This article from Bloomberg highlights an often overlooked employee benefit that most employees hope to never have to use but will ultimately prove to be invaluable in the unfortunate albeit nearly inevitable event that it becomes applicable - bereavement leave. 

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In a resiliently tight labor market, enhanced grief and loss-related offerings are not only a means of differentiation in the competition to attract top talent, they also provide an opportunity to display meaningful support, flexibility, and generosity in a time when those efforts are likely to be appreciated, remembered, and reciprocated by way of loyalty in return.

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Interestingly, the piece included two examples of companies that expanded their bereavement leave policies in response to executives who each had to navigate their company’s earlier bereavement policy in the wake of personal tragedy, found those policies to be lacking to say the least, and were able to embody the case for expanded bereavement leave in a way that clearly resonated. 

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One of those examples was an executive with Johnson & Johnson who unexpectedly lost his teenage son and discovered that the 5 days of PTO the company offered at the time was insufficient to complete the funeral arrangements. 

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Ultimately, after being faced with a first-hand case study that 5 days was simply not enough time for people to adapt to changes in life and family circumstances of this magnitude, Johnson & Johnson increased their number of bereavement leave days from 5 to 30.

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As for outcomes, the executive who lost his son and catalyzed these changes in the first place claims that he’ll “never” leave the company in light of how responsive leadership proved to be when he raised these issues, and the chief human resources officer who ushered the new bereavement policy into effect says that he received more positive feedback for this particular bereavement policy change than for any other HR policy shift he’d seen in his 16 years with the company. 

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Bereavement Leave By The Numbers

Much of the conversation surrounding bereavement leave and potential enhancements to bereavement policies involves 2 questions: How many days of paid time off should be allotted following the death of a loved one, and who qualifies as a loved one? 

• According to Mercer, the average number of days of bereavement PTO offered by US companies is 5 days.
• Currently, only 5% of US companies offer more than 6 days of bereavement leave, although trends indicate that number is likely to grow with about 20% of a group of HR professionals known as the Disability Management Employer Coalition having stated their intent to expand their bereavement policies over the next year.
• One professor with the University of Alberta, Canada who researches grief recommends bereavement policies that allow for 14 days of PTO.
• More than two-thirds of companies that offer bereavement leave have expanded bereavement leave to include extended family members like grandparents and grandchildren.

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Some noteworthy companies that have expanded their bereavement leave policies up to 20 days of PTO include Adobe, American Express, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase.

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You can read more about bereavement policies and the surrounding issues and enhancements here. 

Each month, Mployer collects and presents some of the most relevant and interesting data, information, and insight we've encountered over the past month covering areas related to employee management and human resources. 

Characteristics of High-Performing Teams

A recent survey from Dale Carnegie and Associates collected data from business leaders across more than 2,600 companies in order to better understand some of the underlying attributes and cultural qualities that link top-performing teams.

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The report determined that only about 3 out of 10 teams achieve performance levels that qualify as top tier, and an analysis of the underlying survey data indicates that there are a relatively small number of shared characteristics found among the vast majority of those top-performing teams.

Top 3 Characteristics of Top-Performing Teams

• Clearly-Defined Goals: In order to evaluate team performance in the first place, it is necessary to have concrete expectations for what constitutes the most desirable outcome, the least desirable outcome, and the range in between. With that in mind, it is unsurprising that 85% of top-performing teams make a priority of clearly defining their goals. 

• Daily Interaction: One of the most effective ways to ensure that the moving parts within a time are in alignment, synched up, and operating in a coordinated fashion is to keep lines of communication not just open but active. 81% of top-performing teams report daily interaction among team members.

• Training & Development: To be clear, access to training and development is not exclusive to only the highest performing teams. In fact nearly half of all teams (49%) across the entire range of the performance spectrum conduct at least some training and development as a part of the team-building process. Given that nearly 3 out of 4 (74%) of top-performing teams train and develop as a unit, however, there appears to be a strong correlation between training and development and high-performance work product nonetheless.

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Of course, none of those top-performance-linked factors occur in a vacuum. Daily interaction is only meaningful if the underlying communication is open and productive. Goals can only be clearly-defined if all team-members feel the freedom to question aspects of the goals or how they are to be realized is unclear to them. Not all members of a team must undergo the same training, but all training should be constructed and conducted with the team in mind. 

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Accordingly, for leaders that want to inspire team performance to rise to the next level, communicating with transparency and creating an environment where employees feel psychologically safe and free to creatively collaborate is essential in order to build teams with the necessary adaptability to optimize their performance and grade among the top tier of teams in the world. 

