As rising health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs for health care are burdening workers, more employers are looking for ways to help their staff put aside money for those expenses. While health savings accounts have grown in popularity, you can only offer them to employees who are enrolled in high-deductible health plans. Fortunately, there is…
It’s no secret that most employees do not fully understand all of their health insurance benefits, which can lead to worse health outcomes and them spending more money than they need to for some medical procedures. A recent survey of 226 executives by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services concluded that employees and employers could enjoy…
The latest trend in workplace safety best practices is tracking “leading indicators” ― or measuring performance based on the lessons learned from past events ― to reduce the chances of future injuries. Safety professionals are increasingly keeping track of near misses, hours spent on training and facility housekeeping and measuring the impact on the organization’s…
A new report has concluded that the Affordable Care Act, which took full effect in 2013, did not result in a significant change in the number of employers offering health insurance, although the rate at which small employers offered coverage declined slightly by 2.6 percentage points between 2013 and 2020. The study by the Urban…
The way courts have interpreted a California law — the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), which has been on the books for 18 years — has led to an explosion of lawsuits against employers during the last few years. The law has generated more than 20,000 lawsuits against employers since 2017 at an average cost…
InterWest’s Distinguished Employee: Beth Luera Beth is truly a very dedicated and loyal teammate. She is admired by her coworkers and managers as a kind and thoughtful person. Beth is always doing things for others. Her workload is heavy, but she will always find time to take on another project or assist teammates. She has…
You’ve managed to put together a crack team of producers and you suddenly find yourself with more business than you can handle. You didn’t put systems and support personnel in place to handle the volume of new business your new agents have started producing and if you don’t get a handle on it quickly, your…
InterWest’s Distinguished Employee: Adria Johnson Adria is always eager to take on new projects and looks for ways to improve processes. When she sees something that could be improved, she takes an initiative to ask questions, learn why things are the way they are and proposes ideas that she believes will help. A Broker she…
Legislators in Sacramento have fast-tracked new legislation that will extend paid COVID-19 leave benefits for workers in California. AB 84, which Gov. Gavin Newsom has promised to sign, would require employers with 26 or more workers to provide up to 40 hours of supplemental paid sick leave for employees who are unable to work on…
February is American Heart Month! Please join all InterWest offices in raising awareness about heart disease by sharing photos of you, your family friends and pets wearing red. Some RED each day is the heart healthy way. Thank you for supporting American Heart Month! https://www.heart.org/en/affiliates/california/sacramento