Sheila K

I'll bet that Cognex NEEDS ME!!!!

Edie: D'oh! http://www.infoworld.com So sorry.

Edie: What type of information are you looking for? There was just a GREAT article in INFOWorld (March 12, 2001 p.49-53). It might be available on their website http://www.inforworld.com If you have a more specific question, we might be able to help with that. You might also want to use the "BL" button at the bottom of this screen and search BenefitLink for any other information or prior postings regarding this!

Both Intel & American Express offer employee sabbaticals. You might want to contact them. Both have offices in Phoenix, where I know of employees who have used the benefit.

Allison: I don't know for sure if I totally understand the question, BUT, we base our accruals on anniversary date and make the adjustments accordingly. We do NOT give a lump sum accrual on anniversary or at the first of the year. Feel free to call me or e-mail privately if you would like to discuss in further detail!

ATTENDANCE Policy Guidelines All employees are expected to maintain satisfactory attendance. Unscheduled absences and tardiness burden co-workers, disrupt business operations and reduce the quality of member service. Notification Employees who are unable to report to work as scheduled are required to adhere to the following notification process:  Employee is to personally notify their supervisor prior to the start of the workday.  If the supervisor cannot be reached, contact the person the supervisor has designated.  The HRD department would be third in the notification process if an employee were not able to notify either the supervisor or designated contact.  Failure to make notification within 30 minutes after the employee’s scheduled start time may make an employee ineligible for any type of paid leave for that absence. Leaving a voice mail message or having someone call for the employee, unless an employee is physically unable to make the telephone call, does not satisfy this requirement. Employees who will be absent for more than one day or for an indefinite period of time may be required to call their supervisor every day of the absence, unless excused by the supervisor.  Employees who are absent and fail to follow the notification guidelines will be counseled. A second incident of absence without proper notification will result in a written warning letter. A third incident will result in a two-day suspension without pay. Further instances may result in termination of employment.  Any employee absent without notification for three consecutive days is considered to have resigned voluntarily. Absenteeism and Tardiness An occurrence of absenteeism is defined as the failure to report to work on any scheduled workday, even though the employee has reported the absence. Corrective action will be taken for absenteeism based on the frequency of occurrences. Consecutive days will be recorded as “one occurrence”. Corrective action will be administered as follows:  Employees are counseled regarding their attendance at three occurrences within a 12-month period. If no unscheduled absence has taken place 60 days following the third occurrence, the employee’s record of unscheduled absences will be reduced from three occurrences to two occurrences.  A written warning letter is issued at five occurrences within a 12-month period. The employee record will be cleared of an occurrence. If no unscheduled absence has taken place 60 days following the fifth occurrence, the employee’s record of unscheduled absences will be reduced from five occurrences to four occurrences.  The PTO and RSB accrual will be stopped for six consecutive pay periods following a seventh occurrence within a 12-month period.  Disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment may occur when twelve occurrences have taken place within a 12-month period.  Repeated late arrivals and/or early departures may result in corrective action up to and including termination of employment.  Discernable patterns of absence or tardiness (e.g., Monday, Fridays or absence in conjunction with holidays) may result in corrective action up to and including termination. Note: Absences due to funeral leave, military obligation, jury duty or work-incurred injury will not be recorded as an occurrence of absenteeism for the purposes of corrective action. FMLA and ADA. Absences taken in accordance with the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and similar leaves will be treated according to the terms of those Acts. Rev. 3/11/2000

Dan: I think you'd have some MAJOR problems if you didn't pay these folks for PTO during the PTO-prohibited periods. Sounds like you don't have a policy in place for requesting PTO time in advance. Maybe that is the sticking point. As we implemented our PTO policy, we also began our new attendance program. This program differentiates between "scheduled" and "unscheduled" PTO time. Due to the nature of our business (financial institution), we generally require 2 weeks notice before a scheduled PTO day or days. I think this is the piece that you are missing. It IS very difficult if you are still thinking vacation & sick time instead of scheduled or unscheduled PTO. If you use this type of definition, then your busy time policy is "No scheduled PTO", and if you want to tighten up the requirements for unscheduled PTO (a la doc's note) you could do that as well. Hope that helps. If you'd like a copy of our attendance policy, please let me know, I'd be happy to post it.

