Stemming blue collar terminations: The latest data release on employment from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that the Great Resignation may have finally slowed down in some so-called knowledge-working industries. However, the trend was still evident in many blue-collar industries. “It’s no surprise that blue-collar workers are continuing their exodus while office workers have quickly realized the grass probably isn’t greener,” said Leslie Tarnacki, global CHRO for WorkForce Software. She argued the findings proved that if employees were handed the flexibility, autonomy, and “proper tools to fulfill their roles efficiently,” they were “far more likely” to stay with their organizations.  But employees leaving is still an issue for manufacturing.  Just trying to keep up with internal demand leaves less time to focus on retention programs.  Flexibility is seen as an unequal program with office employees allowed, but little flexibility is given to those in the plant.  Employers need to think about if one benefit is not granted to all, how should they “make up for the loss” of flexibility for these employees?  To gather intelligence, exit interviews are a key source for information as well as various surveys such as ASE’s compensation and policy surveys.  A band aid approach will not work in the long run.  Source:  Worklife 4/25/23

Do you waste money on employee awards? Employers spend $242 billion dollars per year on corporate gifting, according to retail and technology data insights platform Coresight Research. But 40% of corporate gifts — including hoodies, mugs, plastic trinkets like lanyards and sunglasses — are unwanted and usually end up in the trash and landfills, according to ING. It has also been found that it’s not the gift but the intentions behind the gift that matters to employees.  "It's not what you give, it's how you give," says MK Getler, chief marketing officer at Loop & Tie. "Employees can diagnose the intention behind a gift. So, we always advise you to start there. Think more critically about how you're gifting before you really start thinking about what you're gifting."  Source:  EBN 4/24/23

Job hopping will continue in the current year: More than half (56%) of U.S. adults who are either employed or looking for a new job are likely to look for a new job over the next 12 months, including 37% who say they are very likely to look for a new job, according to a new report from Bankrate. That figure is up from 51% of the workforce who said they were looking for a new job last year.  The job hunt will likely be led by younger generations, lower earners, and minority workers: 78% percent of Gen Z workers (ages 18-26) and 61% of millennial workers (ages 27-42) said they are likely to look for a new job, including 55% of Gen Zers and 43% of millennials saying they are very likely. That is compared to 47% of Gen Xers (ages 43-58) and 28% of baby boomers (ages 59-77) who said they are likely to look for a new job.  66% percent of those earning under $50,000 annually are more likely to look for a new job compared to 49% of those earning between $50,000-$79,999, 50% of those earning $80,000-$99,999, and 48% of those making $100,000 or more.  Minority workers, including 68% of African American and 67% percent of Hispanic workers are more likely than white workers (50%) to look for a new job.   Source: Bankrate.com 4/3/23

Preventive screening mandate in ACA ruled illegal by Texas based federal judge: A federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas vacated nationally the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's (ACA's) preventive service insurance mandate for services recommended by the U.S Preventive Services Task Force. Section 2713 of the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act has mandated that group health plans and health insurers cover a long list of preventive health services like cancer screenings, immunizations, and contraceptives without out-of-pocket, co-insurance, and deductible costs to patients.  The judge in Braidwood Management, Inc., et al. v. Xavier Becerra, et al. (formerly Kelley et al, v. Becerra, et al.) enjoined requiring employers to provide coverage for these preventive health services, as well as for the HIV prevention drug PrEP.  The impact of this decision could be catastrophic to the efforts to detect cancer early for millions of patients unless employers and health plans decide voluntarily to continue offering such preventive health services without out-of-pocket costs.  The ruling is likely to be appealed.  Source:  Reed Smith LLP 3/30/23

Majority of ADA accommodations don’t cost more than $300 and almost half are no cost:  The benefits of providing accommodations for workers with disabilities significantly outweigh the costs, concluded a new report the Job Accommodation Network (“JAN”) reported. JAN is a service of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy.   Key findings, based on a survey of 3,528 employers over the past four years, were that nearly half (49.4%) of accommodations cost nothing to implement, and 43.3% incur a one-time median cost of only $300. In addition, a majority (68.4%) of employers surveyed reported that the accommodation they made was either very effective or extremely effective, leading to multiple direct and indirect benefits. Another 18.3% of employers said accommodations were somewhat effective.  Source:  DirectEmployers 5/8/23

OFCCP releases federal contractor EEO-1 data: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program (OFCCP) released information two weeks ago on the race and ethnicity, gender, and job categories of workers at federal contractors and first-tier subcontractors.  The data was made available as the result of Freedom of Information Act requests — and a subsequent lawsuit — by the not-for-profit Center for Investigative Reporting news organization for Type 2 Consolidated EEO-1 reports from 2016 through 2020 for federal contractors with 50 or more employees and more than one location. The OFCCP released information on 19,289 businesses that did not submit objections to having their data shared. Companies were given several opportunities to object and had until March 31 to contest the release of their information.  The information of the 4,365 businesses that did object may still be shared in a later release, after it is determined if the data falls under exemption 4 of the FOIA, which protects “trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person [that is] privileged or confidential,” per the U.S. Department of Justice. The Department of Labor also is evaluating claims by 360 companies that they are not federal contractors and shouldn’t be included in the data release. Source:  HR Dive 4/19/23