by admin | Apr 18, 2019 | Health & Wellness
Spring is here! That means it’s time to ditch those Winter layers, and even that excess Winter weight. No matter what your current fitness level, Spring is a great time to refocus your habits and spruce up your routine.
Get a Check Up or a Physical
Before starting any new fitness regimen, it’s a good idea to check with your doctor. Your medical professional will be able to assess any potential risks associated with starting a new fitness routine and may advise you on the types of activities you should try or avoid. For example, if you suffer from low back pain, your doctor can suggest the types of activities that will strengthen your muscles without extra risk of injury, and they may even suggest avoiding certain types of workouts.
Hit the Trails
If you enjoy walking, jogging, or biking, it’s time to take your workouts into the great outdoors. Indoor workouts are convenient, not to mention climate controlled, but it’s time to take advantage of the Spring weather and enjoy those activities out of doors for a nice change of pace. While you’re at it, change your pace! Try increasing your speed or adding in some hills and add the extra challenge your current fitness level.
Sign Up for a Race
Spring is a great time to walk, jog, or run in a charity race. Whether it’s a cause close to your heart, or an event close to home, there are lots of 5K’s and fun-runs to choose from. Try searching on Facebook events for upcoming races. Sometimes the simple act of paying a registration can be all the motivation needed to get your running or walking back on track–figuratively and literally.
Join a Local Team
All work and no play can make for a very boring fitness routine. Try joining a local recreational sports league. Check with your local parks and recreation office for adult leagues. It can be a great way to get fit while making new friends. Soccer, softball, volleyball and even dodgeball are common. If you can find coworkers to join you, consider starting an office team of your own. Bragging rights can be very effective motivational tools!
Start a Fitness Challenge at Work
Start a sports team isn’t the only way to get the office involved. Consider starting an office fitness challenge. It could be something as simple as a “30-Day Water Challenge” or a “Biggest Loser” weight loss contest. The most important part of a fitness challenge at work is the opportunity to motivate one another, to challenge one another, and even to hold each other accountable.
Spring is a new season! Make a fresh start by setting new fitness goals. Keep in mind that fitness isn’t one-size-fits-all. Start by assessing your current fitness level, consult a medical professional as needed, and set realistic goals for improvement. From there, the possibilities are endless.
by admin | Apr 12, 2019 | Compliance, Employee Benefits
Summer internships offer students opportunities to gain real-world experience and hands-on career development. Conversely, internship programs give employers access to highly motivated and educated young workers and give junior managers more experience training and supervising. There are benefits for everyone involved.
However, there are some people risks that many employers overlook. One of the largest issues is determining what interns should be paid – or not paid.
The Department of Labor issued new guidance on January 5, 2018, that gives employers more flexibility in deciding whether to pay interns. A seven-criteria test is now used to determine if an internship may be unpaid, but the biggest change is that not all factors need to be met – no single factor is decisive, and the determination is made on the unique circumstances of each case.
If the job training program primarily provides professional experience that furthers a student’s educational goals, a student may not be considered an employee entitled to compensation. However, if students are doing work usually done by employees and are not receiving training and close mentoring, they should be paid wages. If there is any doubt, the best approach is to pay the student.
4 Reasons to Pay Interns
However, while it’s now legally permissible to classify more interns as unpaid, there are still compelling reasons to pay interns even when the internship does meet the criteria for unpaid status.
Unpaid internships tend to exclude students from lower- and middle-income backgrounds, who cannot afford not to work at paid jobs during the summer. In addition, they may need to pay up to several thousand dollars for course credit, in addition to coming up with funds for housing, clothing, and transportation related to the internship. This can put internships out of reach for some of the students who can benefit from them the most.
Unpaid internships may devalue the work paid employees are doing. After all, interns are working alongside regular employees — often doing some of the same tasks — and not being compensated for that work. This may send the message to employees that their work, or time, is not valued.
Unpaid internships can create a negative impression of your company. Customers or the community may see you as taking advantage of these students, which is not the message you want to portray. It’s a good community relations move to offer youth paid opportunities.
The work the unpaid intern is doing may actually be work that should be compensable. Improperly classifying an internship and not paying the student could result in wage claims that include back pay, penalties, and fines. To mitigate those risks, once again, the best approach is to pay the student.
