With the economy continuing on a downward trend, many employers have grabbed hold of the notion that their employees will do anything to keep their current jobs. With this in mind, many employers have lost sight of what they need to do to create loyalty from their employees and to ensure employee retention even after the economy recovers. In a time when competition is fierce, employers should recognize that employees are becoming part of the competitive advantage for business in the modern world. Bad employees can cause a business to fail; mediocre employees can cause a business to break even; but good employees can make even a so-so business soar.
The key to having good employees is, of course, to hire right. At least half of the personnel problems organization’s face with employees today are caused by poor hiring practices and policies. Just as important as hiring good employees is keeping good employees. It is important to remember the idea that the satisfied employee is less likely to search for greener pastures than the unsatisfied employee who feels underappreciated and overworked. Here are some tips on how to keep your best employees.
Salary. Pay might not always be the most important thing, but it definitely ranks right at the top. Pay is only a non-issue when an employee is not dependent on the paycheck or has another source of income. A general rule is that you must offer a competitive salary/wage for that position. If you are offering below market rate, you may only attract the worst of the prospective employee pool.
Benefits. Similar to salary, if other like businesses are paying certain benefits your company will also have to in order to attract top talent. Health and dental insurance are benefits that better employees are demanding. Your company can also offer additional benefits, such as life insurance, 401k plans, and sick and vacation days, to attract better employees.
Training. Good employees know that they must be continually learning and improving their skills. They will search for an organization that not only encourages, but provides regular training and opportunities to expand and improve their skills. In addition to this, think about offering cross training so your employees can learn to do other functions in the business, which will benefit everyone involved.
Recognize Good Work with financial and non-financial recognition. Employees often feel management only addresses them when there are problems. Good employees expect to be told when they do good work.
Good Working Conditions are a must. Good employees expect their employer to be making constant improvements so the workplace is not only safe but pleasant.
Finally, Have Fun. Good, loyal employees do not want boring, drudgery-filled work. There are many ways employers can make work fun and many of these techniques cost little or nothing. This is not the same kind of fun one has on vacation. But it does add excitement and keeps attitude high and motivation up.
For more tips, and ideas on how to attract and create loyal employees, HR Made Simple users should log in and search employee retention.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor and Treasury have issued regulations to implement a New Patient’s Bill of Rights under the Affordable Care Act to assist children (and eventually adults) with pre-existing conditions gain healthcare coverage and keep it. It will also protect the individual’s choice of doctors, and end lifetime limits on healthcare. The regulations released detail a set of protections that apply to healthcare coverage starting on or after September 23, 2010, six months after the enactment of the Affordable Care Act.
“The rule we are announcing today will allow employers to make routine and modest adjustments to co-payments, deductibles and employer contributions to their employees’ premiums without forfeiting grandfather status. This flexibility will encourage employers to continue offering health coverage to their employees and help to ensure coverage for all Americans,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.
These new protections will apply to nearly all health insurance plans. Limits on pre-existing conditions and annual limits will not apply to existing “grandfathered” plans offering individual coverage. For more details including the Fact Sheet and Interim Final Regulations, please visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website.
Do you own or work for a small business? If so, do you have a Human Resource Department? If the answer is no, you might want to reevaluate and consider making Human Resources a priority. A new study released last week by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (LIR) showed that small businesses shoulder a large chunk of the nation’s tort liability costs, having paid approximately $105.4 billion in 2008.
The study done by the LIR, called the Tort Liability Costs for Small Businesses study, also found that small businesses, defined as those with $10 million or less in annual revenue, collectively paid $35.6 billion out-of-pocket rather than through insurance. In addition to this, litigation liability costs are expected to continue to grow, and it was forecasted that by 2011, small businesses will be paying $152 billion in tort costs.
Over the past 15 years, small businesses have created 64% of all net new jobs in the United States, so increasing liability, litigation and lawsuit costs for small businesses is coming at a time when it could really hurt future job growth. ILR President, Lisa Rickard said “As America struggles out of this current economic downturn, this study shows that our lawsuit system continues to be a drag on job-creating small businesses.”
If you are a small business owner, or just work for one, it would be a good idea to reevaluate and reconsider the value of an effective Human Resources program. HR Made Simple is an easy way to stay in compliance with the law, and provides the user with all necessary documents for best practices and paperwork for human resources compliance. For more information visit HR Made Simple.
ILR seeks to promote civil justice reform through legislative, political, judicial, and educational activities at the national, state, and local levels.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations.
Having clearly stated and specific policies in your company’s employee handbook is essential. Many companies have used a general ethics policy in the past, but without clear and specific policies it may be hard to fire an employee for violating an unwritten or “general ethics” policy. One specific policy that has attracted attention is a policy on Personal Internet Use at Work. In one instance, not having a Personal Internet Use at Work policy lead to an employee filing, and winning, a wrongful termination suit.
While performing routine maintenance, the IT staff at a Fire Department found that an employee had been watching “inappropriate” videos at work. They were not pornographic in nature, but they contained profanity and were violent. An investigation ensued, and soon after, the employee was fired. The employee sued for wrongful termination, on the grounds that the department never told employees that they were not allowed to watch Internet videos at work.
In this particular case, the Fire Department only had a general ethics policy, which stated that employees could be fired for “malfeasance, misconduct in office, gross neglect of duty, gross immorality or habitual drunkenness” (Narisi 2010). The Fire Department claimed that watching inappropriate videos in the workplace constituted malfeasance, but the judge did not agree. In this case, the judge found that there were too many gray areas in the policy, and that specifically it did not mention computer use. In addition to this, using a word such as “inappropriate,” without defining it, leaves the door open for personal interpretation of what is and is not inappropriate.
So, the judge sided with the employee and the Fire Department lost. The Judge did acknowledge that the employee had accessed videos on his work computer that may be deemed offensive, but that was irrelevant to the case because the company’s Code of Ethics was deemed too vague to cover the employee’s use of technology. The Code of Ethics had no specific guidelines for what would be deemed “inappropriate” and did not specify how workplace computers may or may not be used.
What can you take away from this? It is important to always be as specific as possible with employee policies. Another best practice would be to develop a clear and comprehensive employee handbook that covers everything from employee computer use, to personal auto use and vacation time. HR Made Simple Users should log in and search Employee Handbook Policies. Or, visit HR Resources Now to download fully customizable and legally compliant Employee Handbook Policies.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services is now accepting applications for the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP). The Early Retiree Reinsurance Program was established in the Affordable Care Act to provide reimbursement to sponsors of participating employment-based plans for a portion of the cost of health benefits for early retirees and their spouses, surviving spouses and dependents.
Reimbursement will be available for certain claims between $15,000 and $90,000 (with those amounts being indexed for plan years starting on or after October 1, 2011). The purpose of the reimbursement is to make health benefits more affordable and accessible for plan participants and sponsors. The program ends no later than January 1, 2014.
