PensionsMarch 11, 2020

NY State Pension, Coca-Cola Reach Executive Pay Deal

Beverage giant promises to bring CEO, employee compensation more in alignment.

The $225.9 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund has struck a deal with Coca-Cola in which the company has agreed to consider the wages it pays all its employees when deciding executive salaries to help bring them into closer alignment.

The fund had filed a shareholder resolution calling for such a move, but has now withdrawn it as the agreement satisfies the intent of the proposal.

“Pay for CEOs and other corporate executives has dramatically outpaced wages for most other employees in recent years,” State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, trustee of the fund, said in a statement.

“We are encouraging companies to adopt executive compensation policies that take their entire workforce into consideration,” he said, adding that “I commend Coca-Cola for taking this step to help ensure that pay for its top executives is in line with the company’s overall compensation philosophy and long-term performance, not simply on what executives at other companies are making.”

Coca-Cola said it is revamping its compensation committee into what it now calls its “Human Capital Management & Compensation Committee” to reflect a broader scope that the committee now oversees. The company also agreed to add new language to its proxy statement regarding CEO and named executive officer (NEO) pay.

“The compensation approach used to set CEO and NEO pay is the same approach used in determining compensation for the broader workforce, including pay competitiveness and the use of performance-based metrics that reward exceptional financial performance,” the company stated in a draft of the proxy statement. “The committee also can consider other factors which it regularly reviews, including shareowner and employee feedback; the advisory vote on compensation; the CEO pay ratio; global pay fairness; progress against diversity metrics; and others.”

The proxy statement draft also states that pay for the company’s executives is “at-risk and performance-based” with a metrics performance aligned to the company’s growth strategy. It said the company’s performance is assessed in multiple ways, such as operating performance, including results against long-term growth targets, and return to shareowners over time, both on an absolute basis and relative to other companies.

It also said that environmental and social goals “are critical to our business,” and that executives will be motivated to deliver results that align with company’s values and shareowner interests.

The comptroller’s office has complained that CEO pay at the largest US companies has risen dramatically over the past 50 years, while average wages have “made only meager gains” when adjusted for inflation. It said the pay ratio between CEOs and the typical worker has increased by as much as 1,400% in some cases and argues that this disparity can damage company morale, productivity, and reputation.

DiNapoli said he believes the companies the fund invests in should align executive pay practices with their compensation practices for other employees and provide supplemental information that informs investors.

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Source: Chief Investment Officer

https://www.ai-cio.com/news/ny-state-pension-coca-cola-reach-executive-pay-deal/

March 9, 2020

Global insurance brokers Aon and Willis Towers Watson announced a definitive agreement to combine in an all-stock transaction with an implied combined equity value of approximately $80 billion.

Under the terms of the agreement unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies, each Willis Towers Watson shareholder will receive 1.08 Aon ordinary shares for each Willis Towers Watson ordinary share, and Aon shareholders will continue to own the same number of ordinary shares in the combined company as they do immediately prior to the closing.

Upon completion of the combination, existing Aon shareholders will own approximately 63% and existing Willis Towers Watson shareholders will own approximately 37% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis.

According to S&P, Aon intends to combine with Willis in an all-stock transaction valued at about $30 billion. (Willis shares will be exchanged to Aon shares.)

“The combination of Willis Towers Watson and Aon is a natural next step in our journey to better serve our clients in the areas of people, risk and capital,” said Willis Towers Watson CEO John Haley. “This transaction accelerates that journey by providing our combined teams the opportunity to drive innovation more quickly and deliver more value.”

“This combination will create a more innovative platform capable of delivering better outcomes for all stakeholders, including clients, colleagues, partners and investors,” said Aon CEO Greg Case. “Our world-class expertise across risk, retirement and health will accelerate the creation of new solutions that more efficiently match capital with unmet client needs in high-growth areas like cyber, delegated investments, intellectual property, climate risk and health solutions.”

The combined company, to be named Aon, will be focused on the areas of risk, retirement and health.

What’s the big merger all about?

Broking giants Aon and Willis Towers Watson say the deal is about getting better, not bigger. And, it’s about addressing unmet client needs.

Combined the companies have more than $20 billion in revenue. Aon reported $11 billion in revenue with $2.2 billion net income for 2019 compared to $9 billion revenue and $1.4 billion net income for Willis Towers Watson.

