The more than 7 million construction workers in the U.S. have, deservedly so, been declared essential workers amid the coronavirus pandemic. Construction workers are so essential, in fact, that they’re in line for the third phase of the nationwide coronavirus vaccine rollout.
Protection of construction workers and other essential workers goes beyond vaccinations, though. From payroll to benefits, frontline heroes like construction workers shouldn’t have to worry about tedious administrative tasks related to pay and benefits. A technology solution that enables flexibility can help construction workers not only manage their own pay and benefits, but will also allow employers to track and organize information in an effort to avoid workplace chaos.
Here are several ways technology can help construction employers be less concerned with the mechanics of their pay and benefits and more concerned with the mechanics of their frontline jobs.
Sick leave and disability
A robust technology platform can help employers and employees stay on top of sick leave and disability benefits. Monitoring these benefits is especially tricky these days.
As of January 1, 2021, employers must no longer provide two weeks of paid sick leave for workers who have come down with COVID-19, or two weeks of paid sick leave for workers tending to a quarantined relative. Another pandemic-era benefit that has been erased is 10 weeks of paid family leave to care for a child whose school or daycare center has been closed because of the pandemic. Only private businesses with fewer than 500 employees have to adhere to those mandates.
Of course, many employers still offer sick leave as a benefit. Three-fourths of Americans who work for private businesses can take advantage of sick leave. That’s 86% of full-time workers and 45% of part-time workers. Furthermore, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act may permit as much as 12 weeks of unpaid medical leave for a worker who has COVID-19 or is caring for a relative who has COVID-19.
Additionally, employer-sponsored disability insurance—which is mandated in most states—may offer COVID-19 benefits. Short-term disability coverage may take effect if a medical quarantine keeps an employer away from work. COVID-19 survivors who experience lingering symptoms may qualify for long-term disability coverage. Meanwhile, an employee must be unable to work for at least 90 days until they can qualify for long-term disability insurance.
All of the rules and regulations about sick leave and disability can make your head spin. But the right technology can ease the pain for employers and employees alike. Among other things, a robust technology platform can help:
- manage short-term or long-term disability insurance and other benefits;
- modify pay for employers who are taking advantage of sick leave or disability benefits;
- monitor and safely store workers’ data; and
- obey state and local protocols. Twelve states, the District of Columbia, and 22 cities and counties allow eligible employees to take paid leave if they or their relatives are sick. Because of the pandemic, some state and local officials have enacted laws providing emergency paid sick leave to certain employees.
Benefits
The value of health insurance and other workplace benefits can’t be understated. A 2018 survey by the American Institute of CPAs found 80% of employed Americans would pick a job with benefits over an identical job that offered 30% more salary but no benefits.
The coronavirus pandemic has only underscored the importance of health insurance and other benefits. In a 2020 survey by Prudential Financial, 77% of American workers said benefits make up a key part of their compensation, up from 67% a year earlier. And 73% of workers said benefits would be a major reason to remain in a job, up from 59% a year earlier.
For employers and employees alike, it can be frustrating and time-consuming to sort out and manage workplace benefits. However, the right technology solution can simplify matters when it comes to benefits. With a full-fledged platform, an employer can easily juggle benefits like health insurance, health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts, while an employee can enjoy a one-stop shop for checking and managing their benefits.
Given the fact that workplace benefits are such a cornerstone of hiring and retaining workers, employers would be well advised to invest in technology that helps them almost effortlessly administer those benefits.
Pay
While pay is certainly not be the primary driver of satisfaction for every construction worker, no one wants to work for free. After all, most everyone has bills to pay particularly when the number one way employees were negatively impacted by COVID-19 was their pay being cut according to iSolved’s December 2020 survey of full-time workers employed in the United States.
As such, you and your employees don’t want any hiccups in the payroll process.
Cutting-edge software can streamline the way you pay your employees, ensuring that payroll processing is efficient, accurate and secure each and every pay period. It can even allow employees to access pay information on their own and can remove an employer’s nightmare of dealing with payroll tax filings.
Putting it all together
Perhaps more than anything else in our lifetimes, the novel coronavirus pandemic has dramatically impacted the workforce. Therefore, it’s critical for employees to adopt a tech-powered approach to keeping on top of the constantly changing atmosphere surrounding sick leave and disability, and to carefully handling pay and benefits. Doing so can make the difference between maintaining employee satisfaction and losing dissatisfied employees. That’s a huge challenge for an industry that’s already plagued by a severe labor shortage and a relatively high turnover rate.
