ACA Reporting: An Opportunity in Disguise? By BRAD OWENS and ASHLEY PACE
Affordable Care Act Reporting The ACA reporting requirements add more responsibility (and work) for HR professionals at a time when professional bandwidth is stretched perilously thin. Even as the economy has improved, headcounts in HR are likely not going to rise in lockstep with additional duties from compliance. As dreary as more work for the same money sounds, perhaps ACA reporting will be an opportunity to rethink and improve your current HR technology strategy. Here are some important questions: Is my current HR technology capable of supporting increased administration and compliance efficiently? How can I leverage my vendors and advisors? How can HR technology help me tell my story? For employers with more than 100 full time equivalent employees (FTE), the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is upon us. The ACA employer mandate requires businesses with over 50 FTEs (although 50-99 can apply for transitional relief ) to provide health insurance or pay a penalty (employee shared responsibility payment) on federal returns. Beginning January 2016, all applicable employers are required to file Forms 1094-C and 1095-C for the 2015 calendar year. These forms provide certification as to whether employers offered full-time employees the opportunity to enroll in a health insurance plan that offers Minimum Essential Coverage at a Minimum Actuarial Value of 60 percent for each month of the year. This reporting also helps employees to determine their eligibility for a premium tax credit from a Health Insurance Marketplace. If you have over 100 full-time equivalent employees then you likely know all too well. Those with 50 – 100 full-time equivalent employees will have an extra year to prepare. The technology options for ACA reporting range widely from functionality and cost. Many of the payroll/HRIS vendors have emerged as providers although solutions have been bolted on to existing technology. While considering or implementing the new technology, perhaps now is a good time to consider your broader HR Technology strategy.
HR Technology Inventory
Addition by Subtraction
As tedious as this may sound, doing an inventory of your HR technology may yield surprising and actionable results. This is definitely an area where an advisor can be a force multiplier. Perhaps the most basic way to conduct an inventory is by following a new employee through their process from recruitment to retirement. This will quickly inform as to where on the strategic spectrum your technology lies. Here are some example questions.
Once you have done an inventory, perhaps areas
• In how many different systems (payroll, HRIS, Ben Admin, Time and Attendance) is new hire information entered?
• Describe reporting/ analytics capabilities
am reminded of a client that had 13 different
q A. Non-existent
each vendor and what value they added (or
q B. Basic Data Mine (no Boolean logic)
were supposed to add), it became very apparent
q A. 3 or more
• How does data move between systems and vendors (401k for example)? q A. it doesn’t
q B. 2
q B. push/pull with spreadsheets
q C. 1
q C. update agent
qC . Dashboards and multidimensional capabilities
q D. 0 (self-directed)
q D. integrated
q D. Predictive Analytics
The goal here is just to see to what degree your HR technology is siloed or integrated. If you didn’t answer D very much don’t fret, only 8% of companies have integrated platforms encompassing workforce management, payroll, and benefits administration. 12
www.HRProfessionalsMagazine.com
for improvement will become clear. I would caution that a first step to improving your technology strategy may be counter intuitively to reduce vendors. Sometimes less is more. I HR technology vendors. After we mapped out
that there were duplications and redundancy. A few months later the number of vendors was cut almost in half. (Notice I didn’t say 1). The financial savings were certainly important but managing relationships is expensive in time as well. Keeping track of who to call for questions on what system presents its own burden. Not to mention keeping up with updates and juggling homemade spreadsheets.