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Skandia Puts Employee Worth on Paper

In 1994, Skandia Group Worldwide decided to publish a supplement to its annual financial report focusing on its nonfinancial assets. The Intellectual Capital Supplement is now issued twice yearly, putting Skandia at the forefront of the trendtoward valuing a company’s human capital.


    “In the old days, a country’s GDP was created largely by agriculture and manufacturing companies. Their assets are accounted for in the traditional financial 
report, whereas employees, customer relationships, and product innovation isn’t accounted for,” says Jan Hoffmeister, vice president of intellectual capital management for Skandia. “Yet all of these information technology companies are creating a large part of countries’ GDP now.”


    Because Skandia is in the business of financial services, the company felt it important to provide its own investors with as much information about the company as possible. “Everything we do has to do with knowledge,” saysHoffmeister.


    “People save up for their long-term retirement through Skandia and we need from other companies the same information we provide about ourselves, in order to invest money properly. We have more than a hundred billion dollars under management and have a keen interest in supporting initiatives to help companies report what creates value in the market.”


    Skandia tracks and compiles data about 40 different factors thataffect its intellectual capital before writing an assessment of them in the annual-report supplement. Those factors include things such as leadership, compensation, development, corporate culture, retention rates, satisfaction rates, and innovation. “We ask our stakeholders what is important to them in order for them to make their investment decisions. And we dialogue with our other stakeholders, like employees and customers,”saysHoffmeister.


    In its half-yearly report, Skandia breaks down human capital into five major components: competence, relationships, values, culture, and leadership. Some of these categories relate only to the individual, others to the entire organization.


    Readers of the intellectual capital report are looking for indicators that reveal Skandia’s potential for creating value in the future, says Hoffmeister. A trend of increasing employee satisfaction, comparatively low turnover, and product innovation, for example, would indicate a company moving in the right direction.


    “A reader might look to see how successful sales from products created in the last 18 months were. Do we create new products on an ongoing basis? Are we keeping up and being innovative? This is the kind of thing our supplemental report provides to the public,” he says.


    What it doesn’t provide, however, is an accounting of the return on investment Skandia gets for every dollar it invests in its people, or a dollar value on its human capital. “It’s impossible to do that. You can account for the cost of expenses foremployees and the total compensation package, but personally I don’t think you can account for ROI,” he says. “We’re not there yet.”


Workforce,February 2001, Vol 80, No 2, p. 34  SubscribeNow!

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Best Companies to Work For Co-author of Fortune Study Replies

Bruce M. Longnecker recently questionedthe methodology of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For”selection process in an article on the Workforce Web site. Since I am theco-author of this article (along with Milton Moskowitz), I would like to explainhow we do select the companies.


    We acceptnominations from anyone who feels their company should be on the list. All candidate companies must be willing to let us send our employeesurvey (Great Place to Work Trust Index©) to a randomly selected group ofemployees as well as fill out a detailed questionnaire (Great Place to WorkCulture Audit©).


    Two-thirds of thescoring is based on what employees tell us. Last year, for instance, we receivedsurvey responses from more than 35,000 employees, some 15,000 of whom also gaveus written comments about their companies.


    That’s the mechanicsof our process. While we do ask each company’s PR and HR departments to presenttheir case, we place the greatest weight on what a broad cross-section ofemployees tell us. That is how we try to avoid being “snowed” (to useMr. Longnecker’s term) by the companies.


    In general, ourprocess has been very successful. Mr. Longnecker acknowledges that a number ofcompanies he knows about firsthand are deserving of our accolade – ContainerStore, Southwest Airlines, Enron, Alcon Laboratories, and Whole Foods.


    But Mr. Longneckercites instances where he has met employees of other companies that don’t agreethat their company should have been listed. It is impossible for me to commenton these firms since he did not mention their names. So we don’t know whetherthe individuals he has met are representative of a large percentage of employeesor are relatively isolated.


    Obviously, not everyemployee of every “100 Best” company is thrilled about working there.We typically receive at least some negative comments from employees at most ofthe companies. Our list is the “100 Best Companies to Work For,” notthe “100 Perfect Companies to Work For.” The bottom line, however, isthat we only should include companies that “walk the walk,” as Mr.Longnecker put it so well.

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Is the Time Right for Impairment Testing

A transformation is under way, though few have noticed. While governmental pressure for workplace drug testing remains, many HR professionals have begun to question its effectiveness. Seeking less invasive and more surefire methods of guaranteeing on-the-job safety, some are taking a closer look at the decades-old technology of impairment testing, which has recently undergone significant changes that are likely to make it much more appealing than in the past.

