Are You Prepared for the DOL?

According to a Department of Labor report, "Employers and others in the department's regulated communities must understand that the burden is on them to obey the law, not on DOL to catch them violating the law. This principle is at the heart of this new DOL workers' protection strategy. DOL is going to replace 'catch me if you can' with Plan / Prevent / Protect."

Are you current and up to date on all of the processes and procedures that you should be?

- Personnel Files
- Worker's Compensation Files
- OSHA 300 Reporting Records
- I-9 Files
- Benefit Files & Compliance
- COBRA Process
- Employee Handbooks
- Organizational Chart
- Payroll Recordkeeping
- Job Descriptions
- Termination Practices
- FLSA Compliance
- Employee Notification Posters

Call Lowden and Associates, Inc. to receive a HR Audit today! 770.248.0401

Healthy Ethical Corporate Culture Boosts Bottom Line

A recent study is turning the old expression of nice guys finishing last on its head. The Corporate Executive Board surveyed about 500,000 employees in over 85 countries and concluded that corporate integrity has a verifiable impact on a company’s overall performance.

Companies where employees feel comfortable to speak out about concerns of misconduct without fear of persecution are found to have a stronger ethical culture than others. The fear of retaliation in companies prevents an ethical culture from taking root and growing that would allow the business from reaping rewards.

Corporate leaders that stress open communications are able to deliver shareholder returns that average five times higher than their competitors. Also, high-integrity cultured companies are 67 percent less likely to have instances of misconduct such as accounting irregularities and insider trading.

The study measured ethical culture by asking employees how comfortable they feel to discuss possible misconduct with managers along with do employees think company officials will respond to unethical behavior.

To prevent misconduct in a company, leaders must open channels of communications between employees and build trust in leadership.

Start taking steps now on the high road by having an updated employee handbook, effective and open channels of communication, management training, etc. It is never too late to walk on the corporate high road while boosting your bottom line.

Play-or-Pay Health Care?

Health care strategizing is taking on new dimensions due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that was signed into law in March of 2010. Employers are facing tough and complex decisions and must decide before state health insurance exchanges are up and running in 2014.

By 2014, employers could suffer from a range of taxes and penalties based upon the level of coverage they are providing to employees, forcing employers to decide if they want to play or pay.

Health care benefits will have a profound impact on talent acquisition and employee retention strategies, the culture of the organization and the employers’ competitiveness. Employers will have to analyze different approaches to minimize the impact on their company.

One option for employers is to make benefits less rich in order to maintain the total value under the threshold for excise tax. Another choice for employers is deciding to make minimal, if any, increases in their employees’ share of health care costs thereby keeping their plans in “grandfather” status or significantly raising the employee cost sharing and losing the “grandfather” status.

By maintaining “grandfather” status, employers could avoid certain health care reform mandates. According to a Mercer Study, only 53 percent of employers who responded are likely to keep their “grandfather” status for all of their plans.

For 90 to 95 percent of companies, the play-or-pay choice consists of complex mathematical debating to decide if offering health benefits is less expensive than the taxes and penalties.

Every employer must start working through the issue today, in order to be prepared when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act goes into full effect.