Aon will maintain operating headquarters in London, United Kingdom. The parent company will be incorporated in Ireland. The combined firm will have 95,000 employee globally, with what the announcement said will be a “significant presence” in Chicago, New York and Singapore.

John Haley will take on the role of executive chairman with a focus on growth and innovation strategy. The combined firm will be led by Greg Case and Aon Chief Financial Officer Christa Davies. The board of directors will comprise proportional members from Aon and Willis Towers Watson’s current directors.

This is the second run at an Aon-Willis Towers Watson merger. A year ago on March 5, Aon confirmed it was exploring a tie-up with Willis but one day later, it called off the talks. Aon was required to disclose its interest in Willis Towers Watson, which is subject to Irish takeover regulations requiring Aon to make the disclosure early in the process.

At the time, Aon said it reserved the right within the next 12 months to set aside that announcement that it wasn’t intending to pursue the Willis deal.

Last year, some analysts suggested that regulatory issues were likely to be a concern for a deal given Aon and Willis are the second- and third-largest insurance brokers by revenue.

The largest broker by revenue, Marsh & McLennan, last year closed its largest deal with a $5.7 billion agreement to buy Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group.

Willis Towers was formed in 2016 through Willis Group Holdings Plc’s $8.9 billion acquisition of the consultancy Towers Watson & Co., the largest insurance broker deal to date.

The transaction is subject to the approval of the shareholders of both Aon Ireland and Willis Towers Watson, as well as other customary closing conditions, including required regulatory approvals. The parties expect the transaction to close in the first half of 2021.

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Source: Insurance Journal

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2020/03/11/560877.htmhttps://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2020/03/11/560877.htm

Deborah Stadtler | March 9, 2020

More states and countries are reporting cases of coronavirus, and employers around the world are educating their workforces on how to prevent the spread of the virus. Employers in the U.S. should review their infectious-disease management plans. If they don't have these plans, now is the time to create them. Reviewing and communicating sick leave policies, telehealth options and other wellness program aspects are also important. 

Infectious-Disease Management Plans

Many organizations, particularly multinationals, have infectious-disease management plans, but the majority do not, said John Beattie, a principal consultant with Sungard Availability Services in Wayne, Pa. 

An effective pandemic plan addresses such topics as:

• Workplace safety precautions.
• Employee travel restrictions.
• Provisions for stranded travelers unable to return home.
• Mandatory medical check-ups, vaccinations or medication.
• Mandatory reporting of exposure, such as employees reporting to employers and employers reporting to public health authorities.
• Employee quarantine or isolation.
• Facility shutdowns.

Plans should detail how to communicate with employees about staying away from work when they are sick and telecommuting if necessary, Beattie noted.

"Giving a sense of calm is important if there is an outbreak," he added. "Employees should feel like they're in good hands with management and that managers are concerned about them."

Even if companies don't have pandemic policies, many have disaster-preparedness policies, which are analogous, said Joseph Deng, an attorney with Baker McKenzie in Los Angeles. If an office is in the path of the pandemic, it should shut down, just as it would if it were in the path of a hurricane or wildfire, he noted.

Be Reasonable in Applying Policies

In implementing an infectious-disease management plan, employers should be reasonable in how they apply their policies, Deng said. How long a company keeps a facility shut in the event of a pandemic is a key consideration. In China, that issue is raising questions about whether there will be furloughs, in which case employees will need to be notified and paid at a furlough rate, he stated.

"This will pass. Don't forget about the needs of employees," Deng said. "How will you turn on lights again and keep the workforce engaged so you come out stronger and more resilient?"

No Doctor's Note Required

"Do not require a health care provider's note for employees who are sick with acute respiratory illness to validate their illness or to return to work, as health care provider offices and medical facilities may be extremely busy and not able to provide such documentation in a timely way," the CDC advised.

Employers, however, "should be cautious about providing medical advice to sick employees," advised Danielle Capilla, director of compliance and employee benefits at Alera Group, an employee benefits and financial services firm. "Guiding employees to speak with their physician, their local health department, and to use telemedicine as appropriate is the best course of action."

Be Lenient with Sick Leave

The CDC advises employers to "ensure that your sick leave policies are flexible and consistent with public health guidance and that employees are aware of these policies."

