Word: firm
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...maze in the shimmering aspens high in the Rockies above Steamboat Springs, Colo. Right off, I knew this was a make-or-break moment in what experts refer to as an "experiential" course in corporate training--this one a dusty, five-day regimen crafted by Conversant, a management-training firm based in Boulder, Colo...
...case study in unexpectedness, consider the Japanese company that became Sony. After World War II, the firm was struggling, when the company's lead technologist proposed a new product: a pocketable radio. That was nearly insane. At the time a radio was a piece of furniture. But the suggestion worked. As a product, yes, but before that as an idea. Cognitive science tells us that the human brain is wired to perceive patterns and is drawn to aberrations--a radio small enough to fit in my pocket...
...companies that have been able to keep their costs down could gain an advantage over rivals, since the disparity between those paying the highest price for health care and those paying the lowest is estimated at $3,000 per employee. For a firm of 10,000 workers, that's $30 million, a chunk of change that would have nearly any executive sweating his competitiveness...
...another way, your 4% raise is actually closer to 3%. Of course, employers tend to look at it differently. "It's a phenomenon we call the hidden paycheck because companies have essentially been substituting health-benefit dollars for salary and merit increases," says Ron Fontanetta of the benefits-consulting firm Towers Perrin...
...growing in popularity: high-deductible health plans coupled with a reimbursement mechanism, most often a health-savings account. Younger and healthier workers increasingly select such coverage, which combines a deductible of at least $1,000 with a tax-deferred savings account to which employers sometimes contribute. Chicago-based accounting firm Blackman Kallick offered its more than 200 employees the plan this year. "About 10% chose it," says human-resources manager Suzanne Palombi, "many more than we anticipated." For Blackman, that equates to a 33% drop in premium costs for those workers...