ACTIVE AND FEDERAL RETIREES QUESTION THE CLAIMS PROCESS

Many organizations use claims data to determine what kind of benefits package is best for the organization.  When employees hear about their places of employment looking into the kind of claims they file, then they get a bit antsy because it feels like an invasion of privacy to the workforce.  However, the strategy is used to review the claims and see where prescription drug coverage could be enhanced and help with structuring the entire benefits program to better fit the needs of the workforce.

When employees are not on-board with such tactics, it normally boils down to a communication issue.  If employers let employees know why a certain course is being taken, then they are more likely to buy-in and therefore greater participation is apparent.  Policies and strategies cannot be made in a vacuum eliminating the very people the policies are being made for.  There is certainly a way to include employees in more processes than they are included in.  Such actions set up a dynamic of them against us as opposed to really building a solid team inside of agencies invested in the goals and objectives of the enterprise.

There is nothing wrong with employees knowing what is going on inside of an agency to the greatest extent possible without compromising confidential information.  It is proven that people do better in terms of performance when they feel part of the organization’s mission and not just a body that drops in for 8 hours and leaves routinely.  Knowing why ones’ job is important to the agency’s mission is key to increased productivity and loyalty toward what the organization is trying to achieve.

Many employees within agencies have not the slightest notion of what the agency’s core values are and how they promote internal and external views and more importantly secure the public trust.  It is an indictment of management in the Executive Suite when employees work for an agency for 20 to 30 years and never have a sense of what the agency’s core values are.  This is not only a break in communication, but a huge gap – a divide that prevents the organization from ever reaching its true potential from management to the rank-in-file.

Using whatever tools necessary to structure a benefits package that is not only competitive within the market but offers employees and their families the kind of comfort and protection they can depend on in a time of crisis is good and necessary management.  Apprise employes about what is going on in the organization and the greater majority will support the efforts of management.

P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.

Dianna Tafazoli