FEBRUARY 2012 10 INSIDE >> MANAGEMENT 6 ASSOCIATION MFSA Call for Entries Awards for Excellence PostScripts MAILING & FULFILLMENT SERVICE ASSOCIATION USPS Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Fix or Simply Too Big? (Continued to page 18) 16 BUSINESS OPERATIONS OSHA Provides Warnings and Work Tips for Winter Hazards HUMAN RESOURCES ISSUE By Jason Adwin Sibson Consulting Division An organization’s compensation expense is an in- vestment in talent, which requires a return, just like any other investment. Even though return on com- pensation (ROC) is harder to measure than the return on traditional capital investments, prioritized invest- ments in talent produce better returns than homog- enous or entitlement approaches. Despite their best intentions, organizations can make mistakes that sabotage their plans to improve their ROC on rewards for top-performing employees. Seven such mistakes are discussed below. Neglecting to Benchmark Pay Practices Organizations that have been giving only limited to modest raises in this difficult economy may not be diligently measuring where their pay stands relative to the market. As a result, they may be overpaying some employees, even though they are not giving large raises, or they may be underpaying some em- ployees, which could cause valuable talent to leave. Charting each employee on an ROC matrix that com- pares employee performance to the market rate or benchmark for the employee’s salary (see graphic page 18) will help determine how the organization is compensating its employees relative to the market. It will show whether each employee’s compensation could be considered a discounted investment, an at-market investment or a premium investment. The organization can then use this information to make individual investment decisions regarding employee compensation. Although most employees should fall in the green squares of the matrix, where their performance roughly equals the market rate of their salary, that is not always the case. For example, although Employ- ee A in Figure 1 would be considered a discounted investment and Employee B would be considered a premium investment, neither position is necessarily wrong. The organization needs to take into account factors such as the employee’s compensation history, rate of advancement, leadership potential, and other factors to determine if the person’s compensation in- vestment is acceptable. Failing to Align All the Organization’s Goals An organization’s goals must be aligned so all its units, managers, and employees are working indi- vidually and together to achieve objectives that have been established by the CEO and the executive team. SEVEN COMMON COMPENSATION MISTAKES By John P. Foley, Jr. Grow Socially Many companies think of social media primarily as a tool that can be used to help with lead-generation efforts. However, it really can be used to achieve a number of business objectives. Finding and Recruiting Potential Employees In today’s world, our “true” resume no longer fits on just a couple of pieces of paper. Rather, everything we do online contributes to the impression that is made upon customers, prospects, potential employers, and others. This in- cludes our profile on social networking sites, the comments that we leave on blog posts and articles, and the articles, pictures, and videos that we’ve created. From an HR perspective, that shift can provide many benefits. We have the ability now to gain a deeper un- derstanding of both the professional and personal background of a potential hire. Viewing someone’s public social network profiles may alert us to other skills or connections they may have that otherwise might not have been uncovered during a standard interview process. And on the other side, the information that some- one shares publicly may alerts us to potential problems that could arise if we were to hire them. USING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR HR AND RECRUITING EFFORTS (Continued to page 25)
Transcript
FEBRUARY 2012
10
INSIDE >>
management
6
association
mFsa call for entries awards for excellence
Post ScriptsM a i l i n g & F u l F i l l M e n t S e r v i c e a S S o c i a t i o n
UsPs too Big to Fail, too Big to Fix or simply too Big?
(Continued to page 18)
16
BUsiness oPerations
osHa Provides Warnings and Work tips for Winter Hazards
HUmAN RESoURcESISSUE
By Jason adwinSibson consulting Division
an organization’s compensation expense is an in-vestment in talent, which requires a return, just like any other investment. even though return on com-pensation (roc) is harder to measure than the return on traditional capital investments, prioritized invest-ments in talent produce better returns than homog-enous or entitlement approaches.
Despite their best intentions, organizations can make mistakes that sabotage their plans to improve their roc on rewards for top-performing employees. Seven such mistakes are discussed below.
Neglecting to Benchmark Pay Practicesorganizations that have been giving only limited to modest raises in this difficult economy may not be diligently measuring where their pay stands relative to the market. as a result, they may be overpaying some employees, even though they are not giving large raises, or they may be underpaying some em-ployees, which could cause valuable talent to leave.
charting each employee on an roc matrix that com-pares employee performance to the market rate or benchmark for the employee’s salary (see graphic
page 18) will help determine how the organization is compensating its employees relative to the market. it will show whether each employee’s compensation could be considered a discounted investment, an at-market investment or a premium investment. the organization can then use this information to make individual investment decisions regarding employee compensation. although most employees should fall in the green squares of the matrix, where their performance roughly equals the market rate of their salary, that is not always the case. For example, although employ-ee a in Figure 1 would be considered a discounted investment and employee B would be considered a premium investment, neither position is necessarily wrong. the organization needs to take into account factors such as the employee’s compensation history, rate of advancement, leadership potential, and other factors to determine if the person’s compensation in-vestment is acceptable.
Failing to Align All the organization’s Goalsan organization’s goals must be aligned so all its units, managers, and employees are working indi-vidually and together to achieve objectives that have been established by the ceo and the executive team.
SEvEN commoN comPENSAtIoN mIStAkES
By John P. Foley, Jr. grow Socially
Many companies think of social media primarily as a tool that can be used to help with lead-generation efforts. However, it really can be used to achieve a number of business objectives.
Finding and Recruiting Potential Employeesin today’s world, our “true” resume no longer fits on just a couple of pieces of paper. rather, everything we do online contributes to the impression that is made upon customers, prospects, potential employers, and others. this in-cludes our profile on social networking sites, the comments that we leave on blog posts and articles, and the articles, pictures, and videos that we’ve created.
From an Hr perspective, that shift can provide many benefits. We have the ability now to gain a deeper un-derstanding of both the professional and personal background of a potential hire. viewing someone’s public social network profiles may alert us to other skills or connections they may have that otherwise might not have been uncovered during a standard interview process. and on the other side, the information that some-one shares publicly may alerts us to potential problems that could arise if we were to hire them.
USING SocIAl mEDIA FoR HR AND REcRUItING EFFoRtS
(Continued to page 25)
2 MFSA PostScripts
mark your calendar >>MiD-Winter conFerencearizona grand resortPhoenix, aZFebruary 21-24, 2012
annual conFerence Historic grove Park innashville, ncJune 24-27, 2012
Postscripts is published monthly for MFSa members. For advertising information, please contact: Bill Stevenson at [email protected] or 800-333-6272.
FEBRUARY 2012 ISSUE 644Chairman’s Column
Post Scripts
Board of Directors
Chairman of the Board
Mike Kellogg; Century Direct, LLC, Long Island City, NY
first ViCe Chairman
Ted Kulpinski; UniversalWidle, Holliston, MA
seCond ViCe Chairman
Tim Johnson; Impact Proven Solutions, Minneapolis, MN
treasurer
Tom Duchene; TDMS, Huntington Beach, CA
immediate Past Chairman
Ken Gossett; AMI, Alexandria, VA
direCtors
Charles Buchanan; World Marketing-Dallas, Dallas, TXTammy Caserta; Think Patented, Dayton, OHGreg Fischer; Marketing Support Services, Cincinnati, OHJoy Franckowiak; Valpak, St. Petersburg, FLDave Lewis; Prolist, Gaithersburg, MDChris Lien; BCC Software Inc., Rochester, NYWayne Marshall; Edwards Graphics Arts, Des Moines, IAKen Orr; ICS Marketing Support Services, Lansing, MIJohn Palazzolo; Adphos North America, Cincinati, OHWes Powell; TMR Direct, Colorado Springs, COAnita Pursley; RR Donnelley, Johns Creek, GAMike Stewart; Great Lakes Integrated, Avon Lake, OHEric Strand; RESCO, Hudson, WIGary Weinberg; Quality Letter Service, Inc., New York, NY
Mailing & Fulfillment Service association1421 Prince Street, Ste. 410alexandria, va 22314tel: 703-836-9200; 800-333-6272Fax: 703-548-8204email: [email protected]
michael Kelloggchairman of the Board
HUmAN RESoURcES IS Not JUSt ABoUt NUmBERSMany of the articles in this issue of Postscripts are focused on human resources. in our labor intensive businesses, perhaps no other single area takes more skill, costs more money and is more likely to be perplexing. But that is the way it should be. Why? Because we are talking about human beings and dealing with the vagaries of human beings irrespective of the setting, requires skill, costs money and is often perplexing.
