Archive Archives - Page 454 of 591

February 1, 2000July 10, 2018

Choosing a Behavioral Health Program

The following are guidelines to look for when selecting abehavioral health provider.

As the human resources manager, remember that you are in control of theprocess, not the insurance company or the provider network.
You have to be a very well informed, very aggressive consumer in order toget the best service while containing cost.
Keep your eye on quality first, not the dollar sign.
Consider what the experience of the employee going to be like when he orshe tries to access the benefit. Remember your employee will need a systemthat advocates for him or her.
Are you buying a benefit which the service provider thinks the job is tosave you money or provide service? If the benefits provider perceives thatcost is the main issue, employees who need help will find that the systemprevents them from getting help or sends them to the cheapest help possible,instead of a skilled person on the other end determining what kinds of carethe employee really needs.
Do your homework and learn how to evaluate the service before you buy.Call current clients of the provider and ask what the experience is like forthe employee. When they try to get help, do they access the system rightaway or are they put on hold for a long time? Do they hear a human being oris it a cold, impersonal computerized system?
Educate yourself. Find out as much as you can about the types of services,but also beware that it is a cutthroat, competitive business in which youwant to be sure that what is presented to you is the truth. For example,will your employees actually be able to access in-patient treatment? Or willfacilities be too crowded? Are those who qualify for inpatient substanceabuse programs able to access them or are they put into day treatmentprograms?
Consider hiring a consultant to help educate you. Be sure that theconsultant knows more than just the business angle, that he or she has theexpertise in mental health and substance abuse.
If you’re considering carve-outs, be careful about the plan you choose.Do you buy mental health separately or as part of the overall health carepackage? (A carve-out plan is a managed care approach that provides uniformcare for mental health and substance abuse treatment, regardless of the typeof plan your company provides for general health benefits. They are tightlymanaged and care must be pre-approved by a case manager.) Some carve-outsare like insurance companies, which can be good or bad, depending upon themotivation of the company. So explore first. You don’t want employees tobe caught in a system where the provider is trying to cut corners on yourworkers’ well-being.
Check emergency care benefits and accessibility too. If an employee issuicidal or homicidal, he or she needs care immediately. Some of thesesystems will try to keep people from being admitted to hospitals becausethey’re trying to save dollars.
Offer a wide range of care — for example, care that specializes in eatingdisorders.
You want to be sure the provider network is right for your company. Anational network may seem impressive, but if your employee is located inBoise and the closest therapist is 50 miles away, it doesn’t do youremployee any good.

Source: Mark Braverman, Ph.D, is founder of Newton, Massachusetts-based CMGAssociates Inc.

Workforce, February 2000, Vol.79, No. 2, p. 50 — Subscribenow!

February 1, 2000July 10, 2018

Overview of Domestic Employee Relocation Assistance

Assistance or Reimbursement Type	1993	1999

Shipment/Storage of Household Goods	98%	98%
Temporary Living	97	93
Househunting Trips	97	91
Homesale Costs	89	88

Moving Automobiles	85	87
Tax Assistance (Gross-Up)	75	83
Home Purchase Costs (New Location)	85	80

Return Trips to Former Location	66	69
Final Move	N/A	69
Third-party Fees/In-house Administrative Costs for Homesale	66	61
Carrying Costs, Loss-On Equity & Other Direct Costs of Homesale Program	57	57
Lump-Sum Payments	38	55
Duplicate Housing Costs	48	49
Orientation Trips Prior to Accepting Offer	32	44
Loss Protection	40	40

Payback Agreements	N/A	38
Spouse Re-employment	22	37
Equity/Advance/Loan	41	35

Cost-of-Living Allowance	39	34
Mortgage Interest Differential	43	27
School-Finding Assistance	N/A	23

Property Management (Rental of Former Home)	16	16
Child-Care Finding Assistance	N/A	15
Elder-Care Finding Assistance	N/A	14

Workforce, February 2000, Vol. 79, No. 2, p. 81.

February 1, 2000July 10, 2018

Job Classifications of Typically Transferred Employees

Job Classification	1993	1999
Middle Management	47%	35%
Sales & Marketing	28	20
New Hires	N/A	14
Engineers, Scientists & Technicians	9	12
Executive Management	8	9
Non-management Personnel	5	6
Service Personnel	N/A	1
Other	3	3

Workforce, February 2000, Vol. 79, No. 2, p. 80.

February 1, 2000July 10, 2018

HR 101 Relocation

This special monthly section gives you everything you need to know about important HR topics.

This month, learn about relocation Best Practices; Budget Implications, and Technology.

January 31, 2000July 10, 2018

Guidelines for a Safe Home Workstation

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) quickly rescinded a controversial interpretive letter that said a Texas employer could be held responsible for the safety of its telecommuting employees. However, the agency’s action concerned many businesses in the U.S., which increasingly are allowing employees to work from home offices.

Whatever companies think about governmental regulation or lack thereof in this area, as a good business practice, they should consider encouraging employees to ensure that their home office environments are safe and designed to maximize productivity.

A home workstation should be:

In a separate, private and secure area designated for work.

Private and quiet—free from family, neighbors or other distractions.

Include a place to store office materials where they’ll be secure from children, pets, etc.

Functionally efficient.

SOURCE: CCH Incorporated, Riverwoods, IL, January 2000.

