Looking for ways to improve morale, productivity and retention? Spot awards may  be the way to go.

They’re the most popular recognition incentives among workers, a recent published study  shows. the best part –  the incentives ordinarily amount to less than 1 percent of base pay. That also can makes this choice attractive to C-levels.  And the awards don’t even have to be given in cash.

Spontaneity grabs ‘em

Traditional end-of-year or quarterly bonuses cost employers an average of 10 percent of base pay yet often have a lower payoff in morale and retention.

Reason –  Employees appreciate them less because they expect to receive them for reaching certain objectives. By their nature spot awards are spontaneous and compensated out immediately. Honorees are pleasantly surprised and see the organization values their work.

Here are four keys to successful spot bonus programs, according to benefits consultant Ken Stahlmann –

1. Creativity is crucial

The most effective programs generally give out awards weekly or monthly. to avoid over-stretching the budget – and avoid a ho-hum attitude establishing in – creativity is a must.

One way that never gets old –  combining time off with a second, non-cash award.

Example –  One firm gives a half-day off in combo with movie passes once a month. Another, at weekly staff meetings, holds a random drawing for a dinner gift certificate, plus permission to leave work early once.

2. Make it personal

Rewards have more lasting impact when they’re geared to individuals ‘s personal needs or interests. Two examples –

• one firm with many foreign-born, low-wage employees awards a $20 pre-compensated phone card after 90 days of service, and a $100 card for outstanding work, and

• another firm with a lot of sports nuts took several top-performers to a ball game. Managers said it was the best $200 they’ve ever spent as for creating ongoing enthusiasm.

3. Add structure

The awards might seem spur of the moment, but the most effective programs have a fixed budget and structure set before anything is handed out.

Example –  One retail firm awards “points” for good work. Folks can then trade in their points for store merchandise. By letting individuals  bank points for additional valuable rewards, the business saw a solid jump in retention.

Other organizations prefer to let employees reward each other. for example, a small healthcare provider keeps a “goodies box” onsite – compensated for in petty cash and stocked by employees themselves.

When someone spots a colleague going the additional mile, he or she pulls out a prize and awards it.

The program is a immense hit –  It’s immediate and personal, yet structured.

4. Don’t let good intentions backfire

Most spot awards go over well. But keep these issues in mind –

• For most cash or cash-value awards, there are tax implications (just as with traditional bonuses)

• Awards need to be spread around or else resentment can creep in

• Be sure honorees don’t mind being the center of attention (some firms have accidentally alienated people  they tried to reward), and

• Be sure the reward is something people  actually want. One firm that awarded a VIP parking space next to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) found no one used it. No one wanted the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) knowing what time he or she came and left.

In the last few years, there’s been a lot of publicity about the fast-growing crime of identity theft. More than half happen in the workplace. Benefits and compensation files are the most vulnerable targets.

The scariest part –  Victims of benefits-related ID theft often make out worse than those who fall prey to the more common variety. the bad guys are ahead of investigators after such thefts occur, and are often very good at covering their tracks.

Additionally, because benefits ID-theft is a relatively new kind of crime, there’s no well-established system for victims, plan sponsors and providers to set things straight after the fact.

401(k) accounts a prime target

Not surprisingly, employees’ 401(k) accounts have become the primary target for benefits thieves.  An alarming MSNBC news report showed just how easy it can be for thieves to tap into an employee’s 401(k) accounts –  When an web-based account gets hacked into or account paperwork falls into the wrong hands, it takes only several mouse clicks to wipe out the victim’s retirement savings.

With typical credit-card or bank account fraud, victims need only call their card issuer or bank, report the crime and refuse to pay for an item. But 401(k) theft is much, much harder to resolve.

Three immense obstacles –

1. Money in 401(k) accounts is not federally insured, like a bank account.

2. 401(k) accounts rarely – when ever – come with automatic identity theft protection from the provider, like credit cards.

3. Even when the theft is successfully resolved, the situation becomes an ERISA nightmare for plan sponsors, because your company also has to account for the way the theft affected the growth of the employee’s account before the money was restored.

A lot of EAPS fall into a common – and dangerous – category –  Management thinks the program is great, but employees think it’s a waste. But it doesn’t have to be that way if you have an EAP or are considering one.

Seventy-three percent of all firms (59 percent of small employers) have an EAP. But how well does the typical employee assistance program (EAP) work? Not as well as we’d hope. A Mid America Coalition on Health Care study found –

• just 50% of 6,400 employees surveyed said they’d use the employee assistance program (EAP) if they felt overwhelmed by personal issues, and

• one-third said they didn’t even know how to access its resources.

