Are your managers concerned employees are wasting too much time on Facebook and Twitter? Well, they might have something bigger to worry about.

The popularity of social-networking sites is growing more rapidly than ever. According to the latest figures, about half of adults have a Facebook and/or Myspace account, and the number of Twitter users has grown by 1,300% in the past year.

So odds are a good amount of people in your company are logging on to those sites fairly often. Though some employees probably waste part of the work day checking their accounts, most experts say those situations should be dealt with like any other performance problem — on a case-by-case basis.

The real problem, they warn, is the potential damage to the company’s reputation and its bottom line.

According to a recent Deloitte survey, 74% of workers admitted that social networking sites make it “easier” to hurt an employer’s reputation. That’s a fact several companies already know. For example:

• Last year, British Airways fired a group of employees who used Facebook to call the airline’s passengers “fat and smelly”
• A Pennsylvania high school recently fired a teacher for, among other things, bragging about her alcohol use on Myspace. She sued for freedom of speech, but her case was tossed because she had no right to speech that made the school look bad.

To keep the risk at bay, attorney Keisha-Ann Gray, writing in Human Resource Executive, recommends drafting a policy that:

• Reminds employees they have no expectation of privacy when they use the Internet at work
• Prohibits employees from using the Web in any way that’s contrary to the company’s interests, whether done at work or at home, and
• Establishes that other company policies (anti-harassment, confidentiality, etc.) apply to what employees do online.

What you can’t do

Some states have laws that can limit the reach of a company’s social networking policy. For example, states like New York, Colorado and North Dakota have laws prohibiting companies from firing employees for legal activities they partake in outside of work.

However, most of laws make an exception when the employer is directly affected by the employee’s actions. Check your state laws to be safe before drafting a policy.

A bill was introduced last week that, if passed, would require employees to provide at least five paid sick days to workers with a contagious illness who are sent home or told to stay home.

Workers deciding to stay home on their own, claiming to be sick, would not be guaranteed paid sick days.

The legislation, called the Emergency Influenza Containment Act, was introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. It would apply to businesses with 15 or more employees and would take effect 15 days after being signed — and expire after two years.

Reason for the bill: Miller says he’s concerned that more than 40 million workers don’t have paid sick days.

What are the chances of sickness spreading? A sick employee reporting to work infects one in 10 co-workers, says to the Centers for Disease Control.

Currently, 39% of all private-sector workers don’t have paid sick days, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And out of the lowest 25% of wage earners, 63% don’t have paid sick days.

Hearings on the bill have been scheduled for next week.

Consider that (a) the EFCA isn’t dead yet, (b) the White House is busy reorganizing the National Labor Relations Board to reflect the administration’s pro-labor stance and (c) labor leaders have set a goal of increasing union membership by 1.5 million a year for the next 15 years.

Those factors should lead to more vigilance about labor organizing.

Labor attorneys from the firm Fisher & Phillips say there are five major mistakes  complacent companies make that lead to union organizing:

1. Favoritism. It’s the No. 1 reason employees cite for joining a union. The term can mean a lot of things, but here’s what it amounts to:  inconsistent disciplinary action. When some employees feel they’ve been hit with discipline they didn’t deserve, while other employees got a break, expect to seen union sign-up cards floating around.

The solution is twofold: (a) clear policies and (b) managers who follow the policies. One without the other will lead to trouble.

2. Ignored complaints. A main union selling point is “giving employees a stronger voice.” Employees feel they need that voice when they perceive that no one is listening to them. The opposite of ignoring complaints: listening to them and acting on them. That doesn’t mean every complaint is valid, of course. Still, you have to give employees the feeling that at least someone is looking into it and taking some action if needed.

3. Lack of respect. Here’s the recipe for giving employees the idea they’re not respected: Disciplining them in front of others, assigning blame before reviewing the facts and  playing favorites. Those traits give employees the feeling that their managers are enemies, not advocates.

4. Lack of concern about safety. Another weak spot that unions probe: “Your employer only cares about making money, even if it puts you in danger.” The employers’ antidote: safety training, appropriate equipment and clear, uncomplicated guidelines and procedures for responding to and reporting workplace accidents. An extra gold star for employers: Willingness to help employees through the complicated workers-comp process.

5. Noncompetitive pay and benefits. Many are aware of the union promise to “put more money in workers’ pockets.” True or not, it attracts workers who feel they’re being shortchanged.

