The HR Cafe

Office romance: An employer’s minefield

Dear HR Executive,

Well, maybe there’s something to be said for the recession after all: Chances are less than usual that you’ll have to deal with the messy fallout from a failed office romance involving your employees.

That’s because employees are less likely to take the risk of office romance these days, according to a survey by Vault.com

The career website asked several hundred employees whether the economic downturn made people more or less ready to run romantic risks at the office. Some 80% said they were less likely to court co-workers. “If being in a romance with a co-worker means your job could be at risk, why would you even consider it in this economy?” one respondent commented.

Policy gaps
So maybe you’ll have a little respite from office romances, which too often lead to hard feelings, colleagues taking sides and, in the worst cases, sexual harassment charges.

But when the economy gets better and people start feeling more secure in their jobs, are you ready for a romantic resurgence? The survey suggests that most employers aren’t.

Fully 65% of those who responded say their employers have no policy on dating and romance among employees. Not a good idea. Even if you don’t have a draconian policy – like outlawing intraoffice dating entirely – you need to address the issue, at least  supervisor-subordinate dating, which can cause REALLY big problems.

And by the way, the Vault.com survey showed that 21% of employees had either dated somebody they supervised or somebody who supervised them. Best-practice policies usually ban supervisor-subordinate dating.

Not so rare
If you think that office romance is relatively uncommon, think again. Some 58% of respondents said they’d had an office romance, and another 12% said they would if the opportunity presented itself.

And many folks are repeat romancers. Almost half of those who dated co-workers – 49%  – said they’d do it again if they got a chance.

If you don’t have an office romance policy and decide you need one, make sure it covers this critically important point: Tell employees how to report any retaliation, hostility or stalking once the romance ends. That’ll help you steer clear of sexual harassment troubles.

Dave Clemens
Editor-in-Chief
The HR Café Newsletter

Health insurance costs skyrocket: Do we detect a credibility gap?

Dear HR Executive:

The ink is barely dry on the insurance industry’s highly public pledge to trim health insurance costs – or, to be accurate, their nonbinding pledge to work really hard to trim the rate at which health insurance costs will go up.

But maybe insurance companies didn’t get the memo.

As we reported, the industry says it wants to help the Obama Administration reduce the growth rate of health spending from 6.2% to under 5%.

Looks like they’re gonna miss that target:

• Rhode Island's top two health insurance companies, for example, just filed rate requests for next year.  Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island is proposing a 16.3% hike. United HealthCare of New England wants to raise its large-group rate by 11.6%.
• Hawaii’s Medical Service Association is asking for a small group rate increase of 12.7%.
• Oregon's largest health insurer just won a 14.7% rate increase on individual and small group plans, after raising its rates 26 percent a year ago.
• In Pennsylvania, Independence Blue Cross wants a 52% boost in nongroup rates.
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is asking for a staggering rate hike of 56% on some individual plans.

And here’s the curious thing. Utilization of medical services is flat.

In a new study, researchers at the actuarial firm Milliman found that consumption of medical services is expected to be flat this year for the first time ever.  Even so, total medical costs for a typical family of four in 2009 are expected to go up 7.4% this year, to $16,771. Employers will pay $9,947 of that, and employees will contribute $4,004 through health plan premiums and another $2,820 through out-of-pocket costs such as co-payments and deductibles.

Kate Fitch, a consultant at Milliman, attributed the consumption slowdown to better disease management and wellness programs. However, per-unit medical costs are up.

Still, that’s "only" a 7.4% increase in underlying costs. So why the big jump in premiums?

Health insurance administrative costs have been rising faster than inflation. So that’s part of it. But mostly it’s about the stock market.

When the market is strong, insurers earn a considerable portion of their income from investments. That helps keep health insurance costs in check. But when the markets tank, insurers have to make up the difference somehow.

That somehow is you.

So the rate requests we’re seeing today reflect a combination of higher medical costs, higher administrative costs, and the loss of investment income. That’s a triple whammy that leaves policyholders holding the bag.

If the stock market continues to improve, the climate could change. Insurers will be looking for more cash to invest, so they’ll get more aggressive to win your business. That could finally bring some relief.

