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How To Keep Your Employees Happy & Driven

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Employees|How To Keep Your Employees Happy & DrivenIf you are a business owner, hopefully, you are one of the people that realizes that the most important part of your business is your employees. Believe it or not, even in modern times, there are still a lot of business owners out there that put their employees at the bottom of the pile and more often than not, this comes back to haunt them.

In modern times, if you want to succeed in business, you have to not only do everything your competition is doing, you have to do it better, and for you to be able to do things better, you need the people on the front line to be working at their most productive.

Today, we are going to be looking at why your employees may not be performing at the height of their abilities, and why you may be doing things that cause this. After that, we are then going to be looking at some of the things you can do if you really want to get so much more from your team.

Why Your Employees May Be Slacking

As a business owner, we understand it’s going to be an annoyance if any of your team is underperforming, but, have you ever stopped to find out why they are doing what they are doing?

The sad truth is, while you may have an employee that is trying to get away with doing as little as possible, the chances are that the employee simply feels wasted and undervalued. While this may be difficult to comprehend, it’s actually one of the most popular reasons for an underperforming team member, and as you will see in the next section, it’s rather easy to fix.

So, if you are looking for a way to increase the overall atmosphere in your office and you also want to see your team perform at an all-time high, then maybe you will want to consider some of the tips below.

Offer A Good Benefits System

The first thing we are going to be looking at today is what you are offering to your team that makes them feel valued.

If you are one of many business owners that simply employs somebody only for them to find out that there are zero benefits and nothing to be gained from working at your company, then now is the time to consider making a change to this.

By offering things like Accuplan Benefits Services on top of medical and dental plans, you will suddenly see a change in the attitudes of your team. By giving your employees something that shows them that they are more than just a number to you, you will find that the productivity rate rises exponentially.

Offer Incentives

While we are on the subject of making the team feel valued, it may fall within your interests to offer your employees incentives for reaching certain targets.

Now, when it comes to incentives, it doesn’t really matter if it’s in monetary form or whether you offer an hour off, you will find that this is enough to increase the productivity of your team tenfold and it also promotes a little healthy competition in the office too.

While some business owners see incentives as bribery, it’s actually far from it. You have to look at things realistically when it comes to your employees and see that while you may bank most of the profits, they are only getting a very small portion of that for a lot of work.

When you offer them an incentive, it’s more a way of saying thank you for everything you do.

Nurture And Promote

The final thing we are going to look at is the opportunities that you give to your team. We understand that for some businesses it won’t be viable, but if there comes a time when you need to hire a member of staff, why not look internally and ask if a current employee would be interested in expanding their horizons.

While you may not have a team member that is qualified, there is nothing stopping you from offering them a route into a different career with you. By doing things this way, you already know how hard working the person will be, and it will also cost you less while the employee is training.

Many companies are now employing this technique, and it has been shown to not only increase productivity, but it also increases employee retention rates massively.

How to Get a Job That comes with the Best Benefits

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If you want a job that comes with all the best benefits, then there are a few ways to ensure that this happens.

Take a Closer Look

Job hunters who know the tricks of the trade know how to identify any job benefits that will contribute to their bottom line. The categories include child care, dental insurance, medical care and more. The most important benefit that you should be looking out for is a retirement plan. Not every employer offers this, so it’s a good idea to keep an eye out. Try and find a plan where your employer will match whatever you put in. When you do this, you can come out at the end with a generous amount and you can also feel confident knowing that you are putting away for your future as well. If you can’t find an employer who can offer that then look into solo 401k rules.

StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article | Employee Benefits
 
What do you Need?

You may see a job that comes with all the benefits you could ever need, but if you are not careful then you may end up making the wrong choice for your lifestyle. It helps to sit down and work out what you exactly need from your job. For example, do you need paid vacation leave if you never go on vacation? Probably not, but childcare support may be something that will really help you out if you are a new parent. By looking out for what YOU need rather than what sounds good, you can be sure to make the best decision regarding your job.

Negotiate

If you are in a good position when it comes to applying for a job, then why not ask your employer about any potential benefits that might come your way? Enquire about anything that could make your working life easier and ask for specific benefits as well. This could include having your own office or even the ability to work from home certain days of the year. If your employer wants you badly enough then you can easily negotiate some bonuses and this is even the case if there are none on the table to begin with.

StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article | Employee Benefits
 
Compare

If you see two positions up for grabs then you may want to compare them. A lot of people make the mistake of going for the job that gives the most money because they think that this will benefit them the most. This is not the case at all, and sometimes a lower paying job with more benefits can actually be way more beneficial to your lifestyle. For example, if another job comes with dental, healthcare, childcare, great sick pay and a good pension then this would far outweigh a job that has a salary that is just a bit higher. By looking into things like this, you can then be sure to get the best result out of your career change.

So there are many ways to make sure that you get the best benefits, and by following the above tips, you can be sure to make the best decisions for your career.

Healthcare Management: The Top Strategies You’ll See In 2018

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StrategyDriven Article
 
While there have been numerous developments over the years in different industries, the healthcare sector has not been left behind. Both technological and policy advancements have brought significant changes to this horizon. Most of these changes have helped better the services and competence of the healthcare industry.

In 2018, more business strategies have been put in place intended to complement the benefits of the industry. Here are four healthcare business strategy trends from healthcare experts expected in 2018 to make health centers more convenient for you and your loved ones.

