Managing Remote Employees: How to Maintain Compliance & Optimize Productivity

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MP: Good afternoon, thank you all for joining us today for an MP webinar on managing remote employees, how to maintain compliance and optimize productivity.

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MP: I mean me women head of marketing here at amp T and for those of you joining us on a webinar for the first time and P, is a full service human capital management company.

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MP: offering a suite of products and services, including HR payroll benefits administration time and attendance and compliance assistance.

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MP: We support clients with cutting edge technical solutions, as well as proactive reliable service and deep HR and payroll expertise.

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MP: At MP, we are wired for HR we help our clients succeed by aligning their HR strategy, but their business goals.

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MP: Your presenters today are to have top MPs top HR specialist sherry Heller and amanda leonardi.

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MP: sherry is a senior HR advisor here at MP, she provides HR support to businesses in a wide variety of industries.

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MP: She consults with business owners and managers at all levels of the organization to develop and implement their HR infrastructure.

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MP: sherry has over 20 years experience and training and development strategic planning policy development and employee relations, along with the master of education instruction instructional design from umass Boston.

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MP: amanda the and already is the sherm certified an HR generalist here in MP.

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MP: She currently provides HR support to small, medium and large sized businesses across a variety of industries, she previously managed HR for a 250 employee nonprofit organization.

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MP: amanda received her BA from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and received her sherm certification earlier this year and sherry certain sherm certified as well.

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MP: I just been a couple housekeeping notes, we encourage you to ask questions, the more we can tell this presentation to your specific needs and more valuable will be.

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MP: So you can use the Q amp a feature at the bottom of the screen and also our recording the webinar will be sent out later today, following the presentation, along with the slides and with that i’m going to hand the MIC off to sherry.

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Sheri Heller: Thank you amy and good afternoon everybody let’s start off with our legal disclaimer because.

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Sheri Heller: We are This is intended for educational and informational purposes only we will be talking a lot about employment law specially during this presentation and while we hope you learned a lot today, we want to make sure that none of it is construed as legal advice.

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Sheri Heller: And that brings us to our presentation topics so we’ll start talking about remote work trends for 2021.

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Sheri Heller: A little bit about the pros and cons of remote work and then compliance in HR considerations and then amanda will start focusing more on the telework policies and challenges with managing remote employees.

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Sheri Heller: So before we actually even get into the presentation, I want to talk about sort of defining terms, because a lot of times we use terms like remote work and telecommuting.

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Sheri Heller: And they’re interchangeably, but there are differences between the two remote work suggests that employee the employee is just that remotely located.

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Sheri Heller: Well telecommuting also called telework can mean that the employee might be working on site, some of the time, such as a hybrid environments, many companies have been employing.

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Sheri Heller: As their employees are coming back to the office as coven restrictions are lifted in vaccines and more widely available so whether your employees are working from a remote location or telecommuting, a portion of their work week, there are a lot of considerations for employers.

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Sheri Heller: So, and, as the country is emerging from the coven 19 pandemic we’re getting back to business.

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Sheri Heller: let’s look at some of the trends so doing, the research on this was really, really interesting, there was a recent Gallup poll that showed that more than 50% of all.

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Sheri Heller: full time employees are working from home at least some of the time in the some white collar occupations more than 80% of working from home.

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Sheri Heller: So when those working from home were asked about their preferred worker means me once covert restrictions are lifted and employers, give them the choice.

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Sheri Heller: 35% surveyed said that they will continue to work from home, while only 17% said that they would choose to return to the office.

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Sheri Heller: For intent white collar workers prefer remote work, so all signs of really pointing to a growing number of hybrid teams, as we emerged from the pandemic and get back to that quote unquote normal.

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Sheri Heller: It was another survey done by the accounting firm Price Waterhouse Cooper and they had some really interesting findings on their.

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Sheri Heller: First, remote work has been an overwhelming success for both employees and employers like yourselves, I said MP, we just kind of jumped into it.

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Sheri Heller: Last year ago march went home on a Friday and found out we weren’t coming back for almost a year, so it has been really crazy a lot of companies had to pivot some were prepared some weren’t but overall it really has from most companies been successful.

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Sheri Heller: And the other finding is that the office is really here to stay, but its role is set to change so less than one in five executives say they want to return to the office as it was pre pandemic.

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Sheri Heller: The rest of really grappling with how widely to extend remote work options which is 13% of the executives prepared to let go of the office from good.

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Sheri Heller: Meanwhile 80% 87% of the employees to the office is important for collaborating with TEAM members and building relationships their top rated needs for the office, so it really is it’s not going to go away, but it definitely going to change.

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Sheri Heller: Employees want to return to the office more slowly than employers expect but July 2021 75% of executives anticipate that at least half of the office employees, we.

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Sheri Heller: will be working in the office, but in comparison 61% of employees expect to spend half their time in the in the office by July.

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Sheri Heller: So there’s a little bit of a disconnect there and I think employers really need to pay attention to how their employees are transitioning in how comfortable, they are with that.

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Sheri Heller: The other finding is that there is really no consensus on the optimal balance of work days at home versus in the office.

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Sheri Heller: So over half of employees would prefer to be remote at least three days a week was pandemic concerns received.

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Sheri Heller: Well, most executives expect options for remote work, they are also worried about the effect 68% of them say that typical employees should be in the office at least three days a week, to maintain a distinct company culture.

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Sheri Heller: And then finally least experienced workers really other ones that are most need of the office so respondents with the least amount of professional experience are more likely to want to be in the office more often.

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Sheri Heller: Just on our own team our HR team here at mass pay 25% of our team join during the pandemic, so we actually did not have a chance to actually meet in person.

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Sheri Heller: Until just a few weeks ago, so it’s been a really interesting environment, one of the things I think we’ve noticed a lot is that that all that learning you do through osmosis when you’re in and amongst other people.

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Sheri Heller: that’s the piece that’s missing, and especially for the more the least experienced workers they’re more likely to value meeting with managers or company training programs then they’re more experienced colleagues.

