Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC
I am delighted to announce today an exciting new partnership between Aon Hewitt and Birches Group. Under the partnership, Aon Hewitt will make Birches Group surveys in developing country markets available to their clients, expanding their survey coverage to over 170 countries globally.
The two firms will also collaborate closely on consulting projects and promotional activities.
Here is a link to the full Press Release.
Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC
Companies are increasing the pace of international expansion, constantly seeking new opportunities and new markets. One of the most commonly asked questions through our Ask the Experts feature and on other sites is how to prepare, from a human resources perspective, for international expansion. It might be opening a new office, or just hiring one or two sales reps, but either way, there’s work to do. If your company is expanding to a new country, what questions should you ask (and answer) as an international HR expert to help prepare your firm?
Author:
Jacque Vilet – Vilet International
Many companies are coming to the realization that the health and wellness of their global workforce is an important issue. Wellness programs that began in the U.S. or Europe, typically at headquarters locations, are now expanding globally.
Towers Watson recently released their 2011 survey entitled “Multinational Workforce Health”. The survey included 149 participants representing 5.2 million employees in 37 countries. Continue reading
Posted in Benefits, Global HR Expertise
Tagged Benefits, Global HR, International Benefits, wellness
Author:
Jacque Vilet – Vilet International
Many companies with employees located in many countries globally provide supplemental benefits in addition to those that are government mandated. Many of these supplemental plans are insured: life, accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D), disability, retirement, etc. Typically, the office in each country location manages their own process of selecting insurance companies, types of coverage, comparing premiums and settling on the final contract language. Sometimes the number of employees is very small and, therefore, the premium is high because the risk is spread over a small number of people.
Author:
Alan Freeman – LOF International HR Solutions
This is the second of two installments on the topic of assignee selection.
In our last posting, we began to list a number of proven best practices for selecting candidates for international assignments. Here are several more:
Provide an overview of the your company’s applicable policies and processes. You and the candidate need to know early on if there are any “show-stopper” issues or you run the risk of wasting everyone’s time. Be sure, by the way, that your policy and administrative processes are well thought through and developed. You don’t want to be caught building an ad hoc “package” through negotiations. One-off deals frequently lead to lots of ongoing problems. Continue reading
Author:
Alan Freeman – LOF International HR Solutions
This is the first of two installments on the subject of assignee selection.
A recent question, “Please share ideas on best practices for hiring candidates for an immediate international assignment” triggers a few thoughts.
First and foremost, the organization must definitively establish that it is not possible to recruit local nationals in the location where the job is based. Hence sending a foreigner as an International Assignee is both necessary and can be sufficiently justified to obtain assignment country work and residency permits. If so, then…
Author:
George Bashaw – Atlas Global Benefits
It is time to unlock the power of hidden benefits. Each year when preparing to communicate new benefits changes, we tend to get bogged down in the delivery of rising medical costs and medical benefit changes. Understandably, medical hits the company’s bottom line and the employee’s wallet the hardest. This singular focus on medical benefits causes us to neglect the communication of other valuable benefits that may directly or indirectly save money for the company and your employees. Prior posts in this series include Enrollment and Billing Audit, Dependent Eligibility Audit, Know Your Claims and Duplication of Coverage.
Secret Five: Hidden Benefits
Hidden benefits are services and benefits that your employees may not fully understand or have no knowledge they exist. They could be stand alone plans or riders on policies. Either way, they have a purpose and can be very useful.
They key is identify your hidden benefits and communicate them properly. Here is a list of typical hidden benefits and some additional information about them:
The importance of an international EAP plan could merit several blog pieces on its own. The obvious benefits of EAP are credit, substance, marital, emotional counseling, and the list continues. Take anyone one of these common issues and multiply the stress of being a thousand miles from home and your support group and you have a serious problem. A problem that needs to be addressed by someone who can support the cultural issues, language barriers, and the exponential stress associated of being abroad. Not utilizing a good EAP plan can create loss of productivity and maybe the loss of your expat.
Some international medical plans come with EAP riders and other useful riders like medical evacuation and repatriation. You have to determine if the rider is adequate for your needs compared to a standalone plan. Either way, it is important employees understand their benefits and how they can utilize them.
