Follow Dave Linkedin
Email Dave Email
Human Resources
Nov 15, 2014

Obamacare And Who’s On First?

Sponsored Content provided by Dave Hoff - Chief Operating Officer and Executive VP of Leadership Development, EASI Consult

In the 1950s there was a famous comedy team called Abbott and Costello. One of their popular routines was a back-and-forth about the names of the players and their different positions. It went like this:

  • Abbot: “At first base is Who. Second base is What. Third base is I Don’t Know.”
  • Costello: “What is the name of the guy on first base?”
  • Abbott: “Who.”
  • Costello: “First base.”
  • Abbott: “Yes.”
As you can imagine this goes around and around and round. So what does this have to do with Obamacare? I need to give you one more bit of background.

I started in Human Resources in the 1970s. The people who did work related to employees worked in Personnel. To me, Personnel was a derogatory term. A lot of times if an operations person couldn’t make it in operations, someone would say, “Put him in Personnel.” The implication was that anyone could do Personnel, and Personnel was the last stop before being fired.

Thankfully, the Personnel function started to evolve and people were required to have formal training to do that kind of work. And there were people who wanted to work in the “people” area. The name of the function likewise evolved and became known as Employee Relations, and then eventually Human Resources. In some organizations the function of the department didn’t change much, just the name.

In the 1990s there was a lot of noise coming out of Human Resources from managers who “wanted a seat at the table.” This was code for saying they wanted to be seen as equals to the heads of the other functions like sales, finance and operations. Companies that were more progressive were appointing heads of Human Resources and having them report to the CEO. This was symbolic of having gotten a seat at the table. The real struggle that was going on in Human Resources was that “old school” HR was tactical and uninvolved with the business of the company. Strategic HR was beginning to emerge at some of the more progressive companies. These companies saw HR as a strategic function and did their work and made their decisions based on the impact it would have on their business. Tactical work still needed to be done, but strategic HR was what was driving the function.

Fast forward to 2014. The "people" function from company to company is all over the map, ranging from tactical to strategic. Every HR function wants to be seen as strategic whether it has those capabilities or not. Then in January 2014, the U.S. got the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

Of course, Obamacare has affected HR, but maybe not in ways we expected. Back this summer, I read a great article in Government Executive with the headline, “A Baseball Team Forfeited a Victory Trying to Avoid Obamacare.” The game was played in Chicago between the Giants and the Cubs a few months ago on a rainy evening. After a four-hour delay, the Cubs were declared a 2-0 winner. The Giants protested the call and won the protest declaring that the Cubs had failed “to properly wrap and spool the tarp after its last use.” The story-behind-the-story was that the 15-member crew for the Cubs was undermanned for the task of spreading the tarp. The previous winter the Cubs reorganized its game-day staffing schedule to get around the Obamacare requirements. They stipulated that no seasonal staff member could work more than 130 hours per month. If a worker put in more than 130 hours, then he or she would qualify as a full-time employee and have to be provided with employer-paid health care benefits (which are the law for businesses with more than 50 employees). As reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, 10 crew members were sent home early that night by the bosses with little input from field-level supervisors.

In the end it didn’t matter as the Cubs won the suspended game two nights later, 2-1. Now let’s go back to where I started with Abbott and Costello and their “Who’s on first?” routine. In an organization with a strategic HR function, you do not want decisions about minimizing benefits costs to get in the way of the company’s mission – winning baseball games.

EASI·Consult® works with Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and mid-sized corporations to provide customized Talent Management solutions. EASI Consult’s specialties include individual assessment, online employment testing, survey research, competency modeling, leadership development, executive coaching, 360-degree feedback, online structured interviews, and EEO hiring compliance. The company is a leader in the field of providing accurate information about people through professional assessment. To learn more about EASI Consult, visit www.easiconsult.com, email [email protected] or call 800.922.EASI.

Other Posts from Dave Hoff

Block ad easi 121411839
Ico insights

INSIGHTS

SPONSORS' CONTENT
Web awstaffpic2020 1 132245438

The 2024 Luncheon for Literacy featuring Special Guest Jason Mott

Alesha Edison Westbrook - Cape Fear Literacy Council
Dave sweyer 300 x 300

Insights into the 2023 Leasing Market in Wilmington, NC: What You Need to Know

Dave Sweyer - Sweyer Property Management
2022052 75 142344351

Bridging Futures: The Case for Toll Funding in Wilmington’s Cape Fear Memorial Bridge Revamp

Natalie English - Wilmington Chamber of Commerce

Trending News

Conservation Group Signs $8M Deal To Buy The Point On Topsail Island

Audrey Elsberry - Mar 26, 2024

Rezoning Could Bring 123 Townhomes To Growing Leland Corridor

Emma Dill - Mar 25, 2024

N.C. Ports Officials React To Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Audrey Elsberry - Mar 26, 2024

Engineering Firm Hires Four Employees

Staff Reports - Mar 26, 2024

National Organization Bestows Top Award On Cape Fear Professional Women In Building

Staff Reports - Mar 26, 2024

In The Current Issue

Hacking Cyberdefense Shortage

A shortage of cybersecurity professionals influenced professor Ulku Clark and her team to slowly evolve UNCW’s offerings to now include eigh...


Topsail-area Realtors Share Updates

Pender County Realtors recently shared updates about the coastal market at an event hosted by the Wilmington-Cape Fear Home Builders Associa...


Berries, A Battlefield And More In Pender

The N.C. Blueberry Festival, founded in 2003, is one of several events in Pender County that have drawn more attention over the years....

Book On Business

The 2024 WilmingtonBiz: Book on Business is an annual publication showcasing the Wilmington region as a center of business.

Order Your Copy Today!


Galleries

Videos

2023 Power Breakfast: Major Developments