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Human Resource Advice: What To Do If You Receive An EEOC Complaint
So your Titusville business has just received an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint. Complaints of harassment or discrimination are commonplace to most large businesses, but an official complaint can be a scary experience.
Join us today, as we break down three steps to take in response to an EEOC complaint. With the right precautions in place, you’ll be able to cover yourself fully and avoid a nasty potential fallout.
Pay Close Attention To The EEOC’s Rules
An employee filing charges against your company with the EEOC can throw your day off, completely, if you let it. It is important, however, to keep a level head.
Firstly, a complaint against your company doesn’t mean that you’ve been found guilty or that you will, in the future, be found guilty of discrimination. All it means is that a complaint has been lodged and that there are steps that need to be taken, moving forward.
You’ll be notified, firstly, of all the basic information regarding the complaint. This correspondence will also include instructions for how you can respond to the charge. At this point, you may be able to resolve the charge with mediation or a settlement, without moving on to any actual proceedings.
Choose not to go with early mediation, and the EEOC will need some specific information from you. You’ll need to outline why your company took whatever labor action you are being looked into over. Specifically, you’ll need to provide a legitimate business rationale for these actions to help justify them to the EEOC.
This typically includes some of the following:
- A statement of position, wherein you’ll explain what happened from your perspective.
- A request for information or RFI. For this, you’ll want to incorporate copies of your specific business policies, the employee’s personnel files, and as much other information as you can specific to the case.
- An appointment for a site visit to inspect your workplace for signs of ongoing or previous violations.
- Witness employee information in order to conduct interviews.
At this point, your business will want to present any information you believe might go toward proving the accusations incorrect or, at least, not in violation of any workplace law.
Equal Employment Opportunity Policies and Training
Of course, hindsight is 2020, but it’s important to note that the best protection against repercussions from a case like this is a solid established EEO policy. Employers must have updated policies that include procedures in case of discrimination complaints.
To take it a step further: training managers and employees to maintain a discrimination-free workplace does a lot to prevent EEO complaints. In the event of a complaint, being able to demonstrate that your company has established an active commitment to anti-harassment and discrimination work.
As they say: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
Maintaining Records
Good housekeeping is key to proving your case in the event of a complaint. It’s also standard operation recommended by the EEOC, which requires all employers to keep personnel and employment records for a year at a time.
Your Titusville business is subject to the federal record-keeping requirements as everyone else, including the following:
- Keep personnel records of employees who have been involuntarily terminated for one year from the date of their termination.
- Keep full payroll records going back three years at a time.
- Maintain records of employee benefits plans going back the full length of the plans themselves.
- Salary records, evaluations, and any bargaining agreements to explain varied salaries.
These are standard requirements applicable to any and all employers under federal anti-discrimination laws, regardless of any outstanding charges.
Handling Your EEOC Complaint The Right Way
When it comes to an EEOC complaint, there’s never a good time or place. But, if you’ve kept up your records, maintained your equal opportunity policies, and kept up with the EEOC’s rules and regulations, you can come out on top.
Looking for more great insights into the HR process? Interested in professional human resource, time and attendance, and payroll services? Visit Vision HR, today, to find out more.
Why Use Digital Timekeeping
Digital timekeeping has been around for almost as long as the Internet has, and it’s been benefitting businesses since day one. What’s interesting, however, is how many businesses opt for traditional timekeeping systems, either because they don’t understand digital or just because that’s how they’ve always done it.
So join us, today, as we break down five of the best reasons around to use digital timekeeping, and get ready for a whole new perspective on staff management.
Keep Your Employees Honest
Marking a switch to newer technology can make it more difficult for employees to steal time via traditional channels. According to surveys, nearly 80% of employees have openly admitted to stealing time under traditional timekeeping systems. One of the most common methods, by far, is physically checking in on someone else’s behalf. This is not a possibility when you go digital.
Convenience
Today’s time and attendance systems go well beyond being simply paperless. They are also far more flexible. Because the reality is we have embraced its mobile phones in nearly every part of our lives. So why not take advantage of technology by allowing staffers to clock in and make adjustments on the fly using their own devices?
Easily Maintained
In addition to being convenient, cloud-based time tracking software is also easier to maintain than traditional punch clock mechanisms. Since this data is being communicated via the cloud, your IT department will not be forced to deploy updates, install updates or troubleshoot.
Improved Accuracy
Accuracy is everything to running a successful business, especially when it comes to labor management. Federal and state laws work to regulate factors like overtime pay, for instance, adding pressure for accurate shift reporting. Employee audits can be a nightmare of paper if you’re trying to find things the traditional way. Digital makes that easier.