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Sheri Heller: And then, this article was fascinating ink magazine put out an article in April as more companies plan to reopen their offices that the hybrid workplace model looks likely to be a popular option.

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Sheri Heller: So, in a hybrid model and employer would offer mix of working at home and in the office nearly half of the employees say in this study that was done by envoy, which is a maker of workplace safety tools.

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Sheri Heller: Excuse me, including a room booking platforms and sign in systems if you’ve been in our MP office you’ve actually used on boy.

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Sheri Heller: But nearly half of people say that they want flexibility to spend some of the work week in the office and some of it, working from home.

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Sheri Heller: what’s more what’s more nearly half of those survey respondents say they would likely look for another job if their employer does not offer a hybrid workplace.

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Sheri Heller: So all these surveys are really just indicating companies really need to take remote and telework options into consideration.

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Sheri Heller: So we’re going to be using those terms interchangeably a lot remote in telework and we’re going to try and differentiate where it’s important so first let’s look at the pros and cons of remote work for both the employer and the employee.

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Sheri Heller: Excuse me.

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Sheri Heller: So some of you just see repeated has benefits for remote work for employer and employee, a lot of employers did find that they were a lot more increased productivity, for people working remotely and a lot of employees found that they are being more productive.

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Sheri Heller: there’s not as many people showing up at your doorstep or interrupting you during the workday.

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Sheri Heller: Reduce expenses were also a really big bonus so for employers that could mean just office space that can mean operational expenses.

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Sheri Heller: Travel expenses things like that for employees, those reduced expenses are obviously you know not commuting some people may be pants you know makeup I mean it’s amazing you know not going out to lunch all the time there’s so many pluses and reduce expenses to working from home.

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Sheri Heller: for employers expanding the applicant pool is a really big plus because if you’re able to offer that hybrid environment or hire people who are out of state and can work remotely you’re just expanding your talent pool.

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Sheri Heller: The other thing it has done for employers in a lot of respects, is it has increased collaboration.

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Sheri Heller: we’ve been able to very effectively use our collaboration tools on our HR team, so that we don’t really feel like we’ve missed a beat from the collaborative standpoint, which has been wonderful.

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Sheri Heller: And it does reduce absences for the employer, because a lot of times, people who maybe didn’t feel well enough to come into the office or maybe just needed to.

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Sheri Heller: be able to take some time off to run to a doctor’s appointment, or something like that are able to work around that when they’re in a work from home environment.

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Sheri Heller: And for both employers and employees are a lot of people who are concerned about their carbon footprint and honestly if we are not taking up so much space in offices and using all of the.

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Sheri Heller: utilities and the travel and everything else associated with it we’re reducing our carbon footprint and then employers are also finding a lot more increase satisfaction employee satisfaction by being able to work from home.

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Sheri Heller: On the employee side, a lot of people are finding fewer distractions, although I know that amanda’s I think going to talk a little bit about zoom fatigue.

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Sheri Heller: that’s gotten to be a little bit of an issue a lot of employees are finding a better work life balance, being able to get things done, that they weren’t able to do before.

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Sheri Heller: Which is making them feel more effective at work or improve technical skills, I will tell you that a little over a year ago.

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Sheri Heller: amanda and I did a webinar our last webinar from the office, and we were so we’re so reliant on our marketing team to help us just maneuver through zoom and our skills have grown exponentially over this last year.

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Sheri Heller: And then the other thing that has been a benefit for employees, is it gives them a lot more job opportunities, if you think about it before somebody who was working remotely.

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Sheri Heller: Say maybe one of our employees, we have employees know in 17 states somebody who’s working out of Alabama before may not have had the same job opportunities.

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Sheri Heller: Because we weren’t typically a remote environment, but now that all of us have been able to work, promote this past year we’re finding that we really can offer people a lot more opportunities so there’s definitely a lot of pluses on the benefits of remote work or teleworking.

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Sheri Heller: But there are also a number of challenges to remote work or hybrid work environments on the employer side Home Office costs and amanda is going to touch on this a little bit more.

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Sheri Heller: later on in the presentation, but figuring out how to give your employees what they need to function, while at home, whether it’s buying new equipment.

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Sheri Heller: Excuse me your licenses to things like zoom or other collaborative software.

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Sheri Heller: Company company culture can be suffering to some extent because oftentimes that company culture is happening in the in the workplace.

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Sheri Heller: So it’s just maybe something that employers now have to start shifting how we think about company culture.

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Sheri Heller: and finding the right people can be a challenge from players in a remote work environment because not everybody is suited to be a remote worker and then there’s also the confidentiality and security risks that just go along with doing anything.

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Sheri Heller: Online and then connectivity issues which i’m sure you’ve all found throughout this past year, that you know, right in the middle of a presentation, the wi fi goes out or you know all sorts of crazy crazy things have happened.

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Sheri Heller: On the employee side, some of the challenges are that out of sight out of mind, especially for those of you who have more hybrid environments.

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Sheri Heller: Where some people are choosing to work more from home, some are choosing to work more in the office sometimes you’ve got to make sure that as an employee you get seen when you’re working remotely and that can be a challenge.

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Sheri Heller: This for some people that increase isolation has been has been challenging and then also unplugging from work it is really hard to figure out when work ends and when home begins.

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Sheri Heller: I know for myself the beginning of this pandemic, I was doing I hadn’t set up a proper office, I was doing everything from the kitchen.

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Sheri Heller: So I would literally go from one kitchen counter to the other kitchen counter is didn’t even feel like I was unplugging from work.

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Sheri Heller: Now i’ve got it set up so that I actually have an office and it has made a whole world of difference and figuring out how to unplug from work.

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Sheri Heller: For some employees, they have found some decreased productivity, and I think that I don’t think that’s an overall trend, but it does happen with some people, because their situations at home may not be conducive to being able to be productive and.

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Sheri Heller: there’s been a lot more scheduling of calls and meetings and things that have also interrupted productivity.

