isolved Blog

Being in a leadership position can sometimes make you feel like you have a target on your back. Your ability to lead effectively has the power to propel your team to success or drag it down into failure, so it can often feel like the stakes are much higher for only you. But the responsibility should...

Fifty-seven percent of human resources (HR) departments in the manufacturing industry are receiving budget increases this year according to data from isolved’s Transforming Employee Experience report. While there is a long list of technology that HR leaders plan to invest in, one thing is clea...

When you hear the phrase "hiring assessment," what comes to mind? More than likely, you're thinking of long, boring multiple-choice questionnaires that all seem to ask relatively useful questions but never really give you the right answers. For many years, that's exactly what an asse...

Just last week, On May 18, 2016, Secretary Perez and President Obama announced that the Department of Labor finalized drastic changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which update overtime regulations. These new changes will go into effect on December 1, 2016, giving employers some time to up...

Imagine this...You start your day full of optimism, ready to check things off your to-do list. However, half way through the day you begin to feel stressed and overloaded. The checklist that didn’t seem too bad this morning suddenly seems impossible to accomplish. Sound familiar? You aren’t alone....

Even if you’ve been a diligent member of the workforce for a while, you probably still have some room for improvement. One area you may be overlooking in your professional development could be one of the most important: improving your writing skills. Becoming a skilled writer is valuable in just ab...

isolved’s recent Twitter chat, “HR Hot Topics” highlighted the insights of Principal Analyst of Constellation Research, R “Ray” Wang. The chat was joined by others within the HR industry, including isolved’s leadership team and industry thought leaders. Read below for a brief recap of the virtual ev...

The wait is over.  On June 25, 2014, the Supreme Court released its opinion on the Affordable Care Act’s premium tax subsidies.  At issue in the case of King vs. Burwell, was whether subsidies should be provided only for exchanges available in states “established by the State” or if credits should a...

Business leaders are embracing the importance of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEI&B) initiatives. Promoting equity and diversity is a powerful way to foster inclusivity and show employees that they’re valued. An added bonus? It's also good for business. In fact, McKinsey and C...

Have you seen the movie “The Field of Dreams”? It’s the baseball one with Kevin Costner – a classic really (the movie and Costner!). There’s the famous line, “If you build it, they will come.” It’s the mentality we had (and hoped for) when launching the People Heroes Community back in the spring of...

Although there are high hopes for 2021, business leaders should be prepared for a slow transition back to some sense of normalcy as the year progresses. After all, the pandemic isn’t going to end when the clock hits midnight on January 1st.  For benefits brokers, this means embracing the...

The Labor Department’s new overtime rule—released in May and scheduled to take effect on Dec. 1—extends the Fair Labor Standards Act’s protections to most salaried workers who earn less than $47,476 a year ($913 a week). The move will expand FLSA coverage to an estimated 4.2 million workers who earn...

The way (and where) we work has changed—and regulatory agencies are starting to adapt. For years, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) required all covered companies to display an “EEO Is the Law” poster. Recently, the EEOC released an updated “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discriminatio...

It’s no secret that mornings are more productive than afternoons. When employees begin their workdays feeling refreshed from a night’s sleep, they typically have better productivity than when they return to work after lunch. Follow these seven tips to help energize your afternoons so that productivi...

The benefits enrollment period is often one of the first experiences an employee encounters when starting at a new company. It’s also often the most dreaded time of the year for existing employees and HR departments. Which is why it may be time to update your benefits enrollment process with modern...

The federal hourly minimum wage has remained at $7.25 since 2009. For several years, the Obama administration has asked Congress to increase the federal minimum wage, to no avail. However, the federal minimum wage is just that: the least that employers must legally pay their employees. If a state w...

It’s not your imagination—everything is getting more expensive. Sticker shock at everyday prices has become commonplace, but one of a household’s most necessary expenditures is growing exponentially more expensive: healthcare. In 2020, before prices began their meteoric rise, the average household s...

Welcome to 2024 -- the new year promises to be an exciting time for the Human Resources (HR) world! There are a few standout trends that started percolating in 2023, and we are very interested to see the trajectory. From minimum wage increases to pay transparency laws, there is a litany of changes a...

On June 27, a federal district court judge in Texas issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the Labor Department’s controversial “persuader” rule that was scheduled to take effect July 1. This eleventh-hour stoppage was a major victory for the many states, business groups and employers th...

Benefits Enrollment time is upon us. Every HR rep knows just what an important time of year this is for HR and all employees. Employees will be electing new benefits, but they will also be renewing benefits from prior years. HR reps might be thinking about what they can do to be best prepared this s...

During the Supreme Court’s conference November 7, 2014, they decided to hear the King vs. Burwell case.  In this case, the Fourth Circuit upheld allowing subsidies to individuals in an exchange other than one that is state run.  Interesting decision by the Supreme Court, considering the Fourth Circu...

As a leader within your company, one of your primary concerns should be the culture you are cultivating in the office. Are your employees satisfied? Do they feel valued? Do they feel motivated and productive? It’s not always possible to have a perfect understanding of the climate within the office,...

Open enrollment in the Marketplace is a set time frame when individuals can enroll in a plan and receive a subsidy based upon their household income, if eligible.  You can generally buy a Marketplace plan only during the annual open enrollment period. Upcoming dates to know: November 15, 2014 - 2...

One of the primary goals of any human resource management team is to discover and acquire new talent to fill openings and complement the existing company culture. As with all other areas of HR management, technology has drastically changed the way we recruit new talent. Gone are the days of publishi...

Not to be outdone by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Health and Human Service (HHS), the IRS also released guidance over the Thanksgiving weekend.  Final rules for minimum essential coverage and other employer shared responsibility requirements joined the Federal Register family...