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Inflation rising. Housing starts falling off. Interest rates continue to jump. The federal debt continues unabated. Corporations continue to jettison jobs.
The short headline might simply read, “Uncertainty continues to plague the national economy.”
During periods of economic uncertainty, there is one constant: businesses need to change and innovate. And by doing so, businesses—and professional eyecare practices—have the ability to take charge of their fate and achieve continued success.
Here at Business Essentials, our commitment to eyecare professionals and their practice management team is clear: to provide relevant and timely information that will assist and support professional eyecare practices to build, grow and achieve success.
This is our third edition of Business Essentials, an e-newsletter designed exclusively for eyecare professionals and their practice management team. Along with the authors in this edition and the editorial staff of Vision Monday, we’ll be bringing you timely and useful articles and resources on subjects to help you manage the business aspects of your practice and retail operation. In the coming months, look for articles on marketing your business and case study profiles.
We hope you find this
edition—and those that will follow—provide
you with relevant, practical and useful information to help
you achieve your vision and continued success in your practice.
Click
Here to provide us with your comments and feedback.
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Q:
I am about to terminate one of my employees for cause. Do you have any pointers on how to make this process easier?
A:
While terminating an employee can be one of the most difficult tasks you’ll face, there are steps you can take to minimize low employee morale and potential legal liability for your company.
Arrange a time to talk with the employee in person. Do not procrastinate, except if you are awaiting counsel from your attorney or HR staff. All managers should be properly trained and receive guidance about how to conduct a termination meeting.
You should deliver the message in a neutral, private area, such as a conference room. The meeting with the employee should be brief, respectful and to the point. You should never exaggerate the employee’s poor performance or over-justify the decision. Rather, be firm and direct, citing the decision, the reasons, and the information about what will happen next. You should remain calm and professional, and attempt to preserve the person’s dignity. And take time to practice your remarks beforehand.
Be sure to discuss and have available all important administrative documents, like their final pay check, COBRA information, vacation pay, and other state and legally required information. Make sure to retrieve keys, badges, cell phones and all related company property.
After the termination meeting, notify other staff members as soon as possible to prevent the spread of inaccurate or untrue information.
Hedley Lawson can be reached at (
www.alignedgrowth.com).
If you have a question you’d like answered by one
of our experts
click
here. |
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| Easy-reference
to web resources about human resource policies and rules |
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Health
and Human Services HIPPA Regulations
Click Here
Office for Civil Rights, Privacy of Health Records
Click Here
Discrimination in Employment
Guidelines
Click Here
U. S. Department of Labor
Compliance Assistance
Click Here
BNA’s wage trends
Click Here |
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Eight Steps to Transforming Your Practice
By
Hedley Lawson, Jr.
Whether
your practice is a large group practice or a small, independently
owned practice, all businesses need to innovate and change.
Here are several effective themes and points for you to consider
as you and your practice continues to transform.
| 1. |
Establish a Sense of Urgency |
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- Examine market competitive realities
- Identify and discuss crises, potential crises, or major opportunities
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| 2. |
Form a Powerful Guiding Coalition |
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- Assemble a group with enough power to lead the change effort
- Encourage the group to work together as a team
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| 3. |
Create a Vision |
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- Create a vision to help direct the change effort
- Develop strategies for achieving that vision
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| 4. |
Communicate the Vision |
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- Use every vehicle possible to communicate the new vision and strategies
- Teach new behaviors by the example of the guiding coalition
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| 5. |
Empower Others to Act on the Vision |
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- Eliminate obstacles to change
- Change systems or structures that seriously undermine the vision
- Encourage risk taking and nontraditional ideas, activities and actions
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| 6. |
Plan for and Create Short-term Wins |
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- Plan for visible performance improvements
- Create those improvements
- Recognize and reward colleagues involved in the improvements
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| 7. |
Consolidate Improvements and Produce Still More Change |
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- Use increased credibility to change systems, structures, and policies that don’t fit the vision or culture
- Hire, promote, and develop the talent that can implement the vision
- Reinvigorate the process with new projects, themes and change agents
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| 8. |
Institutionalize New Approaches |
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Articulate the connections between the new behaviors and business success
Develop the means to ensure leadership development and succession
|
 Hedley Lawson
is the managing partner of Aligned Growth Partners, LLC, a strategic,
operational and organizational consulting, and executive search
firm (
www.alignedgrowth.com).
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Office
Etiquette;
Interview No No's
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If you are not prepared, you can easily destroy an interview by asking the wrong questions.
Here are a few tips to help you stay out of trouble and keep candidates interested in working for your company.
1. Avoid Humor. Jokes, anecdotes and witticisms are the most readily misunderstood means of communication. To avoid sending the wrong message, stay focused and forthright. Also, attempts at humor on sensitive subjects (gender, age, national origin, etc.) are inappropriate and should be avoided.
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2. No Opening Monologue. It is often
tempting to have a monologue at the beginning of your
interview. Focus on simple introductions and move directly
to your list of questions, allowing the candidate to provide
you with essential information. If appropriate, feel free
to share more information at the end of the interview.
3. Avoid Closed Ended Questions. Avoid
questions that can be answered with a simple "yes"
or "no". Even if you think "yes" or
"no" is your desired response, rework the question
to allow for a more thorough and thoughtful response.
Unexpected, beneficial information is often revealed when
your questions allow the interviewee to elaborate with
his/her response.
4.
