Did you miss our popular webinar that discussed strategies for responding to active shooter incidents in the workplace?

Don’t worry! We recorded the whole thing and have made it available for viewing below!

How To Respond To Active Shooter Incidents In The Workplace from G&A Partners on Vimeo.

Webinar Description:

Over the past few months, coverage of mass shootings at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, and the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, has gripped the country and shone a national spotlight on what law enforcement calls “active shooter incidents.” According to a report released by the FBI, the most likely places for an active shooter incident to occur are commercial businesses, a fact that has many employers worried about the safety of their employees and customers.

Highlights of this presentation include:

• An in-depth explanation of what is considered an active shooter incident;
• Tips on how employers can create an emergency response plan and prepare for an active shooter incident; and
• Best practices for conducting active shooter response training for employees and recognizing signs of potential workplace violence.

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2016 issue of Contractor’s Tool Source. Click here to read the original article. 

Late last year the US Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs published its fall agenda for rule changes or additions for federal agencies in 2016, 31 of which directly relate to the regulations enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).  While not all of these new rules or rule changes will go into effect immediately, several of the rules that are slated to become effective this year will have a significant impact for both the construction industry specifically, as well as the wider business community.

Here are the top five changes that construction companies and contractors need to be aware of in 2016:

• Increases to OSHA’s fine structure.  

Section 701 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which President Obama signed into law on November 2, requires OSHA to increase its fine structure to keep up with inflation.  As a result, OSHA is set to increase civil penalties for the first time since 1990, and will be required to adjust fine rates every year based on the Consumer Price Index.  To accomplish this, there will be a one-time “Catch Up Adjustment” for 2016 as part of an interim final rule that must go into effect by August 1.  

This means that, as of August 1, OSHA fines will increase by a staggering 80 percent. To give you a better idea of the impact of this rule, consider this: The penalty for a serious violation penalty is currently $7,000.  Once the new rule goes into effect, that cost will jump to $12,600.  The penalties for willful and repeat violations will go from costing an employer $70,000 to costing them $126,000.  Per violation.

While the rule only applies to states with a federal OSHA program, like Texas, there is a caveat in all state-run OSHA programs that they be as effective as the federal program, so employers will likely see the costs in state-run programs go up as well. 

As you can imagine, these penalty increases will have a significant impact on the construction industry, due simply to the number of citations employers in the industry receive.  Two of the top 10 most frequently cited OSHA standards violations for 2015, fall protection and scaffolding requirements, are specific to the construction industry.  (The other eight are all general industry.)  

At the same time, OSHA is changing the way they conduct inspections from a frequency-based approach to one that favors more rigorous inspections, which makes it all but certain that the number of citations will increase.  This means that not only will employers be required to pay more in penalties for any violations for which they are cited, but also that they’re likely to receive more citations than ever before. 

• Enhanced definitions and training requirements for confined spaces.  

Technically speaking, the Confined Spaces In Construction Standard (29 CFR 1926.1207) went into effect in August 2015, but OSHA later announced that it would delay its enforcement until January 8, 2016, which is why it’s included in this list.  

According to OSHA, a “confined space” is one that a person can fit into that has limited or restricted means of entry or exit and is not designed for continuous occupancy. 

Under the new ruling, employers are required to train employees on the existence, location, and dangers posed by each confined space and prohibit unauthorized workers from entering such spaces.  OSHA also expanded the definition of confined spaces to include attics and crawlspaces.  Employees who work in confined spaces must also be trained in how to recognize, isolate, control and or protect themselves and others from these dangerous conditions, including providing emergency rescue procedures.  These employees must also be equipped with adequate personal protective equipment and rescue gear to perform a rescue, is so trained.  Workers not authorized to perform rescue procedures must be trained on the dangers of attempting such rescues.  

While employers whose workers regularly work in more industrial confined spaces such as tunnels or ductwork, the inclusion of attics and crawlspaces makes this ruling a particular concern for mechanical construction contractors like residential HVAC contractors, as HVAC equipment is frequently located in one of these two spaces. 

