In the realm of human resources, two terms often intermingle, yet carry distinct significance: onboarding and orientation. While both are vital to integrating new employees into a company’s culture and operations, their purposes, timelines, and methodologies differ significantly. Here is a look at the difference between onboarding and orientation, and why your business needs both. Understanding Onboarding Onboarding is a comprehensive process designed to integrate new hires into their roles, the company culture, and the larger organizational structure. Unlike orientation, which is typically a ..read more

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act is a federal law that requires employers to provide 60 days’ prior written notice before conducting a mass layoff or plant closing. Several states, including New York, have enacted similar laws, generally referred to as “mini-WARN Acts.” State mini-WARN Acts generally expand upon or add to the employer obligations under the federal WARN Act. However, the laws vary significantly, so employers should carefully review their obligations on a state-by-state basis. Mini-WARN Acts typically fall into one of the following broad categories ..read more

According to Gallup, the number of days employees worked remotely doubled during the pandemic, leading some companies to make a remote work arrangement permanent. While there are no laws that exclusively apply to remote workplaces, remote work does come with HR topics and questions that may not have been relevant or came up often before the large shift to this type of work environment. Here are four common HR questions regarding remote employees. 1. Remote employees and FMLA Now that we’ve become a “remote first” company with most of our employees working from home, we’ve started hiring remot ..read more

Are you finding it difficult to fill job openings because not enough people are applying? You wouldn’t be alone. One avenue organizations are taking to expand their applicant pool is to forgo the college degree requirement and instead adopt a more inclusive, skills-based approach to hiring. Would such an approach benefit your organization? To help you answer that question, we’ll go over reasons you might want to keep or eliminate the degree requirement and outline what a skills-based alternative could look like. The Upside of the Degree Requirement For employers, a college degree is an early ..read more

Employers of all sizes continue to face attraction and retention challenges. Successful efforts to win over workers can require significant time and carry high costs, but failing to attract talent or losing existing employees is particularly costly for small businesses. Unfortunately, small businesses often lack the resources to invest in attraction and retention efforts in today’s labor market, making it difficult to compete with larger organizations. Along with the costs associated with recruiting, hiring, and training, attraction and retention struggles can significantly impact workplace o ..read more

Generally, yes, you do have to pay summer interns, though it depends on who benefits most from their work. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has adopted the “primary beneficiary test” to determine whether a worker is an employee (who must be paid per federal wage and hour law) or can be classified as an unpaid intern (a non-employee who is exempt from federal wage and hour law). If the worker is the primary beneficiary of the arrangement — as opposed to the employer —  they can be classified as an unpaid intern. If the employer is the primary beneficiary, the worker must be classified a ..read more

Travel insurance offers a range of benefits and services, such as worldwide emergency hotline services, medical evacuation, reimbursement for unexpected cancellations or delays, and more. Companies with employees who travel for business may want to consider supplemental coverage from a travel insurance policy. Why Buy Travel Insurance? Travel insurance is designed for problems that arise suddenly during a trip. Basic coverage usually includes reimbursement for trip cancellation, interruption, and delay because of illness, bad weather, baggage loss or delay, medical insurance and medical evacu ..read more

According to a Glassdoor report, in the year after the launch of ChatGPT, usage of that tool or those like it by professionals in the workplace more than doubled. Are you using an AI tool to help you with your HR tasks? Have you considered doing so? If so, read on. There are advantages to be had and risks to note. What Is AI? Artificial intelligence (better known as AI) is an umbrella term for a machine’s ability to make predictions, recommendations, decisions, and perform other tasks that would normally require human intelligence. Generative AI models, for instance, can create text, ima ..read more

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new guidance that individuals no longer need to isolate from work for five days following a positive COVID-19 test may raise questions with employers about what leave they are required to provide to employees with the virus. The revised guidance, issued March 1, 2024, advises that people who are sick with COVID-19 or another respiratory virus stay home and away from others.  However, isolation is not necessary if an individual with COVID-19 has been fever-free for at least 24 hours without medication and their symptoms are improving ..read more

Hiring an independent contractor offers employers many advantages. Employers do not pay taxes on independent contractors’ wages, nor are they expected to provide benefits as they must with traditional employees. Employers often save 30 to 40 percent on labor costs by using independent contractors. Since independent contractors are usually hired for a specific period or project, employers have no obligation to rehire them after each contract period or project is complete. However, employers must be cautious with worker classification; misclassifying an employee as an independent contractor can ..read more