GEA Newsletter

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Subject: GEA Newsletter

T-7 Days Until the GEA Fall Conference

There is still time to sign up for the GEA Fall Conference at the Ritz-Carlton Reynolds property at Lake Oconee, Greensboro, GA. If you are interested in attending the conference on November 8th, please visit the following link:

https://georgiaemployers.org/2018-fall-conference/#register

Bring-Your-Own-Devices (BYOD) to Work

I want to share with you information from a recent article by Allen Smith, J.D. on Walmart's adoption of a BYOD policy from Business Insider, SHRM Online and other trusted media outlets.

Walmart will now let workers access their cellphones to clock in, check inventory and prices, scan products, and review sales data, according to Business Insider. We've gathered articles on BYOD policies from SHRM Online and other trusted media outlets.

To participate in Walmart's BYOD program, which is voluntary, employees will download Walmart apps to their smartphones. The apps will provide access to historical sales data and product delivery schedules previously available only to management. Walmart will have access to employees' phone numbers, but not employees' personal e-mail and data, photos, videos, voice mail, texts, web activity, locations or lists of apps.
(Business Insider)

BYOD and Compliance with Wage and Hour Laws
Employers should set some limits to their BYOD policies, wage and hour attorneys recommend Consider preventing nonexempt employees from accessing work e-mails through their mobile devices unless there's a business need. Written policies should clarify that off-the-clock work is prohibited.

Security Issues

A primary concern about BYOD policies among employers is security. Personal devices might not have an automatic lock code or timeout function, and some people don't use passwords to protect their smartphones. Employers also worry that employees may connect to data through unsecured Wi-Fi hotspots or lose their devices. These possibilities raise the risk for the unauthorized disclosure of business data.

Tips on BYOD Policies

Employers should avoid common errors with BYOD policies by:
• Mandating a complex password protection for accessing employer servers.
• Gaining consent from employees before having employer software installed on their devices.
• Giving IT the capability to wipe devices clean if the devices are lost or stolen.
• Instituting procedures for how to report lost or stolen devices, typically within 24 hours of the loss or theft.
(The National Law Review)

Respect Employees' Privacy

As more employees use mobile devices on the job, employees are confused over what an employer can and can't see. Workers tend to overestimate how much of their personal information is available to their employer when BYOD policies are in place. Employer access varies depending on the mobile operating system and the company's policy. Employers typically can't see personal e-mails and attachments, texts, photos, videos, voice mail and web activity unless that data has been routed through the corporate network.

Two-for-One: Increasing Employee Engagement while Developing Your Management Team - (Part 1)

Pete Tosh from The Focus Group

An Employee Engagement Survey is an excellent way of providing your managers with an understanding of their employees' perspectives - as well as practical tools allowing them to generate performance improvement. An Engagement Survey can serve as a management development initiative - as well as a measure of employee engagement.

Often companies conduct Engagement Surveys and, in essence, just tell their managers to make improvements. Measuring engagement alone does not generate performance improvement. What is needed is a sound process and managers who want to improve their leadership skills.

The well-researched, proven employee engagement needs provide a model for leading employees. Engaging employees is sound leadership. GEA's Engagement Survey Process:
• provides managers with insight as to which of their teams' engagement needs are or are not being met
• is a means of transforming how managers interact with their teams -serving as a model for performance-improvement
• helps managers develop their communication, training, coaching, counseling and performance management skills

Many well-known organizations have learned that increased employee engagement - which results from more effective management - produces improvements in productivity, quality, employee retention, customer satisfaction and even safety.

Be looking for part two of this series next week.

GEA Benefit - Did You Know?

HR Answers Now

As a GEA member, you have access to Walters Kluwer's HR Answers Now Website. If your organization chose to subscribe to HR Answers Now directly from the supplier, the cost would be $1,600. Georgia Employers' Association provides HR Answers Now to each of it's members at no additional charge.

HR Answers Now is a valuable information resource provided to all Georgia Employers’ Association members. This excellent tool covers the compliance issues that matter most to you. Whether you manage an HR department or you’re the sole HR person, or if you’re a small business owner managing your own HR issues, HR Answers Now is the one resource that provides expert guidance that’s easy to use.

HR Answers Now focuses on the topics & tools most relevant to you and your business, giving you one complete resource with straightforward answers and lots of links to relevant laws and regulations. Here is some of the information that is available to GEA Members:

The HR Compliance Library includes information sections on a broad range of human resources topics. A keyword search is available for each topic area. Information resources for each topic include a Quick Answers document, detailed analysis, and useful tools for employers.

HR Answers Now also provides links to two extensive legal database modules. The State Law Database allows selection by state and keyword search. Each summary result provides a legal citation, a very useful “What the Employer must Do” that provides a clear explanation of the law. A similar Federal Law Database categorizes federal laws and regulations by topic.

Issues and Answers provides detailed analysis of real world HR topics and also provides tips to improve company benefits and programs and employee participation. Subscribers receive Daily Updates by email each day with information on pertinent issues. HR Answers Now also includes a useful Tools section that contains modules for Job Descriptions, Performance Appraisals, and an index of forms and policy templates and checklists. A White Collar Exemption Tool is also included. A sample Employee Handbook is also included that contains model language to help with handbook development.

Georgia Employers' Association, 577 Mulberry Street, Suite 710, 31201, Macon, United States

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