Like most businesses, we’ve been watching healthcare bill developments with a great deal of interest, and there appears to be a single, somewhat predictable undertone to the discussions: you could buy a medium-sized continent for what this measure is likely to cost. The folks who pay for employee health insurance are more than a little worried that substantially more coverage inclusion will come at a nearly unbearable cost to businesses. All politics aside, they have a point. Americans already spend a full 16% of our gross domestic product on healthcare – 63% more per capita than any other nation on earth – and costs have been exploding at double-digit rates for five consecutive years. To this mélange, the recent healthcare bill adds mandatory high-risk inclusion and significant short-term administrative overburden associated with electronic records conversion. Business owners feel a bit like parents of kids in a toy store: there are many “must-have” things to buy, but who foots the bill? I’m not debating the merits of many of the bill’s provisions. The health insurance industry has been guilty of egregious abuses in the past, and industry executives have admitted openly in congressional hearings that they dropped coverage over policy technicalities when people became seriously ill, refused treatment options while dying patients appealed inappropriate payment exclusions, and retroactively excluded individuals who previously qualified for coverage precisely because the law allowed them to. Big business has proven time and again that we often do have to legislate morality (I vaguely recall something about a small banking issue recently – too big to fail, too bad to fix, was it?). The healthcare bill is an attempt to move the gargantuan healthcare pendulum back toward center – an effort that is certainly overdue, but the bill arrives with all the usual clumsy and costly federal fingerprints. Which brings us back to the annoying fact that somebody has to fork over the funds. Happily, though, not all provisions are prohibitively expensive. The bill mandates employer-funded employee wellness programs. While wellness benefits are clearly not free, there’s at least the promise of return on a wellness investment. Healthier employees miss less work, spend less healthcare money, cost less money to insure, and produce more and better work. Employee wellness is a smart business investment; let’s just hope that as we learn more about the healthcare bill’s implementation specifics, it doesn’t turn out that we’ve been served another soup ... Read More

Downsizing and outsourcing have exacerbated already-stressful work environments; healthcare policy debates and an aging Baby Boomer population have made business owners very nervous about rising health costs. Those two market forces combine to make wellness an important factor in keeping employment costs somewhat manageable. Sue Schick reports (see blog) that between 75% and 86% of all employers offer health and wellness programs of some sort. Unfortunately, as Schick also notes, having a wellness program and getting employees to use your wellness program are two different matters entirely. Just like the old joke about the gym membership (“Now that I’m a member, what are the odds I’ll lose my beer gut?”) suggests, effective wellness programs boil down to personal employee choices. We’ll make health a priority when we’re ready, but not before. If you’re having trouble with employee wellness program participation, it might be time to consider a Vacation Wellness™ employee benefit program. We’ve put together some facts and figures in a recent white paper describing a bit more about the program, but it’s designed around two key points: vacations are good for employees, and employee vacations are good for business. A Marshfield study (reported here by WebMD) reports that vacationers are two to three times less likely to develop depression – statistically the costliest employee malady – than their non-vacationing counterparts. The Framingham heart study found that male vacationers were a third less likely to suffer heart attack, and female vacationers were half as likely. While smoking cessation, improved cardiovascular health, and greater general fitness are outstanding outcomes for employees, they’re results only attainable through personal dedication. But everyone needs, wants, and loves a vacation. There’s no arm-twisting required to convince employees to take advantage of their Vacation Wellness™ benefit. It’s nice to roll out an employee benefit program that generates a little excitement – particularly one that helps mitigate your employee healthcare ... Read More

