Tip Tuesday! Flu season: 5 preventive measures to take right now

By Jared Bilski

The summer may have just ended, but HR pros should begin prepping for an event that takes place each winter and, more often than not, inflicts a lot of damage on unprepared workplaces.
Of course, the event we’re referring to is flu season.

To say the flu can wreak havoc on the workplace is a bit of an understatement.
The CDC says almost 111 million workdays are lost because of the flu, and it costs employers around $7 billion in sick days and lost productivity each year.

But well-prepared employers can minimize the impact of the flu and continue with business as usual this flu season.

Best practices

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For better or worse: 3 ways the workplace is about to change

By Jared Bilski

Granted, no one can predict the future with 100% accuracy. But if the modern workplace winds up being anything like what HR pros predicted in a recent report, employees will have lots of adjustments to make.
The consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) just published a report titled, The Future of Work: A Journey to 2022, which was based on interviews with 500 HR experts in the U.S. as well as several other countries.
And the results of that report paint a different picture of corporate life in the next decade. Here are some of the highlights of the PwC report:

Constant monitoring, survival of the fittest

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Employers pumping the brakes on dependent health coverage

By Christian Schappel

To either help you decide how to adjust your benefit offerings this open enrollment season or justify some of the decisions you’ve already made, here’s a look at what other employers are doing with dependent health coverage

With healthcare costs continuing to climb into 2015, employers are scaling back how much they’re willing to pay for dependent coverage — particularly spousal coverage.

In fact, about one-fifth (22%) of employers said they have already reduced the amount of money they’re willing to contribute toward dependent coverage. And a whopping 50% plan to do so over the next five years.

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Tip Tuesday! No More Election-Lock for Non-Calendar Year Employer Plans

By Katharine Marshall

The IRS recently released welcome additions to the permitted election changes for health coverage under the IRS Code Section 125 Cafeteria Plan mid-year election change rules. The guidance, released as IRS Notice 2014-55, solves an election lock problem that has been facing employer-sponsored non-calendar year plans since the opening of the Federal Marketplace (aka Exchange).
Under the current rules (Treas. Reg. § 1.125-4), an employee is not permitted to revoke an election under the group health plan mid-year solely to enroll in a plan through the Marketplace. For employees participating in an employer-sponsored calendar year plan, this was not an issue. An employee could explore and enroll in a Marketplace plan during the open enrollment period, and begin Marketplace coverage on January 1st, just after the expiration of the employer-sponsored plan. Employees participating in an employer-sponsored non-calendar year plan were not so lucky.

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The one interview question that tells you (almost) everything about an applicant

By Christian Schappel

Looking for that next great interview question to help you nail down the perfect candidate? There’s one in particular you should consider adding to your arsenal. 

At least that’s the opinion of best-selling author and renowned columnist Paul B. Brown, whose latest book, Own Your Future: How to Think Like an Entrepreneur and Thrive in an Unpredictable Economy, has just been published.

Brown has hired a person or two in his day, and he says this question has told him an awful lot about job candidates: “Tell me about your friends.”

(OK, it’s more like a directive than a question, but we digress.)
The reason Brown loves this question: “Good people hang out with other good people,” Brown wrote in his thrice-weekly column on Inc.com.

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Unraveling upcoming IRS rules on Obamacare

By Tim Gould

Next year promises to be a busy year for healthcare reform compliance — so the IRS has already begun issuing sample documents and rule changes for employers. Here’s what HR pros need to know.  

First, the IRS issued draft forms for employers — with insured and self-insured plans that are subject to the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate — which must be used to verify their compliance.

The filing for these forms is made on the basis of the calendar year — regardless of the type of year on which a firm administers its plan. The first due date for this form is early 2016 and that data will be based on the 2015 calendar year.

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NLRB thwarts another common employer practice

By Christian Schappel

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has taken a hacksaw to yet common employer rule – even when it’s unwritten.

As you may have noticed, the NLRB has been on the warpath to eliminate any employer practices or policies it deems as potentially detrimental to having an organized labor entity take root in a place of business.
Some practices and policies the NLRB has shot down recently, claiming they violate employees’ somewhat vague right under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to discuss the “terms and conditions” of their employment:

• prohibitions on discussing wages
• social media policies prohibiting employees from discussing work matters, and
• handbook policies prohibiting negative comments about fellow team members.

