Daily Biz Solutions

Guest Post by Brian Gordon, MAGA Ltd.

In today’s corporate world, savvy companies are continually looking for the competitive edge in benefits – something they can offer to attract and retain top employees as well as set them apart in the marketplace. Facing unparalleled challenges in the work force, companies know they can ill afford to spend years attracting key executives, only to lose them to the competition. One of the best ways to combat this is by offering a comprehensive, unique benefit package that delivers powerful tax-free perks. What many companies are finding is that Long Term Care Insurance (LTCI) is emerging as the “hot” benefit of the 21st century.

As a human resource/benefit professional, you take great pride in providing your employees with 401K plans, retirement programs, health insurance and other benefits. But what’s the greatest risk to your employees? The devastating cost of long-term care. The simple fact is people are living longer, which brings on a whole new set of  challenges. Whether it’s needing help with the activities of daily living or caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s
Disease, your employees may require financial help in taking care of themselves or a loved one.

Long Term Care Insurance provides a range of benefits, including tax advantages to both your company as well as your employees. In addition, it can also serve as an important factor in ensuring your key employees stay with you for the long term. According to the Health Insurance Association of America, employee-sponsored Long Term Care Insurance plans are growing at a rate of 32% per year. What’s more, the National Council on Aging finds that seven out of 10 employees want LTCI. Employer interest is increasing as well.

Long Term Care Defined

Long term care can be defined as the care given to an aging, ill or disabled person who requires assistance with the daily tasks of living, such as bathing, dressing, or eating for an extended period of time. Or it can be necessary for those with a cognitive disorder. This care can be given in an assisted living facility, skilled care facility, adult day care, hospice or even personal services at home. To cover the costs of this care, LTCI has emerged as a viable way of both protecting a person’s assets while ensuring the delivery of quality care. LTCI should be an integral part of any  well-rounded financial plan. What’s more, LTCI is really considered “anti- nursing home insurance” because it gives the policyholder greater flexibility in choosing the options best suited to their needs.

Time Off Impacts Your Productivity

The country’s 77 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 now represent a quarter of the population. As they age, they’ll not only need long term care insurance for themselves and their spouses, but for their aging parents as  well. When an employee takes time off to care for an elderly parent, this affects workforce productivity. It is very difficult for working caregivers to juggle their own family’s schedules, while caring for an aging or ill family member.

According to a 2000 survey, more than 30% of the adult population provides care for a chronically ill or aging family member. Statistics show that more than half of people surveyed had to take time off during the work day to care for a  loved one and 30% percent had to take time off from work for a full day. This tremendous pressure of managing both is a combination that can trigger employee depression and other mental health problems. In addition, it can cause deterioration of their own health that can contribute to loss of income.

Over time, statistics show that time-off impacts over a half-million dollars in lost income in caring for a loved one and more than $2000 in annual social security benefits.

Tax-Saving Benefits for Employers

As a benefit, Long Term Care Insurance is unique. Unlike health insurance or a 401/K, which must be offered to all employees, LTCI can be offered as a carve-out to a select group, such as your key executives. The flexibility of LTCI allows companies to pay premiums for some employees and offer the policy as a voluntary benefit for others. Many employers elect to have employees pay the full cost of their LTCI policies through payroll deductions. However, similar to health insurance premiums, costs the employee pays can be deductible. And, LTCI is a benefit you can offer to employees, their family members and retirees. In addition, LTCI is a non-taxable bonus for employees, so it’s better than a bonus on which taxes must be paid. Like traditional life insurance, the younger the person is when he/she buys it, the lower the premiums. The average age of an applicant today is 45. At this age, eligibility is more assured and premiums are lower. Now, rather than later, is the best time for employers as well.

Another benefit to keep in mind is that unlike disability insurance, LTCI benefits are tax-free, whether the employer or employee pays the premiums. It is also important to note that some group plans can be offered with little or no underwriting.

About the Author

Brian Gordon is president of MAGA Ltd., a Riverwoods, IL LTCI based agency founded in 1975.  He can be reached at www.magaltc.com or 1-800-533-MAGA.

