Tag: strategy

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Are DEI programs at risk? What the new executive orders mean for businesses

Within his first few days back in office, President Trump issued executive orders halting DEI programs in federal agencies. On January 20, the first executive order directed the shutdown of federal DEI programs. Federal DEI staff were also put on leave, and federal grantees had to discontinue DEI practices deemed discriminatory or preferential.

The next day, the White House published another executive order emphasizing merit-based opportunities, individual initiative, and hard work. It also instructed the Attorney General to recommend strategies for enforcing civil rights laws and ways to “encourage businesses to end illegal discrimination and preferences, including DEI.”

While the definition of “illegal DEI” remains unclear, these executive actions and the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action in college admissions have prompted some private sector companies to rethink their DEI policies.

How businesses are responding

While the executive orders primarily target federal agencies, grantees, and contractors, their impact was also felt across the private sector as companies reassess their DEI commitments.

Even before these orders, some major corporations had begun scaling back DEI initiatives. Last year, Walmart discontinued its DEI training and chose not to renew its racial equity center, instead shifting its language to emphasize “belonging“. Similarly, Target ended its three-year DEI goals and will no longer participate in diversity-focused surveys, including HRC’s Corporate Quality Index. McDonald’s announced restructuring its DEI efforts, transitioning its diversity team into a broader Global Inclusion Team, and will conclude its Supply Chain’s Mutual Commitment to DEI pledge.

However, some businesses are standing firm. Costco shareholders turned down a proposal to evaluate their current DEI practices. Cosmetics brand e.l.f. also has a similar stance and reaffirmed its commitment, maintaining its policies despite broader industry pullbacks.

What does it mean for your business?

Should you roll back your DEI programs? While recent executive orders may create pressure to scale back, it would be best to evaluate your policies before making any drastic changes. 

Workplace fairness should always be a priority whether you have formal DEI initiatives or not. If you manage an hourly team, here are some ways to practice fairness and equality across your organization. 

Hire without bias. If your hiring process includes explicit demographic quotas, it may be legally risky under the new executive orders. Instead, focus on qualifications, skills, and experience rather than factors like race, age, or gender. Use structured hiring practices that prioritize job-related qualifications. Workforce.com’s HR platform allows hiring teams to set preliminary screening questions on job listings, helping filter candidates based on essential qualifications, not personal demographics.

Distribute work hours fairly. Shift assignments should be fair and consistent to avoid unintentional favoritism. Use a scheduling system that allows you to distribute work hours and overtime evenly among team members. Workforce.com’s scheduling software enables managers to allocate work hours based on demand, availability, maximum hours allowed, and other compliance requirements.

Audit your current policies. While there’s still no definitive list of practices or policies deemed “illegal” under the executive orders, it’s wise to assess your current policies for anything that could be interpreted as preferential treatment. Review existing DEI programs to ensure they focus on merit, skills, and equal opportunity rather than demographic-based preferences. In addition, if your company receives federal grants or is a federal contractor, ensure that your policies align with the latest executive directives to avoid compliance risks.

Do businesses need to abandon DEI practices? Not necessarily, but they have to do it smarter. Focus on fairness, merit, and equal opportunity so that policies can remain compliant, maintain an inclusive work environment, and stay pace with evolving federal regulations. 

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HR Trends for Hourly Workforces in 2025

Summary

  • 2025 will be filled with new and familiar trends, and business leaders must devise strategies specific to hourly teams to maintain employee retention and remain competitive. 
  • This year, there would be increased emphasis on employee experience, continuous AI adoption, and a potentially bigger labor gap with tighter immigration rules. 
  • An all-in-one HR technology can help hourly teams stay ahead of the trends and overcome staffing challenges.

This year, hourly workforces will face a mix of old and new challenges, from labor shortages to technological advancements and a maze of shifting compliance rules. HR leaders and managers must step up in 2025 to retain top talent and stay competitive, or risk widening the labor gap and losing their team to competitors.

So, what’s coming up on the horizon? Check out these top HR trends you’ll want to watch when managing your hourly workforce this year.

1. Staffing and hiring challenges with stricter immigration laws

With stricter immigration laws and ongoing labor shortages, hourly workforces face a greater challenge in attracting and retaining talent.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, foreign-born workers account for 18.6% of the U.S. civilian labor force. With stricter immigration laws, a bigger labor shortage challenge could be looming.

While the crackdown targets undocumented migrants, even legal, documented workers may struggle to stay in the U.S. when mass deportation separates them from their families. This uncertainty can push them to leave, creating vacancies in industries that heavily depend on hourly workers.  Worse, some immigrants may not aspire to come to the U.S. for work at all. 

For instance, in Nebraska, one of the top meat producers in the U.S., businesses are already grappling with a massive labor shortage. For every 100 jobs, there are only 39 workers to fill them, and Nebraskans fear that the gap will only get bigger. 

So, what does this mean for employers? They must fight hard to not only hire and attract talent but also maintain employee satisfaction.Another key area is tightening the vetting process. While undocumented workers have rights, knowingly hiring them is illegal for employers. This creates an added challenge for HR professionals to ensure their vetting procedures are foolproof, preventing penalties or complications from accidentally hiring ineligible individuals.

How to stay ahead:

HR departments need a system that streamlines talent acquisition, quickly assesses qualifications, and ensures new hires and existing staff stick around. 

Workforce.com’s HR system can augment recruitment by allowing you to post job openings across your business locations. You can even generate QR codes for job postings, making it easy for interested applicants to scan, read job descriptions, and start their application process. 

Set custom questions to quickly qualify candidates, like their experience, available hours, and whether they have the qualifications and documentation to work in the U.S. 

Plus, Workforce.com helps your managers retain current staff by offering flexibility with shift swapping and advanced scheduling. It also tracks people analytics such as performance, highlighting areas for training, upskilling, and development.

2. AI adoption in HR processes will continue

Artificial intelligence will continue to play a role in HR this year. While we have seen its adoption in the previous years, the trend will continue in 2025. More and more organizations will adopt AI in human resources to eliminate admin tasks, repetitive processes, and paperwork. 

