Workforce Management Time & Attendance Excellence April 2023

Top Picks

How Can Employers Lessen The Liability For Unpaid Overtime Pay Claims

The best defense is a good offense

- Robert Boonin, Labor & Employment Attorney, Dykema

Multinational And Distributed Workforces: Navigating HR Challenges

Insights from C-level leaders

- HR.com Excellence Publications Team

How Understanding FMLA Basics Can Help Employers Avoid Common Mistakes

Tips for HR managers and employers to navigate FMLA eligibility and avoid costly mistakes

- David Setzkorn, SVP and National Practice Leader, Absence Management, Hub International

Remote-First Cultures In 2023

Did they work? What needs to change?

- Nurasyl Serik, Founder & CEO, Remofirst

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Mastering Overtime Management in 2023: Strategies for Maximizing Efficiency and Minimizing Risks

Failingto provide employees with overtime compensation is a crucial error that could have severe consequences for employers. The Department of Labor under the Biden administration is prepared to aggressively pursue such mistakes, even if they appear minor. As a result, employers may face liquidated damages, equal to the amount of unpaid overtime owed, when investigated by officials.

In addition, if an employee files a lawsuit for unpaid overtime, either individually or as part of a group, employers found liable may also be required to pay liquidated damages. Furthermore, they may have to cover the legal expenses of the plaintiffs, which can exceed the actual claim for unpaid overtime. This may overshadow the merits of the case and obstruct the possibility of reaching a settlement.

The current issue features an article by Brett Farmiloe from Terkel.io, entitled Managing Overtime: 9 Common Mistakes HR Must Avoid, in which he highlights common oversights made by HR managers when managing employee overtime and how to correct them.

In another article, How Can Employers Lessen The Liability For Unpaid Overtime Pay Claims, Robert Boonin from Dykema discusses ways in which employers can reduce the liability for unpaid overtime pay claims.

HR professionals must stay informed and adaptable when managing multinational and distributed workforces, as it can be challenging to manage employees from different cultures, time zones, and regions. The article, Multinational And Distributed Workforces: Navigating HR Challenges, provides insights into how to benefit from going global, navigate global challenges, mitigate risks, and maintain compliance while building an engaged, multinational workforce with shared goals and vision.

Additionally, the articles How Understanding FMLA Basics Can Help Employers Avoid Common Mistakes by David Setzkorn from Hub International, and "Remote-First Cultures In 2023" by Nurasyl Serik from Remofirst offer valuable perspectives on avoiding common HR mistakes and embracing remote work culture in the new year.

This issue also includes several other informative articles on workforce management and time and attendance that we hope will assist you in achieving excellence and efficiency in your workforce management efforts.

Happy reading!

Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed in the Excellence ePublications are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of HR.com and its employees. Under no circumstances shall HR.com or its partners or affiliates be responsible or liable for any indirect or incidental damages

In a world of unparalleled challenges (global pandemic, racial injustice, political rivalry, digital 4.0, emotional malaise), uncertainty reigns. Finding opportunity in this context requires harnessing uncertainty and harnessing starts with reliable, valid, timely, and useful information. The Excellence publications are a superb source of such information. The authors provide insights with impact that will guide thought and action.

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Excellence publications are my ‘go-to’ resource for contemporary and actionable information to improve leadership, engagement, results, and retention. Each edition offers rich and diverse perspectives for improving the employee experience and the workplace in general.

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I regularly read and contribute to Leadership Excellence and Talent Management Excellence. I use many of the articles I read to augment my own presentations and I often share the articles with my clients. They are always quick, right on target for the latest issues in my field, and appreciated by my clients. If you want to stay up to date on the latest HR trends, choose a few of the different issues from the Excellence series of publications.

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Managing Overtime: 9 Common Mistakes HR Must Avoid

How to rectify common workforce management issues

By Brett Farmiloe, Terkel.io

From neglecting the right of an employee to not assigning clear work schedules, here are nine answers to the questions, "What are mistakes that HR can make when managing employee overtime and how can this be rectified?"

● Failing to Negotiate Company Protocol

● Overlooking the Impact of Overtime on Employee Burnout

● Misclassifying Employees

● Not Ensuring the Overtime Process Is Vetted

● Misunderstanding Local Overtime Laws

● Lacking a Proper Time-tracking System

● Substituting Overtime Pay with Compensatory Pay

● Misusing the Fluctuating Workweek Method

● Paying Remote Employees for Unauthorized Overtime

Failing to Negotiate Company Protocol

When employees are working overtime, even if this isn't the standard practice at the company and has no mention in company rules, they are owed this extra pay. And when HR neglects this right of an employee and follows company protocol instead, it's a grave error indeed.

An HR department is in place to oversee these transitions that take place in a work environment and negotiate changes accordingly. It is their job to weigh the pros and cons and find a balance between keeping employees happy that they're working at an organization where they're not taken for granted and the management is satisfied that their resources are being managed optimally.

So when changes such as the need for overtime occur, it is the responsibility of HR to negotiate on behalf of these employees and buy the additional resources they need from management.

Riley Beam, Managing Attorney, Douglas R. Beam, P.A.

Overlooking the Impact of Overtime on Employee Burnout

This error can cause decreased productivity, increased absenteeism, and higher staff turnover. To correct this mistake, I believe HR can develop rules and processes that consider the impact of overtime on employee well-being.

HR can limit the amount of overtime required of employees, offer time off in place of overtime compensation, and encourage employees to take breaks and rest while working overtime. HR can also provide employees with information and support to help them manage stress and avoid burnout.

Misclassifying Employees

Failing to classify employees properly is one mistake HR can make when managing their overtime. Misclassifying workers as exempt or non-exempt can cause errors in calculating pay for extra time.

Exempt employees are typically salaried and not entitled to overtime pay, while non-exempt employees are entitled to overtime pay for any hours worked beyond a certain threshold.

To rectify this mistake, HR should:

1. Ensure employees are correctly classified based on job duties and responsibilities. This may involve reviewing job descriptions and conducting a job analysis to determine the classification.

