HR Resources

The core of the HR Resource Center, the HR Compliance Library, is full of information on various aspects of HR. A quick summary of each of the topics is listed below.

1. Benefits
   • Benefits are a crucial part of being an employer. Admins can learn about their legal obligations and best practices for providing benefits to employees.
2. Diversity & Equal Employment
   • The workplace is becoming increasingly diverse, making it important for admins to understand both the issue of diversity and how to manage it effectively in the workplace.
3. Hiring
   • A thoughtful, compliant, and strategic hiring process can create long-term benefits for an organization. In Hiring, admins can learn how to find and hire the right candidate, handle immigration and work eligibility issues, and onboard new employees.
4. Leaves & Time Off
   • From disability accommodations to Family and Medical Leave Act compliance to personal, military, and state-mandated leaves, leaves and accommodations can be among the most complicated areas of Human Resources.
5. Managing Employees
   • Employees are the key to successful organizations. Admins can learn about tools and techniques for managing them effectively, including topics such as Training & Development, Conflict Management, and Corrective Action.
6. Safety & Health
   • From federal and state requirements, including workers’ compensation, to best practices, keeping employees safe and healthy are the markers of a great place to work.
7. Termination
   • Managing and administering employee departures and unemployment issues effectively can help minimize the disruption and costs to an organization.

Not seeing a topic you have a question about? Visit the HR Resource Center from your Gusto account and use the search bar in the portal to look for content and documents in the platform. 

In order to contact the HR Experts, you must be a designated HR Resource Center admin in Gusto. Primary admins, full access admins, and any HR & Onboarding admin with HR Resource Center permissions enabled will have access to HR Resources. The Primary admin can add or remove HR Resource Center permissions for HR & Onboarding admins.

The HR Experts will not speak directly with an employee unless that employee is also a designated HR Resource Center admin in Gusto.

• Reminder: The HR Experts are there to help coach the HR Resource Center admins on best practices for situations, but cannot speak with employees about their specific situation(s).

To view or change the HR Resource Center admins for your company:

1. Click the Settings section.
2. Click the Permissions tab.
3. Select the Gusto admins tile. 
4. Review the Permissions column to identify the current HR Resource admins.
5. Click the three dots and select edit admin roles.
6. Under HR & Onboarding, add or remove HR Resource Center permissions.
7. Click Save.

With a variety of support options available, you may be wondering who to contact to best answer your question—your Priority Support team, the HR Experts, or someone else. 

Use the information below to determine who is best suited to answer your specific question(s).

HR Experts

Contact the HR Experts when looking for compliance-related HR advice and general HR guidance. They’re the experts in state and federal law compliance and HR best practices. The HR Experts cannot provide legal or tax advice.

The HR Experts are available Monday-Friday from 5am PT to 5pm PT. Head to the Priority Support section of your admin profile to get their phone number, or click HR Resources on the left navigation and then click the HR Support Tickets tile to submit a question.

• Keep in mind: You must be a designated HR Resource Center Admin in order to contact them.

Submit a ticket to the HR Experts

1. Click the HR Resources tab in your Gusto account.
2. Click the HR Support Tickets tile.
3. Click Ask an Expert to start a new case

Alternatively, if you’re in the HR resource center, you can submit a new case or follow up on a case by clicking the profile icon in the top right corner, and then click My Cases. 

Check the status of a ticket submitted to the HR Experts

1. Click the HR Resources tab in your Gusto account.
2. Click the HR Support Tickets tile.
3. View all of your case history here.

Here you can view the ticket submission, ticket status, and review responses.

Note: Each admin with access to the HR Resource Center has a private case queue with the HR Experts. These cases cannot be seen by other company admins. When a response is posted to your HR Experts question, you'll receive an alert via email. All questions and responses will be available in the same area, making it easy to view all historical information.

HR Experts handle questions about:

• Information in the HR Resource Center.
• State and federal laws surrounding the termination of an employee
• State and federal laws surrounding PTO/Sick time/Holiday pay requirements and payout
• Employee performance or employee relation issues.
  • Get guidance on how to approach these scenarios and document them correctly. 
• Employment law compliance assistance
  • Get a list of required workplace posters, and learn about harassment prevention training requirements.
  • Statutory paid sick leave, Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirements and key provisions, state family and medical leaves (including paid leaves), leaves of absence and group health benefits, annual benefits limits, and benefits notices (general).
• COVID-19 employee leave and other business complications brought on by COVID-19.