However, AI can be a double-edged sword in workplaces. Sure, it can make things easier and faster, but questions remain about its impact on work quality, particularly with the rise of generative AI tools. Some even call for regulatory rules, prompting organizations to develop policies governing how employees use AI at work. 

How to stay ahead:

Focusing on how AI can bring the most value is key to making the most of it. For hourly teams, labor forecasting is key. Workforce.com has long used AI to help organizations anticipate demand and avoid overstaffing or understaffing. 

Workforce.com labor forecasting system utilizes AI to analyze sales, booked appointments, historical foot traffic, seasonal trends, weather, and other business-specific indicators. For example, hospitals can factor in ICU bed availability, while hotels can account for bookings and reservations. Considering these variables, the platform accurately forecasts staffing needs for each shift, helping you curb overstaffing, reduce overtime costs, and improve decision-making around schedules.

3. Shifting labor laws pose new challenges to HR

As if labor compliance was not complicated enough, a new administration in place in 2025 could throw even more curveballs.

Case in point: President Trump’s move to end “illegal” discrimination in DEI programs. In a recent executive order, he ordered DEI programs within federal agencies. While it does not directly ban DEI programs in the private sector, the order imposes requirements on federal contractors and grant recipients, potentially increasing scrutiny of DEI policies. This could create pressure for private companies to adapt to the shifting political and regulatory landscape.  

In addition, there are changes slated to happen this year, such as increases in minimum wage laws in some states and the enactment of paid leave laws in some cities.  

How to stay ahead:

Employers should carefully balance compliance with federal directives and maintaining fair practices to support their teams and prevent long-term workforce challenges. For hourly workers, this can be as simple as being mindful of how shifts and overtime are distributed. Workforce.com makes this easier by giving managers a clear, real-time view of how many hours each team member works. This helps ensure everyone gets the right amount of hours or shifts.

Labor compliance is tricky, but automation can simplify the process. HR teams can stay on top of labor regulation developments through systems with a compliance engine, such as Workforce.com.

Workforce.com ensures compliance for hourly teams at every stage of HR management—covering employee classification, wage and overtime calculations, adherence to allowable work hours, and compliance with break time rules. From hiring and onboarding to scheduling and payroll, managers can trust they’re operating within state and federal laws every step of the way. 

4. A new emphasis on employee experience

For white-collar and salaried workers, a good employee experience often means hybrid work setups, the freedom to do remote work, and opportunities for long-term career development. But hourly workers, who are typically onsite and part of operations that may run around the clock, have quite different needs. So, what does a positive employee experience mean for them? 

Hourly workers desire work-life balance, too, but in a different way. For frontline teams, it’s about knowing their schedules in advance, allowing them to plan for childcare, a second job, or personal time off. Flexibility also means having options for how they work, like swapping shifts with coworkers or picking up extra shifts without a lengthy approval process.

Employee well-being will also be a focus in HR strategies in 2025. It’s about offering programs such as counseling services, mental health programs, and wellness initiatives tailored to the needs of hourly workers. This could mean offering flexible work options, encouraging regular breaks, and ensuring that workers have a safe space to express concerns without fear of stigma.

HR teams should also consider upskilling, reskilling, and defining career paths for hourly staff. Consider offering certification programs or opportunities to learn new technical skills. It’s also time to define growth paths for these teams. Can they move into higher-paying roles? Is there a path to salaried positions? Answering these questions can make a big difference in retaining and engaging hourly employees as well as addressing any skill gap in your business.

How to stay ahead:

Much of the employee experience for hourly employees involves admin processes, which can be easily streamlined with the right technology. Workforce.com simplifies scheduling with its labor forecasting and scheduling software. Create demand-based shifts in minutes and notify staff weeks in advance. If you’re in a city or state with predictive scheduling or Fair Workweek laws, this tool also helps ensure compliance.

Shift swapping or shift replacements is another area where Workforce.com can make it easy for managers. The system eliminates long approval processes and back-and-forth communication. Managers can quickly offer vacant shifts to qualified employees, who can pick them up with a single click using the employee app.Since most of this admin work is done, HR leaders and managers now have time to optimize hiring practices, spend more time coaching their teams, devise career trajectories, determine appropriate training for their employees, which they can also track using Workforce.com’s performance management module.

5. Prioritizing constant feedback and review process

Another continuing trend into 2025 is focusing on more dynamic feedback and breaking free from rigid timelines like annual reviews. This is especially important for hourly workforces, where the fast-paced environment calls for real-time input and adjustments.

How to stay ahead: 

Operational issues can’t wait until the next performance review. Managers need a system that enables them to give and receive feedback in real-time. Workforce.com can prompt employees to rate their shifts at the end of the day. Using this feedback, managers can see what’s working and what needs improvement. This approach helps maintain a good work environment, resolve issues early and keep them from escalating over time.

6.  Access to wages and pay transparency

Businesses will maximize payroll technology to offer more flexibility and options to employees. This year, the focus will continue on giving employees the option to access their wages before payday. This can serve as a great middle ground for companies that can’t yet increase salaries or augment benefits.

Transparency around wages and payslips will remain a key priority. Employees expect an easy way to view their payslips and understand how their wages are calculated, especially for hourly staff.

How to stay ahead:

It’s all about having an efficient payroll platform, one that’s housed in the same ecosystem as HRIS and time and attendance tracking. Payroll is not just about processing paychecks. It’s about ensuring that all the data used to calculate employee pay is accurate, starting with employee qualifications and time logs. Workforce.com streamlines this process, making it easy for you and your employees to access accurate pay information, including payslips.

7. Integration between HR, workforce management, and payroll will be a top priority.

With all the changes and disruptions this year, organizations need a system that will allow them to streamline their recruitment, create worthwhile onboarding processes, track employee time accurately, schedule employees according to classifications and preferences, and pay them accurately. It is all about breaking down silos between these processes, and businesses would likely seek a system that streamlines all of these.

How to stay ahead:

Innovative businesses would stay ahead by ensuring their systems operate well together. Even better, they opt for a platform where everything is housed in a single system.

Workforce.com eliminates silos between HR, workforce management, and payroll. All processes operate within one ecosystem, ensuring a single source of truth and smooth coordination across the board. With a unified platform, managers have less digital upkeep, as they only need to log in once to manage everything—no switching between multiple applications.

