Meeting
Notes from the July 6, 2006 Adirondack meeting of The Business
Council’s Labor & Human Resources Committee
The meeting was called to order at 10 AM on July 6th at the Word
of Life Fellowship Conference Center in Schroon Lake.
Laurie DeLong, chairman of the Labor & HR Committee welcomed
the committee members and thanked Dave Barnhart and the Word of
Life for their generosity in hosting the meeting.
Tom Minnick then reviewed the contents
of the meeting book and discussed highlights
of The
Business Council’s web page and
that of the
Public Policy Institute, their think
tank. Next was
Knickerbocker
Blog ,
the council’s daily blog on economic
and political affairs and the Albany
Times Union blog, Capitol confidential.
After a short introduction by each attendee, Tom Minnick, in
his role as Manager, Center for Human Resources at The Business
Council proceeded with a legislative review.
A short overview of the legislative session was given. In this
election year, state budgets continue to rise at 2 to 3 times
the rate of inflation. There is no spending restraint in Albany.
The new budget comes in at $113.4 billion, a 9% increase in spending.
The business climate remains the worst in the country according
to The Tax Foundation and both candidates for Governor publicly
claim their intention to take on the entrenched special interests
and the Legislators in Albany, if elected. And they promise no
tax increases! Several handouts of opinion columns were distributed.
Attendees were reminded that great source material is available
on the Labor & HR Committee web page. Tom reviewed a section
on legislative
memos and posters and model notices available for
free through the web page.
The legislative presentation began with a slide showing the web
address for locating a legislative bill. Committee members can
use this locator feature to review bill wording, sponsor memos
and if voted, the complete vote record. A discussion of the influence
of organized labor on the bills of interest to us continued and
unionization statistics for NYS and the US were used to show why
we are the most organized state in the US.
A short review of the NYS Correction law concerning discrimination
against persons convicted of one or more criminal offenses was
conducted.
Tom then covered the following pieces of legislation that saw
action during the 2006 legislative session:
- Fair Share for Health Care, S.7090/A.10583 along with the worksheet
sent to committee members early in the session to calculate the
financial impact of this bill. A chart of all the health insurance
mandate bills was provided.
- Paid Family Medical Leave, S.1501-B/A.1301-A
- Increase in the
maximum disability benefit, S.3798-A/A.1305-A
- Military Spouse Leave, S.7175-B/A.10883
- Job Vacancy Listing Requirement, S.3358/A.1737
- Day Care Worker State Employee bill, S.6758/A.10060
- Public Employer Bad Faith Bargaining, S.3178/A.6222
- Mandated leave for blood donation, S.514/A.5497
- Waiver of striker’s unemployment insurance waiting period
, S.654/A.1302
- Access to personnel files, S.3697/A.4411
- Restriction on nurses
overtime, S.169/A.1199
- Employee’s mail order pharmacy
bill of rights, S.5456/A.8420-A
- Overtime Protection Act, A.8056
Click here for Tom’s powerpoint presentation, A New York
HR Legislative Update.
The presentation wrapped up with a pitch to attend next year’s “HR
Voice in Albany Day” on April 17, 2007. This is the annual
state lobby day for HR Professionals in New York State. There were
88 attendees this year, up from 56 in 2005, and the goal for
2007 is 100 attendees. This year, an evening reception was added
to the schedule and 44 were in attendance. It was so successful
that a reception will be planned for our 2007 event. Stay tuned
for more information on “HR Voice in Albany Day.”
Jeff Dashew CLU, ChFC, from Support Services
Alliance, Inc. was next up with a comprehensive update on the
status and progress of the new Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) available
to employees and employers.
He reviewed the history of premium increases and the variety of
ways employers coped with them. A general view point regarding
increased health plan costs focused on employees, acting as consumers,
getting more involved in the selection of health care providers
and shouldering more financial responsibility for health care expenses.
This has led to the increased use of high-deductible health plans.
This use was accelerated by the passage of the Medicare Reform
Act of 2003 which authorized the use of Health Savings Accounts
, HSAs, in conjunction with high-deductible insurance plans.
Jeff walked the group through the components of a program, eligibility
, sources of contributions, individual and aggregate deductibles
, contribution minimums and maximums and tax treatment of contributions.
Powerpoint slides explaining accumulations, withdrawals and portability
were presented.
He concluded his presentation with four actual business applications:
a medical practice of 20 - 30 employees, a 50+ employee wholesale
and retailer, a 30 employee manufacturer and a 10 employee construction
company. It was evident from this example that if used properly
, HSAs can result in employees having a medical plan even where
they previously did not have one.
Click here for Jeff’s powerpoint presentation, Health Savings Accounts.
After lunch, Mike Maciekowich, National Director for long time
Business Council member firm Astron Solutions outlined suggestions
for the retention of high valued employees through the “CAR” methodology,
Competency-Achievement-Recognition.
Using his usual mixture of DILBERT cartoons and bar charts, Mike
reviewed Key Drivers used to attract and retain employees of choice
and those used for employee engagement.
Attract - Pay for Performance, Career Advancement, Work-Life
Balance, Health Care Benefits & pay
Retain - Manager Motivation,
Fair Compensation for the work, Reputation of the employer,
Opportunities to learn & Efforts
to retain staff
Employee engagement - Consistent salary criteria,
Delegated decision making, Management interest in employees,
Improve my skills & Reputation
of employer
Mike discussed the keys to career advancement and addressed the
needs of the “High Performing” employees. He also went
into depth on how we can identify high performers.
The CAR method:
- Focus on high performers who make meaningful contributions
and establish a clear path for growth opportunities
- Access the necessary training, development, networking and
other resources needed to achieve these opportunities
- Building a strong nucleus of high performers will sustain organizations
through the many changes to come
Mike concluded his presentation with a detailed look at Applebee’s
restaurants and their program for recruiting, retention and engagement
of high performing employees.
Click here for Mike’s powerpoint presentation, Competency-Achievement-Recognition, The "CAR" Methodology for the Retention of "High Performing" Employees.
The meeting adjourned at 3:00 PM.
Additional information and questions about this July meeting or
future meetings should be directed to Tom Minnick at tom.minnick@bcnys.org or 518/465-7511 x210.
