Benefits & Perks to Attract & Retain Top Talent

In today’s tight job market, many employers realize that they need to take a closer look at their benefits package in an effort to attract and retain employees. How often have you found a qualified candidate that you hope to hire only to learn that they decide to go with another position? Most likely, the candidate has found another job in which the benefits offered by the competition were more attractive.

When reviewing the development of benefits and perks for your company, it is valuable to understand the differences. Benefits are a form of non-wage compensation that supplement salary (e.g., health insurance). Perks are a form of non-wage compensation (e.g., work from home Fridays), but unlike benefits, are more loosely defined and vary greatly.

Glassdoor indicates that 57% of job seekers list benefits and perks among the chief determinants when evaluating jobs. Benefits and perks impact recruiting efforts as they help to get prospective talent interested in a company and through the door.

The primary benefits and perks that prospective job seekers value most when considering a new position include (listed in order of importance):

Better health, dental, and vision insurance
More flexible hours
More vacation time
Work from home options
Retirement benefits; pension plan, 401K

Although there are some new, innovative benefits and perks being offered such as free-snacks or nap pods—the top benefits/perks valued by many employees are those that improve their work/life balance.

Some innovative, non-traditional benefits/perks offered by large companies and tech-based companies include:

Unlimited vacation
Student loan assistance
Free gym membership
Free child day care services
Free fitness or yoga classes offered on-site
Catered breakfast and/or lunch
Company-wide retreats
Paid volunteer days
Paid parental leave for moms and dads (16+ weeks)
Dedicated game rooms
Nap rooms

Although the benefits and perks offered can help get prospective talent through the door of your organization, once hired, it is the culture, values, and career opportunities that are the leading factors in employee satisfaction. Employee interests vary depending on company size, industry and demographics. To find the benefits package that best fits your business, it’s important to survey employees about what they value most.

WageWatch offers accurate, up-to-date HR metrics, benefit survey data, market compensation data, and salary reports that will allow you to stay current with the times. This information is highly beneficial in creating the best salary and benefits packages that meet or rival the industry standards. The PeerMark™ Wage Survey is a custom-built survey tool that allows individual survey participants to select their competitive set for comparison purposes. Our experienced compensation consultants can assist with your organization’s compensation needs. We can help you ensure internal equity and compliance with regulations as well as help you structure your compensation programs to support your company’s business strategy and objectives. For more information on our services, including consulting, salary survey data, benefit survey data and market compensation reports, please call WageWatch at 888-330-9243 or contact us online.

SUPREME COURT ACCEPTS THREE (3) CASES SEEKING TO LIMIT LAWSUITS AGAINST BUSINESSES

There are three new law cases, impacting employers and business enterprises, that are on the docket of the Supreme Court this Fall. These cases have been relatively ignored by the media and have the potential to greatly impact businesses.

Case I – Racial Discrimination

Comcast is attempting to stop a lawsuit by Entertainment Studios Networks Inc., which says racial discrimination is the reason it couldn’t get its channels onto the carrier’s cable systems. At issue is a provision known as Section 1981, a Reconstruction-era law that bars racial discrimination in contracting. Comcast says the appeals court improperly made it easier to sue under that statute than under other civil rights laws. Entertainment Studios, owned by comedian and producer Byron Allen, says it tried for years to get its channels carried by Comcast. The suit alleges Comcast officials refused to reach a deal, even while expanding offerings of less-known, white-owned channels. The case was dismissed in federal court, but the 9th Circuit revived the lawsuit concluding that the plaintiff only had to show that race was a factor, not that it was the motivating or “but for” to prove discrimination. The Supreme Court’s decision will decide whether this type of contractual discrimination lawsuit (which can be brought by an enterprise) must be proven by a tougher standard.

