FunnyBusiness: Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line

Filing an insurance claim can be risky business

"I'd found this flyer in a women's magazine in South Africa. It details the benefits of women-specific insurance, such as road-side assistance, and accidental HIV exposure medication. I thought, "Why is HIV medicine part of car insurance?" It was explained that carjacking and rape isn't all that uncommon. Yikes," wrote Flickr  member Squishy underneath this photo.

If Squishy  lived  in the U.S. and opted to purchase that road side assistance it could end up being one of the very expensive decisions she ever made. On the surface adding this to your insurance is a money saver. Insurance companies just charge about $10 a year for the add-on. Auto clubs like AAA can charge anywhere from $50-$100 a year.

While any financial adviser will tell you that living without insurance is very risky business, any one who has wanted to file a claim for a small item knows that insurance agencies keep track of  the number of claims you file in any given year. Their advice: If it's under $2,000, pay it out of your pocket.

Depending on the firm, it's three strikes and you are out. As Diana Ransom writes in this free area of the WSJ by calling for a tow or jump-start through your insurer, you run the risk of increasing your insurance premiums and possibly lowering your eligibility for future coverage.

"...many auto insurers -- including giants State Farm and Allstate -- typically treat these calls as claims, which the insurers may report to data-collection companies and which get used to determine premiums and decide whether or not to cover new applicants.

"We take all claims into account when we are trying to measure the cost of making a promise," says State Farm spokesman Dick Luedke. But he and an Allstate spokesman say their companies don't weigh roadside-assistance claims as heavily as accident claims.

How bad can it get? At The Newspaper.com, a website devoted to the "politics of driving" reports that insurance companies are raising the rates for people who lock their keys in their  cars or file claims under their road side assistance benefit.

Several insurance companies, for example, refused to cover Andrea Davis, 31, after she had two flat tires and locked her keys inside her 1999 Isuzu Rodeo. Davis learned her old insurance company, Geico, had reported her three claims to CLUE. Davis paid Geico $12 a year for roadside assistance, but the company never disclosed that using flat tire assistance would raise rates.

Chances are those companies checked out Ms.Davis in a little known database called  CLUE.

"The CLUE report and the insurance scoring system are tools insurers use to decide your risk profile, that is, how likely you are to file a claim against your policy. Insurers feed information about paid claims - perhaps even your inquiries about coverage that do not result in a claim - into a national database for use by insurers. Information included in the database, along with your insurance score, makes up your risk profile. Insurers use the profile to decide whether you get new insurance. At renewal time, your current insurer will probably review your claims history as well as your current insurance score to set your premiums - even to decide if you get to keep the insurance you have. When you shop for new insurance, the company may order a CLUE report. If information is inaccurate, you can be left without insurance while you work to correct the errors."

It's not just auto insurance of course. The same theory applies to homeowners insurance and of course if you pay that $5.95extra  each month to insure your mobile phone.

Beware. These policies really only allow one claim a year. Once you file two claims in a 12 month period, your insurance  on that phone number is suspended for 12 months.

What does that mean? Well, let's say you file two claims on a regular phone,  Your  insurance will be suspended for that phone number for 12 months. If you buy a new phone...let's say you want to upgrade to a smart-phone that costs $400, you will not be able to get insurance on that phone.

If you think you can add the insurance on the new  expensive model once your 12 months of suspension is lifted, think again.  You can only put insurance on a phone with 15 days of the sale. Gotcha.

Hat Tip to FAST COMPANY Blog"Guess Mom was right.Nothing is as good as it seems."

What the world kneads now

It was with eager anticipation that I waited for my son Noah to call me last week to hear about his first day on the job. He was walking to the subway when he called.

"How did it go?" I asked
"Great. I get 21 vacation days and we close down between Christmas and New Year's so I can come home without using any vacation days."

Perks matter. When you've just graduated from college and are used to about 20 weeks of vacation-- the most important perk is usually time off.