Rephrase General Questions. It is common for
interviewers to use standard questions that can be used
for any job. However, if you ask a generic question, you
will likely receive a generic answer. To improve your
line of inquiry, try to target your questions to the specific
position.
5.
Avoid Leading Questions. Be careful to not give
your candidate the preferred answers by the way you ask
your questions. When you prepare your list of questions,
be precise in knowing the exact wording of every question.
6. Always Avoid Age. The only times you
can ask about age are when it is a requirement of a job
duty, or you need to determine if a work permit is required.
Avoid inquiries into what year someone graduated from
school; it can be interpreted as an attempt to determine
age.
7. Never Ask About Race, Color, National Origin,
and Gender. It is rarely appropriate or legal
to ask questions in regards to race, color, national origin
or gender. If you believe that you have an exception to
this rule, consult with an attorney for advice before
the interview to ensure that you are correct.
8. Do Not Ask About Religion or Sexual Orientation.
Although candidates may volunteer religious or sexual
orientated information in an interview, be careful not
to discriminate. Ask questions that are relevant to work
experience or qualifications. Also avoid questions about
religious holiday celebrations.
9. Do Not Discriminate for Health or Disabilities.
If you have more than 15 employees, you are required
by law to comply with the Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990. The U.S. Department of Justice provides
a thorough question and answers document about this
Act. (See
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/q%26aeng02.htm
for additional information.)
10. Avoid inquires about Marital Status, Children,
Personal Life, Pregnancy and Arrest Record. You
may not ask questions about these topics. While it may
be tempting to ask such a question for a position requiring
travel, you can only explain the travel requirements and
confirm that the requirements are acceptable. If you believe
you have an exception to this rule, consult with an attorney
for advice before the interview to ensure that you are
correct.
There are some rare exceptions to the above rules. To
keep yourself and company safe, or should you believe
you have an exception to the above rules, contact an attorney
and avoid the risk.
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Have
You Met the HIPAA Security Rules?
 Last
year, large health plans (those with receipts of at
least $5 million) had to come into compliance with
new electronic security rules mandated by HIPAA, the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
The rules are a corollary to the HIPAA privacy requirements
for individual protected health information (PHI) and
specify a series of administrative, technical, and
physical security procedures that covered entities
must implement to ensure the confidentiality, integrity,
and availability of PHI in electronic format.
Effective April 20, 2006, small health plans, those with claims and/or
premiums of less than $5 million, now have to comply with these security
rules. But note that employer-administered plans with fewer than 50 eligible
participants are exempt.
If you sponsor a small plan, make sure you're in compliance now. Here
are some of the key compliance action items:
- Identify
a security official within your organization who
will be responsible for developing, maintaining,
and enforcing required policies and procedures regarding
electronic PHI
- Conduct
a risk analysis
- Adopt
appropriate safeguards to protect electronic PHI
- Develop
policies and procedures to ensure that all members
of your workforce have appropriate access to electronic
PHI and to prevent giving access to those workforce
members who don't need it
- Train
employees who handle electronic PHI
- Implement
procedures on how to respond to security incidents
- Adopt
a sanctions policy
- Implement
policies and procedures for responding to an emergency
or other occurrence that damages systems that contain
electronic PHI
- Update
contracts with business associates to ensure compliance
with the security rules
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Back
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| In this edition...
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It's
Your Business
From the Top
Eight Steps to Transforming Your Practice
Ask the Experts
Pointers on Employee Termination
People Management
Office Etiquette
Interview No No's
Rules and Regulations
Have
You Met the HIPAA Security Rules?
Resource Corner
Links to Important Resources |
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Pay
Barometer Points to Gains for Second Quarter and Coming Months
The Wage Trend Indicator (WTI) continues to point to moderate
acceleration in the rate of private-sector compensation gains
in the coming months, according to preliminary second-quarter
figures released by BNA, a Washington-DC-based news and information
service.
The preliminary second-quarter WTI of 100.50 is up from the final
fourth-quarter index of 100.19 (second quarter 1976 = 100), marking
the eighth consecutive quarterly increase in the WTI. The last
time that happened was in 1997-98.
"The labor market factors that influence wage growth are
in place for a modest acceleration," said economist Kathryn
Kobe, who worked on the development of the WTI index. "Overall,
we think the trend in the rate of wage increases should be upward." |
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Additional
Trends in Employee Compensation
Low inflation and a flat economy have given employers an advantage,
and employees have had limited expectations as far as pay increases
are concerned, according to an expert panel at a 2006 Compensation
Symposium. At the same time, growth in the use of a contingent workforce
made up of outsourcing providers, independent contractors, part
timers, home workers, temporary staff, and retired employees has
been outpacing real workforce growth. And add to the equation employers
dealing with double digit increases in healthcare and pension expenses.
These trends are being reflected in compensation structures and
the structure of base pay systems is reverting to more traditional
pay practices. One way this is manifesting in compensation programs
is a move away from broad banding to traditional salary grade structure
with a minimum, midpoint and maximum. Current merit spending patterns
are averaging 3.5 percent annually. In the pharmaceutical and biomedical
industries, some employees have seen merit increases as high as
4 percent to 5 percent due largely to shortages of qualified
employees and increasing demand.
In this era of small annual salary increases, employees increasingly
are saying, "If you can't pay me more, pay me fairly."
Accordingly, internal equity and pay for performance are becoming
even higher priorities and things like broad banding, skill based
pay, cost of living increases, and lump-sum merit payments are on
the decline. |
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