Obama
BarbieW
117 Posts
So, now that the election is over, what does everyone think about what the big changes for HR will be over the next four years? Employee Free Choice Act; Healthcare Reform; Immigration Reform; ?????
Comments
The big one I have been hearing and am concerned about is changes to the way 401k plans are currently. Taking away the tax advantages for both the employer and the employee....and setting up a mandatory govt-sponsored retirement plan (outside of the current SS system)...I have heard mandatory contributions of 5% with a 2% investment return each year. Coming from a 401k background, I am very against this.
I also worry about EFCA and union issues. We are not unionized. And I hope we never will be.
I am worried about the EFCA. I have worked in an environment that was under attack by a union. I saw what an ugly situation that was. The union spun a huge web of lies about the company to our employees and customers trying to get the employees to unionize. It was not a fun situation. I had a very good report with the employees and so they came to me asking questions. We had to be very careful what we said, but the union could say whatever they wanted. They followed my employees home, harassed them at home trying to get them to sign the cards. They were pressured to sign the cards to get the union officials to stop harassing them. During the secret ballot election, the majority voted against the union. They had only signed the cards to get them to leave them alone. I really think not having the secret ballot election goes against everything we as a country stand for.
I am also concerned about health care. I didn't like the health care plan that either candidate put together. It is going to take a lot to fix our health care system.
Did you guys see the new article on CNN today? It released the results of a survey regarding PCP's and how they are reducing in numbers dramatically. I gotta tell you, being on the other side of the Health Care issue and having hands on regarding our plan and it's cost, universal health care scares me. This is a lose-lose situation until they start regulating the insurance companies and what they charge for their services........
The 401K is scary as well........It isn't my strong point, but I can tell you right now that it won't fly very well with our employees *sigh* More headaches.......
I am very anti-union. I live in Wichita, KS where the Boeing machinists strike just ended (the Seattle workers striked, so the Wichita workers had to as well). We also have Hawker Beechcraft and Cessna here and they are laying off big time right now. You want to know what the number one reason that the Boeing machinists wouldn't sign the contract? They wanted a 4-year guarantee of job security and they wanted it guaranteed that their health insurance premiums wouldn't go up. They are getting more comprehensive coverage and the company premiums were rising. But by God, they weren't going to pay anymore for their insurance. Hello??? News flash people: Reality is that the cost of health care is rising. For everyone. Period. At least at Boeing they have thousands of employees they can spread the cost of high claims over rather than 100 like we have at my company........
The good news is last I heard on the 401k front is that immediately after the concept of government takeover of current 401k's was floated the uproar was considerable, the sponsors seemed to back off.......................for now.
Besides EFCA, other issues we will have to deal with will be with additional mandated benefits such as the Healthy Families Act--mandated seven days of sick pay. There is also a proposal out there to require up to 24 hours per year for parents to be allowed to take care of their kids school issues--employees without kids will love that.
All in all, HR professionals should feel a certain amount of job security with all the new mandates coming down the pike. With recent changes to FMLA and ADA just keeping company policies compliant will fill your day. (I hope you didn't plan on providing any strategic direction to your organization.)