But, for the more seasoned employee, companies need to do more than offer days off that the employee doesn't feel they can take because there is too much work to do.That's where the massage chair comes in. Seems like corporations are tripping over themselves to offer employees a 10-15 minute soother. As promoted, at the Relax & Rejuvenate website corporate massages,

makes an ideal reward for your staff and a great  idea for employee appreciation week. Whether stress-relieving seated ; chair massage or time-saving manicures, bringing wellness to your ; employees will improve productivity, boost morale and reduce health ; care costs and turnover. The morale boosting effect extends to the ; entire office in seeing their co-workers rejuvenated!

Note to marketing department: you lost me at morale boosting effect. Call me selfish, small, and a terrible team player--but the only way my morale would be boosted is if I'm the one sitting in the massage chair.

Nevertheless Relax & Rejuvenate does list their  impressive corporate client list.

• Advisory Board Co.
  Verizon
  Patton, Boggs LLP
  Drexel University
  Timberland
  Emirates Airlines
  St Jude Medical
  Price Waterhouse Coopers
  Wachovia Securities
  Celera Genomics
  

On  theThe Dynamist blog,Virginia Postrel is previewing an excerpt of her first column for The Atlantic she's written for the July-August edition of the Atlantic. It's all about the trend in  massages including massage chairs at car washes, airports and yes within the workplace.

One of the most important factors in the spread of massages was theinvention of the portable massage chair. I tracked down the inventor David Palmer.... In 1982, he was running a San Francisco massage school and worried that not enough graduates were finding jobs. If massage was so great, why didn’t more people want it?

The answer was pretty obvious: everything about the experience scared off potential clients. “If you want to make sure massage didn’t make it into the mainstream,” Palmer says, “make it as expensive, inconvenient, and scary as possible. Force people to go into a private room behind closed doors, take off all their clothes with a stranger, lie down on a table, get slathered with oil for an hour, and pay $70, $80, $90 for the privilege.”

Massage needed a form that was cheap, quick, convenient, and fully clothed. Palmer developed an acupressure-based routine, or kata, that took just fifteen minutes and was done while the client sat on a drummer’s stool.

In March, Dr.Deborah Serani wrote a post about the benefits of massage. She is a psychologist specializing in trauma and depression. While the post has some good information and links to more information about massage therapy, the most interesting aspect of the post is that it has over 40 comments.

Sonnie Dee said...

My previous work place actually pays a professional masseuse to come in for two days every week. Everyone was allowed one free massage a month but often people got two or three.

My new work place offers similar but you pay $10 towards a half hour session work pays the rest.

obviously they have seen the benefits of having a relaxed staff. Now its just getting me to one, Im like fallen angels and can't do body work at all.

Not surprisingly, theBureau of Labor Statistics says the outlook for massage therapists is better than average.

Employment for massage therapists is expected to increase faster than average over the period from 2004 to 2014 as more people learn about the benefits of massage therapy. In States that regulate massage therapy, therapists who complete formal training programs and pass the national certification exam are likely to have very good job opportunities. Because referrals are a very important source of work for massage therapists, networking will increase the number of job opportunities. Joining a State or local chapter of a professional association can also help build strong contacts and further increase the likelihood of steady work.

Massage is an increasingly popular technique for relaxation and reduction of stress. As workplaces try to distinguish themselves as employee-friendly, providing professional in-office, seated massages for employees is becoming a popular on-the-job benefit.

So my only question is, what are the job titles of folks who go corporate?  Health &Wellness Leader? Corporate Stress reducer? Corporate Masseuse?

Image Credit: Flickr Member Tomswift46

Are Health Care Benefits an endangered species?

If all things were equal--given the choice--most people would opt to work for themselves rather than for a corporation.

But all things are not equal. One of the huge reasons people opt in to corporate life are THE BENEFITS.

That motivation may be changing as more companies pull back on their health care benefits. According to Think Progress health care premiums  have skyrocketed  73%  in health care premiums since 2000.

   

"Premiums have risen by 73 percent since 2000. And businesses now spend nearly $450 billion on health benefits – not counting their Medicare payroll taxes. In a few short years, the health costs of Fortune 500 companies will exceed their profits. Despite these costs, the U.S. ranks 34th on life expectancy, 41st in infant mortality, and 37th, according to the World Health Organization, in health system performance."

