HR Morning News, Page 35 Category

You’re probably sick of hearing it: “Employees don’t leave companies, they leave bad bosses.” But it’s true. And the reason people leave bad managers? A lack of trust.  

Here’s what Carolyn O’Hara, writing on the Harvard Business Review blog, identifies as four ways managers can prove their trustworthiness in their charges’ eyes.

Trustworthy Trait 1: Be transparent

Of course, there are certain things a manager can’t disclose, like salary data. And staffers have to understand that. But on most other things, managers want to be as transparent as possible.

That means being honest about company goals, performance metrics and overall performance.

Not only does that increase trust between the supervisor and staffers, but there’s an added bonus: It keeps the rumor mill under control. When staffers know they can count on a straight answer from their immediate boss, there’s a lot less room for speculation and those productivity-damaging rumors.

Tip: Managers might also try to offer some of this information up before staffers ask. It shows employees their boss’s level of trust.

Trustworthy Trait 2: Encourage, rather than command

Yes, the manager’s the one in charge. But the most trustworthy bosses are secure enough in that that they know that doesn’t mean bossing people around.

The best leaders function more like coaches. So rather than telling staffers the way exactly how a specific task must be done, sometimes it pays to give them the freedom come up with the most efficient approach.

Managers just need to be sure they make expectations clear so folks have a framework to work within.

Trustworthy Trait 3: Admit mistakes

This can be the toughest one, no matter who you are. No one wants to admit they were wrong or handled something improperly.

But managers can build up a lot of credibility with their team if they own up to a mistake.

You know how many people who say they often think more favorably of a company that made a mistake and corrected it than the company that never made a mistake at all? That’s what happens when a manager admits a mistake.

It serves as a bonding opportunity, yes. So when a boss makes a mistake, it’s crucial he/she owns  up to it right away.

But it can be used as a teaching opportunity, too. When a staffer makes a misstep, the manager  might consider sharing a time when he faltered. It shows empathy and helps build stronger team bonds.

Trustworthy Trait 4: Never badmouth anyone

This is an urge managers need to resist at all cost. Even when they’re attempting to commiserate with a staffer, they should never badmouth someone else.

The underlying message is: If you’ll say something behind James’ back, you’ll probably won’t hesitate to say something negative about me the minute my back is turned.

For more HR News, please visit: 4 ways managers can build trust with their team members

Source: News from HR Morning

C’mon, tell the truth: What are you really doing on LinkedIn?  

That what technology analyst Brian Hanley wanted to find out. “Most people would consider me an active LinkedIn user,” he wrote on the Huffington Post. “Still, I don’t have the faintest idea what I’m doing on LinkedIn.”

We can certainly relate. But Hanley really wanted to explore exactly what people were doing on the business/social site. So he embarked on a little research expedition, surveying “hundreds” of LinkedIn users.

Here are the results:

What do you say you do on LinkedIn?

No real surprises in the responses to this question:

• Build my professional network.
• Document my work experiences.
• Showcase my technical capabilities.
• Promote my personal brand.
• Discover new career opportunities.
• Share my expertise.

What do you actually do on LinkedIn?

Here’s where the fun begins. See if any of these responses match your private LinkedIn activities:

• Admire my own profile.
• Debut a headshot that looks like my younger, better-looking sibling.
• Edit my headline and summary ad nauseam.
• Examine my credentials from the POV of my client/hiring manager.
• Discover who my top stalkers are.
• Neutralize their creepiness by stalking them back.
• View a hottie’s profile in the hopes that he or she reciprocates.
• Connect with attractive people for no other reason than they’re fun to stare at.
• Request to connect with my crush from college who I never met in person.
• Develop a sense of intimacy with Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Cuban, and other famous businesspeople who I’m following.
• Rub my accomplishments unapologetically in the faces of those who doubted me.
• Endorse borderline strangers whose skills I know nothing about, with the expectation of receiving endorsements in exchange.

Hanley’s reaction? “What astonished me was the distinction between their front stage and back stage behavior,” he said.