recently one of my very long-term employees retired. He was the son of a sharecropper who came up from the Deep South in the late 1960’s to seek his fortune in the big city. Just imagine the courage that self-imposed move must have taken for this young man in the context of the history of the time. When i became involved with my compa-ny in 1983, this fellow and i had to come to terms with each other. He was a very com-petent worker, one that took his job very seriously and wanted to succeed. His greatest attribute and my biggest challenge as a young executive and recent ex-litigator (ie, not one to compromise) was the fact that he was no push over. if he saw something that he believed was wrong, he did not accept it. He and i had some real go arounds and in 1985 we went around and around, all the way to the nlrB, a case that i initiated. to settle the case, the hard-headed employee threw down the gauntlet: “give me a chance to show you what i can do and if you don’t like what happens, for any reason, i will leave, no questions asked.” i won. this guy would be gone in 30 days. He did leave, but it was 26 years later. and i did win because that gentleman stayed for those 26 years and became the pressroom and bindery foreman, garnering the respect of everyone in the plant and office, especially of me. at his retirement lunch he said, “the thing i am most proud of, is that this job gave me the opportunity to put all of my kids through college. this company was responsible for that.”
that sums up “human resources” for me and points out why the term is inappropriate to the discipline it describes. So often, we in management view human resources as if the term applies to some inanimate accounting principle. it doesn’t. good employees at all levels view a job as an opportunity for self achievement. the job is a resource for them to provide for their families and be productive in their lives. the “resource” being referred to has skin in the game and is likely motivated by the same self interests that we who own the company are. We come to work to provide for our families and to be personally productive in our lives, to put our kids through college and to have a path to retirement. if we understand the commonality of the motivation to be at work, much of the perplexity of the art of human resources disappears. if we, as managers and owners, work to create an environment that speaks to those fundamental elements of motivation, many of the issues attendant to the practice of human resources dissolve. indeed many of the statutes and regulations in the workplace today became necessary because many employers viewed the workforce as an inanimate accounting term, a one-dimensional asset void of the “human” aspect associated with the term. in fact the term “human resources” was not even developed until the 1960s, a time when smart managers finally started accepting the humanity part of employment relations.
all this, of course, is not to say that being kind and understanding is all you need. talk to the folks at Jackson lewis, MFSa’s human resources law firm, and they will give you plenty of cases where kind and understanding employers have been subjected to cra-zy employment related issues. But they would also agree that if you understand the primal motivation of most human beings to provide for themselves and their families and if you create an environment that understands and attempts to meet those needs, human resources will no longer be the mysterious minefield that many of us view it to be.
FEBRUARY 2012 3
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4 MFSA PostScripts
Management
the national Business group on Health (nBgH) conducted a sur-vey recently that shows employers are making big changes to employee benefits for 2012.
With the cost of employee health care benefits expected to in-crease next year at more than twice the rate of inflation, large u.S. employers are planning to have workers share more of the cost next year, the ngBH survey found.
the survey also found that more employers are adopting con-sumer-directed health plans such as high deductible plans coupled with health savings accounts. those businesses are also making other changes to their benefit programs as various com-ponents of the health care reform law take effect.
the nBgH survey found that employers estimate their health care benefit costs will increase an average of 7.2% in 2012. that is slightly lower than this year’s 7.4% average increase, but it is on a higher base and it still sharply outpaces the economy’s ane-mic growth and business conditions during this weak recovery. to help control those increases and begin driving down costs to avoid the cadillac tax, employers are planning to use a wider variety of cost-sharing strategies.
employers indicated those changes would include:• More than half of respondents (53%) plan to increase the
percentage that employees contribute to the premiums.• 39% plan to increase in-network deductibles.• about one in four employers plans to increase out-of-net-
work deductibles (23%), and• out-of-pocket maximums (22%) next year.
“employers are facing a multitude of challenges posed by ris-ing health care costs, the weak economy and the financial and administrative impact of complying with the new health reform law,” said Helen Darling, President and ceo of the national Busi-ness group on Health. as a result, employers are being much more aggressive in their use of cost-sharing techniques and cost control programs, and are making certain that employees have more reasons to be cost-sensitive health care consumers.
indeed, according to the survey, nearly three in four em-ployers (73%) will offer employees at least one consumer-directed health plan (cDHP) in 2012, a sharp increase from 61% that offer a plan this year. in addition, about two in ten employers (17%) will have or move to a total replacement consumer-directed health plan in 2012. the most common type of cDHP plan is a high-deductible health plan with a health savings account (75%).
the ngBH survey also found that more than half (57%) pro-vide employees’ spouses and domestic partners access to telephonic or online weight management coaches while 54% provide access to online weight management tools. approximately one-third of employers also make these pro-grams available to employees’ children.
changes as a Result of Health care Reformrespondents were asked what changes they made or are
planning to make as regulations from the Patient Protection and affordable care act continue to come into effect. the survey found the following:
• annual Benefit limits: the majority of employers (59%) are not making any changes for 2012, (full restrictions on benefit limits will be banned in 2014). However, more than one-fourth (27%) are making changes to annual limits for preventive and wellness services. another 14% are making changes to annual limits for mental health and substance abuse services.
• grandfather Status: nearly one fourth (23%) will have at least one benefit option that keeps its grandfather status in 2012 while 19% will drop its grandfather status. about one half (49%) did not have any benefit option in grandfather status this year.
• Default Plan for new Hires: More than one fourth (27%) plan to use their least costly health plan for employees as their default plan for new full-time hires as required. Slightly few-er (19%) plan to use the least costly plan for employers as the default plan.
employers are making these changes as they understand that affordability is tied to employees’ premium costs and household incomes so they have two strong arguments for aggressively driving down costs -- both theirs and employees. By adding greater employee responsibility in health care financing, em-ployers are hoping they will more efficiently utilize the health care system.
that said, all payers of health care have to pitch in and create greater incentives for health care efficiency on all sides of the equation. that includes providers practicing efficient, non-de-fensive care, consumers making appropriate choices in appro-priate health care settings and employers making quality ben-efit choices and sharing with employees in the cost of care.
Health plans and government purchaser (Medicare, Medicaid, and tricare) must also be sure to pay appropriate levels for ap-propriate care and provide incentives for efficient care wherever and whenever possible.
HEAltHcARE tRENDS AND EmPloYEE BENEFItS IN 2012
Christopher C. Antone is the managing partner of the Dallas offi ce of Jackson Lewis LLP, a national law fi rm representing management on workplace law issues.
If you have any questions regarding employee and HR laws, or for more information or assistance, please contact Chris Antone, at (214) 647-2095 or [email protected]. For more information about Jackson Lewis’ services, visit their website at: www.jacksonlewis.com.
Call the MFSA-Jackson Lewis Employment Law Hotline at: 214-647-2095Through your MFSA dues, Labor Counsel Chris Antone will provide FREE
telephone advice about your basic human resource law questions.
If your questions involve particular employment decisions, such as the acceptable termination process, you may choose to retain Chris for advice, counsel, or representation in your labor, employment, immigration, or benefi ts law matters.
