The Benefits of Planning

 It’s never too early to begin planning how health benefit plans will be designed and paid for, and what role you, as an employer, will continue to play in the process. 

A culture of entitlement exists when it comes to health benefits, and it is safe to assume that costs will continue to rise. 

Expect increases that average about 15 percent but may go as high as 50 percent. Maintaining the status quo will not do. 

There needs to be a synergy between employer-sponsored plans and an employee-pay-all philosophy. 

The key to finding a palatable medium between cost and benefits is early planning. 

There are several things you, as the employer, can do to facilitate this process. 

Examine your company’s status. 

Look at your bottom line, projected profitability, and a projected health benefits budget. 

Know what you have previously spent and have to spend versus your projected cost. 

This will provide a better target goal for what you can offer your employees. 

Conduct a mid-year assessment. 

Measure your health benefits budget against your usage. 

Capturing your usage mid-year paints a clearer picture of what your cost might be if you stick with an existing plan and/or carrier. 

Partner with your existing carrier. 

Ask it to provide possible solutions as you begin to plan for your next benefits cycle. 

Because you already have a relationship, it will be willing and able to help you design a customized plan. 

Research the marketplace. 

While many things — such as consumer-driven health plans, flexible spending accounts (FSAs), and health savings accounts (HSAs) — can help reduce costs, there is no silver bullet. 

Rates are competitive, so employers should exercise due diligence to come up with a strategy that works. 

Explore a wide variety of offerings. 

There are many plans you can buy into to fit your needs and pocketbook. 

The more choices employees have, the more customized health benefits can be. 

A single employee does not need the same type of coverage as a family. 

A healthy employee may find peace of mind with hospital-only or supplemental coverage. 

Some prefer higher premiums and lower or no co-payments. 

Others would trade a higher co-payment for a lower monthly premium. 

Kids-only plans are available with some carriers. 

Welcome FSAs and HSAs. 

Each has its shortcomings; it can be difficult to estimate how much to set aside for health care. 

And while these spending accounts are gaining in popularity, they are not perfect. 

An upside of the FSA is portability. 

The downside is that unused money cannot rollover. 

The HSA has a rollover, but it is not portable. 

Educate your employees. 

Part of any strategy should continue to be employee education — not only as it relates to the cost of care, but also how it relates to the company’s bottom line. 

As a stakeholder in the company, employees should be well-informed about the impact health care has on the "health" of their company. 

Using health benefits wisely is the best way to ensure an employer can continue to offer them. 

Involve your employees. 

Share information through news articles and materials from your carrier. 

Encourage employees to participate in wellness and prevention services, including annual physicals, health risk assessments, plan of treatment compliance, and medical management programs. Active involvement will positively impact your cost. 

Survey your population. 

Do you know how much your employees are willing to share in the cost of having health benefits? 

There is a school of thought that as employees increasingly share in the cost of health insurance, health care costs will begin to stabilize. 

Increasing cost-sharing can be a painful yet necessary task in responding to skyrocketing health care costs. 

While affordability is a key element in providing health benefits, the use and employee management of those benefits are vital. 

Developing and implementing a health benefits contribution strategy that can work for you takes time. 

Today is as good a day as any to start. 

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How vulnerable Are You To Stress?

 In modern society, most of us can't avoid stress. 

But we can learn to behave in ways that lessen its effects. 

Researchers have identified a number of factors that affect one's vulnerability to stress - among them are eating and sleeping habits, caffeine and alcohol intake, and how we express our emotions. 

You can make yourself less vulnerable by reviewing the items on which you scored three or higher and trying to modify them. 

Notice that nearly all of them describe situations and behaviors over which you have a great deal of control. 

Concentrate first on those that are easiest to change - for example, eating a hot, balanced meal daily and having fun at least once a week - before tackling those that seem difficult.

Bills are piling up, the front lawn is a jungle, and you can't remember what your desk looks like under those stacks of paper. 

If only you had more time. 

We've all said it at one time or another. 

Lack of time can be a major source of stress. 

As demands of daily living grow, more and more of us feel there just aren't enough hours in a day to do everything that needs to get done. 

Teaching people how to manage their time is now an American enterprise. 

There are time-management books, tapes, workshops, and seminars to make us more efficient. 

Day planners, organizers, and calendars help us remember and organize things. 

We even have personal coaches to help us turn chaotic lives into more orderly ones. 

Time Is On Your Side 

Learning to better manage your time can make you feel more in control of your life. 

That can reduce stress. 

If you can get a handle on how you spend your time, you'll be able to work smarter and function better at home and away. 

You'll relax more, be less stressed, find your goals are within easier reach and have more time for yourself. 

You'll also be proud of how organized you've become! 

Sound impossible? 
It's not! 

Here are some ways to become a wise time manager wherever you are: 

Get Organized. 