Once you’ve gotten guidance from the HR Expert, you can work with your Priority Support team to take any related/necessary steps in Gusto.

Priority support

Contact your Priority Support team for Gusto-specific questions about payroll and benefits. They’ll be able to assist with taking actions in Gusto but cannot provide legal or tax advice.

Priority Support handles questions about:

• What’s shown in your Gusto account
• Taking actions in Gusto
  • Examples: Payroll edits, setting up PTO policies, exemptions, pay schedules, new hires and dismissals, custom docs, and more.
• Running reports
• Benefits–confirmation of coverage, plan implementation, and plan status.
  • Contact the carrier directly for coverage-specific questions about employees.

A specialist 

For some issues, you may need to work with an employment lawyer, CPA, or another specialist in the relevant field.

A specialist will be best for questions about:

• Legal advice
  • Creating or reviewing any type of legally binding contract or agreement 
    • Examples: Employment contract, severance agreement, non-compete agreement, non-disclosure agreement, liability waiver, release of claims. 
      • The HR Experts can provide general guidance on what such items are, but we recommend speaking with an attorney to create or review the document to ensure compliance with applicable law(s) and enforceability should the employer need to rely on it.
  • Risk analysis 
    • Example question: “We terminated a pregnant employee, what is my liability if I do/don’t do this?”
  • Lawsuits
  • Non-profit rules and regulations
  • Public accommodations with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
  • Corporate organization and structure planning 
    • Example question: “Should we incorporate?”
  • Data security/data breach
  • In-depth government contracting or collective bargaining (e.g., union agreements)
• Industry-specific guidance
  • Food handler’s card 
    • Contact a state restaurant licensing agency and/or public health department.
  • Detailed OSHA safety questions or training 
    • Contact your state or federal OSHA (depending on whether you have a state-approved OSHA plan).
• Immigration or international HR questions 
  • Example questions: “How do I sponsor a visa? What are employment laws in other territories/countries?”
  • Contact an Immigration Attorney. 
• Tax guidance
  • Contact a CPA or tax professional.
• Detailed benefits guidance
  • Examples include: ERISA compliance legal advice, Medicare questions, plan contribution strategy and design, retirement plan administration, and retirement plan design. 
  • Contact your carrier about billing, coverage network, covered services, etc.
• Tangential HR issues
  • Examples include: 
    • Affirmative Action Plan
      • Contact an attorney.
    • Salary data analysis or benchmarking 
      • Contact a compensation specialist
    • Translation services

FAQ

Q: Can the HR Experts customize my HR policies?

A: HR Experts are able to provide expertise and can answer questions on policy/document best practices, and/or talk through considerations for drafting resources that suit your business goals, but cannot draft customized documents. Within the HR Resource Center powered by Mineral, you’ll have access to hundreds of policies and documents you can customize for your specific business needs, including a Job Description Builder, Salary Comparison, and more. We’re happy to help you find the resources you need.

An employee handbook is a powerful tool used to communicate an organization's policies and practices, values, culture, and vision. 

If you’re a Gusto customer with Priority support, you can create an employee handbook right from your HR Resource Center portal in Gusto. In order to contact the HR Pros, you must be the designated HR Resource Center admin in Gusto. 

• Additional detail about the types of handbooks available can be found below.
• The HR Experts can answer questions about creating a handbook or about a specific policy, but are not able to create a handbook on your behalf or review a handbook.

To create an employee handbook

1. Click the HR Resources tab.
2. Click the Employee Handbook tile.
3. Click Create Handbook.
   • Alternatively, if you're already in the HR Resource Center, hover over Company Policies on your dashboard and click Handbooks.
4. Fill out the required information, and list the states you’d like to create a handbook for.
   • Note: Listing the accurate number of employees per state will drive proactive automated compliance alerts for your handbook, so be sure this information is correct.
5. Click Save & Review Policies in the upper right corner.
   • You can toggle policies on and off by clicking the green button on the far right. Policies with a red asterisk are required, and policies with a black check mark are considered best practice and are recommended to be included.

