Many part-time employees report feeling confused about the Affordable Care Act and its impact, but employers are doing little to help bridge the information gap, according to a new survey by The Workforce Institute at Kronos Inc.
While 71 percent of respondents say they are familiar with the upcoming changes of ACA, 21 percent of respondents say they have yet to hear about it, and 7 percent of respondents say they have heard of ACA but are unfamiliar with the changes that are to come.
Respondents also report receiving information on ACA from a wide range of sources. Sixty-one percent of respondents say the media is their top information source, and 38 percent of respondents say they rely on friends and family for information. Another 36 percent of respondents go to social media for information, and only 8 percent of respondents say they received information from their employers.
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Twenty-seven percent of respondents say they are confused regarding ACA while 25 percent of respondents report feeling hopeful, and 22 percent of respondents say ACA makes them angry. Respondents are divided on their expectations of quality of care, as 31 percent of respondents expect worse care, 30 percent are unsure, 23 percent anticipate no impact, and 16 percent believe care will improve.
At 45 percent, many respondents say they expect health care to cost more under ACA, and 30 percent say they are unsure. Seventeen percent of respondents say they anticipate no financial impact, and just 9 percent say they believe rates will increase.
Although employers with 50 or more employees must cover all employees working at least 30 hours a week under ACA, 48 percent of respondents say they do not think the bill will affect their scheduled hours. Thirty-three percent of respondents say they are unsure, while 15 percent of respondents say they expect fewer hours. Meanwhile, 4 percent of respondents say they anticipate receiving more hours.
The survey also finds that many employers do not rely on automated systems for tracking hours and making schedules, which could be an issue under ACA. In fact, 56 percent of respondents say they use an automated system to track hours, but that leaves a significant 44 percent of respondents who report not using one. Twenty-seven percent of respondents say their employers create their schedules with automated systems while 64 percent of respondents say this is not the case. Ten percent of respondents say they are not sure.
"This means that a lot of folks are doing this work manually, and they'll have a hard time complying with the look-back and reporting requirements of the legislation," said Joyce Maroney, director of The Workforce Institute. "Perhaps more troublingly, 36 percent of workers say that the hours they work are different from the hours they are scheduled to work, which could present a liability issue for employers. The time to start putting a strategy for compliance in place is now."
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