Workplace of Choice

As the days of summer quickly get us to Labor Day…fall means 2011 planning!  Are you ready to review your employee benefits programs and costs?   Here are a few tips to keep in mind that will help trim your costs:

Benefits Statements:

Do your employees really know the “value” of their benefits?  If not, $how them!!!  A benefits statement is a customized, individualized statement which shows the costs of their benefits and is used to increase employees' awareness of the value of their benefits package.

Employees who understand and appreciate their benefits evaluate other job positions on an “apples-to-apples” basis (factoring in the value of all benefits, not just take-home pay). An informed workforce is the most effective defense against employee turnover.

The Benefits Statement can also be used as a communication tool for 2011 Open Enrollment.   

Reconcile the Data:

Are you carrying benefits for terminated or inactive employees or dependents that no longer meet coverage criteria?  Conduct a quarterly audit focusing on the following:

• Make sure only active employees on your insurance plans
• Remove terminated employees
• Full-time students who no longer meet the age coverage criteria
• Spouses/dependents of employees

By doing an audit and requiring documentation that spouses and dependents who are on your plan are actually related to the employee in question, you can drop your total number of covered individuals by as much as 10 percent. Of course, in doing this, you’re presenting employees with a tough message on trust, and the ones who are not being forthright will be the ones with the worst reaction. 

Promote Wellness:

Want to get your employee’s attention…how about some cold-hard-cash for healthy habits!  Keep your costs down by promoting healthy habits.  A quarterly blood pressure and cholesterol screening that is within the “healthy range” keeps employees healthy (and healthcare claims costs down!)  Consider offering employees a small stipend for every quarter their blood pressure stays in the “healthy range”.

Some other cost-savings / free programs to consider:

• Company Walking Club: Walking teams can compete against each other…nothing like a little friendly competition!
• Many health-plans have “Living Healthy” programs whereby employees can get partial reimbursement for gym memberships and weight loss programs.  Contact your plan’s member benefits for more info.

What have you implemented in the past to help contain your employee benefits costs?  

Today is Earth Day, so what better day to focus on "Going Green" in the office?  Consider the following approaches to recycling the "stuff" that your company may no longer need:

• Have an "Office Yard Sale": Invite employees to a conference room to take any of the extra furniture, bookcases, printers, computers, etc. It's a win-win, the company doesn't have to incur the cost to dispose of the materials and the employees take what they want for free - talk about an employee moral booster! Anything leftover can then be donated to a local organization in need.
• Recycle scrap paper: Has your company logo or address changed or do you have scrap paper from a botched print job? Don't throw away all of that outdated letterhead, give it to employees to donate to their child's school or local community center where children will be able to doodle away. Think about printing draft documents on the back side of already used paper to help reduce the amount of paper.
• Old cell phones: There are many organizations that recycle cell phones for great causes. Consider donating old cell phones to our US Soldiers, Veterans or homeless shelters.
• Printer cartridge recycling: Don't throw away those old ink cartridges...recycle them! Did you know that: 
•  Almost 1 gallon of oil is needed to make one new laser cartridge
• In just 12 months, cartridge recycling could save 400 million gallons of oil in the U.S.
• Millions of cartridges go into landfills each year and this number increases by 12% annually
• A printer cartridge thrown into a landfill will take up to 450 years to decompose
• Water bottles: Instead of providing single-use water for employees, give each employee a water bottle with the company logo. Employees can take the water bottle wherever they go (free marketing!) and you'll be saving the environment by eliminating the plastic bottle waste.

These small changes are free and will better the environment for everyone! 

Happy Earth Day!

On a day to day basis, does everything seem to run relatively smoothly at your organization or do you feel like you're constantly putting out employee related fires?  Your answer to that question may vary based on your organization's Human Resources Strategy.  In short, your HR Strategy is your approach to how you treat your employees and will affect your strategic thinking for the business as a whole. There isn't a one-size-fits-all and your HR strategy may change as the business evolves. 

Although one organization's strategy may be vastly different from another's, in determining your HR Strategy, consider the following:

• Compensation - Where do your employee's salaries fall with respect to the marketplace?  Do you pay at the 50^th percentile, higher or lower and why? What is your philosophy on salary increases?  Does incentive pay play a significant role in compensation?  You should be able to effectively articulate to your employees your compensation philosophy, the salary guidelines and practice it on a regular basis.
• Employee Benefits - Do you offer premier benefits to your employees or just enough to stay competitive with other companies in your space?  Employee benefits may include time off, medical, dental, life insurance, disability, tuition reimbursement and other fringe benefits such as commuting reimbursement or concierge services.
• Communication - Developing a plan for employee communication is vital to employee morale and will also affect your corporate culture.  How do you want to disseminate information?  What is going to be most effective based on the company size, locations, and hours of operation?
• Training & Development - What is the value you place on training and development and at what expense?  Training can come in the form of tuition reimbursement, on-site training, on-the-job training, succession planning and many other formats.  How much money and time are you willing to spend?
• Recruiting - Developing a recruitment philosophy that supports your HR Strategy will help ensure that new employees are on the same page with your goals and objectives. The on-boarding process is another consideration you'll want to think about.
• Work Environment - What sort of workplace have you created? Highly-structured with limited flexibility?  More casual with greater freedom for employees to work as they like as long as the job gets done?  Planned time for fun to relieve stress and to show appreciation for a commitment to the business?

In short, does your HR Strategy enable your organization to hire and to keep the talent it needs to achieve the goals of the business?

Ultimately the value you place on your human resources (i.e. your employees) may dictate the success of your business, so understanding and living your strategy is essential. 