Employers can require employees who exhibit coronavirus symptoms to stay home until they are symptom free, said Mark Neuberger, a litigation attorney in the Miami office of law firm Foley & Lardner LLP. Similarly, if an employee is returning from a country designated by the CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO) as having high risk for COVID-19 transmission, employers can require that they wait 14 days before returning to the workplace.

Be cautious, though, and think about modifying your attendance policies. Requiring these quarantines could encourage hourly workers who have no remaining paid sick days or paid time off (PTO) not to reveal that they may pose a risk to others.

"If employers force someone to stay home for two weeks without pay or make them use precious PTO, they may push people to hide where they have been or what symptoms they are experiencing, which will defeat planning to ensure that management is taking all reasonable steps to prevent the illness from spreading through the workplace," Neuberger said.

While recognizing there is a possibility for abuse by employees who would like to stay home for two weeks, said Jennifer Ho, vice president of human resources at Ascentis, a human capital management software firm based in Minneapolis. “It really is up to employers to have best practices and training for managers on how to handle situations like this." 

There's another sick leave complication employers may face: If public health officials order employees or their family members quarantined for up to two weeks because they have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or visited a high-risk area, those being quarantined—if they show no symptoms—may not be covered by their employer's sick or disability leave policy. For quarantined employees whose jobs can't be performed remotely, employers should consider their response and may choose to extend paid leave benefits to cover this situation. Be mindful of new or part-time employees that may not be covered by sick leave benefits. 

Encourage Workers to Use Telehealth

"If telehealth is an option for your employees, advise them to make use of it," said Kim Buckey, vice president of client services at DirectPath, a benefits education, enrollment and health care transparency firm based in Burlington, Mass. "The doctor will be able to assess whether the employee needs to come in for testing or can be treated at home. This minimizes the risk of infecting others in the office waiting room or getting infected themselves" if it turns out that they have a cold or the flu.

For employees without a telehealth plan, "the best course of action is to call their health provider if they have one, their local urgent care clinic, or—in a pinch— the local ER and describe their symptoms. Tests are limited at this point and will be reserved for those who are severely ill, recently traveled to affected countries or have interacted with those who have," Buckey pointed out.

Mary Kay O'Neill, a partner at HR consultancy Mercer, advise companies not to overlook telehealth for treating emotional health issues. “Especially if people are quarantined for weeks on end. Epidemics like this can increase anxiety and depression among people, resulting in a greater need for these services," she said. Employee assistance programs are another option as well.

When to Use FMLA

For long-term absence, most employees dealing with their own or a family member's serious illness can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the federal Family Medical Leave Act.

"If it turns out to be coronavirus, the employee will likely be out for two weeks or more, so short-term disability and FMLA may come into play," Buckey said.

While generally a doctor's certification is needed for FMLA leave, "if an employer understands the employee has a serious health condition within the meaning of the FMLA, the employer is free to waive the requirement to provide documentation," said Neuberger. "That can be a management decision."

At the same time, he noted, employers may have legitimate concerns about people who try to "milk the system and take 12 weeks off, claiming they have something they don't," he said. "It's a balancing act. But under these circumstances, being flexible is the better way to go."

Caution vs. Panic

Management, Neuberger said, "has to deal with irrational fears in a rational way, by providing good information and staying on top of rapidly changing advice posted by the CDC and WHO, and assigning someone to monitor those websites every day," he advised.

"It's important to be cautious, to be up to date and to stay informed," Ho said. "It's equally important to deploy common sense."

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Source: HR PEOPLE + STRATEGY

https://blog.hrps.org/blogpost/Reviewing-Plans-and-Policies-for-Coronavirus

Jack Sweeney, Senior Contributor, CFO Network ||| Feb 28, 2020

For those finance chiefs who are apt to tweak their company’s sales compensation plan, Boomi CFO Carolyn Koehn has some curt advice: Stop. Or at least make your tweaks sparingly.

“If you want to lose sales and have the sales team off doing exercises in game theory or whatever, just keep changing your comp plan,” says Koehn, who served as vice president of finance, global sales compensation for the computer maker and storage company Dell until last year, when she stepped into the finance chief role at Boomi, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company and Dell subsidiary.

 DELL TECHNOLOGIES

Part of the temptation to “tweak” is due to the numerous inputs that feed into most sales comp plans, Koehn explains. The finance chief’s admonition conjures a crowded control panel with dials that can be turned every which way.