Once a handbook is created, you can download the full handbook, or a single state, as an editable Microsoft Word document or as a PDF file by clicking the red Actions button in the top right corner. You can also upload the handbook in Gusto for employees to review in their account.

You'll receive alerts when laws change with suggested handbook policy updates, and you’ll be able to easily update your existing policies.

FAQs

Q: Can I schedule a consultation on my handbook with an HR Expert?

A: The handbook experience is now a streamlined, automated process called the Smart Employee Handbook. With Smart Employee Handbook, you’ll be able to build a handbook to suit your company needs that can be customized directly within the HR Resource Center. When a policy requires updating due to a legislative or regulatory change, you’ll receive a notification so you can automatically update applicable policies in your handbook. HR Experts are happy to answer any specific policy questions or discuss handbook administration best practices.

Q: Can multiple handbooks be created? 

A: Unlike the previous handbook wizard, you’ll no longer be limited to one handbook creation per year. You can create as many handbooks as needed for your business as your circumstances change. You can also create multi-state handbooks, and easily tailor them for individual states. 

Q: Where can I find my handbooks? Can I make changes to handbooks I created before the HR Resource Center was upgraded to the HR Resource Center powered by Mineral?

A: If you have an existing handbook, you can access this in Gusto by navigating to the HR Resources tab, then clicking the Employee Handbook tile, then selecting Archived Handbooks. To take advantage of the Smart Employee Handbook policy auto-update features, you'll need to create a new handbook by filling out a handbook wizard with basic information about your organization.

Your previous handbook(s) have been saved within the HR Resource Center for you to continue to access or download in Word format, which then can be edited manually. Existing handbooks will not be automatically updated as laws and policies change. With the Smart Employee Handbook, you can easily create a handbook by answering questions in the wizard, and modify sections and policies for your business. Once completed, as laws or regulations change, you'll be alerted of the recommended updates and can accept the changes which are then automatically applied to your handbook.

The HR Support Center houses many customizable forms, letters, and sample policies that you can download and use. These range from performance review docs, to employment agreements, and a wide variety of others. Access these by clicking HR Resources and then HR Documents tile.

Forms

You can browse a comprehensive database of state, federal, and general business forms to help you administer your HR functions. Examples include harassment prevention training acknowledgement forms, internship agreement forms, FMLA certification forms, and non-disclosure statement forms.  

Letters

Human Resources often requires communicating with employees, the government, or third parties about employment-related issues. Browse a complete catalog of letters to find a template that meets your needs. Examples of letters include pay rate change notifications, sample communication to employees (COVID-19 Infection in the workplace), and employment verification letters.

Sample Policies

The policy library contains recommended language for a comprehensive list of policies that could be included in an employee handbook. Review the full library or filter by topic, then copy and paste the policy you need directly into your employee handbook.

The policy library has different categories such as Benefits, Culture, Health & Safety, and Leaves of Absence. Within each category is a list of policies that you can use.

For example, within the Leaves of Absence category, you can get policies on the topics and more:

• Bereavement Leave
• Colorado Emergency Paid Sick Leave for COVID-19
• District of Columbia Declaration of Emergency Leave - COVID-19
• Family and Medical Leave Act
• Jury Duty

It's recommended that you consult with an HR Expert to ensure the policy meets the compliance obligations applicable to your specific business and jurisdiction.

HR admins can receive proactive alerts based on your company settings, found under your profile icon in the top right corner. You’ll receive alerts when a law is changed, released, or made effective, tailored for you based on locations and employee counts.

Receive tailored law alerts

1. Click the HR resources tab.
2. Click the HR Compliance tile.
3. Click the profile icon in the upper right.
4. Select My Profile to choose federal and state law alerts.

New alerts and insights will appear in the top right corner under the bell icon.