We're just coming off "the most wonderful time of the year"...but Rewards don't always have to come just during the holidays and new year!  Rewards can come in many different forms and serve many different purposes:

• Something given in return: something desirable given in return for what someone has done
• Money offered in return: money offered as a reward
• Benefit received: a benefit obtained as a result of an action taken or a job done
• Something reinforcing desired behavior:  something positive that follows a desired response and acts to encourage desired behavior

Rewards can come in many different forms.  Before you give a reward, it's helpful to know the following:

1. What is being rewarded? Specifically state the behavior or result that is being rewarded.

2. Why is it important? How does it help the business achieve its goals, financial metrics or other key performance indicators?

3. What result(s) did the behavior produce? Cost savings, customer satisfaction, process improvement, etc. You want to quantify it so the positive behavior can be replicated!

There are lots of different ways to reward positive behavior:

• Cash awards: Money is obviously the most readily used. Also consider gift cards, cafeteria "free lunch" certificates or giving a charitable donation in an employee's name.
• Non-cash awards: A handwritten thank you note, recognition at a company meeting, peer recognition or a company "wall of fame" are ways to recognize employees.

Regardless of the reward vehicle you use, but sure to:

• Be timely: Recognize the positive behavior when it happens, not 3 weeks later!
• Reward consistently: Be sure to recognize big and little accomplishments...but do so proportionately. A major cost savings may justify a cash reward, but solving a minor problem on the fly, may just require a "thank you"
• Be sensitive: If the employee you want to recognize is shy or quiet, reward them quietly, not in the company meeting! Respect the employee's style and preferences by recognizing them in a way they will feel comfortable. You certainly don't want to minimize their positive behavior by making them uncomfortable.

What is your Company doing to reward employees? 

Wellness, Wellness, Wellness - we've been hearing about it for the last several years now. But with the concept of getting and keeping our employees healthier through Wellness, we also hear the accompanying arguments from employers on why a Wellness program isn't feasible:

• We don't have a budget.
• If we do spend money, what's the ROI?
• No one has the time to exercise more.
• Is it really our business what our employees are doing with their lives/bodies?
• We don't have the additional staff needed to communicate and run a Wellness program.

Well, as we turn the corner into 2010 and see that employee benefit increases had another year of double digit increases for many with no end in sight, Wellness is fast becoming the only way to start nipping at the heels of this runaway train.

The medical conditions that end up costing the most to both consumers and in return companies are not surprising.  Even less surprising is that they haven't changed in the last several years. Heart Disease and Cancer are the top cost "drivers" for company-sponsored health insurance.  Although we won't be able to eliminate these diseases, early detection through screening and prevention will go a long way to reducing overall medical spending.

So, what's an employer to do? Listed below are some examples of how to get started and begin impacting your company's bottom line when it comes to employee benefits and Wellness:

• Implementing prevention programs are no longer ‘a nice to have.'  If employers want to start curtailing their medical benefit increases, it is in their best interest to help their smokers to stop smoking, their obese to seek nutritional/emotional/physical support and to help their employees reduce their overall stress level.  All these unhealthy behaviors have a direct impact on health and in turn, your company's bottom line.
• Offering wellness incentives for employees can motivate them to action.  Encourage employees to set goals for their health.  For example, hold a cholesterol screening, which indicates the risk of Heart Disease, and then encourage employees to work toward reducing their numbers.  Reward employees for reaching their health goals.
• Structuring the medical plan to allow for better or total coverage of screening tests is another way to ensure that employees are staying current on recommended testing.
• Don't underestimate the "soft" cost of disease - although Heart Disease and Cancer are the top two costs - Depression can actually cost the company more than any other condition due to these "soft" costs. The costs of fighting depression include not only medical and drug spend, but time off (either in disability, PTO, or Leaves of Absence) and the cost of lack of productivity. Wellness efforts, coupled with an EAP can work wonders in this area!

Although we keep waiting for skyrocketing health costs to - well, stop skyrocketing, it appears that a concentrated Wellness effort which is better looped into overall HR policies and objectives might be more than a just a wise use of time and resources, but a necessary one too.

The sun is shining, the weather is warm and summer is a perfect time to either begin or ‘ramp up' your company's wellness plans.  There are many employee benefits to implementing a wellness program including increase in employee productivity and employee morale.  If you don't have a "Wellness Plan" yet - fear not, wellness is a very subjective term - and any activity that promotes a healthier lifestyle qualifies.  Some easy to implement ideas for you to educate your employees in order to jump start their wellness plans include:

Exercise: Grab a few colleagues and go for a walk around the block, building, campus, etc. on your lunch hour; corral your family after dinner and go for an evening stroll around the neighborhood; play with your kids – remember, a quick game of basketball in the driveway or a bike ride counts as exercise too!

Nutrition: Although it’s hard to pass up all the ice cream flavors at the neighborhood stand, or the plethora of burgers on the grill, this is also a great time to indulge in fresh fruits and vegetables. If you act in moderation, you can have your cake and eat it too… or your grilled zucchini… or strawberries with or without shortcake.

Stress: Even though summer schedules might be busier than ever (yours and your family’s) summer is also a great time to SLOW DOWN – enjoy the extra innings of the ball game, watch the sunset, listen to the gulls over high tide, or hike through an interesting local field or wooded area.

Be mindful: Ticks, mosquitoes, and too much sun are the lurking hazards of this wonderful season so be careful to avoid or address their ills timely!

As you set out to educate your employees, keep in mind of the resources available.  Use your existing benefit plans, as many offer fitness, weight control and smoking cessation benefits. You might already be paying for these peripheral benefits, so you might as well maximize them - call your plan to find out!  Many communities also offer wellness programs and can provide valuable information.

We'll be donning coats again before we know it - ENJOY the summer while it's here!