A few years ago, Zane Tankel, CEO OF Apple-Metro, the New York City area franchisee for Applebee’s, took for granted that self-insuring would be cost prohibitive. Then insurance companies began hiking premiums, and Tankel decided it was time for Plan B.
Before signing up, Tankel wanted concrete evidence that the new plan would be affordable. For two years, his executive team “phantom-tracked” the health insurance claims of his roughly 200 full-time managers and calculated what it would have cost the company to self-insure. “As we tracked it, we saw it made a lot of sense,” Tankel says.
In 2015, the company began self-insuring, with Aetna managing the plan. Apple-Metro has continued to track what it would have paid in premiums so Tankel can see the savings. “It’s not cheap, but, for example, just this past month we paid something like $180,000. If we had been fully funded, it would have been $225,000,” he says. “When you buy insurance, you buy for the worst-case scenario. When you self-insure, you buy for the reality.”
Apple-Metro still has to cope with rising healthcare expenses, but Tankel says he is not even considering raising employee’s share of the tab. “For us, insurance is a perk. It helps us attract and, most importantly, keep the best-in-class talent.” He adds that his restaurants have low management turnover compared with industry averages.
In October, Apple-Metro sent out a letter to all health plan members letting them know that, while overall healthcare expenses rose for the company, employees’ share of the cost would remain the same. “If the savings are substantial enough, we can absorb the increase,” says Tankel. “Because if we’re saving $2 million on premiums and costs go up by $100,000, then we’re still saving $1.9 million. That’s not bad.”
Read more: Smart CEOs Aren’t Waiting For Washington To Fix The HealthCare Crisis
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1:00 - 5:00 pm
Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process
Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:
Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns. They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning. Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process. This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented. If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form. The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.
2:00 - 5:00 pm
Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations.
Limited space available.
10:30 - 5:00 pm
General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
Sponsored by UBS
General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.
The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.
