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Earned Wage Access: Why HR Leaders Shouldn’t Fear This Breakthrough Benefit

October 31, 2023/Compliance, Employee Benefits, Employee Happiness, Employee Well-Being, HR /by Jim Colassano

The pandemic and inflationary conditions are putting extraordinary pressure on workers to provide for their families. In fact, the U.S. government estimates that nearly 40% of citizens would struggle to cover the cost of a $400 emergency. What’s more, 60% of survey respondents told Bankrate they’re falling behind in saving for an unexpected expense. Even people with full-time jobs are struggling financially, and many are at risk of running out of cash between pay periods.

As a result, a growing number of employers are responding with creative solutions. Historically, bi-weekly or monthly payroll processing has been the norm. However, this can create problems for employees who live paycheck to paycheck, especially when unexpected expenses arise.

Are Payday Loans the Answer?

One solution involves payday loans, where employees borrow money from a third-party provider using their upcoming paycheck as collateral. However, there are predatory companies in this space that charge desperate people outsized fees. Even reputable payday loan companies charge hefty interest rates that are likely to create even more financial strain.

Thankfully, there is another opportunity for employees who are living on a paycheck-to-paycheck basis. It’s called earned wage access.

What Is Earned Wage Access?

This benefit ensures that people receive the money they’ve earned before the day they normally would receive their paycheck. How does this help? Imagine one typical scenario:

While waiting in the supermarket checkout line, one of your staff members realizes they don’t have enough money to cover all their groceries. After using their phone to request immediate access to a specific amount of money, the employee finds available funds in their checking account before they even get to the register.

In addition, thanks to advances in real-time payment infrastructure, human resource teams can offer this kind of benefit without changing the way they process payroll. By working with your financial institution and payment processors, you can implement earned wage access via real-time payments, instead of through traditional ACH payments.

5 Benefits of Earned Wage Access

Earned wage access is attractive to employers and employees, alike. Here are 5 compelling reasons why:

1. Employees Increasingly Expect it

During the pandemic, people who were laid off or needed an extra income stream often turned to gig-based jobs. Many gig economy companies pay people daily, or immediately when they finish a job. So, not surprisingly, these workers now prefer similar payment terms for their full-time jobs.

2. It is a Strong Recruiting Tool

Earned wage access is quickly becoming the norm. 70% of middle-market companies already offer this capability, and about 25% are planning to implement it soon, according to a 2022 Citizens Bank payments survey. In today’s competitive talent market, this growing trend puts companies at a disadvantage if they don’t provide it.

3. It Helps Boost Employee Retention

Once employees are onboard, earned wage access helps reduce “quiet quitting” as well as other forms of job dissatisfaction and disengagement that contribute to turnover. In fact, according to research from DailyPay, 59% of people with on-demand access say it motivates them to go to work. As a result, employers that offer this capability have improved their tenure rates by as much as 73%.

4. It Gives Employees Peace of Mind

78% of people with access to earned wages say it helps them pay bills on time and avoid late or overdraft fees. When people have instant access to the money they’ve earned, it helps them avoid falling behind on bills or experiencing other money burdens.

This means they’re less likely to be distracted by financial worries throughout the day and are more likely to focus on their job responsibilities. In fact, 74% of users say access to earned wages has helped reduce financial stress.

5. It Enhances Financial Wellness

Organizations naturally want to avoid putting employees in financial jeopardy. This is why many are educating staff to think of earned wage access as a “break-in-case-of-emergency” option, rather than a standard way to manage their income.

To support this mindset, many employers introduce earned wage access in tandem with financial literacy training. This helps employees learn about on-demand pay within the broader context of personal financial management.

As a result, they begin to view earned wage access as a “fallback” option in unusual circumstances, when immediate access to extra cash is necessary. In fact, according to one survey, 51% of users say on-demand wage access has helped improve their financial health, and 50% say it has helped them become more disciplined about spending.

The Bottom Line on Earned Wage Access

To recruit and retain talent in today’s challenging labor market, employers are increasingly turning to unique, practical perks that make life easier for employees. This is why earned wage access is quickly changing from a nice-to-have advantage to a must-have benefit for employers who want to remain competitive.

Fortunately, introducing this special pay option doesn’t require HR and financial teams to do anything differently. All you need to do is ensure that your organization works with payment providers who offer this service. As you roll out earned wage access, you can expect employees to respond with a stronger commitment to their work, and a deeper desire to remain with an employer that cares about their family’s financial health.

Grind Culture Isn’t Working. How Can Wellness Win?

October 23, 2023/Company Culture, Employee Benefits, Employee Burnout, Employee Well-Being, Health and Wellness, Mental Health Awareness, Winner: Impact Award for Content Excellence /by Erin Rouble

The Problem With Grind Culture

In recent years, “hustle” and “grind” culture have become equated with drive, ambition, and success. The logic is that if you are not incessantly working, you won’t meet your goals. Grind culture also ties a person’s worth to the product they produce. However, it comes at the expense of individual wellbeing.

The fact is, hustle and grind culture can seriously damage long-term physical and mental health. Often, people don’t even recognize how toxic grind culture can be until it directly erodes their own wellbeing.

Grind culture is especially prevalent in the corporate world. For example, a Deloitte study found that employees and C-suite executives, alike, feel exhausted and stressed. Specifically, about 1 in 3 people say they constantly struggle with fatigue and poor mental health.

Regardless, leaders are far more optimistic than employees about how their organizations are managing this challenge. For example, while only 56% of employees think executives care about their wellbeing, a whopping 91% of leaders say employees know they care.

This gap is causing companies to perpetuate grind culture at the expense of everyone’s health and wellbeing. Over time, overwhelming work-at-all-costs environments lead to multiple unwanted outcomes:

Increased stress, absenteeism, and burnout
Decreased productivity, quality, and job performance
Higher turnover rates

How can employers reverse this kind of toxic spiral — or avoid it altogether? First, let’s look at why workplace wellness is so powerful. Then, we’ll explore some ways that business and HR leaders can take proactive steps to squash toxic grind culture.

Benefits of Prioritizing Wellness

What is Wellness?

The terms wellbeing and wellness are often used interchangeably to describe a person’s overall physical, emotional, and mental health. But these concepts aren’t synonymous. Gallup explains the difference:

Wellness is “a healthy lifestyle beyond acute illness” that is shaped by cumulative lifestyle choices and habits.

Wellbeing, on the other hand, “encompasses the broader holistic dimensions of a well-lived life.” This includes physical, career, financial, social, and community wellbeing.

So, wellness is only one element of wellbeing — but it is a vital element. It’s also important to recognize that the various aspects of wellness are interconnected. In other words, if our mental, physical, or emotional health deteriorates in some way, other aspects of our health will be affected. Ultimately, this jeopardizes overall wellbeing.

The habits we adopt inside and outside of work directly influence our ability to feel good and perform at our best each day. And because most of us spend our waking hours on the job, employers need to prioritize workplace wellness and wellbeing.

The Business Case for Wellness

Employees who feel good physically, mentally, and emotionally are likely to have a positive attitude that fosters trust and collaboration – two hallmarks of a healthy work culture. But there are tangible benefits, as well. Primarily:

1. Decreased Health-Related Costs

Stress and burnout aren’t constant threats when you structure and manage work in a reasonable way. This helps employees find the necessary mental and physical energy to show up, concentrate, and contribute on a consistent basis. Certainly, it’s essential to offer healthcare support and personal time off. But happy, healthy, engaged employees don’t rely as heavily on these benefits. As a result, you’re likely to see fewer sick days, leaves of absence, and chronic conditions.

2. Increased Productivity

Employees who feel healthy, safe, and supported are significantly more productive. When people don’t feel overscheduled, overwhelmed, or micromanaged, they’re free to focus on doing their best during work hours. This improves efficiency, effectiveness, and quality — which together can elevate your bottom line.

3. Reduced Recruiting Costs

A healthier work culture leads to lower turnover. This translates into lower recruiting and training expenses that would otherwise be spent on replacing and onboarding lost talent. A culture of wellness also elevates your employer brand, which means you can attract and hire new talent more quickly, easily, and cost-effectively when the need arises.

How to Promote Workforce Wellness

Managers and HR leaders play a key role in guiding “grind culture” employees toward a culture of wellness. Whether your organization is big or small, everyone will need to be willing to help foster an environment where employees feel supported.

Here are 5 ways to replace grind culture with a healthier work environment:

1. Sufficient Paid Time Off

Taking time away from work is essential for mental rejuvenation. It promotes self-care and helps prevent burnout, which can be detrimental to individuals, teams, and the organization at large. Giving employees the autonomy to use their paid time off as they see fit demonstrates trust, which in turn, builds a strong employer-employee relationship and a healthy work culture.

To determine how much time off to provide, consider multiple scenarios: sick days, vacations, flexible days for caregiving or other personal needs, and an option for unpaid days when paid time off is depleted.

2. Flexible Schedules and Breaks

Although most businesses must operate during specific hours, the traditional 9-to-5 model is not for every employee. Consider scheduling that accommodates various personal responsibilities and lifestyles.

For example, you could let people choose their preferred daily start time — such as anytime between 8-10 a.m. — as long as they work the total required daily hours. By staggering start and end times, you can support different schedules and increase productivity. At the same time, your business can extend its hours of operation, which can improve your customer experience and top-line performance.

In addition, consider flexible break times. Some employees want a 60-minute lunch break, while others may prefer multiple shorter breaks throughout the day. Letting people decide how to allocate their break time isn’t likely to hurt your business. Instead, this flexible approach can boost morale, improve productivity, and help employees feel trusted.

3. Appropriate Equipment

Providing employees with the right tools and equipment is important for wellness. Whether they are working in an office or from home, when people have everything they need to function smoothly, they’ll be more comfortable and efficient.

This can include ergonomic chairs, dual monitors, adjustable desks, specialized software, or tools. Regardless, ensuring that people have easy access to the right equipment can reduce physical strain and mental stress, while promoting productivity.

4. Embrace “Work From Anywhere” and Flexible Hours

The recent remote work trend demonstrates that many jobs can be performed from anywhere. Offering a “work from anywhere” policy can reduce commute-related stress and personal expenses while giving employees an opportunity to choose the work setting that best suits their goals and preferences.

Letting employees work from home is especially attractive for parents who want to stay close to their young children throughout the day. But this kind of flexibility appeals to others as well. Many employers are finding that it dramatically improves job satisfaction, work quality, productivity, and retention.

5. Regular 1-on-1 Check-ins

Mandated check-ins by supervisors can play a pivotal role in gauging employee wellbeing. Project updates and deliverables are important. But it’s also essential to gather feedback about employee mental and physical wellness and work concerns.

By ensuring that managers regularly communicate with team members in a relaxed setting, you can help them identify issues earlier and address concerns head-on. It’s helpful to let employees determine the meeting agenda and remind managers that their mission is to listen and follow up on a timely basis.

Embed Priorities In a Wellness Policy

To demonstrate your company’s commitment, you’ll want to document your workforce wellbeing agenda and procedures in a formal policy. This gives the HR team responsibility for enforcement, support, and guidance as managers and employees navigate things such as time off requests.

Also, when these recommendations are formally documented, it ensures that employees won’t be reprimanded by managers or leaders who may want to choose short-term project deadlines or deliverables over employee wellness.

Lead by Example

Above all, for a culture of wellness to take hold, managers at all levels of the organization need to lead by example. It sets a positive precedent if managers take vacations, take sick days when needed, and show compassion towards team members.

Also, understanding that employee wellness isn’t a one-size-fits-all endeavor, it’s important to remain open to suggestions. By welcoming novel ideas and exhibiting genuine interest in collaborating with team members, managers create an environment where wellness is not just encouraged but actively practiced.

By implementing clear policies and fostering open communication, you can ensure that your most valuable asset — your employees — are happier, healthier, and more engaged. It’s an investment that’s well worth the effort.

Pet Perks: Why It’s Paws Up For This Hot Benefits Trend

October 17, 2023/Company Culture, Employee Benefits, Employee Well-Being, Healthcare and Benefits, HR, Open Enrollment, Workplace Empathy /by Becky Seefeldt

In the wake of the Covid pandemic, employee benefits have experienced a significant transformation. Increasingly, employers are focusing on benefits that enhance individual wellbeing and are easy to customize. Also, as budgets tighten, affordability is becoming a key factor. This is why pet perks continue to gain popularity.