“At Dell, we probably had 13 different inputs to calculate sales compensation and no salesperson cares where the tweaking error was made or who made it,” says Koehn, who believes that sales productivity is at risk when inputs are being  changed by different departments and functional groups within a company as well as different layers of management.

Koehn says that the sales team needs to get its marching orders from a single voice. “You have to have a team that owns sales compensation and knows how to reach into the organization to identify the problem, fix it, and be able to close that communication very quickly,” explains Koehn. She adds that the key measures of success for sales compensation remain, first of all, the alignment between the goals of the business and the goals of the sales team. Disrupt  the comp plan and Koehn warns that the sales team could be headed in a direction entirely unrelated to company goals. Koehn’s second key measure of success for a comp plan is sales productivity—which brings us back to her admonition.

“I think that sales productivity is achieved by trying to keep the compensation plan as consistent as you can and, when you do have changes, try to keep them as simple as possible,” observes Koehn, who says that while most comp calculations involve obvious numbers such as sales quotas and the dollar value of orders, the complexity quickly escalates when you factor in the overlapping sales rep assignments inside large customers and the bigger commissions offered by some products over others.

“You can imagine that in a product portfolio as big as Dell’s, there are a lot of opportunities to get it right, but there are also a lot of opportunities where errors can creep in,” adds Koehn, who notes that calculating commissions for salespeople becomes even more challenging when human resources data is added to the mix.

“When was the salesperson’s start date? When was their stop date? Did they get a pay raise? All of these elements usually aren't something that is necessarily top-of-mind, but get them wrong and you will certainly get commission payments incorrect,” emphasizes Koehn.

Before accepting the CFO role at Boomi, Koehn says she had begun to look for future finance leadership roles that could provide broader management experience – the kind of experience that would someday make her an attractive candidate for outside board positions.

“Several folks approached me about the Boomi opportunity and I thought about what I could bring to the role and what it offered me in return,” explains Koehn, who says from a personal development perspective Boomi ultimately transported her to a new land of opportunity. After spending most all of her career helping to grow hardware and infrastructure technology businesses, Koehn had found a quick door of entry into the software-as-a-service business.

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Source: Forbes

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacksweeney/2020/02/28/boomi-cfo-says-that-sales-productivity-often-suffers-a-death-of-a-thousand-tweaks/#1265c081cc48

March 2, 2020

Earlier this week, the NLRB made official a less stringent standard on joint employer liability, returning to a decades old approach which had been applied until the NLRB’s decision in 2015 which made the standard less predictable and more difficult for employers. Returning to the 2015 standard offers greater clarity, stability, and precision as to the circumstances whereby a business will be held jointly and severally liable for violations of federal labor law by another business. The new standard goes away from the more-relaxed, abstract test which brought more contractors, franchisers, and employers into labor disputes and negotiations as “joint employers,” and requires actual control to be exerted over the employment relationship to warrant a finding of joint employment. 

The Prior State of the Law

In 2015, the NLRB ruled that a business was a joint employer if its control over the essential terms and conditions of another business’ employees was merely indirect, limited and routine, or contractually reserved but never exercised. This broad standard made it more likely that businesses would be liable for actions of franchisees and subcontracted workers. It also made it more incumbent on businesses to bargain collectively with employees of its contractors or franchisees. The standard proved to be untenable and, most troubling, unpredictable.​

The New Standard

President Trump’s NLRB quickly signaled its intention to reverse course and return to the standard which had been in place for decades before 2015. The rule now requires that a business exercise substantial direct and immediate control over one or more essential terms and conditions of employment of another business’ employees in order for it to be deemed a joint employer. Essential terms and conditions of employment include wages, benefits, hours of work, hiring, discharge, discipline, supervision, and direction. The new rule defines the key phrase “substantial direct and immediate control” as control which “has a regular or continuous consequential effect on an essential term or condition of employment of another employer’s employees.” Such control is not “substantial” if it is only exercised on a sporadic, isolated, or de minimis basis.

The implementation of the new rule will reduce litigation and litigation costs because it makes it less likely that a business will be found jointly and severally liable for another business’ unfair labor practices or will be required to bargain collectively with the employees of another employer. The implementation will also clarify for unions with whom they can collectively bargain.

