Returning Value Blog

Many employers routinely watch key financial metrics, such as current ratio and gross profit. But these aren’t the only measures you should consider monitoring. Recent years have seen the emergence of vital human resource (HR) metrics. These measures can help your organization make better-informed decisions about human capital, operations, and overall strategy. Here are three examples of critical HR metrics:

If you’re an employer that sponsors a health care plan, you may worry about inadvertently violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act — commonly known as HIPAA. But you should also bear in mind that there is a formal requirement for ensuring electronic data security. Specifically, sponsors of most plans must do a risk analysis to comply with what’s called the HIPAA security rule.

When a supervisory position opens up, your immediate reaction as an employer may be to post a job opening to the general public. But don’t underestimate the value, efficiency and cost savings of an internal hire from your nonmanager ranks.

To maintain their lifestyles in retirement, many top execs would like to set aside more dollars annually than is allowed under a qualified plan, such as a 401(k). One way an employer can help them do so is by setting up a nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plan.

The Department of Labor (DOL) has been known to investigate the reasonableness of retirement plan expenses and the proper use of plan fees. In some cases, the agency has found plans to be in violation for fee-related infringements, which has led to costly assessments to the plan sponsors in question. If your organization sponsors a retirement plan for its employees, you need to pay close attention to its expenses and fees.

As a business owner/manager, you have many processes and tasks involved in your day-to-day workload. Scheduling, timekeeping, payroll, etc...How about new hire onboarding?

In their continuing effort to assemble the most enticing employee benefits package possible, some employers are showing renewed interest in an old favorite: group term life insurance. Although such life insurance coverage had fallen off the radar screens of some employers, it remains an affordable benefit that can pay off for employer and employees alike.

Trade secrets are among the most critical yet often overlooked assets of any organization. And they aren’t always as sophisticated as proprietary software or as famously secret as Coca-Cola’s formula. A trade secret can be as seemingly innocuous as a customer list, business strategy, policy manual or pricing sheet.

In the face of a tight job market and a widening skills gap, employers in many industries are catching on to the benefits of “upskilling.” More than just your typical employee training, upskilling takes a broad approach to development.

Many employers sponsor 401(k) plans to help employees save for retirement. But sometimes those employees need access to plan funds well before they retire. In such cases, if the plan allows it, participants can make a hardship withdrawal.