I’ve become convinced that most businesses fail because of poor leadership. Occasionally, market forces will make a product line or service obsolete, or a competitor will outpace your offering, but those are recoverable circumstances – if your business has the proper leadership to adapt. What relatively few business owners and executives appreciate is that every business is a people business. I grew up flying fighter aircraft in the Air Force. It’s demanding, technical, athletic, and exhausting. As you might imagine, there are more than a few entry barriers to a career as a fighter pilot, and plenty of opportunities along the way to be “invited” to pursue a different line of work. The most meaningful realization I made during the course of my career in fighter aviation had no relation to technical skills, athletic endurance, courage, or book smarts. The most important revelation – the one that had the biggest positive impact on my success – is that flying fighters is a people business. It’s all about leadership, plain and simple. The only magic formula is to do whatever it takes to help your people succeed. If you’re worried that an up-and-comer will take your job, the organization will suffer from your selfish perspective. If you’re not actively seeking ways to make the work environment more conducive to productivity, creativity, and adaptation, expect to be overwhelmed by the competition. In the long run, the winners in your industry (whatever industry that may be) will be the ones who foster the strongest team relationship among their staff. The culture you foster at your business will ultimately determine how productive your employees are, the caliber of talent your work environment attracts, and how profitable your business becomes. If you can develop a pervasive attitude of teamwork and loyalty, you’ll have most of the battle won, no matter what form your business challenges may take. What’s the easiest way to set your business apart in this regard? Demonstrate understanding and appreciation that your staff is twice as effective, motivated, and productive when work and life are appropriately balanced. Structure your workplace environment flexibly, and provide a Vacation Wellness™ benefit. Protect your employees’ home and family from workplace intrusions, and jealously guard their private time for them. If you care for them – tangibly, continuously, and programmatically – they’ll take care of your business. Life is, after all, a people ... Read More

It may seem strange to think about retention during a period of double-digit unemployment. If you chose to ignore retention, you wouldn’t be alone – 43% of business owners guess at their employee turnover costs, and 13% don’t consider employee turnover expenses at all. The Institute for Corporate Productivity reports that while only 20% of businesses have a retention strategy in place, 46% of businesses claim concern about retention to a “high” or “very high” extent. While few businesses pay as careful attention to retention as they should, employee turnover turns out to be among the highest employment costs most businesses bear. We’ve done quite a bit of research to support our recent white paper, and discovered that the average 100-person professional firm can save over $850K per year by reducing employee turnover just 20%. The counterintuitive upshot is that recessions don’t make your key talent less valuable; instead, the economic downturn means your business relies more heavily on your most important staff members. And if they’re high quality leaders in your field, beware: truly talented employees are worth more during a recession. It’s important that you’re positioned properly to keep your talent on your team. So how do you attract and keep high-caliber staff? A recent Salary.com survey reveals that your benefits package is of equal importance as your base compensation plan to employee retention. 20% of employees say benefits are the most important retention consideration, and 20% report salary as the most important factor. Other key factors include workplace environment and job stress. Happily, employees perceive our Vacation Wellness™ program as a high-value benefit, and enjoy the reduced stress and lower healthcare expenses the program offers. It might be a business solution worth ... Read More

Good News, Anyone? It’s been a while since anyone has had anything good to report in the employee benefit world. Healthcare expenses are on a meteoric rise with little sign of improvement, which has sparked a raging political debate that has everyone holding their breath. Business owners and employees grow increasingly weary of the ongoing “pay more, get less” benefits trend. It’s tough to view employee benefits as a strategic investment, particularly at a time when most executives are just looking for ways to stop the healthcare hemorrhaging. It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the people most exhausted by all of the bad news are the folks we’re charged to care for, motivate, inspire, and lead. The economic downturn has taken a toll on our staff, and simultaneously left us with fewer resources to invest in employee productivity, retention, and wellness. The economic reach of our employee benefit programs has diminished precisely when meaningful benefits packages have become most important – after all, most of us don’t have much extra incentive or wellness cash these days, but we all need the healthcare cost reductions and productivity boosts those programs generate. Fortunately, there are a few benefits programs that offer significant multi-dimensional leverage. I’m obviously and shamelessly biased, but I think Vacation Wellness™ falls in that category. It’s an easy tool to help you retain talent (believe it or not, salary.com reports that 2/3 of your staff is probably looking for a better job despite high unemployment numbers), reduce healthcare expenses, generate loyalty, and demonstrate meaningful investment in your key business resource – your staff – all without spending much ... Read More