This new standard also includes a permit program for particularly dangerous confined spaces that meet one of the following specifications outlined by OSHA:

1. It contains or has the potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere;

2. It contains material that has the potential to engulf an entrant;

3. It has walls that converge inward or floors that slope downward and taper into a smaller area which could trap or asphyxiate an entrant; or

4.  It contains any other recognized safety or health hazards, such as unguarded machinery, exposed live wires or heat stress.

The standard requires that employers not only provide training on the existence, location and potential dangers of such spaces, but also that employees obtain authorization in the form of a permit before entering such a space. 

Unlike building permits or other typical permit systems, the permits required to enter these confined spaces (aptly referred to as “permit-required confined spaces”) are issued by the employer, not some other third party.  This puts the burden of documenting potential hazards and ensuring employees are properly equipped for whatever they may encounter in the space on the employer.  

All in all, the Confined Spaces In Construction Standard has created a need for increased oversight when it comes to these types of workspaces and environments in order to adhere to the new requirements.

• Increased safety responsibilities for companies using temporary labor.  

This is another case, like the confined spaces update, in which although the rule has technically been effective for a while, is likely to see heavier enforcement this year.  Back in 2013, OSHA implemented what it called its “Temporary Worker Initiative” as part of its efforts to focus more on rules and regulations affecting staffing agency employees.  In 2015, OSHA updated the safety responsibilities for those companies that use temporary labor or staffing agencies.  

Under the new rules, both host employers and the staffing agencies now share the burden of a safe workplace.  In general terms, this means that the temporary staffing business or agency is responsible for providing their staff with general safety training, while the host employer (i.e. the company with whom the temporary employees are placed) is responsible for site-specific safety, including the proper use of appropriate PPE.  OSHA also required that temporary workers injured at a host company be placed on the host employer’s OSHA log.  

In reviewing a number of citations issued over the past year, it is clear that OSHA continues to have a keen interest in cases involving joint employers, and has demonstrated a willingness to cite both staffing agencies and host employers when they have found violations.  OSHA will likely continue to view joint-employer cases with increased scrutiny in 2016, which means that host companies can no longer abdicate by contract their responsibilities for keeping all employees safe at their workplace. 

• Final rule for silica exposure expected to be released.  

Just last week, OSHA published its long-awaited final rule regarding crystalline silica. This is significant, since OSHA first began working on a rule to reduce exposure to silica dust, a mineral substance often created during work operations involving stone, rock, brick, industrial sand and concrete, back under the George W. Bush’s administration.  For years, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended that OSHA issue stronger regulations regarding silica exposure because breathing silica dust has been shown to cause pulmonary disease and lung cancer.  

The final rule cuts the permissible exposure limit (PEL) in half, from 100 micrograms to 50 micrograms over the course of an eight-hour work day.  The lower PEL not only increases the need for added respiratory protection, but also requires employers to make investments in training programs, medical testing and ongoing monitoring, all of which will add to the cost of a company’s safety program.

• Updated electronic recordkeeping and reporting regulations.  

OSHA’s “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses” rule is also expected to be finalized shortly.  This rule adds new electronic reporting obligations for employers who are required to keep records of serious occupational injuries and illnesses.  

Specifically, this rule is expected to require applicable employers with more than 250 employees per establishment to electronically submit their OSHA 300 Logs on a quarterly basis, while applicable employers with more than 20 employees per establishment in certain industries would be required to submit their OSHA 300 Logs on an annual basis.  Upon submission and review, OSHA would then publish these logs publicly on its website.  

Although the quarterly reporting requirement for employers with 250 or more employees will force these companies to be even more vigilant when it comes to their recordkeeping habits, it is not clear what other direct effects this rule may have on employers, besides from a bit of public shaming for those with the most reported injuries.  The main backlash this rule has received is in regards to the possibility that individual employee information may be accidentally made public when the logs are published online.  The agency has previously said that private information will be scrubbed from these reports prior to them being published online, but they have not specifically said how they plan to go about doing this.