Dan: Before PTO, you could cancel all vacation time planned for busy periods. But you still couldn't do much about people calling in sick during that time. Once you have made the switch to PTO, not much changes in that arena. If an employee calls in sick, there is probably not a whole lot you can do. I'm not sure what your policy is about "unscheduled" PTO time currently. We require a dr. note if the employee is out for three consecutive days. Could you tighten up this type of requirement during "busy periods" to require a note for only one day??? You would have to consider any ADA/FMLA restrictions as well. As for your second question, I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for. Could you provide more detail to that question?

Liss: Lucky you! I just received a copy of the press release containing the results of a DOL stock options survey, in which I participated. I would be happy to fax you a copy if you care to e-mail me your fax#.

Like Kip's company, we provide $150/month to be deposited to the employee's 125 Plan. This gives them the opportunity to use their flexible spending account for unreimbursed medical or dependent care. It is a VERY popular plan!

Denise: We had always minimized the amount of vacation time that could be carried over at the end of the year. If the vacation accrual was over 80 hours, then the employee had to cash out enough hours to get to 80. When we went to our PTO program 1/1/99, we decided that since we were enriching the benefit, we would decrease that amount of payout. What we have done is kept the 80 hour carryover limit, but given the employees three options for the amount of hours over 80. They can: 1. Receive cash for the PTO hours over 80, at a 75% payout. (If I have 40 hours extra, I get paid for 30) 2. Transfer excess PTO hours to their RSB (reserve sick bank) at a 100% basis (1 hour PTO = 1 hour RSB). BTW, this is very popular with folks planning on maternity/paternity leave! RSB is NEVER cashed out, but if they know that they can use it, then this is a GREAT benefit! 3. Donate any excess hours to the hardship fund. We have a "pool" of PTO hours that can be used when there is a hardship situation for an employee who has used all paid time during an emergency. These excess hours are also at 1:1 ratio. Please feel free to call or e-mail me if you would like more information.

We do have a program at our company, for both our employees and our members (credit union lingo!!!). If they volunteer 25 hours at a charity with 501©3 standing, that is NOT a religious organization then we will give that charity a grant of $250 per year. We also made the stipulation regarding religious organizations. Usually a church-affiliated college will have a scholarship fund or foundation that is set up as a 501©3 to raise funds.

Has anyone had any experience with automatic enrollment with your 401(k) plan? I'm reading a lot about it, but haven't actually "met" anyone doing this? I'd be interested in your experiences... Also...we are contemplating changing our waiting period from 12 months to 6 months. Any pointers or cautionary tales??? Thanks in advance! Sheila K 602 683-1013

Dan: I would suggest checking out http://www.infoworld.com. This is a print/on-line magazine with an excellent "Management and Careers" section.

Steve: As I recall, fertility treatment must be included in medical coverage for employees in the state of Iowa. You may want to check the web for providers in Iowa. ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^) 602 683-1013

Jennifer: We just added this option for our employees. We held a benefit fair in April and United Pet Care was our insurer. The rates were discounted for our employees. We did have a very favorable response to this benefit. We are located in Phoenix, and according to their website (www.unitedpetcare.com), they are only in the Maricopa County area. You might want to e-mail them from their site to see if they plan to expand to your area! ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^) 602 683-1013

