Snowballing Payroll

Snowballing Payroll

You can’t really argue rather a payroll is important. It’s simply a fact of life and a truth of the business world. So much in a company revolves around the payroll department because without the payroll department no one is going to stay working. If you have any doubt of this, try contacting an employee and telling them to work an eight-hour shift without pay. We are confident their answer would either be a firm no or a good laugh. One thing that must be understood about payroll is that its importance is not just immediate, it’s important today, tomorrow, and every day after. Not only because payroll is a recurring part of a business, but because one mistake that is overlooked will continue to grow and grow until it’s a big issue.

Think back to the days of looney toons when a small snowball would start rolling down a hill. It only takes a few seconds before it picks up more snow and becomes a huge snowball parading down the mountain toward our characters. Payroll acts the same way. While you might make a small mistake on taxes or paying an employee the right amount one time, when tax time comes around that small mistake might have rolled into a huge fee. If you are underpaying an employee for their work, while it might just be a small thing right now, that employee will likely move on to someone paying them the right amount they are worth and you are left having to fill in that gap.

Rather it is legal fees, spending time filling positions, or low office morale because you have a poorly optimized payroll department, that small issue is going to grow over time until it’s an unavoidable obstacle. While it might time more time, effort, and money right now to handle your payroll the right way, it is something that will save a lot of time, effort, and money in the long run.

What if you don’t know how to get your payroll running at full efficiently? Then it’s time to call in the experts. More exactly a payroll outsourcing company like Vision H.R. An outsourced payroll department can fix your payroll, get it to a state while it is running smoothly, and keep it there as your company expands. Not only do you get a proper payroll department, you also don’t have to worry about it. It is fully in the hands of a team of experts so you can place your focus on other areas of your company. After all, you are living down in Florida. You shouldn’t even know what a snowball is. So visit us today at www.vision-hr.com and request a free quote!

Avoiding Unintended Discrimination

Avoiding Unintended Discrimination

Discrimination in the workplace is an important topic because we don’t always know what it means. Sure, we know the major forms of discrimination such as sexism and racism, yet discrimination can go far beyond that. What if an employee belongs to a new age practice such as Wicca and requests Beltane off to perform a ritual? Not every employee handbook has a section that speaks on witchcraft and rituals. What if you have a vegan employee who you invite to a company BBQ, are you discriminating if you don’t offer an effective vegan option for them? While we might not intend for these things to be a form of discrimination, it doesn’t change the fact that the other side might not see it that way.

To start out, let’s take a look at what the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines as religious discrimination. The following was taken from the official website.

“Religious discrimination involves treating a person (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because of his or her religious beliefs. The law protects not only people who belong to traditional, organized religions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism but also others who have sincerely held religious, ethical or moral beliefs”.

The part of this that is important to understand comes at the end. “…who have sincerely held religious, ethical, or moral beliefs”. What does that mean exactly? It means that if someone holds a certain belief that is not religious, yet is as strong as a religious belief, it must still be respected the same as a religious belief. For instance, for many vegans, they believe eating meat is immoral. While you can’t force every employee to not eat meat because of them, you can ensure they are not ridiculed or left out of activities because they do not eat meat. To further explain it, let’s look at a situation where this very situation came up.

A bus driver was asked to hand out coupons for Carl Jr. hamburgers as part of a joint promotion. The bus driver was a vegetarian and refused to hand out the coupons due to his own vegetarian lifestyle. Because of his refusal to do so, he was fired by the agency. When they would not hire him back, a lawsuit was created until a settlement was reached. Because his vegetarian beliefs were as important to him as religiously held beliefs, it was seen as discrimination. You can argue rather you believe it was discrimination or not. You can’t, however, argue that it did lead to an expensive headache for the agency.

Another, more complicated situation that might turn up is in dealing with a racist individual. It might seem clear cut that if someone displays racist tendencies outside of the office, that it would be a clear-cut decision to fire them, even though their misguided racism is technically a “sincerely held belief” to them. Yet there have been court cases that did just the opposite. Generally speaking, we have what is called “At-Will Employment” which means you can fire an employee for almost any reason. As long as the reason doesn’t fall under discrimination or breaks a form of contract. Which means if someone is revealed to be racist, even outside of work, you can fire them. Also, one of the rules of discrimination is that accommodating an employee’s believes does not create an undue hardship, and your if company is known for employing a known racist can create a lot of hardship. Freedom of speech also does not apply to a work place. Freedom of speech relates to a person and the government, not a company and a person.  Yet, there is a recent case where a union worker on a picket line yelled racial remarks and because he was on the picket line, his comments couldn’t be used against him. While it is generally okay to fire a worker for displayed racism, it wouldn’t hurt to speak to an employment attorney or human resource expert about it first. 