In conclusion, this new rule scraps the 2015 standard which permitted joint employer status based solely on indirect influence or a contractual reservation of a right to control that had never been exercised, which burdened businesses and lacked predictability in application. The rule was formally published in the Federal Register on February 26. It will go into effect April 27, 2020.

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Source: JD Supra, LLC

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/good-news-for-employers-nlrb-finalizes-25423/

PUBLISHED

MAR 2, 2020 9:28AM EST

(RTTNews) - American denim company Levi Strauss & Co. has introduced paid family leave to provide their employees the facility to care for ill family members without worrying about the stability of their job or finances.

The leave is available immediately to all U.S. corporate and benefits-eligible retail or hourly employees who work at least 30 hours a week.

According to a study conducted by Pew Research Center, more than one in ten U.S. adults are caring for an aging parent or immediate family member at the same time they are raising their own children.

Another report from the National Business Group on Health reveals that about 44 percent of employees experience financial strain while they take the additional responsibility of tending to a sick family member. 88 percent of adult caregivers also have a negative impact on their own health.

The eight-week paid time off per year will enable employees to care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition. This is applicable for an ill spouse, domestic partner, parent or stepparent, child or stepchild up to 18 years of age. It will help the employee bring a balance between the growing demands from their work and personal lives.

The new employee benefit is an extension to the company's paid parental leave program announced in 2016, which provides eight weeks of paid time off to welcome or care for a new child.

Last week, Levi Strauss also hired Tracy Layney as Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, effective April 20, 2020.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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Source: Nasdaq, Inc.

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/levi-strauss-introduces-paid-family-leave-to-care-for-ill-family-members-2020-03-02

Bani Sapra | Mar 2, 2020, 4:50 PM

Most of Google's 8,000-strong office in Dublin, Ireland — the tech giant's European headquarters  — have been told to work from home on Tuesday after a member of its staff reported flu-like symptoms. Other tech companies like Twitter and Coinbase are also following suit. 

Google stressed that the day-long measure was precautionary, and in accordance with the advice of medical experts. 

"We continue to take precautionary measures to protect the health and safety of our workforce, in accordance with the advice of medical experts, and as part of that effort we have asked our Dublin teams to work from home tomorrow," a Google spokesperson told Business Insider.  

COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, has spread well outside its place of origin in Wuhan, China since its outbreak at the end of last year. The disease, which has infected around 88,000 people around the world, with the vast majority of cases in China, is now also disrupting businesses as multinational businesses reconsider their conferences, travel, and their employees' daily commutes.  

Google has been tightening up its policies after a Google employee tested positive for the coronavirus in Zurich last week. It has restricted its employee travel and cancelled Google Cloud's biggest event of the year as concerns around the outbreak grow. 

Other tech companies follow suit

Precautionary work-from-home policies are now also being adopted among other tech companies, like Twitter and Coinbase. 

Twitter is now recommending that all employees around the world, nearly 5,000 in total, work from home. The company announced its recommendation out of an "abundance of caution" in a blog post on Monday, after it suspended all non-critical travel for employees and its CEO Jack Dorsey opted out of attending the SXSW conference in Austin later this month. 

"We are strongly encouraging all employees globally to work from home if they're able. Our goal is to lower the probability of the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus for us  — and the world around us," the post said. 

Dorsey is already a big proponent of remote work, and hinted that the company would be taking more steps to support a more global, remote workforce earlier this year. Twitter's blog post referred back to that announcement, noting, "while this is a big change for us, we have already been moving towards a more distributed workforce that's increasingly remote." 

Cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase also announced a similar measure, according to a document that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong linked to Twitter. 

"We're asking some employees to start working home this week," Armstrong tweeted. "Working from home is not a complete solution but it may help slow the growth of infections." 

Brian Armstrong✔@brian_armstrong

An update on COVID-19. We're asking some employees to start working from home this week.https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SRP4dnVCvKB7A5WXrESe-cL51i6_cg5nNGLNld6qch0/edit?usp=drivesdk …

Working from home is not a complete solution, but it may help slow the growth of infections. https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1232378605738455040 …

Coinbase Coronavirus Planning & Comms

Notes: We will update this doc with additional communications and context as things progress. Some internal links were removed from the doc below, for external consumption. Shoutout to our incredible...

docs.google.com

Brian Armstrong✔@brian_armstrong

Sharing our internal planning and communications around #coronavirus / COVID-2019 in case helpful to other companies.

