Certainly, helping dislocated workers is a crucial endeavor. First, we need to better understand what a dislocated worker is. Commonly, you are considered a dislocated worker if you have been laid off from your job and are receiving unemployment benefits because of being laid off or no longer working due to factors beyond your control. 

Dislocated workers face challenges in finding new employment. This situation is becoming more common, necessitating effective support systems. Imagine losing the position you have held for many years and you are then unable to find a new position that meets your job qualifications. 

Fortunately, there are programs available to assist in the retraining and placement of many of these employees. The largest and one of the most helpful programs is FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). It provides aid in the form of grants, loans and work study programs. FAFSA is available by filling out a simple application. Some of the programs also provide grants for hiring companies. 

Individual states may offer programs that assist employers with costs while training a dislocated worker to learn the required skills of their new position. WIOA’s Dislocated Worker program supports job seekers in career searches, overcoming employment barriers, and gaining necessary skills. Employment Counselor Specialists offer case management, assessments, and access to On-the-Job Training or Individual Training Accounts for skill development.

When individuals become dislocated workers because of job loss, mass layoffs, global trade dynamics, or transitions in economic sectors, the WIOA Dislocated Worker program provides services to assist them in re-entering the workforce. Services are provided by Employment Counselor Specialists across your state. The services include Basic Career Services, Individualized Career Services, Support Services, and Training Services. 

Examples of qualifications include:

• 18+ Years old
• US citizen or be eligible to work in the US
• Registered with the Selective Service
• Been terminated or laid off, and eligible to receive or have exhausted unemployment compensation
• Unlikely to return to previous industry or occupation

If program eligibility requirements are met, participants will receive case management services and initial, comprehensive, and ongoing assessments. Eligible participants may also have access to On-the-Job Training or an Individual Training Account to gain or update skills to compete in the job market.

In these challenging times, uniting efforts through programs like FAFSA and WIOA, facilitated by our organization, HR Synergy, is pivotal. By offering education, training, and employment opportunities, we can empower dislocated workers to rebuild their careers and lives, creating a positive impact on individuals and communities alike.

If you need assistance or want to coordinate available resources in your state, reach out to us at HR Synergy. Our expertise can bridge the gap between dislocated workers and the support programs, potentially transforming lives by enabling access to previously unattainable job opportunities.

Companies are investing more on the front-end starting with targeted recruitment strategies to attract and retain strong hires, since turnover is costly. 

The key company features that job candidates are looking for today include work-life balance appreciated, flexibility, and supportive environment. HR Synergy can help optimize touch-points and streamline processes within the hiring process.

Students are heading back to campus. Is your company ready for recruiting season?

A recent study from Bersin by Deloitte revealed that merely sharing current opportunities is not enough to get your brand recognized. Successful campus recruiting hinges on continuous campus appearances to allow organic personal networking to occur. 52% of 500 18-24 year old college students surveyed by Google reported personal networking as the best way to land a job in their field over career fairs, digital job boards, and career services.

To capitalize on current students’ interest in personal networking, boost your organization’s relationships with related campus groups and key faculty, not just career services. Interacting with students during club activities relevant to your business can help you find inherently motivated employees who connect with your mission. A Recruiting Benchmarks Survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers observed over 82% of companies now utilize campus clubs for recruitment.

Building relationships with faculty can give you insight into prospective employees and create opportunities to recruit students more personally. Consider campus sponsorships and affiliate programs tangentially related to your organization to build personal connections with targeted groups of students and give your brand campus exposure. 

We can assist you as you develop and adjust your recruiting strategy and help you attract talented graduates. Reach out today to learn about our Full-Service Recruiting.

In addition to being strategic with where you interact with students, you should also be deliberate with the representatives from your organization that you send for recruitment. Consider sending a hiring manager or others that employees most likely will interact regularly with once hired. Also consider sending a representative with a connection to the school or club event itself.

Don’t forget to account for what happens after the hire from communication prior to start date to onboarding. More than 20% of new hires leave within one year and attribute their departure to poor onboarding. We at HR Synergy can aid your business in developing quality onboarding strategies that give clear understanding of their role, performance expectations, company culture, and equip new hires with resources needed to thrive in your organization.