To help better handle these situations, a few steps you can take are to have an employee handbook that covers all forms of areas and have a dedicated human resource management team to handle internal issues. When you have your payroll and human resource management handled by Vision H.R. you get easy access to human resource experts to help with both of these areas. Contact us today at (386) 255-7070 or click here to request a free quote today.

Human Resource Information Systems

Human Resource Information Systems

How the world communicates is always changing, and this doesn’t just mean how we talk to each other. It also means how we send and receive all kinds of information. From images of our friends to the quarterly earnings of the company, we are finding new ways to transmit and access it. In fact, we are finding even better ways to store all this information. Say goodbye to the row of filing cabinets, sorting through thumb drives to find one file, or even digging through your computer for files. There are entire systems designed to store and organize files so you never have to go searching again. This is changing how the business world works for both large and small companies. The technology has become so streamlined that it’s now available to practically anyone if they know how to find it. For example, Vision H.R. uses a highly functional, easy to access system that can become available to you as well.

The HRIS (Human Resource Information System) that Vision H.R. employs makes keeping an eye on your payroll quick and easy. While we do the hard part of the job behind the scenes, you get easy access to all the information you need, along with your employees. Once you start working with Vision H.R. you will get set up with your own way of accessing the information. It lets you take the confusing and tedious aspects of payroll and turn them into an easy to understand, streamlined office responsibility. No more need to second guess yourself or stress over rather the information you entered is correct. You get a set of eyes on the process that has no responsibility other than to ensure it is done correctly.

It also helps your company because it creates an easy to access payroll system for your employees, which is a perk for them. It makes things a little easier on them and gives them more peace of mind being able to check on their own payroll. It might not be a game changer for them as far as work goes, but it does make them feel more secure in their job. The more secure an employee feels in their job, the more likely it is that they will stay at it. Hiring new employees takes time and effort away from other tasks and when you are paying employees, time is literally money. So finding ways to keep the employees that you have is not only beneficial to them, it’s beneficial to the company.

It also serves as a step toward the future. We are currently in the middle of the information age, an age that is dominated not just by information, but also by access to information. That is why this age is also known as the computer age and as the digital age. If you don’t keep up with the shifting ages we are currently in, you are going to find that the ladder to success getting longer and longer because you’re not taking steps to climb it. Those companies that are keeping up with the trends and opportunities found in the information age are the ones that are dominating markets and living in tomorrow. The ones that are failing to keep up are the empty buildings that people pass by and wonder what will open up in its place. Take advantage of these opportunities by working with Vision H.R.

FMLA: The Law that Never Sleeps

FMLA: The Law that Never Sleeps

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is often tweaked, adjusted or reinterpreted as cases of alleged abuse continue to pop up and courts are asked to weigh in. With so much change, it’s a good idea to check your policies regularly. Is your company in compliance?

Here’s a very streamlined recap of the top 10 FMLA fundamentals to refresh your memory. (Keep in mind that your state and local laws may have stricter requirements.)

1. Allowable purposes for unpaid leave up to 12 weeks: Attending to the birth or adoption of a child, caring for a family member with a serious health condition, or suffering a health condition that prevents one from performing essential job tasks. (Special rules apply where family members are on active duty in the military.)

2. To be eligible, employees must: Have logged at least 1,250 hours of service during the period before the leave, and have worked for the employer for one year over a period no greater than seven years (that is, employment gaps are permissible).

3. Private sector employers are exempt from the FMLA if: They have fewer than 50 employees overall or at a specific site that’s at least 75 miles away from any of its other employment sites.

4. When taken, the FMLA leave period: Doesn’t have to be a single block of time consisting of consecutive days; intermittent leave may be possible, as well as working on a reduced schedule basis. When leave is intermittent in a nonemergency situation, employees should make a “reasonable effort” to accommodate the operational scheduling needs of the employer.