As the end of a plan year approaches, we are trying to decide whether or not to leave our current medical provider. Our employees seem to have their claims paid quickly and the variety of docs is sufficient to serve their needs. Our claim experience is quite high, we're self-funded and based on our (potentially) new broker, no one else wants us at the price we've been paying. So, the problem is that our plan has been an administrative nightmare. Billings have been wrong every month. Employees are dropped and added without our approval. People who have never been employed here have appeared on our billings. In the past 4 months, we have received premium refunds which neither we nor the ins. company can substantiate! The company also has exhibited very poor customer service to our benefits administrator, sending incorrect information, etc. The head of the HR department has said that if the employees are happy, we should just stick with the ins. co. and try to figure out a way to deal with the administrative nightmares... The benefit administrator wants to wash her hands of this company and do whatever it takes to get our business moved elsewhere... *How do you all weigh these kinds of concerns? *Any advise for dealing with a really messed up ins. co. staff? *Any recommendations for ins companies that are willing to look at a 200+ group with high claim experience? Thanks so much! Sheila K

Pat: I think the biggest problem I've seen with this type of status change is the definition of "separation". Since the reg reads "legal separation", I would be sure that this is truly a legal separation, as opposed to one spouse just moving down the block. ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^) 602 683-1013

Pat: I think the biggest problem I've seen with this type of status change is the definition of "separation". Since the reg reads "legal separation", I would be sure that this is truly a legal separation, as opposed to one spouse just moving down the block. ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^) 602 683-1013

Christine: According to our payroll person, there is no special treatment for this situation. The person who accrued the time is donating it to the other person, so they have not actually "used" the time and are not taxed for it. The person receiving the donation will be able to use the time as though they had accrued it, so the payroll which includes the donated time will be taxed the same as a regular payroll. Does this answer your question, or have I completely missed the point!? ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^) 602 683-1013

Sara: Tillinghast (an insurance consulting firm) maintains offices worldwide. They have a Mexico City office, as well as one in Buffalo Grove, IL. You may want to contact someone there to get an idea of who they use, as they are providing insurance to their consultants around the world. Their international headquarters are in New York City. Tillinghast is a subsidiary of Towers Perrin. ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^) 602 683-1013

We also use the original hire date when making these type of determinations. We have recently upgraded our health benefits contract so that our temp-to-hire employees become eligible immediately upon permanent hire. We require all TTH employees to work 90 days before making a permanent hire. With our last contract update, we requested that the 90 days served as a temp would count towards benefit eligibility. It is one of our weapons in battling turnover and seems to be quite popular. We also have quite a few people who leave and return. If there is a break in service of less than 90 days, we treat them as though they never left (vacation accruals, benefits). After 90 days, they're back to square one. The only exception is their pension benefit. We always return them to the pension plan immediately w/o a waiting period, although their employer contribution amount (based on longevity) is reset. ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^) 602 683-1013

schnicker: We pay college tuition for job-related classes, up to the rate of the state university (made this the cut-off for private schools, like University of Phoenix, etc.). We will pay expenses & tuition for other seminars or training sessions. Our current policy is that the employee must continue with the company for 6 months AFTER the end of the class, or repay the tuition/registration, etc. Also, for college classes, employee must have at least a "C" average to maintain the reimbursement. Reimbursement for college classes is immediate, but would be repaid if the grade or employement status warranted it. ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^) 602 683-1013

We have always outsourced our flexible administration. We have used two different companies. We started with Insurers Administrative Corporation here in Phoenix. We changed to Great West in Denver two years ago, due to pricing, and had two of the most painful years because of it. We learned our lesson that you definitely get what you pay for and have returned to IAC. If you want contact information for IAC, e-mail (smkarizona@techie.com) or call me and I'll be happy to provide it to you. We are in Arizona. ------------------ Good Luck!!! Sheila K 8^) 602 683-1013

We are looking to find a "standard" for unscheduled absenteeism and how companies deal with this problem. Do you terminate employees after a certain number of unscheduled absences? If so, how many? What other methods of "behavior modification" do companies use to cut down on absenteeism? Please respond with your company size and industry, as I know that industries have to deal with this differently. Thanks so much! Sheila K 8^)