If you are an owner or a manager, here are some areas to think about as you contemplate bringing your business back to “normal.” Some companies are targeting a June 2021 return while many others are thinking about re-opening after Labor Day as most schools and daycare centers anticipate being back onsite on a full-time, regular basis. Whatever your business is contemplating, here are some areas to consider.

Be Flexible

Since the pandemic has been going on for over a year, the transition back to work may be challenging. Not all employees will want to return to the office. Some employees may be scared and wary of returning to work since the Covid-19 virus is still a real health concern. Some employees have enjoyed working from home because they no longer had to spend time and money commuting to work, and have been able to spend more time with family. Others believe working in an office environment helps them become more productive, freer from distraction, and cultivates a more collaborate work experience. For all these reasons, the most important thing for employers is to be flexible and open to the wants of their employees while also keeping the company’s best interests in mind. Making adjustments such as staggering work schedules and days in the office can go a long way in showing your employees you care.

Have Safety Measures in Place

Businesses have to think about having a safe environment for their employees. Have you increased the HVAC ventilation and established a regular office cleaning schedule? Will you have lots of hand sanitizer on hand and require wearing masks? Will you conduct regular health screenings of your employees? If you have an office, think about how you might rearrange desks or cubicles to give your workers social distancing space.

Hybrid Work Schedules

Many employees are still concerned about being exposed to people outside their loved ones. Do you want to create a staggered schedule so not all employees are physically in the office at the same time(s) and day(s)? Some companies have established a hybrid schedule where people can be in the office a couple of days a week and telecommute the other days, while also allowing employees who do not wish to return to the office the option to continue working from home. These varied schedules and work options have helped ease the transition for many employees, and can help limit exposure as more and more people get vaccinated.

Solid Telecommunications Systems

Another area to consider is to make sure your business has a solid telecommunications system and a large enough workspace in the office to hold your Zoom, Google Meet or Teams meetings. With a mix of in-person and virtual attendees, you want to make sure these meetings can take place without a hitch. There may be a need for increased internet speed with more people working in the office while conducting business virtually. Many companies have already addressed this issue with virtual meetings being so commonplace.

Communicate Clearly

Most importantly, businesses need to communicate expectations and guidelines clearly and regularly, so employees understand what is expected in terms of their work productivity. If hybrid work schedules are being considered, management needs to explain their expectations and the employee options. Managers should take time to listen to their employees’ concerns and make changes, as necessary. Many companies have surveyed their employee population to determine employee concerns and preferences with respect to a return to office. Employers that include employees in the process by actively engaging with and listening to employees, and then giving support throughout the work transition have happier, productive employees and a positive environment – a win-win for employers!

The COVID-19 pandemic threw many companies, employees and families for a loop, and there is no clear road map on how to get back to “normal.” Hopefully, the areas outlined above can help you think about what type of work set-up would be best for your business. If you need help or want to talk through your ideas, please reach out to Answer Human Assets. We serve small to mid-sized businesses with their Human Resource needs and would be happy to help you. Please reach out to us at spanzer@ahahr.com for a free consultation.

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The FFCRA provided up to 80 hours of paid sick and family leave under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA), along with up to 10 weeks of partially paid family and medical leave under the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (EFMLEA) to eligible employees who were unable to work due to certain COVID-19-related reasons. For private employers, the requirement to provide these paid FFCRA leaves was offset by dollar-for-dollar tax credits for wages paid to employees taking paid leave.

The recently passed Coronavirus Relief bill allows private employers the opportunity to continue to claim dollar-for-dollar tax credits on wages paid to employees taking leave between January 1 and March 31, 2021, consistent with the existing FFCRA framework.  In order to continue to be eligible for these tax credits, an employer must continue to provide FFCRA paid leave (EPSL and/or EFML) to its affected employees. Employers who choose to voluntarily provide leave in 2021 will need to be diligent when determining how much of an employee’s leave qualifies for the tax credit as it will depend on whether or not the employee took any EPSL leave in 2020 and/or took any EFMLA leave during the 12-month period the employer uses for federal Family and Medical Leave (FMLA).