You can waste a lot of time looking for things you've misplaced, trying to make plans or decisions at the last minute, or putting things off for later. 

Clean up your desk and office by making places to store things — file cabinets, notice boards, in- and out-boxes "to read" and "bill-paying" trays — even a shredder! 

Make files, update your Rolodex, and organize your pantry and drawers so you can find things more easily.

What's that you say? 

These things take time and you already don't have enough time? 

Putting in some extra time to get organized will save you a lot of time in the long run. 

And don't try to do all your organizing in one day. 

Tackle just one drawer or closet each weekend. 

Sort through a pile every other day until you get through all of them. 

Keep a day planner or calendar handy and use it. 

Post all your important telephone numbers and email addresses in an easy-to-see place so you don't have to keep looking them up. 

Make a schedule for bill-paying day, laundry day, grocery shopping day, and library day. 

Make "to do" lists and check off tasks once they're done. 

This will show progress and help you feel like you're getting things done when you don't think you are. 

Set Priorities. 

List the things you must get done in a day. 

Be realistic. 

Writing down how much time you expect each activity to take, helps. 

The most important things go at the top of your list. 

Focus on getting those done during your high-energy time of day. 

Bump the less important tasks to the next day or week if you can't get to them. 

And don't beat yourself up if you don't. 

Remind yourself that there are only so many hours in a day and you're doing the best you can. 

Nobody's perfect! 

Stay Focused. 

If you're working on a project, close your office door, ignore the phone and email messages, tell family members or coworkers you're unavailable - try to get rid of all the distractions that prevent you from finishing your task. 

Distractions can cause stress. 

And the stress gets worse because you didn't finish the job you set out to do even though you made the time. 

Schedule a half-hour at the start and middle of the day to review and respond to emails and phone calls. 

Allow another 30 minutes at end of the day to wrap up for the day and get organized for the next one. 

Multitask Wisely. Why not kill two birds with one stone when you can? 

For instance, write Christmas cards or update your Rolodex while you're watching television. 

Don't get carried away with multitasking, though. 

That may lead to more stress and even be dangerous. 

Shaving, sending a fax, or sitting in on an important conference call while you're driving is downright dangerous! 

Get Help. Decide what you realistically can do in the time you have and get help doing the rest. 

Lighten your load by asking someone to run an errand while you're cleaning the house for company. 

That lets you receive your guests more graciously when they arrive. Getting a coworker to pitch in on a big project shows you can delegate work and get things done. 

With a little practice, you can become quite good at managing your personal and professional time. 

Not only will you become more efficient, but you'll also have less stress. 

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Attitude of Gratitude

 An attitude of gratitude? People often think it will come from having some great luck or fortune. 

Of course, it could feel great to win the lottery, and great friends, money, houses, travel - these are all good things, but not enough by themselves. 

The right frame of mind is necessary to fully enjoy life. You need an attitude of gratitude.

Gratitude 101

Your life is better when you feel blessed when you can look around and say "Thank you, God," or "Thank you universe."

 Whether or not you are religious, when you see life as a wonderful gift, your experience is a richer one. 

Imagine going through life like you're a child, and every morning is Christmas. 

Of course, it is easy to think that gratitude comes from having what we want. 

We might imagine ourselves giving thanks if we had money, a loving family, and maybe a house on the beach. 

But we know there are ungrateful, unhappy people with these things. 

We also know that there are poor people full of gratitude for what little they have, so where does this feeling come from?

Creating Gratitude

An attitude of gratitude arises from how you look at things. 

It is the natural feeling that comes when you recognize the real value of the people and things in your life. 

Focus on the good and you cannot help but have a better attitude and experience of life. Gratitude, then, is something you can encourage, something you can learn.

The first step is to stop and smell the roses. How can you be thankful for something you don't notice or enjoy? 

By the way, roses really do smell great.

The second step is to make this appreciative approach to roses and life a habit. 

You don't need to ignore the ugliness in the world. 

Just consciously choose to see the good and beautiful things, until doing so becomes automatic.

One way to encourage this habit is to start writing down every positive thing that happens to you, and all the things you like. 

Continue this until you start automatically seeing the good things in life. 

If you've ever bought a white car, and started seeing white cars all over, you know-how awareness and focus can alter your perception of reality. 

In the same way, once you are aware of the good, and start looking for it, you'll start to see wonderful things all over. 

Simple exercises like the one above train your mind with time. 

When you are in the habit of "counting your blessings," gratitude and a much richer experience of life is the natural result. 

You will have an attitude of gratitude.

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Avoid a Life of Regrets With Your "Yes List"

 How many times have you told yourself "yes!" today? 

Not enough I bet. 

Yes is the most powerful word in the English language. 

Unfortunately, too many times we say yes to others when we should say no. 

At the same time, we continue to tell ourselves no when we need to say yes. 