Staying ahead with Workforce.com

Organizations that work hard will lead the pack, especially with everything happening in the business, technology, and labor landscape. They must focus on creating strategies to attract new workers, retain their current teams, and ensure profitability and maintain a good workplace culture simultaneously. 

Workforce.com handles the admin side, so you can focus on the big picture. It adapts to market shifts, labor law changes, and trends, streamlining every step of the employee journey.

Ready to see how Workforce.com can help your business? Book a call today.

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Human capital management: Considerations to better engage employees and promote diversity

Summary

  • Great employees are your most vital resource — human capital management helps you attract, support, promote, and retain them.

  • Your strategy should include everything from a strong recruitment and onboarding experience to an enticing benefits package that’s compliant with regulations. 

  • HCM systems help you optimize your strategy by automating tasks, tracking employee performance, and reporting on key insights for visibility. – More

Think about all the resources it takes to successfully manage your organization. Which of these resources is in the shortest supply? Time is certainly one of them — once you’ve lost a day, you can’t get it back. Financial capital is another tempting answer — but is it really that hard to apply for a loan or build a strategy toward growth when all is said and done?

No, the Harvard Business Review writes. Financial capital is not your most limited resource. “Today’s scarcest resource is your human capital, as measured by the time, talent and energy of your workforce,” it says. 

It’s significantly more difficult to continuously find high-performing employees who can deliver quality work for your organization. While an asset like time or money is generally fixed, the same isn’t true of human capital. One dollar or one hour is functionally the same from one to the next, but employees are unique. Once you lose a good employee, you can’t automatically swap in an employee who will continue performing at the same level.

According to Gallup, it typically takes new employees an entire year to reach their full potential after training and onboarding. And it’s costlier to replace workers than it is to retain them. On average, companies spend about half to two times an employee’s annual salary to completely replace them.

But your employees aren’t just your scarcest resource. They’re also your organization’s most valuable and influential resource. And the best way to retain that resource is through a human capital management plan that helps your employees feel supported and fulfilled when they come to work.

The essential components of a human capital management plan

Human capital management (HCM), as its name suggests, is an area of business management that ensures a holistic experience for an organization’s most important resource — its people. There are five main areas for HR professionals to focus on: 

1. Recruitment

Recruitment is the core foundation of building an organization’s human capital. It is involved in identifying the needs of the company and the particular roles that can fill those needs through talent acquisition. Attracting, screening, and onboarding candidates are all part of the recruitment process. The goal of the recruitment process is to successfully find candidates whose skills, values, and motivations are aligned with the organization’s goals and culture.

2. Compensation and benefits administration

Compensation and benefits refer to what the company gives its employees in exchange for their work or service, and they include monetary and non-monetary components. A company’s compensation and benefits package includes an employee’s salary and government-mandated benefits. Other perks and incentives can be part of the deal, such as insurance coverage, gym membership, housing allowance, and company-sponsored trips and events. 

3. Labor law compliance

Running an organization is governed by employment laws. HR teams create company policies and administrative functions that comply with labor regulations, such as accurate time tracking and paid sick leave. Labor law regulations vary by region, and they can change from time to time. That being said, a crucial part of human resource management is staying on pace with these changes and ensuring that company policies remain compliant. 

4. Training and development

Training and career development focus on nurturing your workforce’s potential, especially new employees who are still onboarding. Training refers to programs that are geared toward improving skills or learning new technical knowledge that’s needed to perform certain tasks. Meanwhile, development is focused more on programs that enrich an employee’s overall growth in soft skills like leadership, communication, and adapting to certain situations. 

5. Retention and engagement

Human resource management (HRM) is also involved in creating strategies to keep employee turnover to a minimum. Retention and engagement programs are proactive steps to ensure that employees are motivated to perform their best, not just for a paycheck but because they have a clear alignment of values with the organization. All of these parts should move cohesively to ensure the best experience possible for staff at every stage of the employee lifecycle. 

5 human resource management challenges impacting your HCM strategy

Human resource management involves a lot of moving parts, and these can come with their own sets of challenges. Here are common challenges in human resource management and ways to solve them. 

1. Difficulty attracting the right talent.

Delays in hiring can be costly, but an unfit hire can also be detrimental to an organization. So how do you know a candidate is fit for the role? While skills and experience are important for assessing whether an applicant is qualified or not, it’s also essential to find out if they’ll fit into your company culture, so you can be sure your workplace is the right fit. Otherwise, you won’t be able to retain them for very long.

Another common challenge is convincing candidates who are highly skilled and qualified yet more deliberative in their job search. These candidates are most likely in touch with a lot of recruiters and are considering more than one job offer. You’ll have to build a truly impressive candidate experience — and a great employer brand — in order to stand out and attract top talent.

How to solve:

  • Create a job posting that highlights what you’re looking for. Include the skills and competencies you’re looking for and what’s in it for a qualified candidate when they get in. Provide information about the working style and culture that you have at your company. This will attract people who have both the required skills and similar values as you. At the same time, this can also filter out candidates who have different working styles and cultural preferences.
  • Invest in employer branding: Boosting your brand as an employer can also help increase your chances of attracting the right talent. According to research from Glassdoor, 75% of active job seekers are likely to apply for a job posting if the company actively maintains its employer brand.
  • Prioritize strong communication throughout the hiring process: Make sure that all details and instructions are clear at every stage of the process. Timely feedback and responses are also crucial. Take a look at your current process and see how it’s affecting the candidate experience and employer brand. CareerPlug found that 84% of job seekers rate “hiring process transparency” as an important or very important factor in their decision to join a company.

2. Dealing with too much paperwork.

Human resource management deals with a lot of information — from employee details to company policies and other essential business documents. And too much paperwork can be a burden, especially when done manually. It can take time away from more valuable tasks, like strategizing and optimizing programs and processes. 

How to solve:

There are digital solutions that can remove the tedious task of processing paperwork. For instance, digital employee onboarding solutions help eliminate the long forms that new hires need to fill out. They enable new staff to log in with their information and upload important documents online. This ensures better accuracy of information, improves the employee experience during onboarding, and allows for a better way for new hires to spend their first day at work. 

