Technology plays growing role in benefits
Originally posted January 27, 2015 by Mike Nesper on www.ebn.benefitnews.com.
Employers of all sizes are increasingly shifting toward using technology for enrolling in and managing their employee benefits. The market for technology-based platforms has been “growing leaps and bounds over past the five-plus years,” says Mark Rieder, an Austin-based senior vice president at NFP.
Ten to 15 years ago, he says, only large groups were focused on technology. Today, “they’re all very much interested in becoming more efficient,” Rieder says. “Technology has become affordable enough to [deploy] regardless of size.”
Offering a variety of support tools is important to help employees make the best selections, Rieder says. Employees want to be able to compare the cost of a procedure at various providers, he says. “Transparency tools are becoming more and more of a hot topic,” Rieder says. “Folks want to know what they’re buying.”
Employees also want to manage all of their needs — payroll, HR, benefits — in one location, Rieder says. The goal is to have a useful platform when it’s needed but not be in the employee’s face when they don’t, says Michael Askin, senior consultant with Mind Over Machines, a Maryland-based software development technology company.
The fact that many employers are still using paper isn’t necessarily a bad thing, Askin says. “There are lessons to be learned from other industries,” he says. Perhaps more importantly, paper protects employee information from hackers, Askin says. Ultimately, the goal of a technology-based platform is to increase employee engagement without increasing security exposure, he says.
A common misconception about security breaches is where the vulnerability lies, Askin says. “Most security issues are actually internal,” he says. For consumers, Askin recommends having a credit card for Internet-only purchases.
Undercover investigators score PPACA subsidies
Originally posted July 23, 2014 by Kathryn Mayer on www.benefitspro.com.
Undercover investigators using fake identities were able to get health insurance and tax subsidies through the federal exchange under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, underscoring ongoing problems and security issues plaguing the health care law, officials said Wednesday.
The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said they created 12 identities with fake citizenship and immigration statuses and phony income documents to test how easy (or difficult) it would be to get coverage and subsidies under the law.
The agency said 11 of the fake applicants were accepted, and the HHS-run exchanges rejected just one applicant because it lacked a Social Security number.
Though HealthCare.gov flagged some attempts as problematic, the fake applicants found more success on phone calls to call centers handling applications.
“For its 11 approved applications, GAO was directed to submit supporting documents, such as proof of income or citizenship; but, GAO found the document submission and review process to be inconsistent among these applications,” the agency said. “As of July 2014, GAO had received notification that portions of the fake documentation sent for two enrollees had been verified.”
Republicans jumped on the latest news, saying it was yet one more flaw in the faulty law.
“Ironically, the GAO has found Obamacare is working really well — for those who don’t exist,” said Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
The Obama administration said it was taking the report seriously and would work to strengthen the law’s verification process.
The GAO remarked that findings were “preliminary” and they weren’t jumping to any conclusions yet. The agency said it would release a more detailed report in the coming months.
Eight million people signed up for health plans using the exchanges under PPACA.
The GAO report follows PPACA’s latest hurdle: two conflicting court rulings out Tuesday regarding the legality of PPACA subsidies issued to enrollees in the federal exchange.
Feds add exchange employer site
Originally posted August 2, 2013 by Allison Bell on https://www.benefitspro.com
Three federal agencies have joined to set up a Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act website for small businesses.
Business.USA.gov/healthcare offers a "wizard," or interactive tool, that offers to help business owners understand what they need to know about the new PPACA insurance options in a few quick steps.
The Small Business Administration worked with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Treasury Department to set up the site.
The wizard starts by asking visitors about their companies' location and size.
On the size menu, for example, the wizard asks whether the user is self-employed with no employees, has fewer than 25 employees, has up to 50 employees, or has 50 or more employees.
The site includes an explanation of how an employer can determine whether it has 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employees.
Users who, say, might want to set up group health plans will see information about the new PPACA Small Business Health Options Program small-group exchange program.
In most states, in the pages of information for employers interested in setting up health plans, the SBA gives an answer to the question, "Can I use an agent or broker to buy health insurance in the marketplace?"
"You will be able to use a licensed agent or broker to provide help or handle your SHOP business," the SBA says. "You won't pay more if you use a SHOP agent or broker."
For users in Vermont, a state that is trying to eliminate small-group market broker commissions, the SBA makes no mention of agents and brokers.
Just Over Half of Employers Using Social Media Tools for Internal Communication
Original article towerswatson.com
Flash survey reveals little consensus on effectiveness
NEW YORK, May 23, 2013 — Despite the explosion of social media in the personal lives of many people, a new survey by global professional services company Towers Watson (NYSE, NASDAQ: TW) shows that just over half of employers are using social media tools to communicate and build community with employees. Further, among those employers that have embraced social media technology, there is little consensus as to which ones are most effective.
