Tip Tuesday! Ready for an avalanche of resumes? It’s headed this way, experts say

by Tim Gould

Looks like there could be a lot of movement in the job market over the next several months.  

Full-time, permanent hiring in the fourth quarter is projected to be the most robust since 2006 and seasonal hiring is poised to outpace last year’s projections by a healthy margin, according to CareerBuilder’s recent research.

And, as we outlined in a recent post, there’s a substantial number of employees who say they’re actively looking to change jobs — despite being generally happy with their positions and their organizations.

It’s setting up to be the perfect storm of worker mobility.

Thirty-four percent of U.S. employers plan to hire full-time, permanent staff in Q4, and nearly the same percentage (33%) expect to add seasonal staff, according to CareerBuilder. More than half (53%) of retailers plan to hire seasonal workers in Q4, up from 43% last year.

The national survey was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder, and included a representative sample of 2,326 hiring managers and human resource professionals across industries and company sizes.

The numbers from the CareerBuilder research:

Full-time Hiring in Q3 2015

Click here for entire article. 

There’s a bipartisan push to end the ACA’s ‘Cadillac’ tax

by Christian Schappel

The ACA’s “Cadillac” tax on high-value health plans (soon to be average-value health plans if things keep trending the way they are) is under heavy fire from both Republicans and Democrats. 

Does this mean the excise tax — which is expected to affect most plans not long after it takes effect in 2018 — will never see the light of day? That’s a question still very much up in the air.

But three things are certain:

• Employers don’t like it.
• Business groups don’t like it.
• Some unions aren’t a fan of it either.

The tax’s biggest fans: Those on Capitol Hill desperate to find a way to pay for the ACA. But those people appear to be dwindling as it starts to become clearer what the effects of the tax will be.

Several new pieces of legislation have been introduced to repeal the Cadillac tax, and the bills have the backing of both Republicans and Democrats.

The most recent bill was introduced by Independent Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) and seven Democrat senators, including notable ACA-supporter Chris Murphy (D-CT).

A separate bill was recently introduced by Senators Dean Heller (R-NV) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM), along with similar legislation in the House by Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT).


In addition to the repeal bills, a group of more than two dozen public and private employers, insurers and unions, have been pressuring Congress to kill the excise tax. The group is called Alliance to Fight the 40; a reference to the 40% Cadillac tax.

Click here for entire article. 

Shedding good employees who just can’t keep up: A humane, sensible approach

by Tim Gould

Good thing: Many U.S. companies are reinventing themselves, preparing for success in a ever-accelerating business climate. Bad thing: Some of your employees just aren’t going to be able to keep up.  

Pat Wadors, senior VP of global talent organization at LinkedIn, recently explained employers’ dilemma in a post on the Harvard Business Review blog: “In order to grow, they may have to part ways with collegial, talented employees who just aren’t the right fit anymore.”

How can your managers handle what’s bound to be a tricky transition for everybody? Here’s a sampling of Wador’s suggestions.

• Don’t wait until the end to say what’s been working and what hasn’t. Although most struggling employees will have a sense they’re not doing as well as they could be, it’s still important for managers to provide continuous feedback. Says Wador: “When you have criticism, start by thanking people for their work and contributions, and highlighting what you do like.  That makes it easier for them to absorb what you’re saying and to ask probing questions when you point to areas for further development. And ask them questions: Do they see the gaps that you see? What are they experiencing?”If they continue to struggle, ask them to talk about how they think they’ve been doing. Often, that’ll help people open up about their frustrations and fears. “Seek to understand how people have evolved in their roles and what gets them motivated,” writes Wadors. “It may be that you haven’t tapped their full potential yet because you haven’t provided the right kind of support or meaningful incentives.”