3. Understanding and applying labor laws.

Staying compliant with labor laws is a must. However, understanding regulations, applying them in policies, and staying on pace with labor law changes can be very challenging. 

How to solve:

Implement a compliance strategy to avoid any potential financial and reputational repercussions of failing to comply. A compliance strategy is a set of programs and processes that’s geared toward ensuring regular updates and audits of policies and communicating any changes with staff promptly. Given the ever-evolving nature of regulations, it’s best to build a strategy and assign a working group to focus on compliance. 

Technology is also helpful in staying on pace with changes. For instance, some solutions automate labor law updates and ensure that these are reflected in the payroll computation. 

4. Retaining employees.

Talent management goes beyond just attracting the right people for the right roles. The other part of the battle is retaining them and keeping them satisfied with their role, especially those who are performing above and beyond. 

Webinar: How to Stop Employee Turnover

How to solve:

It’s all about consistent growth and learning. Employees are more likely to stay the course when they are given opportunities to grow and are recognized as a vital part of the organization’s success. 

Training and development programs are essential for retaining employees. But creating these programs is not a one-time thing. That’s why it’s important to have regular alignment meetings with your staff. Regular check-ins can help you get a pulse on their current sentiment about working at the organization, their satisfaction with their roles, and the challenges or gaps they’re facing. From there, you can customize programs or identify next steps that can help them stay engaged. 

One of the things to keep employees happy and help them feel valued is to provide not just what they need to get their job done but also offer other incentives that will motivate them to perform better and stay aligned with the values of the organization. Your benefits administration can show employees you care about more than just their performance, for instance. Succession planning is a great way to engage employees who are growing in their current roles while preparing for employees who may eventually move on.

5. Keeping talent engaged at every stage of the employee lifecycle.

Human resource management plays an important part in employee engagement, and it is a continuous process throughout every stage of the employee lifecycle, from onboarding up until the time an employee leaves an organization. All of these stages affect culture, staff morale, and the success of the company.

Webinar: How to Drive Employee Engagement

An organization is only as good as its employees. It’s imperative to nurture and cultivate staff no matter where they are in their tenure with the organization. Doing this takes time. That’s why it’s important for human resources to have the right technology in place so that they can reduce time spent on administrative tasks and focus more of their energy on engaging employees.

How to solve:

An effective onboarding process can help you engage employees who are new to the organization and need to get up to speed — without overwhelming them. Ongoing training sessions, team events, perks, and upskilling opportunities are all great ways to help your workforce stay connected at work while growing in their careers. 

Ultimately, you should look at your employee data, like plan enrollment and activity engagement, to see what HR processes and initiatives are having the biggest impact on employee retention and where engagement can still be improved. Then you’ll know which programs to add and continue to invest in.

Use a human capital management system to serve employees with ease

Manually keeping track of the key HR processes to support your human capital management strategy is bound to cause headaches — for your team and your workforce. Many companies implement HCM software in order to manage employee engagement programs, track performance and productivity, and provide things like onboarding and benefits to employees.

Workforce.com is a workforce management software that provides visibility into your scheduling and shift data, so you can better manage your hourly workers. You can accurately forecast demand, optimize labor costs, and build the best schedule for your team based on real metrics. And our solution integrates directly with other human resource information systems (HRIS) to streamline human capital management.

Read more about how Workforce.com optimizes how you manage your human capital by checking out our HCM software buyer’s guide below:

Best HCM Software

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More uncertainty for employers as Labor Department withdraws independent contractor rule

headcount planning strategies

After months of anticipation, the U.S. Department of Labor withdrew its Independent Contractor Final Rule on May 5.

The Final Rule was published in the final two weeks of the Trump administration. Almost immediately following President Joe Biden’s inauguration, it became the subject of a delayed effective date (from March 8, 2021, to May 7, 2021) and notice of proposed rulemaking, in which the Labor Department proposed to withdraw the Final Rule before its delayed effective date.

In light of the Labor Department’s withdrawal of the Final Rule, employers will continue to be subject to the existing “economic realities” standard applied by the agency for determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. However, employers should remain vigilant as the Labor Department may soon revisit this issue.

The Final Rule had sought to clarify the relevant factors the Labor Department would consider to classify workers as independent contractors or employees. This designation is important because independent contractors, unlike employees, are not afforded minimum wage and overtime protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Because the FLSA provides minimal guidance to employers regarding worker classification, the Labor Department and the courts have developed their own standards, including the so-called “economic reality” of the relationship between the employer and the worker.

Before the Final Rule, the Labor Department and most courts had long utilized a six-factor test for determining whether a worker should be classified as an independent contractor or an employee. The Supreme Court originally set out this test in United States v. Silk, indicating the following factors:

  1. The employer’s versus the individual’s degree of control over the work.
  2. The individual’s opportunity for profit or loss.
  3. The individual’s investment in facilities and equipment.
  4. The permanency of the relationship between the parties.
  5. The skill or expertise required by the individual.
  6. Whether the work is part of an integrated unit of production.

Since the Silk ruling, most federal courts and the Labor Department analyzed employee classification using a variation of the multifactor weighing test with all factors being given equal consideration. Indeed, in its primary regulatory guidance issued in July 2008, the Labor Department confirmed in Fact Sheet 13: Employment Relationship Under the Fair Labor Standards Act its reliance on the economic reality test and listed seven factors to be considered, which largely mirrored the six factors identified in Silk and added the “amount of initiative, judgment, or foresight in open market competition with others required for the success of the claimed independent contractor” as an additional factor to be considered.

Breaking with the Labor Department’s prior practice of treating these seven factors as equally weighted, the Final Rule sought to pare the inquiry down to five factors and stated that two of those factors — the “nature and digress of the individual’s control over the work” and “the individual’s opportunity for profit or loss” — should be “afforded greater weight.”

As such, the Final Rule directed that only if the two core factors were inconclusive should the three remaining factors — namely, the skill or expertise required by the individual; the permanency of the relationship between the parties; and whether the work is part of an integrated unit of production — be considered.

Although many praised the Final Rule for simplifying what has become an inconsistent patchwork of approaches to the economic realities test in courts across the country, the Labor Department has since stated that the Final Rule was inconsistent with the FLSA’s text and purpose, and would have a confusing and disruptive effect on workers and businesses alike due to its departure from longstanding judicial precedent. Accordingly, the agency announced May 5 that the Final Rule was withdrawn effective immediately.

