News You Can't Use:Improved benefits for the clergy ... for the first time in 500 years

No matter how good your benefits are, there's always room for improvement. But if you're a member of the clergy, such improvements were long in the making. For the first time ever, the Church of England has conceded that ministers are employed by the church and not by God.

Ministers for the Church of England will now be permitted legislation covering health & safety, the national minimum wage, paid holidays, 'whistle-blowing', anti-discrimination, paid holidays, family-friendly flexible working policies, the working time directive, and unlawful deduction of wages.

Reason #405723495723 we're glad to live in America ... and to work for a secular organization.

News You Can Use: DOL makes delinquent 5500 filing easier

Have you filed your Form 5500's yet? If not, check out the new online calculators and electronic submission forms that make "Delinquent Filer Voluntary Programs" much easier. Thank you, Department of Labor.

Thank you to SMART for the tip.

Tip of the Day: Supercharge your benefit communications during OE

You're likely in the throes of open enrollment, but that doesn't mean that last-minute improvements can't be made, particularly in the area of benefit communication.

Jennifer Benz, founder of Benz Communications, offers these five simple tips:

• Keep it simple. If you haven’t already done so, create a one-page Enrollment “Tip Sheet” that lists what’s changing in as simple a form as possible (perhaps just a bulleted list), gives brief enrollment instructions, and tells employees and families where to go for all the details.
• Make it personal. Resist the temptation to include figures about your total benefits spend or tell employees how many billion dollars per year bad health care decisions are costing the US. If you talk about your overall health care costs, break it down into what the company spends per employee.
• Promote missed or under-utilized benefits. Put together a list of the five to 10 benefit plans employees aren't using enough -- health savings account, fitness benefits, voluntary insurance, hidden features of the EAP, preventive care benefits, commuter benefits, etc. -- as a one-page flyer.
• Talk to your employees and let your employees talk. Debating whether or not to schedule enrollment meetings? In-person meetings are always worth the effort. Employees will appreciate being reached out to and given an opportunity to ask questions. Can’t make it to all of your locations? Hold virtual meetings or conference calls. Post the recording online for employees who can’t make it.
• Or, start a benefits blog and ask employees to give feedback and ask questions via the comments section. You don’t have to be prolific, just a post a week during enrollment season will be of huge value to employees.
• Get managers in the game.
  Chances are your employees are talking to their managers at least once a week, maybe several times a day. Get “the boss” in the game and give managers the tools and incentive to talk to their employees about benefits. Make sure your managers know benefits are an essential part of motivating their team. Often they just don’t know what to say or how to say it, so give your managers talking points and a quick run-down on why it matters.

Tip of the Day

HR nonprofit firm Capital Associated Industries recently picked the brain of Brandon Dempsey, vice-president of Suite Commute, LLC, a company that aids employers in implementing telework programs. Dempsey, who is a speaker at an upcoming CAI training event on telework, laid out five mistakes employers often make with telework programs:
1. Lacking concrete policies.
2. Overinvesting in technology.
3. Failing to train managers.
4. Lacking an implementation strategy.
5. Overlooking a pilot program.

For more on do's and don'ts of telework, read these four recent EBN/Daily Diversion articles. (1,2,3,4)

News You Can Use: One HSA myth debunked, survey finds

Although it’s long been said HSAs only appeal to the healthy and wealthy, a recent survey from UnitedHealthcare finds that HSA enrollment rates are highest (74%) among employees of small businesses (one to 99 employees) and lower-income individuals (64%).

“This latest research affirms our belief that Health Savings Accounts have broad appeal for many health care consumers, regardless of income, age or employer environment,” says Meredith Baratz, vice president of market solutions at UnitedHealthcare.

Although the survey results create doubt about one HSA truism, they appear to have confirmed another: that employer funding is the key to spurring HSA enrollment. About two-thirds of employers provide funding to HSAs, UnitedHealthcare finds. Regardless of funding level, when an employer contributed to the HSA, 86% of consumers opened an account, compared with only 27% when the employer did not.

Tip of the Day: Take a lunch break - it's good for you

The average executive/manager lunch hour is a mere 35 minutes long, compared with 42 minutes in 2003, states new research from Office Team. On average, people work through lunch three days per week.

But breaks in general are important. Consider these tips from Office Team on how to effectively manage your time out:

• Plan your day. Schedule your break to fall between projects, if possible, and set morning deadlines for important tasks so you can relax over lunch.
• Schedule lunch with colleagues. During a busy period, change a team meeting to a working lunch outside the office. The time away will improve your energy while maintaining productivity.
• Book an appointment. Block off your online calendar so coworkers don't schedule calls or meetings during that time. Be flexible, though, if there are no other options.
• Step away from the desk. If you are unable to leave your building for lunch, take a walk around the office. If possible, eat in the lunch room or break area with colleagues.
• Put work aside. If you have to be near your computer or phone, face your chair away and do a nonwork activity, such as reading a newspaper or magazine.

Wish You Were Here: Harris Teeter gets tough for top-notch benefit communication

When Harris Teeter, a 175 store, 20,000 employee grocery chain in the southeastern United States, was charged with revamping their existing benefit communications, benefit manager Kerri Simmons turned to an innovative telephonic system to put into practice the principal that people learn best when they listen and participate at the same time.

In 2005-2006, Simmons says that they were offering a great benefit package but not engaging employees because many didn’t understand their packages. The paper-based system was a nightmare for HR, who keyed in as many as 6,500 different paper enrollment choices each year.

Simmons knew there was a better way – she wanted real-time tracking of employee issues, a streamlined enrollment process, and sought a way to engage her employee population at the same time. Hopefully, this would control costs, streamline the HR function, and show a rise in voluntary benefit offerings as well.

After extensive research, Simmons turned to a telephonic based benefits enrollment company that would allow her employees to call in on their own time to walk through benefit enrollments. Extensive mailings notified employees that enrollment for 2006 was mandatory even if they already were receiving company benefits. Every employee was given a paper enrollment booklet, which walked, screen-by-screen, though their enrollment processes. Fill-in-the-blank style, a specially trained telephone coach would walk employees through the benefit selection process, stopping to offer cost comparisons, benefit explanations, and even discuss plan options for each participant.

Over 95% of employees participated through call-ins during the first year, and the additional 5% were targeted though a “if you don’t call us, we call you” backup plan.

In the first year, Harris Teeter saw a 39% enrollment in voluntary benefits and reduced turnover to seven percent.

When asked what the biggest benefits were, Simmons had three simple words- “Cost savings. Huge.” But the biggest benefit of all, she says, was the lack of “noise in January.” Employees finally understood their benefits and fully began to appreciate the package Harris Teeter offered. “It’s amazing how many employees didn’t know we had a company life insurance policy,” she says. “We were heroes after that.”

For more information on Harris Teeter’s policies, look for the Benefits Communication feature in the November 1 issue of Employee Benefit News.