The vast majority of HR managers say missing open enrollment has a big impact on employees’ wallets, according to a recent CareerBuilder.com survey.

How big of an impact?

• 34% of HR managers say missing open enrollment costs employees at least $500 a year in out-of-pocket expenses (for things like medical care and school tuition, which could’ve been covered by their employer)
• 20% say it costs employees more than $1,000, and
• 10% say it costs workers more than $2,500.

That’s distressing news when you consider that half of hiring managers say more than 10% of their workforce misses annual open enrollment deadlines.

In addition, 25% of workers admit they don’t pay attention to benefits changes, figuring their benefits will roll over — or because they feel the whole process is too confusing.

Employees don’t realize what they’re missing

Another big reason employees don’t participate: They don’t realize everything their employer is offering.

When asked which benefits employees aren’t taking advantage of, HR managers said:

• Wellness benefits (45%)
• Flexible healthcare spending (43%)
• Tuition Reimbursement (38)
• Banking programs (25%), and
• Discounts on personal entertainment (24%) and technology (22%).

According to one study cited in the Harvard Business Review, men tend to be equal opportunity bullies — targeting men and women about equally. Not so with women, who target other women in more than seven out of every 10 instances.

Some other findings:

• Instances of verbal abuse are more commonly committed by men (57%) than women (41%), but
• Women (54%) are more likely than men (41%) to engage in more subtle forms of bullying, such as sabotaging another’s work, and
• Women (50%) are more likely than men (45%) to abuse their authority over subordinates.

The study goes on to issue a warning to HR managers: Left unchecked, bullying becomes the norm as a business culture. That is, managers and subordinates begin to think of bullying as a standard way of doing business. And in such environments, productivity invariably goes down and turnover goes up.

If you don’t know what “free cash flow” means, maybe you should –  if you want to get ahead in your organization.

What if someone told you he had a key piece of knowledge that would give you an edge on most of the other managers in your company? You’d probably jump at it, right?

Well, consider that business owners and CEOs routinely expect their managers and supervisors to have an understanding of the basics of business, especially money and finances. A survey by the Harvard Business Review shows that owners’ expectation might be too high.

Asked to take a basic financial-literacy exam, a representative sample of 300 managers — from all company sectors, including HR — scored an average of only 38%. Get this: Over half didn’t know the difference between “profit” and “cash.” Many didn’t know the difference between an income statement and a balance sheet. Nearly two-thirds thought that discounts offered by sales reps had no effect on gross margin.

Does it matter? When delivering the results of the test, Harvard presented scenarios in which that lack of knowledge could cripple a business. For instance, imagine you’re hiring an inventory manager who doesn’t understand the relationship between inventory on hand and cash flow. Worse, imagine you don’t know what the applicant doesn’t know.

Here are three sample questions from the test (answers at the bottom):

1. You should be pleased about your company’s financial results if –

a. There is a negative trend in operating margin.

b. There is an increasing trend in COGS.

c. Cash flow is coming from company investing.

d. Cash flow is coming from company operations.

2. A company has more cash today when –

a. All customers pay their bills sooner.

b. Accounts receivable increases.

c. Profit increases.

d. Retained earnings increases.

3. To investors and analysts, free cash flow is a key number because –

a. It reflects the cash that is “free” — that is, your company doesn’t have to pay interest on it.

b. It is the cash that can be used to pay shareholders their dividends.

c. It reflects the operating cash that has flowed into the business that year.

d. It is the cash that investors put into the business.

Answers:

1. d.

2. a.

3. b.

Legislation introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) would extend the subsidy and make those laid off from Jan. 1, 2010 through June 30, 2010 eligible.

Under the proposed bill, the subsidy would be provided for up to 15 months.

Currently, the subsidy is available for up to nine months for people who lost their jobs after Sept. 1, 2008 — and it won’t be available to employees laid off after Dec. 31, 2009.

Without an extension, people who began collecting the subsidy March 1 — when it first became available — will lose it at the end of November.

New Heath Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) security breach rules mean you’ll be responsible to notify each employee affected and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The rules technically kicked in Sept. 23, but the feds say they won’t enforce them until Feb. 22.

What counts, what doesn’t

Not all the data your Benefits and HR folks collect is impacted:

• What counts: Individual info from group health, dental or vision plans; healthcare reimbursement flexible spending accounts; pharmacy benefits plans; employee assistance programs; and long-term care plans.
• What doesn’t: Info related to leave request, accommodation requests, and workers’ comp.

And while you must inform individual employees immediately whenever their health info falls into the wrong hands, you only have to report to HHS right away if more than 500 records are affected.

If less are affected, you’ll need to keep a log of what happened and report to HHS by the following March 1.

That’s a few of the results of a recent poll of HR managers from consultant Watson Wyatt.

About seven in 10 HR pros see their company’s salary freezes being lifted over the next year.

Here are some other details of the poll, which forecasts trends over the next three to five years.

The number of employees working past retirement age will:

• Grow (79%)
• Not change (18%)
• Shrink (2%)

The amount of healthcare costs paid by employees will:

• Increase (73%)
• Not change (24%)
• Decrease (3%)

Staff sizes will:

• Grow (22%)
• Not change (26%)
• Shrink (52%)

The ruling now gives companies more power to discipline employees who don’t provide proper FMLA notification.