Guest Post by Brian Gordon, www.magaltd.com

In today’s corporate world, savvy companies are continually looking for the competitive edge in benefits – something they can offer to attract and retain top employees as well as set them apart in the marketplace. Facing unparalleled challenges in the work force, companies know they can ill afford to spend years attracting key executives, only to lose them to the competition. One of the best ways to combat this is by offering a comprehensive, unique benefits package that delivers powerful incentives. What many companies are finding is that Long Term Care Insurance (LTCI) is emerging as the “hot” benefit.

You take great pride in providing your employees with 401K plans, retirement programs, health insurance and other benefits. But what’s the greatest risk to your employees? The devastating cost of long-term care. The simple fact is people are living longer, which brings on a whole new set of challenges. Whether it’s the routines of daily living, Alzheimer’s Disease or other dementia, your employees may require  financial help in taking care of themselves or a loved one. Read the rest of this entry »

Hard to get Candidates to Relocate (relocation)? Due to Low Housing Prices?

by the medical sales recruiter
Author Website: http://www.phcconsulting.com/WordPress/2008/12/12/candidate-relocation-is-a-problem-due-to-low-housing-prices/

In better times, a standard relocation package included a house-hunting trip, moving expenses, and maybe closing costs and realtor fees. These days of falling housing prices are inspiring more companies to offer home-buying perks to the packages of even lower-level candidates if the candidate’s house doesn’t sell, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Relocation has always been a big decision, even if the move is to a very desirable location. But if a candidate anticipates major problems with selling his or her current house, it could put a damper on his or her enthusiasm over the new job. There are tips to be found on negotiating a buyout offer with a hiring company, but although some companies are adding buyouts to their packages, some companies are cutting costs instead.

If your internal talent won’t move, call me. I can find talent who will…
or who lives there already. And then you can use the $$ savings for training or other revenue-generating activities. In fact, using a recruiter and hiring locally could be a profit center for you.
Call me.

There are many great opportunities right now in medical sales, laboratory sales, pharmaceutical sales, clinical diagnostics sales, imaging sales, biotech sales, DNA products sales, cellular/molecular products sales, medical equipment sales, medical device sales, pathology sales, hospital equipment sales, and surgical supplies sales. Don’t let a relocation issue become a missed opportunity.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Circles’ Mission Embraces National Work and Family Month
Benefits extends beyond workplace and into employees’ homes

As U.S. Senate Resolution 210 proclaims, “Reducing the conflict between work and family life should be a national priority.” October is National Work and Family Month, the centerpiece of a national education campaign to raise awareness among employers about the need for work-life effectiveness and its value as a business imperative.

“Numerous studies have shown that work life balance is a key indicator of productivity, job satisfaction, employee engagement and retention,” says Kathy Sherbrooke, CEO of Circles. “Through our concierge services, we enable our clients to make the lives of their employees, and their employees’ families, easier — which is not just the right thing to do, it also has bottom line results.”

Says Wendy Edelson, RN, MA, Director, Human Resources at Meridian Health, “Many of our team members are women trying to balance work and family. If we can save them time — time they can spend with their families — that’s a very valuable benefit.” Meridian Health has been named one of the “Best Places to Work in New Jersey” sponsored by NJBiz, for the fourth year in a row. “I’m sure that offering concierge services has a lot to do with that.”

Recent surveys developed by OfficeTeam revealed that employees spend an average of 36 minutes per day, or the equivalent of three hours a week, attending to personal tasks at the office. Offloading their to-do’s to Circles helps Meridian Health team members take more control of their work and life responsibilities. In fact, in 2Q 2008, Meridian Health team members placed 842 requests to Circles —saving a total of 2863 work hours. That translates to a savings of 3.4 hours per request.