We’re not.

Anybody else got a guilty LinkedIn secret to share? Write it in the comments section below.

For more HR News, please visit: LinkedIn: Maybe not the serious, all-business forum you thought it was

Source: News from HR Morning

Here is one of the more unusual job postings you’ll see this year: 

Port Lockroy, a British historic base on Goudier Island off the Antarctic Peninsula, is looking for an “assistant.”

This person will be asked, among other things, to:

• Operate the Port’s post office, which takes in about 70,000 pieces of mail during the period hires will be stationed there (about five months — November into March).
• Monitor penguins and wildlife on behalf of the British Antarctic Survey (the island is home to about 2,000 penguins).
• Operate the port’s shop (about 18,000 visitors arrive by ship during the season).
• Perform maintenance tasks on the island’s facilities.
• Manage merchandise and day-to-day operating supplies.

The position requires five days of training in the United Kingdom, after which new hires will be flown to South America. From there, they’ll board an expedition ship to Port Lockroy.

Truth be told, none of that sounds too bad. Some of you with job-searching college grads living in your basement may even be thinking: This could be a way for little Johnny to get out, see the world and gain some valuable real-life experience.

Not so fast. We haven’t gotten to the real gems of this job posting yet.

The bad, the ugly and the smelly

Here’s what else the job posting on the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s website says applicants must be willing to do:

• Carry a big heavy box over slippery rocks and slushy snow whilst dodging penguins.
• Be happy not showering for up to a month.
• Live in close proximity to three people and 2,000 smelly penguins for five months.
• Be enthusiastic around visitors event when it’s well below freezing outside and a blizzard is blowing through.
• Cook supper cheerfully after a long, cold day and very little sleep.
• Be on-call and smiling for all waking hours, seven days a week.
• Be happy while confined to a small island with no prospect of climbing the surrounding peaks.

That takes the shine off the job a little bit, doesn’t it? That last bullet is particularly troubling. Have past hires actually contemplated climbing the surrounding peaks just to get away from the port?

So what’s the pay, you ask? About 1,100 pounds (or $1,700 U.S. dollars) per month. What works out to about $8,500 for the five-month stint or $20,000 a year (if the job lasted that long).

For more HR News, please visit: Must love penguins, hate showering: Is this job worth K a year?

Source: News from HR Morning

HR pros should review their firms’ FMLA policies — as well as any other related materials — ASAP.  

That’s because the DOL just updated the definition of “spouse” for FMLA purposes to reflect the Supreme Court’s ruling in United States. v. Windsor.

As HR pros likely know extremely well at this point, the High Court’s ruling essentially struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that limited the definition of marriage for federal purposes as an institution between members of the opposite sex.

Since that ruling, a majority of states have passed legislation of their own to legalize same-sex marriage.

‘Place of celebration’ provision

Now, with the DOL’s rule change, any eligible employee who is in a legal same-sex marriage will be able to take federal FMLA leave to care for his or her spouse regardless of the state in which that employee resides.

In other words, FMLA eligibility is based on the state where the same-sex couple entered into the marriage and not where that couple currently resides.

In the DOL’s press release, the agency referred to the rule change as the “place of celebration” provision under the FMLA.

This is important because, before the change, the definition of “spouse” for FMLA purposes did not include same-sex spouses that currently resided in a state that didn’t recognize same-sex marriage.

So even if an employee entered into a legal same-sex marriage, that employee couldn’t take advantage of FMLA protections to care for his or her spouse unless he or she lived in one of the states that recognized same-sex marriage.

This had been referred to as the “state of residence” rule.

‘Same rights and protections’

In the feds announcement, DOL Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez reiterated some of the same talking points he first delivered when he unveiled a proposal to change the rule last summer by stating: “The basic promise of the FMLA is that no one should have to choose between the job and income they need, and care for a loved one.”

Perez went on to say that:

“With our action today, we extend that promise so that no matter who you love, you will receive the same rights and protections as everyone else. All eligible employees in legal same-sex marriages, regardless of where they live, can now deal with a serious medical and family situation like all families — without the threat of job loss.”