The good news –  Firms like yours have seen dramatic improvements in three relatively simple steps

1. Employee attitude surveys

The best beginning place –  Take the pulse of your staff members with a short, confidential attitude survey.

Objectives –  Ask workers when they know how to use the EAP’s resources. Then test workers’ knowledge and opinions of depression and other personal issues that might affect their workplace performance and/or safety. In the final section, find out how workers would handle a serious personal issue.

In other words, find out where your people  would likely turn for help. Would staff members seek out the EAP? Would they prefer to discuss the issue with their family physician? A mental health expert?

The Mid America Coalition’s survey remains an excellent design model from which to craft a recent survey for your own workers.

2. Promote EAP through education

Your survey data ought to help you pinpoint areas where employees need more education about your EAP. Some awareness-boosting techniques that have gotten results –

• Lunch-and-learn sessions. Possible topics include dealing with personal-finance stress, caring for elderly parents, understanding depression or dealing with a dependent who has potential mental health issues.

• Worker newsletter. If you have a benefits newsletter, spotlight the EAP from time to time. Some corporations without newsletters have done e-mail campaigns or targeted mailings instead.

• Workplace posters spotlighting EAP. the ones that work best are often posters designed around a specific theme (e.g., anxiety about personal debt) rather than a general “need help?” message. In addition to posters, you may want to distribute wallet cards with employee assistance program (EAP) contact info.

Need help finding educational material? There’s lots of free EAP-related  pamphlets and FAQs here. Do not forget –  When doing employee assistance program (EAP) education, constantly remind employees that the program is strictly confidential.

3. Make sure to work with supervisors

For legal reasons, supervisors need to tread carefully when they suspect an staff member has a mental health issue.

What you don’t want –  supervisors taking disciplinary actions without consulting HR or playing amateur psychologist and “diagnosing” the employee’s problems. Here is a PDF of some proven tips and talking points for doing supervisor-specific EAP education.

Medical Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance –  Beware non-discrimination issues

HIPAA’s non-discrimination rules impact both mental health benefits and general health plans. Under current interpretations, health plans can no longer have benefits exclusions that deny benefits for injuries resulting directly or indirectly from pre-existing mental health issues.

That’s true even when the psychological condition wasn’t diagnosed until after the injury and even when the injury was self-inflicted. Example –  Suppose an worker gets hurt in a workplace accident he or she caused. After the fact, the worker is diagnosed with a mood disorder that previously escaped detection by the employee’s doctor.

Under current regs, health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA)-covered plans can’t deny benefits. This puts corporations in a bind. Mental health issues like depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder are among the health conditions that’re most likely to go undiagnosed or underdiagnosed.

That’s why, in most organizations, having a strong employee assistance program is one of your best compliance tools.

For many staff members, telecommuting and flex-time are highly desired work-life benefits. But a growing number of organizations are reluctant to offer these programs.

Demand for these benefits remains high.  One study found that 87 percent of job applicants are familiar with the idea behind telecommuting and flex-time, and the majority express a desire to have at least periodic access to such programs.

Environmental interest groups have pushed the feds for years to develop incentives for corporations to encourage telecommuting. the pressure has risen as gas prices have continued to soar.

Nonetheless, flex-time programs have leveled off in some sectors, and there’s been a decrease in telecommuting.

Today, about half of all organizations where telecommuting is feasible permit employees to work from home on a case-by-case basis. But the percentage of employers offering full-time telecommuting has dropped in recent years.  Nowadays, only about 20 percent to 25 percent of employers offer the benefit year-round.

Even some national businesss that are well-known for their telecommuting programs have scaled back. AT&T, for example, recently asked several thousand home-based staff members to come back into the office.

Hewlett-Packard and Intel have done the same thing.  and the federal government lately noted a 7.3% drop in telecommuting workers. Why the cutbacks?

Worker Assistance Program – Pros and cons

Offering workers telecommuting or flex-time could be a good recruiting and morale-improveing tool, as well as a way to retain workers who need to relocate, would otherwise have a need to quit or take leave or commute long distances to work.

But the programs aren’t without their drawbacks. Some of the primary reasons corporations give for scaling back or eliminating them –

• Company culture – It’s easier to build a sense of organizational stability and a personal connection between employees, coworkers and supervisors when people  interact face-to-face on a daily basis.

• Security – One of the hidden costs of authorizing staff members to telecommute (or else come in early or stay late) is keeping sensistive information safe. Some the cutbacks are being driven by companies’ IT departments.

Namely, managers have raised concerns about stolen laptops, identity theft or other crimes driven by hackers gaining access to information via workers’ home Internet connections.

