How Flexible is your workplace? Are you using Flex-Time as a recruitment and retention tool?
In today’s competitive job market, employers must offer more flexibility to attract top talent. Flextime is no longer a perk; it should be part of your corporate benefit offerings. A flexible work schedule is an alternative to the traditional 9 to 5, 40-hour work week. It allows employees to vary their arrival and/or departure times. It allows employees more flexibility to choose where, when, or how they work. There are three central flexible work arrangements: flexible locations, flexible schedule, and flexible time. Under some policies, employees must work a prescribed number of hours a pay period and be present during a daily “core time.” While the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not address flexible work schedules, its a good idea to document your organization’s flex-time policy.
Flexible work schedules have become increasing popular in today’s workplace and can result in greater productivity and engagement-if managed effectively. A recent study found that flexible workers:
- achieved more
- use sick days less often
- worked longer hours
- were happier in their work
Here’s a good article from The Olsen Group regarding a survey by FlexJobs on flexible working schedules. Read Bill Gates point of view on the matter in this article from Business Insider.
If you are not offering employees flexible schedules, you won’t remain competitive in this job market and are at a significant disadvantage. Use Flex-Time as the great recruitment and retention tool is can be!
It’s Spring…and that means Internships are back. Are you prepared? Should you hire paid or unpaid interns?
While the Department of Labor abandoned their old six-part test that stated each defined criteria must be met for someone to be considered an unpaid intern and not an employee, they’ve replaced it with a primary-beneficiary test. This creates a more forgiving benchmark for employers to hire unpaid interns. Before creating an Internship Program and deciding on hiring unpaid interns, review the new Fact Sheet regarding Internship Programs Under The Fair Labor Standards Act, which took effect January 2018.
Happy New Year!
What are your organization’s New Year’s Resolutions for HR? Many organizations conduct year-end audits and review budgets for the coming year in the last 60 to 90 days of the year. It’s become a popular trend for each department in an organization to also create their new year’s goals and present their upcoming objectives to the staff around this time. Here are a few ideas to consider for 2019. HR Resolutions.
When was the last time you conducted Performance Appraisals?
Okay, so Performance Appraisals are universally disliked by both management and staff, but the goal of the Appraisal is to discuss employees’ development and effectiveness while achieving organizational goals, right? How can you achieve this without providing employees feedback? You can’t. Consider how to create and implement a process where continual communication and goal-setting is an ongoing process, rather than a dreaded annual meeting. Yes, it can be done. Here is a checklist to help you prepare for your next appraisal meeting.