Click here for entire article

Yet another contractor classification test you need to know

by Christian Schappel

Just when we all thought the argument over which test to use to determine if someone’s an independent contractor or not was settled by the DOL, two more tests (one old, one new) enter the fray. 
Earlier this summer, we reported that the DOL had published an Administrator’s Interpretation letter aimed at settling once and for all which test employers should use to distinguish who’s an independent contractor and who’s an employee. The DOL said it wanted employers to use its six-factor economic realities test.
Then, within a matter of weeks, the IRS posted a fact sheet on its website entitled Payments to Independent Contractors. Here’s our report. This action subtly reminded employers to use it’s existing three “Common Law Rules” to determine whether someone’s an independent contractor.

NLRB has its say, too

And now employers have a real mess on their hands, as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has created its own test for determining who’s an independent contractor and who isn’t.
The test was revealed in a board-issued decision involving the nonprofit organization Sisters Camelot, in which a group of canvassers filed an unfair labor practice charge against the nonprofit.
In the case, the board was tasked with determining whether the canvassers were employees who could attempt to organize into a labor union.
In its decision that the canvassers were, in fact, employees, the NLRB unveiled an 11-factor test it will use to determine employee/contractor status in future cases.

Here are the 11 factors:

Click here for entire article.

Tip Tuesday! Those boring meetings? They’re also ‘subtle and devastating’ weapons

by Tim Gould

Maybe you thought those endless, sleep-inducing, unproductive meetings were simply a symptom of the way American business is conducted in the 21st Century. Turns out they can also be used as weapons of war.  

Anne Fisher, writing on the Fortune magazine website, highlights a new book, Simple Sabotage: A Modern Field Manual for Detecting and Rooting Out Everyday Behaviors That Undermine Your Workplace, by Bob Frisch, Robert M. Galford and Cary Greene.

And in the book, the authors reveal the existence of the “Simple Sabotage Field Manual,” published in 1944 by the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (predecessor to the CIA).

It was a guide for European spies on how to undermine the Axis powers from within, writes Fisher.

The overall idea seems to be that the more time Axis bureaucrats and officials wasted in fruitless meetings, the less they’d be able to accomplish,

Ring any bells?

Here’s the blueprint

Click here for entire article. 

ACA reporting rules: A plain-English breakdown

by Christian Schappel

If you think the Obamacare reporting requirements issued by the IRS are confusing, you’re not alone. But we’ve cut through the clutter to get to the point of what’s required. 

Who has to report

First of all, let’s make it clear who has to abide by these reporting rules. Who knows maybe you’re small enough to recuse yourself from all this mess.

The reporting requirements apply to “applicable large employers” (ALE) — those who employ 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employees. They also apply to anyone who provides minimum essential health coverage under the law to an individual — this would apply to a very small self-insured employer, for example.

Who’s a full-time equivalent employee? That’s an issue we tackle here.

The IRS then says: “If an employer has fewer than 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees, on average during the prior year, the employer is not an ALE for the current calendar year. Therefore, the employer is not subject to the employer shared responsibility provisions or the employer information reporting provisions for the current year.”

Reporting requirements

Click here for entire article. 

Get this: Even workers happy in their jobs are looking to jump ship

by Tim Gould

It’s becoming clearer and clearer: The workforce is restless.  

Latest evidence: Almost half of employees who said they’re happy with their organizations and their jobs are nonetheless looking for greener pastures, according to new research from Mercer.

That’s right: Employees who said they are very satisfied with their organizations and their jobs (45% and 42%, respectively) are looking to leave.

The new survey from Mercer, Inside Employees’ Minds, also found that 37% of all workers — regardless of their satisfaction level — are seriously considering leaving their jobs, up from 33% of the workforce who were considering leaving in 2011.

And why would employees who like their organizations and are satisfied in their job still be thinking about jumping ship?

Mercer offers a reason:


“Simply put, a growing number of employees feel their desires for personal growth and opportunities are outpacing what most companies are providing them,” said Mercer spokesman Patrick Tomlinson. “Employers need to shift their talent strategies to understand the modern terms of engagement from the most productive employees.”

Click here for entire article.