Edward Mellett, Co-founder, Wikijob

Misunderstanding Local Overtime Laws

One mistake HR leaders can make when managing employee overtime is failing to research the specific laws in their industry. For example, some states require different amounts of compensation for double time compared to federal law, and not budgeting for what local laws demand can leave businesses exposed financially.

Carefully review relevant statutes to rectify this issue and partner with an external agency or legal authority with expertise in these areas if need be. Knowing and abiding by applicable regulations is essential with appropriately rewarding staff members who put in extra hours.

Grace He, People and Culture Director, teambuilding.com

2. Verify that regular reviews and updates of employee classifications are accurate and up-todate.

HR should stay up-to-date with all relevant labor laws and regulations related to employee classifications to ensure compliance.

Peter Bryla, Community Manager, ResumeLab

Lacking a Proper Time-tracking System

This is basic, but it's still surprising the number of firms that cannot do this—failing to have a proper system in place to track any employee overtime worked.

This can lead to several issues, such as paying incorrect overtime wages, violating labor laws and regulations, and damaging employee morale and trust. It can also lead to unnecessary legal disputes and financial penalties for the organization.

To avoid this mistake, HR professionals should implement a comprehensive overtime tracking system that accurately records and reports employee hours worked. They must communicate overtime policies and procedures to all employees and comply with any applicable labor laws and regulations.

Substituting Overtime Pay with Compensatory Pay

In place of paying overtime pay, one mistake HR can make is to ask employees to take comp time instead. This practice is illegal under the Fair Labor Standards Act and can cause hefty penalties for employers. To rectify this situation, HR needs to review its policies on overtime and make sure they are complying with all federal labor laws.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, nonexempt employees (or those not earning at least $684/ week) must be paid 1.5 times their regular rate for any hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Whether the overtime is authorized or unauthorized, the employee must be compensated if work is performed.

Darren Shafae, Founder, ResumeBlaze

Julian Taylor, Employment Lawyer, Julian Taylor HR

Not Ensuring the Overtime Process Is Vetted

Make sure the overtime process is vetted to confirm that the employees claiming overtime have their manager's approval. Those paying for the overtime must know the hours being logged for situational awareness and budgeting reasons. This prevents budget overruns and also displays transparency, holding everyone accountable that overtime is for a legitimate purpose.

Also, confirm that the systems logging and calculating the overtime rates are correct so that employees are correctly paid. Paid overtime varies by different geographic jurisdictions; it's not always a time and a half, as there are places (under certain circumstances) where overtime is translated to double time, getting paid twice one's hourly rate.

Overtime needs to be defined clearly within that specific organization, as every entity manages its overtime in different ways. It's better to have rules explicitly laid out instead of incurring complications after an employee has invested additional labor hours.

Sasha Laghonh, Founder, Sasha Talks

Misusing the Fluctuating Workweek Method

As an HR specialist, I've seen firsthand how difficult it can be to manage employee overtime. One mistake that I think is too often made is failing to use the fluctuating workweek method when appropriate. This method helps employers save time and money; however, for it to be effective, there must be some strict guardrails in place regarding hour tracking.

Without these measures, managers overextend or underutilize employees, leading to an unfair imbalance of workload and potential frustration among the team. To rectify this misstep, managers need to ensure that policies are up-to-date and followed properly—from tracking total hours worked during each pay period down to calculating any overtime compensation owed. When done correctly, the fluctuating workweek method can provide a streamlined solution that helps alleviate stress andhelps easein the long run.

Paying Remote Employees for Unauthorized Overtime

As working from home has become more prevalent since the pandemic, employee schedules have become more erratic. With so many distractions at home, employees naturally take more breaks, and thus complete the same amount of work in a longer period.

Managers and human resource employees must still pay individuals who work unauthorized overtime, regardless of whether they have received clearance or not. Therefore, managers and human resource employees must assign clear work schedules and institute time-tracking software that easily allows employees to mark breaks or interruptions throughout the day.

Janelle Owens, Human Resources Director, Guide2Fluency

Haya Subhan, General Manager, Leeds First Aid Courses

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Brett Farmiloe is the Founder and CEO – and currently CHRO - of Terkel.io . Brett is an SHRM Influencer and has also been a keynote speaker at several state SHRM conferences around the topic of employee engagement."

ChatGPT Accelerates The Path To B- But Not A+ In HR Tech Solutions

ChatGPT - A tool for accelerating innovation, but not a panacea

By Purbita Banerjee, Korn Ferry Digital

Immediately after its introduction last Nov. 30, ChatGPT became the fastest-growing app in history, with 13 million daily users and 100 million total users within two months.

In early March, OpenAI launched ChatGPT API at low cost, putting ChatGPT in the hands of the world’s developers and unleashing a ferocious wave of innovation.

What does ChatGPT mean for those of us creating HR tech solutions? On one hand, ChatGPT is revolutionary: it compels the entire HR tech industry to reengineer every product in our field. Within the space of a few months, our entire world has changed.

On the other hand, ChatGPT is merely evolutionary: it accelerates our path to a stolid B. That was the grade ChatGPT earned when various academic and professional organizations tested it on such things as law school exams, MBA tests, and school essay contests.

ChatGPT’s grades went up a bit when GPT-4 was released on March 14. The media played the results

as job-destroying – “ChatGPT Just Passed the Bar Exam!” – but for HR tech vendors, even a B isn’t good enough. Our customers demand and deserve A+ solutions.

There are so many warning flags flying around ChatGPT that extreme caution is the smartest strategy (I note some of those warning flags later in this article)

ChatGPT is a Shiny New Hammer. Let’s Go Find Some Nails!

ChatGPT is neither the one source of truth and the answer to all problems, nor so terrible and creepy that we shouldn’t use it. It’s a wonderful new tool, but it doesn’t change the problems we solve. It simply accelerates the quest we’re already on to solve HR problems, making our work faster, easier, and more effective.