5. Maintenance of benefits: Employees out on FMLA leave must stay on the employer’s health plan under the same terms (including cost-sharing provisions) as before.

6. Coordination with paid leave benefits: Often it’s possible for employers to require employees taking FMLA leave to use up accrued paid leave time concurrently.

7. When requesting an FMLA-mandated leave, employees must: Give employers a 30-day notice, if the need for the leave was foreseeable, or otherwise as soon as possible. When making an FMLA leave request for the first time, employees don’t need to state that the request is being made under the FMLA. They merely need to provide employers enough information about the purpose of the leave for the employer to independently determine that the leave is sanctioned by the law.

8. Notification requirements: Employers must maintain posted notices about the FMLA; include information about it in their employee handbooks; and, upon request, provide information about employees’ rights and responsibilities under the law.

9. Medical certification: When a leave request is based on a serious medical condition of the employee or the employee’s family member, the employer can request documentation from a health care provider, as well as seek second and third opinions.

10. Job restoration: When employees return from their leave periods, they must be given their original jobs or another position with equivalent pay, benefits, and other employment terms and conditions.

Legal Authority

In an FMLA case, only a U.S. Supreme Court decision can affect the law nationwide. Still, a lower court ruling — even if it occurs in a jurisdiction other than your own — might be influential where you’re located. Below are three noteworthy cases that highlight the need to keep abreast of FMLA legal developments:

Case 1. The court upheld an employer’s decision to terminate an employee while she was on FMLA leave, against the employee’s claim that her termination violated her FMLA rights and was discriminatory. The court accepted the employer’s explanation that it had a sound business rationale to eliminate the employee’s position: The company was shrinking; other employees could assume her duties, and it would have made the same decision if the employee weren’t on leave.

Case 2. The court agreed with an employee’s argument that she was being prevented from gaining the full benefit of her FMLA leave because of her employer’s pattern of making substantial requests of her time while on leave. The court held that it was permissible for the employer to contact employees on leave for certain tasks. Examples include:

-Passing along relevant institutional knowledge to new staff,

-Providing computer passwords,

-Giving closure on complicated assignments, and

-Identifying other employees who could fill the void created by her absence.

But it was inappropriate for the employer to contact the employee regularly with questions about her work duties and absences, inputting data, and taking time out to receive training before returning to work. The fact that the employee was terminated shortly after her return to work buttressed her argument that her employer was trying to interfere with her rights.

Case 3. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling in favor of an employer that terminated an employee who claimed her FMLA leave benefits were denied. The employee had requested, and received, a period of leave to care for her sick father. But she’d requested that it not be treated as FMLA leave, but instead as ordinary paid leave. The company agreed.

However, the employee didn’t return to work until two weeks after the date she’d promised to come back and was terminated. She argued that the extra two weeks should have been treated as protected FMLA leave, because her reason for remaining away from work was to care for an ailing family member. The courts drew two conclusions: 1) It’s possible for an employee to seek and receive non-FMLA leave for an FMLA-eligible purpose, and 2) Unauthorized leave cannot automatically become protected FMLA leave without the employee explicitly requesting it on that basis.

Regular Tune-Ups Advised

New FMLA cases are decided all the time, creating a demand for attorneys who specialize in this corner of the law. Therefore, given the fluidity of FMLA legal interpretation, it’s prudent to periodically review your compliance with the evolving legal standards.

(Source: Bizaction)

Which Employees or Positions Do You Rely on Most?

It’s standard operating procedure for marketers to segment customers according to their value to the organization, to ensure that those who are most vital to the growth and profitability of a company are well-cared-for and don’t disappear. The same needs to be done with regard to employees. Appearances can be deceiving.

For example, your largest customer measured by dollars generated could also be among your least profitable, if that customer consumes an inordinate amount of your time and other resources. In the same way, some employees at the high end of your compensation scale might not be nearly as valuable to you as some on the lower end. Higher-paying positions might have more to do with labor market traditions and preconceived assumptions about certain roles within a company than the actual value added to a company’s operations. In some businesses, the greatest draw for customers might be a friendly and knowledgeable receptionist, though he or she is likely to be among the lowest paid on staff.

Suppose, in your labor market, network IT professionals command a good salary. Your business needs an IT professional, so you pay the market price to recruit and keep one on board. But if you’re assuming that that employee is more vital to your success than an exceptional customer service representative simply because the former earns twice as much as the latter, you could be wrong.

