22 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 11, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com business Five Ways to Keep Your Team Happy & Engaged Dear Mindy: Is it possible to keep my team motivated and happy without pay raises? I am looking for some suggestions or ideas that I can implement quickly. Dear Looking: There are many ways to keep your employees happy and motivated without raising their pay. Great leaders know and care about the people on their teams. So start by asking your team what is important to them and how they would like to be recognized. Then use some of the suggestions below to begin a dialogue with them about engagement: • Recognize Your Team’s Achievements: When your employees accomplish their goals or go above and beyond their job descriptions take the time to show that you appreciate them. Write an email or a personal thank you note for their accomplishments. Take the time to learn what is important to each team member and customize a small gift for them. For the employee with the sweet tooth, perhaps some chocolate; for the voracious reader perhaps a gift card to a local book store; for the sports fan perhaps tickets to a sporting event. • Coach Your Employees: Employees appreciate knowing where they stand with their managers. When you provide ongoing feedback about your team’s performance it will motivate them to continue to grow in their jobs. Look for opportunities to recognize team members that have done a good job and then provide the leadership that will motivate them to accomplish additional goals. Let your employees know that you care about them by having an open door policy and being responsive to their requests. • Encourage Ongoing Self-Development: Each employee should have a learning development plan that is customized for their specifi c goals. Encourage your employees to learn new skills by attending training sessions. Motivate them to get professional certifi cations that will be helpful for their job. Look for learning opportunities such as shadowing or mentoring that would enhance your team’s performance. Set team goals for learning and when the team achieves their goal reward them with a special lunch or breakfast. • Communicate Often and Clearly: It is important to be transparent when communicating with your employees. Weekly team meetings are a very effective way to build trust and keep the lines of communication open. Topics for each meeting may vary and many managers like to rotate the leadership role to team members to encourage different points of view. Create time to listen to your employees’ concerns and do your best to solve them. Keep an open channel of communication and get their feedback when necessary. • Add Perks: Employees appreciate the little things that make their lives better. Explore local vendors who may want to provide services to your organization at no or low cost. Some suggestions are chair yoga classes; blood pressure screenings; lunchtime walking clubs; chair massage treatments; lunch and learns sponsored by a local restaurant or grocery store; remote dry cleaning services; casual dress Fridays; ice cream Tuesdays; etc. These type of events help employees build a community of shared experiences as well as create a positive work environment. Mindy Stern, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, ACC is a trusted HR advisor, career coach, author, speaker and president of AIM Resource Group Inc. Visit the website at www.aimresourcegroup. com or call 718-217- 1074 if you would like to get more leadership tips. The Elder Law Minute TM Four Myths About Medicaid’s Long-Term Care Coverage BY RONALD A. FATOULLAH, ESQ. AND YAN LIAN KUANG-MAOGA, ESQ. While Medicare does provide some coverage for nursing home expenses, the coverage is quite limited and is not long-term. Medicare covers only up to 100 days of “skilled nursing care” per spell of illness. However, the patient must start paying a copayment of $161 per day (as of 2016) from the 21st to the 100th day unless he or she has supplemental insurance that will cover the copayment. To qualify for Medicare, the patient must enter a Medicare-approved “skilled nursing facility” or nursing home within 30 days of a hospital stay that lasted at least three days, and the care in the nursing home must be for the same condition. Myth #1: Medicare will cover my nursing home expenses. While Medicare does provide some coverage for nursing home expenses, the coverage is quite limited and is not long-term. Medicare covers only up to 100 days of “skilled nursing care” per spell of illness, of which only 80 days are fully covered. The patient must start paying a copayment of $161 per day (as of 2016) from the 21st to the 100th day unless he or she has supplemental insurance that will cover the copayment. To qualify for Medicare, the patient must enter a Medicare-approved “skilled nursing facility” or nursing home within 30 days of a hospital stay that lasted at least three days, and the care in the nursing home must be for the same condition. Myth #2: You need to be poor to qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid helps needy individuals pay for long-term care, but you do not need to be completely destitute to qualify. Generally, as of 2016, an individual is allowed to have up to $14,850 in assets and up to $825 in monthly income to qualify for Medicaid. In addition, retirement accounts of any amount in payout status are exempt in New York State. However, eligibility for Medicaid is not that cut and dried and often depends on the facts of each case. The rules vary depending on whether an individual is looking for “Community Medicaid”, which covers home care costs, or “Institutional Medicaid”, which covers nursing home costs. Eligibility is also different when the applicant has a spouse. A spouse who is not applying for Medicaid is allowed to maintain more assets and income than the applicant so that the spouse is not left destitute. Potential applicants or caregivers are strongly encouraged to explore with an elder law attorney the possibility of qualifying for Medicaid in order to help defray the cost of long-term care. Myth #3: A prenuptial agreement will protect my assets from being counted if my spouse needs Medicaid. A prenuptial agreement only works to keep property separate in the event of death or divorce. It does not keep property separate for purposes of Medicaid eligibility. However, as mentioned before, a “sick spouse” may still be eligible for Medicaid even if the “well spouse” has assets. A “well spouse” should explore the eligibility rules with an elder law attorney. Myth #4: I can give away up to $14,000 a year under Medicaid rules. The rule that allows gifting up to $14,000 per year is an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rule, NOT a Medicaid rule. The IRS allows an individual to gift up to $14,000 a year without incurring any gift tax liability. However, under Medicaid rules, a gift of $14,000 or any other signifi cant amount will trigger a penalty period. This means that for approximately every $12,000 gifted within the 5 year period before a nursing home Medicaid application is fi led, Medicaid will not cover the applicant for one month. It is important to note that there is no penalty period on transfers of assets for community-based Medicaid eligibility. Dispelling the above myths should encourage individuals or their caregivers to explore Medicaid as an option to paying for long-term care. Medicaid is defi nitely a viable alternative for many of us and is commonly used. However, the rules are complex and it is critical to consult with your elder law attorney to ensure no stone is left unturned. Ronald A. Fatoullah, Esq. is the principal of Ronald Fatoullah & Associates, a law fi rm that concentrates in elder law, estate planning, Medicaid planning, guardianships, estate administration, trusts, wills, and real estate. This article was written with the assistance of Yan Lian Kuang-Maoga, an elder law attorney with the fi rm. The law fi rm can be reached at 718- 261-1700, 516-466-4422, or toll free at 1-877-ELDERLAW or 1-877-ESTATES. Mr. Fatoullah is also the co-founder of JR Wealth Advisors, LLC. The wealth management fi rm can be reached at 516-466-3300 or 800-353-3775. ELDER LAW RONALD FATOULLAH ESQ, CELA* EMPLOYMENT MATTERS MINDY STERN SPHR, SHRM-SCP, ACC
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