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Top Workplace Trends 

This recent survey from Robert Half highlights some of the major trends that we’ve seen develop and evolve in the workplace over the past year and appear posed to continue shaping the landscape heading into 2024.

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• Bonuses Are Back: Survey responses indicate that nearly all employers will be awarding end-of-year bonuses this year (96%). More than half (54%) claim that the bonuses they distribute this year will be bigger than the bonuses they distributed at the end of 2022, while 37% will distribute bonuses of approximately the same amount as last year. 

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• Work Flexibility Is A Growing Priority: More than 6 out of 10 workers (62%) claimed they would be willing to forgo leaving their current job for a higher paying one at another company if their current job offered greater flexibility. While salary has long been the dominant factor that drives job-related decision-making, the survey authors expect work flexibility to become a close second consideration in the coming year. 

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• Workers Are Optimistic About Generative AI: 2023 will likely be looked upon as the year that generative AI hit its first popular tipping point, and while there is significant uncertainty about how AI will continue change over time as well as how businesses will adapt to and incorporate those changes, more than 4 out of 10 workers (41%) believe that generative AI will have a net positive benefit on their work output and career.

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• Burnout Is High and Requires Targeted Support: Nearly half of all tech professionals (48%) and almost one third of accounting and finance professionals (30%) report feeling burned out and in need of additional help - whether via contract workers or additional hires - in order to meet the demands of the workload. 

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• The Taboo Against Discussing Salaries Amongst Workers Is Dead: While 42% of workers in total reported discussing their salary with coworkers at some point over the previous 12 months, that number nearly doubled (82%) among Gen-Z, indicating the trend is not likely to reverse course at any point in the near future and will further the imperative of maximizing both pay transparency and pay equity in 2024.

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Considerable unknowns remains about how the economic and technological climates will change in the year ahead as well as how the labor market may absorb those shifts, but bigger bonuses, greater work flexibility, additional generative AI utilization, targeted burnout response, and the end of salary secrecy are trends that all seem likely to continue impacting the workplace environment in 2024.

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You can find more content like this on our Mployer blog here.

There are a number of changes to Federal Law - including updated mileage reimbursement rates and workplace safety standards - that took effect when the new year began, January 1st, 2024. 

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• IRS Mileage Reimbursement Rate Increase: The Internal Revenue Service raised the rate at which miles driven for business purposes are reimbursed up to $0.67 per mile for 2024, which is an increase of 1 and a half cents per mile over the 2023 mileage reimbursement rate of $0.65. As a reminder, this reimbursement rate is a recommendation and sets a generalized standard but is not required or enforceable.
• OSHA Electronic Submission Reporting Requirements: In addition to submitting form 300A, firms that have at least 100 employees and operate in industries that have been designated as hazardous must electronically submit data from their injury and illness logs. According to the general submission timeline, submissions regarding incidents that occurred during the calendar year of 2023 will be due on March 2, 2024.
• Minimum Wage Increase for Federal Contractors: For federal contracts that fall under Executive Order 13658, which were entered into on or after January 1, 2015, employees must now be paid a minimum of $12.90 per hour for wage workers and $9.05 per hour for tipped workers. Minimum wage for employees servicing contracts that fall under Executive Order 14026, which were entered into on or after January 30, 2022, is now set at $17.20 per hour for all employees, and contractors are no longer permitted to pay a lower rate to tipped workers under contracts governed by this Order. You can click here for an additional resource from the Department of Labor to help differentiate and distinguish between federal contracts that fall under Executive Order 13658 and Executive Order 14026.

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You can find additional information about the new IRS mileage reimbursement rate changes, OSHA electronic submission requirements, and minimum wage increases for federal contractors, including frequently asked questions about Executive Order 13658 and Executive Order 14026, in the embedded links. 

Each month, Mployer collects and presents some of the most relevant and most pressing recent changes in law, compliance, and policy in areas related to employee benefits, health care, and human resources. 

