The ACA's Effect On Entrepreneurs Will Be...?

An article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal asked "Will Health-Care Law Beget Entrepreneurs?"

Will the availability of reasonably-priced insurance through public marketplaces or "exchanges" cause entrepreneurs to strike out on their own, leaving behind the comfort of big company benefits?

It's a good question, albeit one with no clear-cut answer at the moment. It all depends, I guess, on one's definition of "high-functioning exchanges" and "reasonable prices."

Still, it's a question to which large companies ought to be paying close attention. How many people work at jobs simply for the health insurance, jobs they'd leave in a heartbeat to follow their passion if insurance wasn't an obstacle? I don't know for sure, but I'd bet the answer is somewhere between "more than a few" and "a whole heckavu lot."

And those leaving are likely to be those the company wishes would stay - the innovators, the passionistas, those with entrepreneurial drive and burning competitive fires.

They leave and who stays?  The timid, the risk-adverse and the "Yes, but..." crowd.  I guess you can always hope that your competitors are as bad at retaining talent as you are.

2:18 PM

Should An Employer Pay You For Interviewing?

Asks Nick Corcodilos, writing for PBS NewsHour.  It's a great question.  The answer might shape up your HR department in a hurry.

From the article:

A job applicant treated with disrespect can do as much -- if not more -- damage to a company's business as a dissatisfied customer. Do employers really think word doesn't get around?

Maybe hiring managers assume that their HR departments handle all the necessary niceties with applicants. But just how accountable are HR departments? Does this company's public relations department realize that while it's spending millions on good press, the HR department is scuttling it? If you're a hiring manager, and you're not sure how job candidates are treated after they leave your office, please read "Respecting The Candidate."

Your HR department might explain that processing applicants, job offers, hires, and rejection letters is cumbersome. Tell that to your customer who cancels the order that's a month late, or to the prospect who's waiting for a sales rep to return her call.

The technology to keep candidates informed is here. The will isn't. Why? Because job candidates don't cost anything. Companies can get all your professional time they want, for free, without any obligation to you whatsoever.

The article even contains a sample letter requesting payment. Let me know if you try it.

2:53 PM

Seth Godin: "If Committees Told the Truth."

That truth would be:

"Hi, we're here to take your project to places you didn't imagine.

With us on board, your project will now take three times as long.

It will cost five times as much.

And we will compromise the art and the vision out of it, we will make it reasonable and safe and boring."

Or as I always say, committees are where ideas go to die.

10:57 AM