Case II – Age Discrimination

In Babb v. Wilkie, the Court will consider the standard of proof for federal government workers who bring claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, as opposed to private-sector employees. The federal government argued that a strict “but for” standard should apply to federal workers’ claims, meaning that the employee must show the adverse employment action would not have been taken “but for” the employer’s bias. The employee in the case argued that a more lenient standard should apply that considers whether age bias was a motivating factor for the negative employment decision.

Case III – Employee Retirement Income Security Act

In Intel Corp. Investment Policy Comm. v. Sulyma, a former employee filed a lawsuit against Intel’s retirement plan committee for allegedly breaching fiduciary duties by making poor investments. The committee defended based upon ERISA’s three-year statute of limitations to file such claims. Intel argued that the lawsuit is barred because the employee received all the relevant plan investment information more than three years before he filed the complaint. But the employee argued that his claim is timely because he did not discover the problem until he read the investment information, filing the lawsuit. A result against Intel will result in more claims against employer investment fiduciaries.

Contributed by guest author: Spognardi Baiocchi LLP, a law firm dedicated to partnering with companies of all sizes to find solutions for labor, employment, human resources, and general business needs. Contact: www.psb-attorneys.com.

WageWatch Inc. offers accurate, up-to-date benefit surveys, salary surveys and pay practice data that will allow you to stay current. This information is highly beneficial in creating the best salary and benefits packages that meet or rival the industry standards. For more information on our services, please call WageWatch at 888-330-9243 or contact us online.

THE IMPORTANCE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN HUMAN RESOURCES

Emotional Intelligence is about an individual’s ability to recognize and understand emotions and how it impacts their behavior and attitudes. Individuals who have a high degree of emotional intelligence are more in tune with their own emotions as well as the emotions of others.

In the workplace, emotional intelligence involves being sensitive to and perceptive of other people’s emotions and having the ability to intuitively improve performance based on this knowledge. Individuals with high emotional intelligence are observed and measured as having higher productivity, they are better at conflict resolution, and they build strong bonds with co-workers as they can more easily understand the desires and needs of other people.

In the modern workplace, it is important to have open communication, teamwork, and mutual respect among employees and their supervisors. Emotional intelligence bears an important impact on the self-development of the manager and their leadership qualities. Its impact is visible in building positive relations and gaining the emotional commitment of employees. At a higher level, emotional intelligence helps to strengthen organizational culture, sharpen its resilience, and stretches its flexibility. Managers who possess emotional intelligence approach supervisory responsibilities from a different perspective than an authoritarian manager. They understand the importance of communicating effectively with staff members, and of treating each employee with respect.

Human Resources can help create a more emotionally intelligent workforce by hiring employees who exhibit a high emotional intelligence, by evaluating employees using emotional intelligence criteria, by integrating emotional intelligence into performance management systems, and by offer training to improve emotional competence. An emotionally intelligent organization in which employees share strong connections and can work more effectively with each other should result in greater productivity.

Managers and business owners can’t let themselves lose sight of the fact that their employees are people, with real lives and emotions that impact how they think, feel, and act. Managers with emotional intelligence understand that their staff members are people first and workers second. Incorporating emotional intelligence into your personal and organizational management philosophy may be the best way to retain key employees and help with overall organizational success.

HUMAN RESOURCES ROLE IN MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Mergers and acquisitions are extremely challenging and even chaotic events. Therefore, it is critical that everyone involved has a clear understanding of their role in the process. Mergers and acquisitions have become the norm in the business world and are often necessary for survival. Almost every major company in the US today has or will experience a major acquisition. There is a subtle yet distinct difference between a merger and an acquisition. A merger is when two separate companies merge into one new entity. An acquisition is when one company buys the assets of another company. A merger or acquisition can be desired due to many different strategic reasons including positioning in the market, acquiring another company’s areas of strength or expertise, acquiring capital, diversification and short term growth. There are several phases or steps in the acquisition process and human resources will typically be involved in at least 2 to 3 of these phases, including the due diligence and investigation process and the post-merger integration process.