The 2013 Towers Watson Change and Communication ROI Survey found that 56% of the employers surveyed currently use various social media tools as part of their internal communication initiatives to build community — creating a sense that employees and leaders are in it together, and sharing both the challenges and rewards of work. However, when asked how they would rate the effectiveness of social media tools, only 30% to 40% of respondents rated most of the tools as highly effective. And only four in 10 (40%) rated the use of social media technology as cost effective.
EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
|
% THAT USE |
% OF THOSE THAT USE AND FIND IT EFFECTIVE |
|
|
Instant messaging |
73% |
48% |
|
Streaming audio or video |
61% |
48% |
|
HR or other function journal or blog |
55% |
35% |
|
Enhanced online employee profiles |
54% |
37% |
|
Social networks |
53% |
29% |
|
Employee journals or blogs |
52% |
37% |
|
SMS messaging |
51% |
39% |
|
Leadership journal or blog |
48% |
36% |
|
Collaboration sites |
45% |
33% |
|
Video-sharing site |
44% |
36% |
|
Apps or other mobile approaches |
44% |
39% |
"We believe that social media can be a great tool for communicating with employees in the workplace," said Kathryn Yates, global leader of communication consulting at Towers Watson. "By its nature, social media is designed to build community and could help engage employees on key topics such as performance, collaboration, culture and values. As the need for global collaboration increases, we expect more companies will join those already leveraging social media to creatively communicate those messages."
The Towers Watson survey also found that while four in 10 employers (41%) say they are effective at building a shared experience with their employees as a whole, the percentage drops by roughly half (to 23%) when it comes to building community with remote workers.
"As today's workforce evolves, we know from our research that the growing number of remote workers are looking for clear communication, to be treated with integrity, and want coaching and support from afar. For employers to effectively engage and retain remote workers, they will need to connect them with their leaders, managers and colleagues. We think social media tools can be a real help in making this connection," said Yates.
ABOUT THE SURVEY
The 2013 Towers Watson Change and Communication ROI Survey was conducted in April 2013. A total of 290 large and midsize organizations from across North America, Europe and Asia participated in the survey.
Prepare Your Employees for Virtual Training?
Original article from https://safetydailyadvisor.blr.com
Virtual training is an effective new way to train … as long as learners are ready to engage with the new training environment. Today's Advisor presents part one of a two-part series in which we hear from one expert on virtual learning.
When making the move to virtual training, "we, as trainers, often get caught up with what we need to do to prepare," says Cindy Huggett, training consultant and author of Virtual Training Basics (www.cindyhuggett.com).
However, it is important to keep in mind that while virtual training is a new way for trainers to train, it is "a new way for learners to learn as well." As a result, trainers need to prepare learners to thrive in a virtual training environment.
In an article for our sister publication, Training Forum, Huggett offers three suggestions to help ensure that virtual training will be effective.
- "Define what you mean by virtual training. There are so many different definitions out there."
- "Be very purposeful about your design," she says. "What are the learning objectives, and what is the best way to accomplish them?"
- Make sure learners are familiar with the technology before training begins; that they understand "what learning online is going to be like"; and that they know how to minimize distractions.
"I'm a big fan of having a kickoff session," that is, a 20- to 30-minute prerequisite session to be completed before training actually begins, Huggett says. That helps familiarize learners with the content and the technology (e.g., learning how to submit questions, respond to poll questions). If they are new to the technology, they will experience what it is like to be in an online class."
She also suggests giving learners tips in advance to minimize disruptions during training, such as going to a reserved conference room alone to participate in the training. A checklist can be an effective tool, as well; and that can be as simple as instructing learners to set their phone to "do not disturb," turn their daily to-do list face down on their desk, and hang a “do not disturb” sign on their office door and ask them to enforce it, she says.
Why It Matters
- As more and more Americans get into social media, they will become more open to learning in a social media environment at work.
- As the economy continues to sputter, your employer may have less money to devote to training—and virtual training is inherently less expensive than face-to- face training.
- As younger generations, who've grown up with social media and mobile technologies, move into your workforce, you'll be ready to train them in formats they know well.
Employers turn to tech for wellness
Source: https://www.benefitspro.com
By Amanda McGrory-Dixon
More employers are relying on new technologies to promote health engagement and attain targeted employee behavior changes, according to a new study by Buck Consultants and WorldatWork.
Specifically, 62 percent of respondents report using gamification and believe it is most effective, and 31 percent of respondents say they are likely to implement gamification in the next year. Fifty percent of respondents use social networking, though there are concerns over personal privacy. Another 36 percent of respondents use mobile technology, which is the least used, but 40 percent of respondents say they expect to rely on mobile technology in the future.
