In the last month, I have been to the Staffing Industry Executive Forum and the Anserteam conference. At both events, speakers discussed strategies for dealing with the coming penalties for failing to provide health insurance to workers. And guess what, the two speakers had polar opposite recommendations!
According to this blog post from Staffing Industry Analysts, 77% of staffing companies have done nothing to prepare for the cost of healthcare. And while the “wait and see” attitude is understandable, it may also be fatal.
One thing that both the speakers agreed on is that you have to work on a plan NOW, before the penalties go into effect. In fact, you will need at least a year to prepare. While I am not an attorney, I would suggest you do the following:
- Estimate the potential impact on your per employee costs. It could be as much as $2 per hour!
- Sit down with your clients for an heart to heart discussion about the coming legislation, the potential for increased costs, and how they plan to respond. Ideally, try to find out what percent of the increased labor cost they are expecting to pay.
- Review your staffing contracts and add in an escalator clause that will allow you to raise bill rates based in increases in statutory expenses. If you’re an ASA member, check out ASA’s model contracts.
- Talk to an attorney that specializes in the staffing industry and healthcare reform to discuss your options.
- Develop plans for 2014 before the start of 2013.
If you’d like more information on healthcare reform and its impact on the industry, here is an on demand webinar I found from Essential StaffCARE: The Impact of Healthcare Reform on Staffing
So why is a marketing guy writing about healthcare reform?
Simple. This is a BIG issue that affects all our clients and everyone in the staffing industry. And assuming the law goes into effect as currently planned, healthcare reform will be a huge marketing and sales issue in the coming years.
At Haley Marketing, we are here to help you develop strategies to deal with your toughest sales and marketing challenges. In my 15+ years in the industry, this may be the single biggest challenge I have ever seen. We will do our best to continue to stay on top of this issue, and to share ideas that help you create effective strategies for mitigating your risk.
