A couple years ago, Gallup conducted a survey that categorized employee engagement into three levels. The results showed that, in any given organization, 30% of employees are actively engaged in propelling the company along, half of the employees are just coasting on the efforts of the others, and 20% are actively attempting to disrupt progress within the business. Do you know which of your employees fall into which categories? More importantly, do you know how to improve these conditions?

Months into the COVID-19 pandemic, employers are asking questions like how and when is it safe to re-open their organizations. Meanwhile, local governments are working through very confusing phases of re-opening regulations. And as if that's not enough to think about, OSHA updated the rules for employer obligations of reporting COVID-19 as a workplace illness. Lions, and tigers, and bears, OH MY! Could this be anymore overwhelming? In this post, we will attempt to help make sense of some of the latest updates, and we're also offering a free webinar on COVID-19 workplace safety as well as a policy template so that you have two valuable resources to assist your progress in these safety-related tasks.

Many counties are working through the required phases to get people back to work, and that leaves employers trying to figure out how to safely return to the new normal. Employee safety is generally a number one priority for employers. As businesses face post-COVID-19 reopening, following are some key factors to consider:

** This article was originally sent to our Bennett/Porter clients via email on 4/17/2020 **

It's Friday, and the end of another fast-changing week for businesses and their employees. To help you keep up with and respond to events that impact your business, we've put together some helpful notes and notifications.

CAT Tax Webinar

Figuring out how much you owe to the State of Oregon for the new Corporate Activity Tax is not straightforward. And every company who has revenue of more than $1,000,000 per year is required to make estimated tax payments for the new tax that Governor Brown mandated last summer. 

More help brings more questions and new confusion. On March 27, 2020, Congress passed a second round of economic stimulus in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Some of the relief elements contained within this latest act include:

• Paycheck Protection Program Loans
• Additional Unemployment Benefits
• Student Loan Payments Suspension
• Funding for Hospitals, Airlines/Airports, and Food Assistance Programs
• Government Checks to Individuals
• Small Business Debt Relief
• Economic Injury Disaster Loans & Emergency Economic Injury Grants

Here is a closer look at some key aspects.

** This article was originally sent to our Bennett/Porter clients via email on 4/9/2020 **

There has been no shortage of information in the last couple of weeks regarding COVID-19 and the Federal mandate about paying employees who are sick with the virus, have been ordered to stay home to self-quarantine, or have a family member who is affected by the virus and who the employee must take care of. Despite all of the information, there are still many outstanding questions employers are encountering as they administer the processes around this mandate.

** This article was sent to all of our Bennett/Porter clients via email on 4/3/2020 **

As an employer, there is so much information to try to review and absorb right now in regards to the administration of the new regulations around COVID-19. We hope you are looking to us to be your trusted advisor as we continue to provide comprehensive and easy to understand Payroll and HR guidance during this challenging time.

The most common questions we are getting right now are around the obligations to offer Emergency Sick Leave and Emergency Family and Medical Leave (FFCRA) benefits and how to claim the credits for paying those benefits. Following is a summary:

You may have previously considered, or even had plans for, giving your employees the ability to work remotely. Due to the recent social changes in response to COVID-19, those considerations may have accelerated into a necessary reality to keep your business running during this time that we're all supposed to remain at home.

A few days ago, our I.T. Manager, Dionne, published a blog post about the various technologies that you might need to rely on so that your employees can get their work done seamlessly and securely from a remote location. That post addresses how people can stay connected to your organization. But how does your organization stay connected to them...informationally, culturally, practically?

A cloud-based Human Capital Management system offers many built-in solutions to keep your organization aware of your employees' activities and help them stay informed in the face of rapid change. The following features keep everyone working together, even when they're in different places.

Who is dreaming about the days of getting back to a normal version of crazy? You know, kids back in school, too many scheduled social gatherings, a day packed with back-to-back in-person meetings, watercooler talk with co-workers, sporting events to cheer at, too many toilet paper options at the grocery store, and bumper-to-bumper traffic in the morning and afternoon. Okay, maybe not so much the traffic.

These are definitely uncharted times that we are going through. It’s such a strange feeling to take that pause that keeps our family members, friends, co-workers, and even total strangers a little safer by staying distant from them.