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Sheri Heller: And then finally all those distractions from home the doorbell ringing the construction outside the dog barking up the kids in the background, a lot of those have been a challenge that a lot of employers have trying to figure out how to maneuver through.

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Sheri Heller: So next topic is talking about compliance in HR considerations.

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Sheri Heller: So this gets really technical so i’m going to kind of this is where I want to differentiate a little bit between that remote work environment which is really somebody who lives in another State and does not travel to the office.

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Sheri Heller: versus what i’m going to refer to as telework or telecommuting, which is somebody who is able to do sort of a hybrid kind of thing, so the first.

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Sheri Heller: Compliance consideration is really exempt versus non exempt employees so under the fair Labor standards act non exempt employees do you have to track hours worked.

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Sheri Heller: And they have to be paid overtime for hours worked over 40 and a work week but not only that there’s also state and local Labor laws to be considered.

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Sheri Heller: tracking hours gets very, very tricky you know in recording working time under the FSA there’s something of her to as de minimis work and so it’s really important for employers to understand.

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Sheri Heller: What time works is considered compensable what you have to track and pay for.

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Sheri Heller: So in recording working time under FSA infrequent insignificant periods of time beyond scheduled working hours.

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Sheri Heller: which cannot, as a practical matter be precisely recorded for payroll purposes, can be disregarded the courts have held that such periods of time are de minimis or insignificant.

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Sheri Heller: So what that means is that if you have a non exempt employee who you know takes a few minutes at the beginning of the day.

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Sheri Heller: let’s give them at the end of the day, to just catch up on a few emails maybe they’re just reading through emails.

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Sheri Heller: I maybe many of you probably do this I kind of just like to clear out any of the emails I don’t have to deal with.

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Sheri Heller: Just kind of do a little housecleaning so that I can start fresh in the morning.

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Sheri Heller: Those things might be considered de minimis or or just insignificant time and not have to be tracked.

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Sheri Heller: But if your managers are emailing your employees off hours and expecting to be responded to and then employees are responding or they’re responding to your customers.

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Sheri Heller: or clients that time may need to be tracked so it’s really important for you to get to pay attention to how your non exempt employees are working.

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Sheri Heller: So, and then, in addition to state and local taxes, the Labor and employment laws of the states where remote employees working may apply to the employment relationship, so what I mean by that is taking into consideration.

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Sheri Heller: Things like posting requirements meal breaks overtime requirements so, for example in California overtime was anything over eight hours in a work day not 40 hours in a work week so different States have different rules.

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Sheri Heller: So many states have put into place paid family leave options and then there’s a lot of still a lot of the coven relief time.

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Sheri Heller: Emergency sick time that a lot of States are doing individually, so it is so important to make sure that if you have employees so here’s what we have to differentiate between that remote worker in that hybrid worker.

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Sheri Heller: So going to use those of us here in New England, as an example, because during the pandemic, a lot of us who weren’t maybe based in Massachusetts but maybe lived in Rhode island new Hampshire maine.

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Sheri Heller: we’re choosing to do or having to do a lot of work from home and now we’re sort of returning to the office in that hybrid environment.

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Sheri Heller: So it has going to be important to differentiate where your work location is so in that hybrid environment your work location, maybe the office, which means that you would comply with your your state.

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Sheri Heller: policies are laws that apply to the state in which offices in, but if you have a truly remote employees, like our employees and in various States here at mass pay.

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Sheri Heller: Those employees may have to we may have to comply with the Labor laws in those states, because those employees are not going to be covered say under PF ml.

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Sheri Heller: For example, here in Massachusetts so there’s really a lot of things to take into consideration, so first and foremost.

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Sheri Heller: Is figuring out where the employees true work location is.

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Sheri Heller: If they live in Alabama and you’re based in Massachusetts i’m telling you more than likely their work location should be Alabama but, again, this is a conversation, you need to have with your accountant your HR professional.

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Sheri Heller: Or maybe your payroll specialist but it’s really important to differentiate if you have somebody working hybrid.

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Sheri Heller: Those in those individuals before we’re doing it as an option during the pandemic, we had to do it as a requirement now, we might be heading back to doing it as an option.

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Sheri Heller: So all of that is going to determine where their work location is going to be and that’s going to determine which state unemployment so state employment laws that you need to follow.

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Sheri Heller: And then for employees wanting to work out of state either all of the time or period of the time this potential tax and payroll issues for both the employer and the employee.

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Sheri Heller: And unfortunately there isn’t a one size fits all answer it’s really going to depend on the state the individual is performing work in how long they are there and a host of other factors.

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Sheri Heller: So when an employee is working outside of the state where the employer operates the employer may be responsible for the other states tax.

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Sheri Heller: Taxes including income taxes each state income tax withholding requirements vary significantly and maybe based on both personal residence in or work location.

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Sheri Heller: So, for example, you may, if you your business is in Massachusetts your employee lives in new Hampshire new Hampshire doesn’t have state income tax but Massachusetts does.

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Sheri Heller: If your work location is Massachusetts in the employees work location is Massachusetts even if they’re working hybrid they may still have to pay Massachusetts taxes.

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Sheri Heller: So there’s a lot of variations and is going to it’s very complicated because States have different thresholds for an individual working remotely in that state that trigger the tax implications.

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Sheri Heller: So, for example in Illinois it’s 30 days in New York it’s 14 days there’s just so many considerations, so there isn’t a one size fits all and really going to have to really pay attention to now that we’re moving out of that mandatory.

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Sheri Heller: Remote environment into a more hybrid environment where your employees should be located.

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Sheri Heller: And I really encourage you to look at that, sooner rather than later, because i’ll tell you once your end a year hits.

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Sheri Heller: And all of a sudden your employees go to do their taxes and they’re realizing that have been taxed on Wednesday, but live in another.

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Sheri Heller: That looks then you’re going to be incurring time and expense with amended returns and a lot of other things i’m just going to be very time consuming So this is the time to take a look at that.