    Ever since Ronald Reagan urged the creation of drug-free workplaces in 1986, the number of companies using urine tests to screen workers’ drug use has escalated. But that growth may have peaked. After reaching a high of 81 percent in 1996, the percentage of employers using drug testing fell to 70 percent in 1999, according to a survey by the American Management Association, which is based in New York. And that number is likely far lower among small companies, which were not included in the survey.


    As a practical matter, firms short of workers are lowering their standards, which can mean avoiding drug testing during the hiring process. “The decline is a reflection of a rather dramatic short supply of qualified workers,” says Eric Greenberg, director of management studies for the AMA. “In the crunch for skilled workers, with positions needing to be filled, employers forgo reasons to not hire, and they take people they might have given a pass on previously.”


A desire not to pry
    Other concerns reflect a growing discomfort with the process of prying into employees’ private behavior, especially if it has no impact on job performance. “Safety is the primary reason employers use drug testing, and the government encourages or requires it,” says Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. “But it’s a pathetic excuse for a safety program. It misses 90 percent of the problem. Most people who have accidents on the job are not drug users, and drugs have nothing to do with [most] accidents. Most accidents are caused by fatigue or alcohol.”


    Stephen Heischman, a senior investigator at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, agrees. “Testing for drugs in urine doesn’t tell anything about their performance on the job,” he says.


    In addition, because urine tests measure metabolites, inactive by-products, they do not necessarily identify someone currently under the influence of a drug. “A pilot who snorts cocaine on his way to the airport will pass a drug test,” says Maltby. “But a few days later he will fail it.”


    In a white paper published in September 1999, the American Civil Liberties Union labeled drug testing a bad investment, an expensive effort that does not deter drug use, that harms workplace morale, that lowers company productivity, and that, in short, is unnecessary. It encourages alternatives such as impairment testing.


    Also called fitness-for-duty or performance-based testing, impairment testing measures whether or not an employee is alert enough for work. From early tests that required participants to keep a cursor on track during a video game-like simulation, the industry has evolved toward a focus on evaluation through eye movements. In the impairment testing equipment from Eye Dynamics of Torrance, California, which should be released in about a year, the employee looks into a dark viewport, then follows a light with his or her eyes. “What the light does mimics a sobriety test for probable cause,” says board chairman Ron Waldorf.


    The equipment then analyzes a person’s response in comparison to his or her normal baseline response, compiled from an average of three previous tests taken by the worker. Once their baselines have been established and stored in the equipment, employees might be asked to complete the test before each workday or less frequently to be sure that they are not impaired. “In 90 seconds, you know if a person shouldn’t be driving a school bus,” says Waldorf.


    One advantage of impairment testing is that it focuses on workplace rather than leisure behavior. Another advantage is that it provides immediate results. And because impairment tests measure involuntary responses, cheating is less a concern than it is with urine tests, which unsupervised employees have been known to dilute or substitute.


Fatigue, stress, and alcohol
    Another advantage is that it catches employees who are impaired because of problems that a drug test can’t spot: fatigue, stress, and alcohol use. “Typical workplace testing really only covers a small fraction of the reasons why people are impaired,” says Larry Rouvelas, executive vice president of PMI, a Rockville, Maryland-based firm that sells impairment tests. He cites an informal study in which employees undergoing his firm’s impairment test took a follow-up drug test and also answered questions posed by a staff nurse. For those who failed the impairment test, these were the causes: 1 percent illegal drugs, 8 percent alcohol/hangover, 23 percent illness/medications, 30 percent fatigue, 38 percent multiple factors.


    Most would agree that impairment testing is less invasive than the typical drug test. “There are no bodily fluids, nothing of a demeaning nature,” says Waldorf.


    But Bob Stephenson isn’t so sure that impairment tests shield workers. The acting director of the Division of Workplace Programs at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in Rockville, Maryland, doesn’t see how impairment tests are substantially different from urine tests. “There’s an individual gauge of what’s invasive,” he says. “If you have to demonstrate a performance baseline every day, I’d consider that very invasive.” And he worries that if an employee shows a slight impairment due to a prescription medication, for example, the necessity of disclosing such information also infringes on privacy. “With impairment testing, you have to rule out other things. The only way to do that is to have the person admit” the nature of the impairment, he says.


