And the Oscar Goes to … HR! 4 Ways to Be an Even Better HR Leader This Year

Article

And the Oscar Goes to … HR! 4 Ways to Be an Even Better HR Leader This Year

March 12, 2026 By Michele McGovern

Whether you love or hate the Academy Awards ceremonies, you have a reason to pay attention this year.

That’s because 2026 is the first year someone in HR will win an Oscar for their job, putting people in the right roles.

Can you hear it now? … And the Oscar goes to … HR!

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences added a new Oscar for Best Casting, with this being the first time it’s awarded for a movie released in 2025. In the motion picture industry, “casting” is HR: They pick the right people for the right roles at the right time (and when it’s done perfectly, the choices HR makes can lead the movie to the top Oscar win).

Putting in an Oscar-Worthy Management Performance

Why is it important that the Academy has decided to celebrate the people behind the people? It’s because casting — aka HR — does a huge, often-unseen job that impacts everything!

Moviemakers may be finally recognizing that their people-placement professionals are worth their weight in Oscar gold. We know you’re already well-versed in HR. But even HR pros can shine up their management skills from time to time.

So rather than give you ideas on how to manage benefits, recruitment or performance management, we’ll focus on something you have to do every day: manage.

Being a good boss is good enough. But in HR, you set the standard. So why not take a cue from moviemakers and be a great, Oscar-worthy leader?

Here are four strategies to up your management skills — strategies you can pass right along to your front-line managers by example or instruction.

1. Channel Creativity

Researchers have found that some of the best leaders hold this characteristic in common: creativity. By being creative — like a scene designer is — you can solve problems more easily and build confidence in your teams.

According to a recent study published in the National Center for Biotechnology Information, leaders who actively encourage creativity empower employees mentally to take on more and get more creative in what they do.

Makes sense, right? If you tell an employee, “Go ahead, take a stab at it. Try something different” — and really mean it — they’re going to think beyond what’s always been done.

And that’s where creativity can take off. The researchers found that when leaders continue to encourage good, creative ideas, it directly shapes the effectiveness in unlocking other ideas. Creativity breeds creativity.

So, encourage employees to think outside the box (office) more often. Throw your creative ideas and solutions to the team first to see how others react: Is it enthusiasm or fear? If it’s mostly fear, ask the team for their creative ideas – and go with the lowest-risk ideas until everyone sees a string of success with trying creative ideas and solutions.

2. Roll up Your Sleeves

The best leaders don’t step ahead of their teams. They stay in stride. When they must rise up to lead, they roll up their sleeves — are you seeing the movie director in his seat with the white shirt sleeves rolled up now? — and carry the team with them.

Be the ultimate team player. Not only act the part when necessary — that is, pitch in when team members need help — also consider yourself part, not head, of the group.

This serves two purposes: First, bosses who stand with the team don’t condescend to or leave behind employees. Secondly, great bosses run a more effective and efficient operation – and nearly everyone can respect a well-oiled machine.

3. Boast and Bow

Great leaders show pride in their team and employee accomplishments. But they’re humble about their own. Most certainly, you’ve seen the Oscar recipients who’ve had to be booted off the stage when they wouldn’t stop thanking an army of people who helped them get where they were?!

You want to consistently recognize your team’s efforts and accomplishments — not just when they’re grandiose. Great bosses know the effort is nearly as important as the accomplishment. Without honest everyday efforts, neither small nor great things will get done.

Whether you use calendar alerts, conscious observation or sticky notes to remind yourself to boast on employees’ efforts and accomplishments, do it sincerely. Half-hearted recognition and rewards are almost worse than none.

Also, when you’re recognized for accomplishments, spread the love: acknowledge the team and what they’ve done to help you achieve it.

4. Lead with Compassion, Direct with Clarity

Great leaders use compassion as a guidepost, not a compass. They recognize the need for empathy and concern for their employees, but don’t lose sight of business needs — like a good movie producer, who always has the art in her heart but the budget on her mind.

In practice, that means great HR leaders give direction with clarity, confirming employees see the goal and know the available resources. They maintain high expectations and make sure employees agree to the same.

This is where the compassion comes into play: Great leaders understand mistakes, missteps and failures will happen. When they do, directly address mistakes with employees with kindness while still keeping the focus on expectations. Then work together to resolve the situation.

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‘Roller Coaster’ First Year of Trump 2.0: Survey Reveals Top Employer Concerns

March 12, 2026 By Carol Warner

Widespread uncertainty and rapid policy shifts during the first year of Trump 2.0 have been a “roller coaster for employers,” according to a new report from the Littler Workplace Policy Institute (WPI).

To gauge employer concerns amid this uncertainty, WPI surveyed more than 300 HR professionals, C-suite execs and in-house attorneys, asking about issues most likely to affect their businesses in the year ahead.

Employer Concerns Peak Around DEI Policy Changes

Survey results show that DEI changes in 2025 affected 71% of employers, rising to 86% among large organizations with more than 10,000 employees.

More than half (55%) of employers considered rolling back DEI programs, and 60% of large employers said they were concerned about potential DEI-related lawsuits, according to a separate Littler report.

These business impacts followed President Trump’s executive orders. One restricted DEI in the public sector and directed federal agencies to identify private‑sector employers for potential DEI‑related investigations under federal civil rights laws.

The policy landscape remains unsettled, with ongoing litigation creating uncertainty for employers. Most recently, the Fourth Circuit lifted a preliminary injunction that had temporarily halted parts of the executive orders.

HR Insight

In the meantime, many companies are reluctant to dismantle diversity programs that they might have to rebuild if courts later narrow enforcement. Mita Mallick, head of inclusion and culture at Carta, says the business case for diversity is stronger than ever. On the Voices of HR podcast, she pointed to Procter & Gamble’s census analysis, which estimates that multicultural consumers represent over $5 trillion in spending power.

For now, many employers are taking a cautious, structured approach. They’re auditing how initiatives are structured, tightening language around equal opportunity and talent development, and documenting the business rationale behind programs.

Some organizations are also shifting terminology, reframing DEI under concepts like merit, excellence, and inclusion (MEI) and broader initiatives, while keeping the programs tied to recruiting, retention and talent development. That approach helps companies reduce legal risk while keeping flexibility to adjust programs if the courts or policy shifts again.

How Employers Are Handling Immigration Policy Shifts

As businesses prepared for a second Trump term, some attorneys predicted stricter immigration policy measures.

In WPI’s survey, nearly two-thirds (65%) of respondents said immigration policy shifts in 2025 affected their business, and among large employers, that number jumped to 79%. Many specifically reported facing workforce staffing challenges to varying degrees: 39% said to a small extent, 19% to a moderate extent, and 5% to a large extent.

When asked about how they were handling immigration roadblocks, respondents said they:

Hired differently based on immigration status
Reduced immigration sponsorship, and
Stopped sponsoring H-1B visas.

These responses highlight practical challenges companies face in maintaining their workforce under changing immigration rules.

