Quick Hits - April 20, 2022 - American Society of Employers - ASE Staff

Quick Hits - April 20, 2022

Boomerangs are growing:  Per LinkedIn, the percentage of employees that come back keeps rising. It amounted to 4.3% of all job switches last year, up from less than 2% in 2010. Second, the average time for such “boomerang hires” in the United States has shrunk to just 17.3 months after employees walk out the door, down from the 2010 norm of 21.8 months.  Findings are based on an analysis of about 32 million LinkedIn members’ job histories.  However, boomerang rates were lower in sectors such as manufacturing (3.8%) and financial services (3.4%). Turnaround times were slower in those fields, too, typically running 22 months or more.  Source:  LinkedIn 3/30/22

What are you working on? Office workers are spending more than half of their day doing busy work instead of the job they were actually hired for, according to a new survey of more than 10,600 global workers from Asana, a work management platform.  The annual work index, conducted in October 2021, found that people spent 58% of their day doing “work about work,” including communicating about work, searching for information, switching between apps, managing shifting priorities, and chasing status updates. People say they spend about 33% of their days doing skilled work they were hired to do — an increase from the year prior. But they’re spending just 10% doing strategic planning that could make them better at their jobs. Two years of living and working during the pandemic has sent burnout levels to new heights. U.S. workers said they experienced burnout an average of 2.3 times in the last year, the highest globally. Around the world, 40% of workers even say they believe burnout is an inevitable part of success.  Source:  CNBC 4/6/22

Interns not interested in remote work:  A Glassdoor analysis of more than 130,000 of the site's job reviews posted by U.S. interns showed a 385% increase in remote work mentions between 2019 and 2020 amid the pandemic's onset, the company said, and the share of negative mentions has grown since that time. Glassdoor found that 58% of relevant reviews posted between June and September 2020 mentioned remote work negatively. By last summer, 70% of intern reviews mentioned remote work negatively. Glassdoor said several such reviews commonly cited difficulties with communication and connection. By contrast, the share of negative reviews by full- and part-time employees remained steady by comparison.  Therefore, when gearing up for interns, figure in-person internships will be most productive in the long-run.  Source:  HR Dive 4/6/22

Are you prepared for new graduate hires? It has been argued that new graduates aren’t prepared for the workplace.  But the question really is, is the workplace prepared for the new graduate?  According to a survey by Epignosis, the answer is no.  Nearly two million Americans graduated with a bachelor's degree and entered the labor force in 2021, according to e-learning platform WhatToBecome. But only 46% of companies have specific training in place for new grads who are just entering the workforce. 60 million young job seekers anticipate entering the market in the next decade.  For the most part, employers want to work quickly. 67% of HR managers agree that learning and development budgets will increase in 2022, according to Epignosis. 85% of HR leaders find training beneficial for organizational growth, and 57% have boosted their budgets since the pandemic.  So why are companies still struggling to close the skills gap for the upcoming generation?  “They don't know where to start,” Christina Gialleli, director of people operations at Epignosis says. “They don't know how to structure or they don't know how to put it together. The information is there. You're just missing the tools to create it.”  Source:  EBN 4/11/22

When is COBRA required if an employee is on a leave of absence? When considering whether to approve an employee's leave of absence request or upon learning that an employee will be away from work for an extended period due to a work-related injury, few employers confirm the permitted "coverage extension" provision in their group health insurance plan document. Instead, many employers simply allow such employees to continue their group health insurance coverage for months or years under the active employee group health insurance plan. An active group health insurance coverage for an employee on a leave of absence may need to be terminated based on the terms of the group insurance contract. This loss of insurance coverage is both required by the group health insurance plan provisions and is a qualifying event under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) or state equivalent law. To avoid employees being improperly retained on the active employee group health insurance plan during a leave of absence, excluding FMLA and other legal obligations, employers should review their group health insurance plan documents to confirm the maximum period of time that employees are permitted to be retained on the active group health insurance plan before being offered COBRA continuation coverage.  If the language is unclear, consult legal counsel.  Source: Masuda, Funai, Eifert & Mitchell, Ltd. 3/31/22

Watch for Secure Act 2.0 impact on employers:  On March 29, 2022, the House of Representatives passed the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”, HR 2954) by a 414-5 vote. The Senate will likely act on the bill later this spring.  This bill impacts retirement planning.  Specifically, for plan years beginning after December 31, 2022, SECURE 2.0 would mandate automatic enrollment in 401(k) and 403(b) plans at the time of participant eligibility (opt-out would be permitted). The auto-enrollment rate would be at least 3% and not more than 10%, but the arrangement would need an auto-escalation provision of 1% annually (initially capped at 10%).  In addition, for taxable years beginning after 2022, the catch-up contribution amount for certain retirement plans would increase to $10,000 (currently $6,500 for most plans) for eligible participants who have attained ages 62-64 by the end of the applicable tax year. Moreover, for plan years beginning after December 31, 2021, employers may amend their plans to make matching contributions to employees based on an employee’s qualified student loan payments.  It also would impact part-timers by reducing the current requirement to permit certain employee participation following three consecutive years during which the employee attains 500 hours of service to two-consecutive years during which the employee attains 500 hours of service.  Source:  Jackson Lewis 4/5/22

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