Early October is that time of year when the first crisp mornings appear like a shimmering mirage of a long, hot summer, and a reminder that 2023 is fast coming to a finish.
And while the Oktoberfest beer steins are still being cleaned and the Halloween candy has yet to be handed out, it’s not too early for business owners to turn their attention to 2024 and the coming new calendar year.
If you thought the remote work debate was heated, wait until you hear about the push for the 32-hour workweek law.
Legislation in California and in Congress would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to reduce the standard workweek from 40 hours to 32 hours for non-exempt employees with employers required to pay overtime compensation to nonexempt employees whose work exceeds 32 hours in a standard workweek.
Small business owners are caught between the proverbial “rock and a hard place” when it comes to crafting workplace policies in a post-pandemic world where employees are demanding flexible work models.
The massive tech worker layoff, which started in 2022 and has extended into 2023, has led to more than 200,000 employees being let go and has many examining its effect on the U.S. job market.
“More than 66,000 workers in U.S.-based tech companies have been laid off in mass job cuts so far in 2023, according to a Crunchbase News tally, and the year is just getting started,” reported Keerthi Vedantam for CrunchBase. “Last year, more than 140,000 jobs were slashed from public and private tech companies as they were forced to confront rising inflation and a tumultuous stock market.”
New Year’s Resolutions are easy to make … and very hard to keep.
In fact, a study a few years ago examined 800 million user-logged activities that showed most people are likely to give up on their New Year’s Resolution by January 19.
“The difficulty of the goal you set isn’t nearly as important as whether or not you develop the kind of habits that allow you to achieve that goal,” wrote Inc. contributing editor Jeff Haden. “Otherwise, you’re just wishing and hoping. Your intentions are great, but unless you develop new habits … your chances for success are basically nonexistent.”
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.
It’s no secret that small business owners must wear many hats from CEO to sales to marketing to HR and all the way down the line to being the warehouse and logistics honcho who knows where the extra toilet paper is stashed.
Sartorial success, however, is often hard to pull off with not every hat a comfortable fit – Texans understand this every time they get a glimpse of any “dollar store cowboy” in an oversized 10-gallon hat.
“It’s a reality that we all deal with as we work to grow our businesses. We have to perform several different functions as effectively as possible. One day you might be working on your marketing plan. The next day, you might be negotiating with vendors. After that, you might find yourself being your own accountant,” Jeff Charles shared in Startup Advice.
Many small and mid-size business (SMB) employers and their employees could use a win these days after more than two years of uncertainty that has included the COVID-19 pandemic, the highest inflation in 40 years, and political and social tumult.
Fortunately for these SMBs there is a win-win solution that is growing exponentially: the outsourcing of HR services to professional employer organizations (PEOs).
Small business owners can be forgiven if they hear the echoes of carnival barkers during these inflationary times:
“Around and around, it goes, where it stops, nobody knows!”
Unlike a “Wheel of Fortune”, however, the current economic climate is more like a “Wheel of Mis-Fortune” for small businesses as rising costs across the board have them in a vice grip with higher prices for goods, raw materials, rent and transportation on one side and escalating salary and benefit demands by employees on the other.
