Press & Interviews

Which health insurance is best for my employees? Here are some tips
By Andrew McNeil and Rosario Avila
In short, the main differences between HMOs and PPOs are affordability and flexibility, but which will work best for you really depends on your current situation. Employers often ask us what other companies are offering when it comes to their benefits program…we give a general overview of the trends we see for small businesses (under 100 employees) in 2022.

Read entire article here…

Image credit: (Vitalii Vodolazskyi / Shutterstock)

Making Space for Me-Time
by Emily Hodges Wallace

In a Zoom call with a group of professional women last week, one of the participants said, “I need to make space for me.” All the women nodded their heads in resounding agreement. As we enter COVID year No. 3, we have been asked to: “get used to the new normal,” “roll with this crisis” and “face this new challenge.” This burden has disproportionately fallen hard on workplace leaders, especially many women.

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How employees can thrive in a remote or hybrid workplace
By North Bay Business Journal columnists Andrew McNeil and Rosario Avila
The Bay Area leads the nation in the number of days employees want to work from home. According to a recent survey conducted by Stanford economics professor Nicolas Bloom, workers want to cut days they spend in the office by more than 53% — and, after seeing what employees were able to accomplish remotely since March of 2020, this makes sense…employers who have embraced this new way of working are starting to run into some challenges, especially when dealing with junior employees who still need mentoring.

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Is your bicultural company communicating effectively?
By North Bay Business Journal columnists Rosario Avila & Andrew McNeil
One employer’s workforce is 50% native Spanish–speaking, yet the 401(k) vendor’s presentation was done to the entire population in English.

The art of communication is difficult for most people to master. Clear and concise exchanges are the key to influencing others and creating powerful teams, relationships, and partnerships to achieve successful outcomes in both business and in life.

Read entire article here…

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Why you should regularly reevaluate your business vendor relationships
By North Bay Business Journal columnists Rosario Avila & Andrew McNeil
We understand how comfortable and easy it can feel to work with a vendor with whom you have a long-established relationship. So many businesses avoid re-evaluating longstanding associations for this and a variety of other reasons. However, the better you know your vendors — and, more important, the better they know you — the more you will benefit from premier services, special pricing and better terms.

Read entire article here…

Photo credit: One Photo / Shutterstock

Not changing from pre-pandemic times can lose you workers
By North Bay Business Journal columnists Rosario Avila & Andrew McNeil
Companies that have not listened to their employees (or former employees) have been losing people at an alarming rate and, at the same time, have not been able to attract new members to replace the ones they have lost.

Read entire article here…

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Health Benefits and Custom-Designed Plans
by Matthew Sohn

A common conversation I have with both employers and employees sounds something like this: “Health insurance is too expensive. The coverage doesn’t fit. I want the best plan you have available, at the best price. There is a gap between what most people want out of health coverage and understanding how it all comes together. There are solutions.

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By North Bay Business Journal columnists Rosario Avila & Andrew McNeil
Technology is sexy. It sells. And, in the benefits industry, it attracts big venture capital investment dollars. Many companies have sprouted up in the last decade, promising a panacea of ease and simplicity in executing benefits, HR and payroll programs. We agree, to an extent, with their intention of making employee benefits easier with software and automation. Where the majority of them fail is in integrating the vital human component.

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Photo credit: Fizkes / Shutterstock

September 2022

Beyond the Boardroom featuring Rosario Avila
by Summer Young

Senior benefits advisor Rosario Avila has spent her life in the service industry.  She leads the Spanish language division at Arrow Benefits Group, where she finds solutions for small businesses and helps her community to understand the complex language of insurance.

Read the entire article here…

New Leadership Roles: Can You Adapt?
Article by Mariah Shields, ABG Benefits Consultant

Coping with the current business climate takes imagination, innovation and no fear of change. These days, when teams don’t have the benefit of being physically together in an office, where mentorship, training and camaraderie would traditionally happen more naturally, it falls on company leaders to establish a more evolved company culture and create meaningful connections between co-workers.

Read entire article here…