PIHRA Scope - Summer 2008 - (Page 20)

BETTER COMMUNICATIONS continued from page 19 How? By devising and communicating a long-term strategy, employees get the clear message from their employer, “We care, we have a plan and you are a partner in that plan.” Benefit statements can put both the employer and the employee on the “same side of the table” when addressing the challenges that will face the health insurance PACKAGING AND CONTENT Packaging and content are of utmost importance when selecting what kind of beneﬁt statement to provide. The beneﬁt statement itself should be crisp, professional and comprehensive. Many HRIS systems generate a one-page summary of beneﬁt costs, but these beneﬁt statements are only marginally effective because they stress only the employer’s costs, not the employees’ beneﬁts. These types of statements are little more than a number on a page. In some cases, emphasizing employer costs over employee beneﬁts can breed cynicism amongst employees, the exact opposite of the desired result! Beneﬁt statements are tangible evidence of the intangible value of beneﬁts. By being a quality product itself, the beneﬁt statement connotes the quality and importance of the employee beneﬁts program. More comprehensive beneﬁt statements, frequently as long as 10 pages each, provide signiﬁcantly more information and value to the employee. For example, they may include extensive speciﬁcs on how to order publications from the Social Security Administration and Medicare showing their individualized projected beneﬁts, etc. Contact information for the claims and service departments of various carriers can be included, as well as exact URLs for speciﬁc forms, etc. SPOUSES Additionally, beneﬁt statements can be an indirect way to communicate with an employee’s spouse. As we two to 10 years. all have experienced, many employees rely on their spouse to make decisions regarding employment options, beneﬁt options, etc. Inevitably, many of the distributed statements are taken home to that spouse who now has a better understanding of overall compensation. The prospective employee’s decision-making spouse is greatly inﬂuenced by full beneﬁt information. industry over the next It’s a New Day Now Open Sundays! SOFTWARE The cost of these statements has come down as technology has made the software easier to operate and less expensive ($500 to $2,500). Frequently, the ﬁnished statements are printed and provided to the business by the beneﬁts broker or consultant free of charge as a value-added service to the client. By providing the software for all their accounts, consultants can spread the costs over many employees. Be sure to ask your beneﬁts advisor about employee beneﬁt statements. Beneﬁt statements today continue to provide their traditional values of enhanced recruitment, retention and participation. In addition, they are now being used to alert employees to the problems and challenges employers will face in the future if health premium increases continue to soar. Beneﬁt cuts and/or cost increases seem inevitable and employees need to be prepared early for these changes. As Yogi Berra said, “I don’t mind surprises, as long as I know about them beforehand.” Employees feel the same way. ■ J.J. Summerell is the developer of the Easy Beneﬁts Statements Software system for HR professionals and the owner of Greensboro, N.C.-based Worksite Insight, LLC. He can be reached at 888-524-7117 or through www.easybeneﬁtstatements.com. forBanking Wescom Credit Union now has Sunday hours, 10 a.m.–4 p.m., at every one of its dozens of branches across Southern California. Plus, expanded hours on weekdays and Saturdays, too. All Southern Californians can open accounts at Wescom and enjoy excellent rates, free checking, personal service, access to thousands of ATMs, and now, Sunday hours. It’s a new day for banking in more ways than one. 1-888-8WESCOM 1-888-893-7266 www.wescom.org A one time $15 membership fee is required to open an account. Certain conditions and restrictions apply. 20 PIHRAScope Summer 2008 http://www.wescom.org http://www.easybenefitstatements.com

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PIHRA Scope - Summer 2008 Contents Message from the President HR Technology to the Rescue: What to Do in the Aftermath of the H-1B Visa Cap Bridging the Gap: When ‘IT’ is from Mars and ‘HR’ is from Venus HR Concepts Maximizing Returns from Benefi t Investments with Better Communications Strategic Marketing Alliance: Develop Yours as Easy as ABC… PIHRA Calendar Scope on the Districts PIHRA’s New Members Index to Advertisers

PIHRA Scope - Summer 2008

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