You deserve to create the life of your dreams. 

Period. 

The first step on that road is to learn to tell yourself yes before you say yes to others. 

One big reason so many people don't like their lives is that they accidentally created a life that's not based on what they want. 

How did that happen? Pretty easily and unconsciously. 

If most of your life isn't how you thought it would turn out then you haven't figured out what you want to say yes to in your life. 

This doesn't make you a bad person, it makes you a typical twenty-first-century human whose life is filled with distracting details and tasks. 

Random decisions lead us down random paths with random endings we don't want. 

When you know what you want to say yes to then your life begins to change drastically. 

Why? 

Because anything that comes up that's not on your "Yes list" is an automatic no. 

How helpful is that? Very helpful. 

This allows you to cut out time that gets wasted on activities you don't need to do. 

For example, let's pretend Grace's yes list includes things like reading, having a clean house, taking care of her kids, exercising, being healthy, enjoying her job, and connecting with her friends. 

So today, like every day, Grace is bombarded with choices. She gets to work and someone generously brought in a huge box of donuts to share with everyone. 

She thinks one would taste good and she wouldn't mind a sugar rush to get her day started. 

Should she eat it? 

Not if she's saying yes to being healthy. 

That yes cuts out the possibility of junk food and helps to prevent a future morning in the mirror asking "How did this happen to me?" 

Later in the day a friend calls and invites Grace out to dinner at 9 p.m. 

Grace says no to dinner out because she ate out last night and doesn't want the extra calories among other reasons that don't fit her "yes list". 

But then she says yes if her friend will come over to her house at 7 instead of 9 so she can have a healthier meal, be with her kids, get to bed early enough to not be tired at work, and to live within her "yes list." 

Do you get it? 

The point is that if your yes list has "start my own business" at the top then you say no to anything that doesn't support it like too much television viewing, playing video games every day, joining a softball league, etc. 

Once you make your "yes list" and then prioritize the list you'll be in the driver's seat as you drive through each day making choice after choice after choice. 

You'll be conscious about what you want and you'll be doing what you need to do to get what you want. 

Your future mornings with the mirror will see you smiling and thrilled with your life. 

This way you won't end up at the end of your life wondering "what if?" 

Even better, you won't be complaining about what you should've, could've, or would've done. Instead, you'll be basking in your accomplishments and living the life you love.

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Body Language - How to Behave to Get the Job

 

When you are at an interview, you may not be aware of this but your interviewer is observing your body language, very carefully. 

 Your body language says a lot about yourself, so you need to control negative body movements and encourage positive body movements and habits. 

 Humans naturally send and receive nonverbal communication; they have been doing so since the beginning of time. 

 When your girlfriend folds her arms but has a smile on her face, are you not wondering what she upset is about or clammed up for. At an interview, you never want your body language to contradict your words, this makes you appear like a liar. 

 

The first impression or the first few minutes of your interview are the

 most lasting.

The Handshake: your hands should be clean and well-manicured, and free of perspiration. 

 You want to allow the interviewer to initiate the handshake, which should match the interviewer in firmness, do not give a firmer handshake than them. Smile at the interviewer and look them in the eyes. It should last between two to five seconds. When departing the interview, the handshake may last longer, smile, and lean forward as you shake.

Here are a few things you will want to avoid at an interview:

• Clasping your hands behind your head
• Adjusting your tie constantly
• Slouching in your chair
• Pulling your collar away
• Picking at your face or outfit
• Tight smiles or tension in the face
• Little eye contact
• Wrinkling your eyebrows
• Rapidly nodding your head
• Any nervous tics
• Crossing your ankles - means withholding information
• Crossing your legs away from the interviewer- toward is ok
• Crossing one ankle over the other knee
• Crossing your interviewers' personal space
• Avoid grinning idiotically
• Gnawing on one’s lips absentmindedly
• “Faking” a cough during a tough question
• Folding or crossing your arms
• Avoid compulsive jabbing the floor or desk with your foot
• Loud, obnoxious laughter

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21st Century Business Women

 

When the first generation of women entered the workforce in earnest in the 1970s, they succeeded in the only way they could – by imitating men. Authoritarian leadership and tight control was the hallmark of that day’s businessman and women were not exactly welcomed into the ranks of management.

 Well, ladies, that was yesterday and today is today!

Forget what your mama or your boss told you because following the rules can be bad for your career. Today’s CEO/entrepreneur can no longer tap his/her company’s full potential using a “command-and-control” style. 

 The 21st-century businesswoman needs to be able to build a vision based on the awareness of economic transformation, then help her partners and staff fulfill that vision. She must draw on a wide range of skills to get to the top and stay there. 

 

Following are 7 Key 

Characteristics that are essential:

1. Sell the Vision: A leader with a fresh, independent plan for her company’s growth and future has a distinct advantage in luring and keeping great talent and investors. Vision is not some lofty ideal, but an obtainable concept that is easy to understand and will make the company grow to another level.

