Hello everyone and welcome back to another “How HR Works” segment, your trusted source for HR industry trends and best practices. As the end of the year is upon us, we are pleased to share our top 10 year-end considerations for HR professionals to keep in mind.
- Compliance Posters
- Employers should audit federal and state compliance posters at least annually
- Visit the US DOL, state agency websites, or work with a labor poster vendor to ensure your posters are up to date
- Some posters also must be obtained by contacting your state unemployment insurance division, or your PFL/DBL insurance carrier
- Handbook Updates
- Partner with HR Works and/or your employment attorney on legal updates or non-legal enhancements to your handbook or company policies for 2023
- HR Works will be assisting our clients with policy updates such as Non-Harassment, Paid Family Leave, Violence in the Workplace, and more
- I-9 Maintenance
- Remove I-9’s of terminated employees from active employees. Shred I-9s that are no longer needed per recordkeeping requirements
- I-9s must be retained for three years from the date of hire or one year from the date of separation, whichever is later
- Tax Withholdings
- Be prepared to provide your employees with their annual federal form W-2 and use the up-to-date federal and state tax withholding forms, once available.
- Minimum wage increases
- Employers should ensure they have reviewed and if appliable, adjust pay rates due to any minimum wage increases under state or local laws
- Employers must post the applicable updated minimum wage poster, when it becomes available.
- Exempt salary threshold increases
- Similarly, employers should ensure they have reviewed and if appliable, adjust any exempt employee’s salaries due to any minimum salary threshold increases under state or local laws
- Leave Administration
- Employers should review their leave administration policies and procedures to ensure they comply with any amendments under state or local law, or any newly implemented leave laws that take effect on January 1, 2023.
- Recommended IRS mileage reimbursement
- Recall that the IRS issued a new reimbursement recommendation of 62.5 cents per mile for the final 6 months of 2022
- This was a special adjustment in recognition of recent gasoline price increases. The IRS normally updates the mileage rates once a year in the fall for the next calendar year.
- As of the date of this recording, there has not been an updated rate released for 2023.
- Keep in mind this rate is a recommendation, not a requirement, but employers should check for state-specific business expense reimbursement laws that may apply.
- Compensation Audits
- As several states have pending and passed legislation around wage disclosure and pay transparency, employers should review compensation practices to ensure that wage ranges for open positions are in line with industry and market data for competitiveness and retention of employees. This should start with job description reviews and updates, or development if they do not already exist.
- Employers in some jurisdictions may need to prepare to include salary ranges in job advertisements as part of their external and internal recruitment processes.
- HR Works provides comprehensive compensation services and expertise, and we would be happy to assist you in this area.
- Performance Reviews and Merit Increases
- For many employers, year-end is the time to coordinate annual performance reviews and determine merit increases.
- Performance reviews should summarize the ongoing performance management that takes place all year round.
- Supervisors and managers should take the time to meet with their employees to celebrate successes, identify opportunities for improvement and growth, and establish new goals for the upcoming year.
Current clients can contact their HR Works partner for assistance with navigating these year-end considerations. Those not yet partnering with HR Works can call 1-877-219-9062, email info@hrworks-inc.com, or visit our website at www.hrworks-inc.com and complete the “Contact Us” form.
Thank you so much for watching and we wish our clients and friends of HR Works a very happy holiday season!