MFSA members enjoy a 10% discount on Chris’s fees
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6 MFSA PostScripts
mFSA cAll FoR ENtRIES--AwARDS FoR ExcEllENcE 2012
Awards for Excellence
Hard work, creativity and innovation deserve credit. and, there is no better way to accept that credit than in front of peers and industry colleagues. Honoring excellence and innovation in the mailing Service ProviDer industry, the MFSa awards for excel-lence recognize outstanding examples of mailings, campaigns, projects, and education. celebrating success within the indus-try, this award competition is your chance to showcase what your organization has achieved in the past year.
Watch for the brochure coming in early February! the awards program culminates at the MFSa annual conference, held in ashville, nc, in June 2012, at the grove Park inn resort & Spa.
MFSa awards for excellence are broken down into three catego-ries.PRomotIoNAl AwARDSthese awards recognize the concept, copy, design, printing and overall effectiveness of direct mail promotional pieces. the pro-motion was originated from your staff.
Henry Hoke, Sr. Awardthe Henry Hoke, Sr. award is given to the best single direct mail piece or campaign for a client with substantial creative input by the member. if it is a campaign, it must be two or more mail-ings for the client that shares a related concept. it is given in the name of Henry Hoke Sr., a pioneer and innovator in direct mail advertising and the original publisher of Direct Marketing magazine.
Chairman’s Self-Promotion Award the chairman’s Self-Promotion award recognizes a member’s best single piece mailing for self-promotion.
John Howie Wright Cupthe John Howie Wright cup is awarded for the best campaign of two or more mailings for self-promotion that share a creatively related concept, with the understanding that individual pieces of a campaign may not be entered as stand alone pieces. this award is given in the name of John Howie Wright, an original promoter of MaSa throughout its early years.
wEBSItE AwARDChairman’s Web Site Awardthis award recognizes the best member company World Wide Web site. entries will be judged on success in meeting stated objectives, effective use of medium, general impact, technical quality and creativity.
mANAGEmENt AwARDSEd Sisk Excellence in Education Awardthis award recognizes excellent employee education, communi-cation, and training programs. it is given in the name of ed Sisk, former chairman of MFSa, who for many years ran the success-ful mailing company that still bears his name. Sisk was a strong proponent of the educational development of employees. this category includes, but is not limited to: job skills and technical
training; job safety education/training; geD assistance; employ-ee literacy programs; and employee communications such as internal newsletters.
Social Media Excellence Awardthis award honors the best use of social media marketing for either the company’s own use or its customers. interactive web-site, creativity, strategic business and marketing approaches, consistency, brand awareness, sharing information, and the abil-ity to grow a network will all be taken into consideration. the use of social media for brand awareness, event promotion, prod-uct explanations, social media applications, integrating social media and other campaigns will be looked for as well. this can include but is not limited to Website, Facebook, twitter, Flickr, linkedin and Youtube.
Mailing Industry Ingenuity Awardthis award is given in recognition of creative problem solving in any three areas of business operations: management; letter-shop/production; and data processing/laser/personalization. it includes, but is not limited to cost saving ideas, innovative scheduling and order processing solutions, personnel relations, marketing techniques, printing/mailing machine modification, and data processing applications or innovations.
Fulfillment Ingenuity Awardthis award salutes a company which has developed a particu-larly inventive problem-solving solution involving a fulfillment project. this award’s purpose is to recognize creative solutions to managing the fulfillment process rather than for promotional or marketing efforts.
Company Newsletter Awardrecognizing the importance of company communica-tions, this award is given to the best company newslet-ter that is used for external purposes. it can be printed or sent electronically to cus-tomers and/or prospects.
each entry is $139, whether a single piece mailing or campaign. there is no limit to the number of entries a company may submit.
Questions?contact Kimberly a. Kight, communications manager, at 800-333-6272 or via e-mail at [email protected].
FEBRUARY 2012 7
8 MFSA PostScripts
Management
Wayne Peterson is prin-cipal of the Black Canyon Consulting Group Inc. His career in the printing in-dustry started at age 13. Wayne has served as presi-dent of three fast-growing companies. He has cre-ated and built five strong brands, and lead four highly effective sales and marketing organizations. He founded the Black Can-yon Consulting Group Inc. in 2008. Wayne can be reached at www.blackcan-yonconsulting.com.
Wayne PetersonBlack canyon consulting
group
there was a time when a business owner could reasonably expect to create a business, and have it largely established and stable within 3 years. the hope, of course, was that the business owner could play the role of a clockmaker who could design and build the business, wind the clock by capitalizing it (both with cash and the sweat equity of retained earnings) and then watch it run steadily and well for some period of time.
unfortunately, those days are genuinely behind us. Mailing and fulfillment enterprises don’t have the luxury of continuing to do what they have always done in the fashion they’ve always done it with the expectation the business will run steadily, profitably and well. Which brings us to change.
“change management” is an oxymoron. We cannot manage change. Management is about refinement, sustaining performance and consistency of results. Management is about watching for the exceptions and constraining them, keeping things from getting sideways in the process. So the mindset we apply to management runs perfectly contrary to significant or ongoing change.
Since we cannot really manage change, we must in-stead lead changed. and i’d argue that all leadership is about leading change, often perpetual change. Management experience doesn’t tend to help much when piloting an enterprise through industry up-heaval and technological reinvention.
Business owners and executives who have no vi-able option except to reinvent their enterprises are faced with a demanding leadership challenge. this isn’t a situation where the application of best prac-tices learned elsewhere will meet the need. neither will steady and incremental improvement of what’s already being done. instead, large scale innovation, invention and creative effort come into play. those require going where your enterprise probably hasn’t gone before.
When we talk about management, courage isn’t of-ten mentioned. When we talk about leading change, courage needs to surface fast because it is essential. that’s because many (if not most) of the people in-side your enterprise may wonder when you lost your ability to think clearly when you begin to lead in the direction of substantial change.
For most of your employees, it is far easier for them to blame your current competitive and financial condi-tion on fickle customers or a lazy salesforce than it is to admit that you’re all in the midst of a sea change. and when you confirm your intention to lead your
firm from where you are to somewhere different and unfamiliar, most of them will simply see the discom-fort of the unknown and risk to themselves. Many of them will wonder whether you’re up for the task be-cause they intuitively understand the difference be-tween the capability of maintaining the status quo and the capability of charting a course to a new des-tination. no one said this would be easy.
For business leaders, this is often the most uncom-fortable space imaginable. let’s face it, the positive feedback and the visible confidence of your employ-ees are pretty strong sources of comfort and assur-ance for you. Beginning the process of leading your enterprise into new territory can quickly leave you without both of those sources of confidence. and if their confidence and affirmation flip over and be-come fear and anklebiting, a large measure of cour-age is essential too if you’re going to stay the course and continue forward at an undiminished speed.
leading the kind of change that creates a future for your enterprise isn’t about tinkering with the present business model. in fact, it isn’t about business mod-els at all, despite the fact that so many are fascinated with the whole concept and the tools for graphi-cally representing them. and that’s because business models tend to reflect the company’s viewpoint and the company’s agenda. too often, the customer’s de-sires and intentions get completely lost in the bar-gain.
leading large-scale change, a change process pow-erful enough to literally change the entire game, is organic rather than mechanical. it requires engaging both your customers and your employees in a jour-ney they believe is both valuable and rewarding. in their working lives, both your customers and your employees are likely among the nearly half of work-ing americans who describe themselves as dissatis-fied with jobs. the percentage is the highest it has been in the 22 years measured. change processes that threaten the perceived security of your employ-ees or that threaten the comfort and familiarity of your customers will contribute to it. But the flip side is incredibly powerful.
getting both customers and employees fully and en-thusiastically engaged in the process of reinventing your enterprise is what will make or break it. it’s more important than the elegance of the business model, the thoroughness of the pro forma financial state-ments, the choice of a new name or the lusciousness of your new logo. it is much more powerful than any of those. the engagement of people, both inside and outside your enterprise, is where your reinvention process will need to focus first.