This moment reminds me of a similar feeling when AI first became available to data scientists. There was the euphoric belief that AI in the hands of data scientists would almost magically solve all the HR challenges our customers faced.

Experience soon taught us that AI/data science is a great new addition to our toolkit, not a panacea. To yield optimum benefits it needs to be used in conjunction with other valuable tools. And above all, the results require a validation cycle centered on human enhancement and curation.

Same with ChatGPT. As I tell my hair-on-fire team members: use it, but validate it constantly.

Example: ChatGPT Gets Us to B-Minus Faster in Success Profiles

Many HR tech solutions help organizational designers by creating Success Profiles to define the technical and soft skills, behaviors, and attributes required for success in a particular role. Success Profiles are detailed descriptions of competencies a candidate or employee must possess to excel in their job and contribute to organizational success.

Until now, creating quality Success Profiles took a long time. Subject matter experts spent weeks doing job analysis, competency modeling, and extensive interviewing. The introduction of pre-ChatGPT AI allowed us to increase the granularity, harvesting specific skills, job descriptions, and responsibility statements to sharpen the focus of Success Profiles.

With ChatGPT, we can ask, “What’s a good Success Profile representation of this job?” The chatbot

replies: “Here are the responsibilities, here are the skills needed.” The result is a B- Success Profile in a jiffy. But our customers demand A+ solutions.

We take ChatGPT’s B- solution and train it on our proprietary IP framework to look for certain additional data, then apply individual and crowdsourced human expertise, reinvention, curation, and validation. The result is an A+ Success Profile that can be trusted in organizational design and career navigation.

ChatGPT cuts the time it takes to go from zero to B-, but it can’t take HR tech solutions to A+ by itself.

About those warning flags noted above:

● Even before the arrival of ChatGPT, AI posed bias risks in HR. For example, a January 2022 class action lawsuit in Illinois against an online video interview platform used in Talent Assessment and Recruiting seeks damages for job applicants because the platform allegedly violated government regulation by collecting applicants’ “biometric information” in recorded video interviews without obtaining consent. The company used AI to assess “cognitive ability, personality traits, emotional intelligence, and social aptitude” to provide an “employability score.”

● Fearful of exposing sensitive personal, financial, or competitive data; violating government regulations; or incorporating misinformation and bias, several of the world’s largest financial institutions, many technology and telecommunications firms, Amazon, and Wal-Mart, among other organizations, have already banned the widespread use of ChatGPT.

● Generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT have a tendency to simply make things up to satisfy human requests.

● In what could be the first of many similar moves, Apple blocked the distribution of an app that uses ChatGPT to compose emails because it feared exposing users – especially children – to inappropriate content generated from ChatGPT’s training databases.

● From personal experience, I can say ChatGPT has a swollen head. I asked it to comment on ChatGPT becoming the most viral app in history, and here, in part, is what it said:

“[ChatGPT is] a whirlwind that swept across the digital landscape like a wildfire fueled by the wind. Like a seed that sprouts in fertile soil, ChatGPT’s innovative algorithms took root in the minds of users, germinating into a powerful force that spread with astonishing speed. Its virtual tendrils reached out, connecting people from every corner of the globe in a web of conversation, information, and inspiration. As ChatGPT’s popularity grew, it became a raging river, a torrent of communication that surged through the digital realm, carrying with it the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of millions. Its currents flowed strong and swift, carving out new channels of connectivity and forging a path toward a brighter, more interconnected future. ChatGPT ignited the passions of people everywhere, inspiring them to reach out, connect, and explore the vast expanse of the digital landscape.”

people have written. I understand that feeling, but in HR technology it’s important we proceed thoughtfully and cautiously.

ChatGPT and every AI iteration that succeeds it won’t change the big problems we’re trying to solve for our customers and clients. Arriving at the B- starting gate just got faster, but that only raises customer expectations for what A+ solutions will do for them.

Since the excitement began in late 2022, I’ve encouraged my team to explore ways to take full advantage of the innovative leaps ChatGPT may enable, but also keep a sharp eye on the risks.

We are in the HR business, which means we are in the people business. Our fundamental purpose is to help people, not harm them.

Purbita Banerjee is the Vice President of Product Management of Korn Ferry’s Digital Platform and Learning Solutions. She manages Korn Ferry’s learning portfolio including sales, customer service, project management, digital leadership and front-line leadership training. She has successfully launched innovative solutions in the Talent management space, solving critical challenges faced by Fortune 1000 companies. Purbita Banerjee is the Vice President of Product Management of Korn Ferry’s Digital Platform and Learning Solutions. She manages Korn Ferry’s learning portfolio including sales, customer service, project management, digital leadership and front-line leadership training.

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The arrival of ChatGPT feels to many like the dawn of a new age, the opening of an exciting new frontier. Using ChatGPT for the first time was like signing onto the World Wide Web for the first time, multiple

I tell my team: “Take advantage of innovation, but keep your eye on the risks”

How Can Employers Lessen The Liability For Unpaid Overtime Pay Claims

The best defense is a good offense

By Robert Boonin, Dykema

The Problem

The Biden DOL is primed to aggressively pursue errors made with respect to the payment of overtime compensation as required by the Fair Labor

Standards Act (FLSA). While doing so, it is also primed to assert claims for liquidated damages whenever it finds errors, even for errors that were inadvertent, and even for those

that may seem nominal. These liquidated damages are equal to the amount of unpaid overtime its investigators deem due.

How Can Employers Lessen The Liability For Unpaid Overtime Pay Claims

Liquidated damages are also generally due if an employer is found liable for unpaid overtime in any FLSA lawsuit filed by employees on either an individual or a collective class basis. When such lawsuits are brought, the employer may also be liable for the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees. These fees are often much greater than the claim for unpaid overtime and serve to overshadow the merits of the case and interfere with the ability to settle.

The Means to Address This Exposure

Prudent employers can take action to either eliminate or greatly reduce their exposure to unpaid overtime and liquidated damages claims. How? The answer is one word: “audit.”