As the Wall Street Journal and Minneapolis Star Tribune recently reported, Target Corporation has notified their employees that it may be eliminating its traditional health care plans.

   

"Target spokeswoman Lena Michaud said the retailer told its workers that its traditional health plan might be discontinued. But she said a final decision hasn't been made.

"This is a long-term strategy that will help both us and team members [employees] save money by encouraging them to take greater control over their health-care spending," Ms. Michaud said.    

"Under its new plans, Target annually will contribute $400 for individual workers and $800 for families. Monthly premiums will drop to as little as $20 for individuals. But deductibles will be much higher than Target's traditional plan: as high as $5,000.

The other alternative is the health-reimbursement account, which is similar to health-savings accounts, except the employer funds them and they aren't portable. The premiums paid by the workers are higher than the health-savings accounts, but the deductibles are lower.

"These plans are great if you are healthy, wealthy or young," says Bernie Hesse, a Minnesota-based organizer for the United Food and Commercial Workers, which is trying to organize Target."

Critics say this approach to health care benefits reduces preventative care and creates an environment where people don't seek medical attention until they are really sick."

To get a hint of what their thinking may be, you just have to review a  not so secret memo written in 2005  to Wal-Mart's Board of Directors by Susan Chambers, who was then Wal-Mart's Executive Vice President for Benefits( she has since been promoted) .The contents of that memo were widely reported in the New York Times and major media like CNN

   

"Chambers' memo proposes a number of ways that Wal-Mart could hold down spending on health care and benefits while minimizing damage to its reputation. Those proposals include nine "limited-risk initiatives" and five "bold steps."

   

The initiatives include increasing the number of part-time employees while making it easier for part-time employees to become eligible for benefits and offering a variety of benefits from which employees may choose.

   

Chambers also mentioned a plan already under way to add health clinics to stores.

   

The "bold steps" called for Wal-Mart to institute "consumer-driven health plans" with Health Savings Accounts that would go toward paying higher deductibles; restructuring the retirement program to put more money into health care and less into retirement; redesigning employment at Wal-Mart "to attract a healthier, more productive workforce"; making strategic investments to counter criticism; and improving communications about the company's benefits offering."

The Wal-MartWatch has excerpts from the memo including this one on the potential risk employees are putting themselves in for participating in Wal-Mart's Family Plan.

   

ON BANKRUPTCY … "On the Family plan, an Associate must spend between 74 and 150 percent of household income on healthcare (approximately $13,000 to $27,000) before insurance takes over completely. Though few associates reach this level of spending, those who do almost certainly end up declaring personal bankruptcy" [Wal-Mart Secret Memo, Page 6, http://walmartwatch.com/memo; New York Times, 10/26/05]

The decision to change their health care benefit is not just a benefits issues..  For Target, going from a company with a reputation for offering "some of the best benefits" available to a company whose health care program looks eerily  similar to Wal-Mart's is a huge business risk.

Forget the bad PR --what will it do to recruiting and retention?Long-term will  the savings on health care costs be worth the potential brain drain that could occur because of their leaner than lean health benefits?

 

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Duct Tape, Tampons, Holiday Cheer

Now, you would anticipate that duct tape lovers would have all sorts of ideas of how duct tape can help through the holidays...there's the holiday bow and the elf outfit and a host of other ideas on Jim and Tim's website ( the guys who brought you the Duct Tape Books)

However, this year the prize for innovative holiday home decorating goes to the folks at tamponcrafts.com. Check out the site for instructions  on how to make your tampon angel, menorah, snowflake, lights and silver bells.

As the web site says,

"Your period comes every month, but Xmas comes only once a year. So bring that menstrual joy to this holiday season with these tampon tree decorations. From a string of tampon lights to a star at the top of the tree, feminine hygiene has never been so festive! "

God Bless American Ingenuity.

The World keeps getting smaller for smokers

In case you were wondering how much it costs to get the smoking smell out of a hotel room, Westin Hotel says its $200. That's how much they will add on to any customer's bill who is caught smoking in their rooms after January 1, 2006 ( we still don't have a name for this decade. I still recommend D1/2K)

Meanwhile over in Germany, an employee at a printing company was just fired for smoking in his backyard. According to telegraph.co.uk  the company provided all non-smokers with a bonus. In order to receive the financial reward, employees had to state every month that they did not smoke. The guys's co-workers turned him in.

"The rules were he was to tell us if he smoked. He defrauded us of some 1,200 euros [£800] a year which is enough money for a family holiday. If someone steals from their company, it is normal that they are punished." The company introduced its radical no-smoking policy five years ago and abolished smoking areas last year. Two thirds of its staff are in the programme. "

Last year a Michigan company made the headlines when it fired employees who refused to take a Breathalyzer test after the company instituted a policy forbidding employees to smoke cigarettes --any time, any where 24/7 --365 days a year.

There is a big difference from the firm in Michigan and the company in Germany. The German firm was providing an incentive --a very nice incentive for people to embrace the nonsmoking lifestyle.

The Michigan  firm wasn't  incenting, it was dictating and as much as I dislike smoking, I do not believe a company had the right to fire those employees.

Like the firm in Germany, Roanoke, Va's Cat Communications International  believes the best way to change habits is through incentives. That's why the CEO Norm Mason created a free Vegeteria .

"Mason says he created the "Vegeteria" out of concern for the well- being of his 200 employees of Cat Communications International. So he's giving them all the fresh vegetables, meat substitutes, cakes and drinks they could ever want.

"This was a way to say: 'Look, we don't feel it's right to have the flesh of an animal, an animal killed for your benefit,'" Mason said. "I see it no different than smoking. People are asked to go outside and smoke."

Evidently, some employees felt their rights were being violated and contacted a local television station who challenged Mason's "no meat" policy. Turns out Mason has taken his cue from no-smoking policies.

Employees, can still eat meat in "designated rooms." They just can't eat meat in the corporate funded vegeteria.

Heaven help the shrinking world of carnivore eating, nicotiana inhaling employees.

Shake Three Times

My brother Bob, the doctor, also has a blog. It's called DB's Medrants. Recently he was ranting about last week's congressional hearings on the marketing practices of the pharmaceutical industry.  He's not a fan saying,

"Now I know that some will argue that this just represents free market salesmanship. However, I do believe that pharmaceuticals should be held to a different standard than cars, clothes, or refrigerators.

I refuse to meet with sales reps - because I do not believe a word they say. This article reinforces my paranoia. "

Here's an excerpt that Bob shared with his readers.

Instructions to the company’s sales crew were as detailed as how long to shake a physician’s hand — three seconds — and how to eat bread when dining with doctors — “one small bitesize piece at a time.”

Sales representatives were offered $2,000 bonuses for meeting sales goals, and worked in campaigns with such code-names as “Project Offense” to try to boost sales even as regulators were about to increase warnings on the drug’s label.

Who thinks up this stuff? And how have I gotten through almost 30 years in business and not known a whit about the 3 second rule. A quick search on Google uncovered that lots of people have been thinking about handshaking. My search on handshaking etiquette provided about 5000 results.

And, I now know where they got the idea for the 3 second shake...its right there in Business Etiquette for Dummies.

"In U.S. etiquette, an appropriate handshake begins with the introduction:

1. Extend your hand and grip the other person's hand so that the web of your thumbs meet.

2. Shake just a couple of times.

The motion is from the elbow, not the shoulder.

3. End the handshake cleanly, before the introduction is over.

If you want to count, a good handshake is held for three or four seconds."

So that explains it. I don't think I'm a 3 second shaker. As I visualize my past history of handshaking ,it's feeling like I'm more of a 1.5 sec to 2 sec shaker.

Turns out, according to the American Psychological Association, this may explain a lot of things. ( Full disclosure: my dad worked for the APA in the 1970s). Back in 2000, the APA did a handshaking study. Turns out, women have a distinct disadvantage.