Contact us for more information about how we can help you navigate recruitment and HR related onboarding strategies.

Many employers are recognizing the challenges that working parents face during the back-to-school season and are taking proactive steps to support them. Here are some key tactics that HR departments are implementing to help working parents achieve better work-life balance during this busy period:

Provide Flexible Schedules: Allowing working parents to have more flexibility in their work schedules can greatly alleviate the stress of the back-to-school transition. This could involve coming in later or leaving earlier, as well as making up the time outside of regular working hours. Flexible schedules enable parents to manage school drop-offs and pickups without feeling rushed.

Offer Remote Work: Providing the option for parents to work remotely, either for part of the day or on certain days, can significantly reduce commuting time and allow parents to be more present for their children’s school-related activities. Remote work can also contribute to a more relaxed and productive work environment.

Assist with Spending: The financial burden of back-to-school expenses can be significant for parents. Some employers are offering benefits or programs to help alleviate these costs. Examples include providing discounts at partner stores, offering flexible spending accounts for school-related expenses, or even providing a child care stipend for families in need.

Open Communication: Regular and transparent communication is key. Encourage employees to use communication tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams to keep colleagues informed about their availability when their schedules change. This helps ensure everyone is on the same page and allows for better coordination.

Ask Employees for Input: Employers should engage with their working parents to understand their specific needs and challenges. Seeking input and feedback from employees allows HR to tailor their support initiatives more effectively.

Emphasize Work-Life Balance: Recognize that employees, especially working parents, have lives outside of work. Encourage a culture that values work-life balance and respects employees’ personal commitments.

Supportive Culture: Creating a culture of empathy and support can have a positive impact on employee morale and retention. When employees feel that their employer understands and cares about their challenges, they are more likely to be engaged and loyal.

Long-Term Perspective: Remember that the need for work-life balance doesn’t end with the back-to-school season. Supporting working parents throughout the year, such as allowing them to attend school events during business hours, can have a lasting positive impact.

By implementing these strategies, employers can create a more supportive and accommodating work environment for working parents during the back-to-school season and beyond. This approach not only benefits employees but can also lead to improved morale, productivity, and employee retention.

Do you have HR-related questions around supporting your employees during back-to-school time? Contact us today!

Do you have hourly remote workers? Do you monitor their offsite work? 

Employers must have very clear policies about how hourly employees will record their time worked and clear policies when employees “are not on-the-clock”. 

Hourly employees checking emails off-hours is compensable time and a performance issue. Policies need to clearly outline expectations of the employee’s work hours. This is a “HOT-BUTTON” issue that employers should not ignore!!!!

Now is the time to review and/or revise your remote-work policies. HR Synergy’s “HR at Your Service” is a great resource to aid you in this endeavor to help you balance the fine-line between legally monitoring and being overbearing. 

5 tips for employers to weigh the pros and cons of monitoring remote workers:

1. Consider How Technology Can Help

2. Recognize that Compliance Is Complicated

-Privacy rights and the relevant monitoring laws at the federal, state, and local levels

-Safeguard personal information

3. Review the Patchwork of Laws

4. Focus on Morale

5. Weigh the Alternatives

Overall, employers need to clarify the differences between productivity and respecting their employees’ privacy and morale. Monitoring can offer valuable insights and benefits, but it should be implemented with careful consideration of legal requirements and employee concerns.

Remember that the legal landscape may continue to evolve, so it’s essential to stay informed about relevant developments in this area. Seeking guidance and staying up-to-date with the latest information can help employers navigate these considerations effectively.

Contact us today as we can help through “HR At Your Service.”

As the Department of Labor (DOL) and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) increase their scrutiny on employer practices, it is important for companies to ensure compliance with Federal and State labor laws and regulations. A DOL audit can have a significant impact, leading to fines ranging from $500 to a staggering $5,000,000. 

To avoid potential financial and moral risks, consider conducting a mock DOL audit with HR Synergy LLC. Our comprehensive audit will help you identify areas you are doing well and areas of risk of non-compliance and tools to take corrective action, ensuring your company is well-prepared for any future DOL inspection.