While the alerts will notify you of new changes to laws in your states, there may be instances in which you just need to refresh yourself on what a specific law is. If this is the case, you'll have access to a full list of state and federal laws within the Resource Center. You can find this list by hovering over the HR Compliance header and selecting Laws from the drop-down menu. From there, you can sort laws by Category, State, and Employee Count.

Calculators

Oftentimes employers need to crunch numbers in order to get a better idea of how employees may affect their bottom line. Calculators can help with a number of different HR issues. See below for a description of each available calculator:

1. Cost Per Hire
   1. Hiring and training new employees can be a huge cost for employers. Use this calculator to determine your average cost per hire. Knowing your current cost per hire and better budget for both hiring and retention programs.
2. Overtime
   1. Calculating overtime rates can be complicated when an hourly employee has multiple rates. Use this calculator to determine the applicable overtime rate for your hourly employees. Be sure to double-check the calculations in your payroll system.
3. Employee Turnover
   1. Monitoring your employee turnover is an important step for organizations looking to increase employee performance and retention, and reduce turnover costs. Use the calculator below to determine your average turnover rate.
4. Absenteeism
   1. Absenteeism can be expensive and demoralizing for an organization. Use the calculator below to determine your organization's absenteeism rate. The rate can be calculated for the entire organization or for smaller subsets such as functional or regional groups.
5. ACA Full-Time Equivalent
   1. The Affordable Care Act’s Reporting Requirement and Employer Mandate only apply to employers with 50 or more Full Time Equivalent employees*. These employers are called Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) under the Act. The calculator below will determine the number of FTEs in your organization and, thus, whether your organization would be considered an ALE.
6. ACA Safe Harbor
   1. The Affordable Care Act requires health insurance plans subject to the Employer Mandate be "affordable." Under the ACA, employers may not charge more than a certain percentage of an employee's income. This rate is calculated and announced by the IRS annually. Because employers often don’t know their employees’ household incomes, the Act provides three safe harbors to qualify as “affordable.” Use the calculators below to determine whether your plan qualifies as affordable under one or more of the safe harbors.

HR Assessment

This tool only takes a few minutes to complete and gives you a comprehensive look at your organization’s HR strengths and vulnerabilities.

Using the HR Assessment:

• You'll be asked a series of questions regarding your current HR practices and policies. After the test is complete, your company will receive a score and report card detailing what you do well, and what your company could be doing better.
• If your company is brand new, this test gives you insight into what you may already know, and what you may need extra help with during your transition into a full-fledged business.
• If your company is more established, this test helps give insight into what you're doing well, and reinforces best practices. It also alerts you to any potentially non-compliant practices you might have implemented previously, potentially saving you from HR violations or claims in the future.
• While not as widely used as the handbook tools, we suggest that all customers who are new to Priority support go through the HR Assessment so you can establish a plan to optimize your HR policies and practices.

OSHA Logs

Access a step-by-step walkthrough to document the required information for recordable workplace injuries and illnesses to create and post the 300A annually. Utilize resources to stay compliant with and streamline OSHA routine record keeping requirements.

Job Builder Library

Job descriptions communicate the responsibilities and expectations for staff. They provide a crucial tool for managing both new hires and existing employees. You'll have access to a number of job description templates that are fully customizable. There are several categories of jobs, such as: Accounting/Finance, Business/Executive/Management, Construction/General Labor, and Legal Services. Within each category is a list of positions that have pre-populated information.

Salary Comparison Tool

Ensure your compensation strategy is up-to-date, and help prevent costly litigation. Search current compensation rates for thousands of job categories by location.

Minimum Wage Map

This is an interactive map to see minimum wage rates across the country, including notes on when they are scheduled to change.

While the Federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009, there are state specific minimum wage requirements that you may not be aware of. This section of your account helps you determine the minimum wage in your state. Localities with their own minimum wage laws will be listed on the right-hand side, but you'll need to go to that state’s minimum wage entry in the Laws library for more detailed information. Alternatively, you can submit a ticket for guidance from an HR Expert.

Downgrading to a different Gusto plan without Priority support or canceling your account will cause you to lose access to the HR Resource Center. 

If you’d like to retain copies of your tickets, documents, and handbooks in the HR portal, you must save them prior to the effective date of your downgrade/cancellation.