Susan's Blog  
(Occasional comments by Susan Seitel)

August 21, 2009

My friend Carrie has a great job in a field about which I have no understanding. It's all about legal technicalities, and it's demanding, as well as complicated. She occasionally works from home in Deerfield, IL, about an hour away from Chicago, and that's where she was working this morning. Martin, her tech support person, also happened to be working from home in Miami, FL. James, her colleague, lives in Tucson, and today he was working from home as well.

This morning they found that they had to create and deliver a CD containing important data to a client in Los Angeles, and get it to Fed Ex before noon. Their data center is in their main office in Albany, NY, but Carrie has a brand new DVD burner on her computer, and the three were able to exchange the data they needed with back and forth e-mails until she had it all. But no one had a FedEx label. So their admin in the main office PDFd one, emailed it to Carrie for printing, and she drove the short distance to her local suburban Fed Ex office and sent it.

Knowing what business I'm in, she called me when she got home, laughing about the exercise. "My boss," she says, "worries that someone will complain because there may be something his employees can't do when working remotely. I can think of nothing, right off hand, that can't be done."

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August 18, 2009

We put the word out last week to our opt-in list of about 5,000 to see what they were doing to raise morale and reduce stress in these tough times. We got some great responses, and I'll be sharing them from time to time. Here's one of them, from Connie Skillingstad, executive director of a non-profit organization called Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota. It's like a primer of what to do to create a happy, satisfied, productive workforce.

We just had the most wonderful staff retreat ever. We asked staff to identify what they love about their jobs and everyone had lots to say. When asked what they would change, their responses were all positive and constructive. I decided to respond to your request by identifying things people loved about their jobs and then tell you what I do as manager to encourage a positive work environment. 

Things people love about their jobs were:

• The mission of the organization
• A mutually caring environment
• Flexible work schedules
• The opportunity to work from home when they need to
• Able to wear what they want to work while understanding the needs of the job
• Respect for their skills
• The opportunity to do their best work
• Their co-workers
• The successes they have in their roles and how it feels when they advance the mission
• Have fun together
• They celebrate each other by going out to eat as a group
• Periodic retreats in relaxing places

As the Executive Director, I find that people work their very best when

• their expertise is respected and utilized,
• they are allowed to work in their own way,
• big deals are not made of small things.
• we always work on effective communication and problems are worked out openly and quickly,
• I am transparent in what I expect and in where I am taking the organization
• We work together on strategic plans and work plans and share our successes
• We have regular meetings and share leadership
• I share leadership with my management staff
• I hire qualified people and let them do their work.
• I give recognition to the staff in front of the Board, giving them credit for what they accomplish.
• Everyone is treated as a professional.

Thanks for the opportunity to send you this list.

Connie Skillingstad

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August 12, 2009

I may be the last to catch on here, but it occurs to me that the fighting and yelling that's been going on lately has little or nothing to do with health and everything to do with the two things that rile people the most – money and control.

On my way back from an errand today I was listening to NPR's Talk of the Nation, and one caller suggested the upset might even be about race – leftover anger that we elected a black man to be our leader. Maybe, but I'd rather think it's the other two.

There's no question in my mind that this unruly, ugly rudeness is the result of careful orchestration. Try googling "Operation Embarrass Your Congressman." One related Website suggests that "many of today's political problems could be solved" if people would get off their couches, grab their video cameras, and "go call politicians on their lies." If they knew their lies would be exposed, it said, "fewer of them would lie and fewer of them would offer flawed policies."

As someone whose daughter is a state senator, that one really gets to me. Where do they think "politicians" come from?

It's too bad, too, because there's so much new news about health lately, and this is such a distraction. We've been concentrating on the subject for the past couple of weeks and I just finished our Trend Report for September on the latest about health care. It's filled with new studies and evidence that proves the benefits of prevention – exercise, diet and getting up out of our chairs.

Is there room for honest disagreement about health care reform? Absolutely. This is not that.

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August 1, 2009

 The House Health Care Plan

"America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009" in bullets.

Here are a few of the main points of HR 3200, the health care reform bill that just passed the Committee on Energy and Commerce by a slim 31-28 margin, and that your Representatives will be trying to sell you this month.

• Nearly all Americans will be required to have insurance. The federal government will take responsibility for ensuring that every person, regardless of income or the state of their health, has access to an affordable insurance plan.
   
• Both individuals and employers would be obligated to provide or get coverage or face hefty penalties. Employers who don't provide coverage would be hit with a penalty equal to 8% of workers' wages with an exemption for small businesses. Individuals who decline an offer of affordable coverage would pay 2.5% of their incomes as a penalty, up to the average cost of a health insurance plan.
   
• Medicaid will help. Under this bill, it would be expanded to individuals and families up to 133% of the poverty line. But still, about 17 million people would remain uninsured – about 6% of the population – and half of them would be illegal immigrants.
   
• The bill will slow the growth of Medicare and Medicaid payments to medical providers. From big hospitals to solo physician practices, health care providers will be held to account for quality care, not just ordering up tests and procedures.
   
• Insurance companies would be prohibited from denying coverage to the sick and could not charge higher premiums because of a person's medical history or current illness. All insurers would have to offer a minimum package of benefits, to be defined by the federal government.
   
• Democrats also agree that Congress should create some type of government insurance plan or cooperative, which would compete with private insurers. It would be  designed along the lines of Medicare.
   
• The legislation calls for a 5.4% tax increase on individuals making more than $1 million a year, with a gradual tax beginning at $280,000 for individuals.
   
• The government would provide subsidies to make coverage more affordable for households with incomes up to four times the federal poverty level, or $88,000 for a family of four and $43,000 for an individual.
   
• The legislation also would improve the Medicare prescription drug benefit by gradually reducing the coverage gap known as the 'doughnut hole.'
   
• The individual and employer coverage requirements would raise about $192 billion over 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office said. Most of the cost of the bill’s provisions will come well after the 2012 presidential election.
   
• Lawmakers of both parties agree on the need to rein in private insurance companies, by banning underwriting practices that have prevented millions of Americans from obtaining affordable insurance.
   
• Lawmakers also agree on the need to provide federal subsidies to help make insurance affordable for people with modest incomes.

Congress is now gathering opinions from their constituents and getting ready to fight it out when they return from their August recess. It should be an interesting September.

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