- Vacation- We don't take enough of it in this country! We are behind the rest of the world in how much we take. I have come to the conclusion that vacation needs to be taken in a minimum of two weeks, especially if you are going out of the country. We Americans overwork ourselves and it is to our detriment. While on vacation in the Dominican Republic I met a young woman who had to go and check her work email twice a day. I don't think she ever relaxed.
- Immigration- Whether or not you think the immigration plan the President and Congress is working on is right or not it is going to be a nightmare for Human Resources departments. It will require the following: Use of electronic verification that is currently not designed to handle the 7 million employers that will have to sign up; REVERIFICATION of ALL your current employees, regardless of how long they have worked for you; a follow up system on everyone that gets kicked out of the system (currently about 15% of the verifications that get sent in electronically.) In addition, the fines go up exponentially. YOU HAD BETTER PAY ATTENTION TO THIS ONE. SHRM feels this will have the impact of FMLA. (Oh great!)
- Minimum Wage- How many of you noticed that the increase in the minimum wage that got snuck into the Iraq War funding bill? It will go into effect 60 days after the President signs the bill. So far I have seen no details, but I am sure they are forthcoming.
Well, that will do for now. I will keep it going now... at least until I go on vacation again and inertia takes over once more.. LOL.
