Is Your HR Department Ready for 2020? A Year-End Checklist

With each new year comes fresh, exciting and sometimes daunting challenges for your business. 2018 brought us the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – and for those in human capital management, the end of the tax-free moving expense reimbursements and questions about tax differences on paychecks. 2019 introduced the use of the highly anticipated, and very different, 2020 W-4. Moving forward, Generation Z will be more present in the workplace, with shifting priorities centering on leadership and positive relationships. Amidst these changes and new regulations, business leaders must rethink the management of their greatest assets: employees.

As 2019 winds to a close, it’s an opportune time to make some headway with your end-of-year HR to-do list and your goals for the future. Below, you’ll find 10 questions to consider as you position your organization for success in 2020.

Payroll & Tax Reporting

1. Have you gathered a list of all of the gift cards, cash, travel advances without receipts, personal credit card charges and charges without receipts (on the corporate credit card), gifts to employees for birthdays, weddings, births, etc. to be added to employees’ wages for 2019 W-2s?
2. Are you confident in your business’ compliance with wage and hour laws in reference to overtime, on-call compensation, travel time, discretionary and non-discretionary bonuses, attendance bonuses, gift card taxation, etc.?
3. Have you performed an I-9 audit this year?
4. Have you prepared a year-end communication for employees to help navigate, with resources, the new 2020 W-4 and their 2019 W-2?
5. Have you eliminated the need to perform any part of your accounting, payroll or human resources tasks manually (for example, on a spreadsheet)?

Department Functions & Company Culture

6. Has your management team reviewed your Employee Handbook within the last three years?
7. Have you recently validated that job descriptions match the tasks performed?
8. Are your employee performance reviews linked to the goals, values and mission of your organization?
9. Do you have a solid total compensation package (retirement plan, health benefits, flexible schedules, paid time off,
   etc.) to make you a competitor in the staffing market?
10. Are you spending more time on your business building revenue and strategic planning and less time in your business paying bills, making deposits, sending vendor invoices, etc.?

If you answered “No” to any of these questions, contact RKL today. Our team of experts can help devise solutions to guide your business’s human capital management function through the challenges and triumphs that a new year will bring.