We want to be prepared for the worst at @coinbase, but also be calm/rational in our approach. I'm sure much to improve on.https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SRP4dnVCvKB7A5WXrESe-cL51i6_cg5nNGLNld6qch0/edit# …

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3:07 PM - Mar 2, 2020

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A linked document elaborates on Coinbase's updated policies. 

"Employees that are likely to get sick more easily or for whom getting sick would be particularly problematic should now work with their manager to move to 100% Work From Home (WFH)," Coinbase's communications document said. It also says that business travel will be restricted to "essential travel only," and travel to China, Hong Kong, Japan, Italy and South Korea will be completely restricted. 

Other Silicon Valley tech companies have yet to ask its employees to work from home, but they have instituted other measures to lessen the likelihood of infection spreading. Facebook is asking its employees to stop bringing guests to work, and a Gizmodo report says Amazon is putting on-site job interviews on hold. 

Meanwhile, Business Insider reported on Monday that some Microsoft employees don't feel that the company is doing enough to help employees stay safe amid the outbreak.

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Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/google-dublin-coronavirus-work-from-home-twitter-coinbase-2020-3

Dave Chase

GUEST WRITER

Co-founder of Health Rosetta

February 7, 2019 

Small organizations get creative to attract employees, then keep them healthier and happier.

In a tightening labor market, employees expect (and receive) higher salaries and better benefits. Businesses must find innovative ways to stay competitive and attract top talent. This can be especially difficult for small business with limited financial resources. With a record number of Americans quitting their jobs -- up to 3.3 million in 2018 -- now is the time to act.

A new survey from the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants revealed 80 percent of workers would choose a lesser-paying job with good health benefits over a job with no benefits. But employers don’t have to choose between one or the other. A self-insured health plan can cut costs, provide access to value-based primary care and enable leaders to offer the attractive salaries and benefits that matter most to achieve a happy, healthy and productive workforce. Time and again, wise employers realize the best way to slash healthcare costs is to improve benefits. 

Related: You Can Cut Employee Health Insurance Costs the Same Way Big Companies Do

Don’t worry about wellness programs.

Wellness programs seem to be trending. In recent years, employers have expanded their wellness offerings to include on-site fitness centers, free massages, exercise tracking devices and more. But these programs aren’t required for businesses to keep up with the competition. Wellness programs are an expensive add-on, costing employees approximately $100 to $150 per individual each year -- plus an average of $784 annually per employee in participation incentives.

Employers employers should do without this perk. Industry surveys suggest that fewer than one-quarter of employees take advantage of these programs. And of those who do, many already are healthy and therefore not in dire need of the services. Rather than investing additional money in a wellness program, employers should take a look at their existing health plans. Organizations can spend smarter by creating plans that provide high-quality, affordable care.

Related: Employee Wellness Programs Need an Overhaul

Improving benefits actually can lower costs.

Becoming self-insured is the first step. This system runs counter to the popular fully insured model, in which employers and insurers split employee health costs. Self-insured plans require employers to pay for their employees' medical expenses with their own money. But who would do this? As it turns out, forgoing a fully insured plan allows employers to eliminate an insurer's profit margin and avoid annual rate increases.

Fully insured plans.

Former insurance executives have told me they make up to 10 times the margin on fully insured customers, compared to the margin on self-insured customers. It’s no wonder industry executives create compensation schemes that entice benefits brokers to keep employers fully insured as long as possible. In 2018, family premium rates rose 5 percent and singles’ rates rose 3 percent. Employers expect another 5-percent increase this year. And those figures are on the conservative side. I regularly hear of employers receiving rate increases of 20 percent and higher. It’s also easy to miss the fact that carriers are very adept at changing coverage, so an increase of “only” 5 percent actually can be quite a bit more, when increased copays and deductibles are factored in.

Related: This Startup Aims to Be the Slack of Healthcare 

Self-insured plans.

Many employers fear that self-insured plans run more risk than fully insured ones. One employee’s emergency medical expense could eat up the sum total an employer had set aside for all of employees. This is why it’s so crucial to invest in stop-loss insurance -- coverage that kicks in after claims exceed a set amount. Claims can be processed by a high-value, transparent third-party administrator (TPA). The TPA charges a monthly fee to pay claims and perform other administrative functions for self-insured employers’ health plans.