The human resource role in the due diligence and investigation process is to perform a thorough review of all human resource contracts, benefit plans, plan documents, systems, personnel, employment records, all forms of compensation, policies and procedures, especially related to human resource regulations that relate to all human resource disciplines including compensation, benefits, recruiting, employee relations, training and development, and payroll and HRIS. Human Resources will help to determine the organizational structure and staffing models for the new organization. Some other important items that fall under the Human Resources umbrella are wage and hour or other compliance claims, employment litigations, collective bargaining agreements, any FMLA, OSHA, Workers Compensation, EEOC and OFCCP compliance issues.

Transition issues need to be discovered and addressed, for example, pay levels between the two organizations may be very different and a cost analysis may be needed to determine the cost of bringing pay levels more inline between the two merging entities. Other transition issues that often need to be addressed are transitioning pay increase and performance review cycles, differences between benefit levels in health care and retirement plans. Most items will need to be addressed immediately, and some items can be completed during the first or second year following the merger or acquisition. For example, if the acquisition occurs in the first quarter and your merit increases are done in January, you may be able to wait until the following January for this transition. Conversely, it will be highly desirable to transition the acquired entity employees immediately to your health and welfare plans rather than take on the administrative burden and ownership risk of additional plans.

Human Resources is also responsible for layoffs, stay bonuses, culture differences, and synergies and will play a key role in the orientation and welcoming of the new employees. These are just a few key items on the Human Resources Acquisition Checklist. And each item has its own list of key points and issues that must be addressed. While most of the transition work will happen prior to the closing date, the job of transitioning employees into your policies, pay models, practices, procedures, and culture does not end at transition date and typically continues for two to three years following the transition date and requires continued review at the management level.

Change can be challenging and demanding. With over 5,000 properties in our lodging compensation database, 150 casinos, and 125 hospitals and clinics, we regularly see properties being acquired, divested, and rebranded. Consolidations are occurring at a rapid pace in the healthcare industry as well as with hospitals buying physician groups and primary care practices. There are numerous human resources concerns to address every time a property changes hands. WageWatch consultants can guide you through the process of integrating two or more compensation models, rebalancing grades and ranges, examining internal equities between plan documents, developing a market-based approach to resolve inconsistencies, and helping you along the way with all your transition needs. For more information on our services, including consulting, salary survey data, benefit survey data and market compensation reports, please call WageWatch at 888-330-9243 or contact us online.

WHEN TO EMPLOY SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM INCENTIVES

An employee compensation plan should provide a competitive wage and reward employees fairly and equitably for behaviors while accomplishing goals and objectives for the organization. Compensation is the reward an employee receives in return for his or her contribution to the organization. Basic components of a compensation package include base salary, incentives, and benefits.

Organizations implement incentive plans to help reach overall goals and objectives. Incentive plans range from variable pay plans to prizes and recognition awards. Incentive plans can motivate employees to go beyond expectations and produce results that contribute to business success. They also can attract new talent and encourage company loyalty. For an incentive plan to be effective, the goals must be obtainable.

So how do you determine whether a short-term or long-term incentive is appropriate? Short-term incentives are used to create a focus on short-term or immediate goals, and align rewards with individual and business performance. Long-term incentives are typically designed for executives who make strategic decisions for the company. They can ensure focus on what’s best for the organization’s future outcomes by placing importance on medium and/or long-term goals and creating a sense of ownership of those goals. Successful incentive plans can also help organizations align rewards with shareholder interests, and help retain key talent.

Short-term incentives can be for all employee levels from entry-level to middle management to the executive level and they can be large or small and can cover a week, month, quarter, or year of performance measurements and goals. Short-term incentives can create a better work environment and motivate employees to work to their greatest potential. Without short-term incentives, employees may feel that their work is unappreciated, and morale can be low. Short-term incentives align employees to work for the overall success of the company and can clearly define an employee’s specific role in contributing to that success. Short-term incentives such as prizes, free airline tickets or hotel stays, tickets to events, or a paid day off, can have high impact. Short-term incentives can be individual and/or team-based. Rewarding employees for clearly defined goals can go a long way to creating happy employees who work well alone and together striving for success.