The Labor Department has not stated whether it intends to issue new guidance or regulations addressing the classification of independent contractors. Further complicating this issue for employers, both the initial delay of the Final Rule and its subsequent withdrawal are the subjects of a lawsuit pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas brought by four employer-focused interest groups who seek the court’s intervention to declare the withdrawal unlawful and make the Final Rule effective.

The lawsuit is in its initial stages, and it remains to be seen how it will be resolved.

For the time being, all Labor Department regulations and guidance concerning independent contractor classification in place before the Final Rule’s publication continue to apply. However, given recent remarks by President Biden and U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, the Labor Department may revisit the independent contractor standard.

If that occurs, it is expected that the Labor Department would take a more aggressive approach toward enforcement of worker classification laws and seek to further narrow the subset of workers who may be properly classified as independent contractors under the FLSA, particularly gig economy workers.

Notwithstanding the pending legal challenge to the withdrawal of the Final Rule, employers would be wise to evaluate their practices as to classification of employees and ensure that any independent contractors are properly classified under the Labor Department’s current 2008 guidance.

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How to choose which remote work employees to bring back

coronavirus, remote work, COVID-19, remote workforce

For the past year, an astounding 44 percent of employees have been working remotely full time, and two-thirds of employees have done remote work at least one day per week. With vaccination rates on the rise and offering a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, employers are starting to plan for bringing employees back to the physical workplace.

These decisions involve a lot of key questions an employer needs to answer in planning for where employees will work in a post-vaccine, post-pandemic world.

Here are four questions to think about.

1. How have employees performed during the pandemic while working remotely?

Has an employee been less productive, as productive, or more productive? Have they stayed connected and in communication? Can you trust them to continue to work remotely, or do they need closer monitoring? Have you gotten more productivity out of employees during the pandemic because of the resulting blurring of work time and personal time (i.e., if one’s home is now the workplace, do they ever really disconnect from working)?

2. What is an employee’s preference?

Do they want to continue working remotely, would they prefer to return to a physical office or workspace or do they want some type of flexible or hybrid arrangement? Do they have long commutes that eat into their available working time, and will remote work create greater productivity as a result?

3. Does remote work makes sense for your business moving forward?

How interactive do your employees need to be in performing their jobs? Is their work highly collaborative, and being with people, in person, will assist in getting the job done quicker and at a higher quality? Or does your business involve production processes that cannot be done or effectively managed remotely? Or can employee “get it done” just as well without being face-to-actual-face with others?

4. What about high-risk employees and working parents?

COVID-19 more disproportionately severely impacts older people and people with certain underlying health conditions. And, working parents who lost child care during the pandemic had other reasons to remain at home. Thus, separate from stay-at-home order and social distancing rules that have kept everyone home, these employees have a greater reason to have worked remotely and remain remote. As individuals are vaccinated and schools and childcare reopen, these concerns should melt away, but employers still need to be mindful of not discriminating on account of age, disability, and parental/caregiver status as they bring employees back to work and reintegrate them into the workplace.

COVID-19 has changed how most businesses think about work from home. That genie is likely never going back in the bottle. Each business will have to answer all of the above questions in deciding what work from home looks like for them and their employees as we move into a post-pandemic world and workplace.

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Allied Universal boosts its hiring as demand for security services surges

security services, Allied Universal

Security services will play an important role as businesses reopen their doors and rebuild their staff in 2021.

Anticipating this growing need, security staffing services provider Allied Universal recently announced plans to hire hundreds of new employees across the country. Two recent hiring events in the Phoenix area alone were held to add 500 new security professionals there.

Building the hourly workforce

The greatest number of Allied’s open positions are hourly, said Morgan Price, senior vice president-recruiting and talent acquisition, though there are open positions across the organization.

“From security professionals to various leadership positions in operations, human resources, and other functions, we have tremendous opportunity,” Price said.

Allied included a virtual solution to interviewing and hiring to engage a large number of potential employees who may otherwise not apply or interview for a position, Price said. Adding that virtual component also makes the entire application process easier and more efficient.

“With altered school schedules for children or just the inconvenience of arranging transportation, being able to take the first step of employment through our virtual open houses helps Allied Universal find the best talent available,” Price said.

security staffing services , Allied Universal

Safety through security staffing services

Price said that Allied executives are seeing an increased need for security staffing services and facilities management. They plan to hold a number of virtual hiring events over the remainder of the year nationwide and beyond 2021.

“Our clients and the public at large rely on us to keep our communities and businesses safe and secure, especially during these challenging times,” said Steve Jones, chairman and CEO of Allied Universal, in a press statement. “Our security staffing professionals play a pivotal part ensuring facilities can continue business as usual. Other businesses that had to close can rest assured that their assets will remain protected.”

For full-time positions, company benefits include medical and dental coverage, life insurance, 401(k), holidays and more.

Hiring and scheduling security personnel

Hiring unqualified security guards can be a detriment to a company’s reputation and its financial livelihood, according to the “Officer Reports” blog. To find quality security guards, they say, be the kind of company that your current guards want to tell their friends to apply at. 

Once hired, experts recommend that employers maintain consistent scheduling practices for an hourly workforce of security personnel. It creates optimal productivity, reduces fatigue and helps employees retain focus toward the end of a shift. Teamwork also is important among security professionals, so also consider scheduling the same people on at the same time if they work well together.

To get around unreliable manual communications such as call trees and text messaging, security company managers are realizing the advantages of employee scheduling software. Besides managing staffing levels, automated scheduling solutions offer effective communication tools, particularly in the event of unforeseen emergencies or last-minute schedule changes.

Complying with fair workweek and predictive scheduling laws also is important. A regular schedule cuts down on overtime, leads to happier employers and better workers, experts point out.

 Focus on employee safety

Price said that throughout the pandemic Allied Universal’s top priority has been employee safety. The company is doing everything possible to deal with the personal impact this is having on all of its employees and their families. 