Unfortunately, it won’t be any time soon. The rates they’re looking to lock in now will be around for a while.

Michael Boyette
Editor, HR Café Training Center

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference , "Benefits Communication: The Make-or-Break Factors That Determine How Employees Perceive Your Plan" Do you often feel that your employees don’t understand and appreciate the benefits you provide? If so, there’s a good chance you don’t have a benefits problem. You have a COMMUNICATIONS problem. Many employers spend big dollars on benefits but get little return on that investment. They’re missing a HUGE opportunity to use their benefits package to engage, educate and motivate existing employees, as well as attract new talent.  During this audio conference, Hay Group consultant Larry Hicks will show you how to develop effective, strategic employee benefit communications that will help employees understand your program, enhance awareness and help build greater appreciation.

Religious discrimination: a pilgrimage to Mecca

Dear HR Executive,

My, how the world has changed.

A Tennessee employer just had to pay $70,000 for refusing to let an employee depart on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Not too many years ago, a case like this would have been so exotic as to be almost unimaginable in an American workplace. But in today’s multi-diverse workplace, any HR person worth his or her salt has to know what to do in situations like this before they spin out of control.

Request denied
The employee, who was named Wali Telwar, was a practicing Muslim who took seriously his religious obligation to make the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in his lifetime.

According to the EEOC, he had earned some vacation days and asked to use them for an extended leave. (The pilgrimage itself takes four days, but if you were taking vacation to do it, you’d have to factor in travel time, too.) He asked for approximately 20 days' leave altogether.

But his employer, a hospital, wouldn’t agree. The hospital told Telwar he either had to work as scheduled or quit, and apply for rehire when he returned. He chose the latter option, but when he came back, the hospital wouldn’t take him on again.

An impossible choice?
The EEOC sued on Telwar’s behalf, and the hospital decided to make the best of a bad situation and settle for $70,000.

The EEOC framed the issue very concisely, putting it this way: “Demanding that an employee choose between his job and a mandatory tenet of his faith is a violation of federal law.”

Most of us would easily recognize this principle if an employee requested Sundays off, or asked to be excused on Yom Kippur.

But it also holds if the tenet of faith involves something more complicated, like a pilgrimage to a desert city in Saudi Arabia – or to a mountaintop in the Himalayas or a shrine in rural Portugal, for that matter.

Accommodations
Of course, it’s not always an easy matter to find a religious accommodation, and it’s possible that certain religious demands – no matter how sincere – may pose undue hardship on your business. When they do, you can say “no.”

But in most cases, an accommodation is possible. The EEOC says this might involve:

• flexible scheduling  
• voluntary substitutions or swaps 
• job reassignments and lateral transfers, or 
• modification of policies and/or procedures such as vacation or leave policies

We’re willing to bet that one or more of the above would have cost the Tennessee hospital less than what it eventually paid to make good on its lack of respect for an employee’s deeply held beliefs.

Dave Clemens
Editor-in-Chief
The HR Café Newsletter (www.hrcafe.net)

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference , "Terminating Employees – How to Reduce Your Lawsuit Risk by Documenting Effectively." Terminating employees is dangerous. Fired workers who feel angry and mistreated often contact the EEOC or a lawyer – which means you’re in for a long, costly, distracting legal battle. But NOT terminating disruptive, underperforming employees is dangerous, too. You can’t survive in the competitive marketplace with bad-apple employees who sap morale and decrease productivity. On Wednesday May 27,  our presenter, Alyssa Senzel, Esq., will explain how to manage and document the termination process so that you’ll have the confidence to take the actions that are in your company’s best interests.

Employee Health Insurance Costs: Providers, insurers pledge $2 trillion in cost savings … sort of

Dear HR Executive:

Back in January, we suggested that health insurers and providers, feeling threatened by the prospect of a public health plan, might start to moderate employee health insurance costs.

Sure enough, industry leaders are now pledging $2 trillion in cost reductions over 10 years. So what will that mean for your benefits costs?

It means they’ll be going up.

