Colchester, VT – HRSentry, has announced the release of their new mobile app, “HR Audit”. This mobile HR Audit is available for free on both Apple and Android devices. “This new app provides an essential assessment tool for managers to determine if their organizations are in compliance with federal employment laws and best practices,” says Dean Haller, HRSentry’s CEO, noting that “this 60-question process quickly helps identify those areas that may pose a significant risk of fines or lawsuits.”
To download HRSentry’s “HR Audit” visit the Apple App Store or Android Market and search for “HR Audit”. In addition to the HR Audit, HRSentry’s first app “HR At Your Fingertips” for the iPhone and iPad, continues to rank as one of the top business apps in the Apple store.
About HRSentry:
Since being founded in 2003, HRSentry’s mission has been to create, deliver, and support services and training that empower the organization to be self-sufficient in administration of its Human Resource policies, practices, and procedures. HRSentry’s services enable the user to access Human Resource forms, policies, and procedures; link to federal and state laws, regulations, and resources and expand their knowledge of HR through state-of-the-art training mediums. For more information visit www.hrsentry.com.
About the Author: Kyle Lagunas is the HR Analyst at Software Advice. He blogs about technology, trends, and best practices in human resources and recruiting, and enjoys cooking for friends and family in his spare time.
The modern organization has changed – it is decentralized and increasingly, virtual. And yet, the need to remain connected to your organization continues to grow. Your employee handbook says you have an open door policy, but an open door policy is more metaphorical than factual. Employees are not seeking to enter a physical office to connect with you. They want to reach you via some communications channels you may be less than familiar with. Fortunately, even the busiest leaders can breathe some life into their open door policies by following a few rules of thumb.
Three Tips for Tweeting, Chatting, and Connecting
The rules are a bit different when you’re connecting with employees online. However, you may be surprised to find these new channels are a great (and oftentimes convenient) way to strengthen your employee relations. Novice and adepts users alike should keep these things in mind when reaching out:
Don’t be so serious. Informal check-ins are more comfortable for employees, and casual hello-how-are-yous offer a great opportunity for leaders to engage employees. A lot of companies use chat clients for quick communications. Though some of us are more familiar with this media, others struggle to communicate effectively via instant messengers. Not to fear. If you’re not comfortable with the LOLs, OMGs, and TTYLs, don’t use them. Just keep things short and respond quickly. The point here is that you’re making yourself both available and approachable.
Choose your words carefully.Regardless of how you intend a message, interpretation can vary – especially with emails and memos. It can be difficult to find words to convey exactly what you mean, and communication is all the more challenging when you are not sitting across the table from the other person. And when it comes to electronic communications, choosing the right medium is often just as important as what you’re trying to say. If you find yourself burning bridges via email, tools likeToneCheck can be really useful.
Get your people on board.The more people you have using the same tool to communicate, the easier it is to connect with them – and the greater potential to connect with others. So it is critical that you rally your team to a common communications and collaboration platform, and make sure they use it. Over time, the value of everyone working together on one system will make it a critical part of their routine.
Interaction with a good boss is critical to realizing your full potential as an employee. With the right tools, keeping tabs on your people and your organization can become a part of your regular workflow. At the end of the day, though, you know what works best for you – and for your organization. Feel free to dabble in a few different products until you find the right one, keeping in mind that many tools are free at their most basic level.
It’s not uncommon for employers to consider someone a consultant, freelancer or outside contractor when that person would be deemed an employee by IRS or Department of Labor standards. Honest mistakes do occur of course; but some employers may consider the illegal but real financial incentives to deliberately misclassify workers, i.e. to avoid payroll taxes, unemployment and workers compensation premiums, overtime pay and benefits costs. However, if your organization is audited and found to be guilty of misclassification, the back pay, back taxes and fines and penalties, in addition to all the resources expended during an audit, can be enormous. Combined with the possibility of opening the organization up to additional future scrutiny, it’s just not worth it.
Newly increased focus by the IRS, in partnership with a number of state authorities, is making misclassification a riskier prospect than in years past. So how can you be sure your organization is classifying workers correctly? IRS guidance says to look at the worker/organization relationship and consider the amount of control the organization exerts vs. the amount of independence the worker has. The following common law guidance comes from the IRS web site and provides links to factors you should consider under each category:
Facts that provide evidence of the degree of control and independence fall into three categories:
1. Behavioral: Does the company control or have the right to control what the worker does and how the worker does his or her job? 2. Financial: Are the business aspects of the worker’s job controlled by the payer? (these include things like how worker is paid, whether expenses are reimbursed, who provides tools/supplies, etc.) 3. Type of Relationship: Are there written contracts or employee type benefits (i.e. pension plan, insurance, vacation pay, etc.)? Will the relationship continue and is the work performed a key aspect of the business?
