Rick Bell – Page 21

March 31, 2020June 29, 2023

Coronavirus Update: Employers, PLEASE don’t take your employees’ stimulus checks

One employer is an anomaly, two is a trend that must be stopped.

Last week, I nominated for the Worst Employer of 2020 an unnamed national restaurant chain that was reported to be stealing (the company called it “absorbing”) its employees’ CARES Act stimulus checks by reducing their scheduled hours in a pro-rata amount.

Now, another employer has been outed with similar plans.

According to KXAN, an unnamed national company advised its employees that it would be preemptively deducting funds from their paychecks based on the amount each employee anticipated receiving in their stimulus check.

The worker said his company emailed a form titled “Employee Acknowledgement of ‘Government Assistance’ Pay Reduction” to some staffers on Wednesday. “In response to the economic crisis that is affecting all of us due to the coronavirus pandemic…(company name redacted) are hereby enacting the Employee Emergency Compensation Fund,” the letter stated.

The agreement would put workers under a “temporary compensation reduction that is in line with the assistance that it receives from the federal government related to the COVID-19 pandemic.” By signing the agreement, the company’s employees would have their paychecks between April 6 and April 20 cut by 100% of any money received under the stimulus bill.

The company would also take half of the $500 stipend allotted for dependents under the bill.

The Lost Ogle identified the company as Oklahoma City-based ImageNet Consulting, and further reported that after public outcry it has delayed the plan. The company’s President/CEO Pat Russell sent the following email to his employees:

As a result of the few inquiries we have this week, I wanted to make the following points of clarification with regard to the Employee Emergency Compensation Program that was announced and specifically for those employees who have not already sacrificed with immediate pay reductions.

First, the plan will not go into effect until the earliest of April 6th and, there will be no pay reduction for the paycheck received on that date.

Second, it appears that Congress is very close to passing sweeping legislation to provide relief to companies like ours and to individuals. … If we can determine ways to minimize the amount of sacrifice that we have asked everyone to make, we will do so and amend the plan accordingly.

That last paragraph is his email is really important. The CARES Act contains key payroll and other relief to small and mid-size businesses, known as the Paycheck Protection Program. It allocates $350 billion to businesses with less than 500 employees through low interest (and, in some cases, fully forgivable) loans to help pay payroll, rent and utilities.

There are ways to keep your business operational and solvent without “absorbing” your employees’ stimulus checks. They need that money to live. Moreover, in the very same Act that makes those stimulus checks available, the government also makes available for businesses Paycheck Protection Program loans. Use those loans to help your business stay afloat during these trying and difficult times. Don’t absorb the money that’s meant specifically for your employees. It’s just plain wrong.

For more information on how your business can obtain funds through the Paycheck Protection Program, contact me and I’ll put you in touch with an attorney on our Coronavirus Response Team.

March 30, 2020June 29, 2023

Coronavirus Update: More answers from the DOL on the FFCRA, and another Zoominar

On March 26, the DOL published a second round of FAQs (numbers 15-37) answering more questions on the operation of paid family and sick leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

Here’s what the DOL has to say:

1. Employers are entitled to require documentation from employees in support of their need for paid family leave or paid sick leave under the Act. This documentation includes a copy of the Federal, State or local quarantine or isolation order, written documentation by a health care provider advising you to self-quarantine, or a notice of closure or unavailability from a child’s school, place of care, or child care provider. Employers are also required to retain this documentation. Note, however, that the requirement of medical documentation is contrary to the CDC’s recommended best practices, for fear of overburdening our already stressed medical system and providers.
2. Intermittent paid family leave and paid sick leave are allowed under the Act in any increment, but only if the employer agrees and if the employee is unable to telework their normal schedule of hours because of one of the qualifying reasons for leave under the Act. Note that the DOL is encouraging “employers and employees to collaborate to achieve flexibility and meet mutual needs,” and that it “is supportive of such voluntary arrangements that combine telework and intermittent leave.’
3. An inability to telework means a complete inability to perform the job remotely. If an employer and employee agree, for example, that the employee will work the normal number of hours, but outside of normally scheduled hours (for instance early in the morning or late at night), then the employee is able to work and leave is not necessary.
4. If an employer closes prior to April 1, its employees are not eligible for paid family or sick leave. Employers that close after April 1 are only required to pay employees for family or sick leave taken under the Act through the date of closure.
5. Employees on furlough or temporary layoff are not eligible for paid family leave or paid sick leave under the Act. Further, employees cannot use paid family or sick leave for hours not working because of a reduced work schedule.
6. Employees may not use their employer’s available paid time off to make them whole during a paid leave provided by the Act unless the employer expressly agrees. In other words, because FFCRA leave is capped, and may result in an employee receiving less than full pay, the Act does not permit employees to substitute other paid leave during FFCRA leave to make them whole.
7. Employers cannot require that employees use available paid time off to make them whole during a paid leave provided by the Act.
8. Employers are always free to provide employees more paid leave than the Act requires, but cannot claim any tax credit for the excess leave.

