Annual compliance regulations: Is your business ready? - SmartBrief

All Articles Leadership Annual compliance regulations: Is your business ready?

Sponsored

Annual compliance regulations: Is your business ready?

Digital solutions, like the online FMLA Manager SHRM offers, provide employers guidance and resources to create their state- and company-specific FMLA policies, stay up-to-date on their state’s FMLA requirements, access templates for required forms, and generate various leave reports, all in one place.

4 min read

Leadership

SHRM

This post is sponsored by SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management

With each new year, federal and state rules and regulations evolve, requiring businesses to take extra measures to ensure compliance and minimize liability. Whether these new policies have minor or comprehensive impacts, employers must make employees aware of all changes affecting their rights, responsibilities and protections within the guidelines of these new laws, while complying with any employer requirements defined by the same.

Updating policies to reflect said changes can be time-consuming and, at times, confusing. Luckily, companies like SHRM provide helpful compliance tools that ensure individual state and federal legalities are covered.

The necessity for compliance

All companies, big and small, are required to adhere to certain protocols to remain in business under US law. These regulations can be state-driven, federally mandated, or industry-specific, depending on the parameters of their respective field. Ensuring these guidelines are followed should be every company’s main priority – not doing so could leave your business at risk to hefty fines. In fact, the US Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced an increase in their maximum penalty for Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) violations to an astronomical $14,502 per day.

To bring further attention to employee rights, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently released a new “Know Your Rights” poster, which updated the previously posted “EEO is the Law” poster. These updates must be posted either physically or digitally—and in some states, both—by the employer and accessible by all employees. Physical and digital labor law poster subscriptions offer businesses the ability to put compliance on autopilot. Any time a change is made, employers automatically receive new, current posters, taking the guesswork out of labor law change compliance.

Build a valuable employee handbook

As new regulations are released, it is even more critical to keep employees updated of changes and how they may be affected by them. An effective way to accomplish this is by keeping an up to date employee handbook and making it readily accessible to employees. A builder tool can simplify the creation of this helpful resource to ensure compliance and avoid confusion over rights and responsibilities.

Digital optimization and compliance

Changes to FMLA programs, for example, have immediate effects on an employee’s life and wellbeing. Failure to notify employees of critical changes to their benefits can lead to hostile working conditions and even lawsuits. With each state having its own laws and regulations to follow, it is no wonder there is so much confusion regarding employee benefits and protections. Large companies have an even harder time keeping track of regulations varying across multiple states, making a streamlined solution critical. Companies that succeeded during the pandemic leaned heavily into digital solutions, for everything from hosting meetings to staying compliant. Digital optimization has become the new norm, and it’s here to stay.

Digital solutions, like the online FMLA Manager SHRM offers, provide employers guidance and resources to create their state- and company-specific FMLA policies, stay up-to-date on their state’s FMLA requirements, access templates for required forms, and generate various leave reports, all in one place. In addition to these fantastic benefits, employees can:

  • Determine leave eligibility based on parameters set for your programs.
  • Receive email notifications when important leave dates and milestones are nearing.
  • Access a range of FMLA forms that can be filled out, printed, and/or saved.

As we ramp up productivity and make plans for 2023’s big goals, let technology do the heavy lifting to handle critical tasks, like complying with regulatory updates, minimizing penalty liabilities, and communicating benefits and rights to employees, and ensure a happy and healthy new year for the business and those working within it.

SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management , creates better workplaces where employers and employees thrive together. As the voice of all things work, workers and the workplace, SHRM is the foremost expert, convener and thought leader on issues impacting today’s evolving workplaces. With 300,000+ HR and business executive members in 165 countries, SHRM impacts the lives of more than 115 million workers and families globally.