Skills Quadrant Model

One insightful framework for taking a fresh look at your workforce, known as the Lepak & Snell model, is a four-quadrant, skills-based paradigm dividing employees by value of particular skills to your organization and the skills’ uniqueness in the labor market. The visual result is a box with the following four quadrants.

High skill value, high skill uniqueness: these employees are considered the “criticals.”	High skill value, low skill uniqueness, these employees are the“professionals,” skilled and semi-skilled.
High skill uniqueness, low skill value: these employees are the “specialists.”	Low skill value, low skill uniqueness: these employees are the “doers.”

You’ll probably assess your employees’ skills on the value spectrum based on criteria such as the ability to lower costs, increase revenue, strengthen customer relationships, foster team collaboration, offer creative ideas and solve problems.

The uniqueness-of-skills spectrum depicts the degree to which employees’ skills are narrowly applicable to your organization, and, thus, harder to find in the labor market. Let’s say you produce a unique, expensive and complex product. It takes years for employees involved in the production to develop the necessary talent. Those employees will be rated highly on the skill spectrum. The same principle is applicable to specialized services.

The purpose of the framework isn’t solely to categorize your current employees, but also to help you organize your workforce structure by job function. You can create a generic organizational chart by department or by division and assign job titles and functions to the four quadrants. For example, a sales manager position might require an employee who qualifies as a critical employee. Chances are you’ll need employees representing all four quadrants in most if not all departments.

After you’ve completed your generic organization chart, compare it to your actual one and analyze the inconsistencies: Are some departments understaffed in terms of skill? Overstaffed? If so, why? Is any action warranted, either in the short-term or over a longer period of time? What would be the operational consequence of having to fill vacancies in any of those positions?

Identify the Criticals

As previously noted, employees whose skills combine high value and uniqueness are known as the “criticals,” that is, critical to your success. Putting those criticals at the top of your retention priority list makes sense, though there are no guarantees that you can keep them on board in spite of your best efforts. Even if a competitor doesn’t lure these employees away, today’s society is increasingly mobile and people move away or seek new challenges or retire.

That’s why you need to think carefully about your talent pipeline and succession planning so that when critical employees leave, you don’t want to be left in the lurch.

Employees who don’t fall into the “critical” quadrant, assuming they satisfy your performance criteria, can’t be taken for granted. Just because an employee isn’t critical doesn’t mean you would welcome the burden of finding a replacement. But by using this talent quadrant lens, you have a clearer view of how to prioritize your efforts to keep employees engaged and content with their jobs.

Finally, keep in mind that maximizing employee engagement and satisfaction — whether it be that of a critical employee, professional, specialist, or other — often requires a tailored approach, as opposed to one-size-fits-all. For example, emphasizing tangible forms of compensation could cause you to lose some of your criticals who find motivation in other ways.

The Lepak & Snell model isn’t the “be all and end all” of understanding your workforce. If it doesn’t seem applicable to your organization, find one that will allow you to consider other ways of looking at how effectively you’re leveraging your organization’s substantial investment in “human capital.” Expect to find a few surprises if you do.

(Source: Bizaction)

Avoid Legal Traps When Interviewing

If you have interviewed applicants before and asked questions which you now realize probably ran afoul of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), don’t kick yourself over the mistake. Just make sure not to continue the practice. As it turns out, asking inappropriate questions is a common problem. A survey by CareerBuilder, the giant job board, determined that one-fifth of hiring managers — who, of all people should know better — inadvertently asked illegal questions.

But avoiding questions that could open you up to a discrimination complaint doesn’t mean you have to limit yourself to the old standbys, such as, “What are your biggest strengths and weaknesses?” Naturally, you need to go beyond a job application and resume to learn enough to make a hiring decision. After all, that’s what interviews are for.

Here’s a reminder of the most important points to avoid: The Equal Employment Opportunity Act and other federal laws and regulations under its authority enumerate many factors that you can’t legally consider when hiring. They include race, color, religion, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, pregnancy status, national origin, age (over 40), disability, or genetic information.

Indirect Questions

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can wiggle around the prohibited direct questions to get at the information you seek. For example, instead of asking an applicant what his or her religion is, employers might ask, “Will you need time off for any religious holidays?” or something similar. That may be a legitimate question, but it could still be viewed as an effort to identify an applicant’s religious tradition, and you might be deemed to have discriminatory intent even if you don’t.

