Human Capital Management Blog

There has been a lot of recent focus on the rules governing employee schedules in New York State. Currently, there is a bill pending on new call-in pay regulations, which would penalize employers who failed to publish employee schedules with enough lead time, changed schedules in the last minute, or required employees to fill a schedule in the last minute.

On August 24, the New York State Department of Labor released their promised model guidance for mandatory sexual harassment training. NY employers must have updated sexual harassment policies in place by October 9 of 2018, and must have all employees complete mandatory sexual harassment training by January 1, 2019.

As of today, the NY State Senate and General Assembly have both approved bill "S8380A", which is proposing to add the death of a family member to the list of qualifying events for Paid Leave. The bill is currently awaiting Governor Cuomo's signature.

8 billion times per day—the number of times U.S. citizens look at their phone according to a recent report by Deloitte. If every citizen had a mobile phone, that's more than 24 times per day! It's no wonder that HR departments leveraging mobile tools reach 51% more employees when they invest in self-service, mobile, and help desk solutions.

Bottom line, if you are a general or maritime employer subject to the new OSHA Silica Standard, OSHA is offering a 30-day grace period for employers who make “good faith efforts” to comply with the new rule. OSHA will extend compliance assistance to applicable employers.

On May 21, 2019, the IRS issued the new affordability rates for determining compliance with the ACA’s affordable coverage requirements. For plan years starting in 2019, the new affordability rate will be 9.86% of an employee’s household income for both the pay or play guidelines and premium tax credit eligibility. The .30% increase from 2018’s affordability rate (9.56%) is the largest increase since the ACA became law in 2012.

There are a number of challenges that retailers face when scheduling employees. Finding substitutes for last-minute cancellations Avoiding over or under-staffing Managing a high industry turnover rate Finding the right scheduling tool for your retail business can be a challenge. When looking for your best fit retail scheduling platform, here are a few considerations.

According to Gallup Poll research, 1 in 6 full or part-time working Americans also serve as a caregiver for a loved one. In most cases caregivers are unpaid, looking after an ailing parent or grandparent. For employers, this can have a significant impact on absenteeism and workforce productivity. A caregiver misses on average 6.6 days or work annually. The annual cost of caregiver absenteeism amounts to more than $25 million. As the baby boomer generation continues to age, even dedicated home care organizations are struggling to keep up with the demand. One local Albany home care provider shared that his growth problem has little to do with demand and everything to do with unavailable talent in the workforce. Nursing home or assisted living centers are cost-prohibitive, leaving families with little option but to take ailing and aging family members into their homes.