Doctors Will Emphasis on Patient Education

Other than diagnosing and treating patients, doctors have the responsibility of providing patient education. This education helps patients understand the conditions that they have and accept the diagnosis that doctors give. Over the years, however, doctors have not been competent enough in giving such patient education.

As a result, patients tend to deny some of the conditions that they are diagnosed with such as diabetics and cancer. In 2018, doctors are expected to focus more on providing patient education. This will help patients to become pro-active thus increasing efficiency all around.

Healthcare Organizations Will Address the Poor Employee Engagements

For healthcare centers to be most effective, the employees in the centers, especially doctors and nurses, need to be aggressive in their work. Unfortunately, there have been cases showing that employee commitment and aggressiveness in their jobs is low. The common reason given for the poor performance is low wages and salaries.

In fact, the healthcare organizations that have managed to offer better pay for their workers have realized a change. For this reason, it is expected that by the end of 2018, healthcare managers will address the concrete reasons behind the poor performance of medical experts to ensure better management of the centers.

Tech Companies Will Be More Involved in the Health Sector

StrategyDriven Article
 
Over the years, technological innovations have brought about positive changes offering different Medicare options for seniors and explaining the differences between types in the health market. You can fulfill certain criteria and get better health insurance just because of the information flow. Another good thing the internet has made it easy – both doctors and patients to have more information about various symptoms and diseases. Additionally, it is possible for patients to consultation even from far away, thus making the follow-up process easier and more effective.

It is expected that the tech companies will be more involved in the healthcare centers this year to have positive impacts on the industry. For instance, it is expected that there will be advantages such as ultra-health scans and digital therapy for patients who need home care and cannot afford to travel to the center. Such technological innovations will make it easier for you to access medical services at your convenience.

Easy Access to Accurate Medical Information

Having accurate medical information which is readily available is the key to the thriving of the healthcare industry. The demand for this information is rapidly increasing since there are new symptoms and diseases almost every day. As a result, there has been a need to move all medical details and knowledge to the cloud. This will make it easy for you to access the information at your convenience. Additionally, the cloud memory will have other advantages such as simple record management, reduced practice costs, and reduced price. It is also safer to store patient information in the cloud memory. Generally, moving medical information to the cloud will boost the workflow and thus optimizing the overall healthcare industry.

In the past years, there have been emerging trends and changes in the healthcare technology. Luckily these and more changes are expected to continue in the year 2018 through the healthcare business strategies laid in place. Above are some of the strategies in the healthcare that will help make the health sector better.

Using Healthcare Performance Management as a Business Strategy

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Explore how Healthcare Performance Management (HPM), combined with self-insurance, can empower organizations not only to better manage their governance, risk and compliance exposures, but also to deliver bottom-line business value to a company.

By applying the right people, processes and technology to those three focus areas, HPM can empower companies to execute a powerful business strategy that can reduce healthcare costs while also improving employees’ health outcomes.

The first step rests with how companies choose to deliver health benefits to their employees. While every organization’s healthcare plans differ, for example UCLA benefits offers custom packages for each employee, there are two ways coverage can be provided: through fully insured plans, in which they purchase coverage from an insurance company, or through self-insured plans, in which they directly cover employees’ healthcare expenses.

Self-insurance recently has become the option of choice for a majority of the workforce. In 2008, the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) found that 55 percent of workers with health insurance were covered by a self-insured plan. The decision to self-insure has been embraced enthusiastically by large corporations – 89 percent of workers employed in firms with 5,000 or more employees were in self-insured plans in 2008.

By self-insuring, employers can control the costs of providing health benefits to their employees because it allows them to:

  • Obtain more specific information about their actual healthcare expenditures.
  • Control costs, because instead of paying health insurance premiums that typically rise 9 to 10 percent per year, they can pay for routine expenses such as doctor visits, procedures and prescription drugs through a self-insured plan, obtaining lower-cost catastrophic or “stop-loss” policies to cover major medical events.
  • Enable better “human capital management” by recognizing in advance what types of health events are emerging in their covered population in time to help employees avoid a catastrophic event.

An HPM strategy has profound implications for senior management in the three critical areas of governance, risk and compliance. This manifests itself in the following ways:

  • Governance requires the active engagement of business units beyond human resources – strategic planners, financial and operations executives, and the IT group.
  • Self-insured firms must manage their own risk, so access to real-time data that is tied to the plan is imperative.
  • Although corporations have dedicated resources to compliance activities, an HPM system is automated and therefore can deliver those required reports as an ancillary function. This way, organizations can generate the necessary documentation for auditors, regulators and others without devoting valuable resources to that single function.

Governance, Risk, and Compliance Management Strategies for Self-Insured Health Plans: How Senior Executives Can Use Healthcare Performance Management as a Business Strategy explores how HPM, combined with self-insurance, empowers organizations to better manage their governance, risk and compliance exposures, and delivers bottom-line value to the company.

Click here to download a complimentary copy of this Healthcare Performance Management Institute report.

Want to learn more?

Listen to our recent StrategyDriven Editorial Perspective podcast interview with George Pantos, Executive Director of the Healthcare Performance Management Institute during which we discuss how companies can keep their current health plans in light of the recently passed healthcare legislation and under what circumstances they may wish to do so.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:57 — 27.4MB)

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