Inflation’s Effects on Wages and Benefits

Employco USA

Rising Inflation

With inflation at a 40-year high, businesses are seeing inflation erode their purchasing power, adding to the higher prices already created by supply shortages. Companies are also experiencing inflation’s effects on wages and benefits, which affects their ability to compete and negotiate with existing and potential employees.

With the “great resignation,” businesses were already having difficulty attracting and retaining top talent. Many increased their wages to remain competitive. Still, even though wages are rising, inflation makes them worth less. And employees are starting to ask for more frequent adjustments to their wages. Evaluating your job market vulnerability is vital to determining how much your workforce is affected by inflation. Employco can help you assess the effect of inflation on your business and your employees and make recommendations for how best to manage inflation’s effects.

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Podcast: The HR Side of Scaling Your Business

Employco USA

Revenue growth and advertising are most often major concerns when scaling a business, but what about the HR and employment aspects? On this month’s HR podcast Rob, Scott, and Jason cover the HR side of scaling your business. They discuss different state regulations and compliance issues, the importance of your company culture, employee engagement, communication, retaining your top talent, taking a look at your benefit plans in advance, developing the next generation, and more!

Podcast: The HR Side of Scaling Your Business

Contact us with any questions you may have, we’re here to help: hr@employco.com

Delta 8, CBD Lead to False Positives on Employee Drug Tests: What Employers Need to Know as Employee Drug Use Hits Record High

Employco USA

Rob Wilson explains how popular products like CBD and Delta 8 can complicate an employer’s ability to accurately monitor employee drug use

What Employers Need to Know as Employee Drug Use Hits Record HighNew data released from Quest Diagnostics reveals that employee drug use has increased in the last few years, with an increase of over 30% since 2011. Notably, marijuana use has led the trend, with positive test results for marijuana increasing by 50% in the last 5 years alone.

“In 2020, the rates of positive drug tests among employees climbed to their highest level since 2001,” says Rob Wilson, President of Employco USA and employment trends expert. “Ten years ago, we were looking at an all-time low since Quest first began testing and tracking employee drugs, but now we have dramatically increased.”

Wilson says the legalization of marijuana has driven the trend, as well as the popular use of marijuana derivatives like CBD.

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HR Newsletter: Wearable Technology and the Workforce

Employco USA

Wearable Technology and the Workforce

Are employers already using wearable technology to help employees track their work schedules, communicate with co-workers, and find products located in a store or warehouse? Yes. While other employers are also exploring technology that monitors how employees physically move when accomplishing daily tasks as a way to identify and prevent ergonomic issues.

Wearable technology isn’t a new feature. For years, personal gadgets such as smartwatches have been gaining popularity among people who want better insight into their health trends. According to Pew Research Center data, nearly 1 in 5 Americans (21%) say they regularly wear a smartwatch or fitness tracker. In fact, wearable technology has grown so commonplace that employers have been exploring ways to leverage it among their workforce.

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HR Newsletter: Positive Workforce Drug Tests Reach 20-Year High

Employco USA

Positive Workforce Drug Tests Reach 20-Year High

Recent drug test rates show that positive workforce tests from 2021 climbed to the highest level since 2001, according to a new analysis released by Quest Diagnostics, a leading provider of preemployment and post-accident drug and alcohol testing.

Quest Diagnostics’ study was based on a total of more than 11 million deidentified urine, hair, and oral fluid drug test results from its testing index collected between January and December 2021. In 2021, the rate of positive drug test results among America’s workforce was found to be 4.6%, up from 4.4% in 2020. 2021’s positive test average is Quest Diagnostics’ highest recorded since 2001 and is up more than 30% from the all-time low of 3.5%, recorded 10 years ago.

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HR Newsletter: Mental Health in the Workplace

Employco USA

Mental Health in the Workplace

Mental health—your mental and emotional well-being—can change over time due to factors like workload, stress, and work-life balance. Observed every May, Mental Health Awareness Month is a time to join together to fight stigma and provide support for people with mental illness and their families.

Mental illnesses are some of the most common health conditions in the United States.

  • More than 50% of the population will be diagnosed with a mental illness at some point
  • 1 in 5 will experience a mental illness in a given year
  • 1 in 25 lives with a serious mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression)

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HR Newsletter: Designing an Internship Program

Employco USA

Designing an Internship Program

If you hear the word “intern” and think of a young person who can fetch the coffee and make copies, you’re not alone. But internships have evolved into more valuable roles, and well-designed internship programs can become an important part of your recruiting strategy and corporate image.

Internships are opportunities for undergraduate students, recent graduates, and graduate students to learn from on-the-job training and to experience work in their chosen field. What distinguishes an internship from a part-time job is that an internship’s purpose is to provide an educational experience for the intern, whereas a part-time job does not promise any educational value beyond necessary job training.

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HR Newsletter: Employee Quits Reach Record High

Employco USA

Employee Quits Reach Record High

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently released its March Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary. Notably, the number of quits increased to around 4,536,000 in March, up from approximately 4,384,000 in February. The BLS defines a quit as a “voluntary separation initiated by the employee.” March’s quits rate rose to 3%, setting a new record high. Additionally, employment openings exceeded the level of available workers by 5.6 million.

The March report includes a relatively unchanged quit rate, despite the increase in total quits. Although, increases were noticed in the professional and business services and construction industries. Quits also rose slightly in the Southern United States but generally remained steady across industries and regions. Lastly, the number of job openings in the United States slightly increased to roughly 11.5 million open positions.

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