Stephanie Mayne is the human-resources manager at M.S. Kennedy Corp., a company based in the town of Clay that has been designing and producing high-performance analog microelectronics for 40 years. As the HR manager, Mayne receives a flood of résumés for every job opening.

It’s easy for Mayne to determine what type of work ethic potential candidates possess; however, finding workers with the specific skills that will fit well with MS Kennedy’s requirements is sometimes a challenge. “We can assess whether or not a candidate has the basic capability to do the job,” says Mayne. “But it’s harder to gauge whether or not a person is going to be able to expand on those basic skills and adapt them to our unique processes.”

The Talent and Education Development Center (TEDCenter) at Syracuse University helps M.S. Kennedy and many other businesses in the Central New York region match qualified workers with job openings. TEDCenter, housed at University College (UC), is dedicated to improving the quality of the existing and emerging workforce in the Central New York region by bringing regional education, economic development, and workforce-development sectors into closer alignment. Its goal is to ensure that the education and training delivered to students, incumbent workers, and career changers provides them with the skills they need to achieve economic self-sufficiency.

Michael Prockup was an unemployed worker over the age of 50 who knew he needed to sharpen his skills to compete in a difficult job market. Prockup heard about the Unemployed Worker Training Program being offered at UC and was anxious to have his skills assessed. The Certificate of Workplace Competency tested Prockup in three key areas: reading, mathematics, and locating information through reviewing graphs, flowcharts, and diagrams.

“Having graduated with a B.S. degree more than 35 years ago, I was curious about how I would perform in the areas tested,” says Prockup. “In the 1970s there was no Internet and the method of instruction I received was very different than it is today.”

The Certificate of Workplace Competency shows employers that job candidates have the skills they need and is an excellent way for potential employees to showcase their abilities.

“Michael came to us with purchasing experience. By taking the skills assessment, he demonstrated that he wanted to keep up,” M.S. Kennedy’s Mayne says. “He is proactive and took charge to ensure us that he would stand out as a strong candidate.”

Mayne says that as a human-resources manager, her job is to find employees that will be successful at M.S. Kennedy. “If there are tools like those offered at the TEDCenter out there that can increase the level of employees we bring in, it makes us more competitive and successful. It also saves us money and time in the hiring process — interviewing, advertising, etc. It just makes good business sense,” she says.

Prockup was impressed that the staff of the TEDCenter assisted him with his job search by contacting prospective employers to endorse him as a candidate. “This was a major selling point to me as an unemployed worker over the age of 50 who had an uphill climb,” he says.

For more information about the TEDCenter or the Certificate of Workplace Competency, contact Karen DeJarnette at ksdejarn@syr.edu or Andrea German-Willis at ajgerman@syr.edu, or call (315) 443-5241.

Eileen T. Jevis is manager of public relations at University College of Syracuse University. Contact her at ejevis@uc.syr.edu or call (315) 443-3527.

“Shh, can you keep this quiet?” Certainly, most of us have heard that phrase at one time or another from a boss or a colleague in the course of our careers. Sometimes, it relates to a particularly sensitive piece of information about the organization that has critical importance to a business strategy. And sometimes, it’s mere gossip that even high-level executives can’t seem to help themselves control, even though they know they should.

Either way, how we handle confidential information can define us as professionals, and have a big impact on the level of trust and respect our employees, clients, news reporters, elected officials, and even our competitors have for us. Whether the information is grounded in facts or simply put out there by someone trying to think through a situation, it’s vital for us to keep a lid on it — unless there is clear agreement among the parties on how to publicize it.

In each of our practice areas, client confidentiality plays a key role. Whether it is a sensitive public-relations issue, an effort to try to influence public policy, or assisting with the development of a strategic direction for an organization, our ability to be keep client information private becomes as important as any great ideas we may have on what the client should do. It is the very foundation of a trusted relationship, and can elevate us to that highest level in the consultation hierarchy — the “trusted adviser.”

When you get right down to it, being able to manage and position sensitive information properly is probably one of the most critical things professionals will ever do, and it will create an atmosphere where leaders will seek your guidance and insights — not even because of what you’ll say, but as much for what you won’t.

So, the next time someone says to you “Shhh … can you keep this quiet?” consider carefully what he is asking you to do, and what you will do next. This person is depending on you.

Are you being heard?

Michael Meath is president of Strategic Communications, LLC, which says it provides “trusted counsel” for public relations, crisis communications, government relations, and business strategy. Contact him at mmeath@stratcomllc.com

As employers prepare for open enrollment, some may be implementing new wellness programs to encourage and reward employees for taking steps toward better health. Whether starting a new program, or continuing an existing program, employers need to be aware of recent regulatory changes under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and evaluate whether their programs are designed appropriately to satisfy the new requirements.

Generally, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, otherwise known as HIPAA, provides that health plans may not discriminate against plan participants in eligibility, benefits, or premiums, based on a health factor, such as health status, medical condition, claims experience, receipt of health care, medical history, genetic information, evidence of insurability, or disability.

However, HIPAA includes an exception that allows an employer to implement programs designed to promote health and disease prevention and management through cost-sharing incentives such as premium discounts, rebates, or modifications, or reduced copayments, deductibles, or coinsurance.

The U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury issued final rules on employment-based wellness programs under ACA, which are effective for plan years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2014. The final rules continue to support and encourage employer wellness programs by expanding the permissible incentives an employer may offer its employees, while imposing additional safeguards against possible discriminatory abuses.

Employer wellness programs are generally classified as either participatory or health-contingent programs. In a participatory wellness program, individuals do not have to meet a certain health-related standard to receive the reward. Examples of such programs include reimbursed or discounted fitness memberships, attending no-cost health education seminars, or biometric screenings, and health-risk assessments that do not require follow-up steps by participants.

Participatory wellness programs must be made available to all similarly situated employees, regardless of health status. Participatory programs are not required to meet the additional requirements applicable to health-contingent wellness programs under the final rule.

Health-contingent programs require individuals to satisfy a standard or metric related to a health factor in order to receive the reward. Health-contingent programs typically involve completing an activity or achieving a designated outcome. For example, an activity-based program might include a diet or exercise program such as a walking program. Outcome programs reward individuals who achieve a certain health-related metric, including, for example, those who quit smoking, achieve a certain cholesterol, glucose, or body mass index level, or satisfy follow-up criteria after a biometric screening or health-risk assessment.

The majority of the requirements in the final rule build upon the five requirements for health-contingent wellness programs originally established by the 2006 HIPAA regulations, and expand upon the provisions protecting employees from discriminatory practices associated with health-contingent wellness programs.

First, employers offering health-contingent wellness programs must provide employees with an opportunity to qualify for the program’s reward at least once a year.

Second, the maximum reward for participation may not exceed 30 percent of the total cost of coverage. The threshold was previously 20 percent. Programs designed to prevent or reduce tobacco use may allow a reward of up to 50 percent of the total cost of coverage.

Third, employers must “reasonably” design health-contingent wellness programs to promote health or prevent disease. The federal agencies consider a program to be reasonably designed if it has a reasonable chance of improving the health of participants, preventing disease in participants, is not overly burdensome, is not subterfuge for discriminating based on a health factor, or is not highly suspect in the method chosen to promote health and prevent disease.

Fourth, employers must design the program so that the full reward is uniformly available to all similarly situated individuals, and employers must offer a waiver, or reasonable alternatives for achieving the same reward, where it is unreasonably difficult or medically inadvisable for a participant to meet the requirements.

The departments will take into account all of the facts and circumstances when evaluating whether the program offered a reasonable alternative. However, the reasonable-alternative analysis will also differ depending on whether the wellness program is an activity-based program, or outcome-based.

For example, an activity-only program may request physician verification of the employee’s need for an alternative. Outcome-based programs may not, and must offer the alternative anytime an individual does not meet the program’s target metric. Occasionally, a second reasonable alternative may be required.

In general, employers will have flexibility in program design and may choose whether to provide the same alternative to those who request it, or provide alternatives on a case-by-case basis. Generally, the reasonable alternatives do not need to be determined in advance.

Finally, the wellness program must provide employees with notice of the availability of reasonable alternatives in all materials describing the program. The disclosure must include contact information and a statement that the program will accommodate an employee’s personal physician’s request for reasonable alternatives. The final rule includes model disclosure language that the program may use to satisfy the requirement.

Additional information on the wellness-program requirements under ACA can be found at https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/06/03/2013-12916/incentives-for-nondiscriminatory-wellness-programs-in-group-health-plans.

The objective of a wellness program is to reduce the cost of health coverage by improving the overall health of the workplace population, though employees are not always receptive to such programs. In most cases, an employer implementing a new wellness program will not see significant cost savings in the first year, or even the first few years of the program. Reducing the coverage costs for those with chronic conditions taking steps toward improving their health is a slow process, but often one that is worthwhile for both employers and employees.

Amy Zell is a staff attorney and plan-benefit analyst at POMCO Group. Contact her at azell@pomcogroup.com or view her blog posts on health-care reform at go.pomcogroup.com/blog