2. Reinvent the Rules: While women have traditionally been socialized to please others, the 21^st century leader knows that good girls rarely post great returns. The strong managers/owners today not only anticipate change, but they also create entirely new organizations that respond to shifts and search for innovation.

3. Achieve With A Laser Focus: Go where others fear to tread! Being aggressive and ambitious has long been considered male traits, but they are key qualities for new leaders. Today’s businesswoman has the ability to home-in on opportunities that others may simply not see, and then excel in that uncharted territory.

4. Use High-Touch in a High-Tech Era: When a number of leaders are conducting business by e-mail, voice mail, passwords, and PINs, the female entrepreneur succeeds because she guides with a strong, personal, bed-side manner. Today’s businesswoman is just as technologically savvy as her peers, but her skill with staff and customers are “high-touch” which gives her a critical edge and separation from the “pack”.

5. Challenge or Opportunity? – Women are great at turning a challenge into an opportunity instead of using the “slash-and-burn” approach. They are able to make bold strokes, but they also win the cooperation of others in the organization in making any transformation a success.

6. A Customer Preference Obsession: In this information age which makes it easier to shop around for the best “whatever”, businesses must work harder to give people what they want before their competitors do. There is no substitute for spending time with clients to become experts at their businesses and learn their demands. Female leaders are almost intuitively adept in doing just that, and without the client even suspecting.

7. Courage Under Fire: Show me any career woman or female entrepreneur today that isn’t able to “stand-the-heat” in any tough-call situation. Their decision-making skills are rooted in a high level of confidence, because they’ve had to weather and surpass any and all “corporate” storms they’ve encountered over time.

It takes a certain mind-set and bravado for anyone to start their own business and succeed, but it’s even more difficult for a female entrepreneur. 

 Let’s face it, ladies! 

 We’ve always had to be twice-as-smart and twice-as-confident as any male counterpart in the corporate world. After all, if we can bear and raise the future generation, how can running a successful business scare us?

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Around the World with Craigslist

 Craigslist is an online community that offers members the opportunity to take a virtual trip around the world. There are Craigslist sites covering cities in all 50 states of the United States as well as sites for cities in over 50 different countries. With so much local and international coverage it is clear to see how users of Craigslist can virtually travel the globe through Craigslist.

 The existence of Craigslist communities around the world gives users all over the world a variety of opportunities including the ability to find international jobs, learn about cultural events, meet others in distant locations and find housing options in either different states or foreign countries. 

Working Abroad

For many, the appeal of working abroad may be very alluring. 

This is especially appealing to those who are young and do not have any commitments such as family keeping them from taking a risk and attempting to find a job abroad. Additionally, those who are financially secure and approaching retirement may be enticed to consider a foreign job. Although the possibility of working in another country may seem intimidating to some, there are others who may enjoy the opportunity to take on this type of adventure. 

Learn about Cultural Events

Those who are planning a trip to another state or country may find the community section of Craigslist to be especially helpful. Here they can search for events which may be going on during their visit or activities which may be of interest to them during their trip. 

In the community section of Craigslist, users can also find information relating to volunteer opportunities or classes of interest. They can also review the local news section of a particular location to learn more about what is going on in that particular area. All of this information can be useful for users who are planning a trip as well as for those who are just interested in learning more about another geographic location. 

Make Long-Distance Connections

The personals section may also be of interest to those who are planning a vacation to another geographic location. Those who do not know anyone in the area might post an advertisement seeking a tour guide to show them around the city or accompany them to events. 

Although this may seem like a risky endeavor to those who are less adventurous, it can lead to an excellent opportunity to have a native provide you with insider information on a particular location during your visit. 

Of course, caution should be exercised to ensure the encounter is not potentially harmful 

One way to avoid being placed in a potentially harmful situation is to agree to meet those found through a personals advertisement in a busy, public location during daylight hours and to never go to a secluded location with the individual. 

Find a Place to Stay

Those who are looking for affordable housing in another location might consider the housing swap category under the housing section for a particular city. 

Here individuals post information regarding the type of home or apartment they have, the location of their housing, and information regarding when and where they would like to find another homeowner to swap homes with for a set period of time. 

A housing swap may be an affordable way to eliminate lodging from a travel budget but it does come with some inherent problems. 

The primary problem is you have to first find another homeowner who is willing to offer their housing for a period of time, secondly, you have to coordinate with the other owner to find a suitable time for the swap, and finally, you have to rely on the other individual’s description of their domicile. 

Additionally, the homeowner has to be willing to allow the other individual to use their own home for a period of time. 

This may make many feel uneasy because they may be fearful of their possessions being stolen or their house being damaged. However, those who are willing to take this risk may find an affordable solution to lodging costs. 

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