January 2015 Newsletter

Welcome to the Four Point HR Newsletter

Pre-Existing Coverage Bias

It was automatically assumed in the past that insurance companies would discriminate against people with pre-existing /chronic illnesses.  Ending that type of discrimination was one of the central goals of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Unfortunately, a number of patient advocacy groups have discovered that some insurers are using tactics that are “highly discriminatory against patients with chronic health conditions and may . . . violate the (law’s) non-discrimination provisions.”

While the law prevents insurers from designing plans that could discourage someone from applying based on their health, insurers can lower their chances of covering patients with expensive medical conditions like cancer by limiting the number of providers/hospitals specializing in those conditions from their networks.  Patients would then typically seek coverage elsewhere in order to avoid costly out-of-network rates.  By narrowing the in-network provider base, insurers can create a healthy customer pool and thereby lower the cost of coverage.  Better rates leads to lower premium and that is what attracts young healthy people who generally don’t check provider directories for doctors or facilities specializing in chronic conditions. They shop primarily based on pricing.

These practices are not just limited to doctors or hospitals.  Patients are reporting plans with changes to prescription drug availability.  Plans may require patients to assume more of the cost of medication which, depending on the condition, could cost hundreds of dollars per month in non-covered prescription drug charges.  Some insurance companies single out certain conditions by placing related medications on high-cost tiers.  Changes in tier structures would remove these medications from an affordable co-pay structure, to one of a high share of the cost. Insurers stress that their plans follow established guidelines and consumers have the option, in many markets, to elect from a number of plans that may offer a better alternative for their prescription coverage.

Carriers are also taking a “wait and see” approach by delaying expanded participation in the public exchanges.  The mindset may be that by limiting participation in the health exchanges, the sickest people will sign up for plans that were readily available.  It is unlikely that people will shop for other plans after they are initially enrolled.

Medical coverage obtained through one of the exchanges, will auto-renew if action is not taken during the upcoming open enrollment period.  Because options in the marketplace are evolving, be your own best advocate and approach open enrollment with the same determination as the initial enrollment. Shop for plans that best suit the needs at that time.

Employee Recognition Through Social Media

We have talked in the past few issues about some of the important reasons small businesses should leverage social media. It allows for many types of promotion whenever and to whomever a company selects with goals that include (1) connection with consumers and (2) self-promotion. What about using social media for employee recognition? Establishing a culture of daily recognition is a great way to show support for employees and shine a positive light on a company – especially in the social media-obsessed culture that exists today.

Using social media outlets to recognize staffers does not take much time. It could be a simple as a tag in a post or a photo and small blurb about an accomplishment.  Recognition should be as social as the people you are celebrating, whether it is through public social media sites like Facebook or Twitter or through your company’s private Intranet.  This is where they “hang out” and have personal profiles to connect with others.  It can create a sense of community within the workforce regardless of company size. Employees can celebrate a peer’s success and it can be motivational to see others garnering attention for the work they do. It also enables executives to reach all levels of company employees.

From the outside looking in, employee recognition can also help with a company’s reputation. Showing the good deeds, accomplishments, and innovations of your employees on your company’s social media pages can boost reputation and interest. Traffic to your company’s website can also increase through these types of posts through re-sharing by friends and families of those recognized. This all helps further the idea of building a community and continuing a conversation – the goal of many business-centered social media plans.

There is one thing to be wary of when deciding whom to recognize: not everyone wants to be publicly acknowledged. So please make sure to get permission before rewarding someone publicly and make sure they are ok with the attention that they may receive. It is great exposure but checking first is the best policy.

What Do I Do When An Employee Requests An Accomodation?

The Americans With Disabilities Act requires that employers provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees, unless the employer can show that doing so creates an undue hardship for the business.

The Accommodation Process involves an interactive, systematic and in-depth review of the job requirements, as well as any limitations or performance problems the employee’s disability creates.  The process also allows you and the employee to see if changes or modifications will permit the employee to complete the job tasks, while using alternative methods.

The specific steps in the process for enabling an accommodation include:

  • Begin with the specific Job Description and ensure it includes all aspects of the job — both essential functions and physical requirements.
  • Determine whether the employee is a “qualified individual with a disability”. The Manager and Employee meet and review the definition of a disability:

The definition of a disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a previous record of impairment, or being regarded as having an impairment.

