By TJ Carter

Being an effective manager takes work. Also, if you are new to the role with little or no training, you will discover there is a difference between being a great employee and managing great employees.

Being a manager takes courage, drive and a little insanity. Many managers know what to do; they are just overwhelmed with the volume of what they need to do.

Here are 5 tips managers most likely know but tend to forget, so lets review what you already know so you can put that knowledge into practice immediately.

1. Determine Who’s Who. Know the personalities on your team, and who you are. The 4 different ‘playground personalities’ will help you do this. Ask, “What type of kid was I on the playground?”

• The one who made sure everyone got a turn at bat? This is the Peacemaker.
• The one who made everyone line up and count off? The Organizer.
• The one who changed the rules midway through the game? The Revolutionary.
• The one who wanted to play it my way? The Steamroller.

Once you figure out your playground personality, determine whos on your playground. Don’t miss the signs. People are very clear with their body language, word usage and intentions.

Peacemakers appreciate communication and collaboration. If a staff member’s eyes bulge when others argue, that’s a clue.

Organizers are structured and decisive. If an employee comes to a meeting with charts or color-coded paper, he’s an organizer.

Revolutionaries hate routine and prefer to adapt to the moment. You’ll know a revolutionary when you ask, “Where did that come from?”

Steamrollers are smart and opinionated and can solve complex problems. They take opposing views and keep ideas floating at 30,000 feet.

2. Show Respect. Respect starts with the manager. Saying “hello” or “thank you” goes a long way. To show respect:

• Brainstorm ideas with Peacemakers
• Provide meaningful work with deadlines to Organizers
• Assign emergency tasks to Revolutionaries
• Ask Steamrollers for their opinions

3. Face Facts. Not everyone collects facts the way you do, so ask questions, be open to learning and don’t shut down discussions too early. When you think you have the facts, ask again to make sure.

4. Find the Humor. Humor should never be personal, but try to find the absurdity that invades everyone’s workspace and lighten the mood. Humor helps employees relate to you and builds camaraderie for difficult tasks.

5. Put it all Together. Managers get paid to get work done. Just when you have a plan, something goes wrong. Don’t immediately go to Plan B. Leverage personalities and the way each approaches a problem.

Understanding employees and empowering them to tackle their work in a manner that suits them will help you blossom into a confident, seasoned professional.

For questions or to learn more: Alyshia Foster 214-461-1129 or alyshia.foster@staffone.com

The recent passage of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) and the Health Care & Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872) will impact every business. How will it affect you? For your convenience, we have created a chronological summary for employers in general and also a bonus edition for small business owners.

Summary of the Legislation by Number of Employees:
50 employees or more | 100 employees or less | 25 or less

Effective January 1, 2014
**Applies to firms with greater than 50 employees

• Promoting Employer Responsibility. The Act requires employers with 50 or more employees who do not offer health coverage to their employees to pay $2,000 annually for a “full-time employee” (i.e., an employee working 30 or more hours per week).

• The 50-employee threshold is based on the employer’s average number of employees on business days during the preceding calendar year.
• Both full-time and part-time employees are considered in determining whether the employer has 50 or more employees; however, the number of part-time employees to be counted is determined by dividing the aggregate number of hours of service for those part-time employees for each month by 120.
• The $2,000 penalty then applies only to full-time employees who work 30 or more hours per week.
• In order to encourage employers to expand beyond 50 employees, the first 30 employees are not included in calculating the applicable penalty amount.
• The penalty can also increase to $3,000 for a full-time employee receiving a federal tax credit in the exchange where the employer offers health coverage, but that coverage would be deemed “unaffordable” because the employee has to pay more than 9.8 percent of his or her income, or the employer contributes less than 60 percent of the actuarial value of the plan.
• Therefore, while employers are not required to offer health coverage under the Act, significant penalties may be imposed on those employers that do not offer it or that only offer health coverage deemed “unaffordable.”
• In addition, employers may still impose a waiting period for coverage without being subject to a penalty, but this waiting period may not exceed 90 calendar days.

Effective January 1, 2011
**Applies to Firms with 100 employees or less

• Cafeteria Plans. The Act creates a Simple Cafeteria Plan to provide a vehicle through which small employers can provide tax-free benefits to their employees.

• Small employers are defined as employers who on average employ 100 or fewer employees over the previous two years. The Act aims to ease the administrative burden of sponsoring a cafeteria plan for such small employers.
• The Act also exempts small employers who make contributions for employees under a Simple Cafeteria Plan from pension-plan nondiscrimination requirements applicable to highly compensated and key employees.

Effective January 1, 2014

**Applies to firms with 100 employees or less

• Exchanges. The Act provides for the creation of health-insurance exchanges at the state level in 2014, where individuals and small employers would be able to buy health coverage in a manner similar to that of larger employers. Initially, the state exchanges would be open to individuals and small employers with 100 or fewer employees, unless the state opts to limit this to

organizations with 50 or fewer employees. Beginning in 2017, states would have the option to expand the exchange to larger employers.

**Applies to Firms with 100 employees or less

• Wellness Programs. The Act provides that employers can offer increased incentives to employees for participation in a wellness program or for meeting certain health-status targets. The Act permits rewards or penalties, such as premium discounts of up to 30 percent of the cost of coverage. Existing wellness regulations are limited to wellness incentives of up to 20

percent of the total premium, provided that certain conditions are met. In addition, the Act creates a $200 million, five-year program to provide grants to certain small employers (fewer than 100 employees) for comprehensive workplace-wellness programs. The grants would go to small employers that did not have a wellness program when the Act was enacted.

Effective January 1, 2010
**Applies to firms with 25 employees or less

• Small-Business Tax Credit. A small-business tax credit of up to 35 percent of the employer’s contribution to purchase health insurance for employees is now established for “qualified small employers.”

• A “qualified small employer” is an employer that has no more than 25 full-time employees for the taxable year and the average annual wages of those employees do not exceed $50,000 (indexed for inflation.
• Employers with 10 or fewer employees and average annual wages of less than $25,000 would be eligible for the full credit.

• Small-Business Tax Credits. When health-insurance exchanges are established in 2014, the available tax credit will increase to 50 percent of premiums.

For questions or to learn more: Alyshia Foster 214-461-1129 or alyshia.foster@staffone.com

The recent passage of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) and the Health Care & Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872) will impact every business. How will it affect you? For your convenience, we have created a chronological summary for employers in general and also a bonus edition for small business owners.

Summary of the Legislation by Effective Date:
2010 | 2011 | 2013 |  2014 | 2018

Effective January 1, 2010
• Medicare Part D. The Act provides a $250 rebate check for all Part D enrollees who enter the “donut hole.” Currently the “donut hole” coverage gap falls between $2,830 and $6,440 in total drug spending by Part D enrollees.

• Adoption Tax Credit. The Act increases the adoption tax credit and adoption assistance exclusion by $1,000 (now set at $13,150), makes the credit refundable and extends the credit
through 2011.

Effective 90 Days After Enactment (i.e., June 21, 2010)
• Early Retirees. The Act establishes a temporary reinsurance program to provide reimbursement to employer health plans offering health coverage for early retirees (ages 55 to 64) and their families. The reinsurance program would reimburse employer health plans for 80 percent of the cost of benefits provided per enrollee in excess of $15,000 and below $90,000. The employer health plans are required to use the funds to lower costs assumed directly by participants and beneficiaries, and the program incentivizes plans to implement programs and procedures to better manage chronic conditions.

• Pre-Existing Conditions. The Act provides that group-health plans and health-insurance issuers offering group or individual health-insurance coverage may not impose any pre-existing condition exclusions with respect to such plans or coverage. Therefore, group-health plans that include such pre-existing condition exclusions will no longer be permitted.

Effective 90 Days After Enactment (i.e., June 21, 2010)
• Pre-Existing Conditions. The Act provides that group-health plans and health-insurance issuers offering group or individual health-insurance coverage may not impose any pre-existing condition exclusions with respect to such plans or coverage. Therefore, group-health plans that include such pre-existing condition exclusions will no longer be permitted.

Effective Six Months After Enactment (i.e., September 23, 2010)
• Additional Protections for Children. The Act: (1) bars health-insurance companies from imposing pre-existing condition exclusions on coverage for children and (2) requires any group-health plan or plan in the individual market that provides dependent coverage to continue to make that coverage available until the child turns 26 years of age, if the child does not have access to other health coverage (without regard to the child’s marital status).

• Lifetime Limits. The Act prohibits insurers from imposing lifetime limits on benefits. Additionally, beginning in 2014, the Act prohibits insurers from imposing annual limits on the amount of coverage an individual may receive.

• Preventive Health Services. The Act requires that all new group-health plans and plans in the individual market provide first-dollar coverage for preventive services (i.e., not subject to a deductible). Examples of preventive services include well-childcare visits and certain immunizations.

Effective January 1, 2011
• W-2 Reporting. The Act requires employers to disclose the value of the benefit provided by the employer for each employee’s health-insurance coverage on the employee’s annual Form W-2. This is a W-2 reporting obligation and will not result in additional taxable income to employees.