In the same way, asking for the dates an applicant received educational degrees could be interpreted as an effort to ferret out his or her age.

The U.S. Government is prohibited from asking job applicants about their political affiliations. And though it’s not generally illegal, private employers would also be wise to avoid that thorny topic when interviewing applicants. Making a negative or supportive comment about, for example, a controversial political figure could be interpreted as a question in disguise and open a Pandora’s box.

Even when an interview is going well and you’re simply trying to get to know the applicant a little better, don’t let your guard down and wander into topics that are taboo. Otherwise, if you ultimately decide not to hire that person, you could have opened yourself up to a discrimination charge.

Change the Subject

Suppose the applicant introduces a personal topic, such as politics, religion or age. If that happens, quickly return the conversation to subjects that allow you to assess the person’s skills, experience and behavior patterns pertinent to his or her qualifications.

The job interview process can become similar to a game of cat and mouse. Websites and books are filled with tips for job applicants on the best answers to common interview questions. A Google search using the phrase “answers to job interview questions” instantly prompted more than seven million results.

Top-ranked pages coach job applicants on how to reply to the most common interview questions, such as “Tell me about yourself,” “Where do you see yourself in five years?” and “Why should we hire you?” So while these are good questions, applicants who saw them coming may have rehearsed the answers they think you’ll want to hear.

Unexpected Questions

It’s a good idea to dream up a few questions that applicants may not anticipate. CareerBuilder suggests several on its website. Admittedly, some of the suggestions may seem preposterous to you and your interviewees, and may lead them to believe you’re wasting their time. So if you do use questions such as the ones listed below, assure the applicant that there’s a purpose behind each question. Here are a few:

How would you wrangle a herd of cats? Purpose: To gain insights into the job candidate’s ability to organize, lead and motivate others.

If you didn’t have to work, what would you do? Purpose: To learn about the candidate’s values and interests outside of work, which can help you assess how well the candidate would fit into your workplace culture.

If you were trapped in a small, enclosed area, how would you get out? Purpose: To gauge the candidate’s creativity and ability to think on his or her feet.

Do you believe in life on other planets? Purpose: To get a feel for whether the candidate believes that anything’s possible.

Some of the standard questions that candidates will probably be prepared to field, such as “Tell me about yourself,” can still provide useful insights. If nothing else, you will learn what the applicant thinks you want to hear, which can help with your assessment. And it does suggest that he or she tried to prepare. Just be careful if the response includes the kind of personal facts you’re not supposed to ask about. And don’t end the interview before you’re confident you have learned enough to assess the candidate’s skills, knowledge, experience and attitude to make a smart hiring decision.

(Source: BizActions)

Skip Over the Confusion

Skip Over the Confusion

Do you know everything that goes into a well functioning payroll department? You may think that it is just paying employees on time but you would only be scratching the surface. There are taxes to pay, and there are taxes to pay, and did we mention there are taxes that you have to pay? No, we did not just repeat ourselves, rather there are quite a few taxes that need to be paid. There are state taxes and federal taxes to worry about when doing payroll. There are also the extra little bits such as vacation pay, sick leave, commissions, and unemployment to consider.

It’s important to get all of these things right the first time. There is no such thing as trial and error in payroll. When it comes to taxes and paychecks trial and error become trial and painful fines and fees. The government does not play games when it comes to getting paid. If you make an error, there’s no getting out of paying for the consequences. The only way to get out of paying them is to avoid them in the first place. There are two ways to make sure your payroll is on the right track with taxes and all the other requirements.

• You can spend days getting up to date with every single regulation and law about payroll. Then spend more time making sure every employee’s payroll is done right, and hopefully find time outside of that to run a business.
• Let someone else who already knows all that to do it for you.

There are companies that handle your payroll for you, that you can outsource all the responsibilities in payroll too. They have only one responsibility, which means they don’t have to worry about learning other parts of a business. They only have to learn how to make sure those state and federal taxes are done correctly, that Payroll is up to date and organized, and that employees are paid on time. So skip right over all it confusing forms and potential fines by outsourcing your company to Vision H.R. You can even get a free quote before you go through with it by clicking here.