"We think that the implications of these analyses for self-promotion strategies used by women may be important. Women have historically been at a disadvantage relative to men when competing for jobs. Glick, Zion, and Nelson (1988) argued that to remove this historical disadvantage women need to overcome the general impression that they are less competent or qualified. However, overcoming this impression has costs for women, because behaving assertively and confidently often results in a more negative impression for a woman relative to an assertive and confident man. Our results provide one instance in which women who exhibit a behavior (a firm handshake) that is more common for men and that is related to confidence and assertiveness are evaluated more positively than are women who exhibit a more typical feminine handshake."

So if I am interpretting this correctly, if women were to just shake a little firmer we would make a better impression but at the same time by giving the impression that we are confident and assertive we will be emoting a negative impression.

N'est pas?

Which is why on many days I like to quote from my favorite poem, Ladies and Jellyspoons. " I come before you to stand behind you. Next Thursday which is good Friday there is going to be a mother's meeting for father's only.

No Free Lunch

The orthodontist asked his friend to help develop a direct marketing campaign to increase his client base. The friend contacted me.

"Talk about synchronicity, I said, (I've been very big on synchronicity this week), "I 've been doing research on orthodontists for an article I'm writing for the Chicago Tribune about the fact that the fastest growing segment in adults who wear braces are folks who qualify for AARP.( the link is only good until April 25th, after that it's in the archives).

"Well," said my friend, " He wants to do a direct mail piece to drum up business."

We talked. I shared my viewpoint. I didn't think that direct mail would be  effective since the majority of people either relied on dentist referral or referrals from friends. 

I said if he were introducing a revolutionary product or treatment then direct marketing might be okay, but for a general, please come get your braces here message, I didn't think direct mail was a good idea.

We met with the orthodontist. I suggested we begin with research to get a better understanding of why he wasn't getting as much business as he wanted. I outlined a plan that would include interviews with staff, referring dentists, patients ,and people who had come in for a consultation but had not selected this particular orthodontist.

From that, I would be able to develop key messages that would be relevant to his target audience.

He agreed to do the research. I began working.

Then came the first email. He and his staff were uncomfortable with having me interview dentists. They were concerned it would send up a Red Flag that their practice was in trouble.

He said in his email,

"We cannot change everything we do to accommodate a very challenging group of dentists who will not change referral patterns unless their present practioner(s) screws up. They don't read what we send them anymore than patients do and most don't care about results since they assume everyone gets roughly equal outcomes. Unless they hear negatives from their patients, they won't change. Logic and quality has  little to do with it. While dentist interviews will be helpful in exposing my flaws and those of my practice, I see little to be gained in changed referral patterns even if said deficiencies are remedied. I want your efforts to be directed toward obtaining that data which is most likely to produce results."

You'd think that after 25 years  of doing this kind of work, I would have learned my lesson. You'd think after 25 years I would know that this project was going absolutely no where but south.

But no. I persisted.  I said I understood and could work around the dentist issue.

Then came the phone call. He had just received a solicitation from a company that guaranteed results. They said  they guaranteed profits or he would pay nothing.

Then the question.  "Can you guarantee that what you'll do for me will result in profits?"

It was a Gotcha moment. Of course I couldn't guarantee something that I had no control over.At that point I didn't know why he wasn't getting the business he wanted. Were people not going to him because of his personality?

The attitude of his staff?

The hours or location of his office?

I made one last ditch effort to save the business. I said while the direct mail may bring you new clients, I was concerned about the potential collateral damage. 

Just as he was concerned that interviewing dentists might send a message of desperation, I cautioned that sending a "canned" direct mail piece might send a similar message to his target audience. For every client he gained, I warned, there might be 10 more who questioned his competency.A canned direct mail piece could damage his reputation and image.

Not surprisingly, he didn't take my advice. Hope springs eternal when someone promises a free lunch. Then again, many of us learned a long time ago that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

I probably will never know whether his canned lead generation program was effective.  Oh, but I did send him an invoice for time spent on the project. 

I doubt I will see a payment, in fact, I could almost guarantee it.