What is a Mock DOL Audit? A mock DOL audit is a proactive approach to assess your company’s employment practices throughout the employee life cycle. Our team at HR Synergy LLC gathers detailed information, similar to what the DOL inspectors would examine during a real audit. By conducting this simulation, we can identify potential strengths and weaknesses, allowing you to address any compliance issues before they become a problem.

Recently, we conducted a mock DOL audit for a client and identified significant areas of concern. Outdated federal and state labor laws posters, potential HIPAA and personal information exposure, I-9 form non-compliance, inaccurate timekeeping records, and inconsistent pay practices were some of the critical issues we uncovered. If this small company were subjected to a real DOL audit, they could have faced fines of approximately 3.2 million dollars.

Take Action Today: Are you confident that your business can ace a DOL audit? Don’t wait for a real inspection to reveal compliance issues that could cost your company dearly. Schedule your mock DOL audit with HR Synergy LLC today by calling (603) 261-2402. Our experts will help you identify your compliance exposure and work with you to establish a strong foundation of compliance. We recommend conducting a mock audit annually to stay ahead of potential risks and maintain a compliant workplace environment. Remember, your compliance is crucial to us and should be equally important to you.

Schedule your mock DOL audit with us today!

COVID-19 temporary flexibilities for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, will end on July 31, 2023. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that employers must complete in-person physical inspection of identity and employment authorization documents for employees whose documents were inspected remotely (or virtually) during the temporary COVID-19 flexibilities program (from March 20, 2020-July 31, 2023)  by August 30, 2023. Also, employers need to annotate the Form I-9 for this population. Note, this will take significant action to update and/or correct your Form I-9 by the deadline. Failure to complete these actions could result in significant monetary and other penalties.

Additionally, there currently is not a “fix” for remote employees. Stay tuned for results from the DHS’s pilot program that incorporated virtual (or remote) inspection of I-9 documents.

Click here for the Expanded Best Practices Checklist.

Keep watching for the release of a new version of the Form I-9, release date currently unknown. 

See USCIS’s I-9 Central Questions and Answers for more information. However,, scores of potential questions could emerge based on your unique circumstances, feel free to reach out to us for guidance.

If you have questions about the details of this, please reach out to us here for clarification.

We are all aware of the growing presence of artificial intelligence in our workplaces. Artificial intelligence consists of the computer-controlled machines and software that simulate human intelligence. AI permeates our world from talent acquisition programs to training simulations to chatbots. Ideally, AI coupled with human employees will advance jobs, not replace them.

As artificial intelligence becomes more widespread, states have begun executing new laws and regulations to control how AI tools are used. Kelly Dobbs Bunting, an attorney with Greenberg Traurig in Philadelphia, told attendees during a concurrent session at the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2023 in Las Vegas, “you can expect more city and state regulation of this because they’re not going to stand around and wait for the federal government to step in. The states are moving to protect their citizens…There is a tsunami coming of state regulation.”

There is real concern that AI software discriminates against Black people and people with disabilities. AI software that is used to score job candidates based on their emotional responses, eye movement, facial expressions, vocal intonation, and word choice determines if they are trustworthy. Therefore, accommodations or alternative screening methods need to be made available.

Four federal agencies, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), plan to collaborate enforce civil and rights and consumer protection laws to prevent AI discrimination in the workplace. “Employers will be responsible for rooting out and curing any bias created by the AI software that they use in employment-related decisions,” Dobbs Bunting said. To prevent discriminatory outcomes, employers must “conduct ongoing analyses of the software, even if the vendor says, ‘Don’t worry; I got you. The software’s good.’ Do not believe that, because you will be held liable along with the vendor, if the vendor is mistaken about its impact on hiring,” Dobbs Bunting said. “You have a duty to understand the software, understand how it was tested and continue to test it.”

AI should not make employment decisions alone. There must be interaction between AI as a tool and HR professionals with the human as the final critic. It is critical that companies evolve and create policies for when ChatGPT and other AI can be used to perform their work, like generating reports.