Morgan Price, SVP-recruiting and talent acquisition

“Since the start of the pandemic, Allied Universal has delivered more than 3 million masks and hundreds of gallons of hand sanitizer to our frontline employees and staff,” Price said. They also have a dedicated safety team constantly monitoring all COVID-19 developments ensuring that Allied continuously educates its employees to understand and follow CDC guidelines.

Allied, which is based in Santa Ana, California, has 265,000 employees and revenues of more than $9.5 billion. The company will grow by thousands of new employees as the long-anticipated $5.28 billion acquisition of rival security company G4S came to fruition March 16. Allied will add G4S’s workforce of 558,000 employees and operations in about 85 countries stretching across six continents, according to published reports. 

Allied also announced in January the acquisition of Atlanta-based SecurAmerica, which has 13,500 employees and $467 million in annual sales, and Waco, Texas-based Eagle Systems Inc., which has 210 security officers and revenue topping $10 million, according to the Orange County Business Journal.

Looking to grow like Allied Universal? Workforce management solutions are important for scaling and day-to-day frontline operations. Book a Workforce.com demo today.

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6 best practices for creating a restaurant employee schedule

scheduling software, restaurant employees

The restaurant business runs on a careful balance of the right number of employees doing the right work at the right time. 

But the first and most important step — putting together an effective schedule — is anything but simple.

Understaffing means restaurant workers will be busier than necessary and not have as much time for excellent customer service. Meanwhile, overstaffing means restaurant servers make less in tips, and the restaurant itself will overpay on labor costs. 

You can avoid both of these wasteful work situations.

With the right processes, workplace culture, and restaurant shift scheduling software, you and your managers can avoid scheduling conflicts and create the most accurate schedule possible. Here are six best practices for creating an effective restaurant employee schedule.

1. Ask candidates about their scheduling preferences and constraints

The restaurant industry has one of the highest turnover rates — 81.9 percent as of 2019. Turnover has many negative downstream effects on a food service business, including an increase in the time and money needed to find, hire, and train new employees. 

And your restaurant scheduling process could be contributing to employees’ dissatisfaction. Consider the length of a shift when you schedule hourly employees.

Unless a restaurant employee specifically requests it, scheduling short shifts are a quick route to a disengaged workforce. A shift of four hours or less can have financial consequences. An employee may actually lose money working a short shift thanks to commuting costs and potential additional costs like elder care and/or child care.  

Avoid creating schedules with too-short shifts by asking employees for shift feedback. Do they think the restaurant is adequately staffed for rushes? Or are they chronically understaffed at critical points in the day?

Keeping shifts in the 6- to 8-hour range will help employees stay fresh and engaged and give them plenty of time to earn tips.

Be proactive in the interview process and ask your potential hires about their scheduling preferences. Perhaps they prefer evenings since they are in school during the day? Or want to be scheduled on weekends because they enjoy busier shifts? Some will ask you to split up their off days when you build out a schedule while others like consecutive days off. 

You may not be able to accommodate every schedule request or preference. But by asking, you can improve employee engagement and reduce turnover in restaurants. You’re showing your team that you care about them as people, not just as employees. 

2. Build flexibility into your scheduling

As a manager, your flexibility when building a schedule counts, too. While many on your team are fine with a schedule that varies days and hours, some hourly employees need stability because of other responsibilities that limit when they can work at the restaurant. Honoring those requests will make those employees more loyal, productive, satisfied and less likely to leave. 

You also can add more flexibility to your restaurant scheduling with shift swapping capabilities. Shift swapping software is like a scheduling assistant that gives managers the peace of mind that all shifts will be covered. They can rely on employees to find their own work replacements through the scheduling app, provided that the switch is in compliance with labor laws and not threatening the restaurant with unnecessary overtime pay. 

staff restaurant employees,

3. Provide the schedule as far in advance as possible

Last-minute and unclear schedules can have negative consequences on hourly employees, making it more difficult for them to plan their lives outside their jobs. 

Finding child care, holding a second job (which many restaurant workers need to do to afford basic necessities), or taking continuing education classes all become more difficult when shift workers don’t know what their hours will be.

A wave of predictive scheduling laws in the 2010s required that organizations with shift workers provide employees with their schedules up to two weeks in advance, giving employees more stability and flexibility. 

This type of law only exists in certain cities and states, but the reality is that any hourly restaurant employee would benefit from predictive scheduling policies.

Look at the calendar; don’t make employees wait until the last day of the month to see the schedule. Be transparent and consistent since staff schedule changes can be disruptive for employees. Building and posting the work schedule ahead of time relieves some of the stress that can accompany a flexible schedule.

One way to start scheduling in advance without the hassle of paperwork is with a schedule spreadsheet. 

While this is a good start, the more data you have available, the more options you can access, the more accurately you and your managers can create shift schedules with the right number of employees at work at the right times. 

schedule template, restaurant employees

Consider a more comprehensive solution like Workforce.com’s online scheduling software. 

The software analyzes operational data about the specific restaurant, outside forces like the time of the year and weather, and even how long it takes employees to complete specific tasks.

So, it can predict how busy your restaurant will be at any given time, thereby helping you and your restaurant managers accurately forecast labor needs. 

When you plan well-informed, data-driven schedules, you can plan for optimally-efficient labor costs.

scheduling software, restaurant employees

4. Hire the right employees 

Some 36 percent of restaurateurs say that hiring, training, and retaining staff are their biggest challenges. Building a restaurant schedule that reflects properly staffing a restaurant goes a long way to easing those challenges. 

With over 660,000 restaurants in the United States, pay and the right employee work schedule are big differentiators when people choose a job. Your ability to balance the proper number of employees with their schedule requests will determine their level of job satisfaction and your ability to make payroll.

Fewer employees means your restaurant staff is more likely to feel overworked and burned out. With too many employees, they may not get as many hours as they need in a job. This is especially true for smaller restaurants, which must carefully manage their labor costs.

As Lil Roberts, CEO and founder of fintech company Xendoo, has suggested, you can use behavioral-based questions in the interview process to assess potential candidates. 

These behavioral questions shouldn’t be binary, which might yield a yes-or-no answer that isn’t helpful. The question, “Are you organized?” would give a more generic answer versus something like “If I opened your closet, what would I see?” Roberts said. A more organized candidate might end up being a phenomenal host or hostess, she added, while someone with different strengths may be a better server. 