HR Insights

Immigration policy shifts in 2025 have reshaped how employers are thinking about talent sourcing and workforce strategy. Many large employers have adjusted sponsorship practices in response to new costs and uncertainty. Some big firms, including consulting and retail companies, have paused or limited H‑1B sponsorships and updated job postings to require current U.S. work authorization, rather than offering sponsorship, as they rethink cost and compliance exposure.

At the same time, a significant drop in H‑1B sponsorship job postings – down sharply from prior years – suggests a broader shift in recruiting priorities toward candidates who are ready to work without visa hurdles. Rather than eliminating immigration support altogether, some organizations are becoming more selective about which roles they sponsor, prioritizing positions that justify higher costs.

This context means HR teams are increasingly balancing near‑term staffing gaps with long‑term workforce planning. That could look like expanding domestic talent pipelines, reconsidering remote or near-shore options, and strengthening skills‑based pathways to reduce reliance on immigration channels that are vulnerable to policy shifts. Those moves don’t replace immigration support, but they help teams stay agile as policy evolves.

Economic Uncertainty Leads to Layoffs

Thirty-five percent of respondents – and 42% of large employers – reported workforce reductions due to ongoing regulatory and economic uncertainty.

Employers also reported:

Pausing or reducing hiring (30%)
Reducing or eliminating workplace perks (18%)
Delaying promotions or pay raise increases (17%), and
Skipping or reducing bonuses (13%)

HR Insight

Workforce reductions and cost‑cutting moves can help manage expenses in the short term, but they also have a lasting impact on employee morale and engagement. What happens after job cuts is just as important as the layoff decision itself: The way HR and leadership communicate about workforce reductions can shape how employees process the change and stay productive.

Transparent, consistent communication about the reasons behind reductions and what comes next is crucial for keeping teams aligned and psychologically safe. To help reinforce trust and keep teams engaged, HR should coach managers to communicate layoffs with empathy and check in with remaining employees.

At the same time, focusing on connection helps mitigate “survivor’s guilt” and disengagement. HR teams often lean into team check-ins, role-clarification discussions and employee engagement activities to reinforce commitment and reduce anxiety in the wake of workforce cuts.

Key Takeaways for HR Leaders

Three practical steps to address the employer concerns from the survey:

Reassess DEI programs to align with federal enforcement priorities and document business justifications.
Adjust immigration strategies, including hiring practices and visa sponsorship, to address staffing gaps and ensure compliance.
Plan for economic pressures by communicating clearly about layoffs, hiring freezes and perk reductions to protect morale and engagement.

Article

Flextirement: 5 Keys to Redesign Work to Honor Talent, Experience

March 11, 2026 By Moe Hutt

The traditional 40-hour work week is a legacy system facing a modern stress test. For decades, this structure has been the bedrock of organizational design, and for many HR leaders, it remains a non-negotiable reality of their operating environment.

However, as the workforce demographics shift, this one-size-fits-all model is increasingly challenged to accommodate two of our most critical talent segments: the experienced veterans whose wisdom is irreplaceable, and the high-potential caregivers whose careers are prematurely derailed by a lack of options.

Flextirement Explained

While HR leaders may not always be able to dismantle traditional work hours, they have a pivotal opportunity to innovate within them. The defining mandate today is securing the continuity of institutional knowledge through creative, sustainable structures while meeting quarterly headcount targets.

Flextirement, a structured job-sharing model, provides a pathway for this evolution. It is designed as a strategic solution to bridge the gap between the looming Boomer retirement wave and the persistent attrition of mid-career talent, ensuring that vital institutional memory remains within the organization while fostering a more inclusive and flexible career path.

Boomer Knowledge Drain: More Than Just Staffing

The mass exit of Baby Boomers necessitates a formal mechanism to capture and transfer decades of experience. The sudden departure of these employees creates a significant organizational vulnerability, resulting in a measurable deficit in technical, cultural and procedural knowledge. This represents not just a staffing gap, but an erosion of organizational memory and expertise.

To address this situation, we need to allow for a transition period. This will give the departing employee the time to document processes and transfer their knowledge effectively. At this point, their experience is their most valuable asset.

Caregiver Attrition: The Cost of Inflexible Work

A large part of today’s workforce is in the “sandwich generation,” facing the challenge of juggling care for both their children and aging parents. While it impacts male workers, women most often bear the burden as they are five times more likely than men to leave the workforce when caregiving responsibilities begin to mount. Many professional women who leave their jobs cite difficulty balancing inflexible work schedules with demanding caregiving responsibilities. These are highly experienced and educated individuals whose careers are prematurely curtailed by a system that refuses to bend.

The cost of this attrition is high, with over 330,000 women leaving the U.S. workforce since the beginning of the year, compared to 103,000 men. It encompasses the loss of diversity, the erosion of the leadership pipeline, and the perpetuation of a system that forces our best talent to choose between a career and responsibility. Flextirement directly addresses this structural constraint by affirming that talent should not be contingent upon absolute availability.

Flextirement: Strategic Workforce Engineering

Flextirement is a formal, two-employee job-sharing protocol applied to a single, critical full-time position. The model is structured to manage the transition of knowledge out of the organization while concurrently pulling high-potential talent back into it. Here’s how it works.

1. The Boomer Mentor: Phased Retirement, Sponsored Leader

The retiring incumbent transitions into a formal “Mentor” role for a defined period (typically 12 to 24 months) on a structured, part-time schedule (15–20 hours per week). This role extends beyond mere technical knowledge transfer to include active sponsorship and mentorship in leadership competencies.

The objective is clear: to transition the role from full-time production to focused knowledge transfer, establishing a legacy of mentorship and leadership development. This phased exit retains critical expertise for a longer duration. It ensures that the successor receives personalized coaching on strategic decision-making and stakeholder management skills, which are often essential for future leadership roles.

2. The Caregiver Talent: Part-Time Re-Entry or Retention

The second partner is a high-potential professional seeking reduced hours due to caregiving responsibilities. This may be a new external hire or a high-value internal employee who would otherwise be forced to reduce scope, take a lower-level role, or exit the company entirely. The position fills the production-focused portion of the role (15–25 hours per week).

Objective: To retain valuable internal talent and/or re-engage high-potential external talent by providing a sustainable path back to a career-track position with an accelerated leadership development component.
Result: The organization immediately preserves internal investment in its high-potential pipeline. Crucially, the employee benefits from a built-in mentorship that targets the confidence and strategic skill-building necessary for women to advance into senior roles, mitigating the effects of career momentum loss.

The success of the partnership relies heavily on clearly delineated responsibilities, robust communication protocols, and the use of shared digital tools. The model requires HR to move beyond simply filling a headcount and toward engineering a cohesive unit.

Operational Benefits and Implementation Metrics

Implementing the Flextirement model yields several quantifiable benefits directly relevant to strategic HR objectives.