A TPA can transform health benefits from a black-box line item that increases by double digits each year to a cost center employers can actively manage and control. The value is evident, with annual cost reductions of 10 to 25 percent. Our nonprofit, Health Rosetta, developed a simple calculator to help CFOs translate how getting healthcare costs under control can have a greater impact on earnings than a substantial increase in company sales.

Value-based options.

Some plans provide access to value-based primary care, which rewards health care providers for having positive patient outcomes. This option further slashes costs. Physicians focus on results, dedicating more time to discussing patient symptoms and treatment. This could lead to fewer unnecessary (and potentially harmful) tests and follow-up or referral appointments.

To further reduce costs, employees who already have established a relationship with a value-based primary-care physician could be encouraged to take advantage of telemedicine visits. Patients can address minor concerns via email, chat, phone, or video conference --- without a trip to the Urgent Care clinic. This gives people living with chronic conditions a chance to see the doctor before an acute condition worsens. This ready, low-cost access also also could help patients manage treatments so they don't deteriorate to the point of needing an expensive trip to the Emergency Room.

Communication is key.

Surveys and focus groups can help target worthwhile benefits by giving employees the opportunity to talk about the kinds of care they need most. For example, a business whose stable pool of employees primarily are done building their families may not take advantage of maternity coverage or adoption-related expense. An on-site physical therapist, however, could be a help if daily work responsibilities require strenuous activity (or, in contrast, sitting too much).

It’s not just about employees talking to employers, however. No health plan will work optimally unless employers make its details clear to employees via presentations, workshops or webinars for remote teams. Companies can create print materials and online portals or micro sites to provide "anywhere" access to plan information.

Human Resources professionals must take the time to learn the nuances of the plan so they can appropriately respond to employee concerns. Employees who receive clear information on the available options will require HR to spend less time fielding coverage questions or requiring a new doctor. Some mid-size and larger companies offer a benefits concierge. This position more than pays for itself by helping employees navigate their healthcare journey.

Related: 6 Communication Tips to Strengthen Your Company's Culture

It can be a struggle for small businesses to keep up with increasing healthcare costs and compete against the salary/benefits packages that larger organizations can offer. However, they can boost their benefits offerings if costs decrease within care delivery -- eliminating widespread over-treatment such as improperly addressing back pain, for example. Working with a properly aligned benefits advisor is critical to help identify high-value health benefits. An experienced advisor even can help recommend interim steps for organizations that aren't yet ready to move wholly from a fully insured plan to a self-insured model.  

Though they may take time and hard work to get off the ground, self-insured health plans that provide low-cost, value-based care are the secret to providing better benefits, saving money and running a successful small business.

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Source: Entrepreneur 

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/325994

Aparajita Saxena

ENTREPRENEUR STAFF

Deputy Associate Editor, Asia Pacific

Published Late January 2020 

The numbers are still growing: till date, around 81,018 cases of a coronavirus infection have been reported, far outpacing the SARS epidemic in early 2000s. Around 29 countries and territories around the world have been affected, and only 30,189 people have recovered till now.

The World Health Organisation last week named the new coronavirus out of Wuhan that has killed 1,1875 people COVID-19, and said that a vaccine to combat the infection should be ready in 18 months.

 

Source: Worldometer

A paper by the Chinese CCDC released on Monday showed that the risk of death from COVID-19 was higher in older patients, and that relatively fewer cases were seen in children.

With coronavirus still continuing to spread across the world, we’ve put together a handy guide on best practices companies and human resources departments should follow to help their employees stay healthy and infection-free.

 

Effective Communication is Key

HR departments should pull together information pertaining to the coronavirus to create a ready-to-refer instructional guide for employees that not only educates them about the viral infection, but also enlists ways to avoid it.

The communication strategy should be multi-pronged and use all channels of communication available.

“You are looking at bulletins, sticking posters on the wall, emails, chat groups, town hall, infographics, videos, and any mode of media that could help to effectively communicate the message to all employees,” says Adrian Tan, a veteran HR practitioner and APAC leader of PeopleStrong, an India-based Enterprise HR SaaS platform.

