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OK at Work, hosted by Offit Kurman attorneys Russell Berger and Sarah Sawyer, is a weekly podcast that discusses current events and legal issues impacting business owners. From updates on the ever-changing employment law landscape to the risks and benefits of integrating AI into your workplace, subscribe to stay up-to-date on issues and events that may impact you and your business.
Sarah Sawyer: Welcome to this
week's OK at Work of myself, Sarah
Sawyer, my colleague Russell Berger
with attorneys at Offit Kurman.
And today we are talking about just
as we wrap up towards the end of the
year, it's a time where everyone's
reviewing their policies and procedures.
Maybe we're doing trainings
for employees thinking ahead,
reflecting on the year that, we're
closing out and looking forward to
moving to the year ahead in 2026.
And a big part of that, I know that's
come up from my clients and for us as
an organization, even at Offit Kurman
also, is just to say, all right, this
is a good time of year to, double
check, make sure we got our trainings.
I know we do a security training
and those types of things.
And giving people refreshers on policies,
'cause obviously we always talk about
on OK at Work that policies are only as
good as their implementation and people
knowing about them and following them.
So it's a good time of the year
for a little bit of a checkup.
And I say checkup 'cause also
it's the flu season right now.
Lots of germs floating around offices.
What are some things that as we close
out the year and headed into the new
one, that it's a good opportunity
for people to be looking at Russell?
Russell Berger: Yeah I agree.
I think this isn't a heavy lift.
In most cases, you probably already
have these policies drafted or
they're in your handbook or you've
got several one-off policies for them.
But it's more just, a good time to
get your compliance ducks in a row.
As we wrap up the year, have you done
the, required harassment trainings?
If you've got employees in states that,
that require that kind of training, have
you done the trainings that your insurance
company requires or likes to see?
Have you done cybersecurity training,
which your insurance company may
require and is certainly a good idea.
Have you reminded employees of these
policies, of best practices, of the right
rules, of proper protocol for, if they're
calling out sick, who do you call into?
What's the right number?
How do you reach the right person
for your department to let them know
that you're out, that sort of thing.
Sarah Sawyer: You see a lot more
of that this time of year as well.
And I alluded to it being like flu
season, COVID season, germ season.
Kids are back in school.
People are gathering obviously for
Thanksgiving and for the holidays.
So people might need to make a
lot more use of these policies
during this time of year.
People are gathering in the office
spaces there's leftover food and
things from various celebrations that
everyone may have their hands in.
Russell Berger: Yeah.
We're not in COVID times, thankfully.
We should feel comfortable getting
together and spending time together.
But also, from an operational
standpoint, we wanna be cognizant
of germs and those sorts of things,
and we don't wanna make it worse.
As we said many times during the
COVID era probably a good time to,
get rid of the communal pretzel
jar and never bring it back.
I still stand by that recommendation.
But yeah, look, it's fine to gather
obviously, but let's be smart about it.
Not reckless.
Sarah Sawyer: Sometimes, you might
still end up having to address some of
these things with individuals as things
might happen in different behaviors
that happen in an office place.
But to the extent that you can get ahead
of those things and be very broad and
just making sure that folks are aware
of policies and procedures, that's
always preferable and we're always for
proactivity here I think it's a good
time to be proactive on these topics.
Russell Berger: Yeah, yeah, just a
reminder, we have this policy, FYI.
You should follow it.
Sarah Sawyer: All right.
Well, thanks Russell.
We'll see you next time.
Russell Berger: Thanks Sarah.