Better For The Environment
Using a manual attendance system isn’t just cumbersome. It’s expensive to maintain. And that maintenance is bad for the world around us. Think about all of the paper wasted in a given fiscal year. How many supplies are purchased. How much energy is spent repairing time clocks.
Time tracking software makes these problems a thing of the past. Employees have access to time cards through via an application, cutting the materials used down to virtually zero. This means a reduced carbon footprint, which is better for the world overall.
Digital Timekeeping
Ultimately, how you keep track of your staff members depends on what works best for your business. But, with so many great reasons to use digital timekeeping, the writing’s on the wall for this tech and its potential in your office.
Visit Vision HR today to find out more about our timekeeping, payroll, and time and attendance services for your business in Orange City, Deltona or anywhere else.
Employee’s Handbook Benefits
The employee’s handbook is one of the most important documents a company can invest in. Defining key policies and procedures for your Ormond Beach company and outlining a full description of your company’s culture, this is a versatile business tool with a lot to offer.
Today, we’ll be outlining five great reasons to invest in an employee’s handbook that your staff members can benefit from.
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Formalizing Your Policies
For an employee handbook worth the paper it’s written on, it has to clearly define your business’s policies and procedures. This document will help you to organize your company’s policies in a clear and concise manner, so you can have them all in one place and easily accessible.
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Promoting Equality and Transparency
An employee handbook communicates one very important message, loudly and clearly: that you have consistent policies for its employees. It’s a public declaration that everyone has the same rules applied to them, meaning more equality overall.
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Time Saved
If your employee handbook is well written enough, it should offer comprehensive answers to any common questions your employees might ask. With this on hand, you can avoid answering time-draining questions about policies. Make it easier on your employees so they can find the answers themselves, saving both you and them time.
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Prevent Legal Disputes
With all of your official policies established and clearly define for all of your employees, you’re also investing in legal protection in the event of a possible legal dispute. A comprehensive employee handbook should outline your employment relationship, serving as important legal protection as your relationship with your employee progresses.
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Enhanced Onboarding
When it comes to bringing on new employees, a handbook is especially important for onboarding. This document is an invaluable tool for incorporating your new employees, helping new employees to get their bearings.
Your Employee’s Handbook and You
For any business to truly thrive, there needs to be transparency about the rules, regulations, and expectations between employers and employees. This is where your employee’s handbook is most important.
Looking for expert HR management services in Ormond Beach, including the creation of professional employee handbooks and more? Visit Vision HR today and find out about our comprehensive services portfolio!
Employee Care: Four Signs You’ve Stopped Caring About Your Staffers
How Timekeeping Platforms Can Help Your Business
In human resources, we place a lot of emphasis on time. We build a culture within our businesses that values timeliness, hitting deadlines, and keeping an eye on the time spent on your projects. So it should come as no surprise that the act of timekeeping itself is significant to the modern human resources professional, in terms of employee management and avoiding penalties and expanding your organization.
Go Automated
A simple, trusty punch clock with a set of reliable time cards may seem like a simple and economical solution for your timekeeping needs. But there are limitations to keep in mind. Is it going to be able to generate a report when you need to find out which departments are pulling more overtime hours than others, costing your business in the long run?
Automation can help you manage your employees and company in this regard. Information management systems used in automated installations fit the timekeeping needs of your unique company. Vanish those paper files vanish, slap passwords on your user system, and get the help of a reliable support department, and it’s smooth sailing for timekeeping.
Protection
Data management systems not only provide you with information to accurately evaluate your business’ performance but also whether you’re in compliance with federal and state labor laws.
Boost Productivity
Automated information systems give you the option to make it more transparent, both on your end and the employee’s side. User-friendly interfaces mean everyone can observe the hours they’re meant to have logged, their vacation and sick time and upcoming events and responsibilities.
Check-Ins
Perhaps you have an automated system that’s been performing less well than you hoped. Maybe you’ve been burned before by a technical mishap, something that lead to some sort of apocalyptic payroll snafu or a dance with the IRS. Automated timekeeping adds a layer of protection by tracking your times and identifying missing data, inconsistencies and other issues. This is all done before anything needs your attention, helping you to preempt and avoid snowballing.
Looking for more reasons to invest in automated timekeeping services? Visit Vision HR today, to find out more!
Paperless Payroll: Discover The Benefits for Your Business
Prior to Internet payroll solutions, companies finished their payrolls off with pencil, paper, and the might of a well-trained accountant’s eye. This soon evolved into Excel spreadsheets, which eventually migrated from desktop to online. To this day, HR branches around the country still spend hours manually processing payroll and cutting paper checks.