Now, that doesn’t mean opening up the wallet to every employee who complains about pay and benefits. What you can do:

• Participate in wage-benefit surveys where you can and make sure you are competitive in your industry and your location.
• Be prepared to explain why you’re not at the top of the scale, including the tradeoffs of the other nonmonetary advantages of working at your company — flexible schedules and so on — which employees may not always focus on.
• Be honest with your employees. For instance, if business is down, explain that as the reason for flat wages. The first place a union will attack is perceived dishonesty about pay and benefits.

Question:

We just made the switch to an electronic timekeeping system for our nonexempt staff, and we’ll be rounding off hours worked, for pay purposes. Is there a rule about how to go about doing that?

Answer:

There is a rule, and it’s a bit complicated, says employment-law attorney Molly DiBianca.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, you’re allowed to round off workers hours as long as the rounding doesn’t always favor the employer. In other words, over the course of time, the rounding should average out.

Specifically, the FLSA permits rounding employees’ “starting and stopping times to the nearest five minutes, or to the nearest one-tenth or quarter of an hour.”

A suggested approach: Round up and down based on a set increment. So, for instance, if a worker reports in at 8:38, start pay at 8:45. But if a worker comes on at 8:37, start pay at 8:30.

Heads up: You may soon be required to provide employees with more info about the administrative and management fees that cut into their retirement savings.

The House Education and Labor Committee has approved the 401(k) Fair Disclosure and Pension Security Act.

It would require all employers to fully disclose all retirement plan fees to their workers.

The bill could pass the House very shortly. If it does, employers would have to provide info on four categories of fees:

• administrative
• investment management
• transaction, and
• any other expenses.

The true effect of fees

Currently, the industry median for total 401(k) fees is about 1.5%, according to the Investment Company Institute.

How big an impact would those kinds of fees have on an individual’s savings?

An account with a 1.5% fee with a balance of $20,000, earning 7% a year, would be worth $58,000 after 20 years.

The balance of the same account would be worth $70,000 — or 17% more — if its fees were only .5%.

Other requirements

As it stands now, the legislation requires:

• 401(k) plans to disclose, in a quarterly statement, fees taken from a participant’s account
• plan administrators to offer participants at least one low-cost index fund in order to receive protection against liability for participants’ investment losses, and
• workers to get investment advice based on their needs — not the financial interest of those providing the advice.

With the SSA announcement that there will be no change over the prior year – almost unheard of in recent memory – there’s sure to be plenty of confusion. The higher-ups will want to confirm that they won’t pay more in Social Security taxes next year, while retirees may ask why they’re not getting a cost-of-living increase in their monthly checks. The latter may also have questions about the Obama Administration’s proposal to send those receiving Social Security benefits a one-time $250 check to help stimulate the economy.

Here’s what you might want to tell them:

• Higher-ups – Indeed, those earning more than $106,800 won’t pay more in FICA taxes in 2010. This tax is the combined Social Security tax rate of 6.2% plus the Medicare tax rate of 1.45%. So, the maximum Social Security tax employees making $106,800 or more will pay is $6,621.60 in 2010. Employers must pay an equal share on each worker. You may want to explain to these employees, though, that as always, there’s no limit to the wages subject to the Medicare tax – so all covered wages are still subject to this 1.45% withholding.
• Retirees – This is the first time there will be no cost-of-living increase since 1975, when the agency began adjusting the amounts based on inflation. The Department of Labor announced this week that consumer prices fell 2.1% since the third quarter of 2008. SSA actuaries base the cost-of-living adjustment on the change in consumer prices from the third quarter of one year to the same period the following year. Since prices are falling, retirees actually have more spending power because the agency never decreases benefits. As for the $250 “supplement,” you may want to suggest that retirees not go spending any potential windfall just yet. Right now, it’s just one idea the Administration has suggested to further stimulate the economy.

A few other updates

The wage bases for the following also remain unchanged in 2010:

• Self-employed individuals – $106,800. There’s no limit for the Medicare tax for these workers, either. The self-employment tax rate remains 15.3%, which is the combined Social Security tax rate of 12.4% plus the Medicare rate of 2.9%. The maximum Social Security tax for those self-employed will be $13,243.20.
• Domestic employees – $1,700.
• Election workers – $1,500.

The CDC has issued a document –  “ADA-Compliant Employer Preparedness For the H1N1 Flu Virus.” You’ll want to pay special attention to the parts that cover:

• How employers may request health information from applicants and employees regarding H1N1 flu virus. Here’s what the CDC says:

An employer may survey its workforce to gather personal information needed for pandemic preparation if the employer asks broad questions that are not limited to disability-related inquiries. An inquiry would not be disability-related if it identified non-medical reasons for absence during a pandemic (e.g., mandatory school closures or curtailed public transportation) on an equal footing with medical reasons (e.g., chronic illnesses that weaken immunity).

