Trends & Insights - page 57
Diversity & Inclusion
Today is International Women’s Day. Let’s Look at the 3 Biggest Ways You Can Support Your Female Employees All Year!
Happy International Women’s Day!
Wait, what? International Women’s Day?
We’ll be honest, we didn’t know that there was such a thing. But if this one day gives us the opportunity to discuss hiring, compensation and cultural practices that affect our fellow sisters in the workforce, why not take it?
For those of you not in the know, International Women’s Day is a global day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. This year’s theme is “pledge for parity,” with a focus on accelerating equality between men and women. This is especially timely given increasing attention and legislation toward equal pay practices between the sexes.
So, how should you take this opportunity to celebrate your female staff?
March 8, 2016 ・4 mins read
HR News
What You Need to Know About the Latest HR Technology Trends
Business today is all about leveraging the power of technology for efficiency, security and convenience. With new cloud technologies, automating your HR tasks doesn’t need to be cost-prohibitive. Instead, it can be an indispensable tool for managing your most important resource (your employees) at an efficient price and pace.
Human resources creates dozens of pieces of paper for every employee, including applications, background checks, insurance, employment and benefits forms, and post-separation forms.
Luckily, there is an answer to dealing with paper, and achieving more oversight and control over HR records. Mobile HR and cloud applications are changing the way people work – helping to alleviate the cost and time burdens of managing documents and ushering in a brand new era of data management.
February 22, 2016 ・5 mins read
HR News
American Presidential Candidates Are Failing Small Businesses: An Open Letter from the CEO of TriNet
The following letter from TriNet CEO Burton M. Goldfield is in response to the TriNet 2016 Presidential Election Survey
Dear 2016 Presidential Candidates:
As the CEO of TriNet, I work to provide HR services for more than 12,000 U.S. small businesses and their 314,000 employees every day. I see firsthand the struggles these aspirational companies go through as they try to grow their businesses while navigating an increasingly volatile regulatory landscape. What’s even more challenging is that when they flourish, they face a heightened impact of ever-changing regulatory issues.
Whether it’s differing tax or labor laws at the federal, state and local levels, or the states’ varying degrees of Affordable Care Act implementation, there is a plethora of employment law with which they have to comply. What you perceive to be a minor tax change at the federal, state or local level may impact a small business to the tune of $20,000. This can put them out of business. Large companies can more easily absorb these unanticipated costs. These complexities skew the focus of small businesses away from successfully executing their business plans.
February 18, 2016 ・3 mins read
Benefits
3 Health Savings Account (HSA) Fun Facts
Here are three important facts about health savings accounts (HSA).
February 5, 2016 ・4 mins read
Wellness
Wellness Matters: How Caring for Your Employees’ Health Can Help Your Company’s Bottom Line
February is American Heart Month, a time when caring organizations and individuals work to raise awareness about heart disease and ways to prevent it. This time of health consciousness is also a good opportunity to focus on employee wellness. By making wellness a company priority, you can help employees make it a priority as well.
According to a National Small Business Administration (NSBA) survey 93 percent of small business owners think employee health is important to business but just 22 percent currently offer any kind of wellness program. Small business owners often perceive barriers to creating their own programs but, in reality, it can be done effectively with minimal cost and burden on the employer.
Plus, a wellness program can have direct impact on your organization’s bottom line.
February 1, 2016 ・4 mins read
Talent
Do You Know Your Emotional Intelligence? It Can Define Your Career Success
Guest post by Structured GI Leadership
Emotions have no place in the workplace - or do they? We are all humans and emotions make us just that. Your emotional intelligence is, essentially, your ability to recognize and control your own emotions and emotional reactions. It means being in touch with how you’re feeling and the feelings of those around you, then using that awareness – as opposed to your emotional reactions - to guide your thoughts and behaviors.
In the workplace, your emotional intelligence determines how your employees will view you and respond to you. While many think of emotions as being inappropriate for the workplace, your emotional intelligence can actually define your career path. People will not follow those they cannot trust and people will not trust those whose emotional IQ they cannot read.
The five key aspects of emotional intelligence
January 27, 2016 ・5 mins read
8 Top-Level KPIs for Startup HR Departments
How well is your HR department performing? Consider these eight key performance indicators to measure the business impact of your HR initiatives.
January 25, 2016 ・4 mins read
Wellness
Why Cleaning Matters: 3 Reasons to Keep Your Workplace Tidy
Guest post by Quill.com. Please also check out our previous post on scent aversions in the workplace.
Stand at the door of your office. Are you looking at a clean and orderly workspace or a disorganized mess? How does the space make you feel? Are you happy and excited to get to work or does a quick glance at your office make you want to hightail it in the opposite direction?
Neatness and order in the workplace matter—and not just because “neat is nice.” Studies have proven that when your workspace is cluttered, it’s difficult to process information, let alone focus on priorities, projects and tasks.