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Sheri Heller: code related remote work has dramatically impacted this area of a lot, and it is exponentially increase the number of employees working in different states than where the employer is located.

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Sheri Heller: Excuse me, or where they reside and many states have been slow to adjust to this.

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Sheri Heller: However, several States have implemented coven 19 was regarding tax implications for remote workers so again, this is a state by state analysis that needs to be done by the employer for each employee wishing to work remotely out of state.

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Sheri Heller: And then, finally, employers and also be aware of state laws regarding workers compensation and unemployment insurance.

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Sheri Heller: And players usually have to obtain workers COMP insurance in the state where the employee is actually working.

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Sheri Heller: It may be the case that the employees compensation and outside the employer might be the case that the workers compensation laws and the employers, it would not apply to the employee working remotely and another state.

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Sheri Heller: The same also applies to unemployment insurance, where the out of state employee, he would likely trigger the state’s requirement that the employer register for.

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Sheri Heller: for employment, unemployment insurance premiums through that states particular unemployment program so what happens is is that if somebody if you have to let somebody go let somebody off.

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Sheri Heller: And they are living out of state, and you have been continuing to consider them as a worker working out of your office, but they have not been working out of your office.

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Sheri Heller: they’re going to file for unemployment in the State in which they live that’s going to send up a red flag.

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Sheri Heller: And a lot of states have reporting requirements between agencies so it’s very important to get that all squared away ahead of time.

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Sheri Heller: Because you don’t want to be caught finding out that you should have been paying into the state unemployment system in a state that you weren’t and again.

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Sheri Heller: That involves amended returns sometimes going to be late filing fees so there’s a lot of considerations on top of the compliance issues.

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Sheri Heller: All right, and let’s look at some of the HR considerations as well, so i’ll talk a little bit about company culture but figuring out company culture is really, really challenging.

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Sheri Heller: We started out as a you know, a small very local type of payroll company and as we’ve grown over the last almost 20 years.

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Sheri Heller: You know our culture has really kind of stayed intact and then come the pandemic and we really want to such a remote environment and we’ve hired so many people in so many different States.

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Sheri Heller: That we, like so many employers were navigating how to really infuse our company culture to people who aren’t physically in the office.

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Sheri Heller: The other issues are things like onboarding who’s doing your new hire paperwork I nine compliance that’s still in in flux as a code restrictions are being lifted.

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Sheri Heller: And the state of emergency is soon to be lifted in at the federal level, as well as state level so that’s going to be something to keep an eye on.

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Sheri Heller: Training has been a real issue for a lot of employers that used to do training on site for new hires or for ongoing training and figuring out how to employ that, for your remote workers as well.

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Sheri Heller: Employment posters so even though somebody might be might be working out of their home in Alabama as an employer, if that is considered their work state, you have to post those those employment posters so staying abreast of that is really challenging and how to facilitate that.

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Sheri Heller: and performance management is really and I think amanda is going to talk a little bit about this as far as really.

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Sheri Heller: Just a way and managers have to kind of look at things a little differently and how they’re managing performance.

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Sheri Heller: Before it used to be able to say hey if I can see you working, you must be working, but now, if I can’t see working, are you really working and how do I know that so there’s these are some of the challenges that you need to take into consideration.

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Sheri Heller: policies and procedures so many changes, a lot of us again went remote by me really forced to go remote, but we didn’t have policies in place for what our expectations were, and again I mean there’s going to delve into that coming up.

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Sheri Heller: Just the remote environment in general and how that’s impacting your employees.

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Sheri Heller: I have to say that I think that our conversations with employers over the last really the last month or so really been focused on doing a lot of surveys and making sure that employees feel heard and that you’re really understanding what they’re looking for, as far as that remote environment.

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Sheri Heller: Excuse me, already touched on the non exempt employee issue but it I can’t can’t be overstated, how important it is to make sure.

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Sheri Heller: That just because you’re going to work as a remote environment doesn’t mean that you’re you don’t have to comply with all of the fair Labor standards act in any state and local laws regarding non exempt employees.

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Sheri Heller: Workers COMP coverage, you need to take a look and see how that might have changed, you should be contacting your brokers.

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Sheri Heller: I mean one way thing is that it might actually lower your costs in some respects, you might have people who used to be on the road selling and now you’re realizing that they can sell via zoom almost as effectively that can actually lower your workers COMP your workers completes.

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Sheri Heller: office closings offers closings are really, really challenging up here in New England where we’re prone to.

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Sheri Heller: blizzards in the winter, but now you have remote employees who are in different parts of the country, how is that impacting them if the office is closed.

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Sheri Heller: So those are kind of things to take into consideration, but we’ve laws, I mentioned earlier.

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Sheri Heller: Absolutely, they are coming out fast and furious at any point that we don’t have a lot happening at the federal level more is going to happen at the state level.

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Sheri Heller: And when that happens we end up with 50 different types of laws.

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Sheri Heller: Like we’re being like we’re in 50 different countries sometimes so it’s going to be very, very important to make sure you’re up to date on what all those legal laws look for those States.

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Sheri Heller: And then again identifying which ones, you have to comply with based on where your employees are working.

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Sheri Heller: And then finally discriminatory practices, it can be very, very easy to kind of lose sight of making sure that you are taking.

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Sheri Heller: Everything into consideration when you are allowing certain people to work remote, but others not.

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Sheri Heller: or two or just any of your disciplinary practices any of that really important to make sure you’re implementing everything in a non discriminatory manner so with that i’m going to turn it over to amanda to talk about telework policies.

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Amanda Leonardi: Alright, thank you, sherry and hi everyone hope you’re all doing well on this, the sunny Thursday.

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Amanda Leonardi: i’m going to dive into an important topic of establishing a telework policy and what items, you should consider, as you are you’re crafting what up and the first step here.

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Amanda Leonardi: gonna blow your mind, but in creating a remote worker telecommuting policy it says decide who can work from home.

