Next Going PRO Training Grant Application Period Opens October 1^: Many of ASE’s members take advantage of the Going PRO Talent Fund each year. This is state grant money available to employers for employee training. In addition to skill-based training, this grant money can be used for some of ASE’s most popular supervisory and leadership courses.

Resume gaps still problematic:  Resume gaps may no longer carry the same stigma they once did, but they are not entirely free from negative impacts on hiring and compensation, according to research by Harvard Business School professor Boris Groysberg and Oberlin College associate professor Eric Lin.

Four-year degrees still worthwhile: The number of good jobs will grow substantially by 2031, and the majority of them will require at least a four-year degree, Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce predicted in a new report.

Is your Canadian operation ready for the Equal Pay Act requirements? On Aug. 31, 2021, following the enaction of the federal Pay Equity Act, federally regulated employers with 10 or more employees had three years to develop their pay equity plans. This time frame is now coming to an end.

Paid time off a must have for workers: Paid time off and competitive pay have emerged as the top "must-haves" in workplaces across the world, according to employees and students. Kellanova's poll among 3,500 respondents from six countries revealed that at least three in five of them want paid time off (64%), as well as competitive pay (60%) to be offered by their employers.

It’s VETS 4212 season for federal contractors: All federal contractors and subcontractors with a government contract in the amount of $150,000 or more are required to file the VETS-4212 report by the September 30 deadline. For more information, go to VETS-4212 Federal Contractor Reporting | U.S. Department of Labor (dol.gov). 

USCIS extends I-9 expiration date:  U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification to extend the expiration date to 05/31/2027.  Employers must use Form I-9 with the edition date of 08/1/23, which may have an expiration date of either 07/31/2026 or 05/31/2027.

Employers expected to enhance, not diminish, health benefits in 2025: Despite higher health care cost trends, the majority of employers will not cut health benefits in 2025, and many will make enhancements to their programs, although they may be doing so more selectively than in past years, according to recent research from Mercer.

Are you monitoring your employees? The share of companies using some kind of electronic worker-surveillance system surged during the pandemic, reaching nearly 50% in 2023, according to a survey of nearly 300 medium to large employers by research and advisory firm Gartner.

Nearly half of HR are new employees:  According to a new Paycor survey, nearly half (46%) of HR professionals have been in their roles for two years or less. To counteract recent hire turnover, smart companies will invest in an extended, more robust onboarding experience and best-in-class HR and talent tools.

Recognizing employees is a powerful tool: The number of "shadow contributors" in the workplace has nearly doubled in the last two years, prompting concerns about how HR leaders manage their recognition programs in their organizations.

Are you lonely at work? At least 20% of workers report so: Globally, one in five employees report experiencing loneliness a lot the previous day according to Gallup’s new State of the Global Workplace: 2024 Report. 

New York requires 30-minute paid lactation leave: Effective June 19, 2024, New York employers will be required to provide up to 30 minutes of paid lactation breaks to employees each time an employee has a reasonable need to express breast milk at work.

Blue Cross Blue Shield dropping GLP-1 coverage:  Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan will no longer cover GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Wegovy, Zepbound and Saxenda.  The change comes as the cost for the drug skyrocketed, according to the health insurer. 

 If you are hiring for remote IT jobs, do a real background check: North Korean IT workers are posing as Americans to score coveted remote jobs and use the salaries to pay for their country's missile program.  Remote hiring practices have made it dangerously easy for North Korean IT workers to dupe hiring managers who historically had relied on in-person interviews to detect imposters.

Hopefully you filed your EEO-1 report:  The EEO-1 tool initial closure date was June 4^th.  The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a spate of lawsuits (15) last week against hospitality, transportation, food service, and construction companies across the country, alleging they've shirked their legal responsibility to report demographic data about their employees for several years.

Is your employer worried about government regulatory power?  Many are:  Almost three-quarters of U.S. employers share great concern over the impact that the U.S. Department of Labor's and the National Labor Relations Board's enforcement actions will have on their businesses, according to a survey from Littler Mendelson PC.

AI officially cited as causing job losses:  Nearly 65,000 people were cut from their jobs at U.S. based companies in April according to a report released Thursday by career services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Continued cuts in the technology sector, a large layoff at Tesla, and the replacement of jobs by artificial intelligence largely to blame.

Could the FLSA regulations be delayed? Unlikely, but in a letter sent to Jessica Looman, Wage and Hour Division Administrator, the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity (PPWO), along with 87 other organizations, the agency was asked to delay to at least September 1, 2024, implementation of the first minimum salary threshold increase applicable under the final rule published on April 26, 2024 that alters the overtime regulations under the FLSA.

Salary budget to come in at 3.6% per Mercer: Employers trimmed the average increase in salary budgets this year to 3.6% from projections in November of 3.8% as they saw more stability compared with the job churning during the pandemic period’s “Great Resignation,” Mercer said. 

Will AI rule the hiring process?  A Zippia survey of senior HR professionals found 96% predict AI will improve talent acquisition. AI can sort through hundreds of applicants in minutes and match skill sets, education, and experience.

Employee engagement at its lowest level since 2013:  Last year, Gallup found U.S. employees were increasingly detached from their employers, with the workforce reporting less role clarity, lower satisfaction with their organizations, and less connection to their companies’ mission or purpose.

Are wellness plans worth the investment?  According to a recent study the answer is yes.  Gympass surveyed over 2,000 benefit leaders to answer this very question, and a majority said yes. In fact, 90% of companies believe they see a positive return on their wellness benefits, 85% said their wellness programs decreased the cost of recruitment and retention and 78% reported that their benefits saved them money on healthcare. Any investment in well-being, whether mental health,...

Employer violates pregnancy act by not providing accommodation for employee who later miscarried: One employer did not want to continue providing accommodations to a pregnant employee, and it was a game changer.  According to the EEOC's lawsuit, “[the employer] violated federal law when one of its stores ... 

Speaking only Japanese in meetings not discriminatory:  In Kurtanidze v. Mizuho Bank, Ltd., 2024 WL 117180 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 13, 2024), the plaintiff was a Caucasian male of European descent who was employed for three months in the defendant bank’s New York branch. After his employment was terminated, he sued, claiming, among other things, that the bank discriminated against non-Japanese employees based on race and national origin.