    Despite such objections, impairment testing obviously offers some benefits. But why, if the technology has been on the market for 30 years and if it has proven successful for the transportation and aviation industries, has it failed to find widespread acceptance? “Not too many companies use impairment testing, which is a real mystery,” says Maltby. “From everything we know, for the employers who used it, it was a very positive experience. But it has not achieved commercial success.” Waldorf agrees, adding that “95 percent of companies have not heard of or used impairment testing.”


The problem of cost
    The biggest obstacle has been cost. While long-term drug testing-at about $15 per test-can add up, impairment testing has traditionally required a very large initial investment. Though PMI never charges for individual tests, its clients must first buy a piece of equipment that costs $30,000. While Rouvelas emphasizes that “one accident takes out more than the $30,000 cost” of the equipment, he adds that PMI also offers a more moderate leasing option.


    Waldorf is convinced that this steep price, along with poor follow-up, has been the reason for all the “dead bodies” of defunct impairment testing companies along the HR highway. So his firm has decided to make its system free and instead charge $5 per test, with discounts available for high-volume use, “like a copy machine.” Says Waldorf: “It takes away a big barrier to marketing.”


    Another reason for the lack of interest in impairment testing has been that employers are leery of drastic change. Despite the shortcomings of drug tests, they do have a history. That may be why today’s impairment testing is being touted as a complement to rather than a substitute for drug testing, a quick way to make sure that workers can perform and an alert to the occasional need for closer investigation of workers with problems.


    Interest in impairment testing is growing. A few scientific studies-including one in 1996 by the National Academy of Sciences – have touted its benefits. And although the American Management Association’s survey of workplace testing didn’t mention impairment testing until 1997, it placed the use of what it calls fitness-for-duty testing at 55 percent of companies in 1999. The word might finally out that drug testing is not the only – and perhaps not the best – tool for making workplaces safer.


Related links:


Workforce, February 2001, Vol 80, No 2, pp. 69-71  Subscribe Now!

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The Four Stages of Digital Health

The first generationof eHealth simply replacesexisting communication functions originally performed on printed material. Thisis illustrated by a recent WorldatWork e-mail survey of 387 employers that usethe Internet for the following functions:

Provider Directories 65%
Company Newsletters 61%
Links to OtherResources 57%
Summary PlanDescriptions 45%
Online Open Enrollment 26%
Online PrescriptionDrug Services 23%
Employer or InsuranceCarriers Accept E-signatures 16%
Employer or InsuranceCarriers Track Major Life Events 11%

    Therate of provider directories, at 65 percent, is the highest-use e-healthfunction, highlighting the Internet’s strength at disseminating frequentlyupdated information. It also illustrates the growth potential for onlineself-enrollment, currently at only 26 percent.


    Ina typical self-enrollment, employees use the Internet and/or phone call centersto research competing health plans, evaluate their options and record theirselection. This greatly eliminates manual processing chores for the benefitsstaff, making it possible for employers to offer a broader selection of healthplans and providers.


    Whatcan an employer expect from self-enrollment? In the WorldatWork survey, 74percent of employers who had chosen online self-enrollment reported increasedemployee satisfaction. Although 81 percent reported improved administrativeefficiency, only 39 percent reported lower costs. This could result from severalcauses: 

  • Theparticular service used might not have a clear cost-reduction strategy

  • Reducingbenefits staff was not yet appropriate, and staff hours re-assigned to otherHR needs might not have been recorded as “savings.” 

  • Employeesinitially needed extensive telephone or staff support to enroll due toliteracy problems, lack of Internet access, or difficulties in learning Webnavigation

    Evenin high-tech companies, 100 percent employee use of online enrollment may nothappen. In Sageo’s early experience providing self-enrollment services, about70 percent are using the Internet to enroll, with 30 percent relying primarilyon telephone support, said Tom Beauregard, chief strategist of Minneapolis-basedSageo.


    Forhigh-tech employers, Internet use might go as high as 98 percent, and formanufacturers where lack of access or literacy might be a problem, Internet usecould go as low as 55 percent, Beauregard says.