Adding value beyond many employee benefits, concierge can be used by employees and their families, making it a true work and family benefit. “Like health insurance or employee assistance programs, concierge is a benefit that extends beyond with workplace and into employees’ homes,” says Sherbrooke. “We talked to our clients and they told that the more concierge becomes integrated into the everyday lives of their employees and families, the more value it adds”

Employees and their family members can tap into concierge for a variety of convenience services, from simple everyday to-do’s to more out-of-the-ordinary requests. The most used service categories include:

Entertainment

o City and cultural information
o Dining suggestions and reservations
o Event tickets; golf tee times
o Volunteer opportunities
o Spas and salon suggestions
o Party ideas and planning

Home

o Grocery and meal delivery
o Laundry and dry cleaning
o Pet care services
o Movers and storage
o Referrals for household services: contractors, handymen, plumbers, housecleaners, painters, electricians

Shopping

o Flowers, gift baskets
o Gift ideas and shopping hints
o Locate hard to find items
o Research and compare products

Travel

o Getaway ideas
o Airfare, lodging, car rental/limo and car service
o Sightseeing tours
o Local events and activities
o Passports and visas
o Flight times and delays

About Circles:

CIRCLES, a leading provider of concierge, personal assistant, experience and event programs, is part of the Sodexo family of companies. Circles’ clients, which include Fortune 1000 companies and some of the most recognized brands in the world, provide Circles’ programs to their employees and customers, driving employee and customer acquisition, retention and loyalty.

www.circles.com

A job is more than just something that brings you money and helps pay your bills. It is also your livelihood and an item that gives you satisfaction, pride and purpose. It hurts your dignity to lose your job. You are about to learn many things to avoid doing in order to keep your job.

Do not work a very light schedule, especially if you are a new hire. When I began my first job in July 1991 at a fast-food restaurant in high school, I worked a few days a week before the new school year started. After school started, I only worked on Saturdays. This greatly hurt me because I did not work enough to master cooking, working the drive-thru window, operating a cash register, etc. As a result of my incompetence, I missed out on learning skills, I spent almost all the time sweeping and mopping and I started being scheduled to work on a rare basis.

Do not display a bad attitude or frown. Once while working at the restaurant, I heard a manager say, “We fire people mostly because they have a bad attitude.” While mopping the lobby on the last day I worked there, the boss told me, “If you don’t work a little faster, I don’t think I’m going to have you working for me anymore. I’m watching you today, Todd.” I frowned and continued mopping but never saw my name on the schedule again even though I started working faster. My Sunday school teacher told me my frown probably cost me the job.

Never use dirty mop water. Sometime after I lost the burger job, a schoolmate told me the boss just fired him because he mopped with dirty water. While I walked by as a patron at a different place a few years ago, a supervisor scolded a worker, “Why are you using dirty mop water? Clock out.”

Do not be so quick to call the police if you see someone doing something you think is illegal. When I saw a fellow worker making a copy of a film while I worked as an audiovisual assistant, I left the room and called the campus police. A few days later, my fellow worker came into the room and said, “Why did you call the police? It’s only illegal to reproduce films if you distribute them. That really (beeps) me off. If I was a mean MF, I would beat you into the ground.” The supervisor warned me to discuss such matters of concern with him in the future.

Do not walk far to work in hot weather. If you do, you will get sweaty and funky. Fellow workers will not want to be around you and management will let you go without telling you the true reason.

Do not run away from a challenge. At one point while doing window demonstrations, I started clocking out early because I had trouble writing leads and I did not want to look bad by working several hours and not acquiring signups. One night when I called my supervisor to ask where I would work the next day, he said, “You s–ked the other day big time and clocked out early again. Don’t do it anymore. That’s the bottom line. I’m tired of it.”

Do not overreact to evil customers. A customer once gave me a snide remark as I greeted him to give him a window demonstration. I retorted, “You didn’t have to be rude.” My immediate supervisor told me, “If Michael (his boss) had been standing here, he would have fired you and asked you for your badge. You should have let that guy walk out the door feeling like he was the jerk.”

Do not lie down on the lobby sofa. After I lied down on a lobby sofa off the clock while working as a market research telephone interviewer in a building with several offices, my supervisors got a call and I was reprimanded.

Do not sound weird or unprofessional on the telephone. I was once reprimanded for talking to a respondent with a funny pitch while I was excited.

Do not fall asleep at your station. This could lead to a warning or firing.

Never oversleep. If you must take a nap elsewhere while on your break, do not put your head down. If you put your head down, you are likely to literally fall asleep and not make it back to your station on time.

Follow these rules and do anything else that applies good common sense to keep your job!

Todd Hicks owns Skill Development Institute, an enterprise that provides a keyboard typing lesson and academic study guide. To become a great typist or student, visit Skill Development Institute. http://sdinst.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Todd_Hicks