Secure Act 2.0 Takes Effect January 1, 2024

The Secure Act 2.0, which was signed into law in the closing days of 2022 and will take effect at the beginning of the new year, ushers in some sweeping changes to retirement planning and savings administration in the US, including: 

• Mandatory 401k Enrollment: Most companies with more than 10 employees that have been in operation for at least 3 years will be required to automatically enroll employees into their 401k plan with between 3% and 10% automatic contributions. There’s also a tax credit available for many companies to cover the additional administrative burden of automatic enrollment.
• Starter 401ks With No Employer Match Requirement: The expense of matching employee contributions has deprived many employees over the years of the benefits of having a 401k account even in the absence of matching employer contributions, which should no longer be an issue under the new law. 
• Increased Catch-up Contributions: The amount of annual contributions that employees can begin putting into their 401ks at age 50 is being increased by 50% from $6,500 to $10,000, and that limit is now indexed to inflation to ensure it keeps up with the cost of living.
• Increased Emergency Savings Account Flexibility: Despite more than 4 in 10 US workers expressing a desire to be automatically enrolled in an emergency savings account program through their employer, only about 1 in 10 employers offered such an opportunity as of 2022. The Secure Act increases the flexibility and ease with which employers can now offer such account via withholding as much as 3% of opting-in employees’ paychecks up to $2,500 to be placed into said emergency savings accounts, from which employees can then withdraw their money untaxed up to four times a year with no penalties whatsoever. 

Employees vs. Independent Contractors

The Internal Revenue Service recently released an information letter that clarifies the primary factors that determine whether a given worker should be properly classified as an employee or as an independent contractor for tax purposes. 

When making this determination, the main consideration is how much control and autonomy does the worker have in doing the job, which can be analyzed in light of three primary factors: 

• Behavioral Control: The main question to ask when assessing whether a worker is subject to the behavioral controls of a supervisor and should therefore rightly be classified as an employee is whether or not the recipient of the worker’s services has the right to control or direct how the work is done. Providing the worker with training or instructions on how to complete the required task and/or providing an evaluation of the worker’s performance or an evaluation of the work itself upon completion might all be indicative that the worker should be classified as an employee.

• Financial Control: Whether the recipient of the worker’s services has control over the financial aspects of the job is another important consideration when assessing employment status. For example, some good questions to ask are how was the method of paying the worker determined, has the worker made a significant investment in order to complete the work (as well as if/how reimbursements were involved), and is there an opportunity for the worker to profit or incur a net loss as a result of their work. 

• Relationship Between Worker and Work Recipient: The relationship between the parties is not only determined by their agreements and contracts, but also by their other actions with respect both to the work and to each other. How each party represents the nature of their relationship to others - including other employees and/or contractors -  can also factor into the determination, in addition to whether or not the worker offers similar services more broadly to the market in general.

The IRS also noted that while it can not make determinations as to whether or not a prospective employee would properly be classified as an employee or independent contractor, the IRS will issue a letter ruling on prior employment status which can then be applied to all other workers engaged under substantially similar circumstances. 

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Workplace Psychological Abuse Regulations

Supporters want to see the Workplace Psychological Safety Act become the new template across the country for how psychological abuse is reported, managed, and prevented at work.

Unlike many current laws addressing workplace harassment, the Workplace Psychological Safety Act has no requirement that ties the bullying behavior to protected status on the part of the victim, thus removing one of the major obstacles to complaint filing and dispute resolution. 

The model legislation requires employers to: 

• Promptly investigate complaints of workplace psychological abuse;
• Implement policies aimed at combating abuse; and
• Submit diversity metrics and abuse reports quarterly, which will then be made available via public search in an effort to increase transparency and incentivize compliance.

The model legislation also enables victims of on-the-job psychological abuse to :

• Request internal investigations by their employers in order to circumvent some of the red tape that can sometimes bog down investigations conducted by state agencies; and
• Sue employers for failing to adequately address the abuse in accordance with the law. 

While the Act has yet to be enacted by any state legislature, the momentum is clearly building, having already cleared the Senate in Rhode Island, with an anticipated imminent introduction in New York, and much outward signaling of support inside the Massachusetts statehouse, as well.

Many business leaders and office-building owners alike had hoped that 2023 would be the year of the great return-to-office push, but in fact the opposite has occurred, often in part because of an underestimated amount of pushback that employees have displayed in response to those efforts to lessen or end altogether the flexible work arrangements to which they had become accustomed.

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This article from Fortune, however, highlights another factor that has worked in conjunction with employee pushback to keep the momentum heavily on the side of increased work flexibility - potential investors and company shareholder support.

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According to the article, well-executed work from home (WFH) programs and other flexible work arrangements have become keen areas of interest that investors are taking into consideration when evaluating companies, and not just because of the financial benefits that can be mined from optimized scheduling and minimized square footage requirements. 

Work From Home In 2023

At the start of 2023, just over half (51%) of companies offered some kind of WFH or flexible scheduling option, but that figure jumped more than 10% to 62% by the end of the year.

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As 2023 comes to a close, only about 38% of companies currently require full-time office work for all employees. Meanwhile, 93% of start-up companies offer flexible work options, further underscoring the degree to which the work-from-home arrangements have grown beyond their pandemic roots. 

