Employee Benefits Blog

"My favorite things in life don't cost any money. It's really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time." (Steve Jobs)

Managing an organization’s human capital is a complex job, and technology can automate and streamline aspects of it that before required hours of paperwork and rote calculation. The time technological solutions is freeing-up is allowing HR professionals to play a bigger role in the strategic direction of their companies. 

In fact, thanks to these advancements, the HR function is becoming more mobile, analytical, and adaptive - with HR analysts providing more insight into corporate direction, predictive hiring trends, and analysis of benefits and compensation plans.

Here are six primary ways technology is affecting HR:

Retaining highly qualified and specialty skill employees is something every company strives for: turnover, especially among higher-level employees, directly affects your company's bottom line. Keeping the people who have demonstrated excellence over and over again requires a more intensive effort than keeping moderate performers. Those with an excellent work history, especially if they're on the fast track, are often being approached by other companies and may be tempted away by lucrative offers.

Keeping employee retention high among the top performers on your team is essential to your success for a number of reasons, but figuring out how to do that can be a bit of challenge. Here are a few simple things you can do to keep that top talent on your team.

As a business, your most important asset is your people. We know, that's somewhat of a cliché and everyone says it — but it is still one hundred percent true. Every month, over two million employees leave their jobs: an act which can leave their companies in the lurch. And you know that high turnover can become very expensive, very fast.

So what are you doing to improve employee retention in your company? The fact is, there's no single silver bullet that will make all of your employees want to stay with you forever. But there are certain things to look at when you want to improve your retention rate.

Hiring
First of all, great employee retention means, in part, that you're already hiring the right people: employees who want to work with you and have the skills to succeed. So take a close look at your hiring strategies and history: are you hiring people with a history of reliability? If a candidate has hopped from job to job in the past, they're likely to hop right away from your company, too. Next, see if the people you hire are demonstrating a strong desire to work for you. Did they apply because they need a job, or because the position involves what they're passionate about?

There can be no denying the fact that the landscape of employee benefits is a challenging one at best. And for multi-state workforces, employee benefits challenges multiply exponentially. HR departments around the nation struggle with the unique issues surrounding multi-state employment.

Compliance is the Sticking Point

One of the main issues complicated by multi-state work is proper risk assessment and management of compliance issues. Employers hiring multi-state employees must comply with all federal laws and state laws in all the states in which they conduct business.

This is more easily said than done. Here are just a few areas where compliance can be an issue:

In a perfect world, personal life and work-related responsibilities are in absolute harmony. There's no stress, no job dissatisfaction, and no reduced productivity. In a perfect world, when we list our priorities, we give equal weight to home and work, and our scale is in balance.

The savvy employer recognizes that more often than not, time is more important than money to employees. The ability to choose a work schedule, telecommute, or cut back on hours, without fear of monetary loss or employer repercussion, is a major perk. Having the opportunity to be flexible results in less stress for your employees, which results in higher productivity, less turnover, and an overall happier workplace.

Here are a few ways you can use the gift of time creatively to make your workers’ lives easier.

The culmination of tax season reminds employees and employers of every political stripe just how much in profits and wages are sent along to Uncle Sam long before they have a chance to reach anyone's checking accounts or business coffers.

With that in mind, as well as the competitive labor market, employers and employees alike are keen to negotiate competitive benefits packages that can act to offset lower salaries with tax-exempt perks.

Nearly every business has explored or offers some form of Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Savings Account (FSA) to its employees if possible, but those are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the possibilities for tax-exempt compensation. Here are five other great tax-exempt employee benefits that any business can use to attract and retain top job candidates while saving money for both parties.

Are you the only person in the role of human resources at your company? Don't worry, you’re not alone. According to research from the Small Business Association's SCORE Association, human resource work takes up 25 to 35 percent of a small business owner’s schedule and almost a quarter of that time is spent handling paperwork for their employees.

Many businesses are choosing to forego a large human resources department in favor of hiring just one person who can perform HR duties as well as other responsibilities. For example, it's not uncommon for sole HR representatives to train new employees, recruit prospective new hires, manage conflict, handle payroll and administer health benefits.

We know that juggling all of these roles can be exhausting, regardless of whether you are new to the company or a seasoned professional. So are you an HR department of one? If so, below are some checklists and hints that will help you thrive in your current role.

The healthcare debate hasn't been as tumultuous this election cycle as it has been in the past, but regardless of who sits in the Oval Office in January, there will be changes in employer sponsored healthcare. Here's what you need to know about potential legislative changes and employee health benefits.

The Democrats

Hillary Clinton:
After years of championing a single-payer system, Clinton shifted her stance to fully support the Affordable Care Act with a plan to extend current legislation. She has stated that building upon the Affordable Care Act is a more practical solution than instituting a single-payer system, but acknowledges flaws in the existing ACA. Notably, high deductibles and premiums. Her plan incorporates increased tax credits to offset high premiums and other out-of-pocket costs. She also plans to "fix" the "family glitch" so that families can make up the gap in costs between employer coverage and health care costs. Under Clinton's plan, little will change for employers but consumers can expect to see relief in the form of expanded public options and tax credits.

Despite healthcare reform, which naturally led most reasonable people to believe that runaway healthcare costs were finally going to be tamped down, the cost of obtaining health insurance is still very much on the rise. In fact, from 2006 to 2015, the average out-of-pocket costs per worker rose almost 230 percent, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation report.

No matter if someone is acquiring coverage on a state or federal exchange, or if they are obtaining coverage through an employer-sponsored plan, most everyone is feeling the pain.

In the case of workers who are covered by an employer-sponsored health plan, increases are likely coming on two fronts; higher premiums and higher deductibles.

Higher Premiums

While health plan premiums paid by employers are rising this year at lower rates than in year’s past, they are still outpacing inflation. No longer able to absorb these constant increases all alone, these growing expenditures are almost always now shared between employer and employee.