Which is cute and unexpectedly antiquated, but also leaves companies vulnerable to payroll mistakes, leaving them responsible for adjusting paychecks and other miscellaneous errors.
Now, though, technology has made it so that companies can automate these time-consuming payroll procedures.
Paperless Payroll
Making the switch to paperless payroll can seem like a daunting task, particularly if you’ve always processed payroll by hand. When you realize the benefits of switching to paperless payroll, the choice is a no-brainer. Here are a few reasons why your company must make the change to paperless citizenship:
24/7 Employee Access
Employees can enjoy 24/7 access to their pay information. Self-service portals allow for communication between companies and employees.
Saving Money
The money and time saved from removing paper check prices are substantial. The typical operations cost of paper checks is $24,450, annually, in terms of labor, materials, fees, and stamps. Go paperless, and you can save yourself and your company unnecessary expenses and time.
Removing Clutter
Removing paper-based payrolls from your business saves you the headache of organizing and locating actual reports for an audit. An online platform manages your payroll processing, allowing simple access to real-time analytics dashboards.
Paperless Payroll: The Way Of The Future
It’s no secret that paperless payroll is an important part of streamlining the whole payroll procedure. Now more than ever, organizations are removing the supply of paper reports, direct deposit coupons, and also checks. Ditching a paper-based payroll process can help save you time, money, and physical distance, in addition to eliminating potential errors.
Visit Vision HR today to find out more about our paperless payroll, payroll packages, and other human resource services, today!
The Benefits of Co-Employment for Your Business
Modern businesses are many-headed beasts. It takes a lot of departments to get the job done, not least of which are your HR representatives. These people serve as the administrators of an organization’s human resources, bridging the gap between employers and their staff members.
Sadly, many employers choose to handle these processes themselves, spending more time than they should handling simple payroll processes. Recruiting and human resource (HR) services give you the breathing room you need to grow your business. But every business is different, and many don’t prioritize the position the way they should.
Co-employment gives two employers specific legal rights concerning a shared employee. It frees employers up to focus on core business functions without having to worry about the responsibilities of traditional employment.
Co-Employment: What Is It?
Co-employment between two companies gives both employers rights and obligations to the employee. One business maintains standard responsibilities relating to the worker’s job duties and daily functions. The co-employer manages concerns like payroll. Thus, the worker becomes technically employed by both businesses at the same time.
Why Co-Employment Matters to HR Outsourcing
When business owners develop co-employment relationships with HR companies, they can put off a substantial amount of the risk and responsibilities associated with having employees. Employees enjoy access to possibly more health and retirement options, and there are reduced associated payroll and accounting costs, as well.
Workers’ compensation management is another factor many small businesses worry about but which can be taken care of with a co-employment arrangement. These same small businesses often pushed into making bad decisions with their compensation packages simply because they don’t know any better. In a co-employment arrangement, professionals who handle benefits on a daily basis can keep you compliant so you don’t misstep.
There’s also recruiting assistance. Hiring new employees is a process that takes time away from your normal business activities. Being able to find and secure job candidates who fit the position as well as match your company’s culture is important, but your regular work activities should still take precedence. By bringing in a professional recruiter as a co-employee gives you access to that same experience, making them ideal for once-off job hunts.
Co-Employment
Co-employment services allow two sets of employers to enjoy the benefits of a shared employee. Interested in these services for your business? Visit Vision HR to find out how you can benefit, today.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Choosing A Timekeeping System
In 2014, Forbes wrote that
one in five Americans reported arriving late for work at least once a week. Timekeeping systems, which help companies keep track of these times, have become the norm in modern businesses. With people clocking in and out, both on and offsite, it’s important to know who’s working precisely which hours when payday comes around.
But is it as simple as “just getting a timekeeping system” for your business? What are the potential pitfalls? Join us today as we take a closer look at six crucial timekeeping do’s and don’ts for your timekeeping system.
Also Read: 10 Ways to Make Money Right Now
Do
Always Use An Accurate Timekeeping System
Employers may choose any timekeeping system or method they prefer, from timesheets to clocks to badge readers and beyond. The only proviso is that it has to be accurate, making
digital timekeeping systems easily the best choice.
Require That Your Employees Record Their Work Times
Once you have a system in place, it’s important to insist your employees keep accurate track of their clock in and clock out times. Non-exempt employees must know that their time reports, including work time after hours. Where employees are having trouble using the system, make sure to take the time to instruct them.
Demand That Employees Be Able To Verify Their Hours Worked
After any pay period, you may need to ask employees for a full breakdown of their time records. You’ll be better prepared to make corrections ahead of payroll, and you’ll be able to prove you’re paying your employees fairly, every month.