Melbourne Payroll Company

Vision H.R. | The Human Resource Experts

Keeping Payroll Secured

Keeping Payroll Secured

There is a lot of important information in your payroll department. Not just for you, but for everyone in the company. Along with financial information and access to the company, it also has the social security number of every single employee, along with their name and address. For some, it might even have banking information if they have direct deposit. The wrong person gets inside your payroll and everyone is in danger. Even if you do outsource your payroll to an outside company, there are still risks to consider on your end. The outsource company will take various steps to ensure that your payroll information is secured. Your end of the payroll, however, is something you have to keep secure.

If you are not using an outsourced company, there is more security you need to place around your payroll. In all honesty, this goes beyond payroll. All financial information should be given the same level of security if not more. For this article, we will approach it from the viewpoint that your payroll department is performed in house. So if you are ready to trade that padlock in for some real security, read below.

Limited Access: Only the people directly involved with the company’s payroll should have access to it. Anyone who isn’t involved should only have access to their own paystubs. If a manager does not directly work with paying employees, they shouldn’t be able to get into the software.

Change Passwords: There are three times when you should change the passwords to the payroll software and records.

1. When someone with access to payroll leaves the company
2. When you feel security has been compromised
3. At regular time intervals.

The first two are pretty straight forward. You don’t want anyone that’s not an employees having the password, even if you trust them. You also don’t want to risk the payroll information being at risk. Changing the password regularly will lock out anyone who got their hands on the password without you knowing. It is good to change it bi-weekly or monthly.

Log Out: If you are not using the software, make sure you log out of it. This counts for finishing a task or just stepping away from the computer. If it is even a quick trip to the restroom, log out of the software. Also, make sure that your computer doesn’t save your login information or anyone can use your computer to log in with just two clicks. It’s also a good idea to logout of your computer when you are not on it.

Secure Digital Copies: If you save your payroll information to any kind of storage device that is not on a computer, make sure the device is encrypted. Create a unique password so if the device goes missing or is stolen, the person responsible can not access the files. For further security, lock up the device with any hard copies of payroll. Speaking of hard copies.

Secure Hard Copies: If you have physical copies of any payroll documentation, make sure they are locked up when you are not using them. Either in a safe or in a secured file cabinet. Don’t place them in the same safe you place the money that other people have access to. Keep them in a separate safe that limited people have access to.

Use Trusted Software: There is a lot of software out there designed to handle payroll. If you are going to use any of it, make sure you look at reviews and testimonials. You wouldn’t let a stranger watch your home while you were on vacation, so why let an unknown software handle your payroll?

Outsource Payroll: You have to make sure your payroll is secure along with the rest of your company. An outsourcing company only has to worry about securing your payroll. They will use software that is secure, make sure any copies they have are locked up, and monitor it for potential threats. They also help employees access their pay stubs easily without being able to see other employee’s payroll records.

Security is an important part of any company, so why settle for less? When you outsource your payroll, you get security and convenience all in one package. So why wait, request a free quote from Vision H.R. today, your Ormond Beach Payroll Specialists.

Ormond Beach Payroll Specialists

Vision H.R. | The Human Resource Experts

Prepare: E-Verify May Soon Become Mandatory

Prepare: E-Verify May Soon Become Mandatory

With so much focus in Washington on stemming illegal immigration and the erosion of job opportunities for U.S. citizens, chances appear better than ever that the E-Verify system will become mandatory. President Trump’s 2018 budget proposal includes funds to upgrade the system so that it can handle greater capacity, that is, if Congress authorizes requiring businesses to use it.

California’s View of E-Verify Often following the beat of a different drummer, the state of California has passed its own laws limiting the use of the federal immigration status verification system known as E-Verify. In 2011, California passed the Employment Acceleration Act, which prohibits state agencies, cities, and counties from requiring private employers to use the federal system in most cases. Exceptions include where the use of E-Verify is mandatory by federal law, or when using the system is a condition necessary to receive federal funds. Previously, in some areas of California, city contractors and businesses within city limits were also required to use E-Verify. Voluntary use for private employers is permitted. Effective January 1, 2016, Assembly Bill 622 set forth stiff civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each separate occurrence of misuse of the E-Verify system. Violations include actions such as: Using the system to verify the status of existing employees, Using the system to verify the status of job applicants before an offer of employment has been made, and Failing to give an individual a Tentative Nonconformation notice, as soon as reasonably possible, when such notice has been received after attempting to verify status. Given the fact that violations can quickly result in significant penalties, California employers using the E-Verify system should review their practices to ensure compliance.

