Recruitment & Retention

Management Practices

Employee Relations

Health/Safety

Security/Technology

Question of the Month

Cool Websites

February 2007

Do you have a question concerning human resources, recruitment, benefits, or management practices?

Example: An employee is leaving our company the middle of February. Employees are permitted to remain on our health insurance plan through the end of their final month. Is it correct that the employee's COBRA coverage would start March 1?

Compensation & Benefits
 

• Reflecting a continuing trend, recent surveys are finding that nearly half of employees are actively looking for a different job and that two-thirds to three-quarters would be interested in changing if offered something better. The top two reasons for wanting to switch: better pay and better work/life balance.
   

• Since 1993, employers have been able to offer employees a tax-free benefit for commuting by transit and eligible vanpools or to pay for commuter parking under IRS tax code section 132(f). Tax-free commuter benefits can be structured as an employee-funded pre-tax payroll deduction or as an employer-funded benefit. The benefit can be delivered in the form of transit passes, vouchers and terminal-restricted debit cards, or through reimbursement under specific conditions defined by the IRS. For 2007, the IRS announced an increase to $110 per month, tax-free, for transit benefits and $215 per month, tax-free, for parking benefits.
   

• Employers have good reason to promote Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) — salary set-asides that allow workers to pay for certain medical expenses with tax-free dollars. Just as FSAs lower an employee’s taxable income, they also reduce a company’s payroll tax burden. The more money employees put into FSAs, the more money a company saves. Now increasing use of debit cards that allow employees to tap directly into their FSAs is creating new appeal and boosting employee participation.
   

• Employees may use The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) when asking for leave to adopt a child, and the act does not specifically require an employee to provide certification. However, nothing in the act precludes an employer from requiring an employee to provide some type of certification when requesting FMLA leave for adoption, and many employers do require such certification. If an employer decides to require certification for adoption leave, it is up to the employer to determine what type of documentation is required, typically, a birth certificate or adoption papers.
   

• A recent survey of 1320 global executives found that 78% believed telecommuters are either equally or more productive than those who work in offices. 67% stated they thought sabbaticals or extended breaks are either somewhat or extremely beneficial.

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Recruitment & Retention

• Employers plan to hire 17% more graduates from the class of 2007 than they did from the class of 2006, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Traditionally heavy recruiters, including management consulting firms, investment banks, and accounting firms, are intensifying college recruiting efforts. They're also facing more competition from other employers in such fields as technology, consumer products, government, and even nonprofits. Salary offers for economics/finance graduates are up by 6.2%, and accounting graduates are doing exceptionally well in the job market this year.

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Management Practices

• The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported that, in the Carolinas, pregnancy-discrimination complaints have jumped 35% since 2000. Meanwhile, employers should be aware the percentage of cases where victims prevail has trended upward over the last several years, according to EEOC statistics.
   
• Independent research from The Jackson Organization and analysis by bestselling leadership experts Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, produced a breakthrough study of 200,000 people over 10 years and found there were dramatically greater business results when managers offered constructive praise and meaningful rewards in ways that powerfully motivated employees to excel. They concluded the central characteristic of the most successful managers is they provide employees with frequent and effective recognition.

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Employee Relations
 

• Salary.com, a leading provider of on-demand compensation management solutions, today released results of its Working for a Small Business Survey. "Our compensation data validates that small companies do typically pay less than larger ones," states Jeffrey Blue, director of marketing for Salary.com. "What's important for small company owners and executives to stress in their recruiting efforts are the numerous advantages of working for a small company. This survey indicates that those advantages have meaningful value to employees." Employees listed several non-compensatory factors as reasons they remain at small businesses, including work/life balance (46.2%), commute (38.1%), loyalty (34.8%), their boss (31.4%), and relationships with co-workers (29.5%).
   
• Fortune magazine released its 2007 "100 Best Companies to Work For" list earlier this week. The nation's four largest accounting firms are sprinkled throughout the list: Ernst & Young (25), PricewaterhouseCooopers (58), Deloitte & Touche Tohmatsu (76) and, making its first appearance on the list, KPMG (97). In addition, the eleventh largest accounting firm, Plante & Moran, is ranked No. 32. 
   
• When a PhD researcher asked workers to describe their supervisors' flaws, he got an earful of complaints, and concluded that workers are more likely to leave over a bad boss than bad pay. Looking to be a good boss? David Sirota, author of The Enthusiastic Employee: How Companies Profit by Giving Workers What They Want, says most workers have three goals. “First is fairness. They want to feel that they're being recognized and rewarded fairly for what they contribute. Second is achievement. People want to be proud of the organization and of their place in it. And third, camaraderie, meaning good working relationships and a sense of belonging to a team. If these three goals are met, you have enthusiastic employees.”

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Health/Safety
 

• A vast majority (89%) of Americans understand that their overall health is linked to their dental hygiene, and dental checkups can provide early detection of diabetes, heart disease, and other medical problems. About 70% of adults visit the dentist at least once annually, and 47% of adults visit the dentist every six months, according to a recent poll from Guardian. Consequently, dental insurance is perennially one of the most popular employee benefits, and despite escalating health care costs, dental insurance continues to be a relatively low-cost and highly valued benefit.

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Security/Technology
 

• A study by Michigan State University found that 51% of identity thefts are initiated in the workplace through personal employee data on record. The combination of productivity losses and increased employer liability are causing companies to consider identity theft protection for their employees a worthwhile investment. Increasingly they are offering this benefit a part of the overall health and welfare package.

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Question of the Month

Q: An employee wanted to have a discussion with me and specifically requested that I withhold the entire discussion from the supervisor about whom she's complaining. Am I legally obligated to keep the meeting confidential?

A: An employer is not obligated to honor this kind of employee request, and, in fact, should not honor it. Employers that have knowledge of illegal conduct, discrimination, or harassment can be liable for those actions, unless they have taken reasonable steps to discontinue and even prevent them, such as addressing the issue with the individual.

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Cool Websites

• http://www.principal.com/theprincipal10best/bestpractices.htm?WT.mc_id=crp20070129d takes you to a “Guide to Best Practices in Employee Benefits.” This guide outlines the experiences of 10 outstanding small and medium-sized companies recognized in 2006 for excellence in employee benefits.
   
• The #1 career website for job-seekers aged 50+ is www.RetirementJobs.com. Profiled by major media including ABC-TV, BusinessWeek, FORTUNE, The New York Times, and USA Today, the website offers vital information for older workers including advice, news, success stories, podcasts, and thousands of job connections to Age-Friendly Certified employers.

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We are happy to provide this newsletter to you as a friend of NCACPA. As always, we try to  provide informative and timely news presented in a format that can be read in less than ten minutes. Please Note: This material is provided as general information and is not a substitute for legal or other professional advice.

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