Because the industry isn’t really pledging to cut employee health insurance costs – only to reduce the rate at which those costs will go up. Currently, health spending is projected to rise by 6.2% a year for the next decade. The “voluntary effort” aims to reduce that growth rate by 1.5%.

Even that modest goal has left many experts dubious -- including the President’s own budget director, Peter Orzsag. He welcomed the health care industry’s participation in the reform effort. But he pointed out that while they may have signed the pledge card, they’re a long way from sending a check.

So far, the pledge is short on specifics. Industry groups say they’ll offer more details by June on how they will cut employee health insurance costs. They will almost certainly be promoting electronic medical records – which can help reduce duplication of care and unnecessary testing. And they will embrace comparative effectiveness research, which will help identify the most effective (and cost-effective) treatments. But these are long-range efforts, and you won’t see any impact on your benefits costs anytime soon.

Still, with the threat of a government-sponsored health plan still lurking in the wings, insurers and providers are worried about their public image. It might be a good time for to reach out to your health plans and see what they’re prepared to do right now to help you rein in costs.

Michael Boyette
Editor, HR Café Training Center

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference , "Controlling Health Benefits Costs in the New Economy – Why it's Now About Managing Risk." On Tuesday May 19, our speaker Nancy Blough, will explain how you offer attractive health benefits without draining company profits and forcing employees to pay exorbitant premiums? There’s no silver bullet, but many employers are staying ahead of the curve by implementing a combination of cost-saving tools including health risk assessments, analyzing utilization rates, chronic disease management programs, risk management, physician profiling, savvy benefit design, wellness programs, and a strong communications strategy. The key is to be able to identify and effectively manage the health risk.

HR's strategic management role: Getting a seat at the table (part II)

Dear HR Executive:

Last week, we posted a scenario involving Marie, an HR director who was trying to change how her CEO thinks about HR. Marie saw an opportunity when the CEO announced plans for a new e-commerce division. To show HR’s strategic value, she cranked up the recruitment machinery to identify great candidates to head up the new division.

As several of you predicted, Marie’s efforts didn’t change the CEO’s perception of her department. Sure, he appreciated her efforts. But he saw them as operational, not strategic. He walked away still thinking of her as good old Marie – hard-working, efficient, solid – but not a strategic player on his team.

So it looks like Marie missed her chance.

She failed to connect with the world her CEO lives in. Their day is full of demands and interruptions. And through it all they’re trying as hard as they can to stay focused on their key task – how to deploy scarce resources to maximize future returns. If they think you can help them do that job, you’re invaluable. If not, well … you’re just wasting time they don’t have.

We think Marie could have a highly strategic conversation with her boss around the new hire – if she looks at the world through his eyes. So we’re going to give her a do-over. She’ll have another conversation with her CEO about the new initiative. Will she succeed this time?

To find out, we invite you to view our Quick Take e-learning module on how to talk to CEOs. It’s a new online format we’re developing as part of the HR Café Training Center. The sample is free and takes just a few minutes to watch. After you’ve viewed it, let us know what you think about how Marie handled her challenge – and the new Quick Take format.

Click here to view the Quick Take.

Michael Boyette
Editor, HR Café Training Center

P.S.: If you’d like to consider a no-risk trial subscription to the HR Café Training Center – which includes a full library of Quick Takes and much more -- click here.

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference , "The Five Attributes of Great Leaders: A Manager's Roadmap for Career Advancement." On Wednesday May 13, our speaker Hal Adler,  who has studied highly successful leaders for many years, has identified five “not-so-obvious” attributes that distinguish great leaders from merely good ones. Mastering these attributes can propel your managers and supervisors to top management roles and set your company on a course to greatness.

Disabled workers: Boomers and their creaky joints

Dear HR Executive,

I’m going to be writing today about Baby Boomers, so in a spirit of full disclosure I should say right away that I’m one of them.

Anyway, I just saw the latest report on disabilities from the Centers for Disease Control, and was struck by the relative decrepitude of members of my generation: According to the CDC, 24% of adults between the ages of 45 and 64 report suffering from at least one disability. That compares with just 11% of those aged 18-44.