wHERE No oNE HAS GoNE BEFoRE: lEADING AND lEADING cHANGE
FEBRUARY 2012 9
Integration continued from page 8
10 MFSA PostScripts
the nation has seen some of the notorious “sausage making” of congress this year. citizens have become conversant in topics such as debt ceilings, “cr’s”, rev-enue enhancers, and many other terms that have led to one cliff-hanging crisis after another. Why should we believe the effort to “fix” the uSPS will be any dif-ferent? if anyone has complete confidence that this congress is going to fix the problem, they have not been following the other national issues that have floundered without resolution.
as things now stand, the Senate leadership (Senator Harry reid et al) has committed to have the Senate postal reform bill on the Senate floor as one of the early business items when congress returns. like-wise, the authors of reform in the House hope to move their legislation soon as well. and, as we have reported before, it is possible that once these two steps are taken, a conference committee can ham-mer out an agreement to fix the uSPS for the next few years. there are some election year issues that might stand in the way.
congress does not like to disappoint constituents in an election year. there is a perception that eliminat-ing Saturday delivery and closing post offices could lead to disappointment, so these are difficult choices for elected officials. this may only mean, however, that decisions can be made but the pain delayed a bit. as an example, the Senate version of postal re-form S.1789 provides for additional study prior to eliminating Saturday delivery, essentially postpon-ing the decision for at least two years. Post office closings have become such a hot button issue in congress that a letter from 22 Senate Democrats seeking a moratorium on closings led to a decision by the Postal Service to acquiesce, despite the fact that this letter represented only about one-fifth of the Senate, included no Senate republicans and no members of the House.
as we have seen in the first session of the 112th congress (and frankly most of the 111th congress) decisions are frequently put off until collapse is im-minent. For the uSPS, that date is not certain but it is expected sometime during the summer months of 2012.
what are some of the possible fixes?kick the canKicking the can is a common practice in congress. in other words, rather than make the hard decisions, congress simply pushes the problem to the next congress to fix. For the uSPS, this would mean some kind of financial arrangement that allows the system to slither into 2013. assuming the financial shortfall in FY 2012 will be in excess of $11 billion, there are no easy tools to use. Further, while congress can pass
legislation that has a budget “score,” that process is not easy and would be very unpopular, particularly in the House of representatives. the shortest path to this kind of action would be a simple transfer of the money from the Federal employees retirement System (FerS) estimated to be about $11 billion.
kick the can and work on the low Hanging Fruitnext in line in the traditions of congress is a combi-nation of the kick the can strategy above with some fairly easy fixes. For example, the uSPS can be direct-ed to close a number of facilities but in a process that includes citizen and community participation with a review by congress. this means that congress can order the closings but make the closings so difficult that virtually no savings will accrue. likewise, con-gress can use the Senate version of Saturday closing, which will allow the uSPS to do so but only after a pe-riod of time to see if other savings take hold but with the same level of citizen and community participa-tion as above. the congress can also direct the uSPS to enter into discussions with its unions for greater efficiencies.
Implement ReformWithout question, this is the most complicated and seemingly least likely outcome. everyone knows the problems of the uSPS – it simply has too much invest-ment in human capital to support the declining mail volume. these human costs need to be reduced in order for the system to survive. it is largely irrelevant whether these changes occur in the “head count” of employees or the benefits costs of these employees but until the percentage of employment costs gets significantly lower than the current 79%, the system will not be solvent. Facility closing also has to be part of the equation but despite the significant number of facilities, savings in this area still pale by comparison to the potential savings in personnel costs. in fact, the logic behind closing facilities and eliminating Saturday delivery is that it is a path to employment reduction.
looking at the recent history of congress, kicking the can seems like the most likely scenario. ironi-cally, congress could enact reform that gives the ap-pearance of a long term fix that could make matters worse. in such a case, kicking the can may be better for the mailing industry.
what Does the mailing Industry Really Need?one of the challenges to any industry needing “help” from Washington is deciding what it really needs and the challenges for the mailing industry are no less than any other industrial or commercial segment of the uS. Here are some of those needs:
Cooper has been actively involved in major postal issues for more than ten years. He founded and chaired the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Serv-ice, which helped organ-ize the mailing industry to pass Postal Reform in 2006. He also serves as Executive Director of Mail Moves America, the or-ganization formed by DMA to fight Do Not Mail leg-islation in the states. He is currently a partner at Williams and Jensen. Prior to coming to Williams and Jensen, he was with the Printing Industries of America.
Ben cooperWilliams and Jensen
Management
USPS too BIG to FAIl, too BIG to FIx oR SImPlY too BIG?
(continued to page 11)
FEBRUARY 2012 11
Stability and Predictability the various components of the mailing industry supply chain need to know that they can rely on the uSPS to be a good and reliable provider of logistic services at a price that is competi-tive with competing forms of marketing and communications. Further, in order for the supply chain to market its services to potential customers, it needs to know that it can count on stabil-ity for a period of time – at least a year.
Awareness of the Supply chain congress as a whole has never had an understanding of the mail-ing industry supply chain. a few Senators and representatives have embraced its significance. generally though, congress looks at the uSPS through the prism of Saturday delivery, post offices closing and universal service. Members of congress can represent paper companies and printers for example without any understanding of the fact that the products of these compa-nies are heavily weighted to the mail. only with this awareness can congress fully understand the stakes of allowing the Postal Service to fail.
Postage Pays the way it is common among fiscally conservative members of congress to talk about the uSPS in terms of bailouts but the simple fact is that the uSPS revenues come from postage. it is true that if the postage stops, the taxpayer will likely be on the hook for a significant amount of the debt but that does not change the fact that the uSPS annual operations are funded by companies and individuals buying stamps either one at a time or in the millions. it is also true that because the uSPS is part of the “unified fed-eral budget,” certain costs of operations become a score to the budget. as an example, because the Postal Service pays roughly 40% of the workers’ compensation costs of the government, a reform which reduces that amount becomes a cost to the gov-ernment. the fact that it is a good thing for the government or the right thing to do does not enter into the debate. the indus-try, the unions, the Postal Service and even supportive members of congress have not been successful in removing the rhetoric of “bailout” from the postal debate.
Understanding that mail is changing – not going away Similar to the debate over the use of fossil fuels, there are those in congress who express the view that the Postal Service is dead or dying and that we should let it go. in the fossil fuel debate, there are those who strongly state that these fuels are ruining the planet and must be eliminated and there are those who have the opposite view that fossil fuels literally supply the en-gine of the economy and we need more drilling and refining rather than less. the “facts” are somewhere in between for both fossil fuels and the Postal Service. regardless of what happens in the growth of alternative energy, fossil fuels will be with us for many years. the debate over fossil fuel and alternative energy covers over the issues of where the fuel is sourced. in the mail discussion, it is logical to project that mail volumes will continue to decline and that there may come a time when the nation sim-ply does not need an entity like the uS Postal Service. However, that time will not come for a number of years.
Postage and mailing are optional for most this may be the biggest need of all. until congress and, per-haps more important, postal unions and management groups understand that for many people and businesses, mailing is a choice that is based on cost, ease and results. We now choose to communicate electronically through email or text; we are in-creasingly choosing to bank on line; and as ereaders develop even further, we will move as rapidly to that format as music has moved to itunes and other MP3 formats. advertising over mo-bile devices is the fastest growing segment and the uS is signifi-cantly behind the world in this technology. Postal unions and management groups should be fighting side-by-side with the mailing industry to make the postal system as cost effective and efficient as possible.
as congress reorganizes for the second session of the 112th congress, it must face a significant debt crisis and continuing unemployment. all of this must be done in the context of re-election. as the inevitable postal crisis approaches the preci-pice, congress will realize a few other important facts. the Post-al Service is one-third of the federal workforce and affects every constituent almost every day. as stated above, it represents 40% of the federal workers comp system. and the industry, which re-lies on the uSPS, employs about eight million people and con-tributes about one trillion dollars to the economy.
it may be hard to kick that can without coming away with a real sore toe.
