News & Events

Those smoke signals coming from your HR department in 2020 might have been a cry for help during the COVID-19 pandemic or the staff simply burning the company HR handbook. Rest assured your HR handbook is still needed, maybe more than ever in uncertain times, but since March the coronavirus crisis has made a mockery out of “by the book”.

The best HR policies in 2020 were likely found on digital whiteboards and not in binders, because overnight HR had to embrace a new normal which included remote recruiting and onboarding for almost all nonessential workers.

On the top of every HR department’s 2021 New Year’s Resolution list should be a data security review among its remote workforce.

A year ago, for many companies, data security and remote work was not a major issue, but in the last nine months the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally shifted where office work is being done.

It's only been a few weeks since news broke on the SolarWinds hack, but it could take months, and even years, to fully understand the damage done by the sophisticated nation-state cyber attack on the federal government and private companies.
 
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) said the malicious activity poses a grave risk to the federal government.”

Congress is expected to pass today a $900 billion stimulus package to help the nation make it through the winter as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to batter the economy.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in the United States. The government expects an initial 2.9 million doses of the vaccine to be distributed in the coming weeks, and projections suggest that there will be enough vaccine to reach the vast majority of Americans who want to take it by April 2021.

Despite COVID-19 vaccines shipping around the country, 2021 will start with many employees working remotely as pandemic cases and hospitalizations continue to rise.

As the calendar turns in 2021, however, there is hope that American businesses can enter a post pandemic phase and employers are envisioning what “new normal” working conditions will look like.

COVID-19 has fundamentally altered traditional events in 2020 from cancelled Memorial Day picnics to postponed Fourth of July parades to Halloween touchless trick-or-treating.

With new cases in the United States breaking the 100,000-per day mark and infection rates on the rise across all corners of the country, it appears that the pandemic is ready to play Ebenezer Scrooge next month and say “bah humbug!” to the annual workplace holiday gathering.

2020 has certainly been a year of upheaval for business owners, but there is some status quo, especially when it comes to Texas labor laws where there are no new significant changes planned on the state level for 2021.

That means the major components we highlighted for labor laws for Texas in 2020 will still hold true next year, including a minimum wage of $7.25 hour, and compliance by businesses with the Texas Payday Law, which requires exempt employees be paid at least once a month and non-exempt employees receive a minimum of two paychecks per month.

When it comes to the beneficial services professional employer organizations (PEO) can offer your small and medium-sized business, outsourcing tasks like payroll management, tax reporting, and employee relations naturally comes to mind.

PEOs are also offering business owners an insurance lifeline by providing cost-effective and comprehensive healthcare coverage solutions through the offering of Master Health Plans.

America’s small business owners will find it easier to have Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans forgiven under new rules issued by the Small Business Administration and Treasury Department on Oct. 8, 2020.

The PPP was created under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) on March 27, 2020, with a goal to help businesses maintain payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic.