Anchor Payroll Blog

If we held the key for resolving the seemingly endless workplace morale problems, we would never have to work another day. While boosting employee mindset and motivation is a fairly complex topic involving many factors and moving pieces, generally the best approach to the issue is to look at the factors that substantive data has shown most closely align with employee satisfaction. Multiple research ranks these criteria in a number of varying sequences; however, there is no question that the factors listed below greatly impact an employee’s overall satisfaction in the workplace:

There are many potential liabilities resulting from misclassification and they come from several sources: namely, the IRS, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, federal wage and hour law, and state wage and hour law. 

In an ideal world, communication would be easy. We’d immediately know exactly what to say or write. Emails, Slack messages, and reply threads would practically write themselves. And there’d be no confusion about what anyone meant, ever

Of course, communication never works that way. We stare at the computer screen trying to decide how to begin an email. We misspeak or garble our words. We don’t always convey exactly what we intend. We misunderstand, overlook, or forget information we’ve been given. We also sometimes read emotions into words that weren’t what the writer was feeling. Or we pack our speech with such an emotional punch that it distracts from the point we’re trying to make.

With the first snows hitting our area, it’s time to get ready for the cold weather and the resulting freezes that cause ice issues. Preparing your home or business is more than just stocking up on firewood and salt for the driveway or parking lot, it’s also about making sure your home or business is both protected from the cold and that you have the tools to remove any hazards before they further damage your home.  

Answer: Discipline should reflect the severity of the behavior, attempt to correct it, and be applied consistently. You’ll want to consider how you addressed certain behaviors in the past and the precedent you want to set for the future. For instance, if you jump straight to a final warning when a certain employee is an hour late to work, but let another employee come in late regularly without so much as a written warning, you’re setting yourself up for trouble.

The importance of documenting performance problems as they occur cannot be overstated. Although this requires meeting with the employee and discussing the issue, which will almost certainly be uncomfortable, it’s your best defense to a wrongful termination claim should the employee feel litigious after termination.

Too many employers rely on the concept of employment at-will to protect them, when the reach of this concept is actually quite limited. The problem is that if an employer has little to no documentation and relies on at-will employment—and the theory that legally no reason is required—the terminated employee, their attorney, and possibly a jury of their peers will fill the blank with an illegal reason. Although you may be within your rights to terminate “for no reason,” it’s a dangerous position to take.

Phishing emails are a type of scam designed to obtain information or prompt certain behavior from their targets. To that end, they typically appear to come from a person or entity we trust.

The recipe for workplace conflict is decidedly simple: bring two or more people together and assign them a task. Unless the stars have aligned in your favor, there’s going to be some cause for disagreement between them, and if conflict ensues, their ability to cooperate will suffer.

For many organizations, the beginning of a New Year is the perfect time to address the to-do list from the previous year or set goals for the new one. It’s a great way to focus the organization on the key priorities for the year ahead. As you make your list of resolutions, consider these three small changes you can make to your workplace to increase productivity and reduce turnover.    

The spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has employers rightly concerned about how to handle threats of contagion in the workplace. Along with those worries come concerns about violating other laws in the process of trying to keep the workplace safe. Specifically, the ADA comes to mind; if we send someone home who appears sick, have we then discriminated against someone with a disability? Thankfully, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has answered a number of common questions that employers are asking. Additional EEOC guidance can be found here.