Staffing

Improve Your Restaurant Scheduling in 4 Simple Ways

Proper scheduling is one of the most important aspects of a successful and profitable restaurant. Having the right workers — in the right places, at the right times — is essential to ensuring high levels of quality and service in all aspects of your restaurant. When employees are happy with their work schedule and working the shifts they can and want to work, they are generally more productive and deliver a higher quality of work. Happy workers yield happy customers.

As a restaurant owner or manager, ensuring proper scheduling will keep employee morale high and customers coming back. While there is no question that appropriate scheduling is essential to keeping your restaurant running smoothly, creating the schedule can often be tedious and tricky.

Check out our list below of 4 simple ways to improve your restaurant scheduling.

1. Understand your restaurant’s business trends.

The first step in creating a proper schedule for your restaurant is understanding trends in its business cycle. It is essential to have a thorough grasp of projected business to properly schedule your employees. The schedule should allow for the correct amount of labor hours to deliver the appropriate level of service at all times. Know the times at which your restaurant is busy and when things are slower, and schedule your staff accordingly. Make sure to take into account seasonal fluctuations in business, whether they are related to holidays or other events taking place in your area. Use data from past weeks, months and years to forecast future sales, and base your schedule around those predictions.

2. Understand what your employees need from their schedules.

If your employees are happy with their schedules, they will be more productive and deliver a higher level of quality in their service. Understanding what they need when it comes to their schedules will keep morale high. Make sure you know when your employees can and cannot work. Work availability should be discussed in initial interviews to ensure you can accommodate their needs and they can accommodate yours.

3. Make communication about scheduling easy.

As with many things, communication is key when ensuring proper restaurant scheduling. Put systems in place to make it as easy as possible for your employees to communicate with you regarding their schedules. Modern restaurant technology allows for quick and easy communication with your employees, so be sure to put it to work for you.

4. Have scheduling systems in place and stick to them.

Schedules should come out at the same time each week. Make sure you have a scheduling system in place and stick to it. This way your employees know what is expected of them (deadlines for requests for time off, etc.) and what they can expect from you. Don’t wait until the day before to put out the next week’s schedule. Respect your employee’s time and give them proper notice of their next week’s schedule.

If you would like to learn more ways to improve your restaurant’s scheduling, reach out to me for some additional information.

Pro Tip: Operating Multiple Restaurant Units

admin Blog, Pro Tip Benchmarking, Compensation, KPIs, Pricing, Product Offering, Staffing

If you operate multiple restaurant units, don’t manage them in isolation. By comparing location-specific performance metrics—like table turn time, food cost percentage, labor spend, and average ticket size—you can spot where one store excels (and why) and apply that winning formula across all units. Here’s how:

Standardize KPIs: Identify a core set of metrics (e.g., weekly labor cost as a percentage of sales, average revenue per transaction) that every location must track.
Benchmark & Share Best Practices: Regularly review and compare these KPIs to uncover top-performing units. Investigate the operational strategies behind their success and replicate them in underperforming locations.
Align Incentives: Tie management and staff incentives to location-specific improvements in these standardized KPIs. Reward both individual unit gains and overall company-wide performance to encourage collaboration.
Refine Operations & Menu Offerings: Use the insights gleaned from the data to optimize labor scheduling, streamline supplier negotiations, and fine-tune menu pricing and promotions.

By continuously gathering and sharing location-level metrics—and treating success stories as replicable playbooks—you’ll not only improve operational efficiency but also activate sustainable sales growth across your entire restaurant portfolio.

Companies: Not Helicopter Parents

glevi Blog Accountability, HR, Leadership, Management, Staffing

Many organizations tend to replicate the roles of children, adults and parents. In the workplace, some of those same characteristics can manifest among managers and their team members. Just as a helicopter approach at home can impact a child’s health and independence, raise anxiety and suppress confidence, an overly paternalistic or autocratic style at the office can erode employees’ sense of personal responsibility.

My way or the highway

The classic “my way or the highway” management style was developed in the 19th century, conceived to maximize productivity and efficiency. In that context, an autocratic leadership style evolved, whereby managers exerted tight control according to clearly defined processes, relying on little significant input from lower employees. They set boundaries and imposed discipline. At the same time, hierarchical structures diminished the need to consult large groups of people about decisions. Business structures were built on carrot-and-stick motivations; in other words, in a culture of fear — obey me or else.

In the following century, many organizations became “flatter” and employees became responsible for their own conduct and well-being. Business expanded from the old production lines, particularly in the emerging knowledge industries.