• Productivity – A lot of supervisors find it easier to ensure high productivity when everyone is working under one roof at the same time.  There’s also a widespread view that most workers get things done faster and more accurately when they’re not distracted by things at home.

The bottom line on the bottom line

Work-life programs like flex-time and telecommuting remain a useful benefit to offer workers, and a lot of businesses still provide these benefits for economic reasons.

But once the potential hidden costs are weighed, it’s often better for the bottom line to limit the scope of these programs.

Organizations that are thinking about beginning a telecommuting program should look closely at job descriptions and telecommuting candidates. Some positions are poorly suited for remote work, and some employees are more up to the challenge than others.

But unless the organization creates objective criteria for authorizing or denying flex/telecommuting requests, such programs can actually damage morale.

The last thing any business wants is to open supervisors(and the company) up to accustations of favoritism or discrimination because of seemingly random decisions on which employees in their department can and can’t flex their schedules or work from home.

In the near future, the federal government may offer help to businesss looking to start a health promotion program. the help would take the form of tax breaks to offset program costs.

A current U.S.  Senate bill would give corporations a substantial tax break for beginning health promotion programs. Dubbed the Healthful Workforce Act, it calls for an corporation tax credit of up to $200 per staff member enrolled in a newly created health promotion program.

For larger firms, there is the $200 credit for the first 200 workers and up to $100 per worker thereafter. to qualify for the full credit, your health promotion program would’ve to feature –

• health risk (assessment|appraisal}s

• staff member education drives (e.g., targeted mailings, web-based tools)

• behavior modification programs (e.g., tobacco use cessation, weight control, health Coaches), and

• “meaningful” participation incentives (e.g., lower co-pays).

Licensed businesss would be able to claim the tax credit for up to 10 years after beginning a health promotion program.

The bill has enjoyed bipartisan support, but like many things in Washington, the parties disagree over how to fund the cost of the tax credit.  As a result, it has been bogged down in committee.

When and when the bill is ratified, employers could claim the federal tax credit the following year.

In the meantime, whether or not your organization already has a formal health promotion program, there are proven ways to make wellness part of the business culture. Best of all, they don’t have to cost an extra cent.

Health Promotion town meetings

It’s often said that successful health promotion programs start at the top of the organization. Reason –  Workers select up fast on whether management practices what it preaches when it comes to wellness.

If the people  in management are smokers, obese or simply reluctant to talk about health issues, it’s a tough sell to get employees engaged in taking control of their health.

That’s the idea behind the wellness town meeting.

Once a week (or once a month), everyone in the business attends a short meeting to discuss their own recent efforts to get healthier.

Managers normally go first, to break the ice about discussing some potentially sensitive issues like dieting or quitting smoking.

In most organizations, the meetings are arranged to encourage casual, free-flowing conversation.

One key –  Individuals  speak from where they’re seated, rather than standing up front, with all eyes staring at them.

Some organizations take a more formal approach, which can also work.  For example, at Old National Bank in Indiana, folks file into an auditorium to face their worst enemy, the scale.

Each week, everyone at the firm – from seasoned managers to the newest hires – comes in to get weighed. the only one who sees the number on the scale is the person getting weighed. Even so, the program has inspired a lot of folks to lose weight. for more on the firm’s program, click here.

Free tests and screenings

While there’s no substitute for having workers undergo extensive health risk (assessment|appraisal}s, it’s also wise to home in on screening for common conditions that aren’t necessarily lifestyle related.

Example –  skin cancer. It’s not just sun worshippers who are at risk of the most common (and in its early stages, treatable) form of cancer. Heredity plays a part. So does luck.

Fortunately, companys can get their workers screened for free. Through the American Academy of Dermatology’s National Melanoma and Skin Cancer Screening program, volunteer physicians perform skin cancer screenings at no cost.

Similarly, other medical associations and public health agencies offer free or nominal-cost screenings for a selection of other common conditions.

Indeed, it varies.  In some cases, an HSA-eligible plan may cost the same as a non-HSA high-deductible plan. In others, the premiums can actually be more expensive, a recent NHPI report locates.

As a matter of fact, a non-HSA plan offering similar coverage can carry a monthly per-employee premium that’s about $15 to $25 lower and a deductible that’s $500 to $1,000 lower than the HSA option.

Sometimes the difference is due to price-jacking –  the HSA plans are the ones that’ve been hyped in radio commercials and mentioned in newspapers in recent years.

Nowadays, fewer individuals  exploring high-deductible plans ask first about the non-HSA, so insurance companies sometimes slash prices to drum up interest in those options, too. Another factor –  Not all deductibles work the same.