Conclusion

While this isn’t a comprehensive analysis of all the proposed OSHA rules that might be going into effect in 2016, they represent the most significant causes of concern for the construction and contractor industries this year.  These new rules touch almost every aspect of a company’s existing safety program, including training, protective equipment, procedures and recordkeeping.  Employers should consult with their internal safety professionals and counsel for more information, or consider bringing in additional resources, like an outside safety consultant, to help them identify areas of weakness in their existing safety programs and policies.  Employers who don’t already have a safety plan in place should make implementing one a top priority for 2016, or risk costly (and increasing) penalties for non-compliance.

About the author:

Doug Heywood has more than 20 years of workplace safety experience, and has worked with employers across multiple industries, including construction, manufacturing and health care, to design and implement proven safety and accident-prevention programs.  Doug currently works as the director of safety for G&A Partners.

While social media might make it seem like it’s impossible to ever have another private moment, the concept of personal privacy is still a very real and enforceable legal concept.  When you write or say something in the comfort of your own home, the law does provide you with the right to privacy and restrict others from breaching that sense of security.  Almost the moment you step out your front door, however, your right to privacy becomes less concrete, and can vary considerably depending on where you go after that.

One setting in which privacy laws can seem particularly fuzzy is in the workplace, where it can be difficult to draw a firm line between the information an employer has needs to know in order to run their business and their employees’ rights to privacy.  All of this uncertainty can cause serious problems and land both employers and employees in hot water when not handled properly.

Legal considerations

The Fourth and 14th Amendments to the Constitution are among the highest laws in the nation used to establish the right to privacy, even though neither specifically use that phrase: the Fourth Amendment protects citizens against “unreasonable search and seizures” from federal entities, and the 14th Amendment extends the same protection from state and local governments.  (Neither mentions private entities.)  Nonetheless, in multiple rulings the U.S. Supreme Court has found that these amendments imply a right to individual privacy.

There are also a number of applicable federal laws that more directly address workplace privacy, including the Electronics Communication Privacy Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act and the Employee Polygraph Protection Act.  Some states have also passed employee privacy laws.

Best practices for employers

Generally speaking, the law permits employers to monitor or search an employee only if there is a reasonable business reason for doing so (i.e. when an employee is suspected of stealing company property).  The scope of these searches is limited to non-personal areas of the employee’s workspace and must focus on property owned by the company.

The law generally states that employers can conduct these searches only if there is reasonable business reason for doing so, such as suspecting an employee of theft.  These searches must also be specific to only non-personal areas of the employee’s office and must focus on company-owned property such as business papers.

As an employer, a good gauge to use when it comes to determining whether you are allowed to monitor or conduct a search of an employee or their workspace is how much privacy your employees think they have.  If, for example, your company’s employee handbook expressly states that internet activity on company-provided devices are subject to search, or that phone calls made using office phones may be recorded, or that employees may be subject to random searches, your employees’ expectations of privacy are limited.  These types of employee policies are designed to minimize your company’s exposure to liability should you ever face any litigation related to an employee search.

If your company wants to implement policies or procedures addressing expectations of privacy or employee searches, here are a few important points to keep in mind:

• Have a clear, written policy regarding employee searches and monitoring.
• Communicate this policy to all employees, in writing.  Your company can also choose to make signing a form acknowledging and consenting to the search policy a condition of employment for new employees.
• Only monitor or search employees for legitimate business reasons (i.e. for the purposes of preventing employee theft).
• Never force an employee to submit to a search.  As an employer you can, however, make submission to reasonable searches a condition of continued employment with the company.

[Source: Texas Workforce Commission]

It’s also a good idea to consult with your company’s legal counsel regarding what you can and cannot include in your employee search and investigations policy, as additional laws may apply to your company depending on the size of your workforce or where your offices are located.

While employee policies like an employee search and investigations policy can prove to be invaluable tools protecting your business against the risk of an employment-related lawsuit.  But the process of creating effective and compliant employee policies can be overwhelming.  That’s why G&A Partners has a team of HR professionals available to assist our clients with employee handbooks, compliance issues, recruitment strategies, safety manuals and more.

Learn how G&A Partners can help you protect your business and employees through HR labor law and compliance services.  Contact us by phone at 866-634-6713 to speak with an expert or visit www.gnapartners.com/get-started to schedule a free business consultation.

