Sponsor: BambooHR

Don’t let the stress of switching payroll providers keep you chained to broken and frustrating payroll processes. We’ve laid out all the steps—including checklists and questionnaires—to give you a clear-cut path to finally breaking free.

This detailed guide to switching payroll providers includes:

• Instructions for selecting and narrowing down a shortlist of new payroll contenders, including a checklist of due diligence tasks.
• A questionnaire to bring to discovery meetings and demos.
• Checklists of tasks and reminders for canceling with an old provider and coordinating with a new one.
• A mini-checklist of all the payroll info you’ll need when switching.
• Information on what to expect if you’re switching from an in-house solution, PEO, accounting firm, or a third party payroll software provider.

Some companies took exceptional initiative on this front last year, from offering 6x more bereavement days in some cases to surprising employees with unprecedented end-of-year bonuses. But not every HR department or company wields the same resources as Johnson & Johnson or a real-estate firm experiencing a banner year.

We surveyed 1,200 HR professionals to understand what they’re up against in the coming year, and what we learned can help you paint a realistic picture of the state of HR today, and what changes may be possible in the year to come.

This report includes:

• A breakdown of what challenges HR faces in the coming year.
• How HR ranks the difficulty of those challenges.
• What technology and process limitations are holding them back.
• Advice to HR on what they can do to drive business impact in 2024.

When onboarding new employees, you have just 44 days on average to influence their decision to stay long-term. That's a vanishingly short window of time—and a high-stakes one, considering that employee turnover typically costs $7,500 to $28,000 per new hire.

Will your new hires turn into dependable, dedicated team members? Or will a bad first impression send them running, taking your sunk costs with them? It all depends on the quality of your onboarding process, which needs to be as deliberate, comprehensive, and structured as every other HR process at your company.

Timing is everything—and if you’re waiting for a sign that it’s time to upgrade your time tracking solution, here are 12 to look out for.

This list is based on interviews with 10 HR professionals who recently upgraded their time tracking solution. We asked them:

• Why they decided to switch time tracking solutions.
• What pain points they experienced prior to switching.
• If their previous solution led to miscalculations or other compliance issues.
• Whether they switched at the right time—or if it was too late.

How does your company compare? Check off the signs that apply to your company and start making the case for a switch today.

Companies with engaged workforces vastly outperform those without, but only 32 percent of US employees are engaged. What prevents us from engaging employees, and are there practical solutions to improve engagement?

Keeping and engaging your best people is crucial. Learn why reward and recognition helps you do just that, 13 ways to reward and recognize the right way, and how to get your boss onboard.