The start of a new year is a good opportunity for you to implement changes in policies and procedures in order to reduce your potential exposure to legal claims and make your business more competitive.
Additionally, changes introduced at the beginning of a new year seem less abrupt to employees, and are therefore less disruptive to employee morale. Here are 3 changes to consider, courtesy of James J. McDonald, Jr., managing partner of the Irvine office of Fisher & Phillips, LLP (www.laborlawyers.com):
The new year is a perfect time to get your recordkeeping in order. Join us for an in-depth webinar, exclusively for California employers, next Wednesday the 19th.
1. Get Your Handbook Ready
If you don’t have an employee handbook, have one prepared and ready to distribute at the beginning of the new year. A good employee handbook makes clear what is expected of employees. It reduces the likelihood of inconsistent application of policies that can lead to discrimination claims, and it ensures that every employee has been informed of important policies, such as the policy against harassment, employment at will and arbitration of disputes.
2. Review Your Overtime Classifications
If the overtime exempt status of some employees seems questionable, the new year is a good time to reclassify them as non-exempt. Pay particular attention to office employees who perform mostly routine work, “leads” in manufacturing or service jobs, and retail managers who spend most of their time serving customers. Job descriptions for employees switched to non-exempt status should be revised to more accurately reflect their job duties.
What to keep? What to toss? What to shred? Get up to speed on your recordkeeping requirements with our comprehensive webinar—learn more.
3. Consider Pay-for-Performance
Instead of granting automatic pay raises at the first of the year or on an employee’s anniversary date, consider implementing a pay-for-performance plan that ties employee compensation to job performance and/or the overall performance of the company.
Tomorrow, we’ll review 3 more New Year’s recommendations from McDonald. We’ll also tell you about an exclusive webinar you won’t want to miss.