As for questions still left unanswered, my friend Jeff Nowak at FMLA Insights fills us in.

It’s still not clear from yesterday’s guidance who gets to make the ultimate call on whether the employee can telework and what happens if/when the employee objects to telework. We could use more guidance there.

What rules will DOL apply to exempt small businesses with fewer than 50 employees when the law’s requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business? [Me: this is a biggie]

Will DOL give guidance to employers with fewer than 25 employees as to how they comply when they cannot return an employee to an equivalent position.

I’ll be discussing these FAQs, along with answering all of your coronavirus-related employment law questions live on Zoom, Monday from 1-2 ET: https://zoom.us/j/856368874.

There will be plenty of room for everyone, as I’ve bumped the capacity to 500. And don’t forget, Norah promised she’ll drop by to share a song with everyone. Come for the info, stay for the music.

March 25, 2020June 29, 2023

Most companies commit to paying hourly workers who test positive for COVID-19

There’s some good news for hourly workers as worries escalate regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new survey by Willis Towers Watson revealed that 72 percent of employers in North America are committing to pay hourly workers who test positive for the coronavirus.

The survey, which was released March 23, also stated that 54 percent of those employers agree to compensate hourly workers whose workplace experiences a mandated closure and 51 percent will pay those hourly workers who have a cold or flu-like symptoms and voluntarily stay home.

Also read: The impact of COVID-19 on hourly and low-wage workers

However, just 36 percent of companies will continue paying hourly workers when they stay home because they don’t have child care.

According to the Willis Towers Watson’s “COVID-19 Hourly Employee Pay Practices Survey,” which was conducted during the week of March 16, most organizations that will continue to pay hourly employees plan to do so for 10 to 15 days. The average organization will do so for 14 days at 100 percent of their current base rate, the survey stated, adding that it will vary based on the circumstances.

Also read: Scheduling headaches: How to better manage your hourly workers’ schedules

Organizations agree to pay employees under these conditions:

For employees with a confirmed COVID-19 case, 87 percent will pay hourly workers 100 percent of their current rate.
For employees whose workplace experiences a mandated closure, 94 percent will pay them 100 percent of their current rate.
For employees with a cold or flu-like symptoms who voluntarily stay home, 92 percent will pay them their full pay rate.

Some 44 percent will pay employees who can’t perform their duties at home but are involuntarily required to stay home due to quarantine at either 100 percent or less of their current rate without them having to draw from their paid time off, the survey stated.

Most employers (75 percent) don’t have plans to provide special treatment to employees who report to work when other employees are required to stay away from work.

However, more than 10 percent of employers have plans or are considering a range of options to recognize these employees, including adjusted (situational) overtime, additional paid time off to be used after COVID-19-related disruption and other forms of recognition.

Of the 805 companies, 56 percent of which were multinationals, participated in the Willis Towers Watson COVID-19 Hourly Employee Pay Practices Survey.

It is clear that most employers are standing by their hourly employees, at least in the short term, said Adrienne Altman, managing director, North America lead, Rewards, Willis Towers Watson.

“While many employers are still working to determine their overall strategy for responding to COVID-19, we see consistency in how they plan to manage pay for the affected portions of their hourly workforce,” Altman stated in a release regarding the survey.

Offer: COVID-19 is rapidly changing how businesses operate. We recognize that organizations need an extra helping hand right now. So we’re offering our GPS clock in tool for free to new sign-ups over the coming months. Sign up today and our Workforce Success team will provide a personal, online walkthrough of our platform to help you get started. It can be fully deployed in 1-2 days.

March 25, 2020June 29, 2023

The 5th nominee for the Worst Employer of 2020 is … the coronavirus stimulus snatcher

Can we just close the poll now and announce today’s nominee the winner?

If anyone can verify the identity of this employer I’d love to know who it is.

Alison Green, over at Ask a Manager, provides the truly awful details.

I work in an administrative role at a national restaurant chain.

I just got off of a conference call with corporate in which they told us that if the U.S. government sends us the proposed stimulus checks due to Covid 19, they plan to absorb the money we receive by cutting our hours to reflect that amount. In other words, if each person receives a check for $1,200, $1,200 will effectively go back to the company. Is this legal?