How exactly are pet-friendly solutions adding value to employee benefits? Let’s take a closer look…

Why Pet Perks Are On The Rise

Employers invest in benefits because they want to attract top talent, foster a positive company culture, enhance employee engagement, increase inclusion, boost workforce wellbeing, and encourage retention. That’s a tall order for traditional benefits to fill.

So now, more employers are integrating innovative options like pet-friendly perks into their workforce benefits strategy. Compared with standard workplace benefits, pet perks may seem like a fringe concern. But they can be highly effective as part of a holistic approach that enriches the employee experience by recognizing individual needs, preferences, and values. Here’s why:

During the pandemic, pets became office mates for many people working from home. At the same time, interest in cat and dog adoption grew by 250%, with nearly 1 in 5 households adding a four-legged friend to their family.

People naturally want these companions to be happy and healthy — especially now, when many employees are returning to the office on a part-time or full-time basis. Pet-related benefits can provide financial and moral support that gives employees peace of mind and tells them you genuinely care about their quality of life.

How Pet Perks Work

One way to cover pet-related costs is through a specialty benefits account that each employee can personalize for their unique needs. This account can include a variety of options, such as:

Pet insurance
In-person and mobile veterinary services
Medicine/prescriptions
Obedience classes
Dog walkers
Grooming services
Pet food (including prescription food)
Pet sitters

How Pet Benefits Enhance the Employee Experience

Engaged employees are the key to a strong culture and a successful organization. When employees feel connected and cared for, they’re more committed, satisfied, and productive. One way to show you care for employees is by investing in what matters to them — including cherished pets.

Often, people think of their pets not just as animals, but as part of their family. Supporting employee pets with insurance, as well as pet-friendly policies and activities, demonstrates a genuine commitment to workforce wellbeing.

As a result, employees are likely to feel appreciated and valued as team members. Ultimately, this emotional connection can translate into improved job satisfaction, productivity, and willingness to go above and beyond in their work.

3 Ways Pet Perks Build Better Organizations

Pet-friendly policies, practices, and benefits help employers in a variety of ways. For example, this strategy can:

1. Attract and Retain Top Talent

Finding and keeping qualified talent can be challenging, especially in a tight labor market. Today’s job candidates are drawn to companies that actively support their growth, health, and overall quality of life. They’re also more inclined to choose an employer that appreciates and supports them as individuals.

Offering pet perks can help your organization stand out and tip the hiring scales. What better way to show applicants you care for your team than by actively supporting the health and welfare of their pets? And with a comprehensive pet-friendly strategy, you can appeal to a broader spectrum of candidates and strengthen your position as an empathetic employer.

A pet-friendly environment also can have a direct impact on retention. Research says employees are less likely to resign if they believe their boss values their pets and cares about their wellbeing. In fact, over half of dog owners say they would stay on board if they could bring their pets to work. This means pet-friendly policies and practices can lead to lower turnover and recruitment costs.

2. Foster a Positive, Diverse Company Culture

Collaboration, creativity, and innovation are hallmarks of thriving work cultures. One way to promote an atmosphere of camaraderie and belonging is through pet-friendly policies and practices.

For example, encouraging people to exchange pet-related stories and experiences can build common ground that brings team members closer together. What’s more, by welcoming pets to the workplace, you can foster an even stronger sense of companionship and community.

Inclusion is the secret to a rich company culture, so keep this in mind when developing pet benefit options. Ask everyone to participate in defining their interests and requirements. This encourages a sense of ownership and buy-in among the pet owners on your team.

3. Boost Wellbeing and Retention

Employee wellbeing is essential for job happiness, productivity, and longevity. A pet-friendly environment can improve physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing in multiple ways.

For instance, bringing pets to the office and participating in pet-related activities can create a more relaxed, fun work atmosphere. In fact, when one survey asked employees about the benefits of dogs at work:

58% said it boosts happiness
57% said it relieves anxiety or stress
55% said it encourages healthy breaks
52% said it increases social interaction

Other studies show that workplace pets help reduce stress and enhance mental health. This can lead to a more positive, productive environment.

In addition, by assisting with insurance and other pet-related services, you can make it possible for employees to give their pets the care they deserve without worrying about extraordinary costs. This financial security can reduce overall stress and improve emotional health.

Are You Ready to Run With Pet Perks?

For any company where staff wellbeing and cost efficiency are top priorities, pet benefits are a unique opportunity to put an “experience-first” benefits strategy in motion.

By embracing pets as a natural part of employee wellbeing, you can get a leg up in attracting talent in today’s competitive hiring market. Pet perks can distinguish your company as a progressive employer that cares about the unique needs of individual employees in a more holistic way. By welcoming pets, you can open the door to an environment that’s more fun and engaging for all.

What’s more, by financially supporting employee pets with personalized benefit options, you’re likely to boost retention, productivity, and performance. And getting started is easier than you might think.

How Can Employers Better Support Working Parents?

October 16, 2023/Employee Benefits, Employee Burnout, Employee Engagement, Employee Experience, Employee Retention, Employee Well-Being /by Lynn Perkins

Currently, about 40% of people in the U.S. workforce are parents whose kids are under 18 years old. With soaring childcare costs and limited government assistance, many organizations know it’s important to support working parents more fully. However, no standards have been established that define the kind of benefits these employees should receive.

While some companies provide comprehensive perks like paid family leave, free on-site childcare, lactation support, and family health care, others offer nothing. And sadly, research reveals that 44% of working parents think their employer does not care about their family’s financial wellbeing.

Still, one question remains on employers’ minds: Will providing more benefits and policies for parents lead to better business outcomes? New research says yes.

Key Facts About Today’s Working Parents

Earlier this year, an UrbanSitter study explored the challenges working parents are facing. These findings underscore the impact of seismic changes that are redefining modern organizations.

1. Parents Are Struggling to Adjust

From pandemic health concerns to remote work demands — and now return-to-office requirements — working parents continue to struggle as they navigate ongoing work trends. Now, unfortunately, the situation has reached an abysmal low:

Last year, 46% of working parents missed 10 or more work days to address caregiving issues.

Many attribute these missed days to family needs arising from a particularly strong surge in cold, flu, RSV, and COVID-19 cases during the previous fall and winter.

Additionally, an alarming 52% of working parents say they or their partner have had to make career changes due to caregiving issues.

2. The Stress is Showing

Hands down, for working parents, the need to juggle work and home responsibilities is the number one cause of stress. Caregiving issues and financial strain round out the top three sources of stress. No wonder nearly half (46%) of working mothers, a quarter of their partners, and more than 1 in 10 children are currently seeking therapy.

3. Federal Funds Are Running Dry

Adding further fuel to the fire, the government pull-back of pandemic relief childcare assistance in September is projected to cause 3.2 million children to lose childcare due to program closures.

This so-called “Childcare Cliff” and its ripple effects will have widespread implications. From parents being forced to quit or reduce hours so they can care for their children, to the financial impact it will have on organizations that lose valuable contributors, the drain on U.S. talent is bound to be felt across the employment landscape.

What Working Parents Need

Despite these gloomy statistics, our research suggests a clear path forward. When employers invest in benefits and policies to support working parents the situation improves. Specifically, absenteeism declines, productivity increases, employees feel supported, loyalty improves, and company culture gets a boost.

For example, when caregiving benefits are available:

Working parents miss 68% fewer workdays.

77% of new parents return to work after childbirth, significantly surpassing the industry average of 57%.

What’s more, 87% of survey participants said they would be more likely to stay with their current employer if they had access to caregiving benefits.

Ignoring the data – and the resounding call for comprehensive support – is no longer an option. Simply put, businesses that prioritize working parents’ needs will attract top talent and retain a more dedicated workforce.

5 Strategies for Employers to Support Working Parents

1. Prioritize Childcare Benefits and Stipends

Studies show that working parents desire childcare benefits more than any other financial reward — even performance-based bonuses or 401(k) contribution matching. This means employers should offer whatever childcare options they can reasonably afford.

Programs can include access to trusted in-home care or third-party centers, or even stipends managed through a reimbursement program. Various solutions are available to employers, so any company can implement a program that aligns with its budget and workforce preferences.

2. Embrace the Power of Flexibility

Employers can make a tremendous difference by offering working parents more freedom to determine the best way to balance work and family demands.

For instance, offering flexible schedules enables parents to choose work hours that suit their family’s needs. This gives them the ability to participate in school activities and manage doctor appointments without jeopardizing their work commitments.

3. Respond to Remote Work Preferences

Many parents strongly prefer remote work options over full-time return-to-office mandates. When this is the case, hybrid work models can be a viable compromise.

Numerous companies are finding success with flexible schedules based on 1-2 days per week in the office. Others are experimenting with more creative structures. For example, some alternate 1-2 in-office weeks with 1-2 remote weeks, so parents can more closely align their schedules with school holiday weeks.

4. Innovate with a 4-Day Workweek

Other non-traditional work arrangements are highly attractive to talent right now. For example, the 4-day work week is gaining momentum among many employers.

To understand why this strategy is becoming more mainstream, consider the case of online thrift store, ThredUp. Since the company moved to a 4-day workweek in 2021, the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

A year later, 93% of the company’s workforce said their overall productivity had increased. In addition, the retention rate among corporate employees reached 96%. Plus, 60% of newer employees said the shorter workweek “tipped the scale for them” when choosing to work for ThredUp over other companies.

5. Offer More Holistic Support

Expanding care benefits to include a broader spectrum of services can further ease the burden working parents face. For example, assistance with tutoring, pet care, senior care, and household needs such as housekeeping and errands helps parents stay focused and more productive when they’re working.

What’s more, this more expansive approach not only benefits working parents, but also non-parent employees who are caring for pets or elderly family members.

A Final Note on Supporting Working Parents

In a world where the demands of home and work have intensified, employers must acknowledge the critical role they play in working parents’ lives. By taking tangible steps to provide comprehensive support, businesses can create an environment that nurtures the wellbeing of working parents and also helps their organizations thrive.

Employers that invest in these strategies are seeing tangible benefits, with increased employee retention, productivity, innovation, and overall business performance. The choice is clear. Now is the time for employers to set the course for a brighter future by empowering working parents to succeed.

Employee Benefits Communication Success Strategies

October 3, 2023/Employee Benefits, Health and Wellness, Healthcare and Benefits, HR Communications, Open Enrollment /by Tarek Kamil

In the aftermath of the pandemic, employers have received a massive wake-up call — in more ways than one. Who knew so many people would rush to quit their jobs when The Great Resignation rolled through the workforce? And who thought organizations would still be embroiled in return-to-office battles, after everything we learned about remote work during the lockdown?

We’ve all felt our share of disruption in recent years. And with so much uncertainty around health and wellbeing, many employees are realizing just how important health benefits are. No wonder Pew Research found that, among people who quit their jobs in 2021, nearly half (46%) left primarily because benefits like health insurance and paid time off were lacking.

As a result, many employers have been racing to rethink their benefits packages. It makes sense for any organization that wants to attract and retain strong talent. But providing a comprehensive benefits package is not enough. You also need to be sure people understand what you offer and know how to make the most of what’s available to them.

This is where employee benefits communication can make a huge difference. In what ways? Let’s take a closer look at why and how the right strategies and tactics help…

Why Employee Benefits Communication Matters

You can provide the world’s best benefits package, but if people don’t know about it, you’re bound to miss the mark. This is why clear, consistent communication should be an integral part of your benefits strategy. Employees deserve to make informed decisions about the benefits they use. And it’s in your best interest to demonstrate your commitment to their wellbeing.

Employee benefits communication is more than just broadcasting information about healthcare plans, retirement savings programs, and other perks. It serves as a bridge between employers and employees by fostering workforce trust, engagement, and satisfaction.

Too often, employees don’t fully grasp the breadth and depth of their benefits package, or they’re unaware of recent updates and additions. For example, it’s not hard to imagine scenarios like these:

A staff member doesn’t realize they’re eligible for paid time off, so they forego much-needed opportunities to relax, recharge, and focus on personal priorities. Their stress level rises. putting them at risk of burnout.

Another employee avoids preventative medical care because they don’t know it’s covered by their health insurance plan. This delay causes an undetected condition to take hold.

Missed opportunities like these add up. And the negative impact reaches beyond employee health and wellbeing. It can also lead to costly unintended consequences when people feel exposed and unsupported, and they decide to leave.

In the wake of Covid, it’s even more important for employees to feel like they’re in the loop. Not only are healthcare costs continuing to rise, but people are more concerned about their health and wellbeing. In fact, 77% of survey respondents told CVS Health that the pandemic prompted them to pay more attention to their health in general, and 50% said the 2020 quarantine helped them achieve their health goals.

But on the downside, nearly 1 in 4 CVS survey respondents said they don’t understand their out-of-pocket medical care costs, and they don’t know how to interpret information published by their health plan provider.

By clearly communicating benefits, you can ensure that employees are more aware and invested in managing their wellbeing. This, in turn, can improve workforce productivity and loyalty.

Employee Benefits Communication in Recruitment

The first step in showing potential employees you truly care starts with effective benefits communication during the recruitment process. Most job candidates seriously consider benefits when choosing an employer, so showcasing your benefits package can differentiate your company and help seal the deal.

Be sure to clearly articulate the breadth and depth of your benefits in recruitment materials and job postings. This includes detailed information about health insurance, retirement plans, vacation policies, and any additional perks or unique offerings.

To make this information more coherent and memorable, you may want to publish a guide or brochure. Also, to extend your reach, consider using multiple communication channels.

For example, in addition to job postings and company websites, try leveraging social media platforms, employer branding videos, and employee testimonials to make your benefits offering more visible and enhance its perceived value. Digital outreach can help you tap into a broader pool of candidates with visually compelling content that is easy to access and understand.

How to Plan Benefits Communication

The annual enrollment period is naturally when organizations focus on benefits communication. But ideally, this is a continuous process. That’s why you’ll want to develop a year-round plan:

1. Before Open Enrollment

Create a communication roadmap to ensure that employees will have access to the information they need at the right time, so they can make informed decisions. This plan should outline key messages, relevant channels, and timelines for key events, as well as content development, production, and delivery.

Keep in mind that you’ll want to build awareness and anticipation among employees prior to open enrollment season, so they’ll be more prepared to engage when the time comes. Also, consider providing early access to educational resources and tools so people have ample time to familiarize themselves with available options and make informed choices.

2. During Open Enrollment

Targeted, ongoing communication is crucial throughout the open enrollment cycle. Plan to utilize various channels, such as email, intranet portals, and in-person meetings. This should ensure that employees receive consistent, personalized information about benefits options, relevant plan changes, and important deadlines.

Employees also appreciate opportunities to ask questions and seek clarification, whether through HR representatives, benefits fairs, online forums, or dedicated helplines. By maintaining open lines of communication, you can address any concerns promptly and provide the support people need to make informed decisions.

In addition, a benefits guide can be a particularly powerful tool, not just during enrollment but throughout the year. Think of it as a comprehensive resource with detailed information that clarifies various available options, along with eligibility criteria, enrollment processes, and frequently asked questions. You may also want to include real-life examples and case studies to help employees envision various benefits in action. This guide can be produced in print as well as digital formats, to meet diverse content preferences.

3. After Open Enrollment

Even after enrollment closes, you’ll want to reinforce the value of your organization’s benefits throughout the year. For example, you can provide timely updates when plans or processes change. Also, you can communicate about wellness activities, events, and resources, as well as employee assistance programs, and other support services.

In addition, it helps to offer feedback channels, as well as dedicated resources to assist employees who need help to access benefits and use them effectively. Regularly promoting these services reminds everyone that you care about their health and wellbeing.

Top Trends in Employee Benefits Communication

When planning, developing, and delivering benefits communication, consider these hot trends:

1. Personalization

Because individuals have unique communication needs and preferences, personalized communication is an increasingly important trend. By leveraging innovative AI technology, you can tailor benefits communication to individual life stages, topic interests, content preferences, and more. This customized approach elevates engagement and helps people better understand and appreciate the benefits available to them.

2. Multichannel Approach

With the rise of digital communication, it’s essential to adopt a multichannel strategy. By integrating diverse communication channels such as email, intranets, mobile apps, and social media platforms, you can reach employees across different generations and work environments. As a result, benefits information becomes more readily available when and where employees want it.

3. Gamification

Gamification techniques make benefits communication much more engaging and interactive. This includes quizzes, challenges, and online simulations that help educate employees about their benefits. By infusing an element of competitive fun, gamification encourages active participation, boosts knowledge retention, and improves the overall effectiveness of your communication efforts.

4. Simplified Language

To enhance comprehension and eliminate confusion, employers are moving away from complex jargon and using simplified language in benefits communication. By focusing on clear, concise messaging you can ensure that employees understand the details behind each benefit. This empowers them to make better-informed decisions.

A Final Note on Benefits Communication

Above all, keep in mind that successful benefits communication is an ongoing process that requires regular evaluation, adaptation, and feedback from employees. Working hand-in-hand with other internal communication efforts, benefits communication plays a vital role in shaping employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention. Ultimately, by relying on modern practices, you can develop and implement a communication strategy that resonates with your workforce and enhances their health and wellbeing.

The Affordable Care Act: Employer Strategies and Best Practices

September 27, 2023/Compliance, Editor's Picks, Employee Benefits, Featured, Healthcare and Benefits, HR /by Meghan M. Biro

Sponsored by ADP

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has transformed how employers offer and deliver healthcare to their employees. Whether you’re an established employer who’s been tackling the ACA’s myriad regulations since Day One, or a newer employer navigating them now, there are two elements you can’t overlook. First, compliance isn’t an option, it’s a must. Second, the ACA isn’t simple — and there’s a lot to know.

The risks of ignoring or getting ACA regulations wrong include potentially costly penalties, as well as tarnishing your carefully built employer brand. The good news is that there are plenty of resources in place for getting it right, from information to experts to technology. Read on for some tips on the best practices and strategies employers need to know to comply with the ACA.

The Affordable Care Act Explained: A Comprehensive Mandate

Signed into law in March of 2010 by President Obama, the Affordable Care Act established a mandate that changed the nature of employment, scaffolding a platform of healthcare offerings — and plenty of risks around non-compliance.

Size Matters

The bigger an organization, the more complex healthcare offerings are going to be, in general. The same is true with ACA compliance risks. But smaller organizations aren’t exempt. While not required to offer health coverage for their employees, if they do offer coverage, it must conform to ACA standards. For smaller businesses trying to attract and retain talent by offering benefits comparable to larger competitors, staying in compliance is critical.

1. Smaller Organizations

The ACA defines smaller organizations as those with less than 50 full-time or full-time equivalent employees. According to U.S. Census Bureau data published by J. P. Morgan Chase, nearly half of U.S. employees — 47.3% — work for small businesses. Most smaller businesses are very small: 88.1% have under 20 employees.

Smaller organizations may be eligible to offer their employees health insurance through the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Marketplace. This marketplace provides a platform for small employers to explore and purchase health insurance plans for their employees, with the ability to easily compare plans, access enrollment tools, and potentially qualify for small business tax credits.

If an organization has less than 25 full-time equivalent employees, and the sum total of average annual wages falls below a certain threshold (which changes year to year), it may be eligible for tax credits under the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit to help offset the cost of providing health insurance coverage to employees.

2. Larger Organizations

Any employer with 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employees is considered an applicable large employer (ALE) according to the Affordable Care Act. ALEs need to offer at least basic health care coverage — known as minimum essential coverage (MEC). They also need to meet the ACA’s Employer Shared Responsibility Provisions, which mandate that health insurance coverage is offered to at least 95% of the organization’s full-time employees and their dependents.

The ACA describes mandated coverage as “affordable” and “adequate” — terms that can’t be ignored. Employers are prohibited from placing the burden of excessive costs onto employees (as in unbalanced cost-sharing).

Affordability criteria apply to all employers: essentially, it’s correlated to an employee’s required contribution for coverage, which is no more than 9.12% of that employee’s household income in 2023. As for adequate coverage, it must conform to ACA standards and include essential health benefits.

Timely Reporting and the Right Forms

Employers face a range of reporting requirements, including accurate documentation, timely, careful reporting of employee information, and filing by the deadline with the IRS and other state agencies. Most organizations will want to work with ACA experts to make sure they’re complying with the ACA’s strict and complex reporting requirements. There are layers of information to address correctly, along with periodic changes to adjust to as the ACA is updated.

While small employers don’t have to file the same IRS forms as large employers (see below for those), they may be required to provide a Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) to their employees, as well as other information. Again, it’s important to stay up to date to meet transparency requirements, avoid penalties, and receive certain tax credits.

As for large employers, along with various forms for state agencies, they need to file:

1095-C form with information on what the coverage offers, employee eligibility, and coverage affordability;

1094-C form that summarizes information on the 1095-C, and includes an overview of compliance with ACA requirements as well as the number of employees covered;

1095-B form for health insurance providers and self-insured providers, which includes information on people covered under their health plans, duration of coverage, period of coverage, and other details.

These forms are usually filed at the end of February or March (if filed digitally) of the next calendar year for the year before. That means the right forms have to be provided to employees by January 31. (As with all things IRS, best not be late. Read on…)

Employer Penalties and Risks

Depending on the size of your organization and the level of non-compliance with the ACA, you could be looking at substantial penalties.

Calculate your potential risk with ADP’s ACA Compliance calculator.

For smaller organizations, the penalties are understandably smaller in scale. But there are consequences if, for instance, they fail to provide affordable coverage, or if an employee qualifies for a premium tax credit through the Health Insurance Marketplace — since they didn’t have access to affordable health care coverage through their employer.

For large organizations, as of 2023, an ALE that doesn’t meet the 95% compliance requirements for full-time or full-time equivalent employees and their dependents could face a 4980H(a) penalty. This is a yearly penalty of $2,880 (or $240 for each month) per full-time employee, minus the first 30 employees. An ALE that provides unaffordable employer-sponsored coverage, provides coverage that doesn’t meet minimum value requirements, or has one or more full-time employees who receive subsidized coverage through the exchange could face a 4980H(b) penalty. This is a yearly penalty of $4,320 divided by 12 for each full-time employee who receives subsidized coverage through an exchange in a month.

Staying in Compliance: 6 Best Practices

Ensuring compliance with the ACA takes a multi-pronged approach, from staying on top of eligibility information, to meticulous documentation, to leaning on an expert team, to leveraging the best technology. Consider these six best practices as part of your ACA strategy:

1. Dive into Employee Eligibility

This isn’t a guessing game. Employee eligibility criteria involve multiple factors, including hours worked and full-time or part-time status. Full-time means those working at least 30 hours a week or 130 hours a month, on average. Full-time equivalency looks at the combined hours worked by part-time employees.

2. Manage Affordability

Stay on top of affordability requirements as they change year to year, and make sure you understand the ACA’s definition of affordability. Employers should also regularly review their coverage to make sure it’s still within affordability parameters, since healthcare costs are rarely fixed. Be proactive at monitoring costs so you don’t wind up in noncompliance.

3. Maintain Documentation

Create a system for keeping all documentation related to ACA. Retain all records on eligibility, coverage offers and any changes made to health plans. Keep all documentation on affordability calculations and credits, as well as communication with employees.

Retain all reports and forms, and include details about when data was filed, what data was filed, and other pertinent information. Whatever format you use — such as electronic folders or Cloud-based storage — make sure it’s secure, accessible, and permits easy, fast retrieval. Establish document retention protocols that meet industry best practices as well as your organization’s own internal practices.

4. Conduct Continuous, Careful Reporting

Timely and accurate reporting of required information is crucial for ACA compliance. Stay updated on reporting deadlines and be ready to provide the necessary documentation in compliance with ACA regulations. Another trigger for penalties is not filing accurate or on-time information returns with the IRS and applicable state agencies. A shoddy reporting system could be expensive.

5. Build a Team You Trust

A thorough compliance strategy team can provide the critical support employers need to navigate the ACA’s complexities. It ensures that a business can benefit from a breadth of expertise, establish a coordinated approach, and stay on top of regulatory changes and developments.

The presence of an ACA team can also encourage compliance across multiple tiers and locations of a larger organization, establishing a single source of truth, as it were, along with a consistent, timely, organized strategy. Adherence isn’t always a simple matter. As with all complex regulations, there may be gray areas and there will likely be questions. How effectively and quickly these can be addressed could make all the difference when it comes to avoiding penalties.

6. Harness the Power of a Digital Platform

Combining a team that understands ACA compliance with digital tools that streamline ACA compliance processes is a win for any organization. It enables employers to focus on core business operations without losing sleep over ACA compliance risks. A robust platform designed to simplify and optimize at the same time can offer a range of functions covering everything from reporting and forms access to data hygiene and updates. It’s a highly effective approach to mitigating risk and minimizing compliance gaps.

What to look for in an ACA compliance platform? Look for a system packed with the right features. Look for automation that makes it easy to generate ACA forms with accuracy — that, alone, can be a game changer. Make sure the platform offers integration and data management between HR, benefits administration, and ACA reporting tools, as well as a central, safe location for records and data management.

Real-time monitoring and reporting, easy-to-use dashboards and analytics can provide of-the-moment status and progress, and support timely compliance. Tools for calculating potential risks and penalties can shed light on questions quickly and support better decision-making. As with any modern platform, an array of integrated features means an employer is well-supported. In this case, integration is essentially table stakes.

If You Get a Penalty Notice

The most important first step to take if you receive a penalty notice is to respond quickly. Then, reach out to your team. And if you don’t have an ACA team of HR professionals or dedicated, trusted ACA experts, this is when you’ll need it.

Lean on your team for guidance on how to best establish a plan of action. Focus on responding with thorough due diligence and correct documentation. Make sure the reasons for the noncompliance finding are clear, and carefully address and resolve each requirement detailed in the penalty notice with your team’s support.

The Affordable Care Act: New Landscape, New Complexities, New Changes

Like many transformative pieces of legislation, the ACA is anything but static. It’s a continually iterating set of requirements and standards. Established with the best of intentions, it undoubtedly raised the bar for what employers offer in terms of healthcare to their employees, as well as how much time, care, and effort goes into administration.

At the same time, modern organizations are dealing with the pressure to stay competitive, stay relevant, attract and retain strong talent, and grow in the new world of work. Healthcare as an industry has also changed — and its evolution continues.

The keys to navigating the ACA in this environment are adhering to best practices, reaching out for external expertise, and leveraging the best digital solutions available. It’s this combination of resources that will most effectively streamline compliance efforts, reduce risks, and provide the most comprehensive and affordable healthcare to your workforce.

Learn more about compliance with The Affordable Care Act from ADP’s ACA experts in this on-demand webinar: “The ACA and Health Care Reform: Federal and State Developments.”

Employee Experience by the Numbers: Top 5 Concerns

September 26, 2023/Company Culture, Employee Engagement, Employee Experience, Employee Recognition, Employee Retention, Healthcare and Benefits, Talent Analytics /by Jose Andres

In recent years, employee experience has taken center stage as a primary indicator of organizational success. As a result, HR and business leaders increasingly want to understand which employee experience concerns are top of mind for today’s workforce.

Gone are the days when a stable job with a reasonable salary was the only key to employee satisfaction and retention. Now, employers recognize that a more holistic approach yields numerous benefits. For example:

Satisfied employees tend to be more productive, innovative, and loyal.
Employees who are committed and engaged, become powerful company advocates, not just internally, but among public circles, as well. This kind of support leads to a more positive employer brand.
A strong employee experience helps attract and retain top performers.

Recently, we conducted a survey to explore today’s biggest employee experience concerns and their underlying factors. Based on input from more than 10,000 employees at nearly 100 technology companies, this employee experience report paints a comprehensive picture of how people feel about their jobs and work environments.

Whether you’re an HR professional seeking to improve your organization’s talent strategy or a business leader aiming to provide a more fulfilling work environment, these findings can help you drive positive change. Specifically, the survey revealed 5 issues that deserve more attention…

Top 5 Employee Experience Concerns in 2023

1. Compensation is Lacking

Fair, competitive salaries are essential to attract and retain top talent. However, many organizations don’t seem to meet expectations. In fact, 46% of survey participants told us they deserve a salary increase.

If financial constraints make it difficult to offer direct salary increases, creative alternatives may fill the gap. Strategies like these may help:

Expand Benefits Choices

Adding more options can make a significant difference. For instance, practical perks such as meal vouchers, childcare discounts, and transportation subsidies are highly appealing to some staff members. Diverse choices add flexibility to your compensation framework while helping more employees feel valued and supported.
Emphasize Intangible Benefits

Quality of life is deeply important to many employees. You can appeal to their interests with solutions that address post-pandemic work-life challenges. For instance, develop a formal remote work or hybrid work program, try implementing a 4-day workweek or flexible work schedule, or offer extra vacation time as a company-wide bonus option.
Manage Private Healthcare Coverage More Effectively

Healthcare coverage is the cornerstone of a holistic compensation package. It promotes employee health and wellbeing, while serving as an attractive incentive for job candidates. However, as healthcare costs continue to rise, access to quality care is at risk. Negotiating better insurance packages on behalf of your staff can position your company as an industry leader.
Facilitate Training Scholarships

Many employees recognize the value of continuous learning and skill development. Adding subsidies for professional development and continuing education to your compensation scheme encourages professional growth while preparing team members for the future of work.
Encourage Performance-Based Bonuses

Does your organization have a well-defined bonus program? Fair, equitable financial incentives are a dynamic mechanism that motivates people and reinforces achievement. By linking goals to rewards, you inspire employees to excel while advancing your organization’s agenda.

In summary, salary remains a critical concern. However, because employee experience is complex, a multifaceted compensation strategy makes sense. Think of creative ways to circumvent internal constraints so you can keep your workforce motivated, satisfied, and engaged.

2. Stress is Overwhelming

Persistent stress erodes physical and psychological wellbeing. As a result, unrelenting work stress drains employee motivation, productivity, engagement, and performance.

Remarkably, 33% of employees told us they suffer from work-related stress. Employers can’t afford to ignore this issue. But what actions are helpful?

Invest in Wellness of All Types

Employee wellbeing touches all facets of life, including mental, physical, emotional, financial, social health, and beyond. Ideally, all these dimensions work together to support people throughout their professional lives. By offering a variety of wellness programs, you can help employees build the strength and resilience they need to adjust and move through personal and professional challenges.
Promote Awareness and Education

If people don’t understand what causes work stress, they’re likely to struggle. Raising awareness about warning signs and skills to deal with these challenges helps people act on their own behalf. For instance, you can offer classes and resources about mindfulness and stress reduction, as well as time management, communication, and delegation techniques. By developing skills like these, employees learn how to recognize and respond to factors that trigger stress.
Establish Channels for Open Dialogue

Healthy cultures foster open communication. This includes opportunities to acknowledge employee issues and actively address those concerns. Collaborative conversations about stress and its causes not only lead to better solutions but also strengthen the bonds between employees and the organization.

The ramifications of chronic stress transcend the individual experience, casting a shadow over workforce productivity and morale. By fostering a culture of wellness, you can ease stress for individuals and create an environment where employees thrive.

3. Work-Life Balance Doesn’t Exist

Healthy work-life integration drives employee commitment, motivation, and performance. At the same time, it relieves work stress, which can increase job satisfaction.

Our survey revealed that 26% of employees think work encroaches on their personal life. That’s not ideal. How can employers reduce this statistic?

Commit to Flexible Work Solutions

There are many viable possibilities. Flextime, remote or hybrid work models, and 4-day workweeks can help steer employees toward a more harmonious work-life coexistence.

As heated return-to-office debate continues, post-pandemic organizations have reached a critical crossroads. Standard work models may seem “safe,” but many employees no longer think they’re realistic.

In terms of work-life balance, flexibility helps people thrive professionally without compromising personal priorities. This can reduce work stress and elevate job satisfaction. If your company is still on the fence about return-to-work mandates, carefully weigh the potential consequences of ignoring work-life balance.

4. Employers Impose Too Many Needless Rules

Managing internal mandates consumes valuable time. Even worse, they can undermine your team’s ability to perform at its best. At least this is what we heard from 25% of employees who say their company enforces too many rules that serve no purpose.

Clearly, this gap needs attention. A possible solution is to involve employees in decisions about policies and procedures. By actively seeking input, you’re more likely to uncover redundant or needless standards. In addition, you can confirm which rules are crucial to operational excellence and gain broader support for enforcement.

When streamlining processes, constructive feedback is a powerful tool. It can help improve organizational efficiency. At the same time, it cultivates a sense of ownership among employees, which can foster a culture of continuous improvement.

5. Recognition is in Short Supply

When people aren’t recognized enough for their effort and results, their motivation and satisfaction levels suffer. And unfortunately, too many employers are missing the mark. In fact, 31% of respondents told us they prefer more frequent recognition.

Overcoming this challenge requires proactive measures. One strategy is to develop a formal process that encourages managers to share more meaningful recognition on a more consistent basis.

For example, programs that incorporate gamification techniques have proven highly effective. Some organizations also include peer recognition in their programs. This adds a dimension of mutual appreciation while reinforcing a sense of teamwork and camaraderie.

By prioritizing interpersonal workplace dynamics, recognition programs can boost morale and strengthen organization-wide engagement and performance.

Employee Experience Concerns Matter

Today’s post-pandemic workplace is shifting in multiple ways. Employee expectations and career aspirations are changing rapidly. It’s essential for companies to understand and respect these dynamics.

As you consider the 5 employee experience concerns we’ve outlined, what should you keep in mind? Organizations that prioritize these issues and respond thoughtfully are better equipped to attract and retain talent. Also, they’re creating cultures that thrive on adaptability, appreciation, and wellbeing. In short, they’re preparing now for continued success.

If you build your workplace on this foundation, you can look forward to being much more successful in the years ahead, as well.

Using Employee Perks to Beat Inflation

August 18, 2023/Employee Benefits, Employee Happiness, Employee Retention, Featured, Podcast, Podcast Recap, Podcast Recaps /by Meghan M. Biro

Sponsored by Abenity

Employee perks are like mom and apple pie. Who doesn’t love them? Still, employers may hesitate to invest in “extras” like perks programs in this shaky economy. But perks and discounts are much more than just a fun way to help employees feel special. They’re also a smart talent strategy.

Want proof? Here are several impressive statistics:

60% of job seekers told Glassdoor that perks are a big factor when they’re choosing to accept a job offer.

When companies prioritized employee engagement (including meaningful benefits and perks) 31% saw increased productivity, while 80% saw reduced turnover, according to Brandon Hall Research.

Perks Aren’t Just for Big Companies

You may be thinking only large-scale employers can afford to offer great employee perks. Or if you’re on a tight budget, you may think offering a complete program would be too costly. But actually, that’s not the case. If you check out this podcast conversation, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised…

Meet Our Guest: Ben McIntyre

I’m excited to introduce you to Ben McIntyre, Client Success Manager at Abenity — an innovative employee perks and discounts company. Ben and his team help organizations of all sizes provide employees with meaningful savings that help stretch their earnings further. This means employees can afford more necessities and nice-to-haves, as well.

As a big fan of creative perks and benefits, I want to know more. So let’s dig in!

Why Employee Perks Matter

Welcome, Ben. Why are perks and benefits so important now, for employees and employers alike?

As prices continue to rise and employers look to the year ahead, they’re concerned that pay raises won’t be enough to help employees overcome inflation.

But perks can make a difference. They provide added purchasing power, both for things employees need to do, and for things they want to do more.

This crosses into financial wellbeing. But perks tie into other benefit areas as well. Physical wellbeing is an example. Some employers have had to cut back on subsidies for gym memberships and related benefits. But we have an entire health and wellness category that can touch physical and mental wellness.

An Innovative Approach to Perks

You have such a cool platform. I’d love to hear why your founders, Brian and Tim Roland, started this 15 years ago…

At the time, Brian worked for a cell phone service provider, offering employee discounts to large companies. And of course, he wasn’t the only one sharing exciting perks with these employers. But although HR teams appreciated it, they found it a burden to maintain accurate information and communicate with employees about all these perks.

So Brian and his brother built a platform where employers could centralize all their perks and discount offers in one place. It gave merchants and employees direct access to the platform, as well.

Over the years, we’ve expanded on that with our own network of national and local offers. And now, we have over 1 million redemption locations with savings in 12 categories.

Why Some Employers Hesitate

This seems like such an easy, low-cost way to show appreciation. What issues prevent companies from adding employee perks to their benefits package?

One of the biggest obstacles is probably the time people think it takes to offer great perks.

For example, we’re working with a large university that previously devoted a full team member to managing all of its perks. But now, almost all of that person’s time is available for other priorities.

What Undecided Employers Should Know

Right now, I’m sure many organizations are on the fence about investing in new benefit programs. What would you tell them?

No matter what size your organization may be, your employees will stretch their payroll dollars further than the cost of offering this benefit.

For instance, last week I was looking at the savings for a large healthcare provider we serve. Their employees saved $30,000 last year on Disneyland tickets! And that’s just one merchant out of thousands.

Plus this is really flexible. No matter what a person’s income and expenses may be, they always want to save money. And along the way, they want to feel special and appreciated.

Perks can help make that possible.

Learn More About Employee Perks

For more insights about how organizations can make the most of employee perks, listen to this full podcast episode. And be sure to subscribe to the #WorkTrends Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.

You’ll also find tons of helpful resources on the Abenity blog.

And anytime you want to continue this conversation on social media, follow our #WorkTrends hashtag on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Let’s talk!

How to Boost Workforce Mental Health, Even on a Budget

August 11, 2023/Employee Benefits, Employee Burnout, Employee Happiness, Employee Well-Being, Health and Wellness, Mental Health Awareness /by Ann Wyatt

In today’s fractured, post-pandemic world, workforce mental health has emerged as a critical concern for business and HR leaders — and with good reason. The urgency of this issue is reflected in staggering statistics from multiple sources. For instance:

Last year, 56% of global employees told Gallup they struggle with stress and wellbeing, while another 9% said they were suffering.

That same Gallup research reveals particularly troubling trends in the U.S. Since 2021, the proportion of those who are struggling increased from 38% to 45%, while suffering rose from 2% to 4%. At the same time, those are thriving dropped from 60% to 52%.

The business consequences of this malaise are significant. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, depression is estimated to cause 200 million lost workdays a year, at a cost to employers of $17 to $44 billion.

No wonder workforce mental health has become a pressing concern among business leaders. For instance, when Willis Towers Watson asked U.S. employers to identify their top priorities for the next three years, a whopping 67% replied, “Enhancing mental health and emotional wellbeing programs and solutions.” This means leaders are just as concerned about this as they are about the cost of managing their company’s healthcare plan!

Unfortunately, despite widespread interest in addressing this challenge, many organizations are operating on tighter budgets these days. As a result, it’s difficult for employers to offer effective workforce wellbeing solutions.

However, cost issues aren’t stopping resourceful HR teams from moving forward. In my role at HealthFitness, I work with a variety of companies that have developed budget-friendly strategies to address employee mental health challenges. To learn about some of the most successful approaches I’ve seen, read on…

5 Low-Cost Ways to Support Workforce Mental Health

1. Innovate to Avoid a High Price Tag

Some companies are relying on their creativity to support mental wellbeing without breaking the bank. For instance: One tech firm has introduced a “Days for Me” program that lets every employee choose four days a year to focus on self-care.

Another company in the biopharmaceutical industry has implemented a “Mental Health Ally Program.” The program features Mental Health First Aid training that helps employees recognize and respond to colleagues’ needs. Specficially, through scenarios and videos, this skills-based certification course teaches employees a 5-step action plan, so they can identify and address signs of mental health and substance use issues. The certification is valid for three years and can be renewed online. This makes it easy for people to develop important knowledge and skills they can continue to apply as they move forward in their careers.

2. Optimize Employee Assistance Programs

I also see organizations expanding existing employee assistance program (EAP) benefits so they can improve access to valuable mental health support. For example, some employers are shifting to on-site EAP services so access to help is more convenient.

Others are increasing the number of covered EAP appointments they offer each year. One energy company we work with has increased covered EAP appointments from 5 to 8 per year, per household. This simple step gives employees more options at a minimal additional cost to the company.

3. Sponsor Company-Wide Time Off for Wellness

Dedicating paid time off for all employees to focus on mental health is a particularly powerful way to encourage workforce wellbeing. Plus, when everyone is out of the office at the same time, people are less likely to become anxious about work piling up in their absence.

You may be familiar with some tech industry companies that have implemented variations on this concept, such as Global Wellness Days, Global Shutdowns, or No Meeting Fridays. The options are endless, but the point is to provide the entire workforce with designated opportunities to recharge and prioritize self-care. By encouraging this kind of behavior across the organization, employers are cultivating a culture that values work-life balance and mental wellbeing.

4. Design Stress-Reducing Spaces

Another low-cost idea — establish special areas in the workplace that help employees decompress and mitigate stress. For instance, some employers are setting up de-stress stations in common areas with puzzles, games, and mindfulness activities. These spaces offer employees a convenient place to relax and unwind when they need a break.

One company provides an on-site dog park for employees, so their trusty companions have room to roam during the workday. Other organizations offer designated meditation areas with comfortable seating, restful lighting, and minimal distractions, so people can take some time to calm their minds when they feel anxious or overwhelmed.

These simple measures are effective at enhancing employee wellbeing and productivity. Yet they don’t require a significant financial investment.

5. Lead by Example

Finally, it probably goes without saying, but HR and business leaders play a crucial role in championing workforce mental health. Of course, offering mental health benefits is important. But the most compelling way to advocate for wellbeing is to lead by example.

Increasingly, leaders are engaging people in honest discussions about mental health at work. By sharing their own stories, they can inspire employees to prevent, detect, manage, and resolve work-related stress, anxiety, burnout, and other challenges. And by making mental resilience and self-care a personal priority, they help others recognize how important these issues are.

Ultimately, by demonstrating a genuine commitment to wellbeing and fostering a supportive work environment, leaders can set the tone for the entire organization.

A Final Note on Workforce Mental Health

Addressing mental and emotional wellbeing on a limited budget is an ongoing challenge — there’s no doubt about it. However, smart organizations are seeing results by making the most of the resources they already have. It may involve something as simple as establishing spaces for stress reduction, adding a new course to educate employees about mental health support, or offering designated time off for self-care. Regardless, even small steps can help organizations make big strides.

Mental health challenges may be on the rise. But many organizations are discovering that it’s possible to develop a healthier, happier, more productive workplace, even when budgets are tight. Real progress starts when HR and business decision-makers take the lead in demonstrating a commitment to workforce mental health and building a supportive culture. How is your organization responding to this need?

Are You Turning Into THAT Boss? 4 Red Flags

August 7, 2023/Company Culture, Employee Experience, Leadership /by Mark Wachen

We often hear that people don’t leave jobs, they leave managers. We all get what that means. But what does it mean for those of us who take on broader roles? As we rise through the ranks, we silently vow never to become THAT boss. You know the one. It’s the manager employees fear and avoid — the one they talk about in hushed tones or in private Slack messages.

How do you know if you’re morphing into the very kind of leader you swore you’d never become?

At a time when companies are struggling with an uncertain workforce, high turnover, and a lack of employee engagement, leaders must stay focused on talent retention. This means you’ll want to be extra careful not to become your employees’ worst nightmare.

But what kind of signals indicate that you’re the kind of boss no one wants? And how can you steer clear of this fate? Let’s take a closer look…

4 Signs You’re Becoming THAT Boss

1. THAT Boss Replaces Flexible Work Options With Rigidity

The pandemic dramatically changed our work environments. Now, after working remotely for more than three years, many leaders are eager to see an office full of employees. But some are moving too swiftly and going to extremes.

Rather than retaining some of the flexibility that became the norm when many of us were working from home, some leaders are intent on forcing employees to return to pre-COVID office standards. Yet according to multiple studies, employees prefer flexible work options. In fact, research shows that productivity and collaboration don’t need to suffer when team members work from various locations.

For example, according to The Hackett Group, professionals want to work remotely 60% of the time and in the office 30% of the time. This clearly indicates that employees want the flexibility to work on their own terms. This study also found that employees who can choose their work location are more engaged. Specifically, engagement increased among 58% of those with work flexibility. Also, these respondents indicated greater willingness to remain with their current employer, rather than look elsewhere.

Some leaders are concerned that employees who aren’t working in the office may not feel connected or engaged with their team. This has prompted them to implement hybrid work policies. But the Hackett Group found no change in collaboration or engagement when comparing hybrid and work-from-home models. In fact, respondents who are free to choose a flexible work model said they feel more connected with team members and with their organization’s values, mission, and culture.

2. THAT Boss Needlessly Cuts Pay and/or Benefits

Budgets are tighter — and inflation and economic upheaval aren’t making the situation any easier. In this kind of situation, leaders may be tempted to reduce compensation and benefits. After all, payroll is usually an organization’s biggest overall cost.

But unless your company is truly in dire straits, these cuts can be a serious morale killer. It sends a message that you undervalue employees. Even worse, it suggests that you aren’t willing to invest in keeping exceptional talent onboard. This can leave some of your most critical employees feeling overworked, under-appreciated, and frustrated. Ultimately, they may even become burned out.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that although salary is a key issue for employees, it’s not the only factor they consider when deciding whether to stick around.

According to recent Forbes Advisor research, 40% of employers say employees leave because they’re attracted to better benefits elsewhere. In other words, today’s workforce places a high priority on health insurance, life insurance, retirement plans, mental health support, paid time off, and other employer-sponsored programs.

This may seem obvious, but as a leader, you need to ensure that your team’s basic needs are covered. This starts with fair, competitive pay. But if you also offer diverse benefits that support employee wellbeing, people will be much more inclined to stay onboard and do their best, even during difficult times.

3. THAT Boss Doesn’t Show Appreciation

Don’t ignore the efforts of your greatest asset — your people. Attitude costs you nothing, and an attitude of gratitude goes a long way toward helping people feel they’re valued and they belong. In fact, workplace surveys consistently show that employee appreciation and recognition programs help boost productivity, reduce absenteeism, lift engagement, and drive better business results.

There is actually science behind this. Genuine recognition and appreciation meet employees’ basic psychological needs. This is why several studies equate consistent work recognition with higher pay in terms of providing a fulfilling employee experience.

We also see this in data at my company, CardSnacks. We offer electronic greetings and gift cards for holidays of all types. However, our business category is driven by ongoing employee recognition and appreciation, not just specific calendar events like Employee Appreciation Day or Administrative Professionals’ Day.

It’s easy to send someone a quick note or a gift card along with a heartfelt thanks. Even that small investment in time and resources strengthens your connection with employees in ways that boost their commitment and productivity.

4. THAT Boss Flubs Communications

Employees look to managers for leadership every day. Good leadership requires strong communication. Don’t just focus on your team’s mistakes and what hasn’t been done yet. Instead, speak with empathy, communicate clearly, and try to inspire others. As a manager, make it your mission to act like the person you’ve most enjoyed working with in your career.

Also, remember to maintain an even keel. Organizational life is a continuous cycle of highs and lows. Effective leaders know a steady hand is essential to navigate the storms of business life. If you create an environment where people feel they’re lurching from crisis to crisis, it won’t be long before valued team members start jumping ship.

So stay calm, pick the right words, and set the right tone. The better you communicate, the better your results will be as a manager, and the more people will want to work with you.

Don’t Become THAT Boss

No one needs you to be the worst kind of boss. Instead, you can choose to listen to your staff, show empathy and gratitude, and ensure that everyone receives compensation and benefits that outshine your competitors.

You can create a work environment that encourages your employees to be successful on their own terms. If you do this, I guarantee, you’ll never need to look in the mirror and see the boss you never wanted to be.

Menopause at Work: What We All Should Know

June 16, 2023/Employee Benefits, Employee Burnout, Employee Engagement, Employee Happiness, Employee Well-Being, Featured, Health and Wellness, Healthcare and Benefits, Podcast, Podcast Recap, Podcast Recaps /by Meghan M. Biro

Sponsored by Peppy Health

When you think of menopause, what comes to mind? If you’ve already experienced this transition, you know the symptoms can disrupt your work life in unexpected ways. (Imagine a hot flash suddenly coming on when you’re leading an important team meeting. Didn’t your body get the memo?)

Concerns like these are causing far too many mid-career women to leave their jobs at a critical stage in their work journey. In fact, research says 1 in 4 menopausal women consider resigning, while 1 in 10 actually do walk away.

This is a double whammy for the world of work. It damages the earnings potential of women in their prime, while simultaneously jeopardizing business momentum for employers. After all, replacing experienced talent is tough — especially in today’s competitive market.

What to do? Let’s dig deeper…

Meet Our Guest: Barb Dehn

Please join me in welcoming Barb Dehn, VP of Menopause and Women’s Health Services at Peppy Health — specialists in gender-inclusive healthcare. Barb is a practicing nurse practitioner, award-winning author and nationally recognized health educator. She is certified by the North American Menopause Society (NAMS), and is also a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (FAANP).

We’re so fortunate Barb is bringing her expertise to us today, so we can learn about the all-too-often underestimated impact of menopause on today’s workforce. So let’s dive in!

The Stigma of Menopause

Welcome, Barb. Why don’t we start by discussing the stigma surrounding women and menopause. Do you think this is a byproduct of ageism?

Absolutely, there’s a stigma. And it directly affects a lot of women for several reasons:

First, we don’t want to let our biology telegraph that we’re getting older. So if you’re having a hot flash or a night sweat, or maybe you’ve noticed a little chin hair, you may feel like you’re not in control of your biology.

Also, you may wonder if others notice you’re not as young as you used to be. You may suddenly go blank in a presentation because you’re one of the 67% of menopausal women who experience brain fog.

We want to be part of a team and we want to be super productive. But that can be difficult if we’re not sleeping well. And sleep issues can last for 3-7 years before menopause even begins.

Linking Menopause With Wellbeing

Since the pandemic, wellness has taken center stage at work. What kind of menopause support can employers provide?

There’s so much companies can do. They may offer health insurance, but it can be difficult to get an appointment with a specialist about menopause-related issues. Even then, specialists sometimes dismiss people or minimize their symptoms.

So employers are stepping up and offering easy access to specialized health-related services for women, men and the LGBTQ community.

The Impact on Midlife Careers

I was surprised to see that 25% of menopausal women have considered leaving the workforce. Why is that?

Women may struggle because they’re juggling other stressors. Perhaps they’re caring for family members — elderly parents or maybe teenagers at home.

But then if their sleep cycles are disrupted by hot flashes or night sweats, they’re up all night. So it’s not surprising when they feel they can’t function.

Resources for HR

So, what kind of resources are available to managers and HR?

Well, listening to this podcast is a start. We need to be open and more curious about this.

Also, an anonymous survey might help you find out what people are experiencing so you can respond to their needs, rather than making assumptions.

Plus, you don’t need to be an expert to offer a safe, open door policy and give people some flexibility when they need it.

And of course, I invite everyone to visit Peppy.Health online, because we have all sorts of free resources, from anonymous surveys to downloadable PDFs you can use to help people talk with their managers about this…

For more insights from Barb about how to help people manage menopause at work, listen to the full podcast episode. And be sure to subscribe to the #WorkTrends Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.

Also, to continue this conversation on social media anytime, follow our #WorkTrends hashtag on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Employee Retention Strategies: 9 Ideas That Are Working

May 15, 2023/Company Culture, Employee Engagement, Employee Experience, Employee Happiness, Employee Retention, Talent Retention, Winner: Impact Award for Content Excellence /by Brett Farmiloe

Keeping valued employees onboard is top-of-mind for many organizations these days. But what kind of employee retention strategies are actually working?

To find out, we asked numerous HR and business leaders to tell us which methods are making a difference for their workforce. And they responded with a variety of answers worth considering. Here are 9 of the best ideas we received:

Actively Support Employee Mental Health

Invest in Employee Growth

Invite Family Members to Team Events

Support Employee Sabbaticals

Assign an Employee Partner for Each New Hire

Create a Culture of Trust and Connection

Offer a Generous PTO and Benefits Policy

Build Meaningful Onboarding Connections

Provide Professional Development Opportunities

To learn more about how your organization can make the most of these employee retention strategies, read the full responses below…

9 Effective Employee Retention Strategies

1. Actively Support Employee Mental Health

One of the most powerful ways we have improved our retention rate is by proactively supporting employee mental health. We make workplace wellbeing a priority by encouraging mindfulness and reminding people to take short mental health breaks every day.

To ensure our employees benefit from improved wellbeing, we’ve also brought in trainers to teach various mindfulness exercises. These simple improvements have been easy to implement. Yet, they’ve helped our employees become happier and more engaged at work. This, in turn, has led to increased retention.

Mark Pierce, CEO, Cloud Peak Law Group

2. Invest in Employee Growth

To help retain our best talent, we provide ongoing internal and external opportunities for career growth.

For each position in every department, we publish clear, open-source career ladders. And we offer programs that help each employee develop skills and competencies needed to become a subject expert at their current level or qualify for success at the next level.

These opportunities include a robust Skill Enhancement and Employee Development (SEED) program for individual contributors, and a rich Leadership Essentials and Development (LEAD) program for people leaders. These are cohort-based programs we offer twice a quarter. In conjunction with other social learning activities, these programs improved our retention rate by 28% in the second half of 2022.

On the external development front, we offer a Be Your Best Self program that lets employees spend up to $1,500 a year on certifications, conferences and other activities in line with their professional goals. This initiative elevated our retention by 13% in the second half of last year.

Elizabeth Boyd, Fractional Director of Talent Development and Learning, TalentLab.Live

3. Invite Family Members to Team Events

Rather than hosting happy hours and team events for “employees only,” we invite spouses and children, too.

In addition to helping employees get to know their colleagues better, this is an excellent way for families to become familiar with colleagues their wife, husband, partner, mother or father works with each day. This means family members can put faces to names during future at-home conversations about work.

What’s more, these informal family relationships often help employees become much closer. Sometimes, colleagues’ family members become friends, as well. All of this leads to a much happier workplace that employees hesitate to leave.

Janelle Owens, HR Director, Guide2Fluency

4. Support Employee Sabbaticals

Effective work-life balance isn’t just a distant goal to achieve. It’s a reality we are all continuously managing and renegotiating. Sometimes, for whatever reason, the life component suddenly takes precedence. That’s when an employee must radically rebalance key priorities.

By offering extended time away through sabbatical leave, you provide significant reassurance. Should the worst happen, employees know they can take time away from work without risking their employment status.

Similarly, if a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity arises, such as long-term traveling, studying, or focusing on personal growth, people know a formal mechanism is in place to support them.

Some of our organization’s most engaged and loyal employees have taken sabbatical leave multiple times. Even those who haven’t exercised their right to a sabbatical think highly of the option. They appreciate the fact that we offer flexibility, should the need arise.

Chloe Yarwood, HR Manager, Test Partnership

5. Assign an Employee Partner for Each New Hire

Whenever you’re expanding your team, think about group dynamics. Sometimes when you hire new staff for positions that are similar to others’ roles, members of your team will feel scared. They may assume you’re looking to replace them when that’s not the case.

To ease any tension or anxiety, ask existing employees to team-up with new people on relevant projects. Give them responsibility for delegating tasks to the new hires, so they feel included and empowered to make onboarding more successful.

This helps existing staff feel more control over the situation. They’ll also pick up on the fact that you need more resources to manage a growing workload. By recognizing this is an investment in everyone’s success, existing staff should feel more secure in their positions. This also means they’ll be less likely to look elsewhere out of fear.

Dennis Consorte, Digital Marketing and Leadership Consultant for Startups, Snackable Solutions

6. Create a Culture of Trust and Connection

We’ve found that one of the most effective ways to keep employees is to focus on building a culture based on trust and connection. This doesn’t happen overnight. But it can make a huge impact over time.

We started by implementing weekly team meetings where people from different departments discuss issues or challenges we’re facing. This opens lines of communication among team members. Everyone is welcome to share ideas for improvement. It’s also a forum to discuss what has worked in the past or could work in the future. This creates an active dialogue around innovation that encourages employees to grow professionally.

These regular meetings give us a chance to build stronger relationships through group problem solving. They also help us develop mutual understanding, while recognizing everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. Plus, we have an opportunity to celebrate individual and collective successes.

Travis Lindemoen, Managing Director, nexus IT group

7. Offer a Generous PTO and Benefits Policy

Because our entire team works remotely, we have to make sure the work people do is more valuable to them than the work they would otherwise be doing in a more traditional setting. That’s why we offer 38 days of PTO (personal time off) each year, as well as private healthcare stipends employees can use to maintain their mental and physical health.

Similar companies typically don’t offer any of these benefits. That’s why we stand out among competitors. It helps us recruit strong talent, and ultimately it means employees stay with us longer, as well.

Gordana Sretenovic, Co-founder, Workello

8. Build Meaningful Onboarding Connections

Our organization invests in multiple policies and programs to improve employee retention. One stand-out initiative is our structured onboarding plan, which includes intentional workforce integration activities such as team-building exercises and networking events.

We believe strong retention really begins on Day One. So, by introducing every new hire to the company culture, we can help people more quickly feel comfortable in their roles. This has led to increased overall engagement across the organization. It has also helped improve job satisfaction and reduce turnover.

Grace He, People and Culture Director, teambuilding.com

9. Provide Professional Development Opportunities

One of the best ways to keep people engaged in their jobs is to provide opportunities for professional growth. It not only helps employees learn new skills, but also demonstrates that your organization wants to invest in their growth and development.

This could include internal or external training programs, mentorship opportunities, tuition reimbursement programs, or a combination of these options. For example you can provide funding for people to attend relevant conferences or networking events, so they can develop a broader range of professional relationships skills in your industry. This not only helps build a more knowledgeable and competent workforce, but also improves retention.

Timothy Allen, Sr. Corporate Investigator, Corporate Investigation Consulting

Which Benefits are Best for Onsite Employees?

May 5, 2023/Employee Benefits, Employee Engagement, Employee Experience, Employee Happiness, Employee Retention, Employee Well-Being /by Susan Baxter

Numerous jobs can be performed remotely or on a hybrid schedule. Still, more than 70% of full-time roles require people to work onsite. For instance, consider those involved in transportation, manufacturing, construction, and agriculture, as well as frontline workers in healthcare, education, retail, hospitality, and other service industries. How can companies in these sectors attract and retain talent more effectively? This article looks at how specialized benefits for onsite employees can help.

Demand for Onsite Employees Remains High

Employers have been reeling from a series of one-two punches in recent years. It all started with the pandemic quarantine in 2020. Then in 2021, more than 47 million people left their jobs during the so-called “Great Resignation.” Soon after that, the notion of “quiet quitting” caught fire, when many who remained in their jobs decided it was no longer worth the effort to go above-and-beyond.

By the start of this year, work trends hit a low ebb. On average, 4 million U.S. employees were resigning each month, and at least 50% of the workforce was doing no more than the bare minimum. Yet job openings remained at historic highs. No wonder companies continue scrambling to engage and retain talent — especially frontline workers.

How Targeted Benefits Help

With inflation already cutting into profits at many companies, higher wages aren’t in this year’s budget. So instead, they’re developing special benefits packages for onsite employees.

Of course, benefits have always been a factor in every candidates’ decision to accept a job offer. But now, attractive benefits are even more important — especially when remote or hybrid work arrangements aren’t an option.

Thoughtful benefits that address the interests of onsite employees can make a big difference in an environment where employers offer remote and hybrid workers 35-hour workweeks, unlimited PTO, gym memberships, and a host of other creative options.

Here’s how a solid benefits package can help tip the scale in your favor in today’s talent market…

Which Benefits Do Onsite Employees Value Most?

1. Flexible Schedules

When remote work isn’t an option, flexibility is a must. In fact, 95% of workers think flexible hours are more attractive than remote work, according to a recent Future Forum survey. An Adobe survey echoes this finding, with 84% of respondents saying they desire a more flexible work schedule.

2. Flexible Personal Time Off

Flexibility in PTO has also been gaining traction. In the wake of the pandemic, traditional ways of allocating time off no longer appeal to onsite employees. For example, imagine a parent sometimes volunteers at their child’s school for several hours during the work day. That employee should feel empowered to adjust their schedule accordingly.

The same concept should apply for people who need PTO when they need time off to focus on their mental wellbeing. In fact, a recent Harris Poll found that 23% of workers are receiving new mental health services from their employers.

3. Childcare Assistance

Childcare benefits have also become more popular. Whether it’s a stipend to help cover ongoing costs, discounts on daycare center services, or onsite childcare options, these benefits can make a significant difference. In fact, childcare costs increased more than 40% during the pandemic, and they continue to rise. This is why onsite employees consider childcare assistance a highly valuable benefit.

4. Career Development

For many workers, professional growth is a primary concern. That’s why learning and development opportunities can elevate your benefits package for onsite employees.

If your budget doesn’t support a full-blown educational initiative, even a simple lunch-and-learn event series can help. Topics can reach beyond work-related skills and knowledge. For example, workers might find it helpful to learn about personal financial planning, healthy eating, time management or other life skills. By gathering input about employee interests, you can co-create a curriculum.

Building a Better Benefits Packages

How to attract and retain employees with benefits is a question for the ages. Many types of incentives can enhance recruitment and improve engagement, productivity and performance. But whatever you choose to offer, the overall package must make sense for your company and your culture, as well as individual employees. These guidelines can help you make better decisions:

1. Conduct Focus Groups

Involving employees in planning discussions is always a good idea. It’s the most logical way to arrive at reliable answers about the benefits people value most.

You’ll want to schedule at least several different sessions, each with a representative sample of onsite employees. You’ll also need to prepare a series of carefully designed questions, along with discussion prompts to keep the conversation going. Additionally, be sure to choose moderators who are skilled at leading discussions, probing for details, and gathering feedback from all participants.

2. Send out Surveys

If you don’t have time or energy to conduct focus groups, you can rely on the tried-and-true method of distributing an anonymous survey to gather honest input. This process may uncover certain employee benefits and incentives you wouldn’t learn about in group discussions. That’s because some people aren’t comfortable sharing their ideas in a small group setting, so an anonymous survey can be an effective way to give more employees a voice.

3. Establish an Employee Resource Group

Employee resource groups (ERGs) are voluntary, employee-led groups that share a common interest and/or characteristic. They generally focus on accomplishing specific goals that tie-in with organizational culture and work life. Most groups exist to help cultivate inclusion and a healthy work environment, so this can be an ideal way to bring together voices that can speak and act on behalf of onsite employees.

4. Monitor the Competition

Even if you have strong internal input, you’ll find that studying industry competitors offers a wealth of information about how to build an attractive benefit plan for onsite employees. Look at standard practices and benchmarks — both inside and outside of your industry. With this kind of contextual insight, you may even find that you can expand and improve upon what others offer.

The Bottom Line on Benefits for Onsite Employees

Money may be one of the fastest ways to motivate employees, but even employers with deep pockets can’t compete on price alone. Another company will inevitably find a way to offer people more. This is why a thoughtfully designed benefits package can be your strength. People are motivated by more than compensation. It all comes down to finding the right mix of benefits to attract and retain onsite employees.

For the best solution, start with your organization’s culture, values, and business realities. Then craft a benefits package that fits that framework.

Can the Corporate Fitness Center Make a Strong Comeback?

April 11, 2023/Employee Benefits, Employee Burnout, Employee Experience, Employee Well-Being, Health and Wellness, Healthcare and Benefits /by Ann Wyatt

These days, many facets of work life are changing. But here’s one trend you may not have been expecting to see: The return of the corporate fitness center. Why is this happening?

Many employers are requiring staff to return to the office for at least several days a week. In fact, 77% of Fortune 100 companies have already adopted hybrid work schedules.

As a result of this shift, employees are expressing interest in reconnecting with colleagues they saw only on Zoom calls during the pandemic. With the days of forced remote work behind us, people naturally want to strengthen work relationships. And smart employers are responding in creative ways that build a sense of community.

This shift opens the door for a corporate fitness center comeback. However, the fitness facility of 2023 looks a bit different than you may recall from the past. Today’s corporate fitness center is becoming a community hub of sorts for employees who share an interest in health and wellbeing.

Inside the New Corporate Fitness Center

You’ll still see employees showing up at the corporate fitness center for individual workouts. But you’ll also see them participating in a variety of other activities such as:

Small group training sessions
“Buddy Sessions”
Wellness challenges of all sorts
Educational classes, seminars and series

Some are even involved in workshops with registered dieticians who are helping them embrace a lifestyle of holistic health and wellness.

In the broader health and wellness industry, boutique and specialized fitness gyms are already doing an excellent job of delivering programs like these. In fact, they’ve hit a new gear recently, primarily because they’re able to develop a “tribe” culture, where people work together and hold one another accountable for reaching their goals.

I think we’ll see corporate fitness centers fulfilling that same need in 2023. Here are 3 key ways they’re already rising to the challenge…

3 Fresh Corporate Fitness Center Moves

1. Growth in personal and small-group training

In the fitness centers we manage for clients, we’re seeing a huge surge in employees signing up for personal and small group training opportunities. As I mentioned above, this trend is largely driven by employees’ desire to reconnect and build deeper bonds with their colleagues. But another factor is involved here, too. People are looking for the special kind of accountability and support that comes with peer-to-peer programs.

As an employee at one of our client sites recently explained: “My workout motivation starts in the fitness center. I love my gym friends and the staff! We all need community, and the fitness center community is so important to me. I didn’t realize how much I missed being physically present here during these past few years.”

Requests for personal training are also exceeding pre-pandemic levels at many of the corporate fitness centers we manage. And we’re finding that employees are looking for more than just physical training during these sessions.

We know we’re serving savvier fitness consumers who have clear expectations about what they want to gain from membership in a corporate fitness club. And we’re expanding our scope to incorporate more facets of wellbeing into these programs. For example, we now include education and support for stress management, sleep education, and nutrition basics.

2. More collaboration with employee clubs

Partnering with existing on-campus interest groups is a great way to tap into audiences that are already connected and engaged. For example, we recently helped a technology industry corporate fitness center collaborate with multiple employee clubs for the company’s “Spirit Week” activities and annual 5K run.

Also, for one of our medical technology clients, we partnered with on-campus veterans clubs to engage members in customized fitness challenges. For Navy vets we arranged a rowing challenge, while Marines performed tire flips, and Army vets focused on push-ups. Then we pivoted the military fitness challenge to a 1k/5k run, so hybrid workers could easily participate from anywhere, anytime, depending on their schedules.

3. The rise of hybrid fitness memberships

I think we’ll also see corporate fitness centers get creative in how they deliver services to employees. They’re already doing this with so-called “hybrid memberships.” This relatively new kind of membership model gives employees a chance to tailor their wellness activities to their schedule.

Let’s say your employees work on a hybrid schedule where they’re at the office two to three days a week. On those days, it’s easy to workout at the on-site fitness center, where they get a great club experience as well as opportunities for social interaction. Then, on days when people work remotely, they can participate in virtual fitness activities from home.

This way, they can join live or live-streamed fitness classes, and also tap into on-demand content for convenient access to activities no matter where they’re located. Also, with these new hybrid memberships, they can now visit local yoga, boxing and pilates studios, so they can fit workouts into their schedule whenever and wherever it makes sense for them.

We’re seeing lots of enthusiasm for this model — combining on-site sessions, partner gym networking and at-home workouts — with the corporate fitness center as the hub of all these wellness activities.

Final Thoughts

The overarching theme here is convenience and simplicity. Whether employees are working on-site, remotely or in hybrid mode — we want to help them stay active and maintain healthy habits. Now, corporate fitness centers can support these goals in more ways than ever. Keeping things simple, accessible, and fun is the key to consistency.

I know from experience that with benefits, “more” isn’t always better. It’s really about benefits that are relevant, useful, and easy to apply. And with the advances we’re seeing in corporate fitness centers, I think wellness programs will soon become even more valuable and popular among employers and employees, alike.

8 Ways to Empower Employees Through Financial Education

March 14, 2023/DEI Diversity Equity Inclusion, Employee Benefits, Employee Well-Being, Learning, Retirement Planning, Skills Development /by Brett Farmiloe

These days, many people are dealing with stress from all kinds of personal financial concerns. This can harm workforce wellbeing — especially when people aren’t sure how to manage these issues or who they can trust for advice. That’s why organizations are increasingly offering workforce financial education.

But which strategies are most effective in helping employees develop financial literacy — especially considering that everyone has a different level of financial knowledge and experience?

We asked HR superstars to share one recommendation from their employee benefits and DEI programs. Here are 7 of the best suggestions we received:

Offer Resources to Help Employees Make Informed Choices

Host Budgeting Workshops and One-on-One Coaching

Think in Terms of Financial Wellness

Be Sensitive to an Employee’s Financial Literacy Level

Keep Equity in Mind When Offering Resources

Add More Benefits Instead of Outsourcing

Leverage Employee Questions and Anecdotes

To learn more about how you can make these ideas work for your organization, read the full responses below…

7 Proven Ways to Boost Employee Financial Education

1. Offer Resources to Help Employees Make Informed Choices

Financial literacy is an important life skill that can have a major impact on an individual’s overall wellbeing. Unfortunately, many employees lack the financial knowledge and resources necessary to make informed decisions about their money. As a result, they may end up making poor choices. And those choices can lead to serious financial problems down the road.

However, there are steps HR leaders can take to help employees improve their financial literacy. For example, you can offer resources to help employees make informed financial decisions. This can include access to basic financial education courses, budgeting tools, and debt management assistance.

By tapping into these resources, employees gain the knowledge and skills they need to make better money decisions, avoid future financial difficulties, and improve their overall wellbeing.

Teresha Aird, Chief Marketing Officer and HR Lead, Offices.net

2. Host Budgeting Workshops or One-on-One Coaching

At our company, we offer different levels of financial education and resources. We recognize that not everyone is comfortable discussing or learning about personal finance, so we want to ensure we provide various resources that cater to different needs and preferences.

For example, we provide budgeting workshops for employees who want to get a better handle on daily money management. And for those who prefer a more personal approach, we offer one-on-one financial coaching. We also provide resources on our intranet and website for employees who want to learn more about finance-related topics on their own time.

By offering a variety of resources that address different interests, we hope to make it easier for all of our employees to understand and take control of their finances.

Tracey Beveridge, HR Director, Personnel Checks

3. Think in Terms of Financial Wellness

Some organizations approach their benefits and DEI programs from a “financial wellness” perspective. Financial wellness is about much more than money management — it’s about creating a holistic, well-rounded view of one’s financial situation and health.

A financial wellness program can address people with different levels of financial literacy in several ways. One common approach is to provide employees with a variety of financial education options and resources, depending on their needs and interests. For example, employees who are just starting out may need more basic information on topics like budgeting and saving for retirement. Those who are further along in their financial journey are likely to benefit from more advanced topics like investing and estate planning.

No matter what an employee’s level of financial literacy may be, it’s important to provide them with accurate and up-to-date information. This means employers should plan to regularly review, refresh and adjust available content, courses, tools and resources.

Linda Shaffer, Chief People Operations Officer, Checkr

4. Be Sensitive to an Employee’s Financial Literacy Level

It is important to provide employees with the resources they need to make informed decisions about benefits and DEI programs, without forcing them to take part in activities they are not comfortable with.

One approach is to provide employees with resources that are tailored to their level of financial literacy. For example, you could offer an online course for employees who want to learn more about personal finance. Or, you could provide a list of recommended books or websites for employees who want to learn more on their own.

Another approach is to hold workshops or seminars on various financial topics. You can tailor these events to different levels of financial literacy so all employees can benefit from the information presented.

Alysha M. Campbell, Founder and CEO, CultureShift HR

5. Keep Equity in Mind When Offering Resources

It’s important to understand that we all start at different places in life. While this may seem like a given, many struggle with truly understanding how this applies to financial literacy.

Specifically, many individuals from different racial backgrounds were not privy to having a mother or father to teach them the ins and outs of financial literacy. This is why equity is so important in the workplace. Equity recognizes that giving everyone the same tools or resources isn’t effective, and instead ensures that each individual has what they need to be successful.

Keeping equity in mind when planning and managing your employee benefits offerings is one way to ensure that each employee has what they need. Resources every employer should offer include financial coaching, legal assistance, and workshops about credit, budgeting, and the importance of investing.

Tawanda Johnson, HR Leader, Sporting Smiles

6. Add More Benefits Instead of Outsourcing

Our employee benefits are managed through another company, so we aren’t able to decide what most of the options are. However, this past year, the benefit premiums increased. Still, the company could add more benefits to make the overall package more robust and attractive to current and new employees. Adding these incremental benefits could help offset the premium increase.

Lindsey Hight, HR Professional, Sporting Smiles

7. Leverage Participant Questions and Anecdotes

When addressing financial topics in DEI programs where attendees have different financial literacy levels, we want to help participants understand the benefits of concepts like retirement plans, debt management, and budgeting. Then we explain the fundamentals of these subjects.

An excellent way to explain these concepts is by welcoming questions from attendees. Then we use real-world examples to make the topics clear enough for individuals, no matter what their financial literacy level may be.

Grace He, People and Culture Director, teambuilding.com

Does a Shorter Workweek Actually Work?

February 21, 2023/Employee Burnout, Employee Engagement, Employee Experience, Employee Well-Being, Talent Retention /by Gloria St. Martin-Lowry

The pandemic has sparked a global conversation about whether people who’ve been working from home should be free to choose their preferred work location. It’s a natural question for employers to ask as they prepare for the future of work. Now, even some ardent return-to-office fans are starting to rethink their stance.

For example, late last year, the world watched as Twitter CEO Elon Musk issued a strict remote work ban. He soon softened his position, but it wasn’t enough to lure back many disaffected employees. Musk is among a growing list of leaders who are learning that today’s workforce prefers flexibility and wellbeing over “long hours at high intensity.”

The remote work debate continues. But this focus on where we work overshadows a more central argument about how much we should be working. Specifically, the ability to choose a shorter workday or workweek can help employees meet their individual needs. At the same time, reduced hours can help employers, because people are more engaged and productive when they are working, according to a report in The Atlantic.

The Downside of a Shorter Workweek

For most U.S. employers, reducing the standard 40-hour workweek would be a drastic change. This kind of shift in the status quo will no doubt draw resistance.

Opponents of a shorter workweek say this approach will be costlier and riskier to manage. They also note that, because some people won’t be able to participate, workforce inequality will increase.

Certainly, ineffective implementation could lead to poor employee morale and customer satisfaction. In fact, it could backfire if employees are expected to squeeze extra hours into a 4-day workweek. If managers don’t commit to a revised work structure, it will likely erode employee experience and customer experience, as well.

Why These Criticisms Don’t Stand

Interestingly, many of these 4-day workweek criticisms are similar to arguments against remote work. Clearly, every job cannot be conducted from home. A firefighter or police officer, for example, can’t fight fires or crime remotely. Microsoft Teams and Zoom simply aren’t designed to support these front-line professions.

Regardless, many of these workers can benefit from a shorter work schedule. And it can improve their performance when they are on the clock. For instance, a 4-day workweek trial study in New Zealand found that employees sustained their productivity, even though they experienced up to 45% less stress.

Less time spent working means more time spent with loved ones. In addition, a shortened workweek can help close the gender pay gap. For instance, in a U.K. survey, 2 million unemployed people said childcare responsibilities were the reason they remained unemployed. And 89% of these respondents are women.

Discomfort is a reflection of leaders gripping the bat too tightly. It’s a control issue. Many prefer uniformity and the status quo. It’s similar to the push-back we’re seeing with the shift to permanent hybrid work schedules.

Still, engagement studies continue to show year after year that work cultures are broken. Employers can’t continue doing the same things and expect different results. In the post-pandemic economy, we must reevaluate the classic 5-day workweek, as well as the standard 40-hour, full-time work schedule.

Reimagining the Workweek

Between the turbulent stock market and the Great Resignation in recent years, every company is facing significant challenges. Employees often share their feedback about serious work issues as they abandon ship, but for many organizations, the meter still isn’t moving in the right direction. The underlying problem is that we’re stuck in old ways of thinking.

Workers interviewed about why they left their companies often cited the lack of work-life balance as a massive contributing factor. Burnout became an overwhelming issue as companies shifted to work-from-home models. That’s not too surprising. Instead of leaving problems at the office, many people carried those problems wherever they were, at all hours of the day and night. For them, the work-from-home dream actually became more of a nightmare.

But employers have learned how to alleviate some of the stress by giving people more control over their work schedule. In fact, one recent study found that 94% of employees feel a sense of wellbeing when they know their employer cares about them. The option to choose a flexible schedule can accomplish that.

What’s the ROI?

The tangible benefits of a shorter workweek aren’t always obvious, but they deserve attention. In addition to decreased overhead and utility costs, a 4-day workweek means fewer sick days.

You can also realize financial gains by increasing employee retention. Say someone wants to leave your company to find a better work-life balance. You could offer that employee a reduced work schedule at the same salary, knowing they’ll likely remain onboard longer. Here’s why:

It costs an average of $4,000 to hire a new employee, and that person may need a year or longer to learn the job well enough to exceed expectations. The estimated cost of replacing an employee is about 9 months of their salary. And those costs add up fast when you have a revolving door of employees.

You might also want to consider several high-profile 4-day workweek business cases:

Perpetual Guardian saw an increase in employee commitment and empowerment without losing productivity or customers.
Microsoft Japan printed 59% fewer pages and used 23% less electricity during the program.
Unilever saw a roughly 34% decrease in absenteeism and stress levels.

3 Ways to Succeed With a Shorter Workweek

Getting started isn’t too complicated. In fact, our firm has worked with multiple companies that have shifted to a 4-day workweek. In one case, a manufacturing client in a rural community focused on its pool of working parents. This was a win/win because the adjusted schedule works for both the company and parents who want to stay involved with their kids’ schooling and extra-curricular activities.

As you develop and implement your game plan, be sure to include these elements:

1. Involve Your Team

Although the C-suite traditionally makes key business decisions, every employee has a valuable perspective. Some may prefer a 5-day workweek, while others might opt for a shorter schedule. Before you can implement a functional plan, you need to understand your employees’ wants and needs. They deserve a voice because ultimately, they need to make it work.

2. Focus on Outcomes

Your employees are central to this process, but your business and your customers matter, too. When assessing any job schedule, consider the outcomes you want to see instead of simply tracking hours. Focus on metrics like production, quality, or customer experience.

At the end of the day, shifting to shorter schedules can optimize resources and yield long-term savings. In the U.K. more than 50% of business leaders reported cost savings after shifting from a 5-day work schedule to a 4-day workweek. It shouldn’t matter if your team works 20 or 40 hours a week, as long as the job is done right.

3. Stay Open to Continuous Improvement

Forecasts are built on historical performance, so change can be uncomfortable at first. But once you shorten the workweek, you should see measurable improvement in team satisfaction, performance, and business results.

Don’t forget the importance of training. Everyone will need time to get used to new employee schedules, new work shifts, and new ways of managing staff. As long as communication remains open, your organization can successfully move through this culture shift.

Closing Notes

A shortened workweek doesn’t mean your team will accomplish less. In fact, flexibility is the cure for many problems companies are facing in this post-pandemic era.

Employee experience is a human experience. No matter when or where people work, it’s important to find a reasonable balance between work and life. If you redesign your work schedules now, employees will appreciate this change. And over time, you can expect to see even more benefits from your efforts.

Can Commuter Benefits Help People Return to the Office?

February 14, 2023/Employee Benefits, Employee Experience, Employee Well-Being, Healthcare and Benefits, HR, Hybrid Work, Pandemic and Post-Pandemic, Travel Management /by Becky Seefeldt

The pandemic changed how we live and work in so many ways — not the least of which was the daily commute. But now, after years of working remotely, many employees are returning to the office at least a few days each week. That’s why employer-sponsored commuter benefits are on the rise again.

No matter what an employee’s work schedule may be, this kind of support eases the transition to onsite and hybrid work. It gives employees the flexibility to choose the transportation options they prefer. And by demonstrating a commitment to employee wellbeing, this kind of program also contributes to workforce recruiting and retention.

What Are Commuter Benefits?

Daily travel to and from the office can be a significant source of stress. Commuting can be time-consuming and expensive, especially if you drive your own car. Gas prices are hovering at an all-time high, and the cost of maintaining a vehicle adds up over time.

Commuter benefits are designed to help ease this financial burden. Plans typically include funds to cover public transportation costs and parking fees. These are pre-tax dollars employees can set aside to pay commuting costs, up to $300 a month in 2023.

Employers assign this money to a specific account for employee mass transit or parking expenses. And employees can contribute additional funds to both accounts if they elect to do so. Any unused funds carry forward from one month to the next, and employees can adjust or stop their elections anytime.

Why Offer Commuter Benefits?

There are many reasons to offer this kind of program. Let’s take a closer look:

1. It’s a Great Way to Attract and Retain Top Talent

In today’s competitive job market, employees prefer working for companies with comprehensive benefits packages. Flexible commuting plans can help improve the employee experience by demonstrating that you care about workforce wellbeing, no matter where people need to work or when they need to travel.

2. It Helps the Environment

This kind of program is ideal if your organization is committed to sustainability or formal ESG goals. Here’s why:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that gas-powered transportation causes 28% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Encouraging less fuel-intensive commuting methods can help you reduce the number of cars on the road as well as the level of emissions they produce.

You can provide incentives for employees who choose public transportation, such as transit pass subsidies or reduced parking fees. In addition, you can promote ride-sharing options, such as carpooling or vanpooling programs. And with the rise of lightweight electric scooters, bicycles, and mopeds, you can offer post-tax reimbursement for these alternatives, as well.

Ultimately, these efforts can help your company reduce its carbon footprint.

3. It’s a Smart Business Move

Commuter benefits help reduce your payroll taxes because your employees are saving money tax-free to cover their commuting costs. On average, these programs can save employers about $40 per person, per month. For a business with 50 employees enrolled in the program, that translates into savings of $24,000 a year.

Why Employees Love Commuter Benefits

There are several reasons employees also love this kind of program. For instance:

They gain better access to transportation options they prefer.
They can improve their local community and the global environment. Choosing mass transit — including ridesharing and cycling options — helps reduce traffic congestion and pollution.
It helps them save money. This is especially true for pre-tax commuter benefits because employees can set aside money before taxes are applied.
Participation is easy. Commuter benefit plan funds accrue monthly. Any unused balance automatically rolls forward. And there’s no year-end “use-it-or-lose-it” penalty. In addition, enrollment choices automatically renew each year until an employee requests a change.
With custom plans, employees can enjoy additional travel perks that typically aren’t included in standard commuter programs.

Beyond Covid: Supporting a Better Work Commute

Over the course of the pandemic, many members of the workforce grew accustomed to working from home. And before the virus threat faded, most people feared returning to an office environment, let alone commuting on public transit.

But now, for employers who are ready to move forward with a successful mix of onsite and remote work, this is the ideal time to rethink the transportation benefits you offer. A creative mix of pre-tax and post-tax options can help get employees back on the road and back to work whenever they need to be onsite.

Not only does this help ease the financial burden of commuting for existing employees, but it also shows prospective employees that your company is committed to the “greater good” by making work-related travel as environmentally responsible as possible.

Final Note

Providing a thoughtful commuter benefits plan is a win-win for both employers and employees, alike. Your employees save on transportation expenses, while your organization reaps the rewards of improved productivity and morale.

No doubt, investment in offering stronger commuter benefits is a wise strategy for any employer that wants to address the near-term interests of employees who need to return to the office. But ultimately, it’s an investment that can pay off over the long term with improved workforce productivity and engagement.

Virtual Travel Benefits Are Taking Off. Here’s Why

February 13, 2023/Digital Workspace, Employee Benefits, Employee Engagement, Employee Happiness, Employee Well-Being /by Brittany Palmer

Work Norms Are Changing

In 2019, about nine million U.S. civilians worked from home on a regular basis. Then the pandemic arrived. Nearly overnight, remote work became a necessity for a vast number of employees. In fact, by 2021 the U.S. remote workforce had tripled to nearly 28 million people.

Now, as Covid fades, the nature of work is taking another interesting turn. Many remote workers don’t want to rush back to the office. Instead, studies say anywhere from 50% to 72% of employees prefer working from home at least some of the time.

As a result, flexible work schedules are becoming a norm among employers that want to be competitive in talent recruitment and retention. As part of this strategy, organizations are embracing new benefits to attract and engage remote and hybrid employees. And among these innovative perks, one of the most creative and popular is virtual travel.

Why The Time is Right to Rethink Benefits

In general, working from home has been helpful for employers and employees, alike. Remote workers report lower stress levels, higher productivity, and higher overall engagement. It is even credited with reducing employee churn. Yet remote work still poses several key issues. For example:

Blurred Work Boundaries
Research indicates that many home-based workers fail to distinguