HR's Guide to End of the Year Planning

The end of the year is just a handful of weeks away, leaving your HR department short on time to accomplish all the tasks that need to be done in preparation for 2020. To help you out, we've put together a handy checklist to make it easy for you to stay and ready your department and the rest of your company for the new year.

10 HR Planning Reminders for the End of the Year

1. Send Reminders for Annual Performance Reviews

Managers need to check-in with employees far more often than annually, but an annual performance review gives them the opportunity to set goals for the new year. Send reminders to managers to have them completed before the year is out. Performance management software can automate this task by sending emails and making the review available online.

2. Update Succession Plans

Once you have your employees' reviews and goals you can see who is still on their career path and who can possibly step up. Succession planning software allows you to review performance and compare it with scorecards so you can easily see what training options you should be implementing in 2020.

3. Confirm Anti-Harassment Training Has Been Completed

Anti-harassment training helps promote acceptance, security and diversity, creating a stronger, more engaged workforce. A learning management system makes it easy as it comes pre-loaded with sexual harassment training and cyber-security courses or you can upload your own.

4. Get Affordable Care Act Reporting Documents Ready

It's time to let the IRS know that your employees have the minimum essential insurance coverage. ACA Compliance software uses your existing data to analyze employees, their benefits, compensation and demographics to produce and send all 1094 and 1095 reporting to employees at the IRS. Even easier, employees can review their ACA plans within the system and print off 1095-C forms as needed.

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5. Get Ready for the Final Payroll

Go over and check employees' compensation, verifying any changes due to raises, bonuses or promotions. Make sure the changes are made in pay stubs along with tax documents changes to company records. Payroll software allows you to process multiple EINs, paystubs and other reports.

6. Confirm the New Payroll Schedule

Along with readying the final payroll, set and confirm the new payroll schedule so employees' checks don't miss a beat. A digital payroll system helps avoid inaccuracies and late ax payments while freeing up your time for other things, like strategy.

7. Remind Employees to Update Information

A lot can happen in a year, remind employees to update their information if they've moved, changed banks or if their tax status has changed because of marriage, divorce or having a baby. An online HR solution puts this task directly into your employees' hands.

8. Determine the 2020 Holiday Schedule

Look ahead at the year to see which holidays your company will observe and on what days. Plan out the short working days for holiday eves, summer vacations and any company meetings so your employees can plan their PTO accordingly. Core HR Software allows employees to ask for days off and have their managers approve it all online.

9. Remind Employees to Use Vacation Days and Flex Accounts

Not only will it be easier to balance remaining PTO, but your employees can use the recharge of a day off during one of the busiest, most stressful times of the year.

10. Review Your Partner Contracts

It takes a lot of work to run your department, keep all the employees happy and your company compliant. Partners that help take the load off your shoulders, instead of making more work, are essential for a productive year.

BirdDogHR's Integrated Talent Management System allows you to oversee all your HR processes with one solution. Better yet, each module works together and integrates seamlessly into your current systems.