Background: E-Verify is currently a voluntary federally administered electronic system designed to help employers verify the work eligibility and citizenship status of job applicants and employees. Its purpose is to alert users when the Social Security number supplied by an individual is already in use by someone else. After an initial pilot phase that began in 1996, it became available to employers in all states in 2001.

Where Verification is Mandatory

Today, nine states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah — require that most employers use E-Verify. Federal contractors also must use the system. A handful of other states require that public employers or contractors doing business with state or local governments use E-Verify.

Even so, only about 10% of employers use the system. Of those, 60% do so because they are required to by law. Yet about 90% of employers recently polled by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) said they would support a mandate to use E-Verify or a similar system, subject to certain changes in the existing program.

What Employers Want

High on employers’ wish list of possible changes to the E-Verify system is that using it would take the place of the Form I-9, “Employment Eligibility Verification,” the paper-based system created for the same purpose. Current users of E-Verify are still required to collect I-9s from employees, just like everyone else.

Additional changes sought by employers point to issues they would face now if E-Verify were made mandatory in its current form, including:

• A strong “safe harbor” protecting employers from accusations of wrongdoing if they use the system in good faith,
• Removal of any potential liability for employment-based discrimination charges in conjunction with its administration of E-Verify, and
• Provision of a set time period for resolving work authorization disputes.

 

Another concern with E-Verify in its present form is that its usefulness is limited. That is, it determines whether information entered into the system — such as name, date of birth and Social Security number — already exists in the government’s database and corresponds to someone who is eligible to work. “What it can’t do is give employers certainty that the people standing before HR are who they say they are,” according to SHRM.

Instead, SHRM proposes the use of a network of “identity verification centers.” These centers are similar to the ones companies use when individuals need to request a new password to gain access to their online accounts. The requester must provide personally identifiable information to prove who they are (such as answers to preset security questions). In an employment setting, employers would be told whether an employee or job applicant has cleared that hurdle.

Also, currently employers that use E-Verify must later verify that the person they just checked out is indeed employed by the company. One reform being proposed is that the system be streamlined by dropping this requirement.

Pending Legislation

The latest version of the “Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act,” was proposed by Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee) and co-sponsored by nine other senators in January. If passed, it would make E-Verify permanent (though under current law, it must be reauthorized by Congress every two years). It would also address several of the concerns of groups like SHRM.

Here are several of the key provisions of the proposed measure, as described on Congress’ website.

• Employers must: (1) use E-Verify to check the identity and employment eligibility of any individual who hasn’t been previously vetted through E-Verify not later than three years after enactment of this Act (2) re-verify the work authorization of individuals not later than three days after their employment authorization is due to expire, and (3) terminate an employee following receipt of a final E-Verify nonconfirmation. The information provided by the employee must then be submitted to DHS, to assist in enforcing or administering U.S. immigration law.
• The system may be used to verify the identity of individuals before they are hired, recruited or referred if the individual so consents.
• The bill eliminates the Form I-9 process and sets forth the design and operation requirements of the E-Verify system.
• U.S. employers must begin to participate in E-Verify within one year of enactment of this Act; and employers using a contract, subcontract or exchange to obtain labor to certify that they use E-Verify.
• The failure of an employer to use E-Verify shall be treated as a violation of the Immigration and Naturalization Act requirement to verify employment eligibility. It also creates a rebuttable presumption that the employer knowingly hired, recruited or referred an illegal alien.
• The bill increases civil and criminal penalties for specified hiring-related violations, and establishes a good faith civil penalty exemption/reduction for certain hiring-related violations.

• State and local governments may not prohibit employers from using E-Verify to determine the employment eligibility of new hires or current employees.

 

There’s no guarantee that E-Verify will become the law of the land, and if it does, chances are there will be a lag time before it takes effect. Still, it’s a good idea for companies to review their work-status vetting procedures, as well as the possible implications of what a more foolproof E-Verify system might have for your workforce.

(Source: BizActions)

Underperforming Employees May Be Salvageable

Underperforming Employees May Be Salvageable

It’s easy to spot underperformance, but correcting it is a different matter. The fact is, effectively managing your workforce, especially problem employees, just doesn’t come naturally to most people. Here’s some guidance to potentially help turn around an employee who is missing the performance mark.