    Turningopen enrollment from a paperwork nightmare to an Internet self-service functioncan also reduce employees’ dissatisfaction with shortcomings in customerservice. These advantages make it easy to forget that Web sites must alsoservice the individual client’s healthcare decisions after enrollment.According to Catherine Cather, a total health management consultant with HRconsulting firm Towers Perrin, employees can go through four stages during andafter self-enrollment:

CoverageFocus TreatmentFocus
Consumer/Purchaser: Consumer/Patient:
Drivenby purchasing concerns: price, convenience, accessibility of benefit andease of administration. Drivenby illness concerns:  Breadthof coverage, appropriate treatment, timely access to preferred providersand patient support groups.
Consumer/Member: Consumer/Caregiver:
Drivenby membership concerns: rapid turnaround on requests by phone or e-mail,timely documentation of provider changes. Drivenby needs of family member: Breadth of coverage, appropriate treatment,timely access to preferred providers and caregiver support groups.

    A Web site that focuses exclusively onenrollment (the upper left quadrant) gains only the immediate cost savingsavailable from efficient enrollment administration. A Web site that supportsemployees through all four quadrants helps realize the full cost savingsavailable from a consumer-driven healthcare system.

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Applicant Tracking Reports Make Data Meaningful

Applicant tracking systems collect a lot of data.Fortunately, the systems are able to make meaningful sense of this data throughtheir reporting functions, which cover a wide range of measures, from requiredreporting such as EEO-1 to financial reporting such as average cost per hire.What differentiates vendors is the flexibility allowed in the reportingfunction.


    On one end of the spectrum, some vendors provide a seriesof often-used reports that are hard-coded into the system. Such simple reportingkeeps overall system development and purchase costs relatively low. While thismeets the need of most users, there are companies that require more robust andflexible reporting. For these serious metric-minds, there are products thatallow customizable reporting by the user.


    These range from vendor-patented report writers within theindividual products, to adaptations of common report writers like CrystalReports. For further slicing, data can even be exported directly to programssuch as Microsoft Excel or Access. Obviously, this flexibility comes atincreased cost, but for those companies that take measurements seriously, iswell worth it.


    The ultimate goal of the reporting systems is to provide away of measuring the applicant tracking system’s effectiveness. In the end,the product should be able to tell you where you stand in getting the righttalent in the right amount of time for the least amount of money. Here are somecommon reports, and why they’re important to you.


 

1. Cost-Per-HireReport


What is it and why is it measured?
   As human resource departments search for every inch of costcontainment in their operations, increasing importance has been placed on theuse of metrics, or measures of performance. These can range from overalldepartment performance to average number of calls in the HR service center. Inthe recruitment arena, metrics are plentiful, with one of the more common onesbeing cost-per-hire. Many institutions and consultants, such as the SaratogaInstitute, have put forth widely accepted methods for determining cost-per-hire.The Saratoga Institute defines cost-per-hire as: 

Advertising Cost + Agency Fees + Employee Referral Bonuses+ Applicant/Staff Travel Costs + Relocation Costs + Recruiter Pay/Benefits + 10percent of the total of these elements, to account for miscellaneous costs(divided by) number of hires 


    Depending on a company’s ability to gather data, thereare even non-financial costs that can be factored in to this equation, such asthe time it takes to actually fill a position, the number of interviews inrelation to the number of hires, and even overall turnover. Regardless of thefactors used, the purpose of the cost-per-hire measure is to provide a benchmarkto use for budgeting and controlling costs. More specifically, it can even beused as a means for evaluating new programs, such as incentive options or hiringbonuses, where it is critical to assess the savings versus the other financialspending. 


How an applicant tracking system (ATS) does it
   Although cost-per-hire is an important measure for manycompanies, many applicant tracking systems do not offer this type of reportingon a standard basis. The reason? Every company has its own definition of whatgoes into cost-per-hire.  However,since many companies do want to capture this information, most vendors leave acertain number of user-defined fields in their applications that are programmedwhen the system is set up. 


    Once the fields are programmed, vendors can collectcost data from either manual input from HR staff, financial systems, or HRMS/payroll.With less expensive off-the-shelf software programs, companies will have to relyon the vendor’s definition of cost-per-hire, which in most cases will be apretty close number.


Practical uses
   Other than the more financial aspects of evaluatingrecruiting costs, cost-per-hire metrics can also help you evaluate your HRstaff. While many companies review recruiter performance on such measures as thetime it takes to fill an open job, additional standards can be set forcost-efficient hiring. By providing quick, dependable cost data, recruiters cansee where money is being spent and be held more accountable for controllingthose costs where necessary. Over time, benchmarks can be established and builtdirectly into performance goals for the upcoming review period.