A skillfully done audit can identify areas that typically trigger these inadvertent errors. The audit can identify and even correct concerns with respect to errors in:

● identifying hours that are compensable under the Act (such as pre- and post-shift activities, rest and meal breaks, travel, and medical testing and treatment);

● determining the correct regular rate of pay for calculating overtime pay (such as properly accounting for bonuses, commissions, longevity premiums, shift premiums, call-in pay, etc.); and

● classifying employees as exempt from overtime or as independent contractors.

Importantly, a mere audit may not suffice. The audit must be done and documented in a way to establish that the employer took its obligations under the Act seriously, conformed to the findings of the audit, and did so in good faith. This is key because if such an audit is relied upon, but the DOL or a court concludes that a violation on the areas audited still exists, the employer may be able to assert a “good faith” defense and reduce or eliminate its exposure to liquidated damages, and even reduce a potential look-back period for liability for unpaid time from three to two years. Such a position can also greatly benefit employers as they try to settle FLSA claims, as a well-done audit can serve to greatly lower the potential value of the claim.

As stated above, the audit must be skillfully done; not all audits are created equal. Often, we recommend that the audit be overseen, if not done, by an attorney who is well-versed in the FLSA. The auditor can help assure that the audit serves to support the good faith defense, if needed, and a lot of that may depend on the auditor’s expertise and reputation.

Further, the auditor can counsel as to suggested adjustments. Last, but not least, if the auditor is an attorney, or the audit is being conducted through counsel,

attorneys can provide assistance in maintaining the confidentiality of the audit’s findings, if desired, or advising the company regarding the waiver of any attorney-client privilege, as may be feasible.

Next Steps

Undertaking the audit sooner versus later cannot be overemphasized. If the project is put off and a DOL audit or lawsuit is filed, the advantages discussed above will be lost. It will be too late, and, as a result, otherwise avoidable liability could be triggered, liquidated damages will likely be in the mix, and the cost of the other side’s attorneys will impair the ability to negotiate a reasonable resolution.

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Robert Boonin is Labor & Employment Attorney at Dykema.

“Fixing” The Term Of Employment

Fixed-term agreement defends against wrongful dismissal claim

By Ashley Mulrooney, Stikeman Elliott LLP

In the recent Steele v. The Corporation of the City of Barrie, 2022 ONSC 7245 decision (“Steele”), the Ontario Superior Court of Justice provided some insight into when longer-term, fixed-term, contracts can be enforceable.

Background – Fixed-Term Employment Contracts

The distinction between a fixed-term and indefinite-term employment contract is critical because, typically, an employer is not liable for any notice or pay in lieu of notice upon the expiry of a fixed-term contract that has a term of less than twelve (12) months. Where a fixed-term

contract is longer than twelve (12) months, the employee will have statutory notice or pay in lieu entitlements upon expiry of the term, but the common law notice entitlements would be considered satisfied by the notice of the end date of the contract given upon commencement of employment.

The Steele decision finds that an employee subject to an unambiguous fixed-term agreement with successive unambiguous renewals was not, by virtue of such renewals, an indefinite term employee, and thus entitled to notice of termination or pay in lieu thereof at the end of the term (as the employee argued he should have been).

This finding is noteworthy as it represents a departure from existing case law, where the courts have found that the use of successive fixed-term contract renewals may result in the creation of an indefinite term relationship. The court in the Steele decision relied on the fact that the contract in question and the subsequent renewal letters were unambiguous in providing for a fixed term, despite

the use of renewals, as further discussed below.

Key Facts

The Plaintiff, Greg Steele (“Mr. Steele”), a former employee of the Defendant, the City of Barrie (the “City”) commenced employment with the City on June 4, 2014. Mr. Steele’s initial terms and conditions of employment were governed by an employment agreement (the “Agreement”), which contained language that addressed the term of Mr. Steele’s employment as follows:

The expected duration of your temporary employment is expected to be from June 5, 2014, to June 3, 2016, (approximately 2 years).

Thereafter, Mr. Steele was provided with four (4) consecutive extension notices, which

expressly set out that (i) Mr. Steele’s position with the City was “temporary”, and (ii) outlined the relevant end date for each applicable extension notice (collectively, the “Extension Notices”). The final extension notice was set to end on December 31, 2017.

The City elected not to extend the Agreement and Mr. Steele’s employment ended on December 31, 2017. Mr. Steele commenced a wrongful dismissal claim against the City, arguing that he was, in fact, indefinitely employed and therefore entitled to pay in lieu of notice of termination, as well as punitive damages.

Decision

The Court found that there was no ambiguity under the Agreement or the Extension Notices that Mr. Steele’s employment with the City was for a fixed-term. While the Court noted that the Agreement only included an “approximately” two-year term, it was precise in setting out the exact dates for the employment’s initial duration. Moreover, while the Court noted that the Extension Notices were poorly drafted, they were nevertheless clear and unambiguous relating (i) to the nature of the arrangement as “temporary”, and (ii) that the Extension Notices set out the period of time for each successive extension. Accordingly, there was no breach of contract or wrongful dismissal and the Plaintiff was not entitled to recover any damages.

Further, even if there was ambiguity in the Agreement or Extension Notices, the court found that the following factors would have resolved such ambiguity:

1. The job posting under which Mr. Steele was offered a position clearly described the position as temporary;

2. That same job posting provided that the position was for “2 years approximately”;

3. The Extension Notices were granted before the end of the respective term, which served as proof that absent those Extension Notices, the employment term would have expired;

4. The Extension Notices were pre-destined neither by the employment contract nor the words or conduct of the City;

5. Both the Agreement and the Extension Notices confirmed that Mr. Steele’s employment was “temporary”; and

6. The Extension Notices all provided a date “up to” which the employment would run. Thus, if there was any ambiguity in the Agreement, the Court found that it should be resolved by the relevant Extension Notice.

