Interactive Panel Discussion: Culture and Employee Engagement

The employment relationship is a symbiotic relationship between company and employee with each side needing something from the other beyond financial benefit. Employees and companies expect mutual honesty, candor, respect and caring in the employment relationship. The failure to promote such ethical principals in the workplace can lead to disengagement, poor productivity, distrust of management, poor retention of good employees, and ultimately hinder the financial performance of the company or subject the company to increased reputational risk. This topic helps management understand, prepare for, and avoid the potential ethical pitfalls that arise in the employment relationship. The material also explains pitfalls related to legal representation in employment matters, whether from an in-house or outside counsel perspective. The discussion will focus on identifying situations where ethical concerns typically arise and how to manage those situations.

The U.S. Department of Labor has resurrected the overtime regulations from two years ago, and that rule will affect overtime eligibility. All signs point to this proposal becoming law, which means employers need to begin looking at how they classify their employees. Specifically, they’ll need to know whether pay raises or classification changes will be required to remain compliant once the new regulation comes into law.

In addition to federal laws already on the books, many state legislatures have enacted state laws to support employment-related initiatives ranging from paid sick and parental leave rules to payroll taxes, predictive scheduling changes and beyond. This creates new challenges for businesses that must incorporate new rules into their processes to ensure each mandate is accurately reflected in employee paychecks and is trackable in the case of an audit.

The 2:1 grade requirement has hit the news recently as businesses look to revamp their Early Careers’ hiring strategy; viewed as unfit for purpose, some companies are doing away with grade requirements whatsoever. Most of us understand why this is a trend, but how many of us know exactly what we should be doing instead and how much work this involves?