Legal? Yes.*

Morally repugnant and disgustingly reprehensible? Also, yes.

There is no reason (other than flat-out greed and corporate gluttony) to “absorb” an employee’s stimulus check by reducing working hours in a pro-rata amount. It is just the worst, given the current state of health and financial crisis in which we find ourselves.

If you know of an employer doing awful coronavirus-related things to its employees, please let me know by contacting me or by leaving a comment below. I’d like to think that we are better than this, but sadly I know that many are not. And those that aren’t should be held accountable.

* Note: Employers cannot dock the pay of exempt employees for hours not worked in a week without jeopardizing the employee’s exemption, along with the exemption of employees in the same job classification working for the same managers (subject to limited exceptions).

Previous nominees:

The 1st Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2020 Is … the Repeat, Repeat Offender

The 2nd nominee for Worst Employer of 2020 is … the Uncaring Chief

The 3rd nominee for the Worst Employer of 2020 is … the Arresting Retaliator

The 4th nominee for the Worst Employer of 2020 is … the Perverted Peking-duck Purveyor

March 23, 2020June 29, 2023

Frequently Asked Questions about Ohio’s coronavirus ‘stay at home’ order

COVID-19, coronavirus, public health crisis

Effective Monday, March 23 at 11:59 p.m., and continuing through at least April 6, the state of Ohio, via an order of Dr. Amy Acton, director of the Ohio Department of Health, has closed all non-essential businesses to help combat the spread of COVID-19. Gov. DeWine stated that he would reevaluate the April 6 end date as necessary.

These closures are mandatory. A copy of the order is available here.

To help answer your most pressing questions about how this stay at home order impacts your business and your employees, I drafted this FAQ.

Also read: During COVID-19 outbreak, utilize your internal communications in your company crisis plan

For additional information and updates on how coronavirus will continue to impact your business, bookmark workforce.com/news, coronaviruslaw.blog or ohioemployerlawblog.com, or subscribe via RSS or email.

Frequently Asked Questions about Ohio’s stay at home order:

Q: What businesses are open and what businesses are closed?
A: All non-essential businesses in Ohio are closed from March 24 through at least April 6.

Q: What are the “essential businesses” that are permitted to remain open?
A: The Stay at Home Order deems the following 26 categories of businesses as “essential.”

Healthcare and public health operations, human services operations, essential government functions, and essential infrastructure
The critical infrastructure sectors as defined by the Department of Homeland Security
Stores that sell groceries and medicine
Food, beverage, and licensed marijuana production and agriculture
Organizations that provide charitable and social services
Religious entities
Media
First Amendment protected speech
Gas stations and businesses needed for transportation
Financial and insurance institutions
Hardware and supply stores
Critical trades
Mail, post, shipping, logistics, delivery, and pick-up services
Educational institutions
Laundry services
Restaurants for consumption off-premises
Supplies to work from home
Supplies for essential businesses and operations
Transportation
Home-based care and services
Residential facilities and services
Professional services
Manufacture, distribution, and supply chain for critical products and industries
Critical labor union functions
Hotels and motels
Funeral services

Q: We are an “essential business.” What does this mean for us?
A: It means that your physical location is open until further notice, business as usual (as best as can be under the circumstances). Employees who have been diagnosed with coronavirus, who are exhibiting coronavirus-like symptoms, or who have been exposed to coronavirus should remain at home and telework if possible. The State has said that law enforcement should not be stopping people on their way to and from work to confirm the need to travel. Nevertheless, it might not be a bad idea to provide letters to employees documenting the essential nature of the business, just in case. Remember, above all else, despite the essential nature of your business, your employees’ health and safety remain the most important thing.

Register for Jon Hyman’s webinar on Thursday, March 26, “What HR Needs to Know about Coronavirus.”

Q: What social distancing measures must essential businesses follow as a condition to remaining open?
A: Businesses must take the following proactive measures to ensure compliance with social distancing requirements as a condition to remaining open for business:

Designate six-foot distances, with signage, tape, or other means, to ensure six-foot spacing for employees and customers.
Have hand sanitizer and other sanitizing products available for employees and customers.
Implement separate operating hours for elderly and vulnerable customers.
Post online whether a business is open and how best to reach it, and be available to continue services by phone or remotely.