Finally, the court rejected the argument that the continuous service over many years, together with successive extensions, established an indefinite-term relationship irrespective of the fixed-term contract. More specifically, there was no ambiguity in Agreement or the

Extension Notice and no conduct or conversations involving Mr. Steele and the City, which could have objectively signaled any other arrangement but a fixed term of employment.

We note that the court distinguished prior case law on fixed-term agreements by relying upon the: (i) ambiguity in the contract, which included automatic or annual renewals; and (ii) the parties’ conduct and intentions, which assisted in establishing that the employees were hired on an indefinite-term.

Take Away for Employers

The Steele decision is helpful for employers as it confirms that a clearly and unambiguously drafted fixed-term agreement with successive renewals, coupled with consistent conduct of the employer signaling the temporary nature of the relationship, will not render the fixed-term nature of the relationship indefinite. This case also continues to demonstrate the risks and pitfalls associated with placing a prospective employee on a fixed-term agreement. Employers should continue to ensure that when electing to hire a prospective employee under a fixed-term, the employment agreement is clear and unambiguous regarding the temporary nature of the position and that the employer’s conduct supports the express fixed-term nature of the arrangement.

This article was first published on Stikeman Elliott LLP’s Knowledge

Hub and originally appeared at www. stikeman.com. All rights reserved.

Disclaimer: This publication is intended to convey general information about legal issues and developments as of the indicated date. It does not constitute legal advice and must not be treated or relied on as such. Please read our full disclaimer at www.stikeman.com/legal-notice

Ashley Mulrooney is an Associate in the Employment & Labour Group at Stikeman Elliott LLP. Ashley provides pragmatic advice to employers in all areas of employment and labor law, including employment standards, human rights, occupational health and safety, workplace policies, and employee terminations. Ashley has experience representing clients in proceedings before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, administrative tribunals, grievance arbitrations, and collective bargaining.

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Multinational And Distributed Workforces: Navigating HR Challenges

Insights from C-level leaders

By HR.com Excellence Publications Team

Whether companies are presently global or may expand in the future, HR professionals need to be prepared, stay up-to-date, and

remain agile as managing employees from different cultures, time zones, and regions can be challenging. However, the benefits of going global help

companies succeed by allowing them to access additional talent, save operating costs, and tap into new markets.

HR leaders are constantly facing challenges, and when their workforces are global and distributed, the complexities are compounded. Managing global HR challenges requires a thorough understanding of the laws, business practices, and cultures of each region. However, with the right strategies and tools, HR professionals and leadership can become more proactive (than reactive) and build a multinational team that is streamlined, compliant, engaged, and aligned while tackling workforce planning, payroll, and managing data and analytics.

In addition, it’s important to strike a balance between standardization and flexibility, and technology can help bridge that geographical gap by leveraging the right solutions for the various regions across organizations.

Check ou the C-level panel discussion to learn how their companies benefited from going global, how they navigated global challenges in order to mitigate risks and maintain compliance, and built an engaged, multinational workforce with shared goals and vision.

Whether companies are presently global or may expand in the future, HR professionals need to be prepared, stay up-to-date, and remain agile as managing employees from different cultures, time zones, and regions can be challenging. However, the benefits of going global help companies succeed by allowing them to access additional talent, save operating costs, and tap into new markets.

HR leaders are constantly facing challenges, and when their workforces are global and

distributed, the complexities are compounded. Managing global HR challenges requires a thorough understanding of the laws, business practices, and cultures of each region. However, with the right strategies and tools, HR professionals and leadership can become more proactive (than reactive) and build a multinational team that is streamlined, compliant, engaged, and aligned while tackling workforce planning, payroll, and managing data and analytics. In addition, it’s important to strike a balance between standardization and flexibility, and technology can help bridge that geographical gap by leveraging the right solutions for the various regions across organizations.

Join our C-level panel discussion, with Zeev Rozov, COO, HiBob, Marcelo Lebre, COO, Remote, and Alison Dixon, Global Head of People Operations & Sales Enablement, Portnox, to learn how their companies benefited from going global, how they navigated global challenges in order to mitigate risks and maintain compliance, and built an engaged, multinational workforce with shared goals and vision.

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HRCI® & SHRM® CERTIFICATION PREP COURSES

GROUP RATES AVAILABLE

For HR Professionals

Show that management values the importance of the HR function, and has a commitment to development and improvement of HR staff.

Ensure that each person in your HR department has a standard and consistent understanding of policies, procedures, and regulations.

Place your HR team in a certification program as a rewarding team building achievement.

For Your Organization

Certified HR professionals help companies avoid risk by understanding compliance, laws, and regulations to properly manage your workforce.

HR Professionals lead employee engagement and development programs saving the company money through lower turnover and greater productivity and engagement.

A skilled HR professional can track important KPIs for the organization to make a major impact on strategic decisions and objectives, including: succession planning, staffing, and forecasting.

1 Less expensive than a masters or PhD program, and very manageable to prepare with

2. legislation and best practices

3. Recognized, Industry benchmark, held by 500,000+ HR Professionals

Group Rate Options

We offer group rates for teams of 5+ or more for our regularly scheduled PHR/SPHR/ SHRM or aPHR courses.

For groups of 12+, we can design a more customized experience that meets your overall length of the course.

Groups rates for HRCI exams are also available as an add-on.

All group purchases come with 1 year of HR Prime membership for each attendee to gain the tools and updates needed to stay informed and compliant

How HR Can Build A More Empathetic Workforce With AI And Blockchain Technology

Creating a more efficient, diverse, and empathetic workforce

By Sony Sung-Chu, Businessolver

Today, many organizations have permanently adopted remote or hybrid workplace models. Once thought of as a temporary solution to help navigate the challenges brought about by the pandemic in 2020, many employers have realized the long-term value of dispersed workforces: fewer dollars spent on overhead, higher employee satisfaction, and increased opportunity for diversity.

But with those benefits came additional challenges: HR’s workload grew as they navigated multi-state compliance, employee wellbeing, virtual culture, administering benefits, and more. We’re seeing the use of technology, specifically artificial intelligence and blockchain, as an aid to transform the HR landscape by streamlining processes, building empathetic culture, reducing bias, and better-engaging employees in meaningful ways. In the coming years, this use of automation will only continue to refine the landscape.