If you’ve had many employees who don’t consistently show up to work on time, you and your managers can reconsider the questions you ask candidates. Vet candidates for vital qualities like culture fit and job expectations. 

“If you’re a business owner and you’ve got a revolving door [of employees leaving], you need to not say, ‘Oh, the workforce is bad.’ You need to look internally and say, ‘What process can I change?’ ” Roberts said in an August 2020 Workforce.com interview. 

Given that restaurant turnover is chronically high, reliable workforce scheduling is a proven way to attract and retain quality employees. 

With an overwhelming 95 percent of restaurant owners agreeing that technology improves the efficiency of their establishments, as managers go to hire new employees, having Workforce.com’s scheduling platform is particularly effective for restaurant operations. The simple, paperless onboarding feature sets the right tone for new staff once they are hired. 

workforce software, restaurant employees

5. Don’t forget about time off, sick days, and holiday schedules

In spite of your best efforts, you’ll have last-minute changes when scheduling employees. Employees get sick and have personal emergencies. 

Be clear with your staff that it’s OK for them to take sick days off of work. Some organizations have cultures where employees feel shamed or discouraged for taking time off to take care of themselves, and that’s a health hazard in a place of business where people are preparing, cooking, serving and eating food.

6. Manage scheduling in real time based on changing conditions 

The unexpected does happen occasionally, meaning that restaurant managers must be able to change their employee shifts at a moment’s notice. Managers need a scheduling tool that allows them to react quickly and confidently. 

The Workforce.com Live Wage Tracker allows managers to adjust staffing levels in real time. Both overstaffing and understaffing can be dangerous for a restaurant, which generally runs on small profit margins. Any staffing decision that can cut labor costs will help. 

With the Live Wage Tracker, making operational decisions on the fly to tweak your restaurant employee schedule is as seamless as possible. 

live wage tracker, workforce.com software, restaurant employees

Meanwhile, for those food service businesses with multiple locations, you can get complete oversight of staff numbers in all teams and at all locations. You can see how many employees are currently working and which teams or locations have the largest variance from your shift schedules. 

See how to build your restaurant’s employee work schedule with ease and accuracy. Sign up for a free trial of Workforce.com’s restaurant employee scheduling software today.

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How leaders can boost employee retention by respecting work-life balance of hourly workers

employee retention, engagement

Employee retention is a continually evolving metric for businesses and HR departments worldwide, set as a central guiding principle for maximizing profitability while simultaneously decreasing the expensive means of employee turnover and new hire training. 

You could even argue that employee retention statistics are among the top markers any business could use to project its growth and overall health. So why is employee turnover such a big problem for companies? 

Employers don’t always set proper expectations

One of the most common problems employers run into with high employee turnover is the simple fact that they don’t set appropriate expectations for their hourly employees. While many have focused conversations about the expected number of hours worked, uniform policies and job duties, unanswered questions left on the table can be the dividing factor between employees going or staying for the long haul. 

Setting the precedent of days worked is a significant factor for many individuals, as most have outside priorities that can tie them down and change their availability. Effective communication is the lifeblood of any organization. 

Having conversations about upcoming work events, potential scheduling conflicts, and holiday expectations is a simple way to ensure streamlined problem solving and proactive decision making. While unexpected situations are inevitable, stressors will always exist where systems do not. 

Placing greater emphasis on employee expectations and companywide strategies can facilitate greater teamwork and minimize stress for all parties involved. 

Build trust to improve productivity

Assumptions can crush employee morale, workplace productivity, and trust. When employers can set clear expectations, they can eliminate many of the common false beliefs created due to starting a new position at a new company. Leaders must be on high alert to ensure this has no place in their new hire’s thought process. 

Prioritizing continuous and straightforward conversations with employees will cost you nothing on the front end and save you much more on the back end. Employee feedback is crucial for success, but if leaders and managers aren’t asking for that feedback, they may never get it. 

The first step of giving feedback is asking for feedback, as this opens up the door for effective communication and will build trust with your employees. Plus, employees who can provide their input will feel a part of the company’s decision-making process and perceive it as an individual investment in the company’s future.

When leaders don’t ask the questions to get the answers they’re looking for, trouble starts to brew and may not show its ugly head for days, weeks, or even months down the road when an employee begins to act out of the norm. 

Flexible leadership 

The last piece of the puzzle involves company leadership, as this is a continually evolving role with its fair share of highs and lows. Being a flexible leader is crucial for maintaining integrity and high employee retention outcomes, as it facilitates high-level thinking and empathy towards your employees. 

No one could have foreseen the unpredictability and chaos that 2020 has placed us in, so having a flexible approach to scheduling hours may be the deciding factor for workers who have children at home to take care of or another job to get to. Simple things like allowing someone to be flexible with their structured hours to enable them to pick their children up from the babysitter may be the reason why they decide to stay around for the long term.

Hours can always get made up, but personal responsibilities will always weigh heavier than a previously desired set number of hours to work. 

Retaining employees versus hiring new ones

As with nearly everything in life, it will always be your responsibility as a leader to implement these strategies. Knowledge is useless without application. Keeping your existing employees happy through consistent communication is the fastest way to company growth and prosperity. 

Technology can also be a great way to streamline scheduling changes and unexpected work events, as workforce management applications can make a big difference in eliminating unnecessary costs and time. Implementing these steps will lead you down a prosperous path of success and a fruitful career in leadership.

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Could White House employees file an OSHA complaint?

coronavirus

Monday night saw President Donald Trump dramatically return to the White House after his three-day stay at Walter Reed Medical Center for COVID-19.

We saw Marine One land on the White House lawn, President Trump emerge and walk up the stairs to the White House, remove his mask for a photo op, enter his home with his mask still in his pocket, reemerge for a reshoot, and again enter the White House maskless.

It’s that last part I want to talk about. HuffPost asks if White House employees could lodge an OSHA complaint about the President’s COVID recklessness? I’d answer that question with a solid and resolute “thumb’s up.” The bigger question, however, is whether OSHA would do anything about it.

OSHA, the federal agency responsible for employee health and safety, presumably also regulates the health and safety of White House employees. I know of no OSHA standard that exempts them.