Recently, the US Department of Labor (DOL) has taken steps to increase its enforcement of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a move that has some employers concerned.

[Check out our post answering employers’ most frequently asked questions about FMLA.]

What do employers need to know?

Not waiting to pull the trigger

In the past, FMLA audits were usually initiated after an employee filed a complaint or the agency became aware of a trend in employer violations. Recently, however, the DOL has shifted to a more aggressive approach, one that they say focuses on “systemic” issues of FMLA noncompliance, ones that affect more than one employee or multiple employer location. And they aren’t waiting for a triggering event to launch an audit.

Widening the scope

In addition, the DOL is now widening the scope of its investigations. Where previously FMLA audits focused primarily on the employees who were out on leave at the time of the audit, DOL officials are now also looking back to review employers’ actions with regard to leave taken several years prior to the date of the investigation. Similarly, the DOL is also reviewing policies and procedures regarding FMLA leave across all levels and locations of an organization, not just the where the violation is found to have occurred.

Getting up-close and personal

In the past, it was pretty rare for the DOL to conduct an onsite visit for an FMLA investigation. This is no longer the case. Just as employers should regularly review their polices and practices for compliance, they should also make sure they are prepared for an in-person visit at all times, just in case a DOL investigator knocks on the door unannounced.

The best defense is a good offense…

The most effective way to prepare for an FMLA audit is to conduct an internal audit of your organization’s policies and practices. Not only will an internal audit reveal any potential compliance gaps that need to be addressed, but it will also prepare your staff on how to respond in the event your company is selected for an FMLA audit by the DOL.

When conducting an internal FMLA audit, you should focus on the following:

• Leave policies
• Compliance with notice and worksite posting requirements
• Record-keeping practices

For a more in-depth overview of the Family Medical Leave Act, check out the recap of our “Fundamentals of FMLA” webinar, hosted by one of G&A Partners’ human resources experts in December 2015.

“Fundamentals Of FMLA” from G&A Partners on Vimeo.

As a licensed provider of outsourced human resources solutions, G&A Partners acts as an invaluable resource and ally for businesses caught in the confusing web of regulatory compliance. G&A Partners’ experienced human resources professionals understand the nuances of federal and state labor laws, including the FLSA, and can help companies expertly plan and execute procedural tasks surrounding government compliance. With G&A Partners managing your human resources and related functions, you can rest assured that not only are your employees are afforded the protection of federal laws, but also that your business is protected from the risks of human resources noncompliance.

Learn how G&A Partners can help you protect your business and employees through HR labor law and compliance services by contacting us by phone at 1-866-634-6713 to speak with an expert or visiting www.gnapartners.com/get-started to schedule your free business consultation.

This article is not intended to be exhaustive nor should any discussion or opinions be construed as legal advice. Readers should contact legal counsel for legal advice.

Ever ponder the effects of social media on employee productivity? Are you an advocate for social recruiting? Perhaps you have an opinion on how social networking is changing the environment around you—your office, specifically. No matter who you are or what industry you’re in, there’s no denying your workspace has been transformed by social media over the past years. Is it for better or for worse? Well, the answer is where you come in.

Our fourth HR Tailgate, “Tackling Social Media in HR,” will delve into how to best handle social media use among employees and recruiters. Join us on Tuesday, March 29, from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. CST for an engaging chat led by guest host Rieva Lesonsky, the CEO of GrowBiz Media and SmallBizDaily.com, and Anu Mannathikuzhiyil, G&A Partners’ HR Generalist. Learn from our experts and share your knowledge for our fourth HR Tailgate Twitter chat.

If you’ve never been involved in a Twitter chat, you’ll be surprised at how simple it is to participate. A Twitter chat is a live conversation focused on a topic — for this month, ours is social media in the workplace. The chat is guided by eight questions; chat participants can engage in dialogue with chat hosts and other chat participants by answering the questions and using the hashtag #HRTailgate. (Forbes shares everything you need to know about a Twitter chat in this article.)

