Human Capital Management Blog

Chronic health conditions in the workforce have increased 25% in the last decade. With 86% of the nation’s health care costs going to treatment of chronic conditions (diabetes, cancer, COPD), that’s an expensive figure for employers. Increased chronic health conditions may have a more immediate cost impact to self-insured employers, but everyone is subject to the increased absenteeism, employee fatigue, and productivity loss associated with poor health. Improving workforce health is only accomplished through smarter decisions at the employee level. Here are 3 ways employers can combat chronic conditions by helping employees to make smarter personal health choices.

Applying yesterday’s health plan strategy to today’s market can produce some rotten emotions around renewal season. If you find yourself or your staff murmuring one or more of the following, you might be ripe for considering a new health plan strategy.

Dropping a quick update to clarify some recent confusion regarding the state of Affordable Care Act (ACA) Employer and Individual Mandate penalties.

Founder-enthusiasm can fuel a business, but sooner or later you need greater incentives than high-fives and no-shave Fridays to attract the talent you need to grow. But with the rising costs of healthcare, it’s getting harder to offer attractive benefits, especially when you’re just emerging from a startup phase. While employer-sponsored health insurance still ranks in the top 3 most important employee benefits, more employers are looking to affordable ways of enhancing their benefits packages. Here are 10 low cost benefits to consider when looking to gain an edge in the competition for top talent.

Quote, Select, Communicate, Enroll—a broad overview of the traditional process for delivering employer-sponsored health coverage. It worked in the past, but have shifting market conditions made this traditional purchasing model obsolete? It certainly hasn’t gotten easier for employers or employees, who, according to a recent study by Aetna, claim that picking health insurance is a greater challenge than parenting. That wasn’t always the case—something has changed. For today’s new market conditions, here are 3 things to avoid when designing your next health plan.

Short blog with a quick question and answer as we continue to provide NY Paid Fmaily Leave resources and information to employers. Let's get to it. There are several circumstances outlined in NY Paid Family Leave (PFL) legislation noting when the benefit is not payable to eligible employees. These include: Any time an employee is receiving full disability benefits under a claim for workers’ compensation, volunteer firefighters or volunteer ambulance workers’ benefits. That being said, if the employee is receiving partial disability payments, the amount of family leave benefits combined with the benefits under those laws may not exceed the employee’s average weekly wage (or state average weekly wage, whichever is lower). To an employee not employed or who is on administrative leave from his or her employment. To an employee currently receiving sick pay or paid time off from the employer; and For any day in which the claimant works at least part of the day during the same working hours as those for which family leave benefits are claimed. For more employer insights on navigating NY PFL regulations, read our blog, Employer Responsibilities for NY Paid Family Leave.

Given the release of the final regulations for NY Paid Family Leave (PFL), and the optional deduction period starting on July 1, 2017, there’s been an uptick in chatter about the new benefit. New regulations mean new policies, admin responsibilities, and reporting requirements…and new stress. The number one question from employers: “What do I have to do?” In talking with various legal counsel and reading up on the regulations, the honest answer at present is, “We don’t fully know.” However, there appear to be a few concrete responsibilities that are falling on employers, especially those with self-insured disability insurance. Here’s what we’re finding so far.

“How many?!” I said in shock. I was sitting at the table preparing to deliver a presentation to a group of School Business Officials and administrators at their 2017 Training Conference (NYSASBO), and my friend and moderator, Steve Zautner, Business Manager of North Colonie School District, hit me with the stat. “You heard me right,” Steve assured, “In the next 5 years, 50% of NY State’s School Board Officials are expected to retire.” Wow! Without a doubt, this mass exodus of talent and experience is going to have an impact on schools across the state. If this proves true, school boards will be left with three options: