Author Archives: Admin
Cypress is Going Green
The average person might believe that the worldwide push to “go green” is coming solely from politicians and concerned citizens. In fact, this is not the case. In recent years, many businesses have realized their way towards more sustainable and eco friendly business practices. While we love our Cypress Tree we also love the environment. In order to go green Cypress is working with our vendors to complete the following items:
Lighting
FACT: Artificial lighting accounts for 44 percent of the electric use in office buildings.
We have installed Energy Star-rated Fixtures and light bulbs which use at least two-thirds less energy than regular lighting, and installing timers or motion sensors that automatically shut off lights when they’re not needed.
Computer Efficiency
FACT: Computers in the business sector unnecessarily waste $1 billion worth of electricity a year.
We are turning off our computers and the power strip when we leave for the day. Otherwise, we’re still burning energy even if we’re not burning the midnight oil. During the day we have set computers to go to sleep automatically during short breaks can cut energy use by 70 percent.
Print Smarter
FACT: The average U.S. office worker goes through 10,000 sheets of copy paper a year.
We have defaulted our printers to draft mode. We have started buying chlorine-free paper with a higher percentage of post-consumer recycled content (Green Friendly paper). We are working toward Recycling our toner and ink cartridges as well.
Go Paperless when Possible
FACT: Americans discard 4 million tons of office paper every year.
We are moving more of our forms and paper products to the internet to be viewable online. Sugar Tree Technologies has provided access so that our employee manuals and similar online materials can be viewed on screen rather than distribute as printed copies. They’re easier to update that way too. We also give our customers the ability to receive their notices electronically via e-mail vs. postage and paper.
California Workers comp, where is it going?
Where is the California Workers Comp market going?……..Who knows. We are experiencing a little hardening in some of our pricing. Every quarter it seems like there are less and less crazy pricing to have to compete with. The latest “what the …” are some $1,000 deductible programs in the market. Another source that monitors and tracks pricing is the Rand Corporation. They reported that the California market will remain vulnerable to wide swings in performance unless changes are made to improve the predictability of costs, transparency of pricing decisions, regulatory oversight and consistency of the incentives facing different parties.
In 1995, the California legislature allowed state insurers far greater flexibility in setting rates for workers’ compensation insurance. This deregulation resulted in greater volatility. Insurer profits dropped dramatically during the second half of the 1990s, and 31 insurers out of the roughly 250 insurers who wrote these policies in the state failed. Rand recently completed a study that identified six key factors that contributed to the insolvencies and volatility over the past 15 years:
- Inaccurate projections of claim costs
- Pricing workers’ compensation policies below expected costs
- Reinsurance contracts that give insurers and reinsurers insufficient stake in the profitability of the policies
- Managing general agents who have little financial interest in the ultimate profitability of policies
- Under-reserving for claim costs by insurers
- Insurer policyholder surplus that is inadequate to provide a cushion against adverse events.
Rand further made 29 recommendations aimed to increase the predictability of workers’ compensation costs, enhance the transparency of the system, better align the incentives of the major players and improve the California Department of Insurance’s oversight. Bottom line is that for their to be stability in pricing compliance and oversight are key factors.