 

2. EEO-1/VETS 100 Reports 


What’s required
   Within the context of the employment process, employersmust ensure that they are in compliance with all federal and state employmentlaws. As an outgrowth of the requirement to hire without regard to race, color,gender, national origin, or religion, employers with more than 100 employees arealso required to file annually an Employer Information Report (EEO-1), alsoknown as Standard Form 100. This report not only shows female and minorityrepresentation in the workforce, but also breaks down the workforce into ninedifferent job groupings, such as Professional, Sales Workers, Office, andClerical.


    Federal contractors have an additional requirement underthe Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 to show that theyare taking reasonable action in employing disabled Vietnam veterans or those whoserved in Vietnam. This is done through the VETS 100 report. 


How an applicant tracking system does it
   In general, ATS applications today provide the minimumlevel of reporting necessary to meet the compliance requirements of theDepartment of Labor. While information for the EEO-1 and VETS 100 is often notcollected until the applicant is hired and entered into the HRMS, most ATSapplications provide for and collect this reporting, with the expectation that alarge percentage of the information required by the HRMS can be downloadeddirectly at the end of the hiring process, thereby eliminating manual entry.


    General job group data required by EEO-1 is gathered bymost ATS applications during the job creation stage, when the hiring manager orHR staff identifies the position title, its requirements, location, the hiringmanager, and so on. Once the hiring decision has been made, the race and genderinformation is collected and can be entered into the ATS or HRMS, depending onwhere reporting will come from. 


EEO-1 in action
   Many of the more robust, Web-based ATS applications canmanage the entire hiring process, allowing managers a great deal of control inthe hiring process. In point-and-click fashion, hiring managers develop theirown requisitions, search applicant files, send letters/e-mails to applicants,and so on. Once the hiring decision has been made, HR staff can contact theapplicant with a letter of acceptance along with a request/e-mail asking forpertinent information, including EEO-1/VETS 100 information. 


    In its purest form,the hiring process can be an entirely paperless exchange, from the hiringmanager requesting the job to a newly hired applicant walking in the door. Whenannual reporting comes around, employers can either tap into their ATS for therequired reporting or run it from their HRMS that contains the information.


 

3. Hire-by-Source Report 


What is it and why is it measured?
   Gone are the days when you post a job, maybe put an ad inthe paper, review a bunch of résumés, and then start interviewing. Intoday’s tight labor market, especially for hard-to-hire areas such asinformation technology, human resource departments have to use anever-increasing number of avenues to find their talent, such as: 

  • Job boards on the Internet(e.g., Monster.com)

  • Recruitment agencies

  • Print, radio, TV, and Internetadvertising

  • Your own employees

  • Career fairs 

    Many of these options are not cheap, especially radio andTV advertising. Job boards will charge a fee for each posted job, andrecruitment agencies can charge a hefty percentage, depending on the talentbeing sought. So how do companies get their hands on the most effectiveadvertising for a job? Use a “hire-by-source” or “media effectiveness”measure. Assuming that you know the cost for each recruitment source, it’ssimply a matter of counting up applicants and where they came from. Over aperiod of time, a company can figure out where it’s getting the most bang forits buck, and eliminate or restructure those avenues that aren’t paying off.  


How an applicant tracking system does it
   The hire-by-source reporting function shows the ultimateadvantage of automated applicant tracking. For the larger companies that receivethousands of résumés and walk-in applications, it would take months to go backand identify the sources for applicants. Even the most basic applicant trackingsystems provide a method for attaching the original source directly to theapplicant. A simple database query of these fields can tell you in a jiffy howeach of your sources compares. 


    Some systems will even allow a company toautomatically determine the best approach for posting a job on the basis of pastsuccesses for certain job titles. For example, if a company has had a lot ofsuccess in hiring programmers from a certain agency, the next time that positioncomes open, the job can be posted directly to that agency without any input fromthe recruiter. 


Practical example
   In addition to showing a company where its job-postingdollar is going, hire-by-source reporting can help determine the effectivenessof new programs. For instance, an HR manager has read an article aboutestablishing an employee referral bonus program, in which employees get moneyfor bringing a friend or colleague to an open position. 


    In order to make theprogram work, the HR manager has to determine just where her recruiting dollarsare going and how well her sources are doing. By running a hire-by-sourcereport, she determines that she has hired only two employees in the last yearthat have come through TV ads. She notes that she has spent $20,000 on those TVads, and promptly cuts the ads in favor of paying the money to loyal employees.She has been able to quickly assess the effectiveness of her hiring avenues andmake strategic decisions based on the data.