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Too Big continued from page 10
12 MFSA PostScripts
ManagementFINANcIAl GRowING PAINS: IS YoUR FINANcIAl tEAm kEEPING PAcE wItH YoUR comPANY?
Carol Coughlin, CPA, MBA, CEPA, is founder of Bottom Line Growth Strategies, Inc., an executive financial advisory company serving organizations and entre-preneurs that want to real-ize increased growth and profitability. As a CFO advi-sor, Coughlin helps grow-ing companies improve profits, overcome obstacles and prepare for profitable mergers and acquisitions.
carol coughlinBottomLine growth
strategies, inc.
if your company has experienced significant growth, congratulations! in this economy, you are in the mi-nority. although it may seem like a miracle (given ev-erything the economy has been through), it’s taken far more than luck to bring your business to where it is today. it’s taken hard work and smart planning to not merely survive, but to thrive.
in fledgling companies, the accounting department is typically run by a bookkeeper or an accountant. this person is usually quite successful in the early stages of the business because they have all the nec-essary skills to manage the financials of a company that’s just starting out. in fact, they are often so suc-cessful that they are promoted to “controller.”
then the company begins to grow. the complexity of the financial employee’s work may not even change, but there’s more of it and it’s coming faster. all of a sudden financials are not being produced on a time-ly basis, frequent inaccuracies/errors occur, there’s slower follow-up on customer receivables, and lo and behold the unhappy kind of accounting “surprises” begin to get, well, less surprising.
Since accounting departments aren’t revenue pro-ducers, there is a strong tendency to maintain staff-ing at a minimum. at least until the pain is too in-tense to bear. of course, when you feel that kind of pain, the damage is already done.
What the owner of every growing company needs to recognize is that investing in a strong, experienced controller at the onset of growth is essential to main-taining that growth – and to avoiding the need to re-cover after waiting too long to take action.
So, what are the characteristics of a strong control-ler? What will you as the business owner notice when you have the right person in place?
controllers take “command and control” leadership profiles within a company, and their mindset and experience lets you rest easy. But only in regards to certain pieces of your financial picture.
controller’s tend to be more focused on a company’s immediate issues and may not have the necessary big picture experience to address your key financial strategy questions, such as:
• How should i price a new contract to increase our business significantly? How will i ramp up for expected growth?
• When can i afford to add the positions i need?• How much cash will i need to grow and where
should i get it?
• How do i position my company to bankers and investors when seeking funding?
• How do i develop a multi-year plan or projec-tions for the launch of a new line of business?
even with the best controller on board, you cannot afford to forgo strategic financial advice during a time of growth. these questions must be answered and they must be answered by someone who knows.
enter the difference between a controller and a cFo. a cFo is skilled at answering the financial strategy questions that will help your company navigate both growth and downturns. cFos are more forward look-ing than controllers. a strong cFo will not just have your trains running on time, but will advise you of on-coming unwanted trains so that you can avoid them.
You could also determine whether your controller actually can grow into the strategic responsibilities of a cFo or if additional expertise needs to be brought into your company.
in making these decisions, you have several options – and acting on any of them is far better than allow-ing your company to experience the financial grow-ing pains caused by something as simple to fix as employee inexperience. You can:
• Bring on a part-time cFo to assess your con-troller’s skills and coach the skill gaps.
• Bring in a part-time cFo to handle what your controller can’t.
• replace your controller with a full-time cFo or a more experienced controller who will even-tually be able to fill the financial strategy role.
it’s important to note that inexperience is not a crime and there is no reason to feel “bad” for asking these questions about your team’s ability. Your company is growing and growth means change.
the real crime is in asking your people to do a job they are not equipped to do without training or choice – and putting a company you’ve poured your sweat into at risk.
the smartest business owners treat their employees as their most valuable asset and understand that sometimes means respecting them enough to hon-estly assess their performance, provide feedback and training and, in some cases, to allow an employee to find a better fit and, there-fore, a less stressful envi-ronment.
FEBRUARY 2012 13
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14 MFSA PostScripts
Reprinted from BestCompaniesAZ
is your top performer looking for another job? Does that thought scare you? it should. Depending on what survey you read, it’s estimated that between 30 – 85% of employees are ready to jump ship. Despite sluggish job growth, in the uS last year more people voluntarily quit their jobs than were laid off. on the other hand, only 14% of employers fear losing key play-ers. there’s obviously some disconnect.
People are worn out from the recession and its lingering effects on their families. if someone feels stagnant and trapped, chang-ing jobs can feel like a way to take control. top performers aren’t complainers, though, and they often won’t tell you they’re un-happy till they’re out the door.
How do you know if your top people are eyeing new opportuni-ties? Here’s a hint; if you’ve caught yourself saying “they should just be grateful to have jobs”, your company is at risk. the posi-tive side to this is that companies with great cultures can cherry-pick the best employees. What can you do to attract the best, and make sure they stick around? Here are four areas to consider.
Show your employees you care about them as people. Build ca-maraderie. take them to lunch, or bring lunch in. create oppor-tunities for teams to get to know each other. Show sincere care
and concern. express your appreciation for their good work. For example, one team holds “huddles” on a regular basis to discuss concerns.
create opportunities for employees to learn and develop. if training isn’t in the budget, arrange for mentoring, peer training or cross-training. give them feedback and coaching. give them what they need to feel accomplished.
Provide flexibility and freedom. Hire the best people, and trust them to make decisions. top performers need to have a sense of ownership.
Flexibility in scheduling is fast becoming an expectation. it doesn’t cost the company, but is worth a lot to employees. insist-ing on “face time” in the name of productivity is likely to cause a loss of productivity down the road – and from what we’re ob-serving, “down the road” is right now.
Have fun. You can take your work seriously without taking your-self too seriously. People are more productive and engaged when they’re having fun.
are you seeing turnover in your company, and what are you do-ing to retain your best people?
HEADS UP...YoUR toP PERFoRmER IS lookING FoR ANotHER JoB
Management
FEBRUARY 2012 15
IS YOUR LOGISTICS PROVIDER USING THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY TO MAXIMIZE POSTAL DISCOUNTS?
It’s what goes on behind the delivery that matters. RR Donnelley Logistics continually invests inupdating and enhancing the IT infrastructure thatdrives customer-focused cost and time savingmailing solutions including –
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n Intelligent Mail® solutions that capture postage savingsnow and keep you in full compliance for the future
Our services are backed by cutting-edge technology that optimizes mail consolidation and delivery schedules. Beyond delivery, technology-rich tools enable you to easily capture valuableperformance data that impacts your entire business.
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Reprinted from Jackson Lewis
as the winter storm season approaches, the occupational Safety and Health administration has focused on protecting workers from hazards during winter storm response and recovery opera-tions. oSHa’s new webpage, entitled “Winter Storms,” provides employers with information on preparing for winter storms and identifying and controlling hazards associated with winter storm conditions.
a number of hazards associated with winter storms are ad-dressed:
• being struck by falling objects such as icicles, tree limbs, and utility poles;
• driving accidents due to slippery roadways;
• carbon monoxide poisoning;• dehydration, hypothermia and
frostbite;• exhaustion from strenuous activity;• back injuries or heart attack while
removing snow;• slips and falls due to slippery walk-
ways;• electrocution from downed power
lines and downed objects in contact with power lines;
• burns from fires caused by ener-gized line contact or equipment failure;
• falls from snow removal on roofs or while working in aerial lifts or on ladders;
• roof collapse under weight of snow (or melting snow if drains are clogged); and
• lacerations or amputations from unguarded or improperly operated chain saws and power tools, and im-properly attempting to clear jams in snow blowers.
oSHa recommends steps for avoiding or controlling these identified hazards. it also provides links to the Federal emer-gency Management agency, the ameri-can red cross, the national Weather Service, the national oceanic and atmo-spheric administration, the centers for Disease control and Prevention, and the national Safety council for additional in-formation.
employers should review the information provided by oSHa (http://www.osha.gov/dts/weather/winter_storm/index.html) to
ensure that they are aware of potential hazards that may affect their employees.