Here’s the format CDC suggests for surveying employees while steering clear of ADA violations:

ADA-Compliant Pre-Pandemic Employee Survey

Directions: Answer “yes” to the whole question without specifying the reason or reasons that apply to you. Simply check “yes” or “no” at the bottom.

In the event of a pandemic, would you be unable to come to work because of any of the following reasons:

If schools or day-care centers were closed, you would need to care for a child;

If other services were unavailable, you would need to care for other dependents;

If public transport were sporadic or unavailable, you would be unable to travel to work, and/or;

If you or a member of your household fall into one of the categories identified by CDC as being at high risk for serious complications from the pandemic influenza virus, you would be advised by public health authorities not to come to work (e.g., pregnant women; persons with compromised immune systems due to cancer, HIV, history of organ transplant or other medical conditions; persons less than 65 years of age with underlying chronic conditions; or persons over 65).

Answer: YES __________ NO __________

To learn more do’s and don’ts about collecting medical info, see the full CDC document.

An executive order signed earlier this month by President Obama forbids federal employees from sending text messages while behind the wheel. The rule applies to employees in federal vehicles and to those using a government-issued phone while driving their own cars.

The order was signed at the end of  a two-day meeting on distracted driving. The feds are also encouraging all federal contractors to create a similar policy for their employees.

The new ban won’t require a change in behavior for many federal workers — on-the-road texting is already illegal in Washington, D.C., as well as 18 states. To see the laws for your and other states, visit the Governors’ Highway Safety Association.

In addition to the executive order, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced plans to enact a nationwide wide ban on texting in the car.

One proposed bill would force states to pass their own bans, or sacrifice 25% of their highway funding.

With more courts holding companies liable for car accidents caused by employees, experts recommend private employees take the government’s lead and enact stricter driving policies before the law requires it.

Companies can be held liable when an employee causes an accident while “under the scope of employment.” That could include an employee who’s making deliveries, driving to an off-site meeting or having a work-related conversation while running personal errands.

To limit the risk, lawyers recommend creating policies that:

• prohibit talking, texting and e-mailing while behind the wheel (whether the employee has a hands-free headset or not)
• require phones to be turned off while driving to avoid distracting incoming calls, and
• remind employees — and their bosses — that they aren’t expected to make calls and do other work while driving.

The more you think about the potential “disasters” that could strike your company — ranging from a broken water pipe to a terrorist attack — the more you realize a recovery plan is a good idea, especially since it doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive.

A new book, “The Wall Street Journal Complete Small Business Guidebook,” lays out the three essentials every company should cover to be prepared for — and to recover from — a disaster:

Review insurance policies. Your company probably already has property insurance to cover the cost of replacing damaged or destroyed equipment or buildings. How about business-interruption insurance, which covers lost income in the event the business is forced to shut down temporarily?

Develop a contingency plan, including one in case disaster strikes a vendor. Come up with a list of backup vendors or suppliers. Consider alternative work sites so that you can keep operating if disaster strikes your company. Keep a list of 24-hour emergency numbers for all your employees, and develop a quick and efficient way of keeping employees informed.

Back up data. Make backup copies of all critical records, such as accounting and employee data, customer lists, production formulas and inventory. Keep that information in a separate location — the farther away, the better –  or subscribe to a online data backup service provider.

Take a look at the Small Business Administration disaster-recovery Web page, which offers more links and assistance in putting together a plan.

A popular book, “Results That Last: Hardwiring Behaviors That Will Take Your Company to the Top,” by Quint Studer, argues that yes, you can draw up an effective behavior contract.  The contract itself will have to follow some rules. It must:

• Be signed by everyone in the company, from CEO to mailroom sorter. You can’t make it look as if you’re singling out a group of workers. And companywide signing underscores the fact that you have companywide standards. And don’t forget to have new employees sign it on their first day.
• Contain ideas from across the company spectrum.  A document that’s handed down from HR or any top level will be ignored. Companies that have successfully implemented behavior contracts have first sought input from several departments or supervisors.
• Have business goals. It’s nice to get people to behave cordially toward one another or toward customers, but there should be some larger points — for instance, fewer communication glitches or better customer satisfaction.
• Contain specifics, over and above the simplified “I’ll be polite to everyone.” For instance, it might specify, “I will always knock on closed doors before entering,” or “I will always address customers by using the prefix ‘Mr.’ or ‘Ms.’”
• Be subject to change and updates. There will be new situations that need to be addressed, so the contract can’t be a document that’s written once and then allowed to collect dust.