My mini-me is a six-year-old named Jessica. For Christmas last year, she begged Santa for a whiteboard with coordinated multi-colored markers.
Jessica used her new tools to chart a bus schedule for kindergarten; basic blue for Dad's responsibilities and lovely lavender for Mom. Jessica's world is checklisted and color-coded. She is my twin.
Standardization of work processes has been my biggest challenge as the president of Miller, Buettner & Parrott, Inc. We opened our doors 13 years ago, a unique mother-daughter consulting team with one employee.
Two months later, we received a distress call from a local school district facing a 37% rate increase. We saved them a quarter-million dollars and helped them settle their union negotiations.
Back then, at age 35, I found myself president of a start-up company with four children under the age of 12. My husband had a demanding job as an electrical engineer in the aerospace industry.
He often traveled, and survival both at home and at work depended on detailed organizational skills. Everything was checklisted and color-coded, whether at work or at home.
Now, 16 employees and more than 100 clients later, keeping everyone else checklisted and color-coded is a tremendous challenge. Just as you get everything under control, the government throws out a curveball - usually retroactively.
The most effective book I've ever read on the standardization of work is "The E-Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to do About It" by Michael E. Gerber, published in 1998. It's an organizational bible for maintaining the quality of your work product no matter which employee delivers it.
My heart beats a little faster when one of my employees develops a checklist for a new or current process and shares it with coworkers. That kind of initiative is priceless. My goal with this column is to provide a meaningful tool for benefit professionals each month.
This month's checklist (see sidebar) deals with developing an orientation kit for new hires specifically directed at insurance-based benefits.
Often, companies will hire new staff and fail to adequately train them. "We're too busy to train" is a common excuse. It's expensive and time-consuming to hire new people and set them up for failure.
The only method we've found to be successful is the disciplined use of our checklists.Whenever we get off track with a client, it's usually because we've fallen off the checklist. During our busiest times, it's easy to just make a cursory survey of the checklist items.
One of our roles as a broker/consultant is to hold vendors accountable for what they've promised our clients. We make them adhere to schedules and timetables. We audit and review periodically to make sure they live up to their sales spin.
Some people may judge Jessica and me as a little obsessive-compulsive. We both know, however, that the world would be a much better place if everyone adhered to timetables, kept to the scheduled plan and delivered as promised.
Contributing Editor Laurie S. Miller is president of Miller, Buettner & Parrott, Inc., an employee benefits consulting firm in Rockford, Ill. The firm consults with over 50 public entities and has a large corporate practice. She holds an MBA from Northern Illinois University. She can be reached at
New hire checklist
Pre-employment information:
* Coverage effective dates
* Cost of coverage
* Eligibility provisions
* Carrier benefit summary/summary plan descriptions
* Provider network
* Carrier websites
At enrollment, provide:
* Pre-employment benefits newsletter information
* Enrollment forms or online links for all lines of coverage
* A benefits comparison if multiple plans are offered
* Salary redirection authorization form for pre-tax premiums
* Information for registering with carrier websites
* Sample certificate of creditable coverage. Alert employees to download this or watch the mail for hard copy from the former plan.
* Spouse carve-out/spousal allowance compliance form
* If the employee opts to waive coverage, discuss the next opportunity to enroll
* Annual notices required by federal and state law.
After the date of eligibility, review:
* Whether ID cards were received and printed correctly.
* How claims are filed, processed and general turnaround time.* Procedures to address questions or concerns.
* How to resolve claim issues.
