As we approach Cannabis Day on April 20th, it's a good reminder for businesses to carefully review and update their drug and alcohol policies to ensure compliance with both state and federal laws.

As a leading Human Resources Consulting firm, we recommend constantly evaluating your company policies to ensure they align with the values of the company, modern trends, employees' needs as well as maintain legal compliance.

On August 30, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently proposed raising the Fair Labor Standards Act's (FLSA's) annual salary-level threshold for overtime pay from $35,568 to $55,068.

This would mean that 3.6 million more workers would be eligible to receive overtime pay for any hours worked over 40 in a week. The department also is proposing automatic hikes every three years to the overtime threshold.

The I-9 form is a document that verifies the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States. When an employee starts a new job at a new company, they must show their employer their identification and employment eligibility to work in the United States. In the past, this form has been required to be completed in person so the employer is confident that are receiving valid documentation.

Compensation costs are rising in the U.S. and according to a recent McKinsey study, employers think compensation is one of the top reasons employees leave companies. The study found that employees actually rank the lack of being valued by the company and the challenges of work life balance as higher priorities than compensation.

The four day work week is a compressed work schedule. Since the pandemic, employees are looking for more flexibility at work and the four-day work week offers flexibility that creates a better work life balance, increases productivity and can decrease stress levels.

Founders of startups focus their time on product development and talking to users. Hiring new employees and building the infrastructure of the business is a significant investment, but there are solutions to keep costs manageable. Leveraging vendors, contractors, and part-time, fractional professionals can help your business grow.

Fractional human resources or fractional HR is the use of part-time HR managers, Recruiters and HR Coordinators to augment a company's in-house human resources team. Part-time resources are being leveraged by more small and mid-sized companies over the past several years.