  • Some impairments are automatically considered disabilities.  A partial list includes: Blindness, Deafness, Intellectual Ability, missing limbs, mobility impairments that require use of a wheelchair, Autism, Cancer, Diabetes, Epilepsy, HIV or AIDS, MS, MD, and PTSD.
  • A partial list of Major Life Activities include:  Caring for oneself, completing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing lifting, speaking, breathing, reading, concentrating, and thinking.
  •  Begin the Interactive Process by reviewing the nature of the disability and how limitations or performance issues may impact the employee’s ability to perform the essential functions of the job.  At this point the manager and employee begin to discuss what (if any) accommodations are needed to meet the documentation of the health care provider — or the employee.
  • Determine the necessary Accommodations by using any number of steps.  For example: the business may offer to restructure the job, or make existing facilities more accessible.  Other ideas include modifying or using alternative work schedules, and acquiring or changing equipment, devices or processes.
  • Determine if the Accommodations are reasonable or present an undue hardship for the company.  Here the EEOC (if part of the process) looks not only at the cost of the particular accommodation, but also at the financial stability of the company.  Lower cost options are easy to apply and should be implemented.  At the same time, massive modifications or restructuring so that the position no longer resembles the original job is unreasonable.
  • Notify the employee in writing regarding their request.  All modification requests should be maintained along side the company’s response for each.  These requests should be kept in a file separate from the Employee HR File to ensure that confidentiality is maintained for the employee making the request.

Four Point HR Clients are invited to call our HR team with questions regarding any employee-requested request, or accommodation.  Please contact Kathryn Schene at 727-518-6488.

Social Media Trends for 2015

We’ve started a new year and it’s time to see what the trends for Social Media will be in 2015. Social media evolves and changes rapidly so what will marketers be looking toward in this next 12 months. There are various lists and projections but here are 5 that stand out the most:

  • Anonymity – The popularity of social media applications that allow users to remain anonymous (Snapchat, Secret, Whisper etc…) grew rapidly in 2014 and it is expected to continue an upward trend in 2015. Marketers should seize this opportunity and embed their brand into these types of postings.
  • Emphasis on caring rather than selling – Marketers will want to talk with customers not at them (think about all the talk on continuing conversations in past newsletters). By engaging a customer, rather than pushing a message shows you care about your audience. Simply answering questions, sharing content aimed to solve their problems or by engaging them with useful content is more important than pitching services/products. There will also be more human, real life-related messaging. People tend to respond much better to campaigns, videos, images, etc. that relate to them directly. Clever branding will benefit most from this as clients are presented with stories with which they can easily identify.
  • The Growth of Instagram – In 2014, Instagram became the most popular network for sharing images and videos. It is reported that Instagram posts generated engagement 58 times higher per follower than Facebook and 120 times higher engagement than Twitter. Advertising on this platform is expected to expand as the number of users continues to grow.
  • Agile Marketing – This newer strategy is about making quick moves based on responses to real-time data. The best example of this is Oreo’s “Dunk in the Dark” campaign that quickly launched during the 2013 Super Bowl in response to the blackout. This form of nimble, clever, reactive marketing will continue to be utilized throughout 2015 by brands monitoring trends and current events (both locally and globally) in real time.
  • Heightened emphasis on online customer care – Social media gives companies the opportunity to shine as great customer service providers. It is direct contact with customers in a public space and an environment to show that you care about the customer in front of other existing or potential consumers. This is the best marketing of all and goes hand in hand with number two on this list.

2015 Child Support Collection: Electronic Income Withholding

The Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act, contains several provisions affecting child support collection in 2015. The main provision includes the requirement that all states use electronic income withholding orders (e-IWOs) by October 1, 2015.  There are 34 states already using e-IWOs including Florida, Texas, North Carolina, and Alabama. What you need to know as an employer is:

  • E-IWOs use Secure File Transfer Protocol to send electronic IWOs
  • IWOs are not sent via email
  • IWOs save time, money, & energy

    The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, also know as OCSE, has issued guidelines to each state’s child support agency about implementing the e-IWO mandate. This guidance is in the form of Action Transmittal AT-14-12 which explains the benefits of using e-IWOs, such as:

  • Improved order efficiency
  • Decreased errors which occur through manual handling
  • Eliminates cost of postage and reduces processing paper documents
  • Increased communication between CS agencies and employersFor more information, please visit the Office of Child Support Enforcement:

    http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/css

  • Additional Resources

    http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/css/resource/e-iwo-implementation-and-amendment-of-title-iv-d-state-plan-preprint-page-38-3

For Our Clients

Benefits

Any employee that received Short-Term Disability benefits with Lincoln Financial please be advised that an additional W2 form has been mailed to you to reflect the payments that were made to you during your disability.

Webinars

Please check the webinar link at www.fourpointhr.com for updates to our webinar schedule and for more information on our March 2015 offering: How To Process FMLA Forms.

Payroll

All W-2s were mailed out on Wednesday, January 21, 2015.  If any employees do not receive their W-2 form, please contact your payroll specialist at our office at 404.898.0788.

Monday, February 16, 2015 is a bank holiday and no bank transactions will be processed that day. If your pay date or ACH processing falls on this date, please contact your payroll specialist to arrange for alternate payroll processing.

Safety

Remember to post the OSHA 300A report from February 1, 2015 to April 30, 2015.

New Notification Requirements:

All employers must report:

All work-related fatalities within 8 hours

Within 24 hours, employers must report work-related:

  • Inpatient hospitalizations
  • Amputations
  • Loss of an eye

Call 1-800-321-OSHA (6742)