In the past, I’ve blogged about the need for workplace flexibility and how having employees who work from home can really improve their productivity.  Researchers from Brigham Young University analyzed data from 24,436 IBM employees and identified the point at which 25 percent of employees reported that work interfered with their family life.  For those office workers on a regular schedule, that breakpoint was 38 hours per week.  Given a flexible schedule and the option to telecommute, employees were able to clock in 57 hours per week before experiencing such a conflict.

Telecommuting is truly effective in reducing work/life conflicts when it is accompanied by flex time.  Employers should try to be more creative and innovative when it comes to flex time & telecommuting but they should also be careful not to violate any state or federal regulations when it comes to establishing this type of work/life option for their workplace  For example, a nonexempt employee who checks their blackberry at 12am is considered to be putting in compensable time under federal regulations.

By establishing clear guidelines, an employer will find that flexible work options are associated with higher job satisfaction which will boost morale when it may be suffering in this challenging economy.    

Besides Payroll & employee benefits, Total Team Solutions helps our clients to establish policy & procedures that speak to telecommuting and flexible workplace options.

According to several employment law firms, the Obama administration is stepping up enforcement of existing and new regulations, and assessing higher penalties for employers.  For example, there is a significant increase in liability for employers as new immigration and compliance agents “are looking for people to prosecute” for I-9 form compliance.

I-9 forms establish a worker’s identity and eligibility to work.  All employees must fill out and sign the form before beginning work, and the employer must retain the I-9 for a certain amount of time, depending on the length of employment. 

There has been a significant increase in the volume of I-9 forensic audits conducted by Immigration & Customs enforcement agency for which the employer penalties for serious and technical violations in fiscal 2010 will far exceed those in 2009. 

It is important that employers get the I-9 form filled out correctly & appropriately retained.  With the enforcement change going from civil to criminal, it is ever more critical to take simple preventative steps to insure that your company is in compliance.

Get ready for a new way for employees to get their companies in legal hot water: workplace bullying.  Connecticut is one of eleven states currently considering legislation to address this workplace issue.

So just what constitutes “bullying”? Here are a few examples:

• verbal abuse, including deliberate insults, calling people “stupid” or “idiots”
• slander, such as calling people “sluts,” or otherwise subjecting them to rude and disrespectful behavior
• ostracism, such as saying to someone: “We’re not taking you to lunch”
• subjecting someone to mean pranks
• unwelcome physical contact, or glaring at them
• persecution, such as deliberately withholding info from someone, depriving someone of needed resources or otherwise impeding their work, and/or
• secret supervision, discipline without cause, or being given unreasonable workloads or demands.

It is in the high-pressure workplace environments where making sales targets is the only short-term goal or in the “lean and mean” companies where everyone is doing multiple tasks where this sort of behavior is most commonly found.   The dark side of human nature appears to come out when there is too much pressure on short-term goals and individual performance.  There are other scenarios where it is not hard to imagine that the stress found in today's workplace environment would not develop some form of bullying.

The fighters on the front line of the battle against bullies: your managers. Could be a good time to provide some extra training for supervisors so they can spot the early signals — and maybe save the company from an expensive lawsuit down the road.

The current economic recession has placed significant pressure on the unemployment insurance system as states provide increased unemployment benefits to former employees for a longer period of time.  For 2011, all employers must budget for an increased State & Federal unemployment tax when you consider the economic data and historical trends. 

Currently, 34 states have received borrowed funds from the federal government’s Title XII in order to pay current unemployment benefits.  Current state obligation is at $37 billion with a Dept of Labor prediction that the obligation will grow to $90 billion by 2014.  As a result, employers will continue to experience increased federal unemployment tax costs in 2011 and beyond due to the unpaid Title XII loans.  Many states will not only look to increased tax rates but to an increased wage base to help pay back the loans as well as shore up the trust fund balance.

New health care legislation alters consumer directed health plans – high deductible, low premium health plans often linked to H.S.A. (Healthcare Savings Accounts) funded by employers, employees or a combination of the two.   HRA (Healthcare Reimbursement Arrangements) and the Flexible Spending Accounts with the annual “use it or lose it” provision, are also impacted by the new law.

For example, revenue will be generated by removing reimbursement of the over the counter medications through HRA, HSA, & FSA unless prescribed by a physician.  That change will take place in 2011.  In 2013, the law will cap health FSA to $2,500 a year and then indexed for inflation from there.  Nonqualified withdrawals from the HSA, will result in an increase of penalty from 10% to 20%

Many other changes to come and some will be based on how government agencies interpret the bill’s provisions and the regulations that will be forthcoming.

In the 2009 Top Professional Employer and Administrative Services Outsourcing Vendors Survey, Total Team Solutions is in the top five!

According to the survey listing, Total Team Solutions had a higher degree of client satisfaction than well known companies such as ADP TotalSource, Paychex, & Administaff.