Don’t
Withhold Pay As A Punishment For Not Signing Timesheets
Employers must pay employees for all hours worked according to the agreed-upon payment schedule, period. Timekeeping system procedures aside, pay should be carried out every month according to most state regulations.
Allow Off-The-Clock Work
This is an inescapable fact, no matter where you work. Employers can’t ask their non-exempt employees to work “off-the-clock,” so make sure to keep your policies aboveboard in this regard.
Neglect Your Recordkeeping
Employers are required to keep payroll records for at least three years. These can be called on later if the company is ever audited, so it’s crucial to keep up with your timekeeping system records.
Payroll Service Questions
The payroll process is important for obvious reasons, not the least of which is keeping your employees happy and your workplace operational. This is what makes it such a big deal when salary processing goes awry. And payroll mistakes can happen quicker than you might think, and require a lot of resources to fix.
Using payroll services is a solid first step in minimizing your own financial risk, as well as doing right by your employees. The thing is, as with any other service, not all payroll services are as good as each other.
Join us today, for our rundown of three must-ask questions you must ask when choosing a payroll services team to help your business.
Tax Protection
The benefits of payroll services often boil down to taking an important process off of your hands so that it never gets overlooked and you don’t have to worry about it. Accurate, on-time payments are a pillar process in any business, making payroll services extremely important.
But you need to know they have your best interests at heart, and a big part of that is tax protection. In whatever shape it takes, your payroll service provider should help keep your tax obligations clear and, hopefully, as low as possible. Ask about what your service provider will do to keep your payroll taxes filed, and to resolve potential tax issues and penalties in the future.
Customer Service
No service is complete without a prompt, available, and well-informed customer service team. You’d be safe to assume that there are a lot of questions to ask when it comes to payroll, whether upfront or later on, especially because with it being managed offsite.
A good payroll services company will make themselves available, at least during office hours. Ask about how to get in touch with someone who can solve problems. You shouldn’t get left hanging when you need answers, so make sure to find out what their policy is ahead of time.
Payroll Service Process Timing
Prompt payments are obviously important, and it’s to that effect that you should find out what your payroll services window is going to be. You’re going to want to know how long it takes to process each set of payments via your payroll company so you can plan ahead and nobody’s left waiting.
Payroll services will also often feature contingency services to help cover your payments during an emergency or when things don’t go as planned. Whether it’s a next or same-day scheduled payment option, payroll cancellations, or automated payments, it pays (literally) to know what your options are.
Looking for a better payroll experience at your business? Visit Vision HR today and let us help you take the hassle out of your salary payment process.
The Real Costs Of Payroll Errors
It’s not uncommon for salaries to be the single largest expense in any business. Your employees are an investment and, profitable or not, that investment comes at the price of their salaries.
When a payroll error occurs, the expenses can add up quickly, sometimes becoming bigger than the salaries themselves.
Here are some costs you might run into if your pay system gets away from you:
Man Hours For Error Correction
Over the course of the payroll process, we should correct every single error as soon as possible. Beyond being good to your employees, your financial records have to be accurate to retain favor with the IRS.
All of which sounds reasonable, until you account for employees who stop their work and to work on corrections instead. This amounts to a loss of valuable labor in various departments.
Sometimes, this loss of man-hours won’t impact your bottom line too badly. Others, it can actually add up to more than the salaries you’re paying in the first place. It can be difficult to identify errors, let alone fix them. But inaction can have a negative effect on your bottom line.
Compliance Failure Issues
Maintaining compliance with the laws governing businesses in your state or industry can be difficult on the best of days. But, difficult or not, non-compliance penalties can add up to significant costs.
These laws tend to focus on payroll processes, making this one of the most important areas in which to take precautions. Making late or incorrect payments even due to unexpected payroll errors or submitting incorrect employee information can all result in fines and lead to other problems.
Retroactive Taxes and Misclassified Employees
When an employee is classified as an employee, the company is responsible for handling overtime, workers’ compensation insurance, some taxes, and benefits. There is also the question of their potential unemployment benefits, for which the company is also responsible.
Employees who are classified as independent contractors are a different matter, and the company is not held responsible for these processes. However, when companies classify an employee as an independent contractor but treat them like employees, the results can be expensive.
It’s important for companies to pay and compensate their employees according to their real classifications. Otherwise, they could have to present retroactive overtime pay and even pay back taxes, as enforced by the Department of Labor and OSHA.
Payroll Errors: Never Again
Payroll software systems services like those available from Vision HR can help prevent potential payroll errors and their associated costs. The business world has moved on from manual salary calculations, which are prone to errors. Visit us today to discover for expert payroll management services, and save yourself potential payroll-related headaches down the road.