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Amanda Leonardi: And so, when you’re deciding who can work from home it’s important to know that you may offer different benefits or terms of employment to different groups of employees, but as sherry mentioned.

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Amanda Leonardi: The distinction has to be based on non discriminatory criteria so, for instance telecommuting option or requirement can be based on you know the type of work performed.

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Amanda Leonardi: or an employee classification so exempt employees versus non exempt employees or even location of the office or employee.

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Amanda Leonardi: But you should be able to support the the business justification for allowing or requiring certain groups to telecommute in order to back these decisions up and justify the delineation isn’t based upon any type of discriminatory factors.

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Amanda Leonardi: Alright, so developing your telecommuting or telework policy should start with three main components first is updated job descriptions.

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Amanda Leonardi: Second, is creating a comprehensive telework policy and third is constructing a telework agreement to have employees sign off on.

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Amanda Leonardi: If you take time to establish you know strong descriptions policies and agreements your ability to effectively manage and hold employees who are teleworking.

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Amanda Leonardi: And working remotely accountable is going to be backed up by by strong documentation, so if you’re in the situation.

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Amanda Leonardi: where you are, you know converting one of your pre pandemic in office positions into.

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Amanda Leonardi: A completely remote or telework position the job description that the employee had before, will likely not be the same, so you really need to take a look at that job description.

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Amanda Leonardi: determine what essential duties may be subject to change and update those accordingly.

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Amanda Leonardi: Then you want a strong telework policy which will walk through some suggestions on how to craft that up in a moment.

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Amanda Leonardi: And then, again, last but not least, a telework agreement to establish the terms and conditions surrounding the the telework that you should have employees again sign off on.

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Amanda Leonardi: So, although some employers will be you know comfortable have been comfortable up until this point over the past year, you know sending everyone home with their laptop saying go forth and be productive.

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Amanda Leonardi: Most will wanted to be a little bit more specific and now that this is, you know employers are making the decision to keep these types of arrangements in place long term.

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Amanda Leonardi: pass the pandemic and it’s really important to to put a little bit more framework around it, so a good telecommuting policy will generally address employee eligibility for remote work, first and foremost.

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Amanda Leonardi: Including the process for you know submitting requests to work from home productivity standards security expectations.

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Amanda Leonardi: hours of work office expenses and even alcohol and drug use, and so, for instance, your policy might require that employees are available by phone.

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Amanda Leonardi: Or you know messaging APP email during their regular in office hours, and you know may require that they meet all deadlines and maintain client contacts per usual you know check in with their manager at the close of each work day to to report what they have accomplished.

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Amanda Leonardi: So so policies may outline things like that, and then you want to also be sure to let employees know whom to contact if they run into any technical difficulties at home, which i’m sure.

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Amanda Leonardi: You know, most of us, if not all of us on this call have have experienced over the past year of working from home and.

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Sheri Heller: We had a couple of juicy talk.

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Amanda Leonardi: We have we have, but you know what it keeps us on our toes and never a dull moment.

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Sheri Heller: So.

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Amanda Leonardi: You got to keep it fresh.

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Amanda Leonardi: So all these all of these areas, on your screen here is, you know are items that you should take into consideration when drafting up your your policies to set the stage and lay your expectations out there, explicitly for for employees, so speaking of setting expectations.

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Amanda Leonardi: Excuse me.

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Amanda Leonardi: My goodness i’m sorry.

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Amanda Leonardi: Employers should have clear guidelines and policies, you know regarding what’s expected of the employee in terms of ours, availability and work product so some general areas to consider here.

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Amanda Leonardi: include detailing you know their their normal work duties and responsibilities, making clear the hours of work, the employees expected to put in, along with strict adherence to anytime keeping policies.

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Amanda Leonardi: Setting the hours of availability to communicate, you know regarding company business and job duties, so you know When are they expected to be available if something comes up.

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Amanda Leonardi: determining how to handle communication of work assignments and personal needs, including reporting absences due to you know injury or illness or caring for our family member.

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Amanda Leonardi: Discussing the use of company equipment and materials.

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Amanda Leonardi: Ensuring the employee, you know protects company information by following company’s policies and practices regarding information security and data protection so.

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Amanda Leonardi: You want to you know, ensure that unauthorized individuals don’t you know, have access to company data, whether it be in print or electronically.

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Amanda Leonardi: You want to also include in there and in those expectations to you know maintain a safe environment.

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Amanda Leonardi: In the employees workspace so long story short, if you, you know want your employees to fully settle into remote work productively.

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Amanda Leonardi: and also be able to hold the police accountable effectively you really do have to set these clear expectations and ensure that employees are aware of these standards so that all should be outlined in your policies and agreements.

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Amanda Leonardi: Okay, so as sherry alluded to earlier on, covering work from home expenses has has become a pretty big concern, since a pandemic.

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Amanda Leonardi: And and be because of the fact that the the nature of what we’ve been through for the past year has pushed pushed so many employers on into into remote work and some of the employees into remote work so.

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Amanda Leonardi: While federal law does not require employers to pay for work related expenses incurred by employees when they’re working from home.

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Amanda Leonardi: Many state laws do so these state laws often require reimbursement for necessary job expenses for things like Internet access cell phone, use office supplies and equipment, you know things like printers ink that sort of thing.

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Amanda Leonardi: And so the only time that the FSA impacts work from home reimbursements is if the cost would lower the employees earnings beneath the applicable minimum wage.

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Amanda Leonardi: And because this only protects workers whose income is you know relatively close to the minimum wage line the FSA is is rarely implicated.

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Amanda Leonardi: In reimbursements for work related expenses something to keep in mind, though, but um you know, remember that this is just on the federal level.

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Amanda Leonardi: Several like like I said several states have statutes that deep detail when an employer has to.

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Amanda Leonardi: reimburse an employee for business expenses, including those related to working remotely and telecommuting, and so you can see, on your your screen here the States.