The past few years have also emphasized how critical empathy is for the health of an organization, from the bottom line to the people. Empathy and AI

might sound contradictory to some, but we’re seeing the opposite play out: empathetic technology is helping to streamline organizational processes and effectiveness, freeing up HR to be more present for their people and amplifying employee feedback back up to leadership.

Machine learning and AI are the vehicles for the work that HR and employees can do through a tech-enabled, empathetic approach.

Building Empathy at Work Through AI

Empathy is critical to the health of all organizations, across all levels. Businessolver’s data highlights the impact of empathy (or lack thereof) on a business’s effectiveness, from retention to employee engagement to profit margins. In the coming years, we’ll likely see organizations leverage AI to help co-pilot empathy across their workforce—in fact, 38% of HR professionals are using AI and automation to help support their teams and power organizational effectiveness.

To level set, HR teams aren’t using AI to replace workers or avoid work. Rather, they’re leveraging AI to communicate with and better understand their workforce.

HR departments can leverage language and statistical learning algorithms to analyze employee data and identify key characteristics that drive job satisfaction, productivity, and happiness across the organization. These algorithms can integrate data from various sources, such as performance reviews, feedback surveys, emails, and more, to identify patterns and symptoms associated with employee well-being, including stress, burnout, or job satisfaction. Using this data, AI-powered coaching programs can offer employees a more empathetic and personalized experience in the workplace, providing tips and strategies to improve their well-being and productivity. In fact, AI-powered coaching has resulted in a 24% increase in productivity and a 28% reduction in stress.

To help drive an empathetic workplace culture, AI-powered HR systems can use machine learning algorithms to recognize key insights in ways that are meaningful to HR—all while reducing administrative workload and protecting employees’ privacy.

Breaking Down Biases with Data

Today’s talent market is competitive. With many organizations adopting remote and hybrid workplace models, their potential talent pools have also become much more diverse, which is incredibly beneficial for both the employer and the employees.

Therefore, the data used to train AI models for recruitment and retention efforts must be representative of these diverse populations. This ensures that AI systems, such as those used in hiring, don’t perpetuate biases or discriminate against certain groups. In protecting the diversity of data and mitigating biases, AI can help create a more inclusive and equitable workplace.

Leveraging AI-powered recruitment tools can help eliminate human subjectivity. Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, use reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) to create applications that can identify and address bias in the hiring process, help identify best-fit candidates, and increase diversity. This can be achieved by consolidating and summarizing feedback from candidates and minimizing the influence of interviewer biases, such as confirmation bias or affinity bias.

With the help of these AI-driven applications, organizations can ensure that candidates are evaluated fairly based on their qualifications and reduce the impact of the different types of biases that can lead to a lack of diversity in the workplace.

Engaging Blockchain for Smarter Workplace Insights

As more employers lean into their data and look to new and innovative ways to surface insights from and about their employees, they must also consider the risks associated with good-faith data governance, especially around privacy, utilization, and secure storage. Blockchain technology can play a crucial role in HR management, especially as a way for

employers to safeguard their data alongside their efforts to personalize the employee experience.

Blockchain technology gained its reputation in cryptocurrency, but its value and purpose span far beyond that. Essentially, blockchain is a way of storing data on a ledger, but instead of each line of data living in the same ledger book, that data is fragmented in such a way that a human would find it nearly impossible to decipher on their own. Blockchain provides an added layer of security and risk management for HR teams that are already burdened with a long list of compliance to-dos.

By integrating blockchain technology, HR professionals can securely store and manage employee data such as performance evaluations, training records, and payroll information while also reducing the risk of data breaches. The use of blockchains is a way to address concerns about privacy and the use of data to understand employees and personalize their experiences. Today, 31% of organizations are using blockchain to store and manage their HR data.

As AI and machine-learning technologies continue to evolve and become more accessible, it is important for companies to explore their potential benefits and incorporate them into their HR strategies to create a more efficient, diverse, and empathetic workforce. The potential benefits of AI and blockchain in HR management are intriguing and worth exploring. By using these technologies, companies can create more inclusive and productive workplaces while reducing errors and increasing efficiency.

Sony Sung-Chu is SVP, Head of Science & Innovation, at Businessolver

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How Understanding FMLA Basics Can Help Employers Avoid Common Mistakes

Tips for HR managers and employers to navigate FMLA eligibility and avoid costly mistakes

By David Setzkorn, Hub International

It is all too easy for human resource professionals to get the ins and outs of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) wrong.

Figuring out where company leave policies intersect with FMLA provisions – or not – can be a challenge to HR managers, general managers and employees themselves. Mistakes are common and can be costly.

Take the 2019 Massachusetts Supreme Court decision finding an employer liable for $1.3 million in damages for a retaliatory termination of an employee after he took a trip to Mexico while on leave. The trip had been scheduled well in advance of the surgery which had necessitated the leave; his activities on vacation aligned with medical recommendations and FMLA leave requirements. The case was a warning against knee-jerk decisions in response to perceived FMLA abuses.

FMLA administrators have found that three particular areas are most troublesome to employers: notifications and communications between employers and employees; recertifications; and ensuring employees’ rights to leave under FMLA are protected.

Understand Eligibility Requirements, for Starters

HR and general managers should be trained in the provisos of the FMLA. That starts with knowing the four eligibility requirements for employers and employees. Additionally, understanding the common mistakes can go a long way toward avoiding them.

● Employer eligibility requirements: Eligible employers must have 50 or more employees working each day for at least 20 calendar weeks over the previous 12 months or current calendar year at the time a leave is requested. Employers on the cusp can move in and out of eligibility, so they should review this every time a potential leave request is made.

Smaller employers that are owned or managed by a central company must use the integrated employer test to determine if they collectively share enough common interest to be considered one employer for eligibility purposes.