In addition to reduced productivity, a messy office also negatively affects your psychological, emotional and professional well-being. The good news is that cleaning up your workspace is a high-impact, low-cost activity with immediate and noticeable benefits for business owners and workers alike.
January 15, 2016 ・4 mins read
Compliance
If I only pay independent contractors, should I to apply for a state identification number and contribute to my state's workers' compensation insurance fund?
September 25, 2015 ・3 mins read
Benefits
Talent
Screening Your Employees? Here is How to Reduce Your Risk of a Lawsuit
Change is sweeping through employment law, and small businesses are finding themselves caught in the riptide. With an increase of lawyers filing Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) class action lawsuits against businesses over the past year and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) cracking down on disparate impact in hiring, every business owner needs to be aware of the federal and state laws on screening potential employees.
This is why the hiring and compliance experts at TriNet and GoodHire will be sharing insight into how to address pre-employment screening issues in an in-depth employment screening best practices webinar on April 7 at 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET. The webinar will help you get a handle on the employment screening issues and learn best practices for staying compliant.
March 4, 2016 ・5 mins read
Culture
March 4 is Employee Appreciation Day! Here’s How to Step Up Your Employee Recognition Game
National Employee Appreciation day is on March 4 and it is the perfect time to review your current employee recognition program. The idea of recognizing employees for their length of service or the quality of their work is well known. When most of us think about employee recognition, we probably have a vision of an employee being given a gold watch for their 20-year anniversary or a trophy for “outstanding customer service.”
However noble these tokens may be, they may not really be contributing to your business in a valuable way that both achieves business goals and is rewarding for your employees. If you are wondering how effective your employee recognition program is, start by asking yourself the following questions:
February 29, 2016 ・5 mins read
Performance Management
If an employee resigns but is also due a performance evaluation and merit raise before they leave, do we have to do both of these things?
February 25, 2016 ・2 mins read
HR News
Small Business Owners Tell Us How They Really Feel About the 2016 Presidential Candidates
February 17, 2016 ・1 min read
Talent
Hiring for Biotechnology: 5 Characteristics Early-Stage Companies Should Look for in Employees
Without question, one critical success factor for all biotechnology companies is the ability to identify and retain a synergistic combination of internal and external team members, all working seamlessly toward the same goal. It is impossible to start and build a successful biotechnology company without the help of an exceptional and synergistic team of individuals. In this post, I will discuss the most important characteristics biotech entrepreneurs should seek in new employees.
February 3, 2016 ・4 mins read
Talent
Millennials are the Largest Share of the U.S. Workforce. Here is the One Way HR Can Capture their Attention
January 29, 2016 ・1 min read
HR Essentials
3 Steps Small Businesses Can Take to Prevent Wage and Hour Lawsuits
A worrisome business trend is the growing number of wage and hour lawsuits that are a significant source of financial exposure for employers. As the number of lawsuits climbs, so does the cost to employers.
The U.S. Department of Labor reports that it receives nearly 25,000 wage-and-hour related complaints per year. The number of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) cases filed in the federal court is more than five times higher than it was 20 years ago.
Compensation considerations
Overtime claims account for 40 percent of wage and hour class action lawsuits. Other common wage-and-hour claims include:
January 25, 2016 ・5 mins read
It’s Not too Late to Maximize Your 2015 HSA Contributions
One of the big benefits of being enrolled in a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) that is paired with a health savings account (HSA) is the ability to make pre-tax or tax deductible contributions that can grow, over time, free of federal taxes. Every calendar year, the IRS sets the HSA annual maximum contribution limit.
The more money you contribute, the higher HSA balance you’ll have to use toward current or future out-of-pocket eligible healthcare expenditures.
You have longer than you think to save
Because you have a limit to the amount you can contribute each year, making the most of every tax-advantaged dollar that you are allowed to contribute is a smart move.
January 19, 2016 ・4 mins read
Benefits
Happy New Year from the Federal Government! The ACA Reporting Deadlines Have Been Extended!
This post is part of the TriNet ongoing series about the Affordable Care Act and its effects on small business.
Midsize companies can start 2016 with some welcome news from the government! The IRS announced on December 28 that Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) subject to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) 2015 Section 6056 reporting requirements have extended deadlines to file their required forms with the IRS.
To start, review our post on ACA for midsize employers to determine if your business is considered an ALE for ACA-reporting purposes.
Here is a breakdown of forms ALEs are required to file and their new deadlines:
January 4, 2016 ・2 mins read
Compliance
Does an employer need to be checking I-9 documents beyond an employee's first day of employment for any upcoming expiration date listed on the ID's provided?
September 24, 2015 ・2 mins read
Culture
When does work time begin and end when traveling, excluding travel time to and from local office?