Deductible cuts both ways

Two deductibles can look similar but work differently, and the cost scales can tilt for either an HSA or a non-HSA plan. Example –  HSAs by law can no longer allow first-dollar coverage of prescription drugs. But a non-HSA plan can.

On the flip side, HSAs often feature better preventive-care coverage. In some non-HSA plans, a individuals who’s yet to meet the deductible must pay out of pocket for standard tests (example –  cholesterol testing) that’re part of the routine physical. Only the office visit itself is covered.

Additionally, HSA-eligible plans have to follow rules that limit sum out-of-pocket costs. But this can push up the premiums paid on the front end.

Best bet –  Double-check with your broker to make sure you’re comparing apples to apples when assessing  the costs of HSA and non-HSA plans.

If your business has this common – and increasingly popular – fringe benefit you could be at legal risk without even knowing it.

Some companies have an on-site staff member fitness room as part of a formal health promotion program. Others simply do it as a way for folks to get their juices flowing before work or blow off steam afterwards.

No matter the reason, companies with fitness rooms need to be aware that the benefit isn’t risk-free.

Over the last few years, a few privately owned gyms have been sued – and agreed to costly settlements – after exercisers suffered sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and died before help arrived. In each case, the facility either did not have lifesaving equipment on the premises or didn’t have personnel properly trained to use it.

Some legal specialists have expressed concern that employers could also be at risk when the unthinkable happened on company premises while an employee worked out.

SCA is of particular concern. Reason –  Even seemingly healthful, active adults are at risk of sudden cardiac arrest. It can’t be prevented. There’s no vaccine.

And few victims survive by the time an ambulance arrives. But there’s a way to save the employee’s life and potentially save your firm from a lawsuit.

Learning about SCA

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a frequently misunderstood killer. It’s not the same thing as a heart attack. SCA can affect anyone, anywhere, anytime. It occurs more than 600 times every day in the United States, killing at least 250,000 individuals  each year.

The only hope –  using a device called an automated external defibrillator (AED) within 10 minutes.

The good news is any person at your corporation can be rapidly trained to use an AED – you don’t need any medical knowledge to use it. the training can be obtained for free through a local Red Cross or civic group. the devices themselves cost under $2,000.

Compare that to the financial risk of being sued for not having an AED near a workplace fitness room, and it’s a no-brainer that any corporation with onsite workout equipment should at least investigate an AED purchase and training.

Workers, supervisors and senior level managers alike will probably need education about SCA and AED use. A excellent teaching resource is available here.

Key talking points –  Without an AED, 90 percent of victims die. But if you’ve access to one, there’s a good chance to save an employee’s life.  And it’s easy to teach supervisors and workers how to use the device if it’s ever needed.

The vast majority of facilities with AEDs never need to use them – and that includes medical facilities. But it only takes one tragic event, and subsequent lawsuit, to cause pain for both the company and an employee’s family.

Do not forget –  Prevention and education are always your company’s best tools for avoiding liability. In this case, where human life is involved, the option seems rather obvious.

For most firms, voluntary benefits are a win-win arrangement. But there may be hidden risks.

On the positive side, voluntary benefits cost employers next to nothing, yet boost employees’ morale and benefits satisfaction.  An Aon survey found 77% of organizations offer at least one voluntary benefit.

But what happens if there’s a legal dispute between one or more of your staff members and the provider?

In many cases, corporations unwittingly get dragged into court. the vendor may argue that the plan is covered by ERISA, and the employee’s lawsuit should instead be filed against his or her corporation.

When the court agrees, the legal burden shifts.  Some courts have ruled that a voluntary benefits could  be covered under ERISA, even when it wasn’t an corporation’s intention to formally “sponsor” the plan.

If push comes to shove, the providers will protect themselves. Indeed, some attorneys warn that a voluntary plan insurer’s first move if sued by one of your workers will be to attempt to get the legal burden shifted from itself to you.

Two seemingly innocent things that may be turned against you in court –

• The written announcement to tell workers about the new voluntary benefit, and

• getting involved when there’s a dispute between an employee and the plan provider.

Be cautious with announcements When you offer a new voluntary benefit, the natural tendency is to attempt to get staff members pumped up to participate. But you are able to get in trouble when people  get the impression the firm endorses the plan. Helpful practices –

• Don’t put the announcement on organizational letterhead

• Put a disclaimer on the description

•  either exclude your voluntary offerings from employees’ benefits manuals or list them separately, and

• hold open enrollment at a different time than for ERISA plans (401(k), primary health plan, etc.).

