Workest Weekly: Easing Worker Shortages, Avoiding Layoffs, What to Know About Abortion Benefits
Welcome to Workest Weekly — a newsletter for small business owners, HR leaders, and their growing teams.
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Hello, Workest Weekly crew! If your company is facing a worker shortage, there are many overlooked talent pools you can consider hiring. On the other end, economic conditions may be making it difficult to keep your current employees on the company payroll. If you want to prevent laying workers off, learn about different strategies you can implement. Also, businesses aren’t immune from feeling the impact of the recent reversal of Roe v. Wade. As an employer, here are important considerations regarding abortion benefits.
Small Business and HR Compliance dates this week:
July 11, 2022
Employee’s Report of Tips. Employees who make $20 or more in tips the previous month need report it to their employer using Form 4070.
July 17, 2022
World Emoji Day. #WorldEmojiDay is a social media manager’s dream! Use emojis to market your products or see if you can make a social media post out of only emojis.
Small businesses are experiencing the impact of the labor shortage. Discover how to identify and recruit employees from hidden talent pools.
Hiring Overlooked Talent May Help Ease the Worker Shortage
Although COVID-19 is credited with driving masses of workers out of the labor force in the Great Resignation, economists think the worker shortage began before the pandemic. Nevertheless, many of those who quit their jobs are now re-entering the workforce, just not in the same lines of work.
Workers’ re-entry into the labor market should create hiring opportunities for employers, especially small and medium-sized businesses. However, a report by Accenture and the Harvard Business Review shows that these aren’t the only candidates up for hire.
BENEFITS
Are there legal ramifications for employers providing abortion benefits? Here is what we know so far.
What Employers Should Know About Providing Abortion Benefits
On June 17, 2022, the Supreme Court voted 5-3 to reverse Roe vs. Wade, thus ending 50 years of federal support for abortion access and reproductive rights in the United States. The decision has reverberated throughout the nation, and businesses are not immune.
For HR managers and small business owners, the reversal affects employee healthcare access, insurance plans, and potential benefits packages. Including reproductive health as a part of your compensation package can involve legal complications depending on where your employees reside and work.
Yet omitting abortion services as part of your group health plan can also drive away top talent.
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RETURNING TO WORK
Here’s a list of the popular perks that big and small companies are rolling out to entice employees into the office.
The Perks That Draw Employees Into the Office
In a remote working world, companies have to rethink what it takes to draw employees back to the office. Free coffee just isn’t going to cut it anymore when people have coffee makers at home. It also isn’t just about making your current workers happy. Rethinking office amenities can offer a significant boost to your talent acquisition efforts, too.
SMB TRENDS
Creating a company dress code isn’t easy, and ensuring that policies are evenly enforced can be challenging. Here are tips to help you modernize your policies.
What Not to Wear: Is Your Employee Dress Code Stuck in the Past?
Organizations have adopted employee dress codes to define what works for their company. Creating a dress code company policy can be helpful, but policies need to be fairly enforced. As you consider what your employee dress code will look like, let’s dive into the history of these policies and tips for setting them.
HR HEADACHES
Layoffs can have damaging downstream impacts on your business. Consider these alternatives to laying off employees.
HR Headaches: How to Avoid Layoffs
When an employee is laid off, it means they have been let go from a company, by no fault of their own. Rather, business owners are reacting to economic conditions that have made it impossible to keep employees on the company payroll. As a small business owner, you may be wondering what you can do to prevent laying people off.
BENEFITS
A productive workforce is the ultimate win for your business; offering paid time off helps you attract and retain qualified people.
Average PTO in 2022
Paid time off is a core employee benefit that promotes work-life balance. It enables employees to take time off from work to handle personal affairs or to rejuvenate their minds and bodies. This increases employee productivity plus reduces work-related stress and burnout. To help you gauge how much PTO you should provide, we share recent data on average PTO days in the U.S.
POPS The People Podcast
The POPS! Podcast by Zenefits helps small business leaders build people teams and succeed in the new world of work.
When 80% of People Hate Performance Reviews, How Can We Make Them Better?
80% of people hate performance reviews. Phew. That’s a pretty big number. Why is it so high? Zenefits Product Marketing Manager, David Watson, joined our #POPSPodcast to share the 3 most common pitfalls of the performance review process companies fall into.
As you listen, ask yourself these 2 questions:
1. What gaps can you currently identify in your performance review process
2. What are some ways you can make the process more consumable for your staff to ensure you’re getting the feedback you need?
Resources
Here’s why you should boot your system of annual evaluations — and rethink the way you approach performance management.
A New Way to Approach Employee Performance Reviews
While giant companies seem to be getting rid of annual reviews, very few organizations are eliminating performance management entirely. Why? The concept of performance management shouldn’t die — but the traditional methods of it need fixing.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to build a successful performance alignment strategy.
Summer vacations have arrived!
Here's what organizations can do to help their employees take some time off to rest and recharge this summer season.
Listen here: https://bit.ly/3Ovhx0c
Join Our Conversation
QUESTION FROM THE COMMUNITY
Should I give my people raises to match rising inflation?
Have a question of your own?
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