Succession and Risk Mitigation

Flextirement fundamentally transforms succession planning from a reactive search into a proactive, structured apprenticeship focused on future leadership. The program directly addresses Succession Planning and Risk Management by formalizing knowledge transfer and sponsorship. This structured mentorship framework significantly reduces the time-to-competency for the successor (often by 30-50%) and ensures the successor is not just technically competent but leadership-ready.

Actionable Metrics for HR Leaders:

Time-to-Productivity (TTP): Track TTP for Flextirement participants versus traditional new hires into similar roles.
Leadership Pipeline Readiness: Track the promotion rates of Flextirement participants into senior roles 3-5 years post-mentorship.

Talent Acquisition and Retention

The program creates an entirely new employment segment that is highly attractive to a skilled but constrained demographic. This strategy provides a competitive advantage in talent acquisition by accessing a deep, untapped talent pool of qualified professionals. Furthermore, by accommodating real-world schedule limitations, the model dramatically increases retention and engagement among part-time employees, leading to lower recruitment costs and preserving internal talent investment.

Actionable Metrics for HR Leaders:

Retention Rate of Part-Time Professionals: Compare the retention rate of Flextirement participants to the company average.
Source of Hire (SOH) Diversity: Track the percentage of internal high-potential employees retained or promoted via the Flextirement program.

Practical Considerations for Implementation

Successful roll-out requires careful attention to legal compliance and organizational culture. HR should approach this as a change management project, recognizing that the optimal structure may vary significantly between organizations.

Legal and Compensation Framework

To maintain fairness and reduce compliance risk, organizations should consider establishing clear guidelines for compensation. Best practices suggest that pay for both partners be clearly defined and equitable based on hours and scope. The Mentor’s pay, for instance, may be weighted slightly higher to reflect the value of specific institutional knowledge and the leadership sponsorship role.

Regarding benefits, clear policies should be established for part-time workers, ensuring compliance with all labor laws. Offering prorated benefits is a critical differentiator that successful programs often use to attract high-caliber part-time talent.

Cultural Integration and Management Training

The biggest obstacle to job-sharing is often managerial skepticism, particularly in organizations accustomed to high employee visibility. The program’s success relies heavily on training managers to lead a two-person team. Managers need to be coached to measure results and deliverables rather than just time spent at a desk.

Successful programs often establish a protocol for structured communication, such as mandatory, scheduled handoff meetings between the two partners to prevent information silos. Finally, the Boomer Mentor role should be recognized and valued as a high-status contribution, emphasizing their crucial role in developing the next generation of diverse leaders.

Engineering a Sustainable Future

The traditional full-time model is functionally exclusionary for the two segments of the workforce most critical to immediate stability and future continuity: the experienced veteran and the skilled caregiver.

Flextirement is a commitment made by organizations to prioritize talent and experience over rigid scheduling. We value loyalty more than arbitrary time commitments and are committed to creating a sustainable and equitable workforce. By connecting the retirement process with a focused talent re-engagement and leadership development initiative, organizations can address two of the most pressing talent challenges of the decade.

This approach shifts HR from being administrators of the status quo to architects of a flexible, equitable, and highly mentored future of work.

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Wage Theft Settlement: Luxury Car Wash Pays $1.2M

March 10, 2026 By Carol Warner

A California carwash has agreed to pay $1.2 million to resolve “widespread wage theft” and other labor law violations, according to the California Labor Commissioner’s Office (LCO).

The payout will reimburse 23 affected employees for unpaid wages.

State Investigators Uncover Wage Theft

Newport Auto Spa, Inc., d/b/a The Car Spa, is a luxury carwash in Newport Beach, California.

An investigation by the LCO’s Bureau of Field Enforcement found Newport Auto Spa denied full payment of wages, including overtime, to employees working as ticket writers, washers, dryers and detailers. The employees were also required to remain on-site without pay during slow business hours and routinely prevented from taking uninterrupted meal breaks and rest breaks in violation of California law.

Some affected employees had worked at Newport Auto Spa for up to 20 years and were “consistently underpaid and expected to work off the clock,” the LCO said in a press release.

Some long-tenured hourly workers avoid reporting wage theft out of loyalty. This allows violations to continue for years — and inflates back pay exposure (with possible interest and penalties) until state or federal agencies investigate.

“Employers who deny workers their full pay exploit their workforce and hurt honest businesses that follow the law,” said California Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower. “This settlement ensures these workers finally receive the wages they earned and sends a clear message that wage theft will not be tolerated.”

According to LCO, the 23 employees affected by this settlement will receive payments ranging from $8,500 to $92,800.

California’s one-hour premium pay per missed meal or rest break – on top of back wages – adds up fast for employers with operations elsewhere, where federal rules alone might suffice.

HR Insight: State Laws Raise the Bar

Federal wage and hour law sets only the minimum standard – the floor. Many states, including California, often impose stricter requirements that raise the bar for employers.

For example, California mandates a 30‑minute, uninterrupted meal break for employees who work more than five hours, and a second meal break after 10 hours. It also requires a paid, 10‑minute rest break for every four hours (or major fraction thereof) worked. Moreover, when employees are denied those protected breaks or asked to remain on duty during them, then those missed breaks must be paid as premium wages. Failing to do so can result in back pay and penalties, as this case shows.

HR Action Steps:

Regularly audit timekeeping and scheduling practices to identify missed break premiums or “off-the-clock” time before they become compliance liabilities.
Deploy a modern workforce management system to automate break tracking, overtime flagging, and state-specific rules (like California’s meal and rest mandates), with audit-ready reports that sync to payroll.

Article

Build a Strong Culture of Recognition | 2-Minute Video

March 10, 2026 By Michele McGovern

Here’s one thing that can never come too soon for employees in the workplace: recognition.

In fact, employees who aren’t recognized at work pretty much aren’t engaged at work. Specifically, they show about a 40-point drop in engagement scores compared with those who are regularly recognized, highlighting the steep engagement cost of silence, according to Awardco’s State of Recognition study.

What’s Up in This Episode: Boosting Recognition

In this episode of HRMorning’s 3-Point, our expert Laura Shanley, who is at the heart of the Center of Excellence at Awardco, focuses on building a culture of recognition in your workplace. She’ll explain why it’s essential to building stronger business outcomes and how you can do it effectively in any work environment – remote, hybrid or on-site.

Click, watch and listen for more on building a stronger culture of recognition.

Transcript (edited for clarity):

Laura Shanley, Center of Excellence, Awardco: “Sometimes companies will get stuck in this, you know, we’ve hit this big milestone or we hit this big project and then we’ll do a party, and then we’ll celebrate and recognize. But you know, I love the saying that you wouldn’t wait for the end of the game to cheer. So let’s cheer along the way, right?“

How can we build a culture of recognition if we only recognize at the end of the game? We can’t. That’s what we’re going to tackle in this episode of HRMorning’s 3-Point. Creating a workplace where recognition feels like the norm – so employees feel like they’re always appreciated. Why’s that important?

