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How Does Unlimited Vacation Sound? Some Companies Are Trying It Out

How Does Unlimited Vacation Sound? Some Companies Are Trying It Out

By Steve Twedt, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

Unlimited vacation time sounds like a pretty good job perk.

Social media site LinkedIn this year joined the still-small-but-growing roster of companies offering employees as much time off as they’d like, with the understanding that the coupon is good only if they get their work done.

Estimates about how many companies offer open-ended vacations run in the 2 to 4 percent range, mostly small startups but including none other than General Electric, which earlier this year began offering unlimited vacation time to many of its executives.

What’s in it for the companies?

Besides being a strong recruitment and retention tool, such policies can free companies from any unused vacation pay liability if they currently allow vacation days to accrue. Proponents say the policies also bestow a sense of “ownership” among employees that cultivates a more committed workforce.

“This flexible scheduling has really come into play in the last six months to a year,” said Ginger Kochmer, the Philadelphia-based vice president of The Creative Group, a division of Robert Half International.

In a survey of 400 advertising and marketing executives and 400 office workers commissioned by The Creative Group earlier this year, 39 percent of executives said they believed productivity would increase if employees had unlimited time off. And 72 percent of managers and 56 percent of workers said they would probably take the same amount of time off.

That second finding is further backed up by a study commissioned by Project: Time Off, a Washington, D.C.-based group affiliated with the U.S. Travel Association. It found 41 percent of Americans did not plan to use all of their paid vacation days in 2014, leading the group to conclude “the benefits of vacation were no match for the fears that are keeping them at work.”

Those fears, in descending order, included the prospect of facing piles of work when they return, a belief that no one else can do their job (a smaller percentage worried they would be replaced) and lingering effects of a struggling national economy.

Some workers said they could not afford to take the time off, and others thought foregoing vacation would demonstrate dedication to their employer.

Open-ended vacation policies don’t work for every business. A year ago, the Chicago-based Tribune Co. offered unlimited time off for some salaried staff, then rescinded the policy one week later without explanation other than the change “had created confusion and concern.”

There are jobs that don’t easily lend themselves to an unlimited vacation policy, acknowledged Kochmer. In sales, for example, “The more hours you put in, obviously, the more success you’re going to have.”

And those who’ve adopted such a policy need to monitor and manage it, perhaps by scheduling quarterly performance reviews, to make sure the employee’s productivity doesn’t tail off.

But she said the idea of unlimited vacations is probably here to stay.

“Because the business environment is changing more drastically, you need to be flexible,” said Kochmer. “It really is becoming more common.”

©2015 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Photo: In a survey of 400 advertising and marketing executives and 400 office workers commissioned by The Creative Group earlier this year, 39 percet of executives said they believed productivity would increase if employees had unlimited time off. (Fotolia)

 

When Paying Cash For A Prescription Is Cheaper Than Using Insurance

When Paying Cash For A Prescription Is Cheaper Than Using Insurance

By Steve Twedt, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

PITTSBURGH — Charles Conn stopped in to see his pharmacist to fill a prescription for a cough that had persisted for a month. Once he saw how much the medication cost, he could have used a side order of blood pressure pills.

The price, under his insurance plan, was $91 for 30 nonnarcotic Benzonatate gel caps.

“I told him, ‘I’m not paying it,'” the Baldwin resident said.

Ninety-one dollars isn’t the most expensive prescription medication sold in a pharmacy, but for a retiree on a fixed income, it’s not a payout to be taken lightly.

Luckily, the pharmacist had flagged the prescription and was able to sell the medication for $26.10 in cash.

Conn, 66, happily paid the lower price but the episode left him wondering: Why would a prescription cost nearly four times more through his insurance plan than paying cash?

The answer may lie in the vagaries of pharmaceutical pricing, which include the wholesale prices that hardly anyone pays and the largely unseen influence of third-party pharmacy benefit managers.

In Conn’s case, there was an immediate hurdle he didn’t recognize at first: Medicare Part D, the prescription drug coverage for seniors, does not cover cough suppressants and Benzonatate was not in his plan’s formulary of covered medicines. That meant he could not take advantage of any discount negotiated by his insurer, UPMC for Life.

That still didn’t explain why the gel caps cost much more through his insurance.

Tom Tritinger, a pharmacist at Conn’s pharmacy, said it probably has to do with a price set by the wholesaler that is rarely charged to the patient.

“I can’t even tell you what goes into setting that price,” he said, adding that usually, the pharmacist “would have managed that down” to a lower price or, absent that, charged a lower price anyway.

“With most pharmacists, the price is a courtesy. There is some compassion,” he said.

His advice: Check ahead to see if a new medication is covered under your insurance; ask to speak to a pharmacist if the price seems high; and, if practical, shop around if you’re unhappy with a pharmacy’s price.

UPMC for Life literature also suggests checking with its staff to see if a similar drug is covered under its plan when the prescribed drug is not in its formulary.

The insurer’s members can request the plan to cover a drug not in its formulary “at a pre-determined cost-sharing level,” although such exceptions generally are not granted unless alternative medications would not be as effective or could cause adverse side effects.

Pat Eppel, executive director of the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association in Harrisburg, said a pharmacy benefit manager — typically a third party that manages prescription benefits for an insurer — also may be telling a pharmacy what to charge for a medication.

“No one sees exactly how much the (Medicare) Part D plan is billing the government,” she said.”A lot of pharmacists believe that the government is paying far more than they need to.”

Looking back, Conn’s wife, Christine, said they are is still “flabbergasted” by the price difference and now wonder if they should ask for the cash price every time.

Tritinger said that’s probably not necessary. “Ninety-nine percent of the time they’re going to get a better price through the insurance company.”

Photo: Charles Conn, of Baldwin, Pa., was told a prescription for his cough medicine would cost $91 under his insurance plan, but paying out of pocket would only be $26. (Robin Rombach/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)