6 HR Compliance Tasks to Complete Before Year-End

Q4 has a way of getting busy fast. One minute you're focused on keeping up with day-to-day employee needs, and the next you're juggling open enrollment, year-end payroll, new employment laws, benefits deadlines, and all of those HR projects that have been sitting on the back burner.

The end of the year is also a good time to take a step back and make sure your HR practices are actually where they need to be. There are often new state and federal requirements to review, policies and employee records that need updating, and processes that may have changed as your business has grown.

If you don't have a full HR team, or your HR team is already stretched thin, here are six things I'd put on the list before Q4 gets away from you.

1. Take Another Look at Pay Transparency

Pay transparency laws continue to change, and more states and cities are requiring employers to include salary ranges in job postings.

This gets a little more complicated if you have a remote or hybrid team. You need to consider the requirements that apply where your employees and candidates are located, not just where your company is headquartered.

Before you post your next position, take a few minutes to make sure your job description and compensation information meet the requirements in the locations where you're hiring.

It's a small step that can save you from having to go back and fix postings later.

2. Review Your Independent Contractors

If you've added 1099 contractors this year, fall is a good time to take another look at those relationships.

Ask yourself: Is this still truly a contractor relationship?

Sometimes a role starts out as project-based or temporary and gradually turns into something much more like an employee. The person may be working regular hours, performing ongoing work, reporting to a manager, or becoming more integrated into your business.

Worker classification rules vary by state, so this is one area where it's worth taking a closer look rather than assuming everything is fine because the relationship started as a 1099.

Misclassification can get expensive very quickly.

3. Review Your Leave and Accommodation Processes

This is an area where I see businesses get into trouble simply because managers aren't sure what they're supposed to do when an employee asks for an accommodation or leave.

With changes and expansions around pregnancy, lactation, disability, and other protected leaves and accommodations, it's important to make sure your process is clear.

Your managers don't need to be HR experts. But they do need to know what to do when an employee says something like, "I'm having trouble with this because of a medical condition," or "I need an accommodation."

Make sure they know who to bring the request to, what they should document, and just as importantly what they should not try to handle on their own.

4. Check Your Remote Employee Obligations

If you've hired employees in new states this year, don't assume your HR requirements stayed the same just because your company didn't move. Where your employees work matters.

Take a look at whether you're properly registered for payroll and unemployment purposes in the states where your employees live and work. Then review your handbook and employment documents to make sure they actually reflect your current workforce.

I've seen companies grow quickly and end up with employees working in several states without realizing how many additional compliance requirements came along with that growth.

It's much easier to clean this up now than when you're already dealing with a problem.

5. Update Your Employee Handbook

This is probably the item that gets pushed to the bottom of the list most often. And I get it. Updating a handbook isn't exactly the most exciting way to spend your time.

But your handbook should reflect how your company operates today, not how it operated two or three years ago. Take a look at your policies around leave, accommodations, pay practices, remote work, workplace conduct, technology and AI, and any state-specific requirements that apply to your employees.

And once you make those updates, don't forget the last step: make sure employees receive the updated handbook and that you have acknowledgments on file.

A handbook isn't particularly helpful if it's sitting in a Google Drive somewhere and no one has looked at it in three years.

6. Get Ahead of Benefits Open Enrollment

Open enrollment has a way of becoming everyone's emergency at the same time. Instead of waiting until the last minute, use the fall to get organized. Confirm your benefits offerings, review what's changing, map out your enrollment timeline, and make sure employees understand what they need to do and by when.

If you're changing plans or contributions, give employees enough time to understand those changes and ask questions. A well-organized open enrollment process makes everyone's life easier, especially the person who ends up answering all of the questions.

You Don't Have to Do All of This Yourself

Here's the reality: none of these things are particularly complicated when you have the right systems, knowledge, and time to stay on top of them. The problem is that most small and mid-sized business owners don't have a lot of extra time in Q4.

You're hiring. You're budgeting. You're managing clients. You're trying to finish the year strong. And somewhere in the middle of all of that, you're also expected to keep up with employment laws that are constantly changing. That's where having an HR partner can make a big difference.

At Rising Tide HR, we work with small and growing businesses that need experienced HR support without necessarily needing a full-time HR department. That might mean updating your handbook, reviewing your HR practices, helping with payroll and benefits, cleaning up compliance issues, or simply having someone you can call when you're not sure what to do next.

Our goal isn't to make HR more complicated. It's to make it easier to manage and to help you catch the things that are easy to miss before they become bigger problems.

If Q4 is already filling up, now is a good time to take HR off your "I'll get to it later" list.

Reach out to Rising Tide HR to schedule a compliance check-in, talk about your handbook, or learn more about how our team can support your business.