You may not personally be a Boomer. But even if you’re not, this report offers much food for thought if your organization employs people my age.

The implications
What are the main implications for HR practitioners?

1. With the big Baby Boom age cohort now moving through its middle years – the first Boomers were born in 1946; the last in 1964 – you’re more likely than ever to have to deal with disabled workers. 
2. Because the most common reported disabilities are arthritis/rheumatism, back problems and heart trouble, you might want to take a look at the way you now accommodate disabled workers with these issues – and see if you need to make any changes.
3. Because some Boomers plan to work on after normal retirement age, (the first of us will hit 65 in 2011), you may have more workers than in the past who are very vulnerable to disability. The CDC says 52% of U.S. adults 65 and older report having a disability.
4. In light of all the above, you may want to look again at your short- and long-term disability insurance and leave policies.

Let’s add that in addition to the age issue, there’s a gender issue: Some 24% of women of all ages report disabilities, compared with 19% of men. With more women than ever in the workforce, this means more disability issues in the workplace.

You can see the CDC report here. 

Where are all these disabled workers?
Now wait a minute, you may be saying. Isn’t the self-reported definition of disability looser than the fairly rigorous one an employee must meet to prove an ADA-protected disability? Yes. So not all the disabled workers who say they’re disabled would be considered so by a court.

But still, the trend is clear – your older (and female) workers are more likely to need accommodation, whether in the form of adaptive equipment, changes in workstation layout, or revisions in the way a job is done.

What’s your take on an aging workforce its disabled workers? Are you changing your policies and practices to deal with them more effectively? We’d like to hear your comments.

Dave Clemens (born 1950)
Editor-in-Chief
The HR Café Newsletter

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference , "Controlling Health Benefits Costs in the New Economy – Why it's Now About Managing Risk." On Tuesday May 19, our speaker Nancy Blough, will explain how you offer attractive health benefits without draining company profits and forcing employees to pay exorbitant premiums? There’s no silver bullet, but many employers are staying ahead of the curve by implementing a combination of cost-saving tools including health risk assessments, analyzing utilization rates, chronic disease management programs, risk management, physician profiling, savvy benefit design, wellness programs, and a strong communications strategy. The key is to be able to identify and effectively manage the health risk.

HR's strategic management role: Getting a seat at the table

Dear HR Executive:

We constantly hear from HR professionals about the challenges they face getting top management to focus on HR issues. Is there something about HR itself that that makes CEOs tune out? Or should HR directors be doing differently to show human resources is a strategic management component?

I’d like you consider the following scenario – and then share your thoughts with your colleagues in the Comments section:

Marie’s the HR director at a mid-sized company. Andy, her new CEO, came on board last year, and Marie’s been trying hard to educate him about the role of Human Resources in strategic management and planning. But Andy doesn’t get it. When he faces tough decisions, he usually turns to others on his management team.

Marie’s been looking for an opportunity to break through and change how Andy thinks about HR – and now she’s found one. Andy announces that he wants to launch a new e-commerce initiative. “We’re behind the competition,” he says. “We need to move quickly.”

Marie sees a great opportunity to show how human resources contributes to strategic management. If she can help find the right person to head up the new division, she’ll be a hero.

Marie knows what needs to be done. She needs to find out what kind of person Andy wants. She’ll need to write a job description, run some ads, talk to recruiters. But that’s all process stuff. Sure it’s important – but is any of that going to get her a seat at the big table?

What do you think? What would you do? Leave your comments below.

We’ll revisit Marie soon – and you’ll have a chance to view a new learning module that looks at how she solved this thorny problem. Stay tuned….

Michael Boyette
Editor, HR Café Learning Center

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference , "The Five Attributes of Great Leaders: A Manager's Roadmap for Career Advancement." On Wednesday May 13, our speaker Hal Adler,  who has studied highly successful leaders for many years, has identified five “not-so-obvious” attributes that distinguish great leaders from merely good ones. Mastering these attributes can propel your managers and supervisors to top management roles and set your company on a course to greatness.