During the COVID-19 crisis, employees experienced a major shift in priorities, needs, and wants. Between the transition to remote work, increased reliance on technology, and pressures on employees' mental health and well-being, 2020 was most certainly a roller coaster of crisis management for HR leaders and employees alike.

Few could have predicted how the pandemic would change employees’ expectations of their work experience. Long gone are the days employees require no more than a paycheck and healthcare. Workers are stretching more than dollars to make ends meet. They’re juggling a multitude of challenges brought on by the pandemic, including high levels of stress and anxiety while balancing an increased workload. Now, more than ever, employees want benefits and perks that support their overall wellness, such as mental health resources, financial education, and support for their parental journey.

Many progressive companies have already started taking note (and action) as a result of this shift. A recent study from Willis Tower Watson found that 42% of companies have changed or plan to change their paid leave plans, 66% will elevate mental health solutions, and 73% offer flexible work hours due to the pandemic.

In 2020, businesses were forced to abandon many of their strategic plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Soon after the virus made headlines worldwide, the focus became preventing the spread of the virus through the workforce, adjusting product and service distribution and delivery methods, and managing customer needs in a new environment of social distancing.

One of the initiatives that received little, if any, attention was employee development. For many organizations, training and development expenses were reduced and eliminated in some cases. Additionally, the demand on HR significantly increased as attention was directed toward safety protocols, COVID sick leave, furloughs, and layoffs. There was little time for traditional training and development in the immediacy of the tragedy unfolding one year ago.

With the vaccine rollout well underway in 2021, leaders are eyeing recovery with the goal of not only reaching 2019 performance levels but exceeding them. According to a LinkedIn Learning Report, one critical strategy to a successful recovery is to reprioritize employee professional development, which 94% of employees believe to be a reason for staying at a company longer.

Offering employees comprehensive benefits while also managing the related costs remains an ongoing challenge for employers. According to PWC research, in the last five years, benefits costs have increased an average of 5.5 to 7 percent each year. This year will be no different, with benefits costs estimated to rise by 5.3 percent, according to the Business Group on Health (BGH). And, there is a chance the increase may be even greater as employees increase their use of mental health and specialty services, seek COVID-19 vaccination, and resume elective and preventative procedures they put off in 2020.

Though the need to manage rising benefits costs will not go away, there are actions you can take to offer employees a range of cost-effective and competitive benefits options. Here are three ways you can control benefits costs while still meeting the needs of your employees:

If you have employees, there's a good chance that company culture is something you think about often. Positive company culture has the power to impact organizational performance and can mean the difference between surviving and thriving, something that many businesses are focusing on in 2021.

Among the many ways to positively impact company culture, showing your employees appreciation for their hard work is possibly one of the most important. It can boost employee satisfaction at work, thereby increasing performance and retention and creating a more enjoyable workplace for everyone. But how can you show appreciation to your employees when the office is empty?

When it comes to classifying employees, there are two basic types that workers fall under: exempt or nonexempt. One of the most significant differences between the two categories is eligibility for overtime pay. Employers are required to pay nonexempt workers at least one and a half times the regular rate of pay for work performed over 40 hours in a workweek. Exempt employees are not required to be paid overtime, though certain salary and job duties criteria must be met.

It is crucial to follow the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regulations governing whether an employee is exempt from overtime because misclassifying a worker has serious repercussions for employers. As with most laws affecting the employer-employee relationship, the FLSA and its classification rules are complex, and the official guidance changes over time.

Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted many areas of business operations, notably human resources. Between navigating furloughs, keeping up morale, and reconfiguring workflows to accommodate remote work, professionals with HR duties played a pivotal function for organizations. Additionally, COVID-19 magnified pre-existing business challenges with supply chain, competition, and access to capital, forever changing certain industries as a result.

The continuing impacts of the coronavirus pandemic mean HR systems and functions, as well as compliance risk, will continue to be challenging in 2021. Many employers have turned to outside HR resources as a way to alleviate the overload, especially if they’ve reduced staff or are looking to ramp up hiring and onboarding in the coming year.

The pandemic has caused a lot of businesses to pivot and adjust to a work-from-home arrangement. As employees stay home and refrain from going into the office or workplace, they still need to use technology to do their jobs. We can't get around it - computers, the internet, and wi-fi are crucial and many depend on them to fulfill their job responsibilities. However, having employees work from home exposes employers to a host of cyber risks that they may not have faced when their workers were in the office or at the workplace.

Cybersecurity Checklist [Download]

COVID-19 has opened the door for a variety of scams as merciless hackers target unsuspecting computer users. Employers need to be aware of the risks that the pandemic has created on the cyber front and the scams that their employees could see, and they also need to know how to help their remote employees keep their computers secure. Here's what employers should know.

As businesses continue to push for higher levels of quality, service, and overall business agility, the pressure on individuals at the managerial level is on the rise. Managers are deluged with sets of competing demands, challenged with leading teams made up of different personalities, and ordered to do more with less. As a result, they find themselves working longer hours and become more prone to experiencing work burnout.

A recent survey conducted by Gallup found that out of 7,500 full-time employees, nearly 23 percent reported feeling burned out at work often, while an additional 44% reported feeling burned out sometimes. 

When you think of a nonprofit organization, you might picture an army of volunteers graciously donating their time without pay. In reality, nonprofits run much like corporations with paid employees and regularly scheduled paydays. They face challenges similar to for-profit businesses like accurately withholding payroll taxes while also facing obstacles unique to nonprofits such as staying within a tightly limited budget, using grant money for certain payroll expenses, and determining reasonable executive compensation. While all this may sound overwhelming, proactive research and preparation can help make understanding and implementing nonprofit payroll easier. Here’s a look at what leaders of nonprofit organizations need to know.

As waves of COVID-19 cross the country and state and local stay-at-home orders are phased in and out (and in again), employers have big decisions to make about not only when employees should return to work, but also how.

COVID-19 has heightened awareness of our health and safety like nothing else in recent memory, and it has left many to worry about the role that their surroundings play in terms of cleanliness and protection. One of the biggest fears that many are facing is the prospect of returning to work mid-COVID-19.

In a CBS News poll, 70% of respondents reported the top national priority should be to “try to slow the spread of coronavirus by keeping people home and social distancing, even if the economy is hurt in the short term.” In essence, the survey reveals a real-time conversation playing out in which many people are left speculating what the return-to-work plans will be in the coming months.

Some employers have already jumped in and called employees back to work, while some have extended work-at-home policies through the end of 2020. There is no one right answer for every employer. But if you do decide to bring employees back, or due to your industry your workplace never closed in the first place, you should be prepared to diligently implement the changing best practices to reduce workers’ exposure to COVID-19 in the coming months, or perhaps even year.