 

4. Requisition Report 


What is requisition management?
   When a manager has to fill a position, most companies havea formal process in place to get the ball rolling. Generally, it involves theopening of a requisition, or request for labor help that gets forwarded to theHR department. Included in the requisition are a number of items, such as jobtitle, responsibilities, required skills and abilities, salary grade, and anyother minimum requirements. Once this form has been approved by thepowers-that-be, it is then posted to both internal andexternal sites for applicant gathering. 


    The second half ofthe process involves the application collection and interviewing stages,ultimately resulting in a new hire somewhere down the road. Once the positionsare filled, the requisition is then closed. 


How an applicant tracking system does it
   Given that requisition management is the foundation ofapplicant tracking systems, most programs provide a wide assortment of reportsfor this area. The most common reports view the status of open requisitions,which can be sorted by recruiter, job title, location, or time-left-open. Butalso within the scope of requisition management is the applicant side of theprocess. For this area, there are reports that look at: 

  • How long a résumé has been on file

  • The number of applicants for a specific requisition,and whether they have been interviewed, denied, or transferred to anotherrequisition

  • Data that is required for an applicant, such as EEOinformation or references

  • Lists of people within the company who should be “inthe loop” for the filling of certain requisitions 

    Most of these reports are available only to recruitingstaff; however, more progressive companies are putting these view capabilitiesin the hands of hiring managers to offer full accountability for the entireprocess. 


How these reports can make an impact
   The bread and butter of applicant tracking systems is theirability to carefully organize all of an employer’s jobs (which could bethousands) and all of the applicants for these jobs (which could be tens ofthousands) into a user-friendly database. Given the large task of meeting suchhiring demand with, more often than not, limited recruiting resources, HRdepartments have to prioritize their hiring. That’s where the different typesof requisition reporting come in handy. 


    An HR manager can quickly determine theoldest requisitions and move them to the top of the pile. Or he can react to animmediate need for a mission-critical project by scanning the applicant pool forthe exact skills and abilities required. The speed and flexibility offered bythis type of dynamic reporting can pay huge dividends if a company can reach theright candidates even a couple of hours earlier.


Workforce, February 2001, Vol80, No 2, p. 65-67  SubscribeNow!

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Finding Older Workers

When you’re looking for excellentemployees, it helps to know where to find them. To find older workers for yourcompany, try some of these sources:

  1. Green Thumb is the leading employment and training program for mature and disadvantaged Americans. Working with them is like working with any good employment agency. They probably have an office near you.
  2. Professional societies for your area of business or the skill you need are great places to look for retired talent that is ready and raring to come back. 
  3. Senior centers have many members who could be interested in filling your temporary or seasonal jobs that do not require specific professional skills.
  4. Advertising in local or regional senior lifestyle magazines may also attract active older workers who are looking for temporary or seasonal opportunities.
  5. Check with some of your recent retirees who may be interested in coming back as consultants or contract workers. They have the advantage of already knowing the company processes and procedures.

Workforce, February 2001, Vol80, No 2, p. 60  Subscribe Now!

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Employers Are Taking Health Into Cyberspace

R

eelingfrom managed care sticker shock, employers are using a growing army of e-Healthvendors and consultants to redesign the corporate health cost structure.


   Theimmediate payoff is lower administrative costs, or at least improved efficiency,in wellness and health benefits. But getting Joe to surf on over to the healthplan enrollment site and fill out an electronic enrollment form is only thefirst step.


   Bymaking self-service convenient and rewarding, employers are trying “toreposition their relationships with employees around benefits,” says CatherineCather, a total health management consultant with HR consulting firm TowersPerrin.


   Thegoal is to shift employees from unaccountable consumers into the role ofinformed consumers with the tools to plan and manage their own health care.


   “Ifconsumerism can be brought to bear on the health market, it has the potential toreduce costs,” Cather says.


   Liabilityfor violating HIPAA privacy regulations gives self-service another boost.


   “It’sno longer enough to guarantee only proper use of employee medicalinformation,” Cather says. “Now it’s a violation just to be in possessionof it without specific releases.”


   Asa result, employers are re-thinking the cost of building in-house wellness ordisease management programs that might be hamstrung by HIPAA regulations. Costand privacy concerns together are pushing employers toward self-service e-healthusing Web-based vendors. 


From newsletter to wellness
    Self-servicewill come to most workplaces in increments. A prime example is the companynewsletter, which first migrated from print to Web site and now is evolving intoa gateway for more sophisticated functions like wellness and disease management.