For more HR News, please visit: Alert: Same sex-spouses now covered under FMLA in all states

Source: News from HR Morning

In CEB’s Top Insights Report, discover five critical trends that are shaping the business, and how the best companies are addressing key functional challenges to drive performance. All of these changes have significant implications for executives managing their functions. Many executives often recognize change too late or misunderstand the implications of those changes for their teams. Unfortunately, those misses cost organizations greatly in terms of direct, indirect, and opportunity costs.

Click here to learn more!  

For more HR News, please visit: Top Insights for the World’s Leading HR Executives

Source: News from HR Morning

If you polled your company’s health plan participants and asked them what they wanted to know most about their benefits options, what would they say? This is a pretty good indicator.

Towers Watson, which runs a private health exchange called OneExchange, recently analyzed the questions individual participants in its exchange were asking and complied the following list.

It’s likely a pretty good barometer of the kinds of things your employees are wondering, and it may be a good starting point when trying to decide in which direction to take your benefits educations efforts next.

Here are the top 10 questions OneExchange participants asked (follow by HR Morning’s thoughts on each):

1. Which plan has the lowest cost? As you know, this is not an easy question to answer when you offer multiple plans. Some employees just want to know what’ll result in the lowest payroll deduction. And your employees may not understand why you’re not just telling them which one that is. As you know, it’s because the “lowest cost” plan may be more expensive if the employee needs medical care (as it’s likely to cover less of those costs). Try to convey the message (in not such harsh terms) that they may get what they pay for with “low-cost” plans.
2. What are the copays of the plans being offered? Not all plans come with copays. Some employees may not realize that, especially if they’re used to paying copays. Try to give employees as clear of a picture as you can of what they’ll end up paying in total for similar procedures under each of the plans you’re offering.
3. Why does my health plan have a high deductible? Employees coming over from a plan without a high deductible may suffer from sticker shock when they realize what major medical care could cost them under a high-deductible plan. Sometimes, to calm their nerves it just takes an explanation of the merits of a high-deductible plan — such as using a health reimbursement or health savings account to help cover deductible costs, or lower plan premiums.
4. What’s the difference between a gold, silver and bronze plan? Public exchanges have to place plans i metal tiers depending on the percentage of the cost of care they’ll cover. Some private exchanges have also adopted this plan comparison model. Your employer-sponsored plan may not offer “gold,” “silver” or “bronze” plans per se, but you may want to consider letting employees know which of these tiers your plans would slide into. That way employees know what open market plans yours compare to.
5. What do I need to do to earn my wellness dollars? There’s still a lot of interest in wellness programs out there (Towers Watson said 50% of OneExchange enrollees would be interested in wellness activities). If you offer one, and tie financial incentives to it, make sure you clearly spell out during open enrollment what employees have to do to earn those incentives — as well as when and how they’ll get the money.
6. How do I know which doctors are part of the plan? Make sure it’s easy for employees to find out which doctors are part of the plans you offer. This may require going onto your carrier’s website and looking up doctors yourself to find out what’s involved. That way, if employees come to you with questions, you have a better idea of how to help them.
7. What’s the difference between an HRA, HSA and FSA? Make sure any terms associated with the plans you offer are clearly explained in plain English. Have a few employees read over your plan’s glossary, and address anything they find confusing before unleashing it on your entire workforce.
8. What does the prescription drug plan cover? Employees will want to know if the drugs they’re taking are covered. When possible, direct them to a plan representative they can speak to about their individual circumstances.
9. What’s the difference between insurers? In an effort to differentiate themselves, insurers try to excel at one aspect of insurance coverage. In other words, they’re all trying to “hang their hat” on something different. Find out what that is and communicate it to your workers.
10. If I want to keep the plan I had last year, what do I need to do? If they’ll be automatically re-enrolled, make sure your open enrollment materials make that clear. Still, you want to remind them to review the coverage levels they selected last year to make sure they’re still adequate.