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Amanda Leonardi: That that have these these types of statutes in place so California DC Illinois iowa.

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Amanda Leonardi: Massachusetts Minnesota Montana, and new Hampshire and New York Pennsylvania, so if you operate and one of the states or, if you have employees who work remotely from those States be sure to go check into the the corresponding State law and ensure you’re you’re in compliance.

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Sheri Heller: You know what I mean that one thing I just realized that we didn’t we didn’t include and I think it’s a good thing to mention in here.

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Sheri Heller: is making sure you’ve got some good documentation about people working from home because if you’re giving the employee, the option to work partially from home or fully from home it’s not being a requirement that might differentiate whether you’re going to need to.

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Sheri Heller: cover some of these expenses depending again on the State laws so it’s going to be very important to make sure that you’re documenting you know when when the.

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Sheri Heller: advantage to working from home is that the employees request versus the employers requests so that’s just a little piece that I just realized we missed out on on this one.

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Amanda Leonardi: yeah no great point.

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Amanda Leonardi: Thank you for.

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Amanda Leonardi: Thank you for adding that in there.

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Amanda Leonardi: um so again some States require any business related expenses to be reimbursed by employers and, as far as the extent of these expenses.

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Amanda Leonardi: that’s really going to be dependent on the employees job duties on, and you know but we’re when we’re thinking about business related expenses, they frequently include.

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Amanda Leonardi: Things like phone, use for business activities home Internet use postage online subscription so like you know, a paid plan for zoom.

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Amanda Leonardi: printer printing supplies in cartridges paper office supplies, you know, maybe that includes an ergonomic desk and Chair and as well as a work computer so.

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Amanda Leonardi: A written policy and to kind of piggyback off what sherry was saying about documentation, but you know, a written policy outlining expense reimbursement for telecommuting arrangements is recommended.

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Amanda Leonardi: Employers with employees working from multiple states, so if you, you know, have a workforce it’s spread out across the country.

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Amanda Leonardi: You, you may want to choose to tailor you know, a different policy for each state or incorporate the most generous requirements into a single policy applicable to all employees and try to streamline that a little bit.

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Amanda Leonardi: Alright, so now that we have gone through some of the the prep work necessary to kind of set the stage for remote work.

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Amanda Leonardi: How do you actually manage remote workers when you know they’re actively in the job so.

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Amanda Leonardi: As sherry mentioned earlier, you, you really will likely need to take a different approach to managing remote workers, then you would when managing employees and person.

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Amanda Leonardi: In the office So the first thing we wanted to kind of touch upon here briefly is technology so.

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Amanda Leonardi: Since so many employers hands were abruptly forced into allowing for remote work due to the pandemic many companies just kind of made do with what they had worked with what they had, however.

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Amanda Leonardi: Now that so many employers are working within more of a hybrid model or a fully remote model.

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Amanda Leonardi: it’s time to start thinking about making investments in technology to help you manage your workforce, as well as help your remote employees succeed so some technology to consider.

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Amanda Leonardi: First, time and attendance software, so this is especially important from a non exempt employee who’s working remotely so making sure that non exempt employees are tracking their time.

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Amanda Leonardi: And, in turn, being compensated appropriately for all hours worked, and then we have communication and collaboration tools, so you know.

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Amanda Leonardi: web and video conferencing instant messaging group chats notification Apps things like that so really ways for your team to stay connected to converse to catch up with one another, asked questions, and you know my personal favorite have some laughs together.

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Amanda Leonardi: And, and one thing that you know sharing I were were actually talking about.

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Amanda Leonardi: When we were going through this earlier is, you know how helpful seeing someone status on Microsoft Microsoft teams can be so that’s what we use internally and P, and you know, as you can imagine there there, there are many times when.

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Amanda Leonardi: You know, we on our HR team get a call from a client about a tricky employee situation.

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Amanda Leonardi: Or will be reading through you know legislation trying to make you know heads or tails of it and want to make sure that our interpretation of the different language.

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Amanda Leonardi: You know that they speak is correct and.

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Amanda Leonardi: You know needing to bounce things off of a teammate quickly so seeing someone status as available and that little green bubble and teams.

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Amanda Leonardi: helps us know that hey this team member is available right now i’m not going to be bothering them in the middle of a client meeting.

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Amanda Leonardi: So let me reach out and pick their brain on this thing so it’s a really helpful tool to stay connected and help collaboration and also.

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Amanda Leonardi: You know, help employees not feel so isolated out there and know that they have support as they you know navigate the day to day.

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Amanda Leonardi: And then you probably want to take a look at some tools to measure and manage your your productivity to ensure performance standards and metrics are being met, as well as project management and.

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Amanda Leonardi: Of course, employee engagement tools so i’m a little bit of a shameless plug here I I happen to know of a little company called MP that can help you with many of these solutions so.

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Amanda Leonardi: You know, specifically time and attendance and employee engagement software so don’t don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like to learn more about our our solutions in those areas.

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Amanda Leonardi: Alright, so we thought this was pretty interesting and spot on when it comes to measuring productivity so.

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Amanda Leonardi: Again performance measurement tools haven’t changed, but where employees are completing you know their their work has changed so traditional measurements for.

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Amanda Leonardi: Productivity are no longer on you know the most effective in certain jobs or roles, so you kind of have to be limber and like sherry said pivot a little bit.

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Amanda Leonardi: So Gallup has identified three universal domains to measure hybrid and remote team productivity.

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Amanda Leonardi: And they did a extensive qualitative analysis and discovered that there were three performance domains that really comprehensively describe and consistently predict success in a role, so the first is setting goals and meeting them, which equates to my work.

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Amanda Leonardi: partnering for effectiveness, which is my team and translating work in into its consequences consequences, excuse me, which is my customer.

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Amanda Leonardi: And these three core performance domains my work my team my customer.

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Amanda Leonardi: Are the standard framework that every leader can really use to evaluate employee productivity, regardless of an employee’s location.

