsored health coverage. It will tax health coverage that exceeds $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for family coverage at the rate of 40%. This includes contributions made by employers and employees toward health coverage premiums but not cost-sharing amounts such as deductibles, coinsurance or co-payments made when care is delivered.
But, employers, like mine, have certainly not been idle during the last eight years. We have continued to work to design health care plans that will attract and retain top talent while ensuring that coverage meets minimum value and affordability requirements mandated by the ACA. All the while, health care costs, particularly driven by prescription drug costs, continue to climb. Studies suggest that prescription drugs will continue to represent a larger portion of the overall health spending. I have seen this firsthand with the employer-sponsored plans I manage where prescription drug costs may represent over 30% of total health claims spent.
This leaves employers with some tough decisions to either reduce the benefits they offer to maintain a cost-effective plan that still meets minimum coverage and affordability standards or absorb additional costs. And then, there’s the Cadillac creep. A monthly individual premium of $10,200 annually or $850 per month no longer seems far-fetched as I stare into a future where drug cost inflation rates outpace wage increases.
I’m a proud member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), which encourages Congress to fully repeal the excise tax. I support and join in SHRM’s advocacy efforts to defeat this tax because over 178 million Americans get their health care through employer-sponsored health plans. We can’t afford to let the Cadillac creep impact employers and employees.
This article was written by Crystal Frey of SHRM Blog on April 20th, 2018.
5th Circuit Ruling Leaves DOL’s Fiduciary Rule in Limbo
When the Dallas-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the Department of Labor's (DOL's) controversial fiduciary rule on March 15, just two days after the Denver-based 10th Circuit upheld the same rule, it created a split among the circuits.
"Pending further review, the [Labor Department] will not be enforcing the 2016 fiduciary rule," a DOL spokesman said in a statement to CNBC. Prior to the court decisions, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said that the DOL was considering public input about revising the regulation and, if necessary, will propose changes in consultation with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators.
However, unless the fiduciary rule is definitively repealed or replaced, employers that sponsor 401(k) and similar defined contribution plans should continue to take it seriously and closely monitor their vendor arrangements, benefits advisors said. The Obama administration's regulation, formally known as Definition of the Term "Fiduciary"; Conflict of Interest Rule-Retirement Investment Advice, began taking effect in stages in June 2017.
The rule requires anyone being paid to give investment advice to retirement savers—whether to participants in a 401(k) or similar employer-sponsored plan or to those with individual retirement accounts (IRAs)—to follow the fiduciary standard of conduct under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). In other words, investment advisors can only make recommendations that reflect loyalty to the "best interests" of plan participants without regard to commissions and fees rather than investments that are just "suitable," and must disclose any potential conflicts of interest. Failure to do so means that advisors—and the plan sponsors that hire them—could face class-action lawsuits brought by participants and ERISA-violation penalties.
In the 5th Circuit ruling, a three-judge panel split 2-1 in vacating the rule where the court has jurisdiction—Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. The court, in particular, held that the DOL went too far in extending the fiduciary standard to advice provided to IRA savers. "IRA plan 'fiduciaries,' though defined statutorily in the same way as ERISA plan fiduciaries, are not saddled with these duties, and DOL is given no direct statutory authority to regulate them," the majority opinion stated. Days earlier, in a March 13 decision, the 10th Circuit held that the fiduciary rule was the result of a sound regulatory process. "Relying on the record before it, the DOL could reasonably conclude that the benefits to investors outweighed the costs of compliance," the two-judge panel said.
—shrm.org