Changing Legal Interpretations Cause Compliance Headaches for HR – New Research from HR.com

Human resources (HR) professionals face multiple difficulties when striving to ensure their employers comply with U.S. laws and regulations, according to a new report released by HR.com. The two factors that make compliance most difficult are the changing interpretations and scope of legal requirements.

This just released research report, “The HR Compliance Business Impact Report,” is based on exclusive new industry research by HR.com, in partnership with Ceridian, one of the world’s foremost human capital management technology companies. It is based on responses from 543 HR professionals. The research goals were to:

– investigate whether HR is able to keep up with rapidly changing legislation
– identify the areas of compliance that create the greatest costs and that are the most difficult to manage
– learn what strategies organizations use to stay up-to-date with new mandates
– highlight the compliance issues that have the biggest impact on workplace policies and procedures

The study investigated which factors make it most difficult to keep up with changes to compliance-related laws, regulations and mandates. The two most commonly cited responses were 1) changing interpretations of federal and state laws, and 2) the growing scope of federal and state HR-related mandates.

“To an outsider, it might seem as if the sheer complexity of laws and regs would be the biggest compliance challenge,” according to Debbie McGrath, Chief Instigator and CEO of HR.com. “But HR is made up of smart people who can deal with complexity if everything else stays the same. The bigger challenges stem from the fact that compliance tends to be a moving target because the interpretations of laws change over time, and the scope of legal mandates tends to grow rather than shrink.”

How do organizations cope with change and complexity? The most common strategy is to consult with external or internal legal counsel or other specialists. In contrast, relatively few (25%) rely on human capital management technology solutions to help stay current with compliance issues.

However, organizations that ranked themselves highest in terms of compliance comprehension were more likely to use human capital management (HCM) technology solutions to help keep up-to-date. Of the larger firms (500+ employees) claiming to be “poor” in maintaining an up-to-date understanding of compliance, only 10% use an HCM solution, whereas 36% of larger firms claiming a “high” compliance rating use an HCM solution to help them stay up-to-date.

DOWNLOAD REPORT: The HR Compliance Business Impact Report: How U.S. employers manage compliance risk in the workplace

About Ceridian
Ceridian creates innovative technology that organizations around the world use to attract, develop, manage and pay their people. Their award-winning Dayforce solution helps customers manage compliance, make better decisions, build great teams and drive engagement with their employees. Ceridian has solutions for organizations of all sizes. Ceridian. Makes Work Life Better(TM). For more information call 1-800-729-7655 or visit www.ceridian.com

About HR.com
HR.com strives to help create inspired workforces by making HR professionals smarter. Over 1,100,000 HR professionals turn to HR.com as the trusted resource for education, career development, and compliance: thousands of lessons and tips in the HR Genius on-demand training library, 400+ webcasts yearly, the largest HR certification exam preparation practice supporting SHRM and HRCI certification, a legal compliance guidance program, 12 monthly themed interactive HR epublications, and 35+ primary research reports. HR.com offers the best training and networking for HR professionals globally 24/7/365. www.HR.com

For more information, contact:

Debbie McGrath
Chief Instigator and CEO, HR.com
[email protected]
877-472-6648
www.HR.com