In: Operations Management
Is a large employer likely to stop offering health insurance to its employees and simply pay the fine for not doing so? Why?
No, large employers have a reputation to maintain and their employee morale and recruitment difficulties to consider. The fact that the employer would be willing to pay the difference in excellent than provide medical insurance would send a message that the company does not care about its employees, making it so that the consideration for recruiting the best talent in the industry would become so much more difficult. On the one hand, we need to consider employee morale, ethical and moral concerns and accountability as well as the fact that while it would be cheaper for the company to pay a fine, it could potentially result in a much larger lawsuit, taking us both time and resources from the company, something which not only affects its productivity but limits its ability to make the best use of its most precious resource, the human resource.