When making the decision whether or not to continue offering paid leave in 2021 consistent with the FFCRA, employers should keep in mind that many states and localities have passed their own paid leave laws related to the pandemic, so there may still be an obligation to provide paid leave related to COVID-19. In addition, each employer will have a unique set of concerns.  On the one hand, continuance of the FFCRA is not required by law and, as such, there is a good argument to no longer offer it to employees.  On the other hand, offering FFCRA has been woven into the COVID-19 world and, as COVID-19 cases continue to rise, removing this benefit may create employee morale issues.  For employers not currently subject to the federal FMLA, providing FMLA-like job protections for these COVID-19-related conditions could be beneficial.  For all employers, the FFCRA essentially gives employees up to 10 days of additional sick time for the year. Employers also should clearly communicate their decision regarding the continued provision of FFCRA-qualifying leave to their workforce so employees understand what leave will be available to them in 2021.

As with many COVID-19-related issues, there is no track record to review. Without any precedent, you cannot see what other employers have done. The decision is yours and you should do what is best for your company and for your employees.

If you have questions, please contact Answer Human Assets at spanzer@ahahr.com.

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Working Remotely

With so many companies in 2020 shifting their employees to work from home, do you know how you want to handle this practice in 2021?  How are you measuring the productivity of your employees?  Have you maintained regular communication channels with your managers and staff to maximize employee engagement?   

Office or Company Safety

How have remote workers affected your office needs?  In looking at your office or retail space, can you reduce the space or move the office to lower your commercial real estate costs? 

Have you implemented alternative work office schedules and/or reconfigured your office space?  Have you implemented return to office policies and procedures to ensure safety and employee comfort?  Do have enough proper ventilation to keep your employees and/or customers safe?  Are you continuing to have enough hand sanitizer and limits on how many people can use the space at one time?  

Since masks are often required to keep people safe while indoors, how will you implement this policy for your business?  Will you have extra masks on hand for people as they enter your store, office or restaurant?   Will you require employees and visitors to complete a health screen (temperature read, certifying health status) before entering the work space?  If so, how are you planning to implement?

Employee Rightsizing

During the pandemic, due to lost revenue, your business may have streamlined the number of employees.  What is the optimal number of employees needed to move forward as business picks up?  Do you have the right number and type of managers and staff?  What is your company’s succession plan?   

Answer Human Assets (AHA) is available to help you with any of these COVID-related issues.  Our experienced HR professionals can talk to you about how these important areas impact your company and your bottom line.

In addition, companies, in general, need to address the following items before year-end: 

Benefits Review

With health insurance being so important during this health crisis, are you offering the appropriate plan(s)?  Take time to review your plan and decide if you want to make any changes.  If so, communicate any adjustments to your employees and schedule open enrollment for your employees.

Performance Review

Since you want to have the most effective and productive employees, make sure you have an employee review process in place that reflects the needs of your company.  Conduct evaluations for each employee and manage out the under-performers.  Think about succession planning and evaluate employees for possible promotions. 

Cares Act and Retirement Plans

If you modified your retirement plans and allowed employees to take a “coronavirus-related distribution,” remind your employees that they are exempt from the 10% early withdrawal tax.  Instead of being subject to income tax upon receipt, taxation of these distributions may be spread out in equal parts over three years beginning in 2020.

Also, alert your employees that the CARES Act temporarily waives required minimum distributions from retirement accounts for participants who were required to receive such distributions in 2020.

Other Important Year-end Items 

1. Make sure your payroll is coded correctly for any eligible Expanded Sick and FMLA leaves taken as allowed under the CARES act.
2. Establish and distribute your holiday schedule for 2021.
3. Verify all employee data for payroll and employees’ W2s including ex-pat packages, any other taxable non-cash income and 1099s.
4. Distribute W-2s to all employees by January 31, 2021.
5. Remind employees to review Form W-4 withholding information and make adjustments if number of dependents, exemptions or filing status has changed.
6. Determine the effective date for any bonus payments and/or salary adjustments for 2020 or 2021.
7. Review and determine training needs for the coming year.
8. Verify that you conducted the mandated sexual harassment trainings for this year.
9. Encourage employees to use their Flexible Spending Account (FSA) money before December 31^st.   Remind employees of any rollover amounts or grace period related to your FSA plan.
10. Conduct an HR audit.  Determine that your company’s policies are in compliance with federal, state and local employment laws.  Review your employee handbook and update as needed to ensure clarity and compliance.
11. Implement retention policies for your records.  Retain documents only as long as legally required.

Answer Human Assets has the human resource expertise to assist your small to mid-sized company.  Please contact us today at spanzer@ahahr.com to discuss any of these issues.  We would be happy to help you in the short or long-term.  To learn more, go to our website at www.ahahr.com.

