What Employers Say about the Affordable Care Act?
What Employers Say about the Affordable Care Act?We recently asked businesses: how are you preparing to meet Affordable Care Act employer requirements, which take effect January 1, 2015? Now, our ACA survey results are in, and we’re pleased to share our key findings with you. In a nutshell, we found:
ACA Survey Results:
Most employers aren’t ready - Only 22% of the employers we surveyed have finalized their ACA strategy. 26% haven’t even started thinking about it yet. The rest of the group is in the process of developing a course of action.
Most employers expect costs to increase, but few know how much - Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed anticipate some type of cost increase. Yet at the time of the survey, only 30% had either determined the cost ramifications or confirmed that ACA mandates wouldn’t affect their business.
Most employers aren’t thinking in terms of cost control – Despite an anticipated cost increase, a striking 77% of respondents said they weren’t planning any cost-control measures. 9% of employers are considering an increase in their part-time workforce, and 9% are considering a reduction in full-time staff that doesn’t include hiring more part-timers.
A number of employers need to improve time-tracking controls - The ACA will require employers to track worker hours closely. While 63% of respondents are already tracking all their hourly workers through automated time and attendance systems, 36% need to step things up. 26% of the companies surveyed currently have no automated time-tracking system in place.
Everyone says they’d rather play than pay – Not one employer acknowledged that they are planning to pay ACA penalties rather than offer health insurance to employees. Only one company admitted to even considering it. 64% of respondents say they’ve already decided to offer coverage, and the remaining businesses are still weighing their options.
About Our Demographic
We surveyed employers in a range of industries with historically large populations of hourly workers. (The predominant respondents worked in the construction, landscaping, healthcare, and retail industries, although we also heard from business services, consumer services, financial services, and the energy industry.) Though our survey size was small, nearly half of the companies manage 100-999 employees, and most respondents were at the director, officer, or manager level.
Conclusions
Although some proactive employers have already planned how they’ll deal with the Affordable Care Act, many still have their work cut out for them. In our opinion, these three steps should top their to-do list:
- Assess your ACA options and related cost ramifications
- Identify and implement effective cost-control measures
- Implement a time and attendance system that will provide complete ACA tracking support
How EPAY Systems can help:
Our time-tracking system includes a comprehensive ACA solution for employers, which you can learn more about here.