There may be various reasons why organizations update or create a formalized severance plan. When referring to a severance plan, we mean a payment provided to an employee, or a group of employees, that are involuntarily terminated due to a reduction in force/downsizing, change in company direction, job elimination, or termination due to unsatisfactory performance. Typically, the top five reasons for creating or updating a severance policy are:

Sequestration Again? Here we are again... news of a potential government shutdown is looming over the national capital region. Wasn’t it just a few months ago that we were coping with sequestration and the potential to have to institute furloughs for our employees?

As the overall economy continues to improve, employers are looking for additional methods to reduce costs while also finding ways to add value to the organization. As an HR Business Partner who works with various clients across multiple industries, I find many organizations do not have an employee benefit strategy. Instead, organizations tend to review and modify their existing benefit plan designs or employee contributions and call it a day. This is only a short term fix to a long term issue.

Employers in the United States play a vital role in assisting the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to ensure that illegal workers are not hired by our organizations. The Form I-9 is the official document in which new employees provide legal documentation that establish both identity and employment authorization. In my role at Helios HR, I often find that most organizations are not complying with the I-9 regulations which can result in hefty fines per each inaccurate document.

"What is an Affirmative Action Plan?”, “Does my company need an AAP?”, “How do we implement it?”, “What do I do if we get audited?” These are all frequently asked questions I hear just about every week as the resident Affirmative Action Plan expert at Helios. Let me first preface by sharing that Affirmative Action Plans (AAP’s) are designed to satisfy the equal-employment opportunity/affirmative action responsibilities for minorities and women under Executive Order 11246, as amended; people with disabilities under section 503 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act; and covered veterans under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Act of 1971.

Are you unsure what documents should be kept in an employee’s personnel file? Maybe you have employees who have been with you for 10, 15, 20 years? What’s important and what should you shred? As HR people, we get that sometimes those files can become a little overwhelming. We are frequently asked by our clients to conduct audits of personnel files to make sure they are in compliance and staying current with best practices.