Communication
Make sure you take the time to communicate all your benefits each year and not just the changes. Ensure that everyone has a summary of the plan in an easy to follow handbook that can be accessed via the internet. Additionally, you should issue new cards each year for wallets and purses.
My final recommendation on communication is bit outside the box but I have seen very positive results with my clients. I recommend you consider inviting spouses to the meetings or at least include them in the communication. In every home, you have a quarterback on issues like benefits and half the time it is the spouse. Effectively communication with the spouse may pay off in the long run.
Good luck unlocking the power of your hidden benefits. I would love to hear your thoughts on this issue.
More about George:
Posted in Benefits, Expatriates, Insurance, International Benefits
Tagged expatriate, Global HR, International Benefits
Author:
George Bashaw – Atlas Global Benefits
Need to find some savings without cutting something? Pull out your bills and perform an enrollment audit. This blog is part four in a series of simple ways to save money without altering your current benefit design or carrier. Prior posts in this series include Dependent Eligibility Audit, Know Your Claims and Duplication of Coverage.
Secret Four – Enrollment and Billing Audit
I know it’s not very sexy but a sharp eye can find a few bucks with four simple steps.
Step One: Active Employees
Make sure only active employees are on the bill. When an employee leaves make sure they are immediately removed from your plan. If they wish to continue coverage, make sure they are enrolled in COBRA (if applicable).
Step Two: Enrollment Errors
Verify that each person is enrolled in the plan they selected during enrollment and the carrier is billing you correctly. Some plans have more than one medical choice and many plans have various levels of life insurance options where mistakes are easily made.
Step Three: Billing Errors
Once you have determined that everyone is enrolled correctly, make sure you are correctly being charged for every selection. Despite all you hard efforts to renegotiate your insurance rates, you may find out the changes did not make it to the carrier’s billing system, or they were entered incorrectly.
Step Four: International Employees
You may be getting billed for employees who are not covered for thier specific region. It is important that you understand the contractual provisions of all your plans. If you are covering local employees on an international plan, make sure the carrier is aware of their locations and they are included in the plan. I have seen many plans (EAP, long term disability, medical, life, and most importantly war risk) that have country specific coverage exclusions.
I hope you four-step your way into some savings. Please share your thoughts.
More about George:
Comments Off on Five Secrets to Reduce Benefits Cost, Part 4
Posted in Benefits, Expatriates, Insurance, International Benefits
Tagged Benefits, Global HR, International Benefits
Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure to attend the Houston International HR Conference sponsored by the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC). The conference was well-attended; over 150 delegates, both corporate staffers and suppliers were there. My colleague and contributing editor, Alan Freeman, was also there. We would like to share some of the highlights from the conference proceedings. We hope this will allow our readers to benefit from the learnings of the conference, even if you were not there personally. This is the first installment of our report.
Global Wellness
One of the most interesting and innovative topics at the conference was Global Wellness. Two companies, Chevron and Intel, presented their experiences with the development and implementation of wellness programs in the US and in various global markets. While each company took a slightly different approach, there were many similarities in their experience.
Chevron’s Experience
Chevron is one of the world’s largest integrated oil companies, with operations in over 100 countries. The company identified cardio-vascular health as a primary risk factor in their population and decided to focus on health awareness and improvement programs to address this risk. Chevron began their program with pilot tests in the US, Nigeria, Angola and Thailand, among others.
The wellness program consists of a health assessment conducted by a third-party, measuring basic health statistics such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, body fat index, and similar risk factors. Employees are then provided with coaching on lifestyle and behavioral changes they can adopt to reduce their risk for cardio-vascular disease. Some of the changes are typically smoking cessation, exercise, weight reduction, stress reduction, sleep and healthier food choices in their diet. In addition, the company worked with it’s vendors in the the target countries to introduce heart-healthy options in their food service programs, introducing both new menu choices and some items with substitute ingredients or modified recipes, such as reduced sodium content.
The program has been a strong success, and is now being rolled out in additional countries. There were many learnings from the pilot experience, but here are a few that I thought were particularly powerful:
The Intel Experience
Intel Corporation is the world’s largest manufacturer of semi-conductors. They rolled out a wellness program in the US and several overseas markets, including Malaysia, Israel, Costa Rica and China. Initially, Intel staff examined several years of health surveillance data to confirm that staff were properly protected from the chemical processes used in the semi-conductor fabrication process. The study indicated there was no effect from the work environment, and that rather, lifestyle behaviors were the larger risk areas for Intel employees.