Hiring summer students is a great way to help youth learn what it takes to be successful in business while helping employers get special projects completed. Plan ahead and structure your program so that your summer internship program is a great experience for everyone.
by Rachel Sobel
Originally posted on ThinkHR.com
by admin | Apr 4, 2019 | ACA
On June 19, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published Frequently Asked Questions About Association Health Plans (AHPs) and issued a final rule that broadens the definition of “employer” and the provisions under which an employer group or association may be treated as an “employer” sponsor of a single multiple-employer employee welfare benefit plan and group health plan under Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
The final rule is intended to facilitate adoption and administration of AHPs and expand health coverage access to employees of small employers and certain self-employed individuals. Generally, it does this in four main ways:
- It relaxes the requirement that group or association members share a common interest, as long as they operate in a common geographic area.
- It confirms that groups or associations whose members operate in the same trade, industry, line of business, or profession can sponsor AHPs, regardless of geographic distribution.
- It clarifies the existing requirement that groups or associations sponsoring AHPs must have at least one substantial business purpose unrelated to providing health coverage or other employee benefits.
- It permits AHPs that meet the final rule’s new requirements to enroll working owners who do not have employees.
The final rule was effective on August 20, 2018.
The final rule applied to fully insured AHPs on September 1, 2018, to existing self-funded AHPs on January 1, 2019, and to new self-funded AHPs formed under this final rule on April 1, 2019.
The DOL used a staggered approach to implement this final rule so states and state insurance regulators would have time to tailor their regulations to the final rule and address a range of oversight and compliance assistance issues, especially concerns about self-funded AHPs’ vulnerability to financial mismanagement and abuse.
On March 28, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Court) found that the DOL’s final rule exceeded the statutory authority delegated by Congress under ERISA and that the final rule unlawfully expands ERISA’s scope. In particular, the Court found the final rule’s provisions – defining “employer” to include associations of disparate employers and expanding membership in these associations to include working owners without employees – are unlawful and must be set aside.
The Court’s order vacates the specific provisions of the DOL’s final rule regarding “bona fide group or association of employers,” “commonality of interest,” and “dual treatment of working owners as employers and employees.” The Court order sends the final rule back to the DOL to consider how the final rule’s severability provision affects the final rule’s remaining portions.
The Court’s order does not affect employers who formed AHPs under the DOL’s previous guidance regarding the definition of “employer.” Both existing and new employer groups or associations that meet the DOL’s pre-rule guidance can continue to sponsor an AHP.
This order stops employers from sponsoring new self-funded AHPs under the final rule beginning on April 1, 2019.
For an employer that relies on the final rule’s expanded definition of “employer” to currently sponsor a fully insured AHP or existing self-funded AHP, the employer should consult with its attorney as soon as possible. If the employer can meet the DOL’s pre-rule guidance, then it can continue to sponsor an AHP.
However, if the employer cannot meet the DOL’s pre-rule guidance, then the employer should consult with its attorney to determine whether it can amend its structure and plan document to meet the DOL’s pre-rule guidance. If it cannot meet the DOL’s pre-rule guidance through plan amendment, then the employer should consult with its attorny on how to proceed because the AHP will no longer qualify as an ERISA plan and may be subject to the ACA’s individual market and small group market rule as well as state regulation.
Although the DOL issued Questions and Answers after the Court’s decision, the DOL has not indicated how it will proceed. The DOL could revise its final rule or could appeal the decision and request that the Court stay its decision pending the appeal. Employers in AHPs should keep apprised of future developments in this case.
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by admin | Mar 26, 2019 | Health & Wellness
As schedules continue to get more and more packed with work, health, and personal responsibilities, prioritizing and organizing our lives becomes increasingly crucial. When you look at your daily to-do list, some tasks are obviously more important than others, but the significance of other tasks may be less apparent. Automating certain things, like paying bills, is a no-brainer, but there are other areas of our lives that can benefit from automation as well. Consider the benefits of taking automation beyond your Netflix subscription renewal to other important parts of your daily life.
Automate Your Finances
So many of us have automatic drafts for various accounts that we don’t even bat an eyelash at automating our finances. But think about those other bills stacking up on your desk. Have you ever forgotten to pay a utility bill only to discover the lights don’t come on when you get home from work? Automate your finances by setting up payments for everything from utilities to credit cards. If you give out of the generous pocket of your heart, you can even set up autopayments for donations to your favorite charities. And don’t miss out on the regular deposit you make into your 401k at work. If your company matches your contributions, make sure you automatically deposit the amount that they agree to match so that you are maxing out this benefit. Not only do you avoid late fees and added charges, but you gain the peace of mind that comes from planning ahead.