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• How are you going to handle employees who are afraid to come back to work? 
• Will you allow employees to continue to work from home, and under what circumstances and guidelines?  
• What about employees who are concerned about taking public transportation to the office or to visit a client/customer?   
• How can you best arrange and prepare your office to ensure safety and social distancing?  
• Are you thinking about how best to schedule employee work hours and close public spaces such as the employee lunchroom, conference rooms, and/or pantry areas to maximize social distancing?  
• What is your ongoing plan to keep the office space clean and disinfected?  
• What is your plan if an employee is diagnosed with COVID-19 after you re-open the office?  
• How will you manage the additional time off associated with the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA)?

We at Answer Human Assets (AHA) know it’s overwhelming and confusing to navigate it all, so we want to help guide you and your company through these unprecedented, uniquely challenging times.  We have been working with our client companies on these complex issues & considerations, and we are happy to work with your organization as well!  

AHA provides experienced, knowledgeable, personalized Human Resources expertise & support in a cost-effective way, giving you more time to focus on your core business.  

Contact Sue Panzer at spanzer@ahahr.com for details on how AHA can partner with you on your short-term & long-term Human Resource needs.  Our flexibility and diverse industry experience is very attractive to businesses especially during this current environment.  

Please check out our website at www.ahahr.com.

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After beginning his career in technology with companies such as New York Life, Informatics General Corporation (contractor for IBM) and Bank of New Zealand, Ken was hired by Banco Santander as Head of Technology. He was quickly promoted to Vice President of Operations and later named Vice President of Human Resources. In this position, he was responsible for all aspects of Human Resources and Facilities for Banco Santander’s operations in the United States. When Ken helped Banco Santander become one of the first foreign banks to be granted the right to operate as an investment bank in the United States, he became responsible for all aspects of Human Resources for Santander Investment Securities. In addition to his domestic responsibilities, Ken played a significant role in the initiation and development of a variety of global programs in areas such as compensation, long-term incentive programs, expatriate policies and human resources information systems. Ken was also responsible for overseeing the construction of a nineteen story office tower in midtown Manhattan which serves as the U.S. Headquarters for Banco Santander.

Through his work with the Santander Group, Ken enhanced his knowledge of human resources for the financial services industry. In 2000, after twelve years with Santander Group, he founded Answer Human Assets (AHA). Since that time, AHA has been functioning as the “HR Department” for a variety of domestic and international clients, handling day- to-day operations such as payroll, benefits administration and employee relations as well as partnering with management on a variety of issues such as right-sizing, evaluation processes, prevention of sexual harassment and benchmarking. AHA’s other areas of expertise include compensation, long term incentives, succession planning, staffing and training. In addition to the services available for domestic companies, AHA offers a variety of specialized services for international businesses including the development of relocation packages, move coordination, cross-cultural training and visa processing.

Ken is a graduate of Bernard M. Baruch College with an MBA in Finance. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children. He is a member of the Society for Human Resources Management and the French American Chamber of Commerce.

Ken Pollet, Principal and Founder
kpollet@ahahr.com
212-292-2336

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Prior to joining AHA, Paula was the Recruitment & Employee Relations Manager for the Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton Fashion Group Americas (LVMH). In this role, Paula was responsible for all aspects of the recruitment process, and for the handling of employee relations issues at both the corporate and retail level. In addition, she was responsible for visa procurement and the annual recruitment budget. She completed Louis Vuitton’s management training program at their Paris, France global headquarters.

Previously, Paula was an Employment Specialist/Assistant Treasurer in the corporate Human Resource Department at Republic National Bank (now HSBC). She co-managed a large in-house temporary staff, as well as recruited outside candidates for the company’s long-term temporary and temp-to-perm positions for all departments and divisions.

Prior to joining Republic National Bank, Paula completed a three month Human Resource internship, (while finishing her master’s degree) at UPS’s Yorktown Heights, NY location. Her responsibilities included recruiting for temporary, seasonal delivery and customer service staff as well as handling new hire orientations.

Paula began her HR career as a Recruiting Assistant in PaineWebber Inc.’s Investment Banking division. In this role, she coordinated both the MBA and undergraduate full-time and summer position interview process, both on campus and in-house. She also organized both the Financial Analyst and Associate new hire training programs.

Paula earned an M.S. in Human Resource Management from Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, NY and a B.A. in English from Siena College in Loudonville, NY. She lives in Ridgewood, NJ with her husband.