What happened

A worker took intermittent leave for migraines. The side effects of his medicine made him sleep — up to 27 hours at a time — and he knew it.

The man took two doses of meds prior to his shift, but he didn’t call to notify his supervisor that he needed an FMLA day. He slept through his entire shift.

When the company suspended him for 20 days, the man sued, claiming FMLA interference.

The company said he knew he needed FMLA leave — especially after taking the second dose. He could’ve notified the company prior to his absence but failed to do so.

What the court said

The court agreed, saying the man should’ve notified his supervisor as soon as he took his medicine.

Regs require workers to notify employers as soon as possible. The worker didn’t so his suspension wasn’t FMLA interference.

Cite: Valdivia v. BNSF Railway Co., U.S. Dist. Crt., ED KN, No. 07-2467-KHV, 2/12/09.

The scene:

Charlene Silvera almost knocked over HR manager Rob Jenner as they passed in the hallway.

“Oh, sorry, Rob,” Charlene apologized. “I guess my mind was somewhere else.”

“Everything OK?” Rob asked.

“I’ll live,” Charlene smiled. “Although I’m not sure I can live through another meeting with Ed Lopat and Joe Cronin.”

“I guess those two still don’t get along,” Rob surmised.

“Like oil and water,” Charlene said. “I’d love to be able to separate them, but their cooperation is absolutely crucial to the success of our project. And managing those two is becoming a fulltime job.”

“They don’t have problems working with others, do they?” Rob asked.

“No, just with each other,” Charlene noted. “For some reason, you can count on the two of them getting into an argument during a meeting. You can just feel it coming.”

The blame-game
“How about discussing it with them?” Rob suggested.

“I tried that to get to the bottom of the problem,” she explained. “All I got from the both of them was a blame-game – ‘he did this, and he did that.’”

“Is there some way I can help?” Rob said.

“You don’t happen to have a whip and a chair, do you?” she joked. “But, honestly, at this point I’m open to anything.”

If you were Rob, what would you suggest to Charlene to end the feud between Ed and Joe?

Gary Lane, HR manager, Barnstable, MA
What Gary would do: If their full cooperation is crucial to the completion of the project, make that part of their performance standards. And give the manager the authority to make the judgment call on whether they are cooperating – and meeting the standards.

Reason: You have to put the problem in terms that are real and immediate: “You’re required to meet this standard, and failure to do so will be harmful to your success here.” That should get their attention. Or, if it doesn’t, they know they’ll suffer for it.

Tom Petersen, program manager, Eagle River, AK
What Tom would do: Through meetings and exchanging ideas, I’d explore all the possible fixes, but you may want to consider the possibility of just living with the situation. If, in the end, they produce, even though they’re high maintenance for the manager, that could be acceptable.
Reason: Nothing’s perfect, so you have to decide how much “imperfection” you’re willing to live with. It probably wouldn’t hurt to somehow show some appreciation for the manager and what she’s doing to get the two of them to work together.

Michelle Grovner, HR representative, Brunswick, GA
What Michelle would do: This could be a situation that calls for training. Neither person seems willing to take some responsibility or recognize the cause of the problem. That means they probably need some guidance on recognizing their own problems and changing their behavior.

Reason: Sometimes we’ve seen that people are totally unaware of the fact that they’re causing problems. The possible solution is to make them aware and teach them how to change.

• Yes: 46%
• No: 51%
• We’re considering it: 3%

Of the HR managers who said their employers offered paid maternity leave, many indicated the amount was less than full pay — usually about 50%.

Many wondered whether the subsidy enacted in February would spur more ex-workers to take advantage of the health coverage. Wonder no more.

The federal subsidy designed to make health insurance more affordable for laid-off workers has led to a doubling in the number of people who have opted to continue their former employer’s coverage. Those workers apparently can do the math and have figured out they’re getting a good deal.

According the the Kaiser Family Foundation, prior to passage of the subsidy, the average family was stuck paying about $1,000 a month for continued coverage under COBRA. The post-subsidy premium for the same family: $377 a month.

HR consultant Hewitt Associates analyzed COBRA coverage at 200 companies with 8 million employees and reports:

• From March through June of this year, monthly enrollment rates for eligible workers averaged 38%.
• From September 2008 through February 2009, the enrollment rate was a only about 19%.

With unemployment at a 25-year high — and no signs of a quick rebound in the job market — employers and HR offices should expect the coverage bubble to expand.

Analysts at The Segal Company, an HR consulting firm, point out that ex-workers under COBRA coverage tend to make more health claims, possibly because those people want to cram in as many services as they can while they have coverage.

Result: Companies that carry a lot of COBRA coverage may see their premiums go up.

Which sectors?
As you might expect, the biggest users of the subsidy program are workers from industries with the most widespread layoffs. For example, companies in the manufacturing industry saw an 800% increase in enrollments since the subsidy was enacted. Enrollments rose from 7% (Sept. 2008 through Feb. 2009), to 59% (March 2009 through June 2009).

Sign-ups for those who worked in the construction, leisure and retail industries tripled for the same period. The number of those taking advantage of the subsidy from the aerospace and defense; business services; food and beverage; media, and pharmaceuticals industries more than doubled for the same period.

Click here for an industry breakdown of COBRA enrollments.