Editor’s Note: This article is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. Readers should consult counsel of their own choosing as to how these matters relate to their own situations. Christopher C. Antone is the managing part-ner of the Dallas office of Jackson Lewis LLP, our Association’s La-bor Counsel. If you have any questions regarding this article, or for more information or assistance, please contact Chris Antone at (214) 647-2095 or [email protected].
oSHA PRovIDES wARNINGS AND woRk tIPS FoR ANtIcIPAtED wINtER StoRm woRk HAZARDS
FEBRUARY 2012 17
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Archway, offers fulfillment-literature, fulfillment-product, ful-fillment-rebate, fulfillment-promotional, fulfillment-premiums, hand assembly(custom packaging), machine inserting, ink jet addressing, packaging & shipping, transportation services and warehousing/distribution. archway is located at 19850 South Diamond lake road, rogers, Mn, 55374. Sarah Baker, senior manager, marketing, can be reached at 763-488-6811 or by FaX at 763-488-6801.
immedia, offers bindery services, consulting, creative, data pro-cessing services, file maintenance, literature fulfillment, product fulfillment, catalog fulfillment, premiums fulfillment, glue fold-ing, hand assembly, machine inserting, ink jet addressing, inter-national mailing service, laser printing – short runs, laser print-ing sheet feed, list broker services, letterpress printing, mailing lists, merge/purge, national change of address, polybag insert-ing, packaging & shipping, resident list broker, sheetfeed offset printing, tabbing, transportation services, warehousing/distri-bution, and web offset printing. immedia is located at 10753 a Street South, tacoma, Wa, 98444. Deb irwin, president, can be reached at 253-926-2600 or by FaX at 253-579-1798.
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18 MFSA PostScripts
the ceo and the execu-tive team set goals for the organization and its ex-ecutives. it is up to each unit to determine what it must do to achieve those goals. the organization’s various units then need to coordinate their goals to determine what must be done collectively. For example, if one of the organization’s goals is to improve its talent man-agement initiatives, then Hr, finance, and other departments that would be affected need to de-termine what role each must play in achieving that goal. after unit goals have been aligned, the next step is to set the goals for the organization’s managers and, finally, each individual em-ployee.
Using limited Pay-for-Performance DifferentiationWhen it comes to rewarding performance, many organizations fall into a trap that might be called the “peanut butter spread,” where the rewards are spread thinly but evenly among everyone in the organization. if the organization’s annual increase budget is 3%, everybody gets 3%. although this is easy to administer and defend, it does nothing to improve the organization’s roc. in order to make an investment, the organization has to priori-tize who should get what and make difficult choices rather than taking the path of least resistance.
it may be difficult to differentiate when the salary-increase bud-get is small. But one effective strategy, carving out dollars from salary-increase budgets and incentive pools explicitly to reward high performers, leads to more effective investments in talent.
even with a modest salary budget, say 2.5%, if 0.5% is carved out for high performers, average performers get 2%, and if 25% of the population are high performers, they can get as much as 4.5% increases. the same concept holds true for funded bonus pools. When communicating reward decisions, allocations from the high-performer pools can be used as a tool to recognize top talent while managing the expectations of the broader work-force.
Not calibrating Performance management Datacalibration – or sharing and adjusting of decisions across a group, rather than allowing managers to make decisions on their own – guarantees the integrity of the data used to make reward decisions based on employees’ contributions (i.e., pay for performance). in an organization without calibrated per-formance data, managers’ individual standards of performance may lead to inequitable ratings and pay investments, which low-ers motivation.
in some organizations, calibration is handled by the human-resources department. More effective, however, is having the organization’s leaders meet and calibrate the data themselves. the prospect of a leader trying to justify the position that there are “no poor performers” in his or her group is often enough to encourage employee differentiation. Formal performance man-agement calibration sessions, within and between functions,
will ensure that performance standards and ratings are applied consistently.
Avoiding transparency in the Pay Systemorganizations that communicate a pay philosophy and the ra-tionale for pay decisions, and that place appropriate context on how they arrive at individual decisions, are more likely to have employees motivated by compensation than those that man-age compensation in a “black box.”
employees are more accepting of an unfavorable pay decision when they understand how it is made and believe that every-one in the organization is subject to the same system. Without transparency, employees tend to feel that their compensation is being controlled by their manager rather than by an organiza-tion-wide system.
moving too Quicklyorganizations that want to enhance their roc by improving how compensation drives employee motivation should recog-nize that change does not occur overnight. it is better to execute a few changes well than to implement broad changes poorly. implementing a series of prioritized changes over several com-pensation cycles will give the business time to properly absorb change into the culture and produce the desired impact. it will also improve employee buy-in for the compensation system. Moreover, any mistakes will be easier to correct before they be-come entrenched.
too often, organizations with a vision for the future have an ag-gressive desire to implement change swiftly and with a heavy hand. When this occurs, program results often fail to match the rhetoric, further demotivating employees and challenging the organization’s credibility.
Failing to Empower managersorganizations that hold managers accountable for pay deci-sions also need to give them the training and tools they need to do the job effectively. in many cases, managers have only a pool of dollars and loose allocation guidelines. the best compensa-tion investments are made when managers can leverage all of the appropriate pay, performance, and business-planning data available throughout the organization.
giving them more sophisticated information will help them ef-fectively allocate salary and incentive pools. Such information includes external market competitive benchmarks, internal av-erage salary benchmarks, time in role/role history, performance rating history (i.e., longer-term performance data), compensa-tion history, depth of responsibility and role criticality, and tal-ent scarcity assessments.
Managers also need interpersonal and relationship skills train-ing on how to have meaningful compensation conversations with employees and not just read a script. the goal is to be able to blend a business conversation with a performance manage-ment conversation to create a developmental conversation that clearly demonstrates what the employee needs to do to improve his or her compensation.
Reprinted by permission of The Segal Group, Inc., parent of The Se-gal Company and its Sibson Consulting Division. C2012. All rights reserved.son Adwin is a vice president in the New York office of Sib-son Consulting.
Mistakes continued from page 1
FEBRUARY 2012 19
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PriceWaterhousecooper’s Health research institute has released its annual forecast of top health care trends in 2012, as well as survey data from 1,000 u.S. adults. How these projections will impact employers in terms of health care costs is uncertain; what is certain is that the landscape of healthcare reform is ever-evolving. PWc predicts:
Health care providers and organizations will face increasing pressure to demonstrate better value. insurers will be reluctant to pay for health care treatments not proven to be effective, and providers who do not demonstrate good outcomes will be pe-nalized. large employers will be able to use their purchasing power to demand performance-based pricing structures with insurers.
High out-of-pocket health care costs will continue to erode household income and discourage preventative services such as cancer screenings and vaccinations. employers will need to monitor how healthcare costs impact the health of employees and perhaps implement innovative wellness programs.
Health insurers will continue to form partnerships and acquisi-tions of physician groups, clinics, and hospitals, and invest heav-ily in health informatics.
consumers will become more comfortable with sharing their
personal health information with doctors, hospitals, insurers, and pharmaceutical companies to better coordinate their health care. However, privacy and security of electronic health records is critical and will play a significant role in consumer choice.
Health insurance exchanges will eventually make it easier for consumers to find and purchase health care plans.