Shanley: “Employees who feel meaningfully recognized are 2.4 times more likely to report higher well-being.“

So what’s “higher well-being?” Shanley explained to me that it’s the intangibles that make people want to come into work: the connections with colleagues, the feeling that the company cares about them, the work that intrigues them.

Now, how can we make that kind of culture happen every day? Here’s one powerful tool.

Shanley: “In every meeting, we’re going to take the first two minutes, and we’re going to recognize something that has happened this week that is really positive, or we’re going to showcase, you know, Michele’s contribution to this project. If we do that at every single meeting, then people start to understand and feel that that’s what we do here. And so you’re building that culture of recognition.“

Now, here’s the good thing. Something like that works regardless of your work situation – remote, hybrid or in an office. It’s important to create this culture of recognition because it’s the foundation for a workplace where people thrive.

To do that:

Cheer along the way. Don’t wait for the project to end or to hit the milestone. Celebrate small wins. Reward good work along the way.
Recognize what’s positive. Spend some time at least weekly to showcase what’s working in your workplace.
Make it easier. Give employees the tools to recognize each other for their efforts. It could be an as simple as an internal app channel or an all-out awards program.

You can find more tips on creating a culture of recognition in the Practical Guide for Motivating Employees under the Blueprints section on HRMorning website.

Article

Workforce Management Software: A Guide to Smarter Scheduling

March 10, 2026 By Carol Warner

Every shift change begins in Operations – until it shows up as a payroll correction or a wage claim on HR’s desk. That’s the breaking point where spreadsheets and basic HRIS tools can’t keep pace with complex schedules, changing rates and location-specific rules.

Workforce management software moves scheduling and time tracking out of email and spreadsheets into an auditable system, giving HR documented records and labor totals without last-minute reconciliation. It might be right for you if your team deals with:

Frequent payroll corrections from schedule changes
Wage/hour disputes that lack documentation
Overtime explanations to finance without clear records, and
Multi-location compliance tracked in spreadsheets.

Here’s what workforce management software does – and how to approach selection and rollout.

What Workforce Management Software Does for HR

Workforce management software (WFM) puts scheduling, time tracking and approvals in one place, giving HR a clear record of who did what and when.

Core Scheduling and Labor Allocation

Uneven schedules create headaches. Supervisors deal with open shifts and uneven workloads, especially when coverage changes at the last minute. When overtime and preferred shifts aren’t assigned through a consistent process, employee complaints and formal grievances become more likely.

Workforce management software builds scheduling rules into the workflow. Skills, certifications and overtime thresholds are set in advance, so shift assignments follow defined criteria instead of informal decisions – lowering the risk of complaints over “unfair” scheduling.

Time and Attendance Tracking

Tracking hours is harder than it seems. Missed punches seem minor until payroll week arrives – a few forgotten clock-ins turn into manual edits that Payroll teams have to track down and correct, adding hours of rework at close. Organizations make an average of 15 corrections per payroll period, per Ernst & Young analysis.

When employees arrive late and the time isn’t recorded accurately, supervisors start adjusting punches after the fact. Without a clear record of why the change was made, HR has little to lean on when pay disputes or discipline questions come up.

With workforce management software, time punches are logged immediately and exceptions get flagged before payroll runs. Any edits require documentation and supervisor approval, which keeps last-minute corrections to a minimum and gives HR an auditable record when questions come up.

Operational and Financial Planning

Labor costs usually rise in small increments: an extra hour here, an unplanned overtime shift there, a schedule that doesn’t match demand.

Finance sees the labor overage at month-end and asks what drove it. Payroll can confirm the totals, but HR is often pulled in to explain the staffing decisions and overtime patterns behind the numbers.

In a workforce management system, the schedule and the actual hours worked sit in the same record. The overage ties back to specific shifts and approvals without HR reconstructing timelines from emails and spreadsheets.

WFM vs HRIS or Payroll Systems

What if your company already has an HRIS or a payroll solution? Do you really need to invest in yet another HR tech tool?

Not every business needs a full workforce management platform. Small teams without complex compliance requirements can often stick with spreadsheet scheduling. Similarly, salaried teams with predictable hours usually manage fine using HRIS or payroll time tracking alone.

Beyond those circumstances, a workforce management system complements your tech stack – but only if your needs go beyond what HRIS or payroll can handle. Start by understanding the core function of each system.

HRIS centralizes people data – jobs, pay rates, benefits, performance records, basic leave, and eligibility rules – across the employee life cycle.
Payroll software calculates gross-to-net pay and taxes, and generates paychecks based on the hours and pay rules it receives.
Workforce management software manages labor on the ground: scheduling, time and attendance, demand forecasting, coverage, overtime controls, and exceptions.

Put another way: HRIS and payroll answer “Who is this employee and what do we pay them?” Workforce management software answers “Who should be working right now, for how long, and under what rules?”

System	Core Focus	Handles	Doesn’t Handle Well
HRIS	Employee lifecycle data	Jobs, pay rates, benefits, basic leave	Real-time scheduling, shift trades, OT rules
Payroll	Pay processing	Gross-to-net calculations, taxes, paychecks	Shift building, coverage gaps, demand forecasting
WFM	Frontline labor operations	Scheduling, time/attendance, OT controls, exceptions	Full employee records, benefits administration

Workforce management software complements HRIS and payroll by managing labor in real time, then feeding the resulting hours and rules into your existing systems.

When Workforce Management Software Is Necessary

Workforce management software is especially important in shift-driven industries like retail, hospitality and manufacturing, where schedules constantly change and coverage needs frequent adjustment.

The challenge increases for multistate employers – compliance rules vary by location and role. Using a single system to consolidate schedules, rules and approvals keeps records accurate and coverage reliable.

The bottom line: If you’re handling frequent shift changes, multiple pay rates or location‑specific rules in spreadsheets, you’ve likely outgrown HRIS or payroll alone.

How Workforce Management Software Extends HRIS and Payroll

When integrated with HRIS and payroll, workforce management software connects daily operations with employee records. It closes the gap between hours worked and hours paid, ensuring every edit, approval and premium automatically flows into payroll.

Real-time updates keep job details and pay rules consistent, so HR spends less time fixing data and more time supporting teams.

Beyond the important issue of payroll accuracy, integration strengthens compliance. Overtime, break and scheduling rules are applied at the time of scheduling and time entry, reducing corrections before payroll runs. That produces cleaner records for audits and shortens payroll review cycles. Managers can forecast demand, control overtime and balance workloads across teams, keeping costs predictable and pay accurate.

Defensible Wage and Hour Records

Wage and hour compliance depends on defensible time records. When regulators or plaintiffs’ attorneys ask for proof, the answer has to come from the system, not from reconstructed spreadsheets.

A workforce management system creates that system‑of‑record. Strong documentation turns hourly time data into audit‑ready evidence, protecting HR during DOL audits or pay disputes.

Wage and Hour Enforcement

Meal period and overtime disputes usually turn on what your documentation shows. When time records fail to capture missed breaks or extra hours, it’s up to the employer to prove employees were paid correctly.