Additionally, 73 percent of respondents say they have implemented health engagement strategies, measure communication effective have a health engagement strategy in place and measurement of communication effectiveness, but return on investment could use more help.
While roughly half of respondents say mobile technology will be the most prevalent technology used by employers in the next two years, only 11 percent of respondents report measuring ROI on mobile apps and social media platforms, and 21 percent of respondents say they measure ROI on gamification.
“The lack of measurement is due, in part, to the fact that many companies are using third parties, such as health insurers and wellness program vendors, to handle various aspects of their wellness programs,” says Lenny Sanicola, CBP, senior benefits practice leader of WorldatWork. “These companies should direct their vendors to better engage employees and to collaborate on measuring effectiveness.”
The survey reveals that the largest obstacle from keeping respondents using these technologies is budgeting at 71 percent for gamification, 73 percent for mobile technology and 68 percent for social networking. Respondents also say lack of senior management support and no effectiveness measurements are barriers for these technologies. When it comes to social media, 43 percent of respondents say they have blocked some or all sites from employees’ computers.
“Today’s health care benefits require individuals to absorb an increasing share of expanding health care costs,” says Scot Marcotte, managing director of talent and human resources solutions at Buck Consulting. “Technology offers unprecedented ways for employers to motivate and enable employees to become more effective health care consumers. But employers need to better understand what drives their workers to make the desired changes.”
Using Social Media for Learning Gets Better Foothold in Workplace
Source: https://www.workforce.com
By Garry Kranz
Social learning may not yet be a mainstay of corporate training departments, although it’s more than a trend inside larger enterprises.
A Jan. 22 report from Bersin by Deloitte, an Oakland, California-based research firm formerly known as Bersin & Associates, says large employers are fueling increased adoption of social-learning tools, such as internal employee blogs, wikis and online expert communities. Enterprises with at least 10,000 employees spent an average of $46,000 on social tools in 2012, three times the average two years ago.
The uptick contributed to an overall spending jump of 12 percent on employee training last year, according to The Corporate Learning Factbook 2013: Benchmarks, Trends, and Analysis of the U.S. Training Market. The study is based on research involving 300 organizations of various sizes and industries.
Most U.S.-based employers use some type of social tool to facilitate greater employee learning, including internal blogs, wikis, subject-matter directories and “communities of practice,” in which employees develop and share their expertise, says Karen O’Leonard, a Bersin by Deloitte analyst who authored the report.
“The big challenge for learning and development professionals is to create a new mind-set of continuous learning, not thinking of social tools as one component within a specific program,” O’Leonard says.
Organizations using social tools face another near-term hurdle: how to seamlessly organize the increasing volume of user-generated content. “We expect content management will become a growing issue. The research shows that the most effective learning organizations have created a strategy for content management and knowledge sharing,” O’Leonard says.
This year’s report uses Bersin’s proprietary “maturity model,” which lets an organization benchmark its learning function based on four levels of effectiveness and business impact.
Most companies are not at the highest rung of maturity, but there is a marked difference between those that are highly mature and those that are still getting there, O’Leonard says. The most effective learning functions are less involved with program management and play an active role in developing long-range strategies.
“High-impact learning organizations have L&D professionals who are very adept at performance consulting and building the capabilities the organization will need in the future,” O’Leonard says, referring to learning and development. “They’re outsourcing noncore competencies and getting away from the business of delivering ad hoc training.”
Also, the manner in which companies spent their training dollars reflects the varying level of effectiveness and maturity. U.S. companies spent about 16 percent of their training budgets on outside learning services, products and consultants in 2012, up from 12 percent in 2009. In general, organizations spent less money on expensive customized training and opted instead to purchase commodity-priced vendor products, the report finds.
At organizations deemed highly mature, the inverse is true: they invested money in instructor-led custom content and assessment programs, with off-the-shelf training products a lower spending priority.
Other notable findings:
The 12 percent rise in training expenditures equates to about $706 per employee. However, companies at the top end of the maturity scale spent $867 per employee—34 percent higher than spending by companies at the lower maturity level.
Many companies beefed up their learning and development staff last year, but the gains were offset by faster growth in the number of employees receiving learning. That dynamic has led to a decline in the trainer-to-learner ratio at many companies and is “one sign of the changing role of the L&D function” from clearinghouse to facilitator.
Training spending increased the most in the technology and manufacturing sectors, which each posted year-over-year increases of 20 percentage points.
The 12 percent spending surge shows companies are reinvesting in skills development after a long period of financial instability, O’Leonard says.
Saxon Website Goes Mobile
Our new website is fully enhanced to work quickly on your mobile phone, delivering our real time compliance alerts, blog posts and live events anywhere you are, whenever you want. Just visit Saxon.com from your browser-capable mobile phone to access all the latest!