Additionally, if the provider offering the voluntary plan has competitors, you might want to remind employees the provider of the voluntary plan isn’t the only game in town. Some firms pass along lists of competing providers.

Prevent involvement in disputes as with your ERISA plans, chances are staff members will come to you when they have a problem with a voluntary plan. Your first inclination is to help.

But many specialists warn it’s better to stay out. Reason –  Courts see this as the action of a plan sponsor. But you can steer someone in the right direction (e.g., giving a contact name to call) while remaining neutral in the dispute.

Good intentions gone bad

From an ERISA standpoint, the most dangerous voluntary plan design is one that is partially compensated by the company, even when workers pay the bulk of the cost.

In a major ruling a few years ago (Burgess v. Cigna Life Insurance), a USA  district court ruled against an employer with a voluntary supplemental disability plan in which the firm compensated a portion of premiums for its lower-compensated workers.

While most employees compensated the entire premium – and firm made clear to  people  the plan was a voluntary benefit -the court said it didn’t matter. the act of contributing to some employees’ premiums made it an ERISA plan.

In the last few years, “presenteeism” has become an even larger concern for a lot of corporations than absenteeism. Although many HR/benefits managers hate the admittedly overused term, presenteeism is nonetheless a real issue in nearly every workplace.

Most widely,  presenteeism takes the form of staff members coming to work sick. They’re  unproductive and endanger colleagues. Meanwhile, the worker is not forced to use a sick day. A bad deal for companys all the way around.

A recent survey by LifeCare revealed that 93 percent of employees (polled from 1,500 organizations) admit that they at least ocassionally come to work when they’re sick enough to stay home. More important, the study  looked at the reasons why folks do it.

Troubling rationales

The No. 1 reason workers cited for coming to work sick was a belief that they’d be “letting other people  down” when they call out. Nearly 30 percent of respondents cited this as their primary reason. Beyond that, the top responses were –

• It’s too risky, due to office politics or culture, to take time off (26%)

• The employee is too busy at work to be able to stay home a day (15%)

• The employee saves up sick days for childcare/eldercare emergencies (12%), and

• The worker saves up sick days to use as extra vacation time (8%).

A lot of of these rationales are troubling to HR/benefits managers.

In the first place, supervisors who hassle staff members about taking legitimate sick leave are, at best, being pennywise and poundfoolish.  Presenteeism costs more than absenteeism, once you figure in the uncharged sick days, lack of productivity and risk of other staff members getting sick.

You’ve more power than you think to change your business culture when the “tough it out” mentality still applies to people  who come in sick. When  senior level management is confronted with the real dollars and cents of presenteeism, decling the problem generally becomes a priority.  At the very least, firms shouldn’t invite it.

In terms of supervisor- and employee-education, repetition of the “stay home if you’re sick” message is the key. Eventually, it’ll sink in.

Of course, there’s still the problem – as evidenced by the survey – of staff members who misuse their sick days by attempting to hoard them for other purposes.  

Adopting PTO, no-fault absence policies or use-it-lose-it sick leave are the three most common ways of decling the risk, but be aware that each of these policies have risks of their own.

At the end of the day, the more open the lines of communication are between management and employees, the less prevalent the presenteeism problem becomes.

In many segments of society, we  hear about racial and ethnic profiling in negative ways. But what about when it comes to health promotion programs?  

When used for the specific purpose of  starting – or reviewing  - a wellness or disease management (DM) program, profiling isn’t just legal. It’s also encouraged.

Affects health risks

Different racial and ethnic groups tend to be more at risk – for genetic and/or cultural reasons – of certain medical problems. Examples –

• African-American, Latino, Native American and Pacific Islanders are  at higher risk of diabetes than Caucasian employees

• Chinese women are statistically twice as likely to get cervical cancer

• Caucasians have disproportionately high rates of obesity and high blood pressure, and

• Latinos have higher rates of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary illness than other groups. the HIV/AIDS population is also disproportionately Hispanic.

Bottom line –  By assessing  the ethnic breakdown of your worker population, you can set disease management (DM) program priorities with greater confidence and accuracy.

Healthcare quality an issue

Several studies also show there’s an unfortunate relationship between ethnicity and quality of healthcare. Many times, minority employees receive inferior treatment and health education at the same facilities where others receive top-notch care.

This generally happens for innocent reasons. A common scenario –  a lack  of Spanish-speaking physicians in the network for your Latino employees. But the result is generally higher healthcare costs for you and, often,  greater reluctance among minority employees to seek needed treatments.

By profiling employees against the doctors in the network, you ultimately help employees get the care they need and the business to better control long-term costs.