Want to know what to expect? Get excited and gear up for the chat by visiting the recap of October’s HR Tailgate, “How to Make Your Employees and Teammates Feel Like Star Players,” December’s HR Tailgate, “Employee Benefits Game Plan,” or January’s HR Tailgate, “Score a Wellness Touchdown.”

How to participate:

First: Follow your chat hosts on Twitter:

• G&A Partners – @GAPartners
• Rieva Lesonsky – @Rieva
• Anu Mannathikuzhiyil, G&A Partners HR Generalist – @Anu_GAPartners

Then: Prepare to share your HR knowledge and learn from others with the following questions: 

1. How does social media affect employee productivity? 
2. Do you embrace employees with a social media presence? How so? 
3. What are your thoughts on bringing up a job candidate’s social media pages in an interview?
4. What’s the value of social recruiting?
5. Yelp has had 2 recent public firings due to employees posting on #socialmedia. Was there a better way to handle these incidents?
6. Should comments posted on an employee’s personal social media pages be used against them in disciplinary actions? Why?
7. How do you think social media will change the workplace environment in the next 5 years? 
8. What can employers do to protect themselves from negative comments written by former/current employees on social media?

Next: End your answers with the hashtag #HRTailgate to participate.

We’ll see you on Tuesday, March 29, for #HRTailgate! Chime in for our pre-game at 10:45 a.m. CST to get amped up for the hour. Game on!

Late last year, coverage of the San Bernardino shooting that occurred during a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center, gripped the country and shone a national spotlight on what law enforcement calls “active shooter incidents.”

According to a report released by the FBI in 2014, an “active shooter” is defined as an individual who is actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area. An active shooter incident is different from defined crimes such as mass killings or murders because the “active” nature of the crime implies that both law enforcement officials and citizens have the potential to affect the outcome of the incident based on how they respond to the events as they happen.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2014

In total, there were 160 active shooter incidents between 2000 and 2013, with 1,043 people killed or wounded during the course of those incidents (not including the shooters).

The study also found that active shooter incidents are on the rise nationally: Between 2000 and 2006, there were an average of 6.4 incidents occurring annually; during the same seven-year period between 2007 and 2013, that number increased to an average of 16.4 incidents occurring annually. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the report found that most likely place for an active shooter incident to occur is in a place of commercial businesses (45.6 percent of incidents occurred in these areas). The researchers further broke this down into three more specific categories: commercial businesses generally open to pedestrian traffic, commercial businesses not open to pedestrian traffic and malls.

Almost all of the incidents (91 percent) occurring in commercial areas during this time period were in businesses. About 50 percent of shooters involved in incidents occurring in places of business were either current or former employees of the businesses where the shootings occurred. The percentage of current or former employee shooters is even higher for incidents occurring in businesses generally closed to pedestrian traffic – 95 percent of these shooters were either current or former employees.

These statistics all paint a pretty alarming picture in the minds of business owners and employers. Fortunately, there are a number of things an employer can do to prepare their staff for active shooter incidents and minimize the potential loss of life should an active incident occur at their workplaces.

• Prepare an Emergency Action Plan (EAP)
  Your business may actually have an emergency action plan in place, even if it doesn’t yet cover active shooter incidents. The EAP is the business document that outlines what employees should do in the event of any emergency (fire, flood, hurricane, etc.) If your business doesn’t already have an EAP, consider preparing one as soon as possible.
• Conduct active shooter incident trainings
  Just as the best way to train people on how to respond to a fire is to conduct regular fire drills, the most effective way to train your employees on how to respond to an active shooter incident is conduct a mock active shooter incident training. Training components might include recognizing the sound of gunshots, responding quickly to the alarm or sound of gunshots, the best ways to react in different situations (knowing when they can safely evacuate vs. when they should stay where they are and secure their location), and how to get in touch with law enforcement.
• Create a system or mechanism for employees to report signs of potentially violent behavior
  Because it is highly likely that the perpetrator in an active shooter incident will be a current or former employee, employers should make sure they have a process in place for employees to report suspicious or violent behavior in their colleagues. Your human resources team should spearhead this initiative.