Businesses must weigh all these factors when determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor. Some factors may indicate that the worker is an employee, while other factors indicate that the worker is an independent contractor. There is no “magic” or set number of factors that “makes” the worker an employee or an independent contractor, and no one factor stands alone in making this determination. Also, factors which are relevant in one situation may not be relevant in another.
The keys are to look at the entire relationship, consider the degree or extent of the right to direct and control, and finally, to document each of the factors used in coming up with the determination.
Keep in mind that there are other considerations as well such as the DOL viewpoint for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state legal standards for unemployment or workers’ compensation purposes. But the IRS links above are a great place to start to help you feel confident about proper classification.
If you come to realize you are not in compliance, seriously consider taking advantage of the IRS’ new Voluntary Classification Settlement Program (VCSP.) Details on the VCSP are forthcoming in Part 2 of this blog.
The Congressional “super committee” failed to reach a deal last week so we still don’t know whether the employee contribution to social security of 4.2%, initiated in 2011, will hold beyond year end or whether it will revert to 6.2% come January 1st. Year end is always crunch time for payroll and human resources departments so that uncertainty just adds another item to the list you need to keep track of.
You’re probably already in the midst of myriad benefits and payroll changes and will soon be engaged in year end wrap up, preparing for numerous payroll entries in the new year and the testing of and preparation for W-2s. On top of that, the upcoming holiday season may alter payroll, direct deposit and tax payment deadlines. You can’t control everything, of course, but when you anticipate and deal with as much upfront as you can, you’ll have that much less stress throughout the year end process. For example, one of the best things you can do at the beginning of the calendar year is set up payroll fields that have annual dollar limits with pre-set cutoff amounts so you’ll never have to worry about refunding overpayments. Establishing payroll and HR checklists goes a long way to help you stay on task; if you need help starting a checklist, subscribers to HRSentry can access a helpful list by entering “year end” in the search box from the home page.
In that anticipatory vein, let your employees know what to expect as well. The more they understand about their benefits, taxation and other items that affect them, the happier they’ll be and the less you’ll have to deal with complaints and disappointed staff members. Here are a few tips to help your employees:
Remind folks of remaining paid holidays for the rest of this year as well as holidays for the coming year so they and their managers can plan ahead. If you have a “use it or lose it” vacation policy, remind employees how much they have left to help them avoid disappointment.
If your employees receive taxable benefits, let them know upfront that they will be taxed so there are no surprises. Remember that cash and cash equivalents such as gift cards are always taxable. And if you provide benefits such as term life insurance greater than $50,000, adoption benefits or personal use of a company car, make sure you comply with and help your employees understand any tax implications.
If your organization has health flexible spending accounts (FSA) through a Section 125 Plan, remind employees that they must use their funds by December 31 (or a later date if your plan has a grace period) or forfeit them. Also remind them of the date by which they must submit claims. Let your employees know about 2012 IRS limits on HSA contributions and retirement plan contributions so they can make adjustments in their elections. There’s excellent IRS guidance to help you find those 2012 retirement plan limits in one place. For HSA contribution limits, click here.
Are there some human resources topics that you find particularly complex and confusing? Are you new to human resources and struggling with getting started? Are there legal areas you suspect your organization is getting wrong and you’d like some help to get it right?
We’re preparing the HRSentry® monthly webinar schedule for 2012 to give subscribers timely online trainings they can really use. If you can’t attend at a webinar’s scheduled time, we always upload the slides and a recording of the presentation into HRSentry®’s training libraries so you may view them at your convenience. Our aim is to focus on topics that are the most helpful to as many of our subscribers as possible.
Here are some topics being considered for 2012, based on the resources subscribers seem most drawn to and on attendance at our 2011 webinar trainings:
The Basics of Human Resources
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
The Fair Labor Standards Act (Overtime Regs)
How to Avoid Unlawful Termination Lawsuits,
The Whys and How-tos of Job Descriptions,
Understanding COBRA Administration
Ask the Pro (HR Legal Questions Answered in Real Time)
Creating An Employee Handbook
Organizing Personnel and Other HR Files—What to keep, how long and where?
Social Media in the Workplace
Sexual Harassment Awareness
What do you think? Let us know your thoughts on these or feel free to suggest other HR topics. We’d love to give you the online training programs that help you the most. Please contact us at: support@hrsentry.com.
