Human Resources
Change is not always good
Why Nick Giancola of Administaff says change isn’t always the best way to fix health care cost woes
By Mark Scott
Smart Business Cleveland | August 2007
While a company may have good intentions in changing health care providers, doing so
on a year-after-year basis rarely produces good results.
“It’s just not good for the employees,” says Nick Giancola, district manager for
Administaff’s Cleveland office. “If I am a concerned employee, even if it’s about which doctor I’m going to go to or will my doctor be in the new plan or not be in the new plan, I
become concerned. Typically, when somebody is concerned, they are less productive.”
As business owners assess their company’s health care plans, they need to ask themselves whether their plan is helping the company move forward and enabling the business
to attract, retain and motivate the best people.
“If it is not, I would ask myself the question why not, and what do we need to do to get it
in line with our business strategy,” Giancola says. “Morally, I would love to be able to pay
100 percent for all the benefits for my people. Financially, my company can’t do it.
Somewhere, the business owner must determine where the point is that they can afford.”
Companies need to figure out how well their plan matches up with employee needs.
“Maybe they don’t have a plan that’s rich enough to attract the type of employee that they
are looking for or to retain them,” Giancola says. “The other side of that coin is maybe they
have a plan that is too rich for what they need.”
One option smaller companies can consider is working with a professional employer
organization, which can offer big-company benefits to smaller organizations.
“If a small company has access to the same kind of benefits that larger corporations offer,
the playing field to attract, retain and motivate top talent becomes equal,” Giancola says.
Company leaders need to sit down and determine what aspects of a health care package
are most important to their organization and how the plan fits in within the budget.
HOW TO REACH: Administaff, www.administaff.com or (216) 393-2032
