External Factors Cause HR Revolution: At What Cost?

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We needed an interlude because it seems that when it rains, it pours. What is happening in the world of businesses and HR these days and times?!. Between minimum wage issue and ACA to exempt and independent contractor redefinition, employers scramble and employees foresee disaster.  The DOL has spoken, HR is on the grill, businesses are concerned, workers are at loss, this is a time of confusion and transformation. Who is the winner?

Several propositions have been coming from the DOL lately, with the redefinition of exemption being the major one. No less than uneasiness could be expected from this change.

Added to that is the "economic realities"-based interpretation of independent contractors by the DOL.

Changes are Ahead

So, for the HR world, what is there to do and understand? SHRM and related groups have been vocal and explicit on the subject of OT exemption. Check on the current deadline if you want to speak out.

And with the notion of "not mandated" benefits disappearing, companies are getting creative in their attempts to remain competitive. Netflix announces a revolutionary concept in the world of US business and HR Management: Full Year PAID parental leave at the employee's choice! Du jamais vu! Big shout out to Netlfix which leads on many fronts. Microsoft is following suite with its 20 weeks of PTO: eight weeks for disability/pregnancy and 12 weeks for parental leave. The tech world is setting the tone, ranging from 16 weeks for Reddit to 18 for Google and 20 for Twitter, thru 17 for Facebook. The law firm DLA Piper is an innovative exception outside the tech world with its 16 weeks offer. Have a peak.

Remaining on the list of employers of choice is hard work, calls for creativity and open mind, and opens up to global thinking. In all fairness, this is new territory in the US and the transition is certainly easier on global businesses because of exposure to different notions of benefits. Indeed, we are in full transition mode in the USA.

Now the issue of leave and vacation takes political dimensions.

More changes ahead? HR Revolution is here, the stakes are high and so will be the cost. Your cost will match the way you "seize the moment", however you make it. Need help in turning this hurdle into opportunity? Contact me.

People in HR and small businesses, an advice: take a proactive approach. You do not want to have to play a game of catch-up.
At the very least, brace yourself and stay posted on what's next to do and to happen eventually...

En Synthèse...


Je ne sais si nous devons parler de mutation ou de transformation...Toujours-est-il que les changements fleurissent dans le domaine de la législation du travail aux USA. Un vrai déluge de règlementations provenant du Department of Labor (DOL). L'on parle d’éventuelle suppression de la catégorie cadres avec une quasi- généralisation des heures supplémentaires (aie aie!), et ceci après l'ajustement du taux minimum horaire (justifié); et l'on regarde de plus près le statut des contractuels. Est-ce pour le meilleur ou le pire?  




En Synthèse...

Aux Etats-Unis le fossé se creuse de plus en plus entre l'Administration et les businessses, et entre les businesses et les employés. Pourquoi? Parce que les réglementations supposées protéger les employés tombent à tout vent. Mais en fin de compte, ça a un effet boomerang.

En amont, il y a les changements sur la politique d'assurance médicale ou ACA. En aval, les employeurs doivent faire face a l’élimination éventuelle du statut "cadre" ou "exemption from overtime". Et maintenant, l'on parle de la redéfinition des contractants qui pourraient devenir salariés versus indépendants. C'est le déluge. Une véritable révolution dans le monde du business, du travail, de la gestion des RH.

 Qu'en dit-on? Les avis sont partagés, bien entendu, mais d'ores et déjà certains employés ont réalisé aux moins deux choses: 1) la réduction de leurs horaires de travail, et comprenons par cela la réduction de "salaire" ou de leur paie plus précisément car quand on est payé à l'heure, moins l'on travaille, moins on gagne n'est-ce-pas? et 2) la réduction substantielle de la qualité de l'assurance médicale offerte par leurs employeurs. Pour simplifier: si certains employés vont adopter l'assurance offerte par l'Etat sous ACA, cela suppose pénalisation fiscale des employeurs. Par ailleurs, un minimum de semaine de 32 heures suppose une obligation d'assurance-santé . Cela, c'est nouveau dans ce système économique où la libéralisation économique était primordiale. Par conséquent, les employeurs essaient de survivre ces diverses pénalisations; et noblesse oblige, offrent une assurance médicale à la majorité au prix d'un paquet fantôme: ce qui s'appelle "consumer-directed health care" (CDHC) qui repose plus sur la participation de l’employé que de l'employeur.

 Quant aux employeurs? Disparition du petit entrepreunariat? Peut-être pas car c'est ce qui définit les USA. Mais certainement redéfinition de son profil, et par conséquent perte d'emplois à l'horizon; et, au pire des cas, l’émergence d'une nouvelle catégorie d’employés "exploités" qui ne feront pas surface dans le domaine de la taxation sociale. 

 Quant aux grandes entreprises, elles ont jusqu’à la fin de l’année pour redéfinir les postes et la politique salariale. Travail monumental. Un grand brouhaha dans le monde RH.

 Une politique de Ressources Humaines?  A suivre de près.

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