Election Results Will Boost Employee Productivity, But Healthcare Costs May Climb

You are now going to see productivity improve at high tech companies because people will no longer have an excuse to sit around and complain about Bush. High tech employees generally seem to lean towards President-Elect Obama so morale is likely to increase as well, increasing productivity.

More seriously, in Washington State, we’re going to see a number of issues emerging after this election.

First, since Mike Kreidler was reelected as Washington State Insurance Commissioner, we’ll probably see continuing pressure to eliminate all association healthcare plans, which is what most startups offer as a benefit to employees. If this is the case, the overall cost of healthcare to high tech employers will probably increase because health incident rates are lower for high tech employers. Plans like the one offered by the Washington Technology Industry Association allow it to pool that lower risk.

Second, given the state revenue shortfall and a marginally increased anti-business mix of legislators, the R&D tax credit will come under pressure, even though it is good for the tech community, and our region.

Author: Bill Baxter

Bill is the chief technology officer at Seattle-based BuddyTV. He was previously the chief technology officer and vice president of engineering at Cozi Group, a privately held corporation focusing on productivity web services for busy families. Prior to that he was co-founder and CEO of SnapTune, Inc., a privately held corporation founded in 2005 that created a direct link from new songs heard on the radio to an online way to purchase the albums containing them. In 1994 he co-founded BSQUARE Corporation, a provider of world-class hardware and software solutions for companies developing intelligent computing device systems. Bill extends his leadership role to the community as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Washington Technology Industry Association and through guidance positions at other organizations and institutions including the University of Wyoming and the University of Washington. Bill is a recipient of the prestigious Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.