How to Transition from Remote Work to In-Person Sales

In 2020, B2B sales abruptly transitioned from a face-to-face game of relationship-building to a digital game that aimed to do the same. Sales representatives traded long drives and flights for their home offices as companies nationwide closed themselves off to non-essential personnel. Video conferencing and email became the new standard as processes and systems shifted. However, the need to develop and build relationships never faltered.

Now, as companies look toward the future, they need to make difficult decisions about when to move employees back into the office, while considering the needs of both their employees and their clients. The other big issue facing employers is the variety of protocols that will need to continue and be enhanced to bring people back in safely while accounting for the fact that not everyone is planning on getting the vaccine. Ultimately, control of COVID-19 and the rate of vaccination is going to affect the speed with which we return to the workplace.

The timeframe on this decision will be heavily influenced by industry segment. Companies that have an internal focus and can work in a bubble likely have not stopped going into the office, at least to some degree. For example, manufacturers never stopped going into the plant, instead they implemented strict protocols to keep their workforce safe and on the job. However, externally focused companies, like professional services firms, started going back into the office since the first of the year, but are not interacting with clients yet. Meeting with clients and partners is still being done virtually in these settings. Most other companies will likely be back by this fall, all things equal, but not in the same way as before.

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FLSA Exemptions Update - Commission Salespeople, Executives & Overtime

 UPDATE:  11-22-2016   In a ruling Tuesday, U.S. Court Judge Amos L. Mazzant III of the Eastern District of Texas barred the U.S. from implementing the new overtime rules, saying the new revision improperly created a salary test for determining which workers fall under the Fair Labor Standards Act’s so-called “white collar” exemption.  Read the court ruling here.  This puts the following information on a temporary hold. 



On 12/1/16 a new FLSA rule by the Department of Labor will require you to either pay an exempt (salaried) employee an hourly rate along with overtime pay or increase their pay to meet the new threshold limits of $47,476.

Under the proposed rules, the minimum salary threshold would increase from $23,660 per year ($455 per week) to $50,440 ($970 per week) in 2016. The current “highly compensated employee” exemption would increase from $100,000 to $122,148 per year. According to the DOL, as many as five million American workers who are currently exempt could become eligible for overtime protection.

Topics: Commissions Legal HR Compensation