Is Dating a Coworker a Good Idea?

Is Dating a Coworker a Good Idea?

Is dating a coworker a good idea? It depends on office fraternization policies and if you’ll be able to work well together when the romantic relationship ends.

Office romances are frowned upon in the working world, but that hasn’t stopped one-quarter of employees from dating their coworkers, according to recent research by Blind, an anonymous workplace network.

“We often hear the advice to not date coworkers, but that wisdom might be based on unrealistic expectations. We spend so much of our time at the office and communicating with colleagues that it’s only natural for relationships to blossom,” said Kyum Kim, Blind co-founder.

Is Dating a Coworker a Good Idea?

A 2019 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that aside from being uninterested these are a few of the main reasons why employees refrain from getting involved in workplace romances:

  • I believe workplace romances are unprofessional (33 percent)
  • I am concerned about employer policies on workplace romances (25 percent)
  • I am concerned about potential sexual harassment claims (17 percent)

Over 40 percent of employees who have dated a coworker chose to keep their relationship a secret, according to research by CareerBuilder. The stigma against workplace romances coupled with potential repercussions from HR likely factored into their decision to keep their relationship under wraps. 

What If It Doesn’t Work Out?

Another valid concern about romantic relationships between coworkers is what happens if it ends, and worse, if it ends badly. 

Surprisingly, more than 30 percent of workers who dated a coworker ended up marrying them. Only six percent of employees have left a job after a romantic relationship with someone at work ended. 

How to Handle Office Romances in 2020

Socialization at work is inevitable. It’s important for team building and fostering a supportive work environment. Close work friendships can even boost job satisfaction by 50 percent

Office policies that emphasize communication and transparency when relationships form are more beneficial than those that only outline the potential consequences of fraternization.

“Because so much of our waking time is spent at work, it’s no surprise that romances develop in the workplace,” said Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., President and CEO of SHRM. “It makes little sense to forbid them. Instead, employees should be encouraged to disclose relationships. This is the most effective way to limit the potential for favoritism, retaliation and sexual harassment claims.”

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How Financial Stress Impacts Job Performance

How Financial Stress Impacts Job Performance

How financial stress impacts job performance. Financial stress makes it harder for employees to concentrate, problem-solve and collaborate with coworkers.

Nearly 60 percent of Americans feel like their finances have taken control of their lives, according to research by Capital One and The Decision Lab. 

Financial stress impacts their performance at work and the more stressed they are the less likely they are to make smart decisions when it comes to spending and saving.

How Financial Stress Impacts Job Performance

More than 40 percent of Americans admit financial stress makes it difficult for them to concentrate at work. Research by John Hancock Retirement found the loss of productivity combined with absenteeism from financial stress costs employers more than an estimated $1,900 per year, per employee, and total an estimated annual loss of $1 million for midsized employers and $19 million for large employers.

Financial stress causes feelings of fatigue and interferes with sleep for more than 40 percent of employees. A survey by Bankrate found closer to 80 percent of U.S. adults are losing sleep worrying about everyday expenses, saving for retirement and healthcare costs. Sleep deprivation can impair cognitive ability, making it harder for employees to think and process information.

Financial stress has a significant impact on employees at work. It can lead to lowered productivity, impair the ability to problem solve and moodiness or irritability from loss of sleep could make it difficult for employees to collaborate and communicate effectively.

How Employees React to High Levels of Financial Stress 

In their research, Capital One and The Decision Lab found that even when they controlled for household income and FICO scores, high levels of financial stress were linked to worse financial attitudes and practices. Those who experience a high level of financial stress are:

  • Less likely to save on a regular basis
  • Less likely to plan their spending
  • Less likely to feel in control
  • More impulsive with how they spend their paycheck
  • Less likely to agree that success comes to those who work hard

How Financial Wellness Programs Help

Financial wellness programs, like Best Money Moves, can help employees regain control of their finances. 

Best Money Moves has tools and features that help employees measure their financial stress, budget for monthly expenses, pay down debt and plan for emergencies. Employees can talk to trained professional financial counselors and educate themselves about everything from investing to co-signing loans to buying their first homes with access to a library of over 700 articles, videos and calculators. 

Best Money Moves is also gamified, featuring a point-based rewards system where users earn points every time they log in, enter their information into their profile, work with their budgets, read articles and measure their stress. Each point translates into a chance to win a monthly contest.

If you want to learn more about how Best Money Moves can bring financial wellness to your company download our whitepapers and sign up for a demonstration here.

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Top 5 Reasons Why Employees Leave Their Jobs in 2020

Top 5 Reasons Why Employees Leave Their Jobs in 2020

Top 5 reasons why employees leave their jobs in 2020. It has a lot more to do with professional development than it does compensation.

Opportunities for professional development are vital to job satisfaction and employee retention. Without them, employees will look elsewhere, according to research by CareerAddict.

Their latest report asked employees why they quit their jobs and found that a lack of progression influences their decision most. 

CareerAddict’s research is particularly interesting because it found that the top five reasons for quitting a job are the same across all age groups and traditional gender identities.

Top 5 Reasons Why Employees Leave Their Jobs in 2020

CareerAddict found a “steady transgenerational pattern” when it came to factors motivating employees to quit. Across all age groups and across all the gender identities they surveyed, there were only marginal differences between their deciding factors. These are the top five reasons for quitting a job, at any age as a man or as a woman:  

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What Do Employees Want From HR?

CareerAddict asked employees to elaborate on what they wanted from HR. After analyzing and coding their responses, these are some of the most common requests:

  • “Ensure work-life balance.”
  • “Respect confidentiality.”
  • “Address harassment.”
  • “Run development trainings.”
  • “Communicate policies better.”
  • “Create employee satisfaction surveys.”
  • “Offer better benefits.”
  • “Support progression.”
  • “Compensate based on merit.”
  • “Ensure supervisors act ethically.”
  • “Conduct exit interviews.”
  • “Offer career guidance.”

CareerAddict advises employers who want to retain top talent should, “Place more emphasis on accommodating their staff’s professional growth. Creating more opportunities for career advancement and recognizing and adequately compensating employees’ efforts are just a few actionable initiatives that can significantly improve employee engagement and retention.”

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Offering Child Care Benefits to Employees

Offering Child Care Benefits to Employees

Offering child care benefits to employees. Employers can address work-life balance and aid recruitment and retention efforts with child care benefits for employees.

Both parents are employed in more than 60 percent of American families, yet only 6 percent of companies offer child care benefits, according to research by Clutch.

Another study, by New America’s Better Life Lab and Care.com, found that the average annual cost of full-time center-based child care ($9,589) is more expensive than in-state college tuition ($9,410). (And, both costs are rising smartly above the rate of inflation.)

Employers are expanding family-friendly employee benefits to improve work-life balance as well as bolster retention and recruitment efforts and employer-paid child care benefits are a trend to watch in 2020.

The Rising Cost of Child Care

Research by Freddie Mac found the price of child care, adjusted for inflation, has increased by more than 45 percent over the last 25 years and it impacts a family’s ability to afford a home. 

“One of the major challenges, when it comes to affording a home, is the high cost of child care. Our analysis finds that those families paying for child care generally are left with less money for housing. Specifically, we find they, on average, pay about half of the median mortgage payment and nearly eighty percent of the median rent,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist.

The average family spent more than 10 percent of their annual income on child care in 2011. In lower-income families, the cost burden of child care is much higher. Families making less than $1,500 a month with children under the age of 15 spent 40 percent of their income on child care, on average. 

Offering Child Care Benefits to Employees

New parent benefits have seen significant growth over the past five years, but child care benefits have failed to keep pace. According to research by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM):

  • 25 percent of employers let employees bring children to work in an emergency
  • 11 percent of employers have a child care referral service
  • 4 percent of employers offer subsidized or nonsubsidized child care centers or programs

As an emerging trend, there isn’t a wealth of data on the ROI of child care benefits, but initial research published in the Journal of Management found companies that introduced child care benefits had lower collective turnover rates for female employees in subsequent years. 

In the next few years, we expect to see the number of companies offering child care benefits rise as employers battle for top talent with better benefits. 

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Minimum Wage in 2020: Increases by State

Minimum Wage in 2020: Increases by State

Minimum wage in 2020: increases by state. An overview of the states planning to increase minimum wage rates and recent employment settlements for labor law violations.