It is important to use both short and long-term rewards to produce desired results. Incentive programs that are carefully and strategically crafted and aligned with company goals and timeframes should lead to more productive, motivated, and loyal team members. Retaining good employees saves organizations the expense of recruiting and training new workers.

At WageWatch our compensation consultants are focused on your organization’s compensation needs and ready to help you ensure that your compensation programs are supporting your company’s business strategy and objectives. WageWatch also offers accurate, up-to-date benefit surveys, salary surveys and pay practices data that will allow you to stay current with the times. This information is highly beneficial in creating the best salary and benefits packages that meet or rival the industry standards. For more information on our services, including consulting, salary survey data, benefit survey data and market compensation reports, please call WageWatch at 888-330-9243 or contact us online.

HOW ENFORCEABLE IS YOUR NON-COMPETE AGREEMENT?

Does your organization have a non-compete agreement in place? If so, has it been reviewed recently? Non-compete agreements are driven by state laws. Over the past year, there have been a few states that have changed their laws, with changes taking effect next year. The revisions that states are enacting move to restrict using unreasonable non-compete agreements with employees.

Washington, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Oregon, and Rhode Island have modified their non-compete agreements this year and are leading the way in non-compete agreement reform. These states have not adopted a uniform approach, but each state provides some direction to other states that may be considering reform. Reasonable non-compete agreements are helpful and often necessary for employers to hire individuals without risking that they will then lose their customers if an employee leaves and tries to take clients with them. However, some agreements go too far and have become unreasonable.

The Washington Statute, effective January 1, 2020, will be unenforceable for employees earning less than $100,000 in total annualized compensation or independent contractors earning less than $250,000 per year. Non-compete agreements are unenforceable for a period greater than 18 months and the terms must be disclosed to prospective employees no later the time the employee accepts an offer of employment. In addition, the statute has several employee protection mechanisms in place, such as requiring an employer to pay an employee’s legal fees and damages should they seek to enforce an unreasonable non-compete agreement.

Potential areas to revise with a non-compete agreement include:

A threshold for an employer’s salary, anyone making less than the stated amount are excluded from the agreement (i.e., employees making less than $75,000 are excluded from a non-compete agreement)

Length of employment; an employee could not be held to a non-compete agreement if they were not employed for at least a year by the employer or terminated or laid off without misconduct
Employees faced with an employer that seeks to enforce an unreasonable agreement should be penalized by having to pay the employee’s legal fees and a small number of damages. It may be a good time to review your non-compete agreement, especially to determine if your agreement is currently relative to any changes in the law that governs it.

WageWatch offers accurate, up-to-date benefit surveys, salary surveys and pay practice data that will allow you to stay current. This information is highly beneficial in creating the best salary and benefits packages that meet or rival the industry standards. For more information on our services, please call WageWatch at 888-330-9243 or contact us online.

INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR LAWS – CALIFORNIA SIGNS BILL INTO LAW

An independent contractor is an individual who does work for another individual or company but is not an employee of the firm that is paying them. These individuals need to abide by a series of laws and regulations in their business transaction—following both federal and state-level directives.

Most states have regulations about the status of independent contractors. States have fines and penalties for not correctly classifying a worker for state employment and wage status. More states are tightening up the requirements to make it more difficult to call a worker an independent contractor.

Last year, the California Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in the matter of Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles. On September 18, 2019, Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, signed into law the California Supreme Court’s decision in Dynamex v. the Los Angeles Superior Court regarding the test to determine whether an employee is an independent contractor.

California joined Massachusetts and New Jersey in establishing the “ABC” test as the relevant standard for distinguishing between employees and independent contractors for purposes of applying California wage and hour laws.

The ABC test requires three tests to be met:

The worker must be free from control and direction of the hiring entity.
The worker must be performing work that is outside the scope of the employer’s business
The worker must be “customarily employed” in the same type of work as that being performed for the hiring entity.