● Three rules for employee eligibility: First, the individual must work a minimum of 12 calendar months, not consecutive, but over a seven-year time frame. This means accurate record-keeping for seasonal employees or those who are re-hired. In the 12 months prior to making the leave request, an employee must work a minimum of 1,250 hours. Part- or full-time status is not relevant.

The work location must have 50 employees within a 75-mile radius. This has become more complicated with remote work trends. For remote workers, the rule shifts to the location where their work is assigned. For those without a fixed worksite, the rule is based on which location they report to. Remote managers? Where they report to or where work is assigned from are site location determinants.

Avoid Most Common Mistakes

A lot of mistakes can be made in determining FMLA eligibility, but here are four of greatest concern:

1. Eligibility requirements – specifically the 50/75 rule – cannot be waived, altered, ignored or eliminated by the employer to be more generous or restrictive.

2. The FMLA clock does not restart for employees who leave or come back. Regulations say nothing

about accounting for employment breaks. The rules require employers to look at the 12 months preceding the leave request.

3. An employee’s status as a part-timer does not mean he or she is ineligible for FMLA.

4. It is easy to mishandle eligibility requirements for temporary employees that are then hired as regular employees. In this instance, the joint-employer rule comes into play: their joint service hours and months accrued as a temp must be counted toward FMLA eligibility once they are hired.

The FMLA is a boon to workers as a way to balance the often-warring demands of work and health. But it is also complex, making it a challenge for employers to administer correctly. Organizations will be well-served by instituting a sound FMLA policy that outlines everything from notice requirements and medical certification rules to how it aligns with company leave policies – and training managers regularly on the basics.

David Setzkorn is Senior Vice President and National Practice Leader for Absence Management at Hub International out of Arizona. He has over 10 years of experience working in the carrier space as a subject matter expert on leave administration. His experience includes consultation and development of absence management and ADA programs with clients from implementation, training and ongoing compliance with state and federal regulations as well as product and program development for carriers. He is a nationally recognized speaker working with organizations such as DMEC, IBI, SHRM and ISCEBS to deliver trainings and content regarding FMLA, ADAAA, Paid Family Medical Leave and state and municipal leave programs.

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2023 Is The Year To Give Female Frontliners More Flexibility

A key to retention and productivity

By Sarah Moore, Beekeeper

As we celebrate Women’s History Month and the progress women have made in the workplace, companies across industries continue to look for ways to meet the needs of their female employees. Yet a key part of the conversation that is often overlooked is the disconnect between employers and their frontline workforce. As retention and productivity are at the top of frontline leaders’ minds,

they need to find ways to give their female employees greater flexibility on the job. While desk-based teams leverage strategies like remote and hybrid work to improve work-life balance, frontline workers do not share these options. If companies are looking to stay competitive and retain their frontline workforce, offering more shift flexibility is key–especially for female staff.

Frontline Workers Have Been Disenfranchised from Flexible Work

Frontline workers make up 80 percent of the global workforce. And more than two-thirds of these workers (64.4 percent) are women. Many frontline staff has variable shift schedules that make it hard to balance work, family, personal finances and other priorities. At the same time, sky-high costs of childcare and household support make these services unavailable to most female frontliners. More than one-third of frontline workers (33.9 percent) are over age 50 and have a minor child at home (35.9 percent), while almost one quarter (23 percent) live in poverty.

It's no wonder that analysts and others are sounding the alarm about the need to help frontline staff. Gartner names “hybrid flexibility for the frontlines” as one of its nine future of work trends for 2023. The analyst firm finds that 58 percent of organizations have invested in improving their frontline experience, while another third plan to do so in the next 12 months. The top three attractors for workers are gaining control over their work schedules, acquiring paid leave and increasing the stability of scheduling, states Gartner.

How Flexible Work Benefits Frontline Workers

The ability to take control over one’s schedule benefits frontline workers in multiple ways, including:

● Preventing job burnout: The race to hire and retain frontline workers is on. There are more than 10 million open jobs across all industries and all levels but only 5.7 million unemployed workers could fill them.

Yet, the disconnect between frontline workers and managers is growing. A Beekeeper study found that 40 percent of workers were stressed by chronic understaffing issues, while 36 percent were overwhelmed by frequent changes around new policies, teammates and safety procedures. In addition, two out of every three workers quit when there’s no future for them.

Employers can use frontline success systems to prevent burnout. These solutions improve the frequency and quality of collaboration, make it easier to solicit employee suggestions on how to improve processes, or to give real-time, mobile access to the things workers care most about like paystubs and shift schedules. In addition, organizations can use these tools to provide anytime, anywhere training workers can use to progress their careers. Loyal, hardworking shift workers can become supervisors and leaders, building long-lasting careers and increasing the value they provide their organizations.

● Planning and scheduling childcare needs: Common industry scheduling practices can leave female frontline workers scrambling. These practices include just-in-time scheduling, where workers are informed of schedules as little as two hours before work; shift schedules that rotate weekly; twelve-hour shifts; and overnight shifts. Many frontline female workers likely rely on a patchwork network of family and friends to provide childcare and household support due to low wages and high childcare costs. Even if they have paid care, the supply of this care is limited: more than 126,000 childcare workers have quit for higher-paying jobs.

Every working mother carries the stress of arranging and paying for childcare. But this stress is profound for female frontline workers. Female workers with stable shift schedules can plan out childcare weeks in advance and make backup plans if their normal providers are unavailable. They can communicate their schedules to families, friends and childcare providers proactively, likely increasing the pool of people who are able to help. Of course, what’s even better is when employers offer onsite childcare, removing this constant source of worry for working parents.

Frontline success systems make it easier to coordinate and communicate shift schedules, providing clarity and more flexibility. In addition, these tools enable workers to swap shifts easily while closing the loop with managers automatically.