Automate Your Health
Few things in life are more important than our physical health, but so many of us put off taking care of ourselves. Be proactive and schedule tasks related to your health. Get your annual physical and annual dental exams on the calendar early in the year. Women need to schedule their routine breast cancer exam, and doctors recommend everyone 50 years and older, having routine colon cancer screening. By automating these health exams, you aid in early detection of diseases and reduce the impact should concerns arise.
In addition to annual health exams, you can schedule your family’s weekly meals. Planning out your menu of meals for the week saves time in deciding what to fix as well as time running to the grocery store for just one meal’s ingredients. Having a meal-prep day can be a weekly task that may end up saving you time in the kitchen every single day of the week. If planning and cooking aren’t things you enjoy, consider a meal kit service that delivers all the ingredients, recipes, and instructions to your door. There’s a meal kit service for every palate imaginable from vegan to kid-friendly to family style!
Automate Your Relationships
The most important part of our lives is whom we spend them with, so automating time with people is a great way to make them a priority in your schedule. Try starting each new month by looking at your calendar and planning relationship-building time. For instance, once a month schedule date night with your spouse. Book the babysitter, make a reservation, or whatever you both enjoy. You’ll have the added bonus of anticipating the fun, plus the ability to plan around what really matters rather than trying to “fit it in” after the fact. Maybe once a month, or every other month, you plan a girls’ night or get together with the guys every Monday to watch the football game. If you’re a parent, try scheduling one-on-one time with each of your kids.
Don’t stop there, though. Schedule a set time each week or month where you unplug from electronics and do something you enjoy. Read, spend time outdoors, take a class. When you automate investing in your relationships—with yourself and others—you are able to prioritize how you spend your extra time each day. You’ll also re-evaluate which relationships are truly important to you so that you can give them the time they deserve.
Automating your life doesn’t mean that you are stuck to a strict schedule with every minute accounted for or planned out. Instead, it means that you are looking at the things that hold the most value to you and devoting the time and resources you desire to make that part of your life healthy. Whether it’s finances, health, or relationships, you can save time and money and build stronger connections by adding simple automations to your life. Now get your calendar and computer out and automate what you appreciate!
by admin | Mar 20, 2019 | Compliance, Human Resources
Even when you proactively anticipate all the people risks that have the potential to impact your workplace, it’s easy to convince yourself there is no risk to you — that it will never happen here.
You may think no one at your workplace will harass anyone, no one will sue you over an honest mistake made in administering workers’ comp, no one will accidentally cause a data breach, or no one will ever bring a weapon to the office. You might think managing people risk is extremely time consuming and not worth the effort. Rationalizations like this may lead you to believe you don’t need to do anything to prevent these risks.
However, these risks are very real and can happen anywhere, at any time. It’s imperative you cover all of your bases, and it’s actually very straightforward, especially if you have a partner on your side.
Ideally, you will integrate people risk management (PRM) with your business practices so it’s not something extra to do; it’s a way of doing things you already do. PRM can be a lens through which you look through when evaluating your policies, procedures, and other aspects of how you run your company.
Acknowledging and Preventing Risk: A Four-Step Plan
When you are anticipating risk, you are thinking about what might happen. Then you need to look at what you should do when something actually happens and it’s time to acknowledge the risk.
Maybe a law passes or regulation is finalized, you realize your pay policies are not in compliance with the law, or an employee informs you they have been prescribed medical marijuana but you have a very strict drug use policy. What tools to do you have to deal with that?
Once you acknowledge the risks inherent in these issues, there are four steps to putting a plan of action into place to prevent the risks from causing damage to your company’s bottom line, its reputation, or to its level of employee engagement:
- Understand when and how the risk will impact you. If it’s a law or regulation, when does it go into effect? Is it an ongoing issue or something that can be addressed and then set aside? What are the potential penalties or pitfalls presented by the risk?
- Determine the best course of action. Does the situation require simple changes to operations or a more complicated approach? Where do changes need to be implemented — in handbook policy updates, procedural documentation, or new training programs?
- Craft communication strategies around the risk. Who needs to know what, and how much information should be given to people at each level? What information should be held back to preserve confidentiality? What information is only relevant to a handful of people (such as when an OSHA report is due) and what information is relevant to everyone (such as who needs sexual harassment training in your state)?
- Decide what change management activities are required to get buy-in. It’s one thing to decide to do something but getting people ready to embrace the change is another thing. If change management is good, then the changes will take hold, the implementation will be smooth, and the risks will be lower.
by Larry Dunivan, CEO of ThinkHR
Originally posted on ThinkHR.com