Results from 2009 Black Book Survey developed by Research and Markets. Market size expertise, customization, deployment, reliability and integration are the most important attributes influencing PEO/ASO client satisfaction with their outsourcing providers.  In 2009, the Black Book PEO and ASO user survey investigated over 500 PEO/ASO clients.

In order to rank the organizations, 18 key performance indicators (KPIs) or criteria are employed, scored on each respective vendor by client type and ranked on a 0-10 scale per KPI.

Key finding: Most important customer satisfaction KPIs

-- Market size expertise, customization, deployment, reliability and integration are the most important attributes influencing industry PEO/ASO client satisfaction with their 2009 outsourcing providers.

Key finding: Vendor dissatisfaction is uncommon in the PEO/ASO outsourcing industry among top ranked suppliers

-- Strong dissatisfaction is uncommon in this niche HRO sector occurring in only 4.75% of clients globally. US clients are among the most satisfied with onshore PEO services delivery. Strong dissatisfaction with offshore outsourcing vendors scored appreciably high when originating from non-US providers, with 20.4% of all surveyed clients with 2009 PEO/ASO initiatives.

Key finding: Comprehensive services vendor arrangements from a comprehensive/end-to-end PEO/ASO vendor produces the highest satisfaction rates.

With the new health care there will be much to criticize and critique as our government continues to operate in a world of unintended consequences.  There are some revolutionary parts of this monster bill which could bear some fruit, but can we all agree that the parts of the legislation that pay more for certain medical procedures have a far better chance of being implemented then the portions of the bill that result in reduced payments?

Many tough decisions have to be made in order for this legislation not drag us even further into the financial black hole.  How many politicians, even with political capital, have ever made really tough decisions? 

As this program is phased in over the next four years, we owe it to ourselves and to future generations to make sure that the tough decisions are made.   This is a time for real leaders, not just a bunch of special interest lawyers willing to kick the financial can further down the road in order to get another couple years of the cocktail circuit in Washington.

Nearly twenty-five percent of organizations that froze pay in 2009 plan to prolong that freeze into 2010. More than fifty percent plan to resume normal pay levels, according to World At Work.

Many companies have taken a “wait and see” approach when it comes to resuming normal pay levels.  Moving to fast and restoring merit increases could be risky if the economic recovery fails to materialize. Moving too slowly may cause good employees with the right “skill set” to look for other opportunities in the work place.

FYI: New York has just issued new Notice-of-pay Guidelines that helps employers model the proper notices to be provide to new hires that explain rate of pay, regular pay day and overtime rate, if applicable.

With everyone trying to cut costs and improve their carbon footprint, paperless pay whether in direct deposit or in a Payroll card has become a cost effective way for wage payment.  A payroll card is a prepaid, reloadable card issued by a national or regional bank on behalf of an employer.

Although most employers would like to compensate employees using direct deposit alone, many states prohibit mandatory direct deposit into an employee’s personal bank account.  Moreover, a surprisingly large number of employees do not have savings or checking accounts.  Because “unbanked” workers tend to come from protected minority groups, wage payment programs requiring direct deposit may run afoul of federal and state anti-discrimination statutes.

Offering a payroll card along with direct deposit can resolve this issue because everyone can participate.  Paperless pay is lawful as long as an employee is provided at least one means of accessing their full wages each pay period without cost.

For those clients of Total Team Solutions, we offer employees who are “unbanked” a very cost effective Bank of America Payroll Card.

Paperless Pay will continue to grow and employers can implement electronic wage payment without fear of costly litigation or administrative enforcement action as long as they comply with applicable state laws.  And the number of States that permit paperless wage payment will surely increase in coming years.

On March 18, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act.  This $17 billion jobs bill provides employers with financial incentives for hiring unemployed workers and retaining them for at least one year.  There are two provisions that will impact hiring employers.

1.  Social Security Tax Exemption – For eligible newly hired employees, the employer would be exempt from paying its share of 2010 social security taxes (6.2% of wages).  This exemption applies to all wages paid after March 18, 2010, but applies to all eligible new employees hired after February 3, 2010.  To be eligible, the new hire must have been unemployed for at least 60 days prior to their date of hire (or worked fewer than 40 hours during that 60 day period).
2. Business Income Tax Credit – The employer is also eligible for an income tax credit equal to the lesser of 6.2% of wages paid to the qualified worker over their first 52 weeks of employment, or $1,000.  To qualify, the employee must be retained for at least 52 weeks and wages during the last 26 weeks must be at least 80% of their wages during the first 26 weeks.

To qualify for these tax breaks, the employer must obtain a written statement from the employee certifying that they meet the aforementioned requirements of being unemployed for the prior 60 days.  The IRS will develop a form to facilitate this documentation, but in the interim, a sample certification letter is attached for you to use.

The HIRE Act also provides that for the balance of the month of March 2010, employers should continue to remit the social security taxes on qualified employees and that these payments may then be applied to their second quarter tax return. 

If you have any questions, please contact John Morlock at Total Team Solutions to discuss.

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