Tackling the Problem

When an employee is underperforming, begin the performance management process with these two steps:

• Clearly define the nature and degree of the underperformance.
• Determine whether you’ve done the best job possible in helping the employee to be successful. For example, is the employee aware that you consider his or her work subpar? Have you put it in writing as well as had discussions with the employee?

Staff members who aren’t sure whether they’re on the right track often wait for feedback, rather than proactively seeking guidance. That means you need to act at the first sign an employee isn’t meeting expectations, rather than hoping the situation will remedy itself.

If the individual has worked under other supervisors in previous jobs within the company, a quick meeting could be productive, before talking with the employee. Describe the issues you’re having, and ask the previous supervisor whether the same type of problems were present in the past. If the answer is “no,” that may help set the agenda for your discussion with the worker. The conversation might proceed along these lines:

• Clearly and specifically state your performance concerns. For example, in a manufacturing plant, you may need to advise an employee that he or she is habitually falling below the daily production goal.
• Let the employee know that your objective is to work together to find a solution.
• After discussing the specific performance issues, ask how you can help the employee turn around the situation, with some possible suggestions in mind. There may be issues you aren’t aware of, such as tools that are in disrepair or missing, or poor lighting in the employee’s workspace. So be open to his or her input.
• Provide the employee with any written materials you may have — or can put together — about the employee’s tasks and expectations. For example, are there manuals, guides and checklists about how to do the job properly?

If the employee attributes the performance concerns to lack of clarity about expectations, or an inability to prioritize tasks, the remedy might be as simple as regular monthly, weekly or even more frequent meetings to go over what needs to be accomplished before the next meeting.

The discussion could also reveal that the employee, while generally qualified for the position, needs some training to fulfill all the requirements of the job.

Accepting Criticism

How well the worker responds to the initial part of the performance discussion will influence how you wrap it up. If he or she is concerned, cooperative and motivated to improve, you can end with the remedial plan you devise. If, instead, the employee is defensive and unrepentant, giving no indication of a willingness to change, it may be time to describe the consequences of a lack of improvement.

The outcome of the meeting needs to be a concrete and detailed performance improvement plan with milestones. The plan itself may be as simple as a schedule for check-ins and progress assessment meetings.

Job Descriptions

To determine the milestones, go back to the written job description to see if it’s clear enough. Depending on the job, measuring progress may be easy, such as by seeking a higher output rate for a standard unit of product or service. Of course, it’s not always that easy, and it may require some serious thought. Whatever you decide, don’t leave this unaddressed. It’s not enough to say “I’ll know good performance when I see it.”

The clearer the job description, the easier it is to hold employees accountable for specific performance metrics. Take a look to see if it provides a framework you can use for measuring progress. If it doesn’t, it should be revised. An example of a metric for progress that’s harder to measure — let’s say, for an office assistant –— might be something like this: Within the first 90 days of employment, complete cross-training with the receptionist so you can efficiently fill that position as needed.

Follow-up discussions to look at performance improvement should be just that — discussions, not lectures. Before offering your assessments, seek the employee’s own opinion of his or her progress. You may see more improvement than the employee does, and that can give you an opportunity to encourage him or her with a little praise.

The worst mistake you can make in an employee turnaround effort is to lay out a detailed remediation plan, then neglect to follow up and review progress with the employee. That’s especially true if you promise adverse consequences for a lack of improvement and then nothing happens. Failing to follow up wastes everyone’s time, and the employee may either conclude you weren’t serious to begin with, or that he or she has improved enough.

When Your Best Efforts Fail

Doing all the right things to try to turn an underperforming employee into a valued worker is no guarantee of success, of course. After you’ve given it your best shot, you may decide the employee just isn’t right for his or her current role. Is there another area in the company that seems like a better fit? If so, explore the possibilities with other managers and then with the worker.

If the employee simply isn’t salvageable to work for your company at all, act promptly. The former employee will probably be better off finding a job that’s more suitable to his or her skills and interests. And in the end, your workforce will likely benefit by higher production and improved morale. Be sure to document all of the steps you took to try and turn the situation around, and consider consulting legal counsel to ensure you’re in compliance with all applicable laws.

(Source: BizActions)