Source: Towers Watson

For more HR News, please visit: Top 10 questions employees have about your health benefits

Source: News from HR Morning

The Affordable Care Act imposes an excise tax — with the potential to reach $36,500 per affected employee per year — on employers that fail to abide by the law’s rules. 

The tax can levied for things like failing to abide by the law’s maximum waiting period rules (full-time employees can’t be forced to wait longer than 90 days to be health plan-eligible), having out-of-pocket limits that exceed the law’s thresholds and failing to cover certain contraceptives.

But it can also be levied upon employers for providing cash — pre-tax or post-tax — to help employees purchase health insurance in the individual market. Arrangements like this — also known as “employer payment plans” — trigger this $100 per day, per affected individual excise tax.

However, the IRS just announced that it’ll be offering transition relief from the tax to small employers (those with fewer than 50 full-time equivalent employees) that have established these payment plans through June 30, 2015.

In other words, small employers won’t have to worry about the tax unless they still have one of these prohibited plans in place after June 30, 2015.

What’s prohibited?

To recap, here’s what employers can’t do in this area that would trigger the excise tax:

• Offer cash to help employees pay for individual market coverage. The DOL says because such arrangements can’t be integrated with a group health plan, they are basically their own health plan — and they violate the prohibition on dollar limits for coverage (assuming you’re not offering employees an unlimited amount of funds).
• Offer high-risk employees a choice between plan enrollment or cash. An employer cannot approach an employee who is a high claims risk and offer the person the option of accepting cash (presumably to purchase coverage in the individual market) or enroll in a company-sponsored plan. The DOL says this amounts to discrimination — because those with health problems would be receiving a benefit that’s not available to employees without health problems.

Why small employers?

Now you may be asking: Why are small employers getting the break and not larger ones?

The answer is the problems and delays related to the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP).

The SHOP was a major selling point to get small businesses on board with the health reform law before it was passed. It was supposed to be a marketplace in which small employers could compare health plans and offer multiple plan options to employees.

But, as with other part of the law, the program’s implementation has been stymied by delays and requirement cutbacks.

The IRS, in its notice about the excise tax transition relief period, said the relief was being offered because the SHOP market is “still transitioning and the transition by eligible employers to SHOP Marketplace coverage or other alternatives will take time to implement …”

For more HR News, please visit: Obamacare tax relief on its way for some employers

Source: News from HR Morning

Here’s another reason why employers should limit (or even eliminate altogether) workers’ opportunities for 401(k) hardship withdrawals.  

Both the DOL and the IRS appear to be ramping up their enforcement of noncompliant hardship withdrawals.

That’s because the feds are worried about leakage in retirement plans – i.e., withdrawals made before retirement that permanently depletes savings. Hardship withdrawals are a big part of the leakage problem.

Because of their concern, the feds’ are checking to make sure that employers are following the very specific criteria for these withdrawals.

Surviving the scrutiny

To avoid getting caught in the feds’ crosshairs, there are a number of steps employers can take.
First, ensure your processes for 401(k) hardship withdrawals gibe with the feds’ guidelines. The Service’s FAQ should be used to check against your own policies. Here’s a breakdown of some key points in that FAQ:

• Plan documents must spell out the specific criteria you use to make hardship determinations.
• A process must be in place to verify the hardship withdrawal meets the IRS’ “immediate and heavy financial need” requirement.
• Documentation must be created to prove the worker has exhausted any available loans and resources (insurance, bank accounts, etc.).
• The withdrawal shouldn’t exceed the amount necessary to satisfy the immediate need.
• Elective deferrals should generally be suspended before the withdrawal is taken.
• Employers aren’t required to offer 401(k) hardship withdrawals.

If increased federal enforcement and compliance burdens aren’t worth the hassle, firms should consider eliminating the hardship withdrawal option altogether.

For more HR News, please visit: Heads up: The feds are cracking down on 401(k) hardship withdrawals

Source: News from HR Morning