   Inthe past, an employer might have printed its own newsletter one month andcirculated a wellness-promotion newsletter the next. Now an employer can buyaccess to a wellness Web site for employees and also post its own content on thesite. Most wellness Web sites charge per member (employee) per year. The costcompares to buying a printed wellness newsletter, but opens up several newpossibilities. 


    Depth of content isgreater and new content is added frequently, so members are virtually assured offinding articles that hit their exact need or interest. Some sites such asWellMed provide links to specialized content on other Web sites. Other sitessuch as MyDailyHealth and StayWell develop or contract for their own content.


   Thechallenge now is to deliver content that members want, and content promotinghealthier lifestyles, without stimulating endless surfing on company time.Unlike Healtheon/WebMD, which has around 25,000 pages, MDH has around 1,500pages and is developing a scorecard system to keep readers moving throughbriskly. Although MDH doesn’t release data on the viewing habits ofindividuals, members access average 2.2 visits per week and about 11 minutes pervisit, says CEO Joe Woodman. 


    Interactivitycan engage readers, identifying when they are ready to change behavior andreduce health risks. Most wellness sites provide a health risk assessment (HRA)questionnaire. Some are using “push” technologies that draw information fromthe HRA to send members a periodic e-mail witha customized table of contents for Web site updates, built around eachindividual’s preferences.


   GordianHealth uses its HRA as the front end of a multi-layered intervention formembers, with voluntary access to telephonic coaching from counselors. Keycontent areas for Gordian are smoking cessation, low back pain, managing chronicconditions such as diabetes and asthma, and managing health risks such asweight, cholesterol, blood pressure or stress.


   Unlikesome e-health vendors, Gordianbegan as a traditional wellness program, and charges on a fee-for-service basis.They will add full Web site interactivity and e-mail coaching this spring inpartnership with MDH. They believe their intense coaching produces betteroutcomes in reducing high-risk lifestyles and medical claims. Their combinedInternet/telephonic approach works well for clients like Murata Electronics, amanufacturer with a high proportion of employees lacking Internet access. 


    Incentivescan be built into Web site use, creating more pull into interventions andreduction of health risks. (Seethe HIPAA sidebar for late-breaking developments that could affect use ofincentives.) Compaq uses MDH as its wellness home site, sometimes updatingcontent weekly. The site is also the gateway to related programs such asFitness, where some employees log their workouts to receive fitness centerreimbursements.


   Compaqhas had the MDH program for more than a year, and soon will evaluate incentivesfor participating on the site.


   “Rightnow we’re not so concerned about user statistics as we are about content andfunctionality of the site, to give our employees a good experience,” saysPatricia Travers, Compaq corporate health strategies manager. She structurestheir e-health program to protectthe privacy of personal user data, and has no access to that informationherself. “I want people to feel it’s safe to use MyDailyHealth.”


   Muratanow adds $2 per week to the paycheck, for two years, for employees who gothrough Gordian’s HRA exam. It is a comprehensive instrument including 10health metrics, which are administered by health and wellness director DianaFrantz, R.N., or her staff nurse. Frantz sends completed HRAs to Gordian forgroup health risk analysis; about 40 percent of employees at their plantparticipate. Frantz plans to lobby management for a second incentive foremployees who go through a complete round of Gordian coaching.


   Atthe heart of e-health is theInternet’s ability to capture an individual’s attention when he or she isready to change. Cather sums it up in a word, “stickiness.” 

  • How longdo people stay on a Web site? 

  • Howoften do they come back? 

  • Do theyclick through to deeper layers for more information? 

  • Aftergetting answers, can they make a transaction to support change, such asstarting a migraine diary or asking for coaching? 

   Asticky Web site provides an engaging visit and new ideas for casual viewers,with immediate reinforcement for the person who feels impelled to take action.It turns self-service into an engaging and rewarding experience. A Web sitecould begin as a wellness newsletter and evolve into the front end of aneffective, confidential and personalized wellness intervention.

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Evaluating Online Degrees

Here are some questions to ask yourself when evaluating online degree programs.

