Employers face a conundrum in 2023: escalating labor costs have combined with historically high inflation to eat into already thin profit margins, yet employee engagement is down in the U.S. for the first time in a decade.
Salary secrecy or the taboo of talking about your compensation among colleagues is slowly falling by the wayside as younger generations embrace pay transparency in the workplace.
The Supreme Court issued a judgment in February that has employers on notice as a 6-3 majority opinion in “Helix Energy Solutions Group v. Hewitt” found that daily-rate workers, no matter their income level, are not exempt from overtime pay unless they are paid on a salary basis as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
In an era of rising inflation and tightening household budgets, it’s surprising that many employees fail to maximize their employee benefits.
In fact, a survey by Voya Financial in 2021 found that 1 in 3 employees do not understand the benefits they selected during the open enrollment, including half of all millennials.
The IRS offers several programs designed to give individuals tax advantages to offset health care costs including health savings accounts (HSAs) and health flexible spending arrangements (FSAs).
“Both a healthcare flexible spending account and a health savings account can cut your taxes and help you save money on medical, dental, vision and other qualified medical expenses. And while they are alike in some ways, each offers different features and benefits,” writes Kemberley Washington in Forbes Advisor.
On the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic the number of urgent care centers in the United States had swelled to more than 9,000 facilities, an increase of 58 percent in just six years as Americans looked for alternative care options between visits to their primary doctor and trips to the emergency room.
While there are no significant employment law changes effective in 2023 from a federal mandate, employers still need to be aware of any legislative changes on state or local levels.
Nationally, no major changes are slated for 2023 with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) still establishing minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector, and in federal, state, and local governments.
A year ago the think tank the Conference Board surveyed American businesses and found that companies-- facing the gauntlet of rising inflation and a historically tight labor market – were setting aside 3.9 percent of their 2022 payroll budgets for employee raises.
Dusting off the year-end HR checklist is a good sign for most small and medium-sized business owners as 2022 has been one of the most challenging years ever and cannot come to an end quickly enough.
“Employers that are considering offering abortion-related benefits, such as out-of-state travel to a jurisdiction where abortion laws are more accommodating, should keep in mind compliance and liability considerations, benefits advisors point out,” reported the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) after Roe was overturned. “Employers that operate in multiple states will also need to navigate a patchwork of different rules affecting abortion coverage, depending on where covered employees and dependents live, work and receive health care.”