Penalties can add up quickly – often topping $1,000 per employee – especially when the same issue affects multiple employees. For example, a security services provider paid more than $1.1 million following a DOL investigation that found it wrongfully deducted meal break time for hundreds of employees.

Without consistent documentation, a single pay question can snowball into a broader enforcement action.

Attendance and Policy Enforcement

Attendance policies only work if they’re consistently applied. When call-outs or late arrivals aren’t tracked the same way each time, discipline starts to vary by manager.

That inconsistency opens the door to complaints of favoritism, discrimination or retaliation – and undermines the employer’s defense if discipline is challenged.

A workforce management system logs absences and related actions as they happen, so enforcement decisions can be tied to documented events instead of memory or informal notes.

Recordkeeping for Audits and Claims

Audits and employee disputes both test the same thing: whether the time record holds up under scrutiny. When attendance-based discipline is challenged or an audit request comes in, the key question is whether the punches match what managers relied on at the time.

A workforce management system keeps that link intact. Punches, edits and approvals stay tied to the original schedule and decision path, so HR can point to a system record instead of piecing the story together from emails or supervisor memory.

What to Look For in Workforce Management Software

Workforce management tools vary in how they handle scheduling, time tracking and compliance. The right tool reduces manual work for HR and Payroll teams by keeping schedules and time records aligned.

Payroll Integration Quality

When timecard edits, shift differentials or premiums don’t transfer correctly from the workforce management system into payroll, discrepancies appear in the pay records. Edited punches can post partially or in the wrong order, requiring HR or Payroll staff to correct them at close.

For example, an employee’s overtime premium might be calculated correctly in the workforce management system but fail to carry over to payroll. HR only notices the shortfall after paychecks are issued, forcing a manual correction and an off-cycle adjustment. That’s why integration is important. Reliable connections between workforce management and payroll reduce corrections and keep schedules and pay rules consistent.

Scheduling Engine Performance

When a scheduling engine in a workforce management system doesn’t reliably match employees with the right qualifications to required shifts, coverage breaks down. Supervisors must step in to correct assignments, often reviewing conflicts and overlaps before the schedule can be finalized. Delayed corrections can drive overtime and disrupt staffing balance.

Imagine a nurse with the necessary certifications being left off a critical shift because the system can’t handle multiple scheduling requirements at once. Fixing that error can extend hours for other employees and strain compliance with scheduling policies. A system that checks skills and staffing needs in real time minimizes manual changes and helps maintain fair, consistent coverage.

Mobile Experience for Hourly Teams

In a warehouse, a shift trade can sit unapproved until the day of the shift, leaving supervisors scrambling to reshuffle assignments and extend other employees’ hours. Situations like this happen when the mobile experience isn’t smooth – clunky interfaces make it easy for hourly workers to miss shifts or forget to update their availability.

Delayed requests and updates leave supervisors with incomplete information, stalled time-off approvals, and last-minute shift trades. Mobile tools that support quick, real-time updates help employees stay aligned and keep schedules running predictably.

Workforce Analytics HR Can Use

HR teams can’t act on what they can’t see. Without flexible reporting, HR can spend hours piecing together time, attendance and scheduling data. Patterns in absences, turnover or labor costs stay hidden until they become problems, and unexplained variances between departments can catch leadership off guard.

That’s exactly what happens when a payroll analyst is asked to explain a spike in overtime. Without a dashboard, they must manually merge time, attendance, scheduling and payroll records – a process prone to delay and error.

Systems with real-time dashboards, labor forecasting and customizable reports let HR spot trends, collaborate with finance and operations, and then outline where action is needed.

Choosing a Reliable WFM Partner

Even the most powerful workforce management system fails if the vendor doesn’t back it up. Reliability – support, service‑level follow‑through, and clear implementation guidance – matters as much as features.

Vendor Dependability

Slow vendor responses during payroll week can hold up corrections and stretch out the payroll close. When problems aren’t fixed quickly, supervisors end up keeping schedules open or falling back on manual workarounds, leaving HR to clean up the mess later. If implementation support is weak, HR and Payroll end up running parallel systems longer than expected, which makes mismatched time and pay data more likely.

Even a single missing punch during payroll close can mean HR and Payroll teams are tracking hours across systems while supervisors handle extra approvals on top of everything else.

Want a partner that resolves issues before they disrupt schedules and payroll? Look for vendors that provide clear service levels, dedicated implementation reps, and payroll-week escalation paths.

Applying Weighted Criteria to Vendor Demos

When evaluating vendor demos, focus on the features that matter most. Score each area of the workforce management system on a 1-to-10 scale, then weigh the scores so the capabilities that are most critical carry the most influence:

Payroll integration (40%) – Every timecard edit posts correctly, and premiums calculate consistently across shifts.
Scheduling engine (30%) – Matches employee skills to shifts while respecting overtime limits, reducing last-minute manual adjustments.
Vendor support (20%) – Response times meet payroll-week service agreements, and implementation follows a firm timeline.
Reporting and mobile experience (10%) – Solves top operational pain points, not just impresses in a demo.

Multiply each score by its weight and combine them to get an overall total. This approach provides a clear picture of how systems perform in the areas that matter most and makes it easier to justify each investment to leadership.

Planning a Practical WFM Rollout

A workforce management system only works if people actually use it. HR gains nothing if supervisors skip it or employees bypass it. To make a new WFM program stick, pilot first, train consistently, build adoption, then scale.

Pilot First, Then Scale

Start small. Full deployments can overwhelm supervisors while workflows are still settling. Departments run into repeated issues, and HR spends time correcting basic rule conflicts. Without a contained test group, early problems can go unnoticed until they affect the wider organization.

Begin with a single site or team. Supervisors learn the new system under real conditions, as issues involving overtime triggers, shift conflicts or mobile approvals appear. Fix them before expanding the program so HR can manage the process instead of reacting to problems. That way, HR can document best practices and reuse them instead of reinventing workflows at each site.

Supervisor Training and Accountability

Effective training ensures supervisors know exactly how to handle timecard approvals, exceptions and escalation paths. When supervisors receive thorough training, rules are applied the same way across teams – you don’t have one supervisor flagging overtime one way while another bypasses review.

Supervisors stay accountable through selected weekly reports – for example, the percentage of timecards approved on time.

With solid training in place, HR and Payroll teams spend less time correcting errors and more time supporting the system and the teams using it.

Communication and Change Management

One manager approves overtime without checking exceptions, another waits until the last minute to review timecards, and suddenly, the system’s data isn’t reliable.

Effective change management is key here. Clear instructions help supervisors learn to navigate the system, review punches, handle exceptions and confirm approvals. Regular updates and training keep everyone aligned so the system works as intended.

Workforce Management Software FAQs

HR teams evaluating workforce management software want straightforward answers to questions about cost, implementation time, compliance and ROI.

How much does workforce management software typically cost for hourly teams?