January 30, 2000July 10, 2018

IDear Workforce-I How Do You Make Service Centers Work

Dear Workforce:

We have a service center failing miserably and need help. My company has 2,000 employees worldwide. We have large government contracts and because they are very diverse both organizationally and geographically, the HR service center needs to be able to respond to a large array of issues.

Dear Lousy Service:

If the in-house service center isn’t performing well, most likely it is because of insufficient expertise across the wide range of services HR must now provide. Because of the sheer number of services and their growing complexity, most corporations now outsource this difficult task.

These services include medical, eye care, dental, and relocation help, to name a few, and typically a different provider will be used for each need.

If a company has offices around the world, as this one seems to have, there can be additional problems stemming from the big differences in HR policy and practice that exist across borders. Finally, if the service center is staffed by just one person or a handful of professionals, the ability to handle the numerous and varied inquiries effectively is even more compromised.

If you chose to outsource, be aware of the potential downside. What is often sacrificed is flexibility in application of policy in the provision of services. Employees will also have to keep track of the separate service centers, especially if they have more than one inquiry at a time. The upside is the accuracy and in-depth knowledge made available by these specialist providers.

To find the right balance for your organization, begin with specific benchmarking of companies you admire, as well as those that are most similar to the one where you work.

SOURCE: Marilyn Kappel, ARC International, Aspen, Colorado, January 11, 2000.

E-mail your Dear Workforce questions to Online Editor Todd Raphael at raphaelt@workforceonline.com, along with your name, title, organization and location. Unless you state otherwise, your identifying info may be used on Workforce.com and in Workforce magazine. We can’t guarantee we’ll be able to answer every question.

January 28, 2000July 10, 2018

Building a Good Work Ethic

Here are some suggestions to encourage employees to develop a good work ethic and enhance productivity:

Team oriented incentive-based compensation systems. When we give others an incentive to produce at a higher level, it spurs their creativity and desire to give their best.

Accountability, no matter how small. Put every person in charge of something. When we are given a sense of purpose, we can start to take pride in ownership of what we’re doing.

Create a team environment. Utilize goal setting to learn the aspirations of others and to try to find matches and opportunities within the company that will be mutually beneficial.

A flexible attitude. Cultivate a spirit of helpfulness and accommodating the unexpected.

Standards and expectations, not rules. Be clear about high standards, but give people the freedom to do their best.

January 27, 2000July 10, 2018

Maximizing Your Energy Level

Some suggestions for keeping yourself on task, whether it’s fulfilling a New Year’s Resolution or completing a business project.

Set up a system of mini-rewards. To get to our grander preferred future, it will take many small steps along the way. Set specific quantifiable goals with deadlines. Celebrate the little victories. Consider going out for ice cream or taking a walk. Have fun!

Recognize that progress comes in a zigzag fashion. Nobody takes a straight line up! Setbacks will occur. Learn and adapt from the setbacks and move on. Keep a journal of what you learned from something that went awry and write down how specifically you are going to minimize this happening again.

“Rotten apples” will try to take us off course. Some people will try to sabotage our efforts because they are jealous or spiteful. Minimize your interaction with “rotten apples” and don’t let them dissuade your dreams.

Learn, learn and learn. Self-education is the key to new ideas that can reinvigorate us and move us forward. Read books, listen to tapes, and go to seminars. Most importantly, develop an “action plan” after the tape, book or seminar detailing actions you’re going to take based on what you’ve learned. Move those action items onto your planning system.

January 26, 2000July 10, 2018

Visualizing Your Preferred Future

To be truly effective decision-makers, we must first have a clear mental picture of what our preferred future looks like. Here are some possible strategies:

Ask the experts. Go to people who are doing what you want to do and come prepared with questions on how they got where they are. Learn the “price” that will need to be paid to achieve your preferred future.

Learn to say no. Saying no to less important projects means saying yes to focused goals.

Make sure your schedule meets your goals and objectives. Keep a log for a week and see where the time is going.

Define your passion in a larger purpose. When your passion is not just “me-centered” and has a larger positive impact on others around us, it’s possible to motivate many people to take action.

Get others involved with your dream. When we include others in our dream we do two things. We “set ourselves up,” putting our integrity on the line to achieve what we set out to do, and we “open ourselves up,” so that others who know our goals may begin to consciously recognize opportunities for us and refer us.

Make sure your organization provides an outlet for your passion. Strive to create a workplace where meaningful and challenging work is created. Take the initiative to make it happen.

January 24, 2000July 10, 2018

Maximizing Employee Potential

The real challenge in keeping employees is maximizing their gifts while minimizing their blemishes. Here are some thoughts on addressing this challenge:

Create a “no fault” environment—To borrow a term from the insurance business, we need to create an environment where people are not reluctant to experiment with new methods. If we fail with out new methods, we learn, grow, don’t repeat them, and move on.

Individual stamps—Provide an end objective for a task or a project, but don’t specify the exact steps that are required to meet the end. Let people put their individual stamp and creativity on the project.

Provide a common vision—It’s nice to know what the larger goal is. Let others know how smaller assignments fit into the larger picture. If we know why we’re doing something, it’s a lot easier to feel good about our diligent effort.

Few rules, but high standards—None of us wants to be managed, but we need accountability for our results. We need to create an environment with high goals that don’t block individual freedom.

Willingness to help—All great things happen through others. We work together as co-workers, not employers/employees. We should help others in times of need, regardless of whether it’s convenient for us.