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Archive for the ‘employee benefit planning’ Category

Time to Start Planning for Benefit Renewals

Friday, May 27th, 2011

Not planning far enough ahead for two important details – the annual renewal dates of your Workers’ Compensation and your Employee Benefits insurance policies – can severely limit your options to make a complete review of how to most efficiently and cost effectively manage these potential drains on your company’s profits.

Increasing health insurance costs are a huge worry for most small to mid-sized businesses, and they feel that they have no control over this annual “surprise”. And insurance, and all of the various options, is complicated, and they really don’t know who to trust.

An experienced HR professional can not only help you sort out what’s best for your business; they can also take a strategic look at your HR practices. By carefully considering the full picture of how your company operates and where you want your business to go, you may well find that you are creating the wrong incentives for your employees or that you won’t be able to attract and retain the right kind of talent needed to support your future plans.

The result may be some relatively simple changes to your employee benefits, some work attacking your workers’ comp loss history (a very controllable expense), or some changes to your policies and procedures to create the right incentives for your employees. Or, as many small and mid-sized businesses are doing, this analysis might reveal that this is the right time to consider outsourcing some or all of your HR (not just payroll), employee benefits, and workers’ comp administration.

Included in our PEO services, YPP’s HR team negotiates for both health and workers’ compensation insurance so you don’t have to. While we don’t sell insurance, we do understand the complexities, including the impact of Health Care Reform, bringing our expertise and years of experience on your behalf. And, we are always taking into account the overall picture of your company and your employees. In addition, YPP manages workers’ comp claims and monitors your experience modifier throughout the year. In short, we work all year to manage your insurances, not just at renewal time, and we keep in mind the big picture of you, your company and your employees.

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Posted by Sandra Dickerson in Health Insurance, Uncategorized, employee benefit planning | No Comments »

The Only Constant is Change

Friday, January 21st, 2011

When it comes to being an employer in California, one thing is certain; things will always be changing.  In the key areas of Payroll, Human Resources, Employee Benefits, and Workers’ Compensation and Safety, the rules for you as a business owner are truly a moving target.

Isaac Asimov’s famous quote begins with the iconic statement that “the only constant is change” and goes on to say that “no sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be”.

Two significant challenges confront business owners in keeping up.  First, you have to be aware of what’s changed in the four key areas of employment: payroll, HR, benefits and workers’ comp.  That could be a full time job in-and-of itself.  And, let’s be honest, you are an expert in your business, not in payroll taxes, employment law, benefits administration, and insurance.  So, even if you can stay abreast of all of the changes that might affect your business, you may not know what they really mean to your bottom line or your company’s future.  Second, with some changes required and others optional, you have to decide how, when, or even if you should implement a change.

Take the Brinker case regarding meal and rest periods that is before the California Supreme Court.  A final ruling has not been issued, so each employer must assess the potential impact and make a business decision which balances the risk of the ruling going one way or the other with your needs, your customer’s needs, and your bottom line in this tough economy.

Or take, for example, the recent reduction of the Social Security payroll tax.  This change didn’t happen until early December but it appeared to be a fairly straight forward, mandated change.  But wait – for self-employed workers, who pay both the employee (worker) portion AND the employer portion, it was unclear what the reduction would be; i.e. would it only apply to the employee portion or to both the employee and employer portion?

You wouldn’t decide if your company should be a partnership or a corporation without professional advice from your attorney or your CPA.   Likewise, don’t try to stay current with, nor interpret changes in, the areas of Payroll, Human Resources, Employee Benefits, and Workers’ Compensation and Safety without also seeking the advice of a professional in the area Employer Services.

Whether it is a small, one time consulting project to review a certain area of your employment relationship with your employees, or a desire to completely offload all of the administrative burdens of being a California Employer and focus on the business of your business, YPP can help.

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Posted by Steve Wilner in Benefit Management, Health Insurance, Labor Law, employee benefit planning, employee benefits | No Comments »

Healthcare Passed – Now What?

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

For the last year the healthcare bill has been working its way through the law making process. Regardless of your political position on this law, it is a law and as businesses we now need to figure out what to do with this reality. So what’s next?

Gather the Troops
The first step that should be going on right now is the assembly of your team to guide your business through the changes that will need to be designed and implemented as the law takes effect. Within this team as a minimum you want representation from Executive Management, Finance, Human Resources, and your Insurance/Benefits Broker or Agent. You probably also want representation of every substantial employee group within the business. It is going to be important that this core group can communicate across the entire company. People are going to be nervous that the changes are going to hurt them or that their issues will not be considered, so open communication is going to be key during this time.

Assess when and how the changes will impact the business
The law passed is nothing if not complex and nuanced, so one of the first tasks is going to be to map out when the changes will impact your business. Working back from those dates you should be able to identify the tasks that need to be completed and key deadlines. Like any time period with lots of change, there are many tradeoffs that will have to be made to rebuild the employee benefit package. Early evaluation of the bill shows that how it impacts business will depend on the size of the business, wage levels of the employee groups, ages of the workforce, and many other variables. This bill has both carrots and sticks so careful review is critical.

Start the Communication Process and do not stop!
If the last year has taught us nothing else, it has taught us that the media is biased with both the right and left putting very different spins on what the provisions actually mean. There is very little doubt that this process will continue and employees will be coming to work with many inaccurate factoids that will strain the communications. A well thought out system will allow you to navigate this sea of questions without impacting your productivity.

Not All Change Is Bad
Change always seems to get people excited and it is often negative in nature even if the change is positive. Again, it all comes back to communications and here is where you need to lean on your HR professionals to keep the channels to all areas to the company open and flowing with how change really impacts your business. This bill is not going to impact everyone the same, and a well developed plan can make sure that your business is one of the winners in this process.

What do we know now that may impact you first? Here’s a summary of business-related changes that will become effective for plan years renewing 6 months after enactment:

  • Small Business Subsidy Phase I: Tax credit of up to 35% of employer’s contribution toward the employee’s premium if employer contributes at least 50% of the total premium or 50% of a benchmark premium. Full credit to employers with 10 or fewer employees and annual wages of less than $25,000.
  • Pre-existing Condition Exclusions: On dependent children under age 19 will be prohibited.
  • Policy Rescissions: Rescissions or cancellations will be prohibited unless fraud or misrepresentation by the insured.
  • Dependent Coverage: Up to age 26, coverage is mandated (note that there are varying opinions so far on who will qualify as a dependent.)
  • Lifetime/Annual Maximums: Health plans will not be able to impose lifetime caps on the value of benefits; restricted annual caps will be permitted until 2014.
  • Appeals: Plans must develop effective appeal processes and continue coverage during appeals
  • Temporary National Health Risk Pool: Effective 90 days after enactment, guarantee issue for individuals who have been uninsured for 6 months due to health status or a pre-existing condition.
  • This summary is based on today’s knowledge, and subject to change as more information and assessment of the massive bill is available.

In conclusion, the healthcare bill will be rolling out in phases from now until 2018 resulting in a need to constantly tweak your benefit investment decisions. We are going through this with a number of clients and we expect that will continue to increase. If you are a California Employer that needs more discussion in this area give us a call and let’s talk.

Posted by Sandra Dickerson in employee benefit planning, employee health care bill | No Comments »