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Tip Tuesday! What to Include in an SBC

By Linda Rowings

A Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) must contain:

• Uniform definitions of standard insurance terms and medical terms (provided in the glossary)
• A description of the coverage for certain categories of benefits
• The exceptions, reductions, and limitations of the coverage
• The cost-sharing provisions of the coverage (deductible, coinsurance, and copayment obligations)
• A statement as to whether the plan offers minimum essential and minimum value coverage
• The renewability and continuation of coverage provisions
• Coverage examples
• A statement that the SBC is only a summary and that the plan document, policy, certificate, or contract of insurance should be consulted to determine the governing contractual provisions of the coverage

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Why hiring overqualified applicants could be your smartest move

By Tim Gould

Conventional wisdom says it’s stupid for companies to hire individuals who are overqualified for open positions — they’re just going to make a break for it when the job market improves. Conventional wisdom is wrong.  

At least that’s the opinion of Dr. John Sullivan, a California-based HR author and consultant. Writing on ere.net, Sullivan says that the assumption that hiring “overqualified” candidates will always result in frustrated employees and quick exits is badly off-target.

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EEOC Files Suit Over Wellness Program

By Linda Rowings

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has sued an employer because the penalty it applied for not participating in its wellness program was, in the eyes of the EEOC, so high that participation was not, as a practical matter, “voluntary.” Under EEOC rules, an employer may conduct medical examinations, which includes obtaining medical histories and blood draws, only in limited situations. One of those permitted situations is a voluntary wellness program. Because the program did not qualify as “voluntary,” the questions employees were asked about their health on a health risk assessment, a blood draw, and a range of motion assessment violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), according to the EEOC’s Complaint.

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Workers avoid retirement planning help: No. 1 reason why

By Jared Bilski

There are some very compelling reasons HR should let workers know there are plenty of places they can go for retirement-planning advice and assistance.

Reason: Nine in 10 retirement plan participants rely solely on themselves when it comes to retirement planning, according to a report from Schwab Retirement Plan Services.
And that can be very dangerous.

After all, many employees rely on their 401k as their main or only source of income in retirement. So if they’re only relying on their own instincts to get that retirement-plan balance where it needs to be, chances are they’re missing out.

More invested in picking a cell phone

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Tip Tuesday! One question employers should be asking about Obamacare?

By Jared Bilski

Employers are asking two main questions about health reform: What do I have to do? and When do I have to do it? But these are the wrong questions.

Instead, employers should be asking: Why am I offering employees healthcare benefits?

They should then use their responses to shape their companies’ healthcare reform compliance efforts and their overarching organizational benefits strategy.

Where to go from here

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Dependent Eligibility: Top Three Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Audit

By Bill Olson

Recently, UBA Partner Mike Humphrey, Senior Benefits Advisor at The Wilson Agency, shared some great insights for those who are considering doing a dependent audit.  He points out three reasons why you shouldn’t do these audits and offers a much better approach to reining in costs associated with covering dependents that should no longer be on your plan.  Humphrey’s long tenure counseling large employers shows once again that sometimes quick-fix solutions for eliminating wasteful spending aren’t worth it in the end, no matter how well intended. Instead, simple changes to the up front enrollment process can avoid a lot of headaches and keep costs in line.

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Giving new hires benefits info before they start streamlines onboarding

By Justyn Harkin

Yes, there is a way to streamline the benefits orientation process so new hires can get on the job faster, and guest author Justyn Harkin, a benefits communication specialist, is here to show you how one employer did it. 

Employers are faced with a challenge when it comes to presenting benefits materials to new hires: The content is too important to gloss over, yet the complexity of the subject matter and personal needs of new hires can create strenuous demands for the time and resources of HR pros.

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State of benefits communication: What’s the most effective method?

By Jared Bilski

An increasing number of firms are starting to deliver benefits info through electronic channels like email, social media and even text messaging. So are the traditional communication methods obsolete at this point?

The answer to that question is a resounding “No.” At least according to Prudential’s Eighth Annual Study of Employee Benefits: Today & Beyond.

The report found that group meetings and seminars are still the most successful communication methods used by employers. In fact, 74% of the firms in the study reported having “great” or “moderate” success with these methods.

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Tip Tuesday! Highlights of the SBC Requirement

By Linda Rowings

With Fall open enrollment around the corner, most employers will need to provide a Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) to eligible individuals. Here are some highlights of the requirement (as of August 2014):
- Plan administrators of group health plans must provide a Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) to eligible individuals

• Insurer is responsible for creating the SBC for fully insured plans, and the insurer and plan administrator are both responsible for distributing to participants in insured plans
• Plan administrator (which is usually the employer) is responsible for creating and distributing the SBC for self-funded plans

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