Most provisions of the new healthcare reform law don’t go into effect until 2014, and many of the provisions are poorly understood without further explanation in the regulation process. Most employers will simply choose to say nothing about healthcare reform until these uncertainties are resolved, but that is a mistake and misses a big opportunity.
Time of uncertainty are not times for withdrawal. That shows a lack of leadership. Employees will fill in the blanks in these uncertain times, and that usually makes things worse. A strong leader will address these concerns, even if he or she is confused too.
Unskilled managers believe they look weak if they don’t have all the answers. Strong leaders know that what employees want to know most is that the leader understands their concerns, is empathetic and will confidently plot a course as things become clear, even if at this moment that course isn’t known. Here are 3 things I think employers need to think about when communicating about the new health care legislation:
1. If you don’t communicate about it employees will assume the worst, so address it now and regularly going forward. There are still a lot of details to hammer out and the final regulations won’t be out for some time, but employees still have questions. It is important for the company to say, “we don’t have all the answers, but we want to make sure you know everything we know and what we anticipate is going to happen.” You show that you care and that you’re not hiding anything. You also show that you have a plan and that you are going to manage this like you manage all business challenges.
2. Many employers already meet many of the requirements of the law. If you do, let employees know that. If you don’t then explain your plan for getting to that point and how that might effect people, if at all. Again, the key here is to be authentic and honest about what you know and what you don’t know.
3. The very best way to communicate most delicate information is through individual meetings between each employee and his or her immediate supervisor. That is their real connection with company. Since this information is somewhat complex you will need to provide a way for tougher questions to get answered, but events like these are opportunities to show empathy and to build connections between employees and supervisors. I have one client who I write about in my book The Next 52 Weeks who had to communicate devastating benefits information to employees and was able to turn it into an employee relations “win” by doing a good job of communicating the information through immediate supervisors instead of group meetings.
The lack of clarity about the healthcare legislation is very frustrating to the business community. It is also confusing and scary to employees who already are being asked to shoulder a bigger and bigger piece of the healthcare expense burden. Instead of taking the “easy” way out and using this uncertainty as an excuse to stay silent, communicate to employees clearly about what you know, what you don’t know and what you plan to do to get ready. They’ll thank you for it and give you the benefit of the doubt when things finally do start to come in focus.
