HR Power Hour

“It’s no secret that our healthcare system is broken and that people are having trouble accessing care,” says Colleen Kavanagh, who spent the first decade of her career working with hospitals to implement new technology and maximize profitability.

“But to solve this problem quickly, we’re asking the wrong questions, and we’re asking them of the wrong people.” In this episode, host CMA’s David Ciullo speaks with Colleen Kavanagh, CEO of SoulBeing, about Innovation in Healthcare Access: An Integrated Approach to Evidence-Based Healthcare.

Learn about leveraging existing mechanisms to help your teams find healthcare services more easily and affordably. Consider an expanded view of healthcare services that incorporates all aspects of physical, mental, and emotional health to provide truly integrated support, and empower your team and their families to be their healthiest, happiest selves.

The National Labor Relations Board has had a busy 2023 and employers of all sizes, both unionized and union-free, need to make sure that they are up to date on what the NLRB believes complies (and violates) a host of provisions of the National Labor Relations Act.

In this episode of HR Power Hour, join co-host Tawny Alvarez as she speaks to labor attorneys Robert Brooks and Elizabeth Johnston from Verrill concerning the top four NLRB actions of 2023 that employers should be mindful of and steps that they can take to guard against an unfair labor practices charge with the Board.

Your broker helps you manage a budget of 25-40% of payroll. Even a small difference in capabilities and results can have a dramatic difference on costs.

So why do so many employers fail to properly select a broker? Typically, it’s because employers don’t evaluate brokers very often as it is hard to understand how brokers deliver different results and they don’t see a measurable difference in broker options clearly enough to warrant change.

In this episode, host CMA’s David Ciullo discusses with VP Stephanie Miller and VP Frank Verdi from Alliant Employee Benefits, how Selecting a Broker Can Be Fun and Rewarding. Learn the timing when to selecting a new broker, steps/criteria, and core questions you should be asking, and how to make the process benefit you.

Recent studies show that 31% of US healthcare costs can be directly attributed to “behaviorally influenced chronic conditions,” while 69% of costs are influenced by consumer behaviors.

These statistics hold true for your workforce. The employees who walk through your door each day are managing more than just the workload; they have families, lives outside of work, and health conditions.

Is there a way, however, that employers can commit to helping their employees understand their health conditions, embrace different treatment options and change their behaviors to positively influence chronic health conditions? The answer is yes; but it takes work.

The good news, however, is that hard work has significant returns on not just your employees’ health, but also their commitment to your organization. In this episode of HR Power Hour, join Tawny Alvarez of Verrill as she speaks to Curally’s Chief Financial Officer, Jeremy Vesta, concerning addressing the hidden costs of insurance.

In this episode Tawny and Jeremy will discuss the current issues employers are faced with concerning employees with chronic health conditions, the work that Curally has undertaken to provide employers with a path to respond to these challenges, and the positive long-term effects this strategy has on both employees and employers

Every day we wake up determined to engage with life—to overcome work challenges, finish that novel, reach fitness goals, or repair a strained relationship. Despite our best intentions, we fall short. Why is it so hard to finish what we start.

Reaching goals after repeated frustration starts with understanding the impulse known as the Swipe, a side effect of our high-tech culture.

In this episode, host CMA’s David Ciullo discusses with bestselling author, internationally recognized organizational psychologist, educator, CEO and Co Author Dr. Tracy Maylett of the new book Swipe: The Science Behind Why We Don’t Finish What We Start.

Listen and learn as we discuss how this mechanism works and how to short-circuit the Swipe, reengage, and finally finish what we start.

“Money…. Maybe…but it’s really the least important thing in my life” says Mark Jones who has experienced the loss of everything financially but stayed positive over 38 years and grew in life’s R.I.C.H.E.$.

In this episode, host CMA’s David Ciullo discusses, with Mark Jones, President of Saco Biddeford Savings Institution, An Optimistic Way to Live, Lead, and Succeed. Learn the importance of understanding what “your” value is and how to continuously work to expand and enhance it.

Learn how to have a drive to achieve, while at the same time, a drive and passion to care about people. Jones will bring it all together with Our Reason for Being, the new Mission and Vision of SBSI.

While employers may not be performing reductions of force with the same frequency as earlier in the year, we are seeing heightened restructuring across markets and industries.

As a company would analyze the race, gender, and age of individuals affected by a RIF, a similar analysis should be performed when re-structuring. Without this analysis, employers are likely to see adverse effects to DEI goals and/or increased litigation.

In this episode of HR Power Hour, join host Tawny Alvarez as she speaks with Fernanda Anzek, Managing Director, HR Operations for Insperity about “Quiet Cutting” and the effect it has on DEI programs.

Moving skilled team members from a position that they applied for—to a position that may be less than ideal—is a good way to lose valuable talent and to decrease an employee’s sense of inclusion in the organization and it’s culture.

Tawny and Fernanda will discuss the current state of DEI policies following the United State’s Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative action in education, quiet cutting—what it is and how it adversely affects DEI—and ways in which companies can mindfully re-organize without adversely affecting their DEI goals.

The four-day work week is not a new concept, but in the last year we have seen more and more companies who are “making it work.” Additionally, we are seeing states introduce legislation that incentivizes companies to switch to four-day work week, providing state tax credits to both public and private employers who make the switch. 

At the federal level, in 2023, we have seen the proposal of a bill entitled the “Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act” which seeks to incentivize shorter workweeks by requiring overtime pay for time worked in excess of 32 hours per week. 

In this episode of HR Power Hour, join co-host Tawny Alvarez in a dialogue with Biddeford Maine Mayor Alan Casavant concerning how the city of Biddeford, Maine, as a public employer, moved to a four-day work week and the tips he has for other organizations considering the same. 

 Most employees don’t step into leadership roles and find themselves effectively managing teams on day one. While many individuals may possess some natural ability to lead, for most, you would likely hear stories of struggles and failures as they learned what worked and what was less effective.   How can organizations better equip team members to move into leadership positions and experience success? Planning, training, and talent review are three areas that organizations can focus on to assist the next generation of leaders in finding success early in their career.   On this episode of HR Power Hour, join co-host Tawny Alvarez as she talks to Sabine Gedeon, the Founder of She Leads Network and host of She Leads Now, a podcast centered around women in leadership and business as they discuss how to prepare the next generation of leaders.   What companies need to be considering, how they can communicate effectively with the next generation of leaders, and how succession planning and talent review can effectively assist an organization in retaining its top talent are just a few of the areas that will be discussed.

The labels that define us often divide us. But what if your DNA could change the conversation about identity and race? One professor and her students are proving it can. Did you know that all humans at 99.9% identical in their genetic makeup. Differences are only 0.1%!

  In this episode, host CMA’s David Ciullo discusses, with Anita Foeman, PHD, Director of the DNA Discussion Project and author of the book “Who Am I”, an optimistic way to discuss Diversity: Using a Balanced Hand in the Fraught Times.

  The DNA Discussion Project encourages the community to talk about diversity in a new, positive, and engaging way. Ancestry stories focus on the 99.9% of what we all have in common while addressing the 0.1% appropriately.