FAR Pay Transparency Rule is dead: The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR) withdrew a pending rule barring federal contractors from considering a job applicant's salary history, to focus on other priorities in the waning days of the Biden administration.  According to the proposed rule, removing salary history disclosure requirements attracts a wider pool of candidates to apply for jobs, on average.

IRS mileage rate increases to $.70 per mile:  The Internal Revenue Service announced that the optional standard mileage rate for automobiles driven for business will increase by 3 cents in 2025, while the mileage rates for vehicles used for other purposes will remain unchanged from 2024.

EAD renewal extension has been increased to 540 days: A final rule by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) permanently increases the automatic extension period for expiring employment authorization and/or employment authorization documents (Forms I-766 or EADs) for certain renewal applicants. The finalization of this rule makes permanent a recent temporary rule and helps prevent eligible renewal EAD applicants from experiencing a...

AI to make organizations more diamond-shaped: As generative AI begins taking hold in business, who does what work and how organizations will be structured will inevitably change, particularly at the leadership and management levels, according to a new survey from Capgemini in which 1,500 managers from 500 organizations and 15 countries participated. 

Engineers are scarce:  Nearly a million engineering roles were advertised across the country in August, according to RS, a product and service provider for industrial customers, placing engineering among the top ten most in-demand professions. But the profession has a dearth of new, incoming talent.

Gen Zers want more training opportunities: According to new research from Udemy, a workforce training platform, based on responses from more than 6,500 multigenerational workers, 65% of Gen Z are highly motivated by professional development, besting millennials and Gen X. The rise of generative AI has caused Gen Z to get serious about upskilling, underscoring their professional drive.

How much time do you waste in a week? Organizations are losing an average of $15,138.03 per employee annually due to unnecessary tasks, according to a new report from Wrike.

Managing pay range reporting in job postings: Employers need to be careful about their job advertisements on third-party platforms as state pay range laws take different approaches to liability for such postings.

Manufacturing labor shortages persist: Despite increases in revenue and employee productivity, U.S. manufacturers are reporting recruitment and retention challenges heading into the final quarter of 2024, according to an Oct. 3 report from UKG.

Daylight Savings Time ends November 3: When clocks are turned back an hour in the early morning on November 3rd workers on the midnight shift at that time will actually work an extra hour. Assuming that these workers are nonexempt employees, meaning that they are governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), they must be paid for all hours worked.

Help employ military spouses: The U.S. Department of Defense launched the Military Spouse Career Accelerator Pilot, or MSCAP, program in 2023, where spouses are matched with participating companies, and DOD pays the salaries of the spouses during the 12 weeks.  The hope is that companies will hire them full-time as a result of the fellowship, but there’s no guarantee.

Fertility benefits becoming a must for employees:  According to a recent survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, 42% of U.S. employers polled offered fertility-related benefits in 2024, up from 30% in 2020. 

Workplace appreciation could be improved: With only half (49%) of employees feeling regularly appreciated for being themselves at work, there's a major opportunity for organizations to create a true culture of appreciation, according to a recent Reward Gateway report which polled 1,000 employees, managers, and executives in the U.S.  Among employees who do not regularly feel appreciated at work, they would like their workplace to show appreciation for them as a person by offering...

Do managers fake it? A new report from Workhuman was conducted among 3,000 full-time employees in the U.S., U.K., and Ireland.  It discovered that 48% of managers felt that faking productivity is a common issue on their teams — but 67% of non-managers denied faking productivity at work.

More people want to switch jobs:  The July 2024 SCE Labor Market Survey revealed that the rate of employees transitioning to a new employer has reached its highest level since the survey began, with 7.1% of employed respondents moving to different jobs, up from 5.3% in July 2023.  This increase in job switching is largely driven by women, according to the New York Fed. The proportion of job seekers has also surged, with 28.4% of respondents looking for a job in the past four weeks,...

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.