● Reducing work stress: Having clarity and more control over work reduces stress. Nearly half (49 percent) of organizational leaders say they want to provide frontline workers with more say in when, where and how they work. These options include enabling staff to choose their own hours as long as they maintain that schedule, working extra hours some days and fewer others, and logging longer hours but a shorter work week. In addition, employers with multi-site operations can offer workers the ability to choose where they work. By doing so, organizations can give female staff members more choices and voice in their work, so that they can balance personal and family needs with their job commitments.

Frontline success systems make it possible for employers to test flexible scheduling programs. They can use these tools to communicate why they’re offering new options, roll them out with a subsection of workers and conduct surveys to see if they’re popular.

● Enabling staff to better manage personal finances: Providing frontline staff with long-range visibility into schedules, including the number of hours they’ll be working, improves their ability

to forecast pay and manage their finances. In addition, organizations can publicize upcoming shifts that need more workers or offer extra gig-style hours.

Frontline success systems make it easier to offer a wide range of scheduling options and align them to production and other work requirements. Workers benefit by being able to increase hours when they want to, earning more money. Employers benefit by having fewer empty shifts and freeing up managers to do more strategic work than shift planning.

Give Female Frontliners More Flexibility

The good news is that employers are more interested and aware of the things frontline workers need and want to be happy in their jobs. This is leading them to offer new benefits around scheduling and career development.

Providing female workers with control over their schedules, the chance to earn more money when they want to and the ability to provide feedback on shift scheduling and other practices can help employers retain these valuable team members.

When it comes to empowering female frontline workers with greater flexibility, it’s time to prioritize their needs. Deploy innovative scheduling practices and watch these female staff members flourish and grow on the job while companies increase retention and productivity.

Sarah Moore , is Chief Marketing Officer at Beekeeper

Remote-First Cultures In 2023

Did they work? What needs to change?

By Nurasyl Serik, Remofirst

There are now three times more high-paying remote jobs than before the pandemic, with remote work now accounting for 15% of all high-paying jobs in the US.

Although this trend began before 2020, the pandemic

definitely sped it up — and many companies were unprepared. Despite being largely successful and widely popular, remote work poses its challenges — including how to develop a healthy and sustainable remote work culture.

Pre-pandemic, so many of our interactions took place informally around the office, so building a culture in a company with no offices — or where employees only run into one another sporadically — requires intentionality.

At a traditional office, company culture may evolve through shared experiences, in-house collaboration, and team-building activities that are not part of the remote working reality, so creating a healthy remote company culture takes a bit more effort to get right.

Many leaders make the mistake of thinking they can rely on technology and tools to run their remote teams effectively, but tools alone cannot foster a positive work culture. You must create the culture first, then find the tools to support it.

The Problem with Remote Work Culture

One of the most obvious challenges of remote work is finding ways for teams to communicate and collaborate

effectively when they cannot speak face-to-face. Although tools like Slack and Zoom can facilitate communication, leaders need to establish norms to prevent communication breakdowns and misunderstandings.

Additionally, we get so many of our cues from other people’s body language and facial expressions, but when we cannot see our colleagues, it is harder to build trust, which can impact productivity.

At an individual level, many remote workers experience social isolation and loneliness, which can negatively affect their mental health and work performance and contribute to feelings of burnout. This burnout is often exacerbated by the blurring of the lines

between work and personal life, with remote employees working 10% longer each week than they did before the pandemic.

Toward a Healthier Remote Work Culture

However, it is not all doom and gloom. Many companies have already found ways to overcome these challenges, and so can you.

For example, Scott’s Cheap Flights goes above and beyond the usual Slack messages and Zoom meetings, encouraging employees to catch up through casual 15-minute “doughnut chats” and providing a meet-up allowance so colleagues can grab dinner together when visiting each other’s cities. They also organize annual get-togethers in different countries so team members can mingle.

Meanwhile, sports app Buzzer offers unlimited paid time off and 32 hours per year for employees to spend on volunteer work within their communities. Other initiatives companies have used include flexible hours, health benefits, work-from-anywhere schemes, and weekly brainstorming sessions.

Ways to Foster a Positive Remote Work Environment

Here are some suggestions for leaders who wish to improve their company culture, regardless of whether it is a hybrid or fully remote business.

Start by defining what you want your work culture to look like. Have your team participate in the process and document your decisions — this will help you get buy-in, measure progress, and ensure everyone’s on the same page.

Next, you will need to establish clear communication channels and norms. Decide which tools you will use and establish protocols that help employees stay connected while creating a safe and respectful work environment, where all team members feel included. Employees should know when to use Slack, email, or video conferencing to streamline collaboration while keeping everyone in the loop. It is also essential to establish robust feedback channels.

The next step is to create a sense of psychological safety so that employees feel safe and able to express themselves freely. Ways to do this include:

● Encouraging active participation (but don’t force it as this may go against cultural norms, depending on where your team members are from).

● Ensuring everyone feels supported.

● Encouraging diverse thoughts and ideas.

● Creating a feedback-friendly environment.

● Emphasizing the importance of taking risks and making mistakes.

For your remote team to collaborate effectively, you will need to create a culture of trust and accountability, for example, by setting clear expectations and providing regular feedback according to the established protocols. Another way to build trust among team members is to foster a sense of community and social connection through ‘extracurricular’ virtual activities and encouraging informal interactions.

In remote settings, it can be harder to show your employees your appreciation, so make celebrating one another a core pillar of your team. It is easy for employees to feel ‘out of sight, out of mind’ when working remotely, so go the extra mile to show them their contributions are valued and appreciated. Not only

will they be happier, but they will also be more productive.

Finally, show your remote team members you care about them by promoting work-life balance and helping them prevent burnout. Ways to do this include offering flexible hours and encouraging them to log off at the end of the day.

A Healthy Remote Work Culture Is Good for Business

Ultimately, fostering a more supportive remote company culture will not just benefit your employees — it will also boost your business. Remote team members who enjoy a better work-life balance and feel supported at work are more productive, have higher job satisfaction, and take fewer days off, while companies with a healthy remote work culture find it easier to attract and retain the best talent.

Nurasyl Serik is the Founder & CEO of Remofirst

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