As the Affordable Care Act implementation continues businesses are encountering several compliance and reporting issues that were unknown because this is the first go at meeting federal requirements. And as the law hits new milestones the regulatory changes will continue and businesses will need to become better, not just more efficient in preparing reports, but in adopting technology to review workforce analytics to be able to forecast how future regulatory requirements will impact on a business. A great example of future regulatory impact is the ACA Cadillac Tax set to take effect in 2018. A Kaiser Family Foundation Analysis found that a projected 26% of employers offer “high-cost” health plans that would exceed the HCPT threshold in 2018. Who know what will actually happen by 2018 with the “Cadillac Tax”, but as employer today, wouldn’t it be great to begin to have data at your fingertips to assess your health plans today and analytics to understand if you will be one of the 26% of businesses that could be impacted in 2018?
The Call For Better Workforce Analytics
Using the above example, it is safe to assume that most businesses would not have an easy time answering the potential impact of their current FSA programs if the ACA Cadillac tax takes affect in 2018. Most are scrambling on executing an ACA plan just to comply with the 2015 ACA reporting deadlines. But more executives and businesses are looking at the HR leaders and managers to have answers to these types of questions. In fact, a recent executive poll found “Ninety percent of CEO respondents said it’s important that HR leaders be proficient in workforce analytics and more than two-thirds said this was “absolutely essential.” But reliable answers are not going to come easy with a bunch of spreadsheets or disparate systems housing HR, payroll and time & labor data that require time consuming manipulation are prone to errors. So HR leaders will need technology and tools to allow them to integrate data to generate analytics faster with more confidence in their data.
Integrated Cloud-based HR Technology
Does the sales department use a web-based CRM? Does the Marketing department use a web-based website content system? Are you using a payroll company with a web-interface? Then your business is already in the Cloud. In fact 92% of business report that they have invested in at least one cloud-based solution. Human Resource departments have the same options for affordable and powerful cloud based solutions with all the benefits: Speedy set up, little IT support, lower costs, web-ready, no maintenance.
Executives want HR to be proactive in showing how the organization can cut costs or become more efficient in how it uses the workforce. Cloud based HR systems are more cost effective because they eliminate the burdens of selecting, installing and managing systems and software. Further cloud solutions provide HR with an instant data infrastructure, unifying and automating processes for scheduling, time and labor, benefits, payroll and more bringing a new level of efficiency to administrators, managers and employees.
There are already cost and efficiency benefits that can be gained by having a full HR infrastructure in place from from day one. Further consider that by unifying data across core HR functions, cloud based workforce management tools help managers perform "what-if"scenario planning for evolving ACA compliance, paving the way for better strategic labor decisions that account for legislative changes and minimize financial risk.