To learn more about active shooter incidents in the workplace, make sure to check out the recording of one of our most recent webinars: “Responding To Active Shooter Incidents In The Workplace,” presented by Doug Heywood, G&A Partners’ Director of Safety.

How To Respond To Active Shooter Incidents In The Workplace – March 31, 2016 from G&A Partners on Vimeo.

Beyond Uber: Tapping Into The On-Demand Economy

By: John Allen | President & COO, G&A Partners

This article was featured in the spring edition of Smart Business Houston. To view the original article, click here.

Combine the proliferation of smart technology, a culture that craves convenience, a slow economic recovery and a generation of underemployed workers who want to set their own terms, and you have the perfect conditions for the emergence of a disruptive new business model — on-demand.

With Uber-like businesses offering everything from door-to-door grocery delivery to dog walking through Internet-based applications, the on-demand economy is revolutionizing consumer behavior and service delivery.

Valued between $60 billion to $300 billion, this new economy is growing at an accelerating clip and showing no signs of slowing. As more startups adopt the on-demand model, real-time business-to-business offerings are likely to mushroom. Below are just a few pioneers:

• WorkNow!, Shiftgig, Moonlighting, Wonolo and People as a Service are on-demand staffing platforms that match employers with pre-vetted workers for hourly, daily, shift and freelance work.
• Harvard-backed Experfy connects companies with experienced Big Data and analytics consultants to deliver technology and business solutions on demand.
• Boomtown offers small businesses everyday tech support at the tap of a button.
• Directly taps into talent inside and outside an organization to develop and deploy an on-demand customer care network.
• VOIQ provides an experienced on-demand global call force to help companies reach prospective customers and qualify sales leads.

Other on-demand B2B companies match businesses with legal counsel, deliver office cleaning services, source security guards and provide platforms for creative professionals to compete for design projects. And this is just the beginning.

With consumers captivated by the convenience and immediacy of on-demand offerings, many suggest the real-time provisioning and fulfillment of goods and services through on-demand platforms is the future of commerce. Is your company taking advantage of this latest economic boom?

In companies where limited budgets or lighter workloads don’t justify keeping certain specialized skill sets on staff, on-demand service providers are an attractive option when it comes to augmenting their workforces.

Outside service providers and professional advisors allow employers to readily tap into specialized talent and resources without the expense of hiring an additional employee and associated overhead costs. So whether you need to quickly staff up to fulfill an order on time, need an experienced writer to develop web copy, or need someone to step in because your receptionist called in sick, you can be sure there’s an app for that.

The on-demand model has the potential to fundamentally change the way companies interact with customers, but before you jump in there are a few precautions.

Some startups focus their services regionally, so before getting too far down the road, make sure a company operates in your area. Each staff sourcing app offers unique features and specializes in different skill sets, so do your homework to determine which best matches your need.

Finally, many apps allow users to evaluate individual service providers. Take the opportunity to review a person’s feedback before engaging them. Adopting a new business model can be daunting, but if the on-demand economy is truly the future of commerce, reacting early to this shift may be a smart move.

John W. Allen is president and COO of G&A Partners, a Texas-based HR and administrative services company that manages HR, benefits, payroll, accounting and risk management for growing businesses. 

Want more business insight and tips from the mind of a seasoned business owner? Make sure to check out John’s previous articles: “Behind The Big Blow-Up And Controversial CEO Resignation At Zenefits,” featured on TLNT, or “Minimum Wage Debate Causes Employers to Pay Attention,” featured on Smart Business Houston.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/idreaminir/439015785/sizes/m/in/photostream/

March Madness: The three-week period during which die-hard and recreational college basketball fans alike come together to watch what has been informally dubbed the “most exciting tournament in college sports.” With 68 teams from across the country playing the single-elimination tournament, there’s something for everyone to watch and, indeed, it seems like everyone did watch last year. The 2015 tournament had the highest ratings in more than two decades, with an average viewership of 11.3 million people. And an estimated 60 million Americans fill out a bracket with their predictions on which teams will reign supreme throughout the tournament, giving them even more incentive to tune in.