Pricing depends on team size, features, vendor and model, but here’s a typical range:

Entry-level plans. Simple scheduling and time tracking start at a few dollars per employee per month.
Mid-market solutions. Scheduling, time and attendance, and basic analytics run $5–$15 per employee per month.
Enterprise platforms. Advanced forecasting, compliance, multi-location support and payroll integration can exceed $15–$25 per employee per month or come as annual licensing deals.

Additional factors include implementation fees, optional modules and support-level guarantees. Pricing models vary – per employee, flat monthly or tiered – so request quotes based on headcount, required features and service expectations.

Many vendors require minimum monthly fees or annual commitments, so include contract length and implementation costs in your comparisons.

How long does a typical WFM implementation take for HR teams?

Implementation timelines vary by team size, system complexity and integrations. Here’s a practical guide:

Small teams (under 100 employees): Six to 12 weeks for a basic setup with standard payroll and scheduling rules.
Mid-sized hourly teams (100-500 employees): Three to six months from contract to full rollout, including pilot testing and supervisor training.
Enterprise or multi-site teams (more than 500 employees): Nine to 12 months for complex integrations, multiple locations and custom pay rules.

Typical phase breakdown:

Weeks 1-4: Discovery, data migration, and configuration.
Month 2: Pilot with one team or location.
Months 3-4: Supervisor training and full rollout.
Months 5-6: Optimization and go-live.

As a rule of thumb, plan for a three‑ to six‑month journey from contract to full adoption, with the heaviest lift during configuration and supervisor training. Delays often come from underestimated data cleanup, unclear workflows or late supervisor engagement. Budget roughly 20 hours per week during peak phases to support configuration, training and testing.

Does WFM software handle state-specific labor laws like meal breaks?

Most workforce management software handles the basics automatically – meal breaks, overtime limits and shift rules by state. You can set rules by location, role or employee type, so schedules mostly comply without manual overrides.

The system will flag violations before schedules are finalized and prevent noncompliant assignments. Overtime calculations adjust based on local law, which cuts down on corrections after payroll runs.

That said, don’t assume the software does everything, especially if you operate across multiple states. Check how updates to labor laws are applied and how much setup or tweaking is needed. Even with alerts and rules, HR still needs to review local regulations and confirm the system’s settings. Think of the software as a safety net – it helps enforce compliance but doesn’t replace judgment or oversight.

Can small teams under 50 employees benefit from WFM without overkill?

Yes, when the system matches the size of the workforce. For small hourly teams, workforce management software can remove manual scheduling, time tracking, and approval work without adding unnecessary complexity. If your manager is spending hours each week on shift swaps, texts and spreadsheet updates, even a lightweight WFM tool can pay off quickly.

The biggest gains come from core functions. Employee self-service for shift swaps and PTO reduces manager involvement. Mobile access speeds approvals. Basic compliance alerts provide guardrails without heavy configuration. These features deliver value quickly and keep daily workflows simple.

Overkill shows up when small teams adopt enterprise features they won’t use. To reduce costs, focus on ease of setup, usability for supervisors and employees, and clean payroll data. Systems that scale gradually allow small teams to add capabilities only as complexity grows.

How do you measure WFM ROI after launch?

In the first 30–90 days, focus on quick wins – reduce scheduling time, cut payroll errors, and increase self-service adoption for shift swaps and PTO. By three to six months, watch how overtime and compliance automation improve.

After six months, focus on what really matters: hours saved for HR and supervisors, faster payroll cycles and accurate shift coverage. Time and error reductions often tell the story more clearly than dollars alone. Dashboards make it easy to show stakeholders the impact, and small teams usually see the difference first in reduced administrative work.

Examples: time spent on scheduling, number of payroll corrections per cycle, overtime hours as a percentage of total hours and percentage of timecards approved on time.

Article

6 Huge Employee Egos in the Workplace and How to Handle Them

March 9, 2026 By Michele McGovern

As a manager, it can be difficult to mold competing personalities into a cohesive team — especially if your team is riddled with some employee egos.

Unfortunately, in today’s workplace, many people can’t leave their egos at the door (or behind the Zoom screen).

Instead, they bring it to work and take everyone on their ego trips with them.

Put Employee Egos on the Shelf

The best way to handle huge employee egos? Know them, what’s behind them and what to expect.

It helps to have a road map, even for ego trips. Here’s a primer on some you’ll encounter and what to do:

1. The Criticism Dodger

They say: “Are You Saying I’m WRONG?“

They react poorly to constructive feedback due to their inflated egos. They just can’t imagine they’ve made a mistake. You get the puzzled facial reaction, followed by a barrage of excuses and deflections worthy of a politician.

But you’re the manager, so you get paid to give feedback when needed.

These employees respond best when you frame their mistake or offense as something that might have been unintentional and even may have seemed to make sense. No one likes to be told they made a stupid decision, least of all these employees.

Try: “I don’t blame you for thinking that was the right move, but you might not have had all the information you needed to make a better choice.“

2. The Easily Offended

They say: “I’m outraged!“

There doesn’t seem to be anything that won’t tick off these hyper-egoists. It could be even the smallest of infractions, like being gently interrupted during a meeting, or finding their usual seat in the break room taken by someone else.

Instead of just shrugging it off, these folks give it their all — a full-throated denunciation of whatever is offending them (at the moment).

There’s no use telling these people to calm down. It’s not their nature.

The best approach is to present the silver-lining side of things when you can. Give the person an it’s-not-as-bad-as-it-looks option, or anything that defuses their angst. This also telegraphs that you’re not going to stoop to their level.

Try: “What you’re saying sounds bad; is there anything I could help you with?

3. The Above-It-All Superior

They say: “Do they think I care?“

Their ego tells them to exert control over things they can’t (such as being criticized) by acting as if it doesn’t touch them.

Shrugging off suggestions or constructive feedback gives them the ability to act as if the criticism wasn’t warranted in the first place.

This it-doesn’t-have-an-effect-on-me approach masks insecurity and maybe even fear that they can’t make the situation right, or that giving in to criticism will make them look inferior.

Your first reaction might be to try to make them care, maybe by subtle threats about punishment or job loss. But you’re better off recognizing this for the ego trip it usually is.

So, it pays to invoke a sense of perspective when delivering critiques.

Try: “It might seem like a small issue to you, but I feel you can improve on (X task) and I’d like to see you try harder.“

4. The Petty Backstabber

They say: “We’ll see about THAT!“

No one is safe when these egos stalk the workplace. Even the most innocuous slight gets them in high dudgeon, focused on retribution at all costs, and the sneakier, the better.

Managers who try to cope with employee sabotage sometimes end up in the middle of the fray unintentionally.

Take a firm stand that team back-biting won’t be tolerated.

Try: “I know you have your disagreements with ______, and I’m not asking you to be friends. But I expect you to work together regardless.

5. The Self-Promoter

They say: “Maybe I should really be the boss!’

It’s one thing for an employee to show interest in becoming a leader and rising through the ranks. It’s entirely another for an employee constantly usurping your authority and undermining your position, all under the egotistical guise of being an eager beaver.

