Microsoft says US staff must chip in for healthcare
A life more ordinary for MS workers
Ensure Ease of Recovery with Asigra’s Agentless Software
Microsoft told its US staff on Friday that from 2013 they would have to pay contributions toward their healthcare costs.
The company’s compensations and benefits veep J. Ritchie told MS employees at a 'Town Hall' meeting in Redmond that Microsoft was “not immune” to the “rising costs” of US healthcare.
"We needed to evolve our US-based healthcare programs. We want to be able to over the long term reduce the rate of increase we’re experiencing in our health plans," he said, according to The Seattle Times.
Ritchie claimed reaction from Microsoft employees to the news that they would have to dish up cash toward their healthcare plans was “pretty positive”.
He did not say how much money MS workers would be required to contribute when the health savings plan changes are implemented in 2013.
The Mini-Microsoft blog, where many current employees of the software giant go to gripe about the firm, had one commentator saying in response to the healthcare move that “Microsoft now looks ordinary to me”.
The blog’s author added: “Do I think the health changes will affect recruiting? Probably not. Do I think it will affect retention? Yes.
“If other tech companies hold steady on their coverage then they close a big gap to hiring experienced people at Microsoft. Look, once you have a family and one or two big boo-boos (medical term) you realise: ‘holy crap, we are so fortunate... I love this company for caring for me and my family so well!’ It's no golden handcuff, but it still anchors you.
“Anchors away.”
All of which topped off a pretty brutal week for Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer, who had his bonus pay capped and saw the company humiliatingly downgraded from 'buy' to 'neutral' by brokerage Goldman Sachs. ®
COMMENTS
Obamacare will accelerate the jump
I'm close friends with the IT director of several clinics in my hometown and he's really sweating bullets to make sure they meet the coming wave of HIPAA compliance, especially the "fully digital" requirement to allow records to move freely move between providers/doctors. Nice to have for the patient, until the patient has to cover that cost.
Gov't regulation always results in the same thing: The regulated industry doesn't pay for anything...they purely pass those costs along to the consumer. And there's no nice way to sugar-coat it. At least in prison, you get sold for cigarettes first.
These poor folk ...
should simply get a job at The Linux company. There, they'll receive full benefits, free lunches and beer.
When billions are spent each year butchering Muslims and arming Israel, small wonder that "costs have towered up". Dem drones be expensive. The "Democratization" of Muslim lands is far more important than providing you twits health care.
CAT scan machines, which are guaranteed to give you cancer, are expensive, also. Certainly you should expect to pay some of the cost for the benefit of receiving a cancer-causing treatment?
The little piggies always grunt when they approach the trough, especially if there is nothing in it.
You can tell when the company you work for is about to hit the buffers
They start to cut back on all the freebies.
IT infrastructure monitoring strategies
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Top 10 SIEM implementer’s checklist
Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner
Enabling efficient data center monitoring
