As you
may know, most of the ObamaCare mandates will 
“kick in” over the next two years. 
Of course, it is appropriate for real estate owners and managers to
focus their attention on the impact this law has on their own businesses.

But
what about other industries?  Until
recently, I had not put much thought into how businesses in other industry
sectors are wrestling with these impending changes.   But these changes are weighing heavily on
business leaders in retail, restaurants, and service industries. 

While I
feel for those struggling with these new directives (one of my business
partners owns a large retail establishment), some good news may emerge from
these changes –especially if your focus is hiring “new to real estate” agents
over the next few years.  As the old
saying goes, one man’s curse is another man’s blessing.

This
angle on the healthcare issue was brought to my attention by John Sumser.  John is editor-in-chief of the HRExaminer
Online Magazine and writes about Human Resource issues and recruiting from a
broad perspective.  As he studied and
wrote about the nature of the employment relationship, he discovered the
following principle:

Workers who pay for their
own benefits are significantly more mobile that those who don't.

This
statement may seem self-evident after you read it, but it is surprisingly
profound. As we’ve worked with hundreds of real estate hiring managers and
thousands of real estate candidates over the last few years, I’ve come to the
conclusion that this is the number one reason that high quality people choose not to pursue real estate careers. 

That
may be changing.  

Not
because real estate will be in a position to suddenly offer medical benefits,
but because the competition (other non-real estate companies) will soon stop
offering benefits.   Here is an excerpt
from an article that John recently wrote on this topic:

“I had a chance to catch up with some
friends who are at the bottom of the system. Both work in retail. Both are part-time students. Both work hard and creatively. Both are noticing weird behavior
from their employers.

They
work in different cities in different parts of retail.

Since
the first of the year, managers have been rotating and schedules have been
shifting. As the noise settles down, the managers are slotting 50-hour weeks
while the rest of the store works 27 to 30 hours.

In both
cases, this amounted to a 20% cut in pay and a potential loss of benefits.
(Their benefits are still intact but won’t remain so when the next ‘look back’
happens.) Very little is explained.

From
their [point of view], it looks like management is lurching.

Their
companies are maneuvering through the challenge of figuring out who does and
doesn’t get benefits. Since it’s over their pay grade, they only understand the
bluntest impacts of the story.

Ultimately,
they will end up paying for their own health insurance.

It’s
not really a surprise. While it is a momentary inconvenience, what happens next
is pretty obvious. While their employers have figured out how to dodge this
bullet, they only get a temporary reprieve.

Workers
who pay for their own benefits are significantly more mobile that those who
don’t. Up until last year, a worker who got sick (or had a family member who
got sick) was bound to the current employer for a very long time. Pre-existing
conditions made a whole range of people uninsurable if they left the current
boss.

Now,
after the first initial pinch, these low level workers are freer than they’ve
ever been…

The
employers who recognize this short-term windfall will end up paying for their
employees healthcare in the long haul. Workers who get saddled with new bills
seem to always want raises.

The
interesting question is whether the employers who dodge this first bullet
really understand that they are creating an attrition problem that will be
accompanied by wage increases.

It
doesn’t look like it. They are predictably going for the short money.”

I think
there are two take-aways for the real estate industry from John’s insight:

1.  Learn how to talk about medical benefits.  Ask open-ended questions about the
candidate’s medical benefit situation during the interview—especially if the
candidate is from one of the industries being impacted by the ObamaCare
changes.  In the past, this topic was
often avoided because it opposed a short-term disadvantage of working as a real
estate agent.  Now the playing field is more
level and a real estate career still offers significantly more income potential
than traditional jobs.

2.
Develop transition programs.  Find ways
to help people transition from the jobs where they recently lost their benefits
to a real estate agent position.  We hear
frequently from our clients…”We only want to hire full-time agents.”  That’s fine, but there is window opening in
the employment world where a quick transition from part-time to full-time may
look compelling to many talented individuals. 
Rigidly hanging onto the full-time only model may cause you to miss
engaging many talented individuals who will be looking at the real estate
industry for the first time.

Question: 
Have you recently interviewed someone who has brought up the issue of
medical benefits?   What did you learn
from the interaction? 

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.