Employers began to realize that the old-fashioned command-and-control practices born in the Industrial Revolution were not designed to promote trust. Ideally, they would prefer to manage empowered staff whom they did not need to train or monitor so closely. Today’s employees have come to expect a more transparent and participatory culture. They now want to be treated as equals and active contributors rather than passive implementers. They do not like clocking in and out, as accountability suggests there should be less reason to cheat.

During and since the pandemic, management practices continued to evolve. The paradox remains that companies clearly desire mature and accountable staff, yet many executives still believe they are adept at delegating and inspiring teams based on principles they have inherited from the old, paternalistic style.

How ‘copter managers behave

Parents who overprotect and micromanage tend to give their children insufficient free, unsupervised time or not treat them as independent agents. Many who grow up and arrive at adult jobs find employers are still operating on a similar fantasy plane.

Kids who have been infantilized sometimes seek permission for every action. They fall victim to learned helplessness. As adults, they might be reluctant to take creative risks and may spend a lot of emotion worrying about job security.

Bosses who fall into ‘copter parenting mode may fear relinquishing the power of ownership or entrusting their position and reputation to someone else. Sometimes the behavior derives from poor modeling based on what they themselves have experienced in the workplace.

Those are the managers who demand obedience, micromanage, constantly remind and pester their teams about instructions, and are hesitant to delegate. Everybody has encountered the boss who insists on doing the work themself because they lack confidence that anyone else reliably can. Or perhaps they are quick to correct and admonish employees in front of the entire team.

It is ironic that each year companies are spending over $100 billion on employee engagement and well-being initiatives with a grand aim to nurture staff in every aspect. Notwithstanding, according to Gallup, engagement has reached an 11-year low.

Be a partner, not a parent

Both bosses and team members should try to hold each other accountable. You might ask, “How can we find a solution together?” Sharing that responsibility can help lighten a manager’s burden.

Trust your staff’s judgment rather than rigid processes.
Permit them to make mistakes as learning experiences.
Assign broader challenges rather than specific tasks.
Provide some structure for them to function successfully.
Recognize they have outside lives, respect their privacy and show appreciation.
Treat them as family and individuals.
Indicate you have their backs and will protect them.

Your team members are your assets, not your liabilities. Make them worthwhile partners.

Federal Court Strikes Down Overtime Rule

glevi Blog HR, Staffing

The Department of Labor announced in April 2024 that it would increase the salary threshold required to exempt a salaried bona fide executive, administrative or professional employee from federal overtime pay requirements. According to a DOL release, “Effective July 1, 2024, the salary threshold will increase to the equivalent of an annual salary of $43,888 and increase to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025.” In April, the annual salary threshold was $35,568. The release further stated, “Starting July 1, 2027, salary thresholds will update every three years by applying up-to-date wage data to determine new salary levels.”

But that is no longer effective. As the National Law Review reported, “On Nov. 15, 2024, Judge Sean D. Jordan of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas ruled that the DOL exceeded its rulemaking authority by raising the minimum salary for exemption as an executive, administrative, or professional (EAP) employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act.”

So, where are we?

The entire DOL rule seems to be gone, including the upcoming January increase and the three-year plan. Especially interesting is that the July raise has also been retroactively rolled back. In theory, employers that granted increases based on that change could now cancel those salary changes. However, such reductions may lead to employee resentment, so they may not be worth any savings.

Also, for many employers the issue may be moot: Some state and local jurisdictions already have higher salary thresholds in place, and this federal ruling has no effect on them.

The ink on the ruling is still wet, and lawyers are currently reviewing the lengthy ruling. We’ll have more guidance as it becomes available. For now, the best advice is not to make any changes until you’ve spoken with qualified advisors.

Pay Transparency: Laws and Policies

glevi Blog HR, Staffing

Did you know that 13 Canadian laws regarding pay transparency have been passed between 2004 and 2016? Designed to protect the rights of workers and enable them to ask about the salaries of co-workers, researchers found that these laws were associated with a 2% drop in wages across the board.

Ultimately, the authors of this study attributed their findings to a decrease in bargaining power on the part of applicants during the hiring process. But how is this possible? Shouldn’t pay transparency laws favor job applicants and prioritize equality among employees?

In theory, yes — this is true. However, while the concept of pay transparency is that it grants workers with more power when it comes to renegotiating pay and lowering pay discrepancies, it often shifts the bargaining power to the employers instead. According to the researchers of the aforementioned study, wages typically end up being more equal, but the main issue is that the average pay rate is also lower.

Differences in pay transparency laws across the U.S.

Now that we’ve covered trends regarding pay transparency laws in Canada, let’s take a look at five states and what pay transparency laws say in each location.

California

In California, employers are deterred from asking job applicants about pay history. This means you cannot inquire about the current or former salaries and pay rates of people you’re thinking about hiring.

Colorado

As of 2021, Colorado became the first state to require pay transparency. Something known as promotion transparency also exists in the state of Colorado, and it essentially requires employers to make everyone aware of work-related opportunities, like promotions and advancements.

Hawaii

Hawaii’s pay transparency law only applies to organizations that employ more than 50 people.

Illinois

Illinois has a pay transparency law that is set to go into effect in 2025. At that time, employers with 15 workers or more will be required to provide a general description of workplace benefits in their total compensation statement. These details must include bonuses, stock options and other financial incentives.

New York

In New York City, the state’s pay transparency law applies to nearly every employer. Only those with fewer than four employees are exempt. Furthermore, employers who violate the pay transparency law could face fines upward of $250,000.

Data has shown that a mere 58% of job ads posted for work based in New York City within the first two months of the law being enforced included pay ranges. The New York City transparency law went into effect in November 2022, and companies looking to hire employees are obligated to disclose a minimum and maximum salary range for both internal promotions and transfer opportunities.

However, bonuses, tips and paid time off do not have to be included in job descriptions. The law covers office-based work, fieldwork and remote work from an employee’s home for jobs performed within the city.

To an extent, these new pay transparency regulations are supposed to let job applicants know which companies and positions pay more as well as which ones pay less. In theory, this might lead to more efficient matching between job-seekers and employers.

Questions to ask yourself about pay transparency laws

When it comes to pay transparency laws, you should ask yourself how they will affect you. For instance, do you work in an industry with unpredictable pay rates?

Similarly, do you find it hard to keep your compensation offers competitive compared to other companies in your industry? Overall, experts suggest using a benchmark, implementing a solid core strategy and developing an understanding of market trends.

But what should you do if you have employees who know they are being paid differently from one another? As you can imagine, this dynamic can result in tension among team members, with those receiving less compensation left to feel undervalued and unappreciated.

It can also call major issues into question. That’s why your compensation strategy not only needs to cultivate equity, but it must also address favoritism and biases in the hiring process.

How to ensure compliance with your state’s pay transparency policies

Research current pay transparency laws to see how they could affect your company. Conduct market research on pay ranges for each position.

Look at businesses that operate in the same industry as you to ensure that you are offering competitive pay ranges. Evaluate any existing pay transparency regulations and make sure you’re in compliance. This may require you to adjust your salary, offer more benefits, set up bonus structures or incorporate other forms of compensation.

All in all, employers should pay attention to transparency laws and regulations, both those that already exist and those that are soon to go into effect. With a well-thought-out compensation strategy, you can establish a solid foundation that prioritizes pay transparency laws and policies.

Will My Noncompete Agreement Hold Water?

glevi Blog Legal Considerations, Staffing

You may want to require employees to sign noncompete agreements to keep them from working for rival companies. Will these protect the business? The answer is … maybe. Over time, courts have become less willing to uphold strict provisions. Indeed, President Biden has issued an executive order for the Federal Trade Commission to examine abusive noncompete agreements. That order will have little direct impact, but it indicates which way the wind is blowing — toward a more employee-friendly approach. Although no current laws have changed, employers are likely to face more scrutiny.

One size does not fit all

In many states, noncompete agreements are unenforceable. Period. In at least one jurisdiction, the District of Columbia, laws not only ban noncompete agreements but even grant people the right to work simultaneously for multiple employers.

Some states are also distinguishing between higher- and lower-paid staff, acknowledging that it may not be fair to curtail the job opportunities of rank-and-file employees such as those of upper management.

Where noncompetes are permissible, however, similar principles apply:

Is it necessary to protect an employer’s legitimate business interest?
Does it cause undue hardship for an employee? Courts do not want employees to be utterly blocked from finding new work.
Is a public interest involved? Certain industries such as medicine and education are so important that public policy supports them.
How long and how far does an agreement extend?

With a variety of industries and firms operating across the board, you must drill down into the provisions regarding each situation. The broader the time span and geographic area at stake, the less likely the agreement is to be enforceable. Reasonable duration and scope may differ greatly from one company to another. It may be excessive to demand national or global restrictions for a local, in-state business. Many noncompetes are typically drafted to remain in force for one or two years — indeed, judges tend to frown on lifelong prohibitions.