Some stress-reduction programs were introduced, but it wasn’t until Intel CEO Andy Grove had a medical event that the focus on wellness was renewed and elevated in the company. Building on a substantial array of existing services, such as occupational medicine, on-site clinics and various online resources, Intel began to introduce a more dynamic program to help improve employee wellness.
The Intel program is a 3-Step Wellness Check, including a Biometric Health Check, a Health Risk Assessment, and Wellness Coaching. The Coaching is provided face to face in most major locations. In China, the coaching is provided in person by prominent local physicians. Follow-ups are also integrated with the local EAP. These design changes were made based on the recommendation of the local committee responsible for implementation of the wellness initiative in China. It has proven to be very effective, and Intel plans to continue rolling out the program to additional locations over the next few years.
Observations
I was quite impressed by the efforts of these two prominent global companies in the area of employee wellness. In both cases, the companies have a long-established focus on employee safety; the wellness initiatives are consistent with this focus and enhances this commitment.
What is especially impressive is the success in introducing the program not only in the United States, but also in overseas markets, mainly in the developing world. While it’s still too early to draw any major conclusions about the long-term impact of these programs on company health care costs, other related items such as absenteeism, and overall impact in the community, the preliminary data indicates positive impact for the companies, their employees and the community.
What Are You Doing to Promote Employee Wellness?
Global Employee Wellness is a new area of focus for companies, and there is a lot still to be learned. What is your company doing in the area? Please share your comments and experiences with us!
More About Warren
Developing Markets Compensation and Benefits Group on LinkedIn
Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC
A few weeks ago on LinkedIn, Ravinder Bhan asked the following question:
“You have just joined a company with more than 15, 000 employees as a (Compensation & Benefits) manager. What are the first three things you would do to make a lasting impact at the organization?”
As soon as I noticed this question, I was compelled to answer it. Here is the answer I posted:
“This is truly an excellent question. For C&B to be an effective business partner and not just another run of the mill HR function, as you state above, it requires an immersion in the business.
To that end, here are my three things:
- Understand the business. Talk to the business leaders, their deputies and employees. Learn what the company does. Don’t just sit in corporate and get opinions from those at HQ – go into the field and see what happens there. If it’s a manufacturer, visit a factory. Spend time with the sales force, meet some customers. And if the company is global, and you are responsible for international as well, get on a plane and follow the same steps in the key operations overseas.
- Take inventory. Compile information about how the company manages C&B. Hold off on judgement – instead, focus on gathering information and getting a complete picture of what are the prevailing practices. Talk to managers about what’s working and what’s not. Learn the HRIS system and do some analysis yourself. Speak with the incumbent consultants to understand their role and their perspective about the company’s practices. Find an industry group of peers and get involved, and do some benchmarking.
- Formulate your strategy for impact. To do this, look for opportunities to make changes that will improve efficiency and eliminate bureaucracy; programs to empower managers to manage rewards, and hold them accountable to do so; initiatives to support globalization (if applicable); develop dashboard metrics for management to measure effectiveness of C&B programs; and finally, cost-saving steps, such as multi-national pooling of insurance and strategic relationships with providers.
Of course, the above is not a one-year plan — it would take two or three years to achieve. But there would surely be a lasting impact.”
There were other answers to the question, about 15 all together. I was flattered to be cited as the Best Answer (many of the other answers were excellent as well). If you want to, take a look at the whole Q&A on LinkedIn. But the timing coincided with the Olympic Games, so I sort of felt this is my gold medal. Those of you who know me, know for sure that there is no way I will ever get a real Olympic medal :-).
These days, there is so much being stated about how HR needs to “get a seat at the table” and “become an effective business partner,” I thought sharing this topic with our readers would be beneficial. In particular, I am keen to understand what your first three things would be if you were to find yourself in the situation described above?
Would you follow the same steps that I outlined? Why or why not? What else would you do? How would your actions be influenced by the culture of country where you operate?
Please tell me your thoughts by leaving a comment. I am very anxious to read some more “Best Answers!”
More About Warren
Developing Markets Compensation and Benefits Group on LinkedIn
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