The adoption of the ABC test by the three states has significantly narrowed the category of workers who can be treated as independent contractors. It is the (B) prong of the ABC test that in many instances, is problematic; it favors a worker-friendly standard that may upend the existing independent contractor labor market.

While this has been the law in California for over a year, the codified version expands the reach to non-wage order claims and holds harsher penalties.

SALARY STRUCTURES: WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR?

Established salary structures aren’t mandatory. There is no law that requires them, but they serve many useful purposes. Having salary ranges in place can ensure that salary decisions, from new hires to promotions, are made with objective and consistent rules and parameters. They provide at least a first line of defense against salary discrimination, intentional or otherwise, by ensuring that employees performing the same job are granted the same salary opportunity. And, formal salary ranges provide you with a tool for proactively managing and budgeting your salary dollars.

Salary structures help ensure that pay levels for groups of jobs are competitive externally and equitable internally. A well-designed salary structure allows management to reward performance and skills development and control overall base salary cost by providing a cap on the range paid.

A salary structure enables employers to pay employees in a given position, consistently, for the work they do. Salary ranges also offer flexibility enabling a company to pay higher in the range for an employee based on a greater level of education, experience or performance. In the same way, it can potentially save on labor costs when hiring employees with limited backgrounds.

Having well documented and communicated salary ranges can minimize employees’ pay equity concerns and grievances.

A well-designed salary structure will help organizations:

Attract and retain suitable, qualified, and experienced employees
Build high morale with internal equity
Create more satisfied employees and thus reduce turnover
Minimize favoritism and bias
Provide a structure for career progression
Serve as a sound basis for collective bargaining and employee relations management

If the salary structure gets out of sync with the overall labor market, a company may find itself paying employees too much and needlessly increasing operating costs, or paying employees

too little and having difficulty attracting and retaining talent.

A study of the current labor market will provide new information to determine whether the organization’s pay structure, policies and practices, job classifications and job titles are appropriate or needing adjustment.

WageWatch offers accurate, up-to-date HR metrics, benefit survey data, market compensation data and salary reports that will allow you to stay current with the times. This information is highly beneficial in creating the best salary and benefits packages that meet or rival the industry standards. The PeerMark™ Wage Survey is the only Web-based custom survey tool that allows individual survey participants to select their competitive set for comparison purposes. Our experienced compensation consultants can assist with your organization’s compensation needs. We can help you ensure internal equity and compliance with regulations as well as help you structure your compensation programs to support your company’s business strategy and objectives. For more information on our services, including consulting, salary survey data, benefit survey data and market compensation reports, please call WageWatch at 888-330-9243 or contact us online.

MERIT BUDGET ALLOCATION

A primary goal of any compensation program is to motivate employees to perform at their best. Most organizations have to pay for performance at least in the form of a merit pay system. An accurate, reliable, and credible performance-appraisal program that is aligned with company goals, core values, and industry best practices is the foundation of a successful merit pay program. Performance measures should be tailored specifically for the organization and its jobs with clear outcomes that minimize bias and misinterpretation. Consistency, manager training, effective communications, and a periodic review are also essential for success.

The merit pay budget has two aspects to it: 1) determining the size of the budget and 2) allocating the budget to organizational units and its employees. Determining the size of the budget will be based on competitive trends, the organization’s financial situation and other factors that may impact pay such as minimum wage and cost of living changes. For the past several years merit budgets have been small and therefore it has been a challenge to adequately reward top performers as well as those that are rated ‘Good’ and ‘Average’. Employees with performance ratings of ‘Good’ and ‘Average’ can be the largest percentage of employees and therefore the backbone of the workforce. These employees should not be overlooked but raises for these employees often do not keep up with the cost of living. Also, the differentials between performance levels may not be large enough to motivate and retain employees. These factors reduce the motivational potential of the merit pay program.