The crux is an employer’s legitimate interests. The object is to prevent employees from harming their employers by introducing their best customers to a competitor, sacrificing hard-earned goodwill or disseminating confidential knowledge and trade secrets. The former boss does not want their employees to start their own breakaway company or develop competing products, let alone recruit other former coworkers to a new rival venture.

Consider consideration

Contract law generally requires a quid pro quo to validate an agreement, and noncompetes are no exception. A legitimate contract requires something of value to which the other party is not already entitled.

Although a job offer may be contingent on a prospective employee signing a noncompete, how about those employees you are already employing? If you want them to sign new noncompetes, they need something extra now to count as consideration. That something can take diverse forms, from more money or new job responsibilities to a fancier title or increased benefits such as vacation time. It need not be very valuable, but it must be concrete.

A short checklist for business owners

Watch out for common pitfalls when you are structuring and maintaining your noncompete agreements.

Enforce your agreements evenhandedly and without exception across your workforce to avoid any discrimination charges.
If you operate in multiple states, be careful about conflicting state laws.
As a buyer or seller of a business, be sure to receive noncompetes from the other side for relevant employees.
In case your noncompetes eventually get struck down, use confidentiality agreements for additional backup.
Include noncompete language in employment contracts to cover fired employees.
Tactfully remind any departing employees about any noncompetes they may have signed.

The law of noncompete agreements depends on a host of specific conditions and circumstances. Be sure to consult with industry experts for advice in drafting or interpreting your agreements.

When an Employee Leaves

glevi Blog HR, risk management, Staffing

There are many reasons why employees quit:

They feel their salary is too low.
They don’t see a clear career track or professional development opportunities.
They want more flexibility at work and in their personal lives.
They don’t feel valued or appreciated for their efforts and skills.

How you respond when someone quits makes a big difference to company morale and to your ability to prevent similar resignations in the future.

Have a clarifying conversation with the employee. This is not a time for anger. Instead, be curious and respond to the news in a calm, affirming way. As part of this conversation, be sure you understand the reason they’re exiting. Consider how you’d like to respond: Should you make a counteroffer? Will you change how you do things going forward?

Review schedules and responsibilities for the time left until the employee departs. Who will take over open projects and daily tasks? Do coworkers need to be trained? Take time to gather client contacts and project statuses. You may want to extend employee training periods for the remaining staff to build their confidence.

Schedule an exit interview. This may be conducted by a neutral party, like another team’s manager. Exit interviews should be at least 30 minutes long and include time to discuss overall work experience. They should also give the exiting employee time to suggest how to improve your workplace culture.

Other departments’ responsibilities

Inform HR that the employee is leaving, so that they can create a formal resignation letter. This includes an official notice of resignation signed and dated by both you and the employee that shares the reason for leaving along with the employee’s final day of work. Many states and contracts require two weeks’ notice. If the employee cannot work that long or if you do not want them to work that long, pick another departure date.

HR should also confirm the employee’s personal information, including mailing address, personal email address, phone number and emergency contact information. Your company may require that a nondisclosure agreement be signed by the exiting employee. HR should also organize the final paycheck and benefits information. Many states have laws regarding when final pay must be delivered. The final pay will include all accrued wages and may include unused sick days, accrued paid time off, commissions and bonuses. A third party, like an accountant, should double-check the math.

It is also essential that HR provide required legal notices about benefits. These include:

Health insurance, including COBRA.
The 401(k) plan.
Unemployment eligibility.
Any other benefits offered by your company.

HR, IT and other departments will be responsible for last-day activities like reclaiming the employee’s company laptop, cellphone, equipment or tools, uniforms, building keys, ID badges, and employee manuals. It is also essential to change the employee’s passwords to email or work accounts and remove the employee’s access to internal digital systems.

Company morale

When someone plans to leave your company, part of your responsibility is to the people who are not leaving.

Be sure to notify other staff about the departure. You can tell key business partners or managers individually, but it is fine to send a general email to everyone else. In the email, keep the message simple and positive. Be sure to thank the departing employee for their work and add good wishes for their future. You do not need to include the exact reason for their departure.

Reassign responsibilities and/or shifts. Set up one-on-one meetings with specific employees to determine if deadlines and project dates need to be adjusted and if some workers will need to be trained to take over tasks. You may want to hire an independent contractor temporarily. Be sure to offer motivational talks to keep morale up.