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Amanda Leonardi: And so, in order to really harness these domains leaders should really turn their attention to the role that honestly has the most influence on a team as far as engagement and productivity, which is the manager.

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Amanda Leonardi: And if sure you don’t mind go into the next slide here.

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Amanda Leonardi: Yes, thank you okay um so managers.

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Amanda Leonardi: Like we said can can promote you know excellence and build a foundation to reliably track employee productivity by completing.

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Amanda Leonardi: Two main tasks, the first is establishing clear expectations, and the second is setting clear goals and so while these two tasks sound relatively simple on recent Gallup.

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Amanda Leonardi: Data has has shown kind of a different story and painted a different picture, which is managers are actually struggling to accomplish them.

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Amanda Leonardi: So managers should really prioritize ongoing performance conversations more now than ever as employees, you know may either be remote permanently or a mixture of both in the office and remote.

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Amanda Leonardi: In addition, managers should engage in collective you know goal setting which boosts employees intrinsic motivation, because you know they’re active participants in setting and establishing those goals.

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Amanda Leonardi: And then, lastly, managers should assess performance goals periodically to make sure they’re still relevant and appropriate for these particular roles.

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Amanda Leonardi: So managing remote and hybrid workers does really require thoughtful adaptations of day to day tasks, so we wanted to provide you with a with a few suggestions to try out.

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Amanda Leonardi: The first is increasing the frequency of check in conversations with remote and hybrid workers, this really helps managers, you know stay on top of their progress.

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Amanda Leonardi: and get an active pulse on potential roadblocks while also helping the workers feel supported and connected.

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Amanda Leonardi: Second, is be available, so you know, make sure remote and hybrid workers have easy access to get their questions answered.

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Amanda Leonardi: clarify next steps and discuss potential obstacles when they can’t you know.

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Amanda Leonardi: Under normal circumstances are in the office you know stop by your office or you know flag you down the hallway and say hey, can I ask you a quick question so.

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Amanda Leonardi: um you know one one thing that may be helpful, is to establish office hours on your calendar.

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Amanda Leonardi: Or you know set a status update on your you know internal software system that lets people know that you’re available so again, as I mentioned, we use teams and if we have a question that we need to ask you know our boss Paul.

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Amanda Leonardi: Seeing that little green bubble is a relief when we know we can shoot him a note or give them a call without disturbing him in the middle of you know, a another meeting.

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Amanda Leonardi: I can’t stress this enough don’t neglect your relationships, so you know.

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Amanda Leonardi: it’s been it’s been hard but it’s really important you want to build in time for small talk during you know your check ins and team meetings or even outside of those forums.

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Amanda Leonardi: And you know I think in the in the land of zoom it’s so easy to you know book yourself back to back to back to back zoom meetings and.

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Amanda Leonardi: And not account for time for yourself and your co workers and just to to have those nice casual check ins, with people.

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Amanda Leonardi: That can make a world of difference, and so you know not neglecting relationships and scheduling out time and making a conscious effort to.

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Amanda Leonardi: You know, address your your work relationships can really make up for missing out on those casual conversations you know around in the kitchen or around the water cooler that you would have in the workplace, so.

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Amanda Leonardi: We all know it’s really important to maintain rapport with your with your team and help employees feel like you know they’re cared about.

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Amanda Leonardi: As people.

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Amanda Leonardi: No matter, no matter where they are, and then, last but not least, think equity at every turn, so if you manage a hybrid or blended team.

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Amanda Leonardi: be very careful and watchful for differences in you know the employee experience between employees who are on site verse remote, so you know.

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Amanda Leonardi: Ask yourself these questions does everyone have equal access to opportunities and do they have an equal say in decisions like are you just going to the in the in house.

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Amanda Leonardi: Employees to ask a question and get their feedback on when it comes to your decision making, or are you asking for that feedback from you know the team as a whole, including your remote workforce.

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Amanda Leonardi: So noticing and addressing any disparities early is is really key and avoiding tensions and long term consequences that can arise from.

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Amanda Leonardi: favoring employees, based upon you know their work arrangement so make sure you’re giving everyone the resources and support that they need to succeed, no matter you know where.

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Amanda Leonardi: They start in the process, so I mean make an effort in these areas, on a daily or you know weekly basis, it will really make a difference in the ability for you and your team to succeed in a remote environment, so I do encourage you, you all to try them out.

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Amanda Leonardi: All right, so last but not least in my favorite topic of mall engagement and culture, this is an area that I think gets lost in a remote environment, a little bit and.

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Amanda Leonardi: We at MP i’ve been working you know totally remotely since last March as Kerry mentioned.

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Amanda Leonardi: But we’ve recently begun facing departments back into the office so i’ve been back into the office a handful of times over the past few weeks.

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Amanda Leonardi: And I can’t tell you how much i’ve missed the company culture and the energy in a room when working with my teammates and it totally like invigorated me I came home from my you know first in office day.

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Amanda Leonardi: And was just you know, on cloud nine and it just it felt really good to just be in a room with people and have that that ability to check in and catch up with them, which.

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Sheri Heller: Full disclosure, though, that first day we got very little done.

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Amanda Leonardi: This is true.

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Sheri Heller: This is so much catching up to do.

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Amanda Leonardi: Exactly exactly you know it’s hard when you really like your teammates.

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Sheri Heller: is really tough.

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Amanda Leonardi: um but ya know it totally jazzed me up and it wasn’t on it honestly wasn’t something that.

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Amanda Leonardi: You know I even realized, I was missing over the past year, because you know we on our HR team share have done such a good job, about staying connected, I mean.

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Amanda Leonardi: Honestly, we probably talk more had talked more over the past year and have had more ongoing meetings with one another than we did pre pandemic so we’ve done a really good job at you know collaborating.

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Amanda Leonardi: On but there’s just you know there’s something about the company culture and being in the office and.

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Amanda Leonardi: You know connecting with teammates and other departments that you know I wouldn’t necessarily work super closely with each day.