Using a merit increase matrix may help to maintain internal equity but may not properly reward top performers. You want your reviewing managers to be engaged in the merit award process and to give appropriate thought and consideration to their pay decisions. A certain amount of guidance and training is needed but the merit matrix can be too structured and rigid as well as make it too easy for reviewing managers to simply follow the formula rather than spend the time and effort for a thorough review. Greater rewards for top performers and a greater deviation of awards between good and average performers can be accomplished by providing zero increases to employees whose performance falls below average. Providing broad increase guidelines in lieu of a matrix to your reviewing managers using factors such as performance rating, time in position, and position in salary range can eliminate the rigidity of the merit matrix and drive a more thoughtful approach to the merit award process. Once tentative award amounts are determined, reviewing managers should perform an analysis of the awards looking at the whole department and at each individual award using these and other factors as well as any unique or special circumstances.

Annual pay increases not only help keep employees’ pay at market, providing awards that are accurately linked to performance are important in retaining employees, especially your best ones. Compensation frequently emerges as a driver of retention, and when pay increases aren’t provided regularly and fairly, it will negatively impact job satisfaction.

At WageWatch our compensation consultants are focused on your organization’s compensation needs and ready to help you ensure that your compensation programs are supporting your company’s business strategy and objectives and that your pay practices are fair, equitable and non-discriminatory. We can provide your business with compensation surveys and salary reports to help you establish a budget for your merit pay program, including bonuses and incentives. Our innovative company is a leader in the collection of data for surveys and salary reports, which allows us to provide services to a wide range of industries in both the private and public sector. To learn more about our compensation surveys, salary reports, and other services please call 480-237-6130 or contact us online.

ALIGNING COMPENSATION WITH COMPANY CULTURE

Many organizations today are focusing on their company’s culture including determining their culture, deciding what it should be, aligning with strategic goals, and transitioning to the desired culture. Culture is important because it reinforces the values of the organization, which in turn shapes team members’ behavior. There are many success stories of companies with cultures that are aligned to their business goals including Google, Zappos, and Patagonia. These companies have not only developed a culture that supports their business but they have fully embraced their culture.

Organizational culture is the collective behavior of the people who are part of the organization and has important effects on the morale and motivation of the organizational members. It includes the values, norms, systems, beliefs, attitudes, and habits of the organization which impacts the interactions of the employees with each other, and with customers. Even before you define it, you know it is there and that it has an impact on your business. This is why it is so important to internalize the culture and understanding when company activities are in sync or not in sync with the culture.

Once the company values and desired culture are defined, compensation can support and help drive the values and corporate culture. The role of compensation in an organization and the compensation strategy need to be well-defined. For example, where does the organization want to set pay levels in comparison to the competitive market? Perhaps the organization’s culture is strong in training and developing its employees, acknowledging their successes and offering advancement opportunities. This, in turn, may allow the organization to set lower pay levels than what is paid in the market. Of course, when recruiting it is important to align the compensation strategy to support the values of the culture through highlighting performance management, performance appraisals, and the goal-setting process for each team member.

Once values, business objectives, and desired behaviors are determined then compensation plans can be put in place to support the culture. For example, if the business objective is innovation and the desired behavior is risk-taking, then short term incentives may be the compensation strategy. If the goal is for a highly trained workforce and the behavior is learning and upgrading skills, then skill or competency-based pay may be the compensation strategy.

Corporate culture is about people’s behaviors – how goals are accomplished – so to establish a culture that drives company success, organizations should link a significant component of their compensation systems to behaviors.

At WageWatch our compensation consultants can assist with your organization’s compensation needs and help you ensure that your compensation programs are supporting your company’s business strategy and objectives. WageWatch also offers accurate, up-to-date benefit survey data, market compensation data and salary reports that will allow you to stay current with the times. This information is highly beneficial in creating the best salary and benefits packages that meet or rival the industry standards. For more information on our services, including consulting, salary survey data, benefit survey data and market compensation reports, please call WageWatch at 888-330-9243 or contact us online .