As early as possible, formulate a process to replace the departing employee. Starting the process early will minimize lost revenue. Among the steps in this process:

Deciding whether you will promote a current employee or hire someone new.
Reviewing your budget; how much can you afford to pay for the position?
Writing an accurate job description.
Creating and distribute job ads.
Deciding if you’d like to outsource some tasks or responsibilities to an independent contractor.
Temporarily or permanently redistributing work among current employees. This supports continuity.
- Reviewing employee performance reviews and workflows to see what’s feasible.
- If you are asking someone to increase their responsibilities, be sure you’re providing additional compensation.

On the employee’s last day, it is essential to say goodbye on a positive note. This maintains a strong relationship with the departing employee and sets an example for your other employees. Many companies offer handwritten cards, restaurant gift cards, flowers or edible treats as a goodbye gift. It is equally important that you take the time to walk the employee out and thank them for their time.

By understanding why an employee is leaving and thanking them for their quality work, you can provide an avenue for top talent to return in the future.

Creating a Payroll Continuity Plan

glevi Blog Payroll, planning, Staffing

No matter what crisis your business may face — infrastructure collapse, regional power outage, bomb threat, pandemic, flood — your employees are entitled to any wages or salaries owed to them. It’s important to have a plan that allows you to make payroll during a crisis, thereby meeting your legal obligations to ensure workers receive their pay on time.

Employers are not allowed to pay employees less frequently than the state-mandated time frame (weekly, biweekly, bimonthly, etc.). Employers are also obligated to perform all other legally required payroll duties, including remitting and reporting payroll taxes, unless the government declares otherwise. However, the U.S. Department of Labor, which oversees the Fair Labor Standards Act, has noted that minimum wage and overtime pay requirements aren’t subject to waiver during natural disasters and recovery efforts.

In the event of an emergency, you will need a payroll continuity plan. A singular plan is not as good as one that covers a variety of scenarios and timelines. Start by imagining all the possibilities, then create plans to respond to the variety of crises. Remember that in addition to payroll staff, vendors and service providers will need to know what steps to take to deliver payroll in a crisis. The plans should also dovetail with your IT department’s disaster recovery plan, and both departments should understand where they intersect. A further consideration is building redundancies into the system that will accommodate transfers of funds and allow for operations to resume off-site.

The last step to consider is the communications strategy. Who determines whether there’s a crisis? Who communicates with whom about which plan to enact? Who is the central point of contact?

Planning for the unexpected

Among the scenarios to consider are these:

What if you lose access to your paper check stock?
What if you lose access to electronic files and folders in the cloud?
What if you are not able to access your computers, the internet, your printers or scanners? What if they are destroyed?
What if you are not able to get to the physical office? Or what if only some personnel are able to be present?
What if you lose access to your payroll team or other key people in your payroll process?
What if the personnel who approve payments are not available?
What if your payroll provider (if you have one) is offline? How will you cover for them?

Payroll continuity involves conducting a payroll risk assessment and implementing disaster recovery mechanisms. Solutions include:

Create a list of payroll responsibilities so that you’ll know what to deal with first when disaster strikes.
Establish backup mechanisms for all payroll records, including those stored in the cloud.
Consider using web-based payroll solutions so that you can run payroll from anywhere.
Choose online time and attendance systems so that workers can clock in and out remotely.
If you use a manual system, be certain that there are backup copies of all files off-site. These will include paper timesheets, calculators, paper checks and hard copies of payroll registers to show employees’ previous wages and deductions.
Train replacement personnel who can fill in for payroll employees who can’t get to work.
Encourage a multitiered system whereby people can be paid by direct deposit, pay cards or paper checks.
Know whom you are obligated to pay, how much you must pay and for how long you must pay it.

Walk through your payroll continuity plan and update it in light of changing technology and business structures. While meeting payroll may not seem as significant as evacuation and data recovery, your employees may face real financial costs in a crisis. Disaster aid and insurance checks may arrive slowly. With payroll continuity, you can ensure that timely payment is still possible so that workers have one less thing to worry about.

The 10-Point Leadership Checklist

glevi Blog Accountability, Goals, Leadership, Staffing

Understanding the traits good leaders have in common is important for your own development as well as for developing future leaders at your company. Businesses change, but basic leadership skills have not changed over time.