It shows up in small ways, like when you’re due to submit a regular department report but find that your underling took the initiative and did it for you.

Good managers know the difference between the two behaviors, but you still might be stuck dealing with an employee’s delusions of grandeur.

You want to steer their ego trip into constructive waters, not by squashing their efforts entirely, but by channeling them.

Try: “You seem to be really interested in how I run the budget; I’ll let you know how you can contribute when the next one is due.“

6. The Overall Expert

They say: “I know exactly how to do this!”

Nothing wrong with tooting your own horn, but this ego-tripper does it for everything. After a while, he gets so annoying that it draws the disdain of other employees.

Employees can try to inflate themselves this way if they feel inferior to the others in the group for some reason. So, you want to stop this ego trip in its tracks.

Curb the control-freak tendencies by making sure everyone on your team is treated with equal consideration. Let the employee tackle the things he or she is truly good at — and duly praise them for a good job. But make it known they won’t necessarily be tapped for every project or task.

Try: “I know you’ve come up with good solutions in the past, but I’m going to put the decision to a group vote.“

Article

How AI Created the ‘Entry-Level Squeeze’ and 3 Solutions to This Talent Crisis

March 6, 2026 By Michele McGovern

AI has delivered a myriad of solutions to the workplace. And a handful of risks.

The newest: The “entry-level squeeze.”

Many organizations have cut back on early career positions, relying on artificial intelligence to fulfill the duties or take over the tasks that employees once handled.

Even though organizational leaders have chosen to eliminate some roles, 76% of HR pros believe it will lead to a significant reduction in hiring, creating this entry-level squeeze, according to Avature’s AI Impact Report.

“It’s not a short-term fluctuation. It’s structural,” says Dimitri Boylan, CEO and founder of Avature. “As AI absorbs routine, task-based work, companies are naturally reducing the volume of early-career positions. That part is predictable. What’s less predictable is whether they’ve replaced the developmental pathway those roles once provided.”

AI Ambition Outpaces Execution

Everyone is excited to use and maximize AI in the workplace. But excitement doesn’t usually create the best execution.

“AI didn’t create the entry-level squeeze,” says Boylan. “It accelerated it.”

What’s happened now, many organizations have gotten ahead of themselves: “Our research shows a clear gap between AI ambition and AI execution, where most organizations are experimenting but very few are embedding AI into a coherent workforce strategy. The result is predictable: routine work disappears faster than developmental pathways are rebuilt. Over time, that hollows out the early-career pipeline,” Boylan explains.

Entry-Level Squeeze Now, Problems Later?

Companies that have slowed the entry-level hiring now might not feel the squeeze yet. Young employees likely will, though. We know starter jobs are essential to skill development—both soft and technical skills. Naturally, tomorrow’s leaders gain wisdom and experience on the front line.

“Entry-level jobs weren’t just about output. They were apprenticeship layers. They built context, judgment, and operating discipline. If organizations eliminate that layer without rethinking how capability is built, they risk weakening their future leadership pipeline,” says Boylan.

And while that seems like a practical thing to do now, it potentially leaves a hole down the line: Companies won’t have capable employees to step into leadership roles.

But that’s not the only risk.

Expected Increased Costs

HR pros believe there will be hidden costs, too. Specifically:

30% foresee problems with the future leadership pipeline
15% anticipate increased cost because of an over-reliance on experienced hires, and
11% foresee a loss of institutional knowledge transfer.

“When organizations hollow out their early-career layer, they may gain efficiency in the short term — but they also weaken the foundation of future leadership,” the Avature researchers noted. “If entry-level hiring declines broadly across the market, the impact compounds, with companies relying more heavily on external hires from a shrinking talent pool at increased cost to the business.”

Recent College Grads Feel the Squeeze

Recent college grads make up the bulk of entry-level employees in corporate environments. And the numbers speak volumes about the squeeze. Nearly 6% of that population — roughly those aged 22-27 — are unemployed, and 43% are underemployed. That’s at its highest level since 2020, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Cameron Hilliard, a 2025 West Virginia University graduate with a degree in criminology, is one of the underemployed. She’s struggled to find a full-time job in her field.

“It seems like some of the basic roles people would normally start in are being automated, so it can make it feel harder to get your foot in the door,” Hilliard says.

Hilliard, like many recent college grads, has kept the part-time waitressing job she’s had since high school. She also works part-time professionally at her family’s industrial technology business. But it’s outside of her college degree.

“In some cases, it honestly feels like positions are being replaced with AI, and then entry-level applicants are expected to come in with more experience right away, but aren’t really given the opportunity to gain that experience,” Hilliard says. “The job market is already tough for entry-level candidates, and I think AI has just made it even more competitive and difficult for us.”

Finding a Place for New Hires

Boylan, the Avature CEO, has some promising news for the WVU grad and others like her: “There will always be first jobs. The question is what those jobs are designed to build. As AI absorbs repetitive execution, junior employees will be hired less for processing tasks and more for developing judgment, interpreting context, building relationships and understanding how the business creates value.

“In that model, AI is a tool they operate with, not a competitor they’re replaced by. The companies that navigate this well will redesign entry-level roles intentionally, ensuring they remain developmental, not accidental casualties of efficiency.”

Protect Your Leadership Pipeline

Whether you’ve slowed your early-career hiring, you face an entry-level squeeze or you just want to ensure you maintain a strong leadership pipeline, here are tips to help:

1. Redesign Entry-Level Roles

The Avature researches suggest redesigning entry-level roles for an AI-first workplace. Help them come in for the workplace you want to become. As AI picks up routine tasks and execution, have entry-level employees pick up tasks that build judgment, such as supervising AI outputs, performing quality control, rotating across functions and gaining exposure to decision-making inputs.

You might want to collaborate with universities and other education partners in your community to shape AI fluency before talent comes to you.

2. Forget Linear Career Paths

Entry-level roles anchored linear career paths from that clear starting point through traditional skill and leadership development. Not so much anymore.

HR leaders will need to think about more dynamic approaches to workforce and skills planning, the Avature researchers say. You’ll want to try models that allow for shifting career paths, anticipate emerging capability gaps, and continuously align hiring, development and mobility decisions.

Boylan adds, “That means accelerating business literacy earlier through structured rotations, cross-functional exposure and real accountability for outcomes.”

3. Be Deliberate

Leadership development won’t come as naturally in an AI-driven workplace. Most employees will be task-oriented, relying more on AI, and will be less likely to take the lead.

“Leadership development has always been about exposure and judgment, not just task accumulation. In the past, entry-level roles naturally created that exposure,” says Boylan. “Today, as automation absorbs routine work, development has to be designed more deliberately.”

So it might be time to develop leadership training. You don’t have to force entry-level employees to take it. Some will always be happy in their AI-fueled world. But many will be eager to become leaders.

New

DOL Finds Wage and Hour Violations: Pizza Company Pays $409K

March 4, 2026 By Carol Warner

A Little Caesars franchisee will pay $409,457 for federal wage and hour violations, the Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced.