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Amanda Leonardi: Or you know, being able to chat one on one with our you know founder and CEO in the kitchen or being able to eat lunch together things like that are oftentimes missing from a remote environment.

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Amanda Leonardi: But I think it’s important to try to find ways to replicate that where you can and and fill in the gaps, because it does make a difference and.

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Amanda Leonardi: The social aspect of work is incredibly important for a lot of people so some ways, you can try to tap into your engagement and culture in.

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Amanda Leonardi: A remote environment on your screen here, so you know, creating online biographies with professional background family hobbies so creating a space for remote teammates to get to know each other and connect on personal levels.

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Amanda Leonardi: And you know and just learn more about one another.

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Amanda Leonardi: As a team Member spotlight so highlighting TEAM members, so that everyone can understand you know what this person does, and you know all that they’re accomplishing behind the scenes.

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Amanda Leonardi: weekly check ins every Monday our boss Paul meets with each of us on on our HR team, one on one, and I know that you know, during that time I have space to ask questions get support just catch up with Paul.

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Amanda Leonardi: fill them in on what’s going on in my life and things like that, and I know we all on our team, you know really appreciate and cherish that time with him.

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Amanda Leonardi: Virtual team meeting So be careful of the overload and the zoom fatigue that this could potentially.

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Amanda Leonardi: You know, add to but setting up virtual team meetings for everyone to see each other’s faces and remain connected is is a good a good idea and important so.

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Amanda Leonardi: You know if you’re operating in a hybrid model and have some folks in the office and others working remotely.

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Amanda Leonardi: Be sure that when if and when you have you know onsite meetings in the office, create a way for remote teammates to be there.

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Amanda Leonardi: Even if it’s virtually and really feel a part of it so make sure you’re including them in those types of conversations and meetings as well.

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Amanda Leonardi: Add pictures to org charts really helps put faces to names her folks I know this is incredibly important, especially for you know new hires but even existing employees.

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Amanda Leonardi: You know, as you know, I mean we’ve done a lot of growing over the past year and there’s a lot of people who I haven’t officially met him in person, yet.

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Amanda Leonardi: But having a picture, so that when I do meet them in person and can go up to them, introduce myself I you know I know who i’m speaking with and.

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Amanda Leonardi: You know, again, it just helps put faces to names and create some more human experience that way and provide increased visibility onboarding program so.

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Amanda Leonardi: onboarding and employee remotely is is an incredible challenge so be sure that you are attentive to that process and create space for new employees to to shadow and get to know their team and job and as sherry said earlier we’ve hired 25% of our HR team.

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Amanda Leonardi: Over the past year, while working remotely and one of the things that I think about often and was the most helpful for me personally, during my onboarding process at MP.

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Amanda Leonardi: We were in the office at the time, but you know was just observing and listening in on my teammates on their client calls or watching them respond to emails or going to client visits with them to see how they handle different situations.

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Amanda Leonardi: or even just hearing the team, you know ask each other questions in the office and hearing those those responses.

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Amanda Leonardi: it’s not easy to do that remotely and provide that type of shadowing to new hires so you really do have to figure out ways to create space and and give new hires opportunities to observe their teammates.

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Amanda Leonardi: But also create team goals you know establish the camaraderie that way provide opportunities to collaborate.

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Amanda Leonardi: assign a mentor so link employees up with senior Member of a team, and someone who can coach them and help them succeed.

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Amanda Leonardi: You can you know set up monthly meetings, just to check in and create space for you know conversation and growth and.

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Amanda Leonardi: This is really a great engagement tactic and it helps employees feel like you, are investing in them and taking the time to to really you know take them to the next level and integrate them into the organization.

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Amanda Leonardi: And then provide benefits so don’t forget about the the remote workers when it comes to catered lunches or gym memberships or company outings be sure.

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Amanda Leonardi: That those types of small gestures and benefits are inclusive of the remote workers as well, so that they feel you know integrated into the company culture so maybe every so often you send them a grub hub gift certificate.

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Amanda Leonardi: Or you know, making sure that the gym membership that you offer is you know, a national gym membership or you know you’re finding an alternative solution for them in their respective in their respective workplace or residents so.

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Amanda Leonardi: Those were those items right there just you know some ways that you can really tap into your engagement and culture.

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Amanda Leonardi: You know, both on site and and remotely and you know one thing that I do want to just stress and I think it’s really important right now is.

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Amanda Leonardi: In this current job market, you really have to tap into the employee experience and ensure that it’s a positive one because.

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Amanda Leonardi: The world is a candidates oyster right now, when it comes to job seeking there are so many open jobs, and you know people.

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Amanda Leonardi: are definitely poaching out there to fill a role, so if you don’t invest in and engage your employees, especially in a remote environment that.

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Amanda Leonardi: You know I think we’ve all experienced can sometimes feel isolating you risk losing the top talent your top talent and so engagement and culture may seem minor in the Grand scheme of things, however, it will ultimately define your success operating long term in a remote capacity.

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Sheri Heller: One quick question in before we sign off because we’re coming up the end of the hour, it was a very good question from JESSICA.

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Sheri Heller: Saying our office expense reimbursements for teleworkers the same for remote workers and some of that is going to depend on what states your your.

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Sheri Heller: Remote workers are and what states you operate and then also it’s also going to be dependent on whether it’s an option for them to work or requirement for them to work.

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Sheri Heller: remotely so this factors in there, that if you want to reach out to us to JESSICA if it’s a specific situation we happy to consult with you on that.

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Sheri Heller: And I think it was on the questions we get in so it gets back to amy.

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MP: Thanks guys for a great presentation we hope you all came away with some helpful information and best practices on managing your remote teams.

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MP: We have a great program lined up for next week as well, our return to work series continues for the presentation from renowned employment law firm Jackson Lewis.

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MP: So same time same place, and I want to remind everyone that a link will be sent out later this afternoon to the recording as well as the entire presentation and if you have any further questions, please send them to marketing at empty desk hr.com and have a great day thanks everyone.