Q: What other actions must all businesses follow regarding the health and welfare of their employees?
A: The Stay at Home Order requires that businesses follow these protocols in managing their employees through this crisis:

Encourage telework and video conferencing when possible.
Actively encourage sick employees to stay home until they are fever-free for 72 hours, symptoms have improved for 72 hours, and at least seven days have passed since the first symptoms began.
Do not require doctors’ notes to validate illnesses or returns to work.
Ensure that sick leave policies are up to date, flexible, and non-punitive to allow sick employees to stay home or non-sick employees to stay home to care for others who are sick.
Separate employees who appear to have acute respiratory illness and send them home immediately.
Reinforce key health and hygiene messages such as staying home when sick, washing ones hands, and proper cough and sneeze etiquette, including hanging posters and providing protection supplies and no-touch receptacles.
Perform frequent enhanced environmental cleanings.
Be prepared to change business practices if needed to maintain critical operations.

Q: Are there any instances in which a “non-essential business” can operate?
A: Non-essential businesses can maintain “minimum basic operations.” As long as employees comply with the above social distancing requirements, non-essential businesses can still engage in the minimum necessary activities to maintain the value of the business’s inventory, preserve the condition of the business’s physical plant and equipment, ensure security, process payroll and employee benefits, facilitate employees to be able to continue to work remotely from their residences, or for related functions.

Q: We are a “non-essential business.” How do we handle our employees in response to this Stay at Home Order?
A: There are myriad questions for non-essential businesses to answer to try to remain open and as operational as possible.

1. Communication is key. Your employees are worried and scared. Talking to them in person, remotely, or by email is crucial so that they understand what is happening to their jobs.
2. The Stay at Home Order closes physical places of business that are non-essential, but it does not prohibit the employees of those businesses to work remotely from home.
3. Wage and hour laws still apply. If employees of non-essential employers are working during the shut-down (i.e., remotely) they must be paid. For hourly workers, this means their regular hourly rate for all hours worked, and time-and-a-half for any overtime after 40 hours worked during the week. For salaried exempt employees, this means their full weekly salary for any week in which they work for even one minute. If employees are not working, then they do not have to be paid, and they would be free to apply for unemployment benefits. It is, however, within a company’s discretion and means to continue paying non-working employees during this shutdown of non-essential businesses.
4. If you have to cut headcount, you should be furloughing people or laying them off. A furlough is a temporary, short-term layoff with an expectation of recall in the near future. Employees remain on payroll, just with no assigned hours. A layoff is usually of longer duration or permanent and results in the employee’s removal from payroll. This is largely a business decision, not a legal decision. Depending on the terms of an employer’s group health plan, a furlough may permit employees to remain covered. In that case, employers will have to determine how to cover an employee’s share of premiums. A layoff is typically a triggering event for COBRA coverage. If either triggers COBRA, those premiums are typically an employee’s responsibility to pay in full, although employers that are able to do so can choose to pay COBRA premiums for as many months as possible.
5. Employees who are not working during this shutdown can apply for unemployment from the state. Employers should encouraging non-working employees to apply for these benefits as soon as possible. This should not hurt the employer’s experience or unemployment rating.
6. Do not forget about paid sick leave and family leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which takes effect on April 2, 2020. Employees who have been laid off prior to April 2 will not qualify for this emergency paid leave. It is an open issue whether employees who have been furloughed or ordered by the government to stay at home will qualify. The Act provides up to 80 hours of paid sick leave at 100 percent of an employee’s regular rate of pay to employees “subject to a … State … quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19.” One could interpret the Stay at Home Order as imposing a “State quarantine or isolation order” because it prohibits employees of a non-essential business from working at the business’s physical location. One could also interpret the Order as not imposing a “State quarantine or isolation order” because it has not required employees of non-essential employers to stay at home, but merely closed the physical locations at which they work. I believe the latter interpretation is more reasonable until the state, local, or federal government imposes a broader stay-at-home or quarantine order. Regardless, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act is a floor, not a ceiling, and employers are always able to offer more paid leave benefits than the law requires if they are able and willing to do so.

Q: We have a labor union. Are there any other issues we need to be thinking about?
A: Yes. If a collective bargaining agreement covers any of your employees, you have additional things to think about, including layoffs, recall, bumping, seniority, and super-seniority. Collective bargaining agreements can also have their own provisions for sick leave, PTO, vacation, and severance. If you are thinking of changing these benefits, you may need to first bargain with the union.

COVID-19 is rapidly changing how businesses operate. We recognize that organizations need an extra helping hand right now. So we’re offering our platform for free to new sign-ups over the coming months. Sign up today and our Workforce Success team will gladly provide a personal, online walkthrough of our platform to help you get started.