The case shows how payroll mistakes can turn into expensive liabilities when overtime calculations and recordkeeping controls fall short.

Wage and Hour Violations Trigger Six-Figure Settlement

According to an investigation by the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, franchise operator MG Fast Food Inc. violated minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Federal investigators found that 32 workers at a Little Caesars in Redwood City, CA, were not properly paid. Specifically, the employer:

Paid straight time to employees who worked more than 40 hours in a workweek instead of overtime premiums, and
Failed to compensate some employees for all hours worked, resulting in minimum wage violations.

Further, the investigation also determined that the employer failed to keep accurate payroll records in violation of FLSA recordkeeping procedures. Discrepancies between timesheet totals and payroll records affected overtime calculations, according to DOL.

Under the settlement agreement, the company will pay $409,457 in back wages to 32 affected workers – an average of nearly $12,800 per employee.

“All workers must be paid for every hour they work, including overtime premiums when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek,” said Michael Eastwood, Wage and Hour Division Acting District Director in San Jose, California.

This is not the first enforcement action involving the brand. In 2022, the DOL investigated seven Little Caesars locations in Tennessee. Investigators found minimum wage and overtime violations, as well as violations of child labor law. The agency recovered $1,625 in back wages for 21 workers and assessed a $161,050 civil penalty for the child labor violations.

More recently, in January 2025, the DOL cited a Little Caesars franchisee in Farmington Hills, MI, for violating child labor provisions of the FLSA. Investigators found that a minor under 16 operated a pizza oven and dough mixer and that three 15-year-olds worked past 7 p.m. on school nights. The agency assessed $26,341 in civil penalties.

HR Takeaways

For HR leaders, this settlement is a reminder that wage and hour compliance starts with the basics. Employers must ensure employees are paid for every hour worked, that overtime premiums are calculated correctly, and that payroll records accurately reflect time worked. When those fundamentals break down, investigations and liability often follow.

Track and pay for all hours worked. In this case, inconsistent timekeeping led to unpaid hours (minimum wage violations) and straight-time overtime pay (OT shortfalls) for 32 workers.
Pay overtime correctly. That’s at time and a half for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Paying straight time instead of time and a half violates the FLSA.
Ensure payroll records match time records. Discrepancies can trigger violations and complicate overtime calculations.
Avoid repeat violations. They indicate systemic gaps. The DOL probed this franchisee for overtime and minimum wage issues, and prior cases at other locations revealed similar wage and child labor violations.

Article

5 Cool Ways to Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day

March 2, 2026 By Steve Sonnenberg, HR Expert Contributor

Employee Appreciation Day is March 6th this year, and it’s one of the best opportunities to convey value, support and recognition to the people who fuel your business’s success.

Now is the perfect time to plan a unique, fun and meaningful celebration for employees.

The Impact of Appreciation for Employees

When employees feel that their work is noticed, appreciated and recognized, they react in many positive ways. Here are some of the benefits you can expect to see:

31% lower voluntary turnover
14% increased productivity and performance
43% better employee engagement
3x greater employee loyalty to the company, and
56% decrease in the likelihood that employees will look for a new job.

While these benefits are amazing, leaders shouldn’t only concern themselves with the measurable ROI that affects their bottom lines. Appreciation at work makes employees happier, helps them feel more motivated, keeps them satisfied, and can lower stress and anxiety—not to mention that new research shows happier employees are 13% more productive!

Here’s the kicker, though: 75% of employees wish they were more appreciated, and 50% feel that they’re undervalued.

Employees give a lot of time and effort to their work every day, and a paycheck plus an occasional service award isn’t enough to convey adequate appreciation. An annual Employee Appreciation Day celebration is a great place to start improving your recognition strategy to take advantage of these benefits.

Ways to Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day

The most important thing about Employee Appreciation Day is showing employees how much you care. The actual activities, rewards or gifts aren’t as important as the feelings of value you spread during that day and throughout the year.

However, the day itself can be extremely impactful when done right. Here are some ideas to help inspire your own Employee Appreciation Day celebrations.

1. Give Extra PTO

Let’s start off simple. Everyone will appreciate getting an extra day off, and what better day to provide that than Employee Appreciation Day? This works for every business of every size, whether employees are remote or in-person.

Better yet, let every employee choose a day they want to take off in the month of March to really give them the freedom to enjoy the day when it’s best for them. A floating holiday gives employees more freedom and shows you care about their lives and schedules.

2. Empower Employee Professional Development

Everyone has skills they’d like to learn, work they’d like to get better at, or hobbies they want to try. To help your employees live a more fulfilling life, both professionally and personally, provide the time and resources each employee needs to work on themselves.

This could include paying for online courses, covering a subscription fee, reimbursing part or all of school tuition, setting up mentoring opportunities, and anything else employees may be interested in.

3. Plan Week-Long Activities

One Awardco client stretches Employee Appreciation Day into a full Employee Appreciation Week each year, with activities, games, contests and fun incentives to reinforce their core values. It’s like a spirit week but more focused on celebrating their people, and their employees love it!

Think about ways to fill the first week in March with activities that show appreciation to your employees. Games, free food, raffles or opportunities to win cash or points on your recognition platform are great places to start.

4. Mitigate Small Expenses

Recognize the many things that are on every employee’s plate by helping your people get things done, such as:

Free in-office haircuts
Free massage
Mobile oil change service
Grocery stipend, and
Gas cards for everyone.

Everyone has things in life that are necessary but annoying. Take some stress off your employees’ shoulders by helping them take care of these things. And if some of these perks are really popular, you could even consider making them permanent benefits.

5. Surprise Everyone With a Care Package

Imagine getting home from a long day of work to see a package full of goodies on your door. Talk about feeling appreciated. Here are some ideas:

Company swag box. Send out some high-quality branded items for employees to enjoy. Bonus points if, before you assemble the boxes, you survey your employees to find out the items they’d actually enjoy, and then customize each box to fit each person.
Spa in a box. Create a box full of home wellness items, such as essential oils, a massage gun, a coupon to a local massage clinic, scented candles and other related items. If you’re sending this to everyone, find items that will be exciting for both men and women.
Experiential box. Include tickets to local or national experiences, such as a concert, a book signing, a National Park entry, a theme park or something similar.
Interest-specific box. Survey your people to find out what they’re interested in (reading, video games, sports, outdoors, etc.). Then, create boxes that fit these interests and hobbies.

The theme of this idea is that you need to find out what your people will appreciate. That will increase employee excitement and feelings of value exponentially (compared to a cookie-cutter box full of unwanted items).

Celebrate Your Employees Every March

Many employees feel a little down and forgotten after the high of the holidays. Employee Appreciation Day is the perfect way to keep everyone’s spirits up, spread a culture of recognition, and get the ROI you want to see throughout the year.

At Awardco, we help businesses develop, implement, and run recognition programs, incentives, and more, all while offering millions of reward options.