What is a Performance Appraisal?

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A performance appraisal is a formal review of an employee’s performance. These are usually done either annually, semi-annually or quarterly depending on the nature of the business and the management preference. Typically these appraisals are the driving factor for merit increases, wage determination and bonuses.

These appraisals are meant to be objective performance reviews that are based solely on how an employee executes their job – not on their personality or characteristics. It can sometimes be referred to as an annual review, evaluation, professional development benchmark or an employee evaluation. Having these reviews with your employees is a critical business practice.

As an employer, a formal review where you document performance is important for many reasons – one of which is to protect yourself should you need to terminate an employee. Employee reviews should contain honest and candid feedback that has clear, specific examples of any successes or failures.

Collecting the data for these reviews can be daunting – particularly if you have a large population of employees. You first have to determine what the key areas of the form would be, how frequently you want to update the information, who is responsible (usually their direct manager), who is involved in the evaluation process and what impact the evaluations have on employees.

It is important to have an objective scoring process for these reviews. We recommend a numerical scale that also has an area for verbatim comments and feedback. You should also ensure that the employee provides their comments, formally, around the feedback and signs off on the review, the next steps and any other items that were discussed.

We recommend that you utilize a formal system for reviews. Employer Solutions Plus has access to the best and most cost effective performance management systems and would love to set up a free consultation with you to find a process and system that works well for your business.

If you’re currently working with a Professional Employer Organization, they may have a complimentary template you can utilize!

Contact us today to set an appointment!

How to Write an Employee Conduct Code

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In our last post, we covered the employee dress code and how to write it. The conduct code is similar in many ways as it is driven by your company culture but must adhere to employment laws.

There is no standard language for an employee code of conduct – each code is unique to the business and seeks to define expected behaviors in addressing the risks, challenges and customs that exist on a day to day basis for the employees. The basic elements of an employee conduct code are:

– Mission, vision, values and how they drive the ethics of the business. Why does your business hold the values it does? What does this allow you to achieve?

– Decision framework. This should be a model for employees to make ethical decisions, particularly in times of hard choices. The decision framework will guide employees in making the right choice on their own and also coach them on when to involve a third party – be it their supervisor or HR.

– Communications systems. How do you communicate? Do you have a whistleblower line? What is the process for notifying someone of issues?

In addition to the basic sections above in order to be in compliance with employment regulation there are 50+ topics that must be included. These things include: harassment, gifts/gratuities, fraud, FMLA, EEO and Affirmative Action, copyrights, expense reimbursements and time recording, diversity, among many more.

Once you have the policy written, have determined that you hit all of the right topics, covered your legal bases and included the mission of the company you then need to implement. The implementation and communication of the plan has legal parameters regarding sharing, posting and distribution. The code needs to also be regularly updated and sent out on an annual basis.

While this may seem overwhelming – it doesn’t have to be. Employer Solutions Plus can help you by pairing you with an expert in the field of HR and employee conduct. Our experts can design a plan that works for your business. Contact us today for a free consultation!

How to Write an Employee Dress Code

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Developing a dress code may seem like a simple task but it is actually quite complex.  From anti-discrimination laws to a change in the culture of business determining, designing a dress code can be tough. Did you know that Employer Solutions Plus can provide you with a resource who will design a code for you that aligns with your culture and needs?

If you choose to go the self-service route we have outlined some guidelines below:

Things to consider:

  • Your business’ public image
  • The type of work your employees perform (suits and ties might not go so well if there’s manual labor)

Steps to take:

  1. Identify your culture. Are you a polo and khakis or slacks and tie business?  Do you want to host casual Fridays?  You need to determine what level of formality you expect from your employees on a day to day basis.
  2. Assess your workplace. What is the type of work being performed?  Is it reasonable to expect a business casual dress code in a manual labor environment?  Do your employees work long shifts where formal attire would be uncomfortable?
  3. Learn the laws. There are multiple laws around employee discrimination that could be impacted by dress codes.  These include religious discrimination, racial discrimination, disability discrimination, gender discrimination and sexual harassment.
  4. Develop the code. Time to write the dress code – you need to be sure that it is clear, concise and doesn’t leave room for interpretation and also hits all of the requirements of the above laws.  Identify exceptions and be clear with your terminology.
  5. Identify code violations and how to handle them. What’s your policy? Three strikes? Will an employee in violation be expected to go home? Will they lose pay? There are many variables in this – the most important thing here is that it needs to be consistent.

These are the types of questions and considerations you need to make. The challenge of designing a code that fits your culture, aligns with laws and has the right procedures and outcomes for measuring adherence can be confusing, time consuming and stressful.

You don’t have to go at it alone though – contact Employer Solutions Plus today to find out how we can address this business challenge!

Employee Dress Code Trends

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Any employer knows that dress codes are a necessity. A company’s dress code is not just about mandating what your employees can/cannot wear – it speaks to the culture of the firm. Recently, many companies have been migrating to a more lax dress code – erring on the “casual” side of business casual. Other companies however are maintaining a traditional business attire environment. So what’s contributing to these trends? We have given you a breakdown of the key drivers to these changes.