March 20, 2020October 18, 2024

Fingerprint scanners risky amid coronavirus pandemic — it’s a touchy subject

As COVID-19 cases rapidly increase all around the world, businesses, public servants, government officials and health care workers continue to take the necessary precautions to try to stop the spread.

Not only are large events such as conferences, sporting events, religious services and music festivals being canceled to help combat the pandemic, but businesses are also beginning to look at their own technology as potential health risks to their employees as well.

Biometric time clocks have become increasingly popular among many organizations in recent years as they heighten security and add convenience but are now being looked at as an epicenter for germs in the workplace that could include the coronavirus. This is one of the many examples of how the pandemic is affecting life at work.

Also read: Solving the concern over clean time clocks with a mobile solution

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is possible for a person to get COVID-19 — commonly known as the coronavirus — by touching a surface that has the virus on it and then touching their own face. Most vulnerable workers have to clock in and out, including in hospitals and health facilities. Considering the large number of people who must place their fingers or entire hands on these time clocks day in and day out, it didn’t take long for employees to raise concern.

The New York Post reported that employees in New York City have protested the fingerprint biometric time clocks causing organizations such as the New York Police Department and the Metropolitan Transit Authority to reconsider their time and attendance systems. Since then, the NYPD decided to suspend fingerprint biometrics at its headquarters. The MTA also said that it will stop using fingerprint-scanning time clocks in an attempt to slow down the spread of the virus.

There are more than 150 countries and territories that have confirmed coronavirus cases, according to an NBC news report. The CDC has also reported that in the US alone, there are 7,038 total cases, including 97 deaths — and the numbers are still climbing globally. It is crucial to keep workplaces as clean as possible for those who are spending more waking hours at work than at home.

The workplace has many hiding spots for germs, such as keyboards, elevator buttons door handles and time clocks. Since the novel coronavirus is most commonly transmitted between people, touching infected surfaces can pass the virus, too. Keeping these smaller objects in mind, it is important to continuously clean every one of these surfaces throughout the day and eliminate as many risks as possible.

Also read: Workforce time clocks keep punching away. Thanks, Coldplay

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the CDC have recommended to wipe down workstations periodically, encourage employees to wash their hands more often, sanitize when soap is not available and save the handshakes for another time.

COVID-19 has no doubt taken a toll on businesses as a result of employee illness and temporary closures. Many workplaces are switching to mobile time and attendance technology not only in an attempt to make this process more convenient but to also create a more sanitary workplace by reducing possible exposure to their employees.

For Workforce.com users, there are features on our platform available to keep communication lines open during this difficult time. Engage with your staff, schedule according to operational changes, manage leave, clock in and out remotely, and communicate changes through custom events, among other things. Organizations impacted by COVID-19 can also benefit from Workforce.com’s employee app.

March 19, 2020June 29, 2023

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act is law

Capitol Building, joint session of Congress

Five days.

That’s all it took for both parties in both houses of Congress to work together, along with the White House and President Trump, to pass important relief legislation for American workers. We need more cooperation like this to see our country thru this crisis.

Last evening, President Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Employers only have until April 2 to implement the law’s required 12 weeks (10 weeks paid) family leave for school- and childcare-related coronavirus absences, and 80 hours of paid coronavirus-related sick pay.

Employers are going to need policies, and procedures, and forms, and paid leave management tools and training. And it’s all going to be very new for the smallest of employers, whose resources are already stretched thin.

Time-off Tools: The Workforce platform simplifies managing staff time-off.

Is this law perfect? Not by a long shot. For starters, it doesn’t apply to the largest of employers who can afford to pay for this leave, and it offers little in the way of relief to the smallest of employers who can’t. It has other holes as well. It leaves too many employees unprotected and too many types of leave uncovered.

That said, it’s a start, and it’s more than I would have hoped for if you would asked me about it just one week ago.

Employers, here’s the thing. This law is a floor, not a ceiling. It is solely within your power to do right by your employees. Let them work remotely if possible. Pay them if and while you can if they are ill, or under quarantine, or with a child who can no longer attend school. If you have to lay employees off, let them collect their unused vacation and other paid time off (even if you have a policy that says otherwise or the law doesn’t require it). And seriously consider severance pay, or better, funding their COBRA payments for a period of time so they don’t lose needed health insurance, and do it without a release agreement.

I said this a few days ago, and it bears repeating again (and likely again, and again, and again). How we act over the next few months will define who we are as a nation and what we will look like when we come out on the other side. Please, think about this as you make decisions about your employees. We all have lots of difficult choices to make over the coming days, weeks, and months, but I am URGING compassion and flexibility if at all possible. What we do now will have a long-lasting effect on our country, whatever this country looks like when this crisis is over.