Social media will play a bigger role for consumers to connect with health care organizations and with others who share simi-lar health concerns.
real time drug inventory systems will help hospitals avoid drug shortages and the millions currently spent on last-minute sub-stitutes.
according to a Mercer survey, healthcare expenses for employ-ers are expected to rise 5.4% on average, the lowest increase in a decade. While some of this decrease is due to more cost-shifting to employees, it is possible that employer wellness programs and improved preventative measures are reducing more costly medical care.
For the complete PWC report, see http://pwchealth.com/cgi-local/hregister.cgi?link=reg/top-health-industry-issues-of-2012.pdf
HEAltH cARE tRENDS IN 2012: cHAllENGES AND oPPoRtUNItIES
20 MFSA PostScripts
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Fueled by technology and the recession, leading companies are offering flexibility for their employees with a focus on measure-able work results rather than face time in the office, according to the 2012 Guide to Bold New Ideas for Making Work Work.
MFSa member mediaScope, Winona, Mn, was named in the guide as one of the leading companies.
the guide, published by the Families and Work institute (FWi) and the Society for Human resource Management (SHrM), highlights the practices of the winners of the Sloan award for ex-cellence in Workplace effectiveness and Flexibility — from turn-er construction company’s “turnertalk” project-management software that allows employees flexible work arrangements to Mcgladrey’s “Declaration of Flexibility” that guarantees flexible work options, including FlexYear, which provides a schedule similar to a teacher’s.
“Workplace flexibility practices are becoming more widespread, but they aren’t one-size-fits-all,” said ellen galinsky, FWi’s presi-dent. “this year’s Sloan winners show that companies are em-bracing ‘flexible flexibility,’ respecting employees to get work done where and when they choose.”
technology was cited by almost every company profiled in the guide as a tool that allows them to focus on employees’ results rather than face time, galinsky said.
SHrM President and ceo Henry g. (Hank) Jackson noted that the move toward more adaptable flexibility has been fueled in part by the recession. “Flexibility is a business strategy that has helped save jobs, diminished work pressures for employees, and improved employee morale and engagement during turbulent times. these Sloan award-winning companies are thriving more than most.”
the guide features 450 worksites representing a variety of in-dustries across the country. to be selected as a winner, employ-ers had to score in the top 20% of employers nationally.
For the first time, applicants for the Sloan awards were asked how they responded to the needs of military veterans and their families. Some employers responded with innovative and gen-erous initiatives.
the Sloan awards are part of When Work Works, a research-based initiative by FWi and SHrM to highlight the effectiveness of workplace flexibility.
For more information, go to www.whenworkworks.org.
GUIDE oFFERS BolD NEw IDEAS IN woRkPlAcE FlExIBIlItY
FEBRUARY 2012 21
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22 MFSA PostScripts
ManagementNEw AND INNovAtIvE HUmAN RESoURcE IDEAS FRom mFSA mEmBERS World Marketing has a self-funded medical insurance program. We feel that we have a good relationship with our tPa and a sound, basic PPo plan. However, over time, the makeup of our employee group has changed. We’ve aged, gained weight, haven’t quit smoking and seem to punctuate almost every milestone with cake. We’ve had to increase our deductibles in order to keep premium increases tolerable for both our employees and our business units. it became clear that while we couldn’t control medical inflation, we had to take charge of our utilization. Following extensive research, we decided to offer a company-paid, HiPaa-compliant well-ness benefit to those who participate in our medical insurance plan.
the firm we chose has four areas of focus:• Healthcare Help – help finding doctors, making appointments, understanding diagnoses, claims and medical billing.• Wellness coaching – the “nag” factor. once an employee takes the health risk assessment (Hra) on line, they will have a well-
ness coach to encourage them in their “opportunity” areas. For the do-it-yourselfers, there’s help on the website – nutrition and exercise information, logs, recipes, workshops and more.
• eaP and Work-life Balance – for help with stressors – medical, legal, financial and identity theft assistance.• Bill Pay assistance – if the employee share of a medical bill is $400 or more, the firm will contact the medical provider and
attempt to negotiate a discount.
as an incentive to engage in the program, we are offering a $200 health insurance premium rebate on a payroll in December 2012 to all who: are on our medical insurance plan by March 1, 2012; complete the Hra before april 1, 2012 (the Hra includes entering the results of a full blood panel, blood pressure and BMi.); and are tobacco-free as of october 1, 2012.
the company will receive a global scorecard from our wellness partner, giving statistics and areas needing attention – percentage of smokers, those who are overweight, don’t get enough physical exercise, have poor nutritional habits and more. We will be able to target specific wellness initiatives where they will benefit the greatest proportion of employees.
We anticipate that this is not a short-term fix, but rather a long-term commitment to encouraging a well workforce. Future years may see a requirement for covered spouses to participate and annual changes in the incentive amount and requirements as we refine what it takes to encourage a healthier lifestyle and use of the tools provided. Joanne Slader, CPCU, CLU, Natl/HR Business ManagerOmaha World-Herald
We actually changed our medical plan from fully insured to partially self insured. this has helped us with the ability to design the plan, manage and track claims, look at trends, etc. it has also saved the company money. We do have a wellness component to our plan as well. We will be offering free wellness counseling and behavioral coun-seling to all of our employees through our medical claims administrator, and we raised the medical deduction for those employees who continue to use tobacco products. We will be providing wellness seminars on topics such as nutrition, weight management, and exercise this year as well.Anne Searl, SPHRBrokers Worldwide
Many of Mediascopes people handle what business experts call high-volume work putting together big, complicated mailing packages, for example. the Wino-na, Mn, company encourages its people to build further on their skills. this could involve training outside the company or in the office, where Mediascope finances training seminars, brings in trainers and offers webinars on a variety of topics to allow for training without traveling. employees are offered the option of working in other areas of the company, either temporarily or permanently, with the op-portunity to learn new skills and advance in the organization. they can apply for openings in all departments, and are encouraged to move into office, customer service and leadership roles. and when work in one area is slow, flexibility allows the company to use employees in different roles rather than sending them home. employees are included in decisions about how new projects can best be accom-plished and awarded bonuses for suggestions that improve the efficiency or qual-ity of work. Mediascope calls its employees’ its key competitive advantage. each day, employees are energized and motivated to do the best job that they can do, and are consistently reminded that their efforts will be rewarded.Stacy Zanzig, Human Resources DirectorMediascope
MFSA members can get a copy of the new Pricing Study TODAY!
This is by far, the most comprehensive national study of pricing for mailing services available. This study includes typical pricing, based on national averages for all of the industry’s most prevalent mailing services, as well as regional and the middle range prices.
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FEBRUARY 2012 23
24 MFSA PostScripts
INDUStRY StAtIStIcS
Sourcelink, chicago, il, launched a mobile app that works in conjunction with their proprietary mail tracking tool, Multi-trac™. the app has been developed for the android and is avail-able now in the android marketplace free for all Multitrac™ us-ers. there are plans to release an app for the apple platform in the first half of 2012.
Satori Software, Seattle, Wa, announced the availability of an unlimited Walk Sequence processing add-on for its Bulk Mailer® desktop mailing software. now, for one flat annual price, mailers can append Walk Sequence data to all their mailing lists, which makes it possible to achieve greater postal discounts. Walk Se-quence data enables a list to be sorted into the order of an in-dividual postal carrier’s route. compared to 5-digit automation rates, mailers can increase discounts on qualified high-density
mailings by at least 4.2 cents per letter and up to 15 cents per flat. Because the service is accessed within Bulk Mailer, incorpo-rating Walk Sequence into daily mailing preparation processes requires few changes to existing settings. Processing turnaround is fast — generally 15 minutes or less.