  1. Is the university accredited? Regional accreditation, which is provided by regional associations of schools and colleges (each named after the region in which it operates: Middle States, New England, North Central, Northwest, Southern, Western), means that a school has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, that the program is one of integrity, and that course units can be transferred from one campus to another.
  2. What is the reputation of the institution? Because it is too early to determine the reputation and effectiveness of specific online degree programs, you’ll want to consider the reputation of the institution offering the degree. “If the online program is from Duke University, you can bet Duke has invested a lot in it because the school is putting its reputation behind it,” says Thomas Russell, director emeritus, office of instructional telecommunications, North Carolina State University. 
  3. What outcomes can the degree-granting institution demonstrate? How does the institution evaluate whether or not students have acquired skills and knowledge? “The issue of assessment has been given a high priority by the regional accrediting agencies,” explains Claudine SchWeber, associate vice president, distance education and lifelong learning, University of Maryland University College. Consequently, more online degree programs should be able to demonstrate outcomes. 
  4. How does the institution support or promote interaction in the online environment? “Anybody who is serious about educating people online will understand the importance of interaction among students and among students and faculty,” SchWeber says. 
  5. What are the faculty members’ credentials? You’ll want to take a look at their degrees, their experience in dealing with adult learners, and their understanding of online learning. 
  6. How does the institution keep courses current? This refers not just to course content but also to the resources used in the course. Does the institution provide access to digitized libraries and global online databases? How often are courses updated? “Almost every credible institution has an approval process to control the quality and currency of courses,” SchWeber explains. 
  7. How does the degree-granting institution promote experiential learning? Because adults learn best by doing, the best online programs are those that require students to apply the knowledge they’ve learned.

Workforce, February 2001, Vol80, No 2, p. 46  Subscribe Now!

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Dear Workforce Should a Separate Entity Measure Benefits Delivery

QDearWorkforce:


   Whoshould own the service delivery of benefits when the delivery has beenoutsourced to a vendor? Our benefits department is struggling to assignaccountability of “service delivery” for our benefit programs. Whilewe have outsourced our benefits administration to various vendors, we clearlyneed to maintain an internal structure to measure and review our vendors’success. 


   Should this be done by the benefit program designers/policy makers or aseparate administrative organization that solely handles service delivery? Isthere value in having a separate entity measuring the service delivery?


-Struggling business process analyst in Northern California


ADearStruggling:


   Thereare a few factors that contribute to the answer to this question: 1) The scopeof the outsourcing, 2) The size of organization, and 3) The organization’sphilosophy – if any – on managing outsourcing arrangements.


   ”Typically”the benefit manager is responsible for plan design and all outsourcingarrangements. This occurs for two reasons – 1) The benefit manager will hearfrom the customer” – the employee – if there are performance issues, and2) benefit knowledge is a unique capability and it’s often hard fornon-benefit people to oversee benefit outsourcing arrangements.



SOURCE:Charlie McCarthy, The Segal Company, December 8, 2000.


E-mailyour DearWorkforce questions to Online Editor Todd Raphael at raphaelt@workforce.com,along with your name, title, organization and location. Unless you stateotherwise, your identifying information maybe used on Workforce.comand in Workforcemagazine. We can’t guarantee we’ll be able to answer every question.

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Metro Detroit’s 101 Best and Brightest Companies To Work For

Metro Detroit’s 101Best and Brightest Companies To Work For is an annual effort to identify andhonor Metropolitan Detroit’s most desirable employers, those which excel inHuman Resources practices such as:

  • compensation and benefits
  • health & safety
  • recruitment & retention
  • training & education
  • diversity
  • work/family initiatives
  • employee communications

 

    The search for the101 Best & Brightest Companies will prove to be another shot of adrenalineto the already rising faith in the renaissance of Detroit. The selection,recognition and awarding of the Metropolitan Detroit Best & BrightestCompanies To Work For will allow business to showcase their best practices anddemonstrate why each of them would be an ideal place for employees to work.


    This effort connotesa bold effort for members of the Detroit Community area to honor organizationsthat demonstrate constructive business practices. In turn, these practices leadto an overall enjoyable workplace for employees and significant improvedfinancial results. It is a program with global reach, but a local perspective.


    The inauguralprogram will be held on Tuesday, March 27, 2001, at the Hilton Northfield inTroy. Dave Ulrich, author, Human Resources Champions: The Next Agenda for AddingValue and Delivering Results is the keynote speaker. Presented by Linwick &Associates, Wayne State University in cooperation with the Regional DetroitChamber. Major sponsors include Ford Motor Company, Delta Dental Plan ofMichigan, Focus:HOPE, Deloitte and Touche. Publication sponsors include: DetroitFree Press, Detroiter, WORKFORCE Real HR. Real Impact.


    To register for theAwards Luncheon and Workforce Symposium go to www.101detroitbest.com