Accommodating hard-of-hearing or deaf employees need not be the intimidating effort many employers anticipate, points out Sue Kay Kneifel, statewide coordinator of the Arizona Department of Security’s Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Services, which has made educating employers on this workforce issue its focus this year. In Arizona, 1.145 million people age 20 and older are … [More]
Healthcare and Good Business
The paced roll-out of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is, for the most part, a fait accompli. But many businesses are still wrestling with myriad considerations in implementing programs for the greatest benefit to their company and their employees. And what worked a year ago might not be the best option as their situation changes and as new options become … [More]
Steve Purves, Maricopa Integrated Health System
Employers have long recognized the importance of healthcare as an issue in their business operations. Today’s federally mandated requirements have added to their responsibilities, to not only provide the level of healthcare benefits that makes their company competitive in attracting and retaining talent but also meet the ongoing roll-out of compliance provisions. Add to those … [More]
Releasing the Hidden Innovation Brakes
The senior vice president for product development and his team had spent nearly 18 months developing a new range for an international cleaning products business. Initial customer research in two European markets had identified a need for office cleaning machines with a more efficient use of the cleaning agent, and the project had passed through the company’s structured product … [More]
Digital Forces a Change in World of Work
Responding to disruptive changes in digital technology, business models and workforce demographics, 92 percent of business and HR leaders have identified the critical need to redesign their organization to meet global business demands. This is according to Deloitte’s fourth annual report, “Global Human Capital Trends 2016: The new organization, Different by design.” Yet only 14 … [More]
Sales: Embrace Being No. 2
In the 2008 Olympics, Michael Phelps won the Gold Medal in the Men’s 100-meter butterfly, beating out Milorad Čavić by a mere .01 second. Literally, in 1/30th of the time it takes to blink, Phelps’s dreams were realized and Čavić’s dreams were dashed. Over the course of a salesperson’s lifetime, it’s inevitable that you will face this same struggle. You will be told no, be … [More]
The Employer Shared Responsibility of the Affordable Care Act
After considerable fits and starts, the employer responsibility provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) are now in full play. While implementing regulations and related notices can be complex, business owners should understand the basics in order to avoid penalties, identify the best-suited healthcare solutions for their workforce and remain … [More]
Who Manages the Endowment?
Though they are only one part of a nonprofit’s cash equation, endowments provide a predictable source of income and may be a lifeline during economic downturns. They allow nonprofit entities to produce income as well as growth. But who should manage the assets in an endowment? It might seem a single executive or executives seated at the boardroom table are best suited. After … [More]
Charles A. Touché: Embracing Change as Path to Innovation
It’s often said that change is the only consistency in life. And in the insurance industry, this adage is true now more than ever. An evolving economy, rapid emergence of new technologies and a rocky healthcare landscape are among the industry’s most difficult issues to navigate. It’s Charles A. Touché’s ability to adapt to such change — quickly and fearlessly — that has helped … [More]
RAADR: Using Technology Against Cyber Threats
Bullying and stalking in the cyber world is not only easy to accomplish, it’s easy to hide. Jacob DiMartino took the expertise he’d gained in helping businesses engage effectively in social media, and developed RAADR as a platform to, he says, “arm parents with a snapshot of what’s going on with their kids.” His concern, he explains, is “kids don’t know how exposed they make … [More]
Phoenix Synergy Attracts DoubleDutch
DoubleDutch has seen record growth as a company that builds mobile apps for conferences, events and tradeshows. Its platform enables “live engagement marketing,” which CEO Lawrence Coburn explains is a new kind of product that tries to “engage attendees on their smartphones.” A paper guide can’t keep up with changes, he points out, but the mobile platform offers additional … [More]
Financially Serving the Hispanic Market
There’s more to serving the Hispanic market than simply translating messaging into Spanish. Language is a component, “but you need cultural relevance,” explains Luis Soto, a driving force in Vantage West’s recent designation of “Juntos Avanzamos” (“Together We Advance”) from Texas’s Cornerstone Credit Union League. “Vantage West is the first credit union outside the … [More]
The Expanding ATM Network
Allpoint recently added QuikTrip as a retail partner to serve the Phoenix area. The company works with banks and credit unions to provide surcharge-fee ATMs to the institutions’ customers at convenient, premier retail locations — the kind of well-known and trusted retail brand names that are already part of people’s daily routines. Financial institutions are moving to a … [More]
New Model in Real Estate
A new model of real estate brokerage firm debuted in the Valley earlier this year. Local real estate entrepreneur John N. Vatistas created Launch Real Estate with, initially, a handful of personally selected top-producing real estate brokers. “While it is common among traditional real estate brokerages to house agents of varying skills sets and experiences, from novice to … [More]
Making Change through Innovation
Changemaker Challenge is an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students from all four Arizona state university campuses to make a difference in local and global communities through innovation. Students can win up to $10,000 to make innovative project, prototype, venture or community partnership ideas happen. This year, more than $40,000 was handed to several … [More]
Top Temp Talent
BlueCrew’s on-demand staffing platform automates the screening and matching of the most-qualified and -trusted candidates to the right jobs. Its algorithms empower employers to cut through the clutter of thousands of temporary job candidates to hire top temporary talent at the click of a button for positions that include movers, drivers, forklift operators, warehouse staff, … [More]
Global Payments
Bitwage combines cloud, mobile and blockchain technology to make international payments faster and simpler. The average to pay employees, freelancers and contractors across borders is five days and 8 percent. With Bitwage — founded in 2014 by a team of former Oracle employees — wage payments can be as fast as same day and as low as 1 percent. Companies can use Bitwage to pay … [More]
Talent Captured
Social apps have defined the way we communicate and form relationships, and HR leaders are beginning to adopt day-to-day technology to complement this 21st-century platform of communication. One area that has been slow to adopt to the changing times is recruitment. Addressing this is getTalent, a talent relationship management engine that helps HR teams build a strategic, … [More]