Information gathered should only be from credible and verified sources, such as the page, the CDC website, and reputable news outlets that clearly attribute their information to either statements made by governmental agencies, or health professionals engaged in researching the virus.

Check out this Bloomberg story that busts some myths and highlights false information about coronavirus making the rounds online.

 

Implement Flexible Working Arrangement Plans, or BCP Protocols

For those in the thick of it - like countries that share a border with China, or have multiple reported cases of a coronavirus infection - allowing employees to work from home is the best way to prevent contamination given that human-to-human transmission is possible.

“By implementing flexible working arrangements, you are not just eliminating the possibility of transmission at the office but also during commute. This is especially so for densely populated cities such as Hong Kong where you are literally inches away from someone’s face in the MTR during peak hours,” says Tan.

This holds true for many other countries with packed urban centres as well.

“Given the better infrastructure that we have today, it is much easier to be “business-as-usual” with chat platforms, project management dashboards and other platforms that are online or on the cloud,” he adds.

This might not be possible for work that is location-dependent though, but the CDC and WHO websites have laid out ways to avoid viral infections by using non-invasive implements such as face masks, alcohol-based hand sanitisers, and maintaining good personal hygiene.

 

Reconsider Leave Policies

The last thing a company would want is for an infected employee to turn up to work because they didn’t have enough paid time off left. That not only hurts the sick employee who has had to stress him/herself out to get to work, but also their colleagues, as well as everyone and everything they encounter and touch on the way.

“If the company is results-driven, whether the employee works from home or in the office should not matter as long as the work is being delivered. Given the developments in technology today, there is a suite of solutions for companies to use such that meetings, discussions and day-to-day work can go on per normal,” Tan says.

For employees that are suspected of being sick, or start feeling ill during the day, particularly those that have been travelling, calling and notifying health authorities should be a priority. Fear mongering and forcing the employee into isolation, against their will, should be avoided at all costs, until advised by a medical authority.

 

Using Tech to Avoid Human Contact Might not be such a bad thing

Platforms that allow teams to collaborate and communicate effectively can be used during work-from-home days. Meetings can be done over Skype, Google Hangouts, or Zoom, while real-time collaborations can be done using free platforms like Collabedit.

(Read about more collaborative tools you can use here and here.)

 

Other HR Initiatives, Apart From Handing Out Free Masks, According to Tan

• Beside provisioning free masks and sanitisers, the cleaning schedule of the office can be increased.
• Senior management has to walk the talk to ensure they mask up wherever appropriate to.
• Temperature taking could be incorporated so that everyone in the office would have a peace of mind and not be paranoid that their co-workers may be infected. Such information should be openly available so that employees have complete trust in the information provided.
• Lastly, lunch could be catered so as to minimize employees exposure to crowded areas like the food centre.

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Source: Entrepreneur Media, Inc.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/345759

By Kayla Webster

February 20, 2020, 11:03 p.m. EST

Key players in the HCM software industry are joining forces to create what the companies say will be one of the world’s largest cloud companies.

Kronos and Ultimate Software announced their merger agreement on Thursday. A new company name hasn’t been revealed, but the venture will be valued at $22 billion. The company will utilize Ultimate’s UltiPro HCM and Employee Experience tools, in addition to Kronos’ Workforce Dimensions and Workforce Ready in its offerings.

“The combination of Ultimate and Kronos paves the way to deliver the next generation of employee-facing solutions that will set the standard for the workforce of the future,” said Adam Rogers, CEO of Ultimate, in the merger’s announcement. “Both companies remain fully committed to their core strengths as well as to the combined benefits that the new company will bring to employees and customers.”

The merger will create a workforce of around 12,000, with plans to hire an additional 3,000 employees over the next three years.

Both companies have received coveted spots on “best employer to work for” lists by Glassdoor and Fortune 100.

The new company’s executive team will include members from both Kronos and Ultimate. Aron Ain, CEO of Kronos, will take up the leadership mantel of the new venture, which will be jointly headquartered in Lowell, Mass. and Weston, Fla.

“Together, we will expand the value we deliver to customers and create the industry’s most comprehensive human capital management and workforce management solution for organizations around the world,” Ain said in the announcement.

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Source: Employee Benefit News

https://www.benefitnews.com/news/kronos-and-ultimate-software-merge