COVID-19 has pushed most employers to have employees work from home where applicable. For others who don’t have the ability to offer work from home, there has been the shuddering of doors along with layoffs or furloughs. Each situation comes with a myriad of questions surrounding benefits and compensation.
Benefits
For those working from home that were previously covered by their organization’s benefits program, they are still covered. Employees who were laid-off lost any previous employer benefits at the time stated within the organizations program guidelines. If employees were placed on furlough which places them in a non-active employee status, they may not be entitled to the organizations benefit programs unless the plan documents clearly state the plan covers furloughed employees. In either case, the organization should check which status they fall into under these conditions. If an organizations benefit plans are fully-insured, they should check the plan document for language surrounding non-active employees or reach out to their benefits consultant group. If the company is self-insured, they should reach out to their stop-loss carrier to garner their interpretation for non-active employees and coverage language. Either way, it will save the organization from making any costly mistakes regarding benefit coverages.
Compensation
Most organizations operate on a January – December fiscal basis and more than likely already had their organizations target goals for the fiscal year rolled out. Of which those goals would’ve inevitably been rolled out to the employee base with their individual target performance and goals for the 2020 plan year prior to the strike of COVID-19. Now the question looms as to whether or not the organization itself will reach the goals set overall, which in turn leads to will the employee base reach their individual goals as well. Since we’ve just recently passed the half-way mark of the year, organizations probably have a clearer picture as to whether or not the organization will reach its goals. With this information, they can make adjustments as needed. As for the employee, their performance goals may also be adjusted if the organization finds itself in a position where it may miss the metrics previously set.
Contact www.hrcircleconsulting.com we can help ensure you are on target and in the circle.