New Year Human Resources Housekeeping

As we flip the calendar from 2023 to 2024, here are a few areas where your human resources professional may want to take action in January so that the New Year begins as smoothly as possible.

• Employees should be asked if they might have forgotten to make any changes to their W-4 to reflect life events like marital status changes or the birth of a child. It is never fun to start the year by learning that your withholding was messed up and you owe money. Being proactive rather than reactive in this scenario is a benefit to all involved. 
• In cities with DOT-regulated employees, like CDL drivers, an annual query must be conducted of all DOT employees. This annual query requirement is tracked on a rolling 12-month basis from the date of the last query of that employee. For example, a Jan. 15, 2023, query would make the 2024 deadline Jan. 15, 2024. 
• Conduct a driver’s license background check if your personnel policy requires one on all employees who drive city vehicles or their own vehicle on city business.
• If you offer an employee assistance program, please share the contact information with your employees so they can access this service. 
• If you have January open enrollment, please provide any benefit changes to your employees.
• If you annually review job descriptions, please provide current job descriptions to supervisors so they can share the job descriptions with the employees performing the job to check the accuracy of the description against the current job requirements. 
• If yours is one of the cities that is increasingly migrating to continuous coaching away from an annual performance review, remind your supervisors to set a time with their subordinates to discuss city, department, and personal goals for 2024. This would also be the time to create a plan of action to address any individual performance issues.

We are mindful that human resources can seem very daunting solely based on the sheer amount of oversight and administration required. As we progress through 2024, the KLC Municipal Law Department will follow this article with monthly reminders regarding HR areas that are ripe for addressing.

If you have any questions, please contact Personnel Services Managing Attorney Chris Johnson.