That said, OSHA also does not have a specific standard addressing viral pandemics. Instead, it regulates this outbreak via its general duty clause: “Each employer shall furnish to each of [its] employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees.”

It’s that “general duty clause” that could cause the White House fits if its employees take their COVID complaints to OSHA.

According to the Associated Press, Secret Service agents and White House staff are seriously pissed.

Several [Secret Service agents] who spoke with The Associated Press expressed concern over the cavalier attitude the White House has taken when it comes to masks and distancing. Colleagues, they said, are angry, but feel there’s little they can do.…

[T]hree former employees … expressed concern about the health of current workers, but were too afraid to speak publicly. Many are Black or Latino, among the demographic groups that have been more vulnerable to the virus.

Disgruntled employees are the employees most like to file a complaint with a federal agency such as OSHA. And at this moment in history, it seems like there are a large number of disgruntled employees working inside the White House.

Of course, as the HuffPost aptly points out, “Given the retributive nature of the Trump administration, any worker who wants to call in OSHA should be concerned about retaliation. Workers can file complaints anonymously to protect themselves, but those are less likely to receive a thorough investigation than ones with a name attached.” Perhaps this will be this administration’s saving grace on this issue — the fear of anyone to do anything about it. That and the fact that OSHA is not all that likely to investigate or fine its boss.

Additionally, OSHA doesn’t have the best record investigating COVID-related issues. According to former OSHA head David Michaels, “This is far and away the most significant worker safety crisis in OSHA’s history, and OSHA has failed to step up to the plate. OSHA has failed to use really any of its powers to address it . …  It’s hard to take OSHA seriously.”

What hasn’t OSHA done?

  • It hasn’t issued any temporary standards to address issues specific to the COVID pandemic.
  • It hasn’t done anything more than issue voluntary guidance with little to no legal risk or ramifications for noncompliance.
  • It hasn’t launched many investigations over COVID-related complaints—OSHA has only opened 184 investigations stemming from the 8,856 complaints it’s received related to COVID-19 (an inspection rate of less than 3 percent).
  • It hasn’t levied any significant fines or penalties, unless you consider the $13,494 fine levied against Smithfield Foods stemming from one the countries worst workplace coronavirus outbreaks.
Our nation has failed its COVID-19 test in many glaring ways. OSHA is just one example. The White House’s current messaging on the ongoing pandemic is emblematic of the safety issues that many employers are handling (and handling better than the White House) on a daily basis.
Don’t act like the White House. Require masks at all times. Promote good hand-washing hygiene.
Enforce a minimum of six feet of physical distancing. Mandate isolation for COVID+ employees and quarantine for those in close contact with anyone COVID+.
Your employees are trusting you to keep them safe. Do not fail this test.
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How Domino’s Israel saved 25,000 hours and increased employee productivity 11%

Domino's Israel, workforce management technology

Domino’s has always been a company that embraces and utilizes technology to make daily operations smoother. Case in point: They implemented an online delivery service in Israel as early as 2009. 

Domino’s saw the opportunity in digital platforms and were strategic enough to adopt early. As they continue to leverage technology in the business, they also embrace digital information to manage their people. And they have reaped the benefits ever since.

So it’s no surprise that after rolling out the Workforce.com platform, Domino’s Israel has reported to save 25,000 hours across 42 locations, increased sales per labor hour by 11 percent, and dropped wage costs from 33.5 percent to only 29.5 percent of their revenue.

Challenges that come with business expansion

“Expanding fast means that you need to create a good and solid structure of operation and training,” said Arie Elbaz, chief operating officer and co-owner of Domino’s Israel franchise. 

Elbaz, along with the rest of Domino’s Israel management team, recognized that as they open more stores, they need to have enough employees to consistently deliver quality service to their customers. Being strategic with how they create employee schedules is essential to that. It means that they need to cover all their bases in an efficient way that saves on costs and time.

“Before I was introduced to Workforce.com, every store manager did scheduling according to what he feels or believes; according to his instincts,” Elbaz said, adding that it’s not the most efficient way to schedule. They also needed a more efficient way to forecast staff availability and the amount of hours required per store per week per month. 

Another challenge is adapting to higher labor costs. 

“Here in Israel, we had five increases with minimum wage, and we needed to find a solution that would allow us to be more efficient on one hand, but of course, we won’t compromise on service and the number of employees that we need,” Elbaz said. 

Technology and transparency

After transitioning to Workforce.com, Domino’s store managers gained better insight with the scheduling software and discovered how many staff they actually need in each shift.

“This was the first time that every member of my staff can see the same schedule. The delivery guys see what I see, what my supervisors see, and what my store manager sees. Everyone works on the same platform,” said Yonatan Taz, one of Domino’s operations managers.

Store managers also get better insights on peak and slow hours, allowing them to schedule smarter. “Before, we had a problem that I thought maybe the peak would start at 6 o’clock. But the platform showed me that it starts at 5:30,” said Idan Eini, a Domino’s store manager. 

Transforming shift management for success 

Domino’s Israel started implementing Workforce more than a year ago, running a pilot between December 2019 and February 2020. A full rollout of the system was completed in three weeks following the pilot. “For me, it was a revolution,” Elbaz said. He also shared three advantages of having Workforce.com

  • Workforce.com provides one platform for shift management. Because everyone uses the same system, it’s easier to see who’s working when and where. There’s less need to remind everyone, and managers can anticipate where the gap is going to be.
  • Workforce.com shows recommended hours. The platform enables managers to see recommended hours alongside with scheduled hours and actual hours. “As a result, we can better analyze our labor cost and create more efficiency,” Elbaz said. 
  • Workforce.com gives analysis and actionable insights. The system can make sense of labor data and provide insight into aspects like savings, service metrics, etc. The team now has full control over this information. 

Going further

Now that Domino’s has an efficient staff management system in place, Elbaz and his team will continue improving their online platforms and seek better ways to provide the best service to their customers as they expand.

Domino’s enables its people with technology and smart solutions to simplify once complex and repetitive processes. This allows them to focus on the more important parts of the job, build their skills, and realize the value they bring. Building up your workforce this way is one of the smartest business decisions. 

Just like Domino’s, are you ready to take your workforce further? Book a demo and see how Workforce.com can help you.