September 17, 2015 ・2 mins read
Diversity & Inclusion
Today is International Women’s Day. Let’s Look at the 3 Biggest Ways You Can Support Your Female Employees All Year!
Happy International Women’s Day!
Wait, what? International Women’s Day?
We’ll be honest, we didn’t know that there was such a thing. But if this one day gives us the opportunity to discuss hiring, compensation and cultural practices that affect our fellow sisters in the workforce, why not take it?
For those of you not in the know, International Women’s Day is a global day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. This year’s theme is “pledge for parity,” with a focus on accelerating equality between men and women. This is especially timely given increasing attention and legislation toward equal pay practices between the sexes.
So, how should you take this opportunity to celebrate your female staff?
March 8, 2016 ・4 mins read
Talent
Screening Your Employees? Here is How to Reduce Your Risk of a Lawsuit
Change is sweeping through employment law, and small businesses are finding themselves caught in the riptide. With an increase of lawyers filing Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) class action lawsuits against businesses over the past year and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) cracking down on disparate impact in hiring, every business owner needs to be aware of the federal and state laws on screening potential employees.
This is why the hiring and compliance experts at TriNet and GoodHire will be sharing insight into how to address pre-employment screening issues in an in-depth employment screening best practices webinar on April 7 at 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET. The webinar will help you get a handle on the employment screening issues and learn best practices for staying compliant.
March 4, 2016 ・5 mins read
Culture
March 4 is Employee Appreciation Day! Here’s How to Step Up Your Employee Recognition Game
National Employee Appreciation day is on March 4 and it is the perfect time to review your current employee recognition program. The idea of recognizing employees for their length of service or the quality of their work is well known. When most of us think about employee recognition, we probably have a vision of an employee being given a gold watch for their 20-year anniversary or a trophy for “outstanding customer service.”
However noble these tokens may be, they may not really be contributing to your business in a valuable way that both achieves business goals and is rewarding for your employees. If you are wondering how effective your employee recognition program is, start by asking yourself the following questions:
February 29, 2016 ・5 mins read
Performance Management
If an employee resigns but is also due a performance evaluation and merit raise before they leave, do we have to do both of these things?
February 25, 2016 ・2 mins read
HR News
What You Need to Know About the Latest HR Technology Trends
Business today is all about leveraging the power of technology for efficiency, security and convenience. With new cloud technologies, automating your HR tasks doesn’t need to be cost-prohibitive. Instead, it can be an indispensable tool for managing your most important resource (your employees) at an efficient price and pace.
Human resources creates dozens of pieces of paper for every employee, including applications, background checks, insurance, employment and benefits forms, and post-separation forms.
Luckily, there is an answer to dealing with paper, and achieving more oversight and control over HR records. Mobile HR and cloud applications are changing the way people work – helping to alleviate the cost and time burdens of managing documents and ushering in a brand new era of data management.
February 22, 2016 ・5 mins read
HR News
American Presidential Candidates Are Failing Small Businesses: An Open Letter from the CEO of TriNet
The following letter from TriNet CEO Burton M. Goldfield is in response to the TriNet 2016 Presidential Election Survey
Dear 2016 Presidential Candidates:
As the CEO of TriNet, I work to provide HR services for more than 12,000 U.S. small businesses and their 314,000 employees every day. I see firsthand the struggles these aspirational companies go through as they try to grow their businesses while navigating an increasingly volatile regulatory landscape. What’s even more challenging is that when they flourish, they face a heightened impact of ever-changing regulatory issues.
Whether it’s differing tax or labor laws at the federal, state and local levels, or the states’ varying degrees of Affordable Care Act implementation, there is a plethora of employment law with which they have to comply. What you perceive to be a minor tax change at the federal, state or local level may impact a small business to the tune of $20,000. This can put them out of business. Large companies can more easily absorb these unanticipated costs. These complexities skew the focus of small businesses away from successfully executing their business plans.
February 18, 2016 ・3 mins read
HR News
Small Business Owners Tell Us How They Really Feel About the 2016 Presidential Candidates
February 17, 2016 ・1 min read
Benefits
3 Health Savings Account (HSA) Fun Facts
Here are three important facts about health savings accounts (HSA).
February 5, 2016 ・4 mins read
Talent
Hiring for Biotechnology: 5 Characteristics Early-Stage Companies Should Look for in Employees
Without question, one critical success factor for all biotechnology companies is the ability to identify and retain a synergistic combination of internal and external team members, all working seamlessly toward the same goal. It is impossible to start and build a successful biotechnology company without the help of an exceptional and synergistic team of individuals. In this post, I will discuss the most important characteristics biotech entrepreneurs should seek in new employees.