What Are Some Advantages of Work From Home and Schedule Flexibility?

One of the reasons that investors are paying attention to companies that have figured out how to properly design and execute these kinds of policies is because of the direct benefits that a company can obtain as a result. Some of those benefits are:

• Faster company growth, not just in terms of cost savings and revenue growth but also market share growth and an increased ability to innovate;
• Better ability to attract a diverse talent pool;
• Enhanced engagement and boosted morale, which in turn lead to improvements in other areas ranging from increased productivity and job satisfaction to amplified creativity; and
• Improved talent retention 

It’s worth noting that in order for the benefits of work from home and flex scheduling to be attained, those policies must both be clearly outlined by the employers so that there is little to no gray area about work expectations or how those policies are enforced, and the policies must also have achieved significant buy-in from the employees. After all, regardless of what the policy states, if the employees aren’t happy with their situation, then there won’t be much gained in terms of morale, retention, talent attraction, or improved productivity. 

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Accordingly, those same principles are two of the most important factors that investors are considering when evaluating the long-term prospects for success of a company’s WFH and flexible scheduling programs:

• Clarity of policy; and
• Degree of employee buy-in

To be clear, however, when investors size-up companies’ work-from-home and flex scheduling arrangements that are clearly mapped out and have successfully attained the widespread buy-in of the employees, those investors don’t simply see improved growth, retention, engagement, and other advantages that benefit the bottom line, they also see a company as a whole that is prepared to adapt and thrive in an evolving marketplace, which highlights the potential for sustainable growth over time as the business landscape continues to shift.

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Given the foothold that WFH and flexible schedule arrangements have secured across a wide variety of industries and the tailwinds provided by investor and shareholder support, WFH and flex scheduling have likely not hit their peak yet. As a result, forward-thinking leadership would be wise to let go of the outdated perspectives and biases toward the status quo that constitute most of the remaining hurdles preventing these kinds of policies from reaching their potential in ways that benefit employees, owners, and managers alike.

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You can read more about how investors and shareholders are helping the sales of Work From Home and Schedule Flexibility here.

Even as the job market cools somewhat, competition for talent remains tight and employee benefits offerings continue to occupy an increasingly prominent position in compensation packages. 

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While the advantages to employers for updating and upgrading their benefits and perks are clear - including a potential 43% reduction in turnover and an 18% increase in both profitability and productivity - the challenge of providing benefits that meet employees’ needs becomes all the more difficult in the midst of a generational shift in how employees view benefits and which ones they most prioritize.

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Some of the generational divergence is the result of practical considerations related to the fact that different generations are currently experiencing different points in their life cycles and often have very different goals and benefits needs.

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For example, given that college has only gotten more expensive over time and given that older workers on average have paid off more of their tuition debt than younger workers, it is not surprising that benefits related student loans are less in-demand among Gen X employees, 20% of whom list student loan repayment as the top employee benefit, than Millennial and Gen Z workers, 27% and 34% of whom do so, respectively. Among workers aged 18 to 24, 39% put student loan repayment at the top of their ideal benefits list.

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Similarly, older workers tend to prioritize retirement-related benefits more so than younger workers do, with 401k matching ranking as the number 2 benefit priority among workers across all demographics with one exception - workers aged 18 to 24. 

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Other discrepancies between generations, however, seem to indicate a shift in opinion that goes beyond simply reflecting the different stages of life in which each generation currently finds itself. 

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For example, although fully-paid healthcare premiums was the number 1 employee benefit listed by the majority of survey respondents, with 51% of all respondents listing it as their top priority, the proportion of Gen Z respondents that put fully-paid healthcare premiums on the top of their list of employee benefit priorities was actually slightly lower than those who listed free food at the top of their list, at 41% and 42%, respectively.

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For context, the percentage of Gen X respondents that listed free food as their top priority is 21% while the percentage of Millennials that did the same is 29%.

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Free food aside, even with intergenerational differences of opinion, many opportunities remain for employers to both add additional flexibility and customization to their benefits packages in order to to seek out the common ground where the Venn diagram circles for each generation overlap. 

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For example, despite the popularity of fully-paid health insurance premiums across generations, the number of firms offering this benefit has been dropping dramatically in recent decades, with 34% of the Fortune 100 companies offering it in 2001, down to 9% in 2017 and just 1% as of 2023, which represents a significant edge for employers who can better meet this need of growing consensus. 

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You can read more about the survey from which this data was taken as well as the different perspectives that each generation brings to the workplace and benefits conversation here.