Buskro ltd., Pickering, ontario, launched a new website www.buskro.com. the redesigned website presents a new format and navigation extending Buskro’s brand identity, value proposi-tions, products, and solutions through pages that are cleanly presented. it highlights Buskro as a company, its capabilities, news and articles, customers, partnerships, and contact infor-mation. the new website is the first of many upcoming pro-grams which are being incorporated into our integrated market-ing communications campaign.
Member News
momS lEAD wAY IN USE oF QR coDES to FIND DEAlS
a november 2011 joint study between par-enting social media site Babycenter and comScore, examining the shopping be-haviors of 8,000 u.S. mothers, “shows moms make purchase decisions across all catego-ries and outspend the general population both online and offline.”
• 62% of moms surveyed have a bar-
code scanner app on their mobile device to help them find deals (29% more than the general population).
• 40% of moms have shopped via a smartphone app (60% higher than the general population).
• 74% have or would scan a QR code at a grocery store to save money.
• moms are willing to use QR codes to save money on even low ticket items: 71% would scan a barcode to save under $5, compared to only 49% of the general population.
• moms are more likely than the gener-al population to search for discounts online (55% vs. 30%).
We can use many of the major social networks to find people that meet specific criteria that we may be looking for. linke-din truly has become an amazingly powerful search engine for finding people based on skills, job history, references, shared connections, and more.
also, many of the major social networks provide tools for com-panies to easily initiate recruitment efforts, as opposed to sit-ting back and hoping that qualified job candidates find you.
communicating with Employees via anInternal Social NetworkSocial networks can also be used to improve communication between a company and its own employees. While there cer-tainly is a discussion to be had about how much time employ-ees should spend on social networks while they are working, the bottom line is that many people enjoy checking these net-works multiple times each day.
employers can take advantage of that fact to launch internal social networks that provide relevant and timely information to their employees. this could include basic information re-lated to operations --- holiday schedules, deadlines for forms, timecard submissions, etc. --- but it also could be used to ex-pose all employees to a company’s Pr initiatives, customer success stories, new sales, and more.
this type of information-sharing can be easily setup via private groups on tools such as linkedin or Facebook. also, there are tools such as Yammer that have been launched specifically for the purpose of creating social networks for internal-use only.
there is no doubt that social networks and the way we use them will continue to evolve. But no matter what, we should do all we can now to utilize them in ways that solve objectives for our entire business, not just for the marketing department.
GEt coNNEctEDWith MFSa’s new community site, members have access to resource libraries con-taining archived documents, a glossary of popular terms, blogs, a member directory, an event calendar and discussion Forums. Discussion Forums provide a way to post questions and thoughts to the MFSa community. the posts are archived online and emailed to community members.
moDIFY YoUR SUBScRIPtIoN SEttINGS At HttP://commUNItY.mFSANEt.oRG tHE oPtIoNS ARE:
• REAl tImE• DAIlY DIGESt (oNE EmAIl DAIlY wItH tHE PASt
24 HoURS oF commUNItY ActIvItY)• PDA (tExt vERSIoN oF EmAIlS IN A SImPlER
FoRmAt wItHoUt ImAGES)• No EmAIlS (REQUIRES loGGING INto SItE to
moNItoR DIScUSSIoNS)
QUEStIoNS? coNtAct mEmBER SERvIcES At 800-333-6272 Ext. 206 oR vIA EmAIl At [email protected]
26 MFSA PostScripts
Chapter News
Northwest chapterPresident: Mark Weeks; international Direct response Servicesthe next meeting is scheduled for thursday, april 12 at the red lion inn airport, Seattle, Wa, at 5:30pm. More information on the topic coming soon! For more information, please contact MFSa at 703-836-9200.
Pacific chapterPresident: tom Duchene; tDMS For more information, please contact MFSa at 703-836-9200.
New England chapterPresident: Shannon campbell; rezolve groupFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-836-9200.
Southwest chapterPresident: robbie cramer, Direct logisticsthe 2012 SW chapter conference is schedule for april 12-15 in Fort Worth, tX. Stay tuned for more information. For more information, please contact MFSa at 703-836-9200.
chesapeake chapterPresident: Ken gossett; aMithe next meeting is scheduled for thursday, February 9th, 2012 at 5:30pm at the greenbelt Marriott. tom glassman will be speaking about lean thinking. For more information, please contact MFSa at 703-836-9200.
Rocky mountain chapterPresident: Jim albany; newmark PrintingFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-836-9200.
ohio valley chapterPresident: tammy caserta; think PatentedFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-836-9200.
Great lakes chapterFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-836-9200.
Southeast chapterPresident: Scott coggin; DatadirectFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-836-9200.
Philadelphia chapterPresident: John rafner; eFiFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-836-9200.
Great Plains chapterBoard Member: Mike colestock; Japs-olson Board Member: connie o’Keefe; the John roberts companyBoard Member: craig Schiller; action Mailing ServicesFor more information, please contact MFSa at 703-836-9200.
New York chapterPresident: Joseph W. gomez, fmidirect,inc For more information on meetings or member information, contact Jim Prendergast at 212-217-6824 or visit www.mfsany.org.
Plus, as a North American company, we can deliver the paper you need when you need it. And our world class customer service and technical field service teams provide paper expertise and on-press support unparalleled in the industry. We commit to excellence in every thing we do.
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For more than 150 years, paper making has been our business — sheetfed, digital, web or gravure. NewPage offers you an exceptional breadth and depth of products including:
28 MFSA PostScripts
clASSIFIEDS GolD PARtNERSthe following supplier members have become gold Partners with MFSa due to their level of support.
Adphos North America, Inc. Bell and HowellEFI Hewlett PackardinterlinkoNEkirk-Rudy, Inc.label Sourcemailers Haven llcmcSthink InkPitney Bowes RR Donnelley logisticsSatori Softwarexerox
For information about becoming a gold Partner, contact MFSa at 800-333-6272.
lower Postage costs and Reduce Undeliverable mail caSS™ and Pave™ gold certified MailerS+4 will eliminate dupli-cate records, verify addresses and presort your mail. optional Move update processing is available for both u.S. and canadian address-es. Save up to 65% on postage with MailerS+4. to request a free trial, go to www.MelissaData.com/ps-mp4.
Join your mFSA chapter todaychapters provide educational and networking opportunities and
are a great resource of information that affect the mailing and fulfillment industry. the 12 region-al chapters are governed by local volunteers and function under the umbrella of the national headquarters. they serve their specific regions, each with its own opportunities and challenges. More information can be found online at: http://www.mfsanet.org/chapters.
NEED HElP – call Fulfillment 911... the mFSA Fulfillment Hotline recently retired MFSa Director of Fulfillment Services, tom Quinn, now offers all MFSa members the opportunity to get 30 minutes of fulfillment consulting at no charge. Whether your questions be on operations, warehouse layout, software, sales, or marketing, you are only a phone call or email away from getting the answers. to contact tom, please call him at 770-632-9253 or [email protected].
NEED HElP – call Postal 911... the mFSA Postal HotlineSpeak with postal professor, george Heinrich, for advice on postal regulation, mail acceptance, or operational issues. this is an MFSa membership benefit – the first 30 minutes is complimentary. george can be reached at 303-325-3048, 8 am – 6 pm Mountain time. need help with a postal regu-lation? remember the MFSa listserve or contact leo raymond at 800-333-6272 ext. 203.
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EFI™ provides powerful MIS solutions for the mailing and fulfillment services industry. Today’s economic realities demand that you optimize every aspect of your business. EFI’s Print MIS solutions give you the tools you need to not only streamline operations and reduce costs, but to also win more business and deliver differentiated customer service. We have integrated, scalable solutions to help you with: CRM and RFQ § Inventory § Purchasing § Estimating § Shop-Floor § Postage § Order Entry § Fulfillment § Accounting § Scheduling
Don’t wait. Visit www/efi.com/dm/mailing to see EFI mailing and fulfillment solutions in action.