Paula Ciccimarra, Associate

pciccimarra@ahahr.com

212-292-2390

212-295-1792 fax

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Susan is a human resources professional offering 15 years of generalist experience. Her previous experience includes being a contractor with the Rosen Group where her diverse group of clients included one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, a cellular phone provider, a hospital system and a financial services organization. AstraZeneca became her client immediately following the merger of Astra USA and Zeneca. She recruited and placed over 100 internal and external pharmaceutical professionals in promotional and medical educational positions in less than two years, helping to build the US Marketing division of this newly created organization. She also trained hiring managers in new staffing processes and administrative staff in the use of PeopleSoft.

Prior to her work as a contract professional, Susan worked for CGI Consulting Group. In that position, she created and managed the administrative processes of annual enrollments for the health and welfare plans of her client companies. She integrated newly acquired divisions into clients’ existing benefit plans, conducted on-site enrollment meetings and trained CGI call center representatives on the particulars of her clients’ plans. Susan also negotiated with insurance vendors on behalf of her clients and aided in plan design.

Previously, she worked as a Human Resources Representative with Clement Communications where she was responsible for recruiting, on-boarding new employees and the training for prevention of sexual harassment. She also administered the company’s health and life insurance plans and implemented the company’s Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action plan.

Susan’s professional experience began as a Personnel Representative at State Farm where she managed the HR needs for 10 of the Pennsylvania claims offices of State Farm Insurance, an employee population of 300. She recruited and on-boarded new employees, coordinated state-wide college recruiting efforts, conducted on-campus interviews and facilitated in-house employee self-development courses.

Susan holds a M.S. in Human Organization Science from Villanova University and a B.A in Social Science from Rosemont College. She resides with her family in Newtown, PA where she is active in the Girl Scouts organization, and is a member of both the Central Bucks County and Princeton Regional Chambers of Commerce.

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Sue was the Vice President, Affiliate Ad Sales and Distribution Marketing for Lifetime Networks where she led a team to develop strategic local ad sales and affiliate marketing promotions.  Previously, she was the Vice President, National Distribution where she was responsible for managing the affiliate sales team across the country with the goal of increasing the revenue and the distribution of Lifetime, Lifetime Movie Network and Lifetime Real Women among cable operators and other distributors.

Prior to Lifetime, Sue was a sales executive at Showtime Networks as the Vice President, Area General Manager in the Northeast Region.  Over her eleven year tenure, Sue was responsible for increasing the revenue and the distribution of Showtime and The Movie Channel, running the regional operations and managing the department’s sales training and incentive programs.\

Sue graduated from the University of Richmond with a B.A. in Education.  She taught gifted fifth graders in Richmond before entering graduate school to earn her MBA from The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA.  She has served on the Board of Directors of the MBA Alumni Association for the graduate business school.

Sue served as a National Board member of Women in Cable and Telecommunications (WICT) from 2003 – 2006 and as the President of the New York chapter of WICT in 2001 and 2002, where her chapter won the “Chapter of the Year Award” for 2002.  She was selected to be a member of WICT’s prestigious leadership program, the Betsy Magness Leadership Institute, for the class of 1996 – 1997.  She served as a Board Member of the New York Chapter of Cable Television Association for Marketing (CTAM) from 1998 – 2006.  From 2003 through 2006, she also served as President/Co-Founder of the “Fire Island Golden Wagon Film Festival” in Ocean Beach, NY.

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Since being admitted to practice, Alan has had a varied career most recently as the Chief Compliance Officer for Capital Contractors, Inc.  His background encompasses several specialties including tort and civil litigation, corporate governance, real estate, family law and appellate practice. He has drafted and negotiated numerous customer contracts including employee and independent contractor agreements. In addition, Alan has served as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association since 1999, hearing and deciding uninsured and underinsured motorist claims.

Alan has been actively involved in the development and implementation of corporate compliance programs. He has worked closely with Human Resource departments and corporate management on day- to-day operational issues as well as right-sizing, evaluation processes, and compliance training. He has also spearheaded the corporate due diligence process during financings, sales and acquisitions.  Alan has appeared as a as guest speaker for attorney seminars regarding employment and wage/hour issues, employment discrimination and social media.

Alan is a graduate of Queens College and California Western School of Law.  He lives on Long Island with his wife and son and is a member of the New York State Bar Association.

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