Q3 is the perfect time to review your Company’s human resources practices, do a health check of your employees’ engagement and begin planning for compliance changes effective January 2025. This checklist is meant to guide you through the essential steps to ensure your HR practices are up-to-date and effective.
1. Performance Management – Mid-Year Check-In’s
Whether your performance management cycle calls for a formal mid-year evaluation or not, this is the perfect time of the year to hold mid-year check-ins, either formal or informal, with each employee. Key discussion points during this meeting should include:
- Performance Review: How is the employee doing relative to their goals, key performance indicators (KPIs), and/or other performance evaluation criteria typically used? Do not be afraid to have transparent and honest conversations, especially if there are areas where the employee should focus on improving. Having that conversation now provides the employee with ample time to make the necessary changes to meet the performance expectations before an end-of-year performance review process. Do not forget to also call out key accomplishments and areas where the employee excels. Kudos for a job well done and sharing an employee’s impact on the bottom line or towards the overall company mission and/or strategy builds employee engagement.
- Employee Well-Being: This is also a wonderful time to check in about an employee’s well-being, engagement, career aspirations, and development desires. Consider asking probing questions like the following:
-
- Tell me about your week / month – what has it been like?
- Where do you think I can be most helpful?
- What questions do you have for me about the Company, where we are going and how you fit into that direction?
- Looking at the Company (or your department), are there things we should stop, start, or continue to do and why?
- What overall suggestions do you have for me on being a better manager for you?
- What should I be focused on? Am I focused on the right things?
- How would you describe your overall engagement? Would you recommend the Company to a friend?
- Where do you see yourself in 3 years and how can I help you to achieve those aspirations?
- Are there any developmental activities you would like to have over the next 6-12 months? This could be training, a special project or assignment, or something else.
-
- Update Performance Metrics: This is the perfect time to evaluate key performance metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to ensure they continue to be realistic but also have a stretch or overachievement component to motivate and stretch employees. Also, they may need to be adjusted to ensure they remain aligned with your strategic objectives.
2. Compliance with Employment Laws and Regulations
These summer months and January (more than likely) will bring new employment laws and regulations that you will need to comply with. Here are just a few to consider auditing and ensure you are in compliance with or have a plan to comply with:
- Heat Protection: Like Washington, many states have heat protection rules for outdoor workers, which are aimed to prevent overheating of workers during warm weather. Make sure you comply with your state’s requirements, which can include temperature action levels, cool-down breaks, providing shade, drinking water and when to observe for heat-related illness signs. Read our blog post on keeping your employees safe during summer heat to learn more.
- Wildfire Smoke Protection: Summer brings a greater risk of wildfires and thus, the exposure to smoke for outdoor workers. Make sure you are aware of your state’s requirements related to protecting outdoor workers from wildfire smoke exposure. Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 296-62-085 and 296-820, that went into effect on January 15, 2024, outlines the employer’s requirements associated with monitoring air quality, actions that must be taken and equipment that must be provided to workers to protect them during low air quality times.
- Federal Exempt Status Salary Threshold:
-
- Effective July 1, 2024, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), was amended to increase the salary threshold required for a position to be classified as exempt.
- Effective July 1, 2024, the salary threshold increased to $43,888 and will increase again to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025.
- Starting July 1, 2027, salary thresholds will update every three years, by applying up-to-date wage data to determine new salary levels.
- Lastly, if you are relying on the “highly compensated” rule for a position’s exempt status, that has also increased as part of this amendment.
-
- State Minimum Wage & Exempt Status Salary Thresholds: The first of each year tends to bring increases to state and city minimum wage rates and for states that also have their own FLSA requirements, this is also the time that the state exempt status salary threshold tends to increase. Q3 is the perfect time to start evaluating those positions/workers that will be affected by these changes and identifying the strategy for addressing those issues. As it relates to the salary threshold, there are two options: Increase the salary to meet the threshold (assuming the position still meets the other requirements for being classified as exempt) or reclassify the position as non-exempt (salaried non-exempt or hourly non-exempt). When reclassifying a position, remember to have a strategy for communicating with the employee, review any benefit or policy changes that will be impacted by this change that the employee must be made aware of, and that your time and attendance system is set up for that person to start tracking their time and adhering to state meal and rest breaks.
- Pay Equity Laws: Many states are adopting pay equity laws that prohibit employers from paying employees differently based on gender or other protected classes, such as minorities and people with disabilities. This is a perfect time to look at your compensation structure, not only to make sure that it is competitive with your external market but that there is internal pay equity. This type of analysis can identify areas of opportunity and provide you with time to develop strategies to address areas of risk before your typical merit increase cycle.