COVID-19 is rapidly changing how businesses operate. We recognize that organizations need an extra helping hand right now. So we’re offering our GPS clock in tool for free to new sign-ups over the coming months. Sign up today and our Workforce Success team will provide a personal, online walkthrough of our platform to help you get started. It can be fully deployed in 1-2 days.

March 19, 2020June 29, 2023

How to strengthen workforce communications during the COVID-19 crisis

Communication is at the heart of every sound workforce management practice.

From establishing clear expectations, setting a bigger purpose, building company culture down to fostering accountability, communication will always be at the core . Clearly messaged, trusted communication can either make or break operations and enhance employee engagement.

A study by The Economist Intelligence Unit shows how poor workplace communication is detrimental to an organization. Survey respondents say that communication barriers result in delay or failure to complete projects (44 percent), low morale (31 percent), missed performance goals (25 percent), and lost sales (18 percent). And it can be worse when a crisis such as the coronavirus pandemic hits.

Clear communication is crucial to stability

Effective communication becomes even more critical during times of crisis and uncertainty.

Workforces globally are facing a massive challenge to their business operations with the COVID-19 pandemic. It has prompted businesses to take drastic measures to ensure the safety of staff and customers alike. Depending on the nature of the business, some have ceased operations or function under a skeleton workforce and limited hours, while other organizations have implemented work from home arrangements.

Effective communication can still bind your team together.

Given the shifting workplace situation, effective workforce communications are more critical than ever. A crisis, whether a natural disaster, a corporate meltdown or the outbreak of a disease affects employee morale. Effective communication can still bind your team together even during times of uncertainty. Leaders need to do their part to address issues promptly and clearly.

It’s also important to note that social media and online platforms can turn employees into de facto spokespeople for your organization. Whatever they share on their platforms about working for your company will reflect how you communicate with them. Those communications — or lack of a clear, consistent message — can result in a better brand image or sprout into a new crisis.

So how can leaders effectively address their staff during a challenging time?

Act fast

When a crisis strikes, it’s essential to address employees as soon as possible.

Leaders might not have answers to some of their questions right away. In the case of rapidly developing situations, like the COVID-19 pandemic, this is understandable. But it’s crucial to let employees know that you are looking into the issue and finding solutions to their concerns. What matters is to give them the assurance that the organization is aware of the situation and that the welfare of staff is a priority.

Solidify the message

Consistent messaging is key. While different roles have different concerns, it’s essential to keep the overall message continuous and consistent.

Address all of their concerns and frequently asked questions. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the questions will revolve around remote work, schedule changes, payment arrangements, leave management and other operational issues.

Diversify message delivery

How you relay the message is equally important as how it is crafted.

Empathy is important during a crisis, but what if face-to-face communication is no longer possible?

Video conferencing or a recorded video message are viable options, but how do you let staff know about it? Email is a common communication channel for organizations, but it’s best to diversify delivery channels when the situation is urgent. In a 2019 survey by text-messaging platform SlickText of over 1,000 employees across the United States, 43 percent of respondents say that timely notifications and emergency alerts are best sent through SMS and not email. Chat platforms also are useful in this case as they can quickly disseminate information and concisely. Employees are likely to open chat platforms frequently, too.

Keep the feedback loop open

Effective communication to staff goes beyond issuing announcements or bulletins. It’s about keeping communication lines open and soliciting feedback.

During a crisis, it’s imperative to open channels for discussions and to raise questions. Chat applications are suitable not just for discussing in groups but in one-on-one correspondence as well. It’s more immediate than email too and helps pass information more quickly.

See how it works: Workforce.com’s employee app includes chat features.

A platform to stay connected

A good communication process is vital for any organization. It’s important to equip a workforce with different ways to stay connected.

Thanks to technology, employers and staff can still stay connected. But a more effective approach is to keep all necessary communication in one place. A workforce management system provides crucial features to stay on top of operations and team communications.

For Workforce.com users there are features on our platform available to keep communication lines open during this difficult time. Chat with your staff, schedule according to operational changes, manage leave, clock in and out remotely, and communicate changes through custom events, among other things.

COVID-19 is rapidly changing how businesses operate. We recognize that organizations need an extra helping hand right now. So we’re offering our platform for free to new sign-ups over the coming months. Sign up today and our Workforce Success team will gladly provide a personal, online walkthrough of our platform to help you get started.

March 17, 2020July 24, 2024

How do I compensate hourly workers during the coronavirus pandemic?