Following are 10 essential tasks to improve leadership skills:

1. Set Personal Goals. Being a leader means you need to understand your goals. It does not mean you are required to know all the answers for achieving those goals. Knowing the things you excel at — and those you don’t — is critical to good leadership. Asking for help with things you do not have expertise in is the mark of an effective leader. Delegating, changing, growing and adapting all are part of keeping a company sustainable over the long term. The objective is achieving the goals on your list.

2. Identify Your Sphere of Influence/Areas of Concern. Set clear parameters that divide the things you can influence from those you cannot. Work hard on the things within your sphere of influence because those are the things that will expand your influence on the company and enhance your reputation as an effective leader.

3. Ensure Consistency. Good leaders need to be consistent in their behaviors and reactions, which means they need to be patient, fair and tolerant. This includes treating team members equally and not playing favorites.

4. Demand Accountability. Great leaders are willing to live up to the old adage “the buck stops here.” Success and failure both are part of running a company, and company leaders ultimately are responsible for what happens. That does not mean they oversee every detail, but it does mean they don’t play the blame game.

5. Foster Communication Skills. This skill has several components. Good leaders need to be able to listen well, ask good questions and be able to communicate good news with happiness and bad news with compassion.

6. Model Listening Skills. Listen to everyone no matter their role at the company. Find out how people connect with each other. Learn what motivates employees and how their priorities and concerns affect the company.

7. Develop Questioning Skills. Coupled with listening skills, the ability to ask questions that get to the core of the issue is critical — even when the answer is not what you want to hear.

8. Support Mentoring and Coaching. Coach and develop your team so they can grow and learn new skills. Encourage them to be creative and innovative and teach them how to problem-solve as a team. Allowing your team to learn and grow will help keep them interested in their jobs and involved in the company’s success.

9. Offer Feedback. Let your team know you value their feedback about where improvements can be made. Their suggestions may or may not used, but they should always be taken seriously and evaluated carefully.

10. Measure Success. Item one on this list is understanding your role and knowing the goals you need to achieve. This last item refers to measuring whether these goals were achieved at different points, including timeliness and budget. Celebrate your success, but remember this: Your team’s performance greatly affects this measurement, so be sure to celebrate your success at the team level, too.

Developing strong leadership in your organization is a powerful strategic initiative, if you don’t know where to start, contact us today.

What Is Imputed Income?

glevi Blog Staffing

Imputed income is defined as the cash value of a benefit that is not part of your employees’ salaries. Even though the benefit — like a gym membership — isn’t received in cash, it’s still taxable based on its cash value. Imputed income was developed to ensure that workers don’t reduce the tax that would be due were cash given instead. It is the employer’s responsibility to calculate and report imputed income. Imputed income can increase employees’ taxable income and eventual tax liability.

You must withhold tax and report imputed income as you would for any other type of income paid to employees using IRS Form W-2. Because imputed income is taxed like earned income, it is subject to FICA. Qualifying benefits are taxed at employees’ normal federal income tax rates, unless the benefit value exceeds $1 million; then, the tax rate is 37%.

Benefits with and without imputed income

Among the benefits wit imputed income are:

Use of a company/employer car
Free gym membership
Dependent care assistance exceeding $5,000
Group term life insurance exceeding $50,000
Moving expenses (van rental, relocation costs, real estate agent fees, etc.) related to employment
Higher education tuition assistance exceeding $5,250
Adoption assistance exceeding $16,810 per child (in 2024)
Cash and gift cards
Health insurance for nondependents, such as a domestic partner
Goods and/or services from partner companies
Forgiveness for student loan debt
Qualifying achievement awards exceeding $1,600

The following benefits are excluded from imputed income:

Health insurance for dependents
Health savings accounts
Dependent care assistance under $5,000
Group term life insurance under $50,000
Education assistance under $5,250
Small or occasional employer gifts such as movie tickets, birthday cakes, company T-shirts, employee snacks or meals, and tangible gifts with a low fair-market value

It is important to let your employees know in advance which benefits will be included in their taxable income. This helps them understand what will be on their W-2 and how to prepare their taxes.

While many examples of imputed income are straightforward, some are excluded under some circumstances. For example, a gym membership doesn’t count as imputed income if the gym is on work property and available only to employees. Similarly, graduate-level educational assistance for employees who teach or conduct professional research is excluded. A third example is that moving expenses for U.S. armed services members who move following a military order are excluded from the imputed income rules. In other words, imputed income can be nuanced, so consulting with an income tax professional would be a wise decision. Careful attention to the rules can help you and your workers avoid tax penalties.