3. Employee Engagement and Retention
- Measure Employee Satisfaction: When overall employee engagement is high, there is data that supports turnover is low, talent acquisition tends to be greater and there is a direct correlation to increased productivity and a company’s bottom line. If you do not have a data-driven benchmark for overall employee satisfaction and engagement, now may be the time for you to conduct an employee engagement survey. If you have a benchmark and/or have been monitoring and/or have initiatives to improve the overall employee engagement, it is time to conduct a pulse or check in survey. Regardless of where you are with quantifying and measuring employee engagement, this is a suitable time to evaluate your strategy and tactics. When you think about employee engagement, consider these three areas: Employee Care, Connect, Coach Contribute and Congratulate. These are all areas that are proven to build a motivated and productive workforce.
- Implement Retention Strategies: Review and enhance your employee retention strategies. This could include improving work-life balance, offering competitive and valued benefits, and creating a positive company culture. Retaining top talent is essential for maintaining a competitive edge and ensuring business continuity.
- Update Benefits Offerings: Open enrollment is just around the corner. Consider asking employees their opinion related to the current benefits offerings. Do they value the current benefits package? Is there a benefit they would like the Company to consider offering such as supplemental pet, burial insurance, identity theft protection, ability to purchase additional time off programs, and many more options. Consider also what wellness programs you offer whether that includes onsite vaccine clinics, meal/lunch services like no-host food truck(s) once a week/month, flexible or alternative work schedules, health club, spa or diet program discount(s), sponsorship, or subsidies. Putting the right mix of benefits and perks in place will help to drive employee engagement and not all of them have to blow the Company benefits budget.
4. Workforce Planning, Recruitment and Onboarding
- Workforce Planning: Workforce planning is a systematic process that helps you anticipate and plan for future staffing needs. It involves analyzing and forecasting workforce supply and demand, identifying gaps, and developing plans to meet those needs. The goal is to ensure that you have the right people with the right skills in the right places at the right time to fulfill the Company’s objectives.
- Recruiting: The success of your recruitment efforts impacts the quality of your workforce. Review your current recruitment strategies and identify areas for improvement. Explore new and creative channels or methods for attracting top talent, such as social media recruiting, employee referral programs, high-school, trade school or college recruiting programs, and/or open house (live or virtual) hiring events, just to name a few. Evaluate whether your efforts and actions are providing the desired candidate experience; one that is representative of your company values and culture.
- Evaluate Your Onboarding Processes: A smooth onboarding process that provides the desired new employee experience is crucial for new hire retention, integration, and assimilation. Like your recruiting process, your onboarding program should not only be supportive for new employees, but it should represent and support the Company’s values and desired culture throughout the process. A well-structured onboarding program helps new employees feel welcomed and more likely to quickly become a productive team member. It should also reinforce desired employee behaviors, build a sense of community for the new employee, and engage both the mind and heart of your new employees to build that retention and engagement.
5. HR Policies and Procedures Review, Communicate & Train
- Review HR Policies: Regularly review your HR policies to ensure they are current and compliant with all applicable laws. This includes policies on employee conduct, discrimination, harassment, and other workplace issues. Updating your policies helps protect your company and provides clear guidelines for employees.
- Communicate Policy Changes: Effectively communicating any policy updates to your employees is crucial for ensuring compliance and understanding. It is also important to remind employees of current policies. Too often the Employee Handbook or policies are developed and rolled out initially, but there is no mechanism for reminding employees about critical policies and how to comply with the requirements. One best practice is to have a yearly calendar with policies, procedures, and topics to remind employees about each month. Use multiple communication channels, such as meetings, emails, and the company intranet, to inform and remind employees about policies and procedures.
- Training: The base-line defense to allegations of discrimination, harassment and/or retaliation are to train all employees on your Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment policies. This training should include what is unlawful discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, how to report it when it happens, the Company’s commitment to investigate all complaints and any other expectations outlined in your policies. Incorporating training related to your diversity, inclusion, and equity program(s), as well as unconscious bias and bystander training are ways to reinforce your company culture and commitment to these efforts.
Conducting a review of your human resources programs is essential for maintaining a healthy and compliant organization. By taking these proactive steps, you can ensure that your HR practices are aligned with best practices and compliance standards, as well as promoting employee engagement. Interested in exploring any of the topics listed in this Blog? JB Consulting Systems is here to help with personalized HR consulting services to support all these topics or any other business need you may have.
Fill out this contact form or email us at HRhelp@jbconsultingsystems.com if you’re interested in learning how we can help you achieve your business goals! Let us know what you need help with below.