No doubt there are lots of questions regarding compensation for hourly employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many employers want to do right by their hourly workers and offer them fair compensation while they temporarily shutter their workplace or curtail operations. Meanwhile, there are uncertainties regarding who gets paid and who doesn’t.

One valuable resource that offers clarity for employers regarding hourly employees is on the Department of Labor website. The comprehensive “U.S. Department of Labor Issues Workplace Guidelines for Coronavirus Outbreak, Including Specific Guidance on FMLA, FLSA and FECA” provides detailed information valuable for remaining in compliance as well as offering insight to compensating employees.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act direction is this guidance:

Pay to Non-Exempt Employees During Business Closures. Under the FLSA, employers are obligated to pay non-exempt employees only for the hours worked, not hours the employee otherwise would have worked if the employer’s business had not closed. If telecommuting or working from home is provided as a reasonable accommodation, the employer must pay non-exempt workers the minimum wage, and at least time and one half the regular rate of pay for overtime hours, for hours telecommuting or working from home. For more information on this topic, please see our previous post on employers’ considerations in response to coronavirus (available here).

Kate Bischoff, a Minneapolis-based employment attorney and HR consultant, suggested that employers first must decide what positions are crucial to maintaining operations.

“Then, there’s really no good way to go about it,” Bischoff said. “Fairness would dictate that you furlough/lay off the part-timers first, then the least senior, but there’s no good way.”

Also read: Solving the concern over clean time clocks with a mobile solution

Other considerations include what to do about volunteers, she added, and those who may be in the high-risk groups (over 60 or with pre-existing conditions).

“But make sure there isn’t a disparate impact on any protected group more than others, like married people, minorities and women. We’re in uncharted waters,” Bischoff said.

According to a spokeswoman for Portland, Oregon-based Think HR, employers and managers may offer paid time off to those employees who are unable to work due to a decrease in business, and they may select whom to offer this PTO to based on seniority, full-time status, employee classification, or job type.

“There are no hard and fast rules for deciding what groups to include or where to draw the line on tenure,” she said. “Employers, however, should take care not to violate (or appear to violate) anti-discrimination law, and they may want to consider how their decision will affect employee morale presently and in the future. Employers should also keep in mind that pay requirements may change as new laws are passed in response to the pandemic.”

Insurance and risk-management consultancy Gallagher just released its guidance on Coronavirus Pandemic Preparedness that includes five steps to minimize business disruption and safeguard employees.

“As pandemics spread it is important now, more than ever, to have an actionable business plan in place to help guide your employees and your business through the uncertainty of pandemics,” the report states.

Cleanliness is a given.

If employees must clock in at the workplace,keep the keyboard or time clock as clean as possible.

Employers working with Chicago-based employment law attorney William R. Pokorny are taking a variety of different approaches.

“Those that have some amount of paid time off or paid sick leave, either employer-based or as required by state and local paid sick leave laws, are for now having people use their available leave,” Pokorny said. “Some are extending additional leave — for example, 14 days — specific to the coronavirus situation. The leave is generally paid out based on the employee’s regularly scheduled work hours, so someone who usually works 20 hours in a week would get 20 hours of sick leave for a week. It varies widely by employer.”

Bischoff added that even employers trying to do the right thing for their hourly workers may not be doing enough.

“Trying to do the right thing is hard at this point,” she said. “Employers need to do what they can for their people.”

March 12, 2020July 24, 2024

HR People Moves: Summer 2020

human resources, people moves, promotion

Carla Dawson

Equity derivatives clearing organization OCC named Carla Dawson as senior vice president and chief human resources officer. She reports to CEO John Davidson. Dawson previously was first vice president, talent management, and was responsible for partnering with leaders across OCC to develop and implement comprehensive talent management and development strategies to support OCC’s business strategy. This included performance management, employee engagement, training and organization development, and change management. Before joining OCC in 2017, Dawson served for nearly 20 years in a series of roles at Driehaus Capital Management LLC, including as managing director, human resources, where she was responsible for developing and executing a human resources strategy in support of the firm’s overall business plan and strategic direction. Her efforts were focused in the areas of talent management, employee relations, communications, organizational development, compensation and benefits, recruitment and regulatory compliance. Previously, Dawson worked for two executive search firms — Heidrick & Struggles and Korn Ferry — as well as the financial services firm of Abaco De Bolsa. Dawson received a bachelor’s degree in industrial relations from Universidad Anahuac in Mexico, and a master’s degree in organizational development from the Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University in Chicago.

