Employment expert explains what employers need to know about overtime pay in the new year

Starting in January 2020, important changes are coming to Americans’ paychecks. Beginning in the new year, new overtime provisions from the Fair Labor Standards Act will go into place.

“Previously workers were automatically entitled to overtime pay only if they earned $23,660 or less a year,” says Rob Wilson, employment trends expert and President of Employco USA, an employment solutions firm with locations across the county. “But, starting in just a handful of weeks, that salary ceiling will be raised to $35,568. Under this new ruling, these workers are entitled to receive one and one-half times their regular pay if they work more than 40 hours in a week.”

But it is not just workers who earn under the $35,568 threshold who will be eligible for overtime.

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Rob Wilson, President of Employco USA, recently had an article featured in the November issue of inBusiness magazine:

Performance Review: Useless Procedure?
The shift now is away from an annual review

Evidence from a recent survey by Gallup and others has found that two-thirds of organizations feel their performance reviews are not effective. Described as “subjective and highly ambiguous,” performance reviews can be a very impactful tool when used appropriately, but, as this research shows, most companies say they are falling short of the mark.

As a response, some employers are eliminating the annual performance review. However, we don’t see that as a good solution for the vast majority of companies. Without an annual review — even if it’s just a compilation of more frequent ones — it’s very difficult for employers to work on merit pay increases.

So, there is a purpose to be served. Instead of ditching performance reviews entirely, therefore, companies need to rethink the way they approach this measuring stick and bring performance reviews into the modern era.

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For more on this topic, please contact Rob Wilson at rwilson@thewilsoncompanies.com.

Human resources expert shares effective, actionable tips for how you can start succession planning

Research shows that most business owners are not as concerned with succession planning as they should be. Only a small minority of businesses have a succession plan for when their CEOs retire or switch companies, and this can be a very costly mistake.

“Scrambling for a CEO has been shown to cost upwards of $1.8 billion in shareholder value for public companies,” says Rob Wilson, employment trends expert and President of Employco USA, a national employment solutions firm. “Another issue with lack of preparedness around successions is that companies end up hiring ineffective CEOs, which again harms a company’s bottom line and employee performance. Indeed, 27 percent of companies have been negatively impacted by poor succession planning.”

Wilson also points out that C-level employees are not the only ones who pose a serious loss to the company when they leave. “Whether it’s a key person in your I.T. department or your marketing department, losing long-term, highly-skilled and experienced staff is going to be a blow to your company.”

So, what should employers do to ensure that these successions are as smooth and seamless as possible?

“First, look at your key personnel on every level of your staff,” says Wilson. “How deep is your bench? Don’t presume that just because an employee is young and not near retirement that you don’t need to worry about their successor at some point. Be prepared for all possible scenarios, including family emergencies, health crises and leaving the state for spouse’s employment changes or other reasons.”

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