“ChatGPT can help us, as HR practitioners, to be knowledgeable, to be nimble and to have a seat at the table,” said Carol Kiburz, vice president of HR for Halff, an engineering firm based in Dallas, during her June 13 concurrent session, “ChatGPT: Disruptor or Enabler?” at the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2023 in Las Vegas. “This is an opportunity, and if you can start using ChatGPT in a way you feel comfortable, you can be seen as a leader of thought.”

ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, and Microsoft’s Bing AI are generative AI chatbots and can be used to support HR professionals’ work. Be aware that these AI chatbots gather content through the internet without providing sources and can be filled with well-concealed mistakes. There are ways to utilize these technologies to increase your HR department’s efficiency like using it to create policies, design employee guides, draft emails, and write training programs.

Be wary of using ChatGPT’s responses directly. It is important to recognize its limitations and be sure to customize and proof-read for errors. Also, we need to recognize that this technology puts us at the forefront of another workforce shift.

I decided to give ChatGTP a test myself. This is what it said when I entered the article I wrote above about ChatGTP:

The passage you provided highlights the growing presence of artificial intelligence (AI) in workplaces and the need for regulations to control its use, especially to prevent discrimination. There is concern about AI software potentially discriminating against certain groups, and federal agencies are planning to collaborate to enforce civil rights and consumer protection laws to address this issue.

The article also emphasizes that AI should not be making employment decisions alone; there should be a balance between AI tools and human professionals, particularly in HR. HR practitioners can use AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, and Microsoft’s Bing AI to support their work, increase efficiency, and gain knowledge. However, it’s essential to be cautious when using AI-generated content and not rely solely on it without human review and customization.

The technology is seen as an opportunity for HR professionals to become more knowledgeable and adaptable, but it also requires them to understand the limitations and potential mistakes that AI can make. By using AI responsibly and being aware of its capabilities, HR departments can stay ahead of workforce shifts and use AI as an enabler rather than a disruptor.

Overall, the passage provides valuable insights into the current state of AI in the workplace, the importance of regulations, and the potential benefits and challenges of using AI chatbots like ChatGPT in HR settings.

Curious how to implement policies regarding the use of artificial intelligence such as AI chatbots (like ChatGTP), contact us. We are here to support you in this rapidly changing technology climate.

Traditional office hours, are they out-dated?

For Gen Z employees, their peak productivity typically is later at night, not the standard 9-5 employers are accustomed to. A study from Adobe found that over a quarter (26%) of Gen Z workers reported their peak productivity time between 6:00pm-3:00am, versus 18% of millennials, 13% of Gen X, and 6% of Boomers. Peak productivity times vary between generations. Boomers reported peak productivity in the early morning (3:00am-9:00am). 76% of Gen X employees say they are most productive from 9:00am-6:00pm. Gen Z employees were the least likely to report peak productivity during the traditional 9:00am-5:00pm. Over 60% of Millennial and Gen Z employees feel pressured to work traditional hours, even if they are not as effective, versus 52% of Gen X and only 42% of Boomers feel this pressure.

70% of Gen Z employees would consider leaving their current jobs for a job with more schedule autonomy. About 75% of younger generation employees say they would switch jobs for better work-life balance and 66% would switch for remote work. Gen X and Boomer employees’ responses were lower than Gen Z (50%), assuming salary and job descriptions do not change. However, Gen Z is not alone in the desire to control their work hours; 51% of all respondents (regardless of age) prefer to work when it is most convenient for them versus 16% who want to work on a prescribed schedule. 

Today’s employees not only want flexibility; they want to work efficiently. 70% of Gen Z, 52% of Gen X, and 37% of Boomer workers would switch jobs for access to tools that improve efficiency and productivity. Businesses can implement organizational adaptations to attract and retain top workers. Otherwise, burnout for strict work requirements are likely. Over 50% of Gen Z and Millennial employees intend to change jobs this year, compared to 25% of Gen X and Boomer employees. As not to loose quality employees across generations, here is a list of business practices to follow:

• Set guidelines and standards to minimize conflict (core work hours, work location)
• Establish asynchronous vs. synchronous work guidelines
• Survey employees for feedback 
• Find flexibility alternatives if work-hours are not pliable 
• Develop tools to reduce menial tasks that take away from high-value work time

We at HR Synergy lead trainings to understand generations in the workplace. Contact us today to schedule one!