Caroline Stockdale

U.S.-headquartered First Solar Inc. named Caroline Stockdale to lead human resources and communications, overseeing a global workforce of 6,500 employees. She replaces Chris Bueter, who is retiring. Stockdale has more than 20 years of operating experience in finance, human resources, business leadership and process excellence, ranging from large global companies to entrepreneurial startups. She most recently served as the CEO for First Perform, a provider of human resources services for a wide variety of customers from the Fortune 100 to cyber startups. She served as chief human resources officer for Medtronic and Warner Music Group among others, and as the senior human resources leader in global divisions of American Express and General Electric. She is also a member of several advisory groups including the Forbes Human Resources Council.

Carla Yudhishthu

HR risk-management company ThinkHR and Mammoth named Carla Yudhishthu as vice president of people operations. Yudhishthu brings more than 20 years of experience in human resources and talent acquisition to the role, where she will drive organizational and leadership development around the companies’ people strategy. Yudhishthu previously was head of people and talent for BCG Platinion. She has also held leadership positions at Mars, W.L. Gore and Associates, Guidant Corp., and Arthur Andersen.

Traunza Adams

Health care technology company OODA Health named Traunza Adams as vice president of people. Adams previously served as chief people officer for Ginger, a provider of on-demand behavioral health coaching, therapy and psychiatry. Prior to Ginger, Adams led people operations at AppDynamics, an application performance management company. She has also held key human resources roles at UniversityNow, Salesforce.com, IBM and other companies. She holds a bachelor’s degree in French and sociology from Stanford University.

Ken Stelzer

Mobile commerce optimization platform Button named Ken Stelzer as chief financial officer. Stelzer will build a strategic finance function at Button to accelerate revenue and profit growth. He brings nearly 20 years of experience in finance and operations at both public and private companies. Most recently, he was the chief financial officer of Zocdoc. Before that he served as CFO of Bankrate and Integreon. He has significant expertise in corporate finance, executing growth initiatives and implementing operational efficiencies to drive profitability. He’s also overseen M&A transactions valued at more than $6 billion and helped raise more than $4 billion in capital through debt and equity offerings.

Stephanie Mardell

Button also named Stephanie Mardell as chief people officer. Mardell will continue evolving Button into a place of admirable talent. She was previously vice president of people at Button. As the company’s 14th employee, she built its people team from scratch through her meticulous, data-driven approach to people operations, garnering Button recognition as one of the best places to work year over year by Fortune, Entrepreneur and Crain’s. Before joining Button, Mardell spent more than a decade scaling teams during periods of significant growth while establishing operational best practices such as compensation and recognition programs, management training and development, and diversity and inclusion initiatives at Square, Airtime and Isaacson Miller.

Tracy Flynn

HR technology company Eightfold.ai named Tracy Flynn as head of human resources. Flynn joins Eightfold.ai as an experienced global human resources veteran, having spent nine years at Visa as a member of the HR leadership team in roles including global head of talent acquisition, vice president of diversity recruiting, and vice president of executive recruiting. Flynn will now oversee all aspects of global people operations at Eightfold.ai. Flynn is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.

Celia Poon

Eightfold.ai also named Celia Poon as chief financial officer. A seasoned finance executive with experience in both public and private fast-growing companies in Silicon Valley, Poon joins Eightfold.ai following a year in which the company opened two new international offices and reached over $55 million in total funding. Poon will lead all financial operations with a focus on building out financial functions. Poon brings broad finance leadership experience to Eightfold.ai, having served as chief financial officer at both Wag Labs Inc. and Highfive. Prior to her roles as CFO, Poon served as VP of finance at Twitter for four years as well as VP of corporate finance at Zynga, and VP of corporate finance and treasury at Yahoo. Poon graduated with an economics degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and holds MBA degree from the Walter A. Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

Gunnar Kiene

Recruitment marketing company Symphony Talent named Gunnar Kiene as chief creative officer for its U.S. operations. Kiene will be responsible for helping to set the creative vision for the organization and will oversee innovation, engagement and the creative direction for its clients. He will also lead Symphony Talent’s overall product experience. Kiene joins Symphony Talent with more than 20 years of experience in design and advertising. Kiene was executive creative director at Havas where he reinforced design thinking while leading a multidisciplinary team across design, UX and copy. Kiene also led the New York creative department at SapientRazorfish where he worked on accounts such as MasterCard, Lufthansa, Target and Verizon. Kiene began his career with agencies R/GA and AtmosphereBBDO.

Also Read: Symphony Talent Debuts New Composition With Acquisition of SmashFly