Drivers of the Casual Dress Code

– Cultural Shift

  • Our culture as a whole has seemingly become more casual than 20-30 years ago. If you step into any start up in NYC it is highly unlikely you will see anyone wearing a suit. Some of this country’s largest companies like Google and Apple have and encourage casual dress codes.

– It’s Trendy

  • If Google is doing it – why wouldn’t we? Many businesses adopt practices from successful companies, including their dress code policies. The idea that a multi-billion dollar entity like Google or Facebook allows their employees to wear jeans makes people say “well if they do it and succeed, why can’t we?”

– Telecommuting

  • With the popularity of telecommuting, many workplaces realize that it doesn’t matter if you have on sweatpants or a suit – the work WILL get done. Knowing that productivity is just as high, if not higher, in a work from home environment, companies are becoming more open to the idea of keeping it casual inside and outside the office.

Keeping It Formal

– Tradition

  • Companies who are comprised of primarily older, baby boomers are more likely to uphold a more formal dress code. The concept of wearing jeans on anything other than a Friday seems unprofessional and unnecessary.

– Culture

  • If the nature of your business requires you to regularly interface with customers whether in person or virtually you will often see a more formal dress code being enforced.

Do I Need a Payroll Company?

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While on one hand doing payroll in house may seem like a great way to cut costs and keep things close to the company, the harsh reality is that payroll is an extraordinarily complex process that is regulated by fairly stringent legislation.

Employer Solutions Plus wants to help you navigate the pros and cons and aide you in making an informed decision on how to manage your company’s payroll processing.

Risk vs Reward:

Short term savings could end up costing you should there be any issues with the taxation of wages. The IRS regulations around payroll are complex, ever changing, and mistakes are not easily reversed. Not only do these mistakes cost you the value of the mistake (for instance, $1000 in additional wages) but they also result in penalties, fines and should they be large enough may require you to hire counsel and/or an accountant to sort things through.

So let’s assume that you are a CPA who happens to have the knowledge of what it takes to overcome this first challenge. That’s fantastic – on the road to saving some cash. That is if you’re willing to take on the myriad of responsibilities that come with payroll. It is not just writing checks and managing taxes. Payroll administration is not that simple. It often also includes the following processes:

  • State-level Summary Filings
  • Quarterly Financial Reporting
  • Issuing Annual W-2s
  • Processing W-9s
  • Paying out withholdings to government agencies
  • Managing Employee Contributions to:
    • Pensions
    • IRAs
    • 401ks
    • FSAs/HSAs
  • Supplemental Insurance Policies
  • Managing unemployment assessments
  • Handling state disability and family leave assessments
  • Tracking hiring/firing and notifying the government
  • Handling Administrative Wage Garnishments

While this list is long, it’s also demanding, meaning that the individual who handles payroll will have a full time (if not full time plus) job. When you consider the risks of in-house payroll coupled with the cost of bringing on 1-2 employees to manage it for multiple employees, we would wager that it no longer seems like an appealing solution.

Employer Solutions Plus can help you find a payroll processing solution that fits your business needs, size and budget. Contact us today to find out how we can get you on the fast track to better processing!

3 Tips for Preventing Workplace Lawsuits

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We are all familiar with the stories that have come out of the last decade – people making millions of dollars in frivolous lawsuits for things like being burned by hot coffee or slipping and falling while wearing 4-inch heels and holding a martini glass. Unfortunately as an employer you are at risk on a daily basis for being sued. It seems that should anything go awry, the first advice many receive is to “lawyer up” and go after the employer.

Did you have to fire an individual for poor performance? Hopefully they don’t turn around and say it’s because they are a female. Perhaps you are being sued because it took Joe or Sally 60 hours to do 40 hours of work due to their lackluster time management skills yet they still want overtime.

Whatever the reason there are 3 key things you can do to prevent workplace lawsuits. We are fortunate to have an arsenal of experts in this field that we reached out to for advice.

  1. Employ a PEO. PEOs are gurus when it comes to risk mitigation and compliance. Their job is to take the burden off of you and leverage their expertise to ensure that your business is not at risk for violations of regulatory compliance – for instance OSHA. Employer Solutions Plus has an extensive network of PEOs that we can partner you with. This takes the guess work and headache out for you and passes on some of that risk and burden to a third party. Employer Solutions Plus can work with you to find a PEO that can support your needs.
  2. Have an Employee Handbook. Employee handbooks include everything from dress codes to behavioral expectations to information about employee issues like harassment. By clearly outlining what you require of your employees and having the employees acknowledge this, you will have leverage should any instances of “well I didn’t know” come up.
  3. Document Everything. While it may seem obvious that things like performance reviews or disciplinary items should be documented, the little things – such as incidents of misconduct or underperformance should be documented as well. This doesn’t need to be burdensome – just a short paragraph that is factual and descriptive. The employee should be made aware of these infractions in writing as well.

Contact us today so we can help you start taking these three steps – we are here and ready to support you!