February 3, 2016 ・4 mins read
Wellness
Wellness Matters: How Caring for Your Employees’ Health Can Help Your Company’s Bottom Line
February is American Heart Month, a time when caring organizations and individuals work to raise awareness about heart disease and ways to prevent it. This time of health consciousness is also a good opportunity to focus on employee wellness. By making wellness a company priority, you can help employees make it a priority as well.
According to a National Small Business Administration (NSBA) survey 93 percent of small business owners think employee health is important to business but just 22 percent currently offer any kind of wellness program. Small business owners often perceive barriers to creating their own programs but, in reality, it can be done effectively with minimal cost and burden on the employer.
Plus, a wellness program can have direct impact on your organization’s bottom line.
February 1, 2016 ・4 mins read
Talent
Millennials are the Largest Share of the U.S. Workforce. Here is the One Way HR Can Capture their Attention
January 29, 2016 ・1 min read
Talent
Do You Know Your Emotional Intelligence? It Can Define Your Career Success
Guest post by Structured GI Leadership
Emotions have no place in the workplace - or do they? We are all humans and emotions make us just that. Your emotional intelligence is, essentially, your ability to recognize and control your own emotions and emotional reactions. It means being in touch with how you’re feeling and the feelings of those around you, then using that awareness – as opposed to your emotional reactions - to guide your thoughts and behaviors.
In the workplace, your emotional intelligence determines how your employees will view you and respond to you. While many think of emotions as being inappropriate for the workplace, your emotional intelligence can actually define your career path. People will not follow those they cannot trust and people will not trust those whose emotional IQ they cannot read.
The five key aspects of emotional intelligence
January 27, 2016 ・5 mins read
HR Essentials
3 Steps Small Businesses Can Take to Prevent Wage and Hour Lawsuits
A worrisome business trend is the growing number of wage and hour lawsuits that are a significant source of financial exposure for employers. As the number of lawsuits climbs, so does the cost to employers.
The U.S. Department of Labor reports that it receives nearly 25,000 wage-and-hour related complaints per year. The number of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) cases filed in the federal court is more than five times higher than it was 20 years ago.
Compensation considerations
Overtime claims account for 40 percent of wage and hour class action lawsuits. Other common wage-and-hour claims include:
January 25, 2016 ・5 mins read
8 Top-Level KPIs for Startup HR Departments
How well is your HR department performing? Consider these eight key performance indicators to measure the business impact of your HR initiatives.
January 25, 2016 ・4 mins read
It’s Not too Late to Maximize Your 2015 HSA Contributions
One of the big benefits of being enrolled in a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) that is paired with a health savings account (HSA) is the ability to make pre-tax or tax deductible contributions that can grow, over time, free of federal taxes. Every calendar year, the IRS sets the HSA annual maximum contribution limit.
The more money you contribute, the higher HSA balance you’ll have to use toward current or future out-of-pocket eligible healthcare expenditures.
You have longer than you think to save
Because you have a limit to the amount you can contribute each year, making the most of every tax-advantaged dollar that you are allowed to contribute is a smart move.
January 19, 2016 ・4 mins read
Wellness
Why Cleaning Matters: 3 Reasons to Keep Your Workplace Tidy
Guest post by Quill.com. Please also check out our previous post on scent aversions in the workplace.
Stand at the door of your office. Are you looking at a clean and orderly workspace or a disorganized mess? How does the space make you feel? Are you happy and excited to get to work or does a quick glance at your office make you want to hightail it in the opposite direction?
Neatness and order in the workplace matter—and not just because “neat is nice.” Studies have proven that when your workspace is cluttered, it’s difficult to process information, let alone focus on priorities, projects and tasks.
In addition to reduced productivity, a messy office also negatively affects your psychological, emotional and professional well-being. The good news is that cleaning up your workspace is a high-impact, low-cost activity with immediate and noticeable benefits for business owners and workers alike.
January 15, 2016 ・4 mins read
Benefits
Happy New Year from the Federal Government! The ACA Reporting Deadlines Have Been Extended!
This post is part of the TriNet ongoing series about the Affordable Care Act and its effects on small business.
Midsize companies can start 2016 with some welcome news from the government! The IRS announced on December 28 that Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) subject to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) 2015 Section 6056 reporting requirements have extended deadlines to file their required forms with the IRS.
To start, review our post on ACA for midsize employers to determine if your business is considered an ALE for ACA-reporting purposes.
Here is a breakdown of forms ALEs are required to file and their new deadlines:
January 4, 2016 ・2 mins read
Compliance
If I only pay independent contractors, should I to apply for a state identification number and contribute to my state's workers' compensation insurance fund?
September 25, 2015 ・3 mins read
Compliance
Does an employer need to be checking I-9 documents beyond an employee's first day of employment for any upcoming expiration date listed on the ID's provided?
September 24, 2015 ・2 mins read
Benefits
Culture
When does work time begin and end when traveling, excluding travel time to and from local office?
September 17, 2015 ・2 mins read
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