With so many games and so many people watching the tournament, a number of which are played during normal work hours, it’s inevitable that March Madness would seep into the workplace as well. About 22 million of the people filling out those brackets do so to participate in some sort of office pool, either officially sanctioned by the employer or off the books. And while not everyone can get away with streaming their favorite team’s game at the office, most can’t help themselves from checking the scores online throughout the day or talking over the previous day’s game highlights with their coworkers.

If you’re an employer, March Madness is probably starting to sound like a nightmare. If your employees are spending all of their time watching or talking about the games, when will they have time to get their work done? But before you consider banning even the mention of March Madness from your office, consider this sage advice from Bonnie Scherry, G&A Partners’ director of Corporate HR:

“Employers should ask themselves whether they want to be known as the company that tells their employees they can’t participate in March Madness activities,” Scherry advised last year. “In the end, employees will still watch the games on their phones or tablets whether their employers approve or not, just like many employees still access social media sites even though they’ve been instructed not to do so.”

Instead, Scherry recommended employers embrace March Madness as an employee engagement tool.

“While some employers may experience a dip in employee productivity during March Madness, there are certainly benefits for organizations who take advantage of the possible opportunities to increase employee engagement during the tournament,” Scherry said. 

And although outplacement Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported last year that employers could wind up paying out more than $1.9 billion in wages to employees who are distracted or unproductive during March Madness, the problem may not be as prevalent as people think: In an anonymous poll of employees who participated in G&A Partners’ March Madness bracket pool last year, the majority of respondents said that they spent less than one work hour creating or checking their March Madness brackets. What’s more, the majority of managers polled said they did not see a noticeable difference in productivity due to March Madness activities in the office. For a recap of the insights we gleaned from our March Madness survey, check out the gallery below:

What do you think about employers embracing March Madness?
Let us know in the comment section below!

This week, thousands of students and teachers across the country are enjoying the spring break holiday. While we’re not taking a week-long holiday ourselves, it got us thinking about a different spring tradition – spring cleaning. While most people associate spring cleaning with de-cluttering their home, it’s actually a concept that can be relevant in the workplace as well. This year, we thought we’d tackle what can quickly become the biggest paperwork vortex in an office: employment records. 

As you are likely aware, federal law requires that employers keep and maintain certain information pertaining to each of their employees. And when you really stop and think about it, the amount of information employers have about their workers is pretty staggering: Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, employment histories, tax returns, background investigations, drug test records – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. What’s more, all of that information has to be properly and securely housed somewhere within the organization. It’s easy to see how, with the sheer volume of paperwork that goes into an employee record, things can get out of hand quickly. 

[Want to learn more about the best way to manage employment records? Check out our article: Employee Records – Who should have access to what?]

One aspect of employer record retention requirements that seems to trip many organizations up is exactly how long they are required to keep certain types of records. This is, in large part, due to the fact that employers are required to keep certain types of employee records longer than others, depending on the regulations established by the relevant legal authority that governs the information contained therein. To further complicate the matter, employers must also comply with any state-specific laws that regulate the retention or maintenance of employee records. These laws operate in conjunction with, or in addition to, federal requirements.

Because of this uncertainty and anxiety about potential overlap, many employers hold on to employment records far longer than may be necessary, resulting in an overwhelming amount of (usually) paper files. For this reason, setting aside time to periodically review the contents of each employee record to ensure that all required information is properly filed and maintained is recommended as a best practice for all organizations.

Consequences of employer record retention non-compliance

Employers who are found to have failed to maintain statutory records as required by federal law may be subject to civil monetary penalties. In some cases, there may also be the risk of individual and/or criminal liability. Employer records are also frequently used as evidence in employment-related litigation, both as evidence of employer misconduct or as a defense of actions taken by an employer. Employers should also be aware that it is illegal to destroy documents related to a current or potential lawsuit.

To help employers wrap their minds around the recordkeeping requirements that their business may need to comply with, we’ve created a quick reference guide that outlines some of the federal laws that regulate employee records, the types of employee records to which they apply, and the required retention period associated with each. 

Click here to download our Employer Record Retention Guide!

Note: This article is not intended to be exhaustive nor should any discussion or opinions be construed as legal advice. Readers should contact legal counsel for legal advice.