Self-improvement is a constant thought in most consumer’s minds and the advertising industry knows this all too well. “The weight loss industry is a 60-billion-dollar business” oversaturated with fitness gurus and companies advocating various fad diets and weight-loss products. However, these media-marketed solutions don’t stick and people end up feeling confused and frustrated.

Aside from the quick-fix mentality from the media, people are also growing tired of the “just eat less and move more” advice they may receive from their physicians and peers. However, professional wellness coaches, who are trained in behavior modification techniques, can help individuals bridge the gap between medical recommendations and the behaviors required to implement them.

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The holidays can be a lot of fun, but they can also lead to a lot of stress for business owners and employees. Between the family events and changing schedules, holiday season can be pretty hectic. Here are a few tips to help business owners come out on top.

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A federal judge has blocked the upcoming Department of Labor (DOL) overtime rule instituted by the Obama Administration. The rule was set to take effect Dec. 1, 2016, increasing the salary threshold for overtime eligibility from $23,660 to $47,476. This would have made any workers under the threshold eligible for overtime pay for over 40 hours worked per week. 

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A good meeting can help steer a business toward success. Unfortunately, not all meetings turn out to be all that helpful. According to Inc.com, roughly two-thirds of meetings are seen as unproductive, which ends up hurting businesses more than helping them. Effective, efficient meetings are critical, so here are three ways you can help your business succeed in the conference room.

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As Americans, the freedoms we enjoy every day are largely thanks to those that serve and protect our country. Unfortunately, when many veterans come back from serving, the transition to civilian life is not an easy one.

According to the Department of Labor, the veteran unemployment rate in 2015 was 5.8 percent. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs goes on to state that veterans make up 11 percent of the adult homeless population in this country.

Group Management Services President Mike Kahoe recently made an appearance on The Steve Harvey Show’s Veteran’s Day Special. The show featured Ashley, a 30-year-old Navy veteran who was honorably discharged a year prior. She had a degree in psychology and a passion for helping others in her position with the hopes of a career in Human Resources. She was struggling to find work until Mike stepped in and offered her a position with Group Management Services. 

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The recent election marked the end of a long, grueling, and divisive campaign season, and employers are now faced with the task of uniting their workforce back towards their common goal. Regardless of your personnel, everyone’s political beliefs are not always going to be the same.

In a 2016 study by the Pew Research Center, “More than half of Democrats (55%) say the Republican Party makes them “afraid,” while 49% of Republicans say the same about the Democratic Party.”

As Group Management Services President, Mike Kahoe stated in a recent Wall Street Journal article on the subject of his largely conservative group, “They’re not doing obnoxious high-fives” in regards to the Trump victory. 

As a Professional Employer Organization with a focus on Human Resources, it was evident that employees on both sides kept things respectful throughout the election process. This is not always the case at other businesses, so some employers take actions to avoid any issues. 

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Did you know that 75 percent of all healthcare costs are attributed to preventable conditions? Imagine the burden this places on employers and their healthcare costs. Here is what the numbers are saying:

• 45 percent of Americans suffer from at least one chronic disease.
• More than two-thirds of all deaths are caused by these five chronic diseases: heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes.
• Treatment for chronic disease constitutes roughly 96 cents per dollar for Medicare and 83 cents per dollar for Medicaid.
• More than one in four Americans have multiple chronic conditions (MCC), and this number is continuing to grow.

Chronic disease, by definition, is a disease that typically lasts three months or longer. In most cases, chronic conditions can be controlled but not cured. In fact, it affects 1.7 million lives each year, being the leading cause of death and disability in the United States. Many people assume this is only affecting the elderly, but in the past 10 years, working aged adults being diagnosed with chronic diseases increased by 25 percent. This epidemic is having a strong effect on the cost of healthcare. A study performed at Milken Institute examined the relationship between chronic disease and absenteeism among full time workers. The study focused on seven different diseases and found that the indirect costs of chronic diseases (such as missed days away from work) are higher than the direct cost to treat them.

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Considering all of the recent healthcare regulations, now is a better time than ever to consider a self-funded health plan. Self-funding your health insurance is a long-term strategy to save money, gain total control over your plan, and may offer immediate savings.  

It is a common misconception that self-funded health plans are only advantageous for large employers. In a traditional self-funded arrangement, small employers weren’t able to absorb the risk on becoming self-insured due to potential losses. By self-insuring your plan coupled with a stop loss policy (also known as a catastrophic policy), you mitigate your financial risk while allowing your plan to reap all of the benefits. Stop loss policies allow employers to evaluate potential savings and maximum exposure by becoming self-funded. Prior to stop loss insurance, the potential savings were estimated and max exposure was an unknown.

Group Management Services offers stop loss insurance that allows small employers to be rated on their own medical applications while experiencing savings due to our economies of scale. This means we’re able to offer lower stop loss premiums due to our volume, but your premiums aren’t affected by other plans should they not do as well as yours.

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You’ve probably heard the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

I remember in my youth that my grandfather swore by this philosophy. He was very particular when it came to what he owned and how to maintain it, as he lived through the depression and he was cheap! Fast forward a few years to where my grandfather trusted me to mow his lawn. Now by trust I mean he sat in his lawn chair, watched, and critiqued each and every pass I made. Like I said, he was particular.

That Christmas my family got my grandfather a new lawnmower and the first thing he said was, “That manual one still works fine. Matthew was able to mow all summer without any issues.” Now there were issues: the mower was ancient, rusted, and dull. All signs pointed to the fact that a change was necessary BUT would gramps be open to it?

The next summer I was not asked once to come mow his lawn. My grandfather religiously mowed it every week because, as he stated, “This thing is a gem! It’s like I’m not even putting forth effort and my lawn looks the best I’ve ever seen it!”

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Business jargon is everywhere, but that doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily helping your employees. Jargon is a way to condense interesting ideas into short sound bites so that business people could easily convey messages without lengthy explanations. Unfortunately, using jargon doesn’t always work out that way and can end up negatively affecting your employees.

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