A tax credit for small-employer pension plan startup costs may be awaiting you. You may be able to claim a tax credit of up to $5,000 when you set up an SEP or a SIMPLE IRA or a qualified plan such as a 401(k). You qualify to claim this credit if you meet all these conditions: You had 100 or fewer employees who received at least $5,000 in compensation from you for the preceding year. You … [Read more...]

The easiest way to make sure your company is treating its employees equitably is to draft a formal compensation plan. Compensation plans include salaries, raise schedules, fringe benefits, union perks, employer-provided vendor discounts, and details about bonuses, incentives and commissions for employees. How do you develop and implement a compensation program? Create an outline with set … [Read more...]

An employee referral program is an inbound recruiting method that companies use to find talented people. Basically, the company asks their existing employees to recommend candidates who might be a good fit. It's a simple, inexpensive strategy, but it can easily go wrong. According to TalentLyft, employee referral programs fail because: Employers do not respond to referred candidates in a … [Read more...]

Telemedicine is "the use of electronic information and communications technologies to provide and support health care when distance separates the participants." This definition comes from an article published in 1996 by the National Academy of Sciences. Obviously, telemedicine has been around for decades. In recent years, however, the practice has gained immense steam. In fact, telemedicine is … [Read more...]

A product demonstration or demo enables vendors to present the value of their product or service to prospective buyers. So if you're in the market for payroll technology, product demos are an essential part of the process. Before you look for demos, you'll need to identify your payroll pain points and the necessary solutions. Then you can begin your search for value-aligned product … [Read more...]

A child support income withholding order (IWO) is a mandatory document requiring a noncustodial parent's employer to withhold child support payments from their wages. The IWO provides the employer with instructions for administering the order — including directions on how to verify whether the IWO is valid and the steps for calculating, withholding and remitting child support payments. In the … [Read more...]

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) dictates that employers with 50 or more employees must give eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for qualifying reasons. But when FMLA-covered employers vie for top talent, they usually offer prospects paid holidays. Unfortunately, when employees are offered more than one type of paid leave, they’re often more confused than … [Read more...]

The first step to controlling human resources (HR) costs is to identify the functions covered by your HR department. Generally, they include: Recruiting, sourcing, selection and hiring. Onboarding, training and development. Guiding employees through their employment life cycle. Developing HR strategies based on existing and projected needs. Establishing, implementing and … [Read more...]

A money purchase pension plan is an employee retirement benefit plan that requires companies to contribute a specific percentage of an employee's salary each year, regardless of the firm's profitability. Because of this, money purchase plans can be attractive options for employers to attract and retain key employees, though they can be pricey for firms to maintain. Contributions to a money … [Read more...]

According to the Economic Policy Institute, "Average pay of CEOs at the top 350 firms in 2018 was $17.2 million — or $14.0 million using a more conservative measure." High salaries for CEOs always make headlines, but there's more that employers and payroll administrators need to know about executive compensation. What is executive compensation? The term "executive compensation" covers … [Read more...]