Nearly half of the states across the U.S. will increase minimum wage requirements for workers in 2020, according to research by Paycor

The federal minimum wage for nonexempt workers remains set $7.25, but businesses operating in states with laws requiring a higher amount must pay workers at the higher rate.

Minimum Wage Increases by State in 2020

Here is a list of effective and planned minimum wage increases by state in 2020 as previously identified by Paycor:

 

State 2019 Minimum Wage 2020 Minimum Wage
Alaska $9.89 $10.19
Arizona $11.00 $12.00
Arkansas $9.25 $10.00
California $12.00 $13.00

*$13.00 rate is for California employers with 26 or more employees. Employers in California with 25 or fewer employees have a minimum wage of $12.00 per hour.

Colorado $11.10 $12.00
Connecticut $11.00 $12.00 effective September 1, 2020
Washington D.C. $14.00 $15.00 effective July 1, 2020
Florida $8.46 $8.56
Illinois $8.25 $9.25
Maine $11.00 $12.00
Maryland $10.10 $11.00
Massachusetts $12.00 $12.75
Michigan $9.45 $9.65
Minnesota $9.86 $10.00

*$10.00 rate is for large employers. Small employers have a minimum wage of $8.15 per hour.

Missouri $8.60 $9.45
Montana $8.50 $8.65
Nevada $7.25 rate for Nevada employees who are offered health insurance. $8.25 rate for employees who are not offered health insurance. $8.00 minimum wage for employees with health insurance and $9.00 minimum wage for employees without health insurance effective July 1, 2020.
New Jersey $10.00 $11.00
New Mexico $7.50 $9.00
New York $11.10 $11.80

*Statewide minimum wages apply in areas that are not governed by a higher, local minimum wage ordinance

Ohio $8.55 $8.70
South Dakota $9.10 $9.30
Vermont $10.78 $10.96
Washington $12.00 $13.50

See Paycor for a breakdown of minimum wage requirements for each state in 2020.

Minimum Wage Compliance

Whenever there’s a legal change governing wages, worker classifications or paid leave requirements, it’s a good time to review current practices and make the necessary changes to ensure compliance. 

Employment settlements for these types of violations are costly. Starbucks recently agreed to pay $176,000 over sick leave violations. Walmart was just ordered to pay $54.6 million to truck drivers who sought back pay for time spent in layover, a mandatory break required by the U.S. Department of Transportation, that Walmart exercised control over. Big Lots Stores will pay $7 million to settle a lawsuit brought by workers alleging a host of violations including unpaid overtime and minimum wages, non-compliant wage statements, wages not timely paid and not paid at termination. 

Avoid the costs of noncompliance by monitoring federal, state and local workplace legislation, making changes to policies as needed, and following up with supervisors to ensure the legal precedent for policy changes are well understood.

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What Does Financial Success Look Like?

What Does Financial Success Look Like?

What does financial success look like? Financial wellness month: how financial stress is changing the way Americans define success.

A big salary used to be the primary indicator of financial success for Americans, but that’s not the case anymore.

When Northwestern Mutual asked Americans to define success in a recent survey, having a big salary didn’t even break the top five answers. Instead, nearly half of the respondents agreed that being financially prepared for the future is the best sign of success.

What Does Financial Success Look Like in 2020

Financial success looks a lot like financial wellness in 2020. Not being stressed about finances, having enough money set aside for unexpected expenses and being able to retire when you want to are key indicators of financial wellness, financial preparedness and now, financial success.

Many Americans have a long road ahead of them to achieve their definition of financial success. A new survey by KeyBank identified some of the common money missteps they’re making. Twenty-five percent of Americans confessed to impulse buying. Over 30 percent admitted they don’t have any savings set aside for emergencies. More than 20 percent copped to not contributing to retirement savings. 

The good news is 60 percent of Americans are ready to take steps to prevent future money mistakes in 2020.

3 Steps Towards Financial Wellness for 2020

These are the three steps Americans plan to take to get their finances in order and avoid further money mishaps:

  1. Identify and prioritize “needs” vs. “wants” 
  2. Determine a monthly budget and revisit on a weekly basis
  3. Educate themselves through financial literacy courses

Financial wellness programs that allow for self-assessment, provide access to budgeting tools and a library of resources employees can use to educate themselves on various financial matters, like Best Money Moves, can help employees take steps towards financial wellness in 2020.

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