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Features of the Website The succeeding paragraphs will describe the major features of the US Department of Labor Website at http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/health-plans/cobra.htm. The first feature is that a person visiting the website can find information based on one’s audience. This means that is information grouped together depending on what applies to certain individuals or organizations. On the home part of the part of the page the website points towards job seekers or unemployed individuals, employers, and workers. There is also an option to view all audiences which takes a viewer to a place on the website where there are more audiences listed such as kids or youth, labor unions, nonprofits, students, veterans, women, people with disabilities etc. This can be really helpful to the employees, employer, and Human Resources representatives to really cater the information to what they are looking for. It helps someone spend less time searching for information that is specific to their needs or the needs of the company or organization. The site does a good job of marketing the information to particular audiences. It is not about excluding information, it is about targeting information so that users can find information particular to their situation faster (Porta, n.d.). The second feature is the A to Z feature on the website located at the top of the page which helps organize commonly used information in an alphabetical way. Maybe the employer, employee, or Human Resource representative is not looking for information to specific to their group but information that falls in line with breaks and meal periods, which is not necessarily specific to a group but specific to workers in general. This would also help save someone time in finding information. The third feature is the location feature. This is especially helpful to organizations that have offices located in different states or are just looking for specific information on their own state. There are laws and regulations that companies must follow not only on a federal level but on a state level. This information shows minimum wages based on the state and information on how to apply for unemployment benefits in that state. This information could be useful for an employee who has got let go from their position (and looking to apply for unemployment benefits) or a company wondering what they would have to pay at minimum to their workers if they opened a office in that particular state.
The fourth feature is the frequently asked question webpage that is advertised on the home page. By providing answers to frequently asked questions it can help save a company, employee or Human Resource representative some time by reading some of the questions that are commonly asked and see if their question is asked and answered on this page before moving on to another helpful part of the site. Everyone values their time in a different way (Bram, n.d.) but to a business time means money, saving or losing. Saving time in a business means saving money and losing time usually can mean the business will lose money.
Compliance
The succeeding paragraphs explain how employers can use this website to verify that their employee benefits comply with the federal laws. It is a challenge for a company to comply with federal laws and regulations while still meeting business needs, but it is a necessary (Ruddy, 2007). The first way is to check out the Laws and Regulation portion of the webpage. This is an area that shows a Summary of the Major Laws of the Department of Labor. This would be a good place to start to make sure that the company is following all of the major federal laws. This is not to say that minor laws are not important but this would be a good place for the company to start to verify that employee benefits comply with federal laws. Located here are laws that are most commonly appropriate