• Additional Tax for Health Savings Account (HSA) Withdrawals. The Act increases the additional tax for Health Savings Account withdrawals prior to age 65 that are not used for qualified medical expenses from 10 percent to 20 percent.

• Medicare Part D. The Act provides a 50-percent discount on all brand-name drugs and biologics in the “donut hole” and begins phasing in additional discounts in brand-name and generic drugs to completely fill the “donut hole” by 2020 for all Part D enrollees.

Effective January 1, 2013
• Healthcare Flexible Savings Accounts. The Act limits the amount of contributions to healthcare reimbursement flexible-spending accounts to $2,500 per year. No limit was previously imposed upon healthcare reimbursement flexible-spending accounts. This new limit will raise healthcare costs for employees with unreimbursed healthcare expenses in excess of $2,500 annually, to the extent the employee currently has a flexible-spending account that permits contributions in excess of $2,500—and would potentially create increased taxable income for employees.

• Limiting Deductibility of Executive Compensation for Insurance Providers. With respect to services performed after 2009, the Act limits the deductibility of executive compensation under section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code for insurance providers if at least 25 percent of the insurance provider’s gross premium income from health business is derived from health-insurance plans that meet the minimum creditable-coverage requirements. The deduction is limited to $500,000 per taxable year (as opposed to the typical $1,000,000 limitation) and applies to all officers, employees, directors and other workers or service providers performing services for, or on behalf of, a covered health-insurance provider.

• Medicare Part D. The Act eliminates the federal income-tax deduction for the 28-percent subsidy for employers who maintain prescription drug plans for their Part D eligible retirees.

• Itemized Deduction for Medical Expenses . The Act increases the income threshold for claiming the itemized deduction for medical expenses from 7.5 percent to 10 percent. Individuals over age 65 would be able to claim the itemized deduction for medical expenses at 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income through 2016.

Effective January 1, 2014
**Applies to Firms with 50 or more employees
• Promoting Employer Responsibility. The Act requires employers with 50 or more employees who do not offer health coverage to their employees to pay $2,000 annually for a “full-time employee” (an employee working 30 or more hours per week).

• The 50-employee threshold is based on the employer’s average number of employees on business days the preceding calendar year. Both full-time and part-time employees are considered in determining whether the employer has 50 or more employees; however, the number of part-time employees to be counted is determined by dividing the aggregate number of hours of service for those part-time employees for each month by 120. The $2,000 penalty then applies only to full-time employees.
• In order to encourage employers to expand beyond 50 employees, the first 30 employees are not included in calculating the applicable penalty amount.
• The penalty can also increase to $3,000 for a full-time employee receiving a federal tax credit in the exchange where the employer offers health coverage, but that coverage would be deemed “unaffordable” because the employee has to pay more than 9.8 percent of his or her income, or the employer contributes less than 60 percent of the actuarial value of the plan. Therefore, while employers are not required to offer health coverage under the Act, significant penalties may be imposed on those employers that do not offer it or that only offer health coverage deemed “unaffordable.”
• In addition, employers may still impose a waiting period for coverage without being subject to a penalty, but this waiting period may not exceed 90 calendar days.

**Note: firms with more than 200 employees must provide coverage, of which an employee can opt out.

Effective January 1, 2014 Continued
• Wellness Programs. The Act provides that employers can offer increased incentives to employees for participation in a wellness program or for meeting certain health-status targets. The Act permits rewards or penalties, such as premium discounts of up to 30 percent of the cost of coverage. Existing wellness regulations are limited to wellness incentives of up to 20 percent of the total premium, provided that certain conditions are met.

• Waiting Period. In addition, employers may still impose a waiting period for coverage without being subject to a penalty, but this waiting period may not exceed 90 calendar days.

• Exchanges. The Act provides for the creation of health-insurance exchanges at the state level in 2014, where individuals and small employers would be able to buy health coverage in a manner similar to that of larger employers. Initially, the state exchanges would be open to individuals and small employers with 100 or fewer employees, unless the state opts to limit this to organizations with 50 or fewer employees. Beginning in 2017, states would have the option to expand the exchange to larger employers.

Effective January 1, 2018
• High-Cost Plan Excise Tax. The Act imposes a nondeductible excise tax of 40 percent on insurance companies and plan administrators (including self-insured plans) for any health-insurance plan where the combined annual employer/employee premiums exceed the threshold of $10,200 for self-only coverage and $27,500 for family coverage. The tax would apply to the amount of the premium in excess of the threshold. An additional threshold amount of $1,650 for singles and $3,450 for families would be available for retired individuals over the age of 55 and for plans that cover employees engaged in high-risk professions (e.g., law-enforcement professionals, EMTs, construction and mining).