Every manager needs to do it.  Nearly every (OK, every) manager dreads doing it.  Even when you try to disguise it as “constructive criticism,” it is still one of the most painful duties of leadership. Add to it that 25% of employees “(dread) their performance review more than anything else in their working lives,” as Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen write in their soon-to-be-released book, Thanks for the Feedback.  The sane manager wonders why she should even bother.

Assume the following scenario: ABC Company has 200 full-time employees and 50 temporary employees supplied through a staffing company. Based on the calculations for employee coverage for 2016, ABC Company determines that the 200 full-time employees are its “common law” employees. Therefore it provides coverage under its group health plan to all of them. The staffing firm also provides coverage to all of its full-time employees, including the 50 temporary workers placed with ABC Company (whom the staffing firm has determined are full-time for IRS Code § 4980H purposes).