According to recent Cisco projections, the Internet of Things (IoT) is a $14 trillion revenue opportunity that Gartner estimates will contain 25 billion connected things by 2020. It is increasingly recognized that the full potential of connected devices and systems can only be achieved when these connected things are associated with individual identities. According to IoT Evolution World, products and services connected through individual identities can increase value for customers by providing highly personal experiences and allowing enterprises to not only monitor their product’s performance, but also better understand how customers use them.

Of course, with an increasing number of products and services connected by identities, there is a growing need for strong identity management providers to ensure these connected systems remain secure.

Four Identity Focused Security Concerns

As you begin to look for an identity and access Management as a Service (IDaaS) provider, there are several key areas of security to be concerned with.

All companies employee benefit plans can be subject to a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) audit at any time. Traditionally, the DOL has had the authority to conduct an investigation of your company’s employee benefits plan anytime to ensure it is in compliance with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).  But over the past couple of years, the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has expanded its scope to include enforcement of the ever-expanding Affordable Care Act (ACA) regulations. All of this means you need to take even more precautions and be better prepared than ever. 

Data from audits of retirement plans in 2013 reveal that 75% of those audit investigations resulted in penalties and required some corrective action. Corrective actions resulted in major payouts and lost profits.

In this post we want to make you aware of the most common audit triggers and how you can prepare for an audit or, ideally, avoid one altogether.

As we start to move into cold and flu season, here’s something to think about: 43 million workers in the United States do not have access to paid sick and family leave. Likewise, the U.S. is the only developed country that does not have mandatory national paid maternity leave. So while the federal government continues to struggle to define nationwide standards for employee protections and benefits, workers across the country are forced to choose between a paid day of work and taking care of their family and personal health concerns.

Of course, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) does provide job-protected leave to eligible employees who need to take leave for family and medical reasons. However, this FMLA leave is unpaid and many employees simply cannot afford to take advantage of it. Thankfully, local and state governments seem to be moving forward where the federal government is not.

Aside from keeping up with changing federal labor rules, it's crucial to stay up to date with local rules and regulations. One big example is the state of California, with complex time and attendance rules that are often difficult to understand and constantly changing. In this post, we'll review California Labor Code’s Meal Periods provision.

Meal Periods

In 2012, a few important changes were made to California’s Meal Periods provision. According to California Labor Code Section 512:

An employer may not employ an employee for a work period of more than five hours per day without providing the employee with a meal period of not less than thirty minutes, except that if the total work period per day of the employee is no more than six hours, the meal period must be waived by mutual consent of both the employer and the employee. A second meal period of not less than thirty minutes is required if an employee works more than ten hours per day, except that if the total hours worked is no more than 12 hours, the second meal period may be waived by mutual consent of the employer and employee only if the first meal period was not waived.

What does this mean?

The Basics: What is a Payroll Manager?

It seems simple enough. A payroll manager is the person in charge of maintaining a company’s payroll system and ensuring that all employees get the proper amount of pay and leave time. However, payroll management is not so easy. Depending on your company, there can be great complexity in the calculation of leave and other benefits, or the administration of overtime and work rules. All of this must be done, sometimes in rapidly, so that a payroll is distributed to employees accurately and on time. If payrolls are wrong or late there can be dire financial or legal consequences.

Being a payroll manager is often a thankless job. Your primary responsibility is to make sure things don't go wrong. No one pats you on the back when things go right. Finally, you must remain vigilent monitoring changing work, benefit and labor rules to make sure your employees are being paid properly, and that no one can come back later and sue your company with the claim of being shortchanged on a paycheck. 

The duties of a payroll manager seem straightforward enough. But there are nuances that create challenges.

The Risks of Excessive Overtime

On the surface, you might think of overtime as helpful to your workers and your company. After all, it provides flexibility so you can adapt to day-to-day changes in workload, product or service demands. It also helps you handle unexpected absences without the need to hire more staff. For your employees, it allows them to make more money.

However, excessive reliance on and use of overtime comes with big risks. Global workforce performance and safety management firm Circadian identified five major risks of excessive overtime.

The task before you is huge. You need to stay up-to-date with the latest employment laws. Now you might have operations in any of fifty states, or overseas in the European Community, Eastern Europe, or in Asia or Australia. In this article, we'll focus on U.S. Federal work and labor laws.  

Below we've compiled a list of free resources that should be helpful.

IAM/SSO Trends of 2015

This summer NetworkWorld.com, one of the premier online providers of information, intelligence, and insight for network and IT executives, released an updated report on seven of the market’s top SSO service providers. Drafted with the practitioner audience in mind, the report highlighted several trends among current top providers.

1. SSO products now offer increased support for additional authentication factors.

All of the industry’s top IAM/SSO providers now offer products with solid multifactor authentication (MFA) protection. This increases SSO’s effectiveness as a protective tool and increases login security.

2. Vendors are moving towards integrating mobile device management (MDM) with their other identity service offerings.

Both NetworkWorld.com and analysts at Gartner see this as an important step to maintaining securing in an increasingly mobile-focused workplace. Although most vendors are still working on true MDM tools, generic SSO already provides an important level of security for mobile applications beyond that of basic password logins.

The Macguires and Developing Tradition

 The origins of Labor Day can be found in the 1800s during America’s Industrial Revolution. The average American might have started working as early as six years old and was forced to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week to support themselves and their families. These hardships led to the rise of labor unions and a collective desire for change.

Nice To Meet You

He’s the tenth person to approach you since you walked into the event.

He offers his name with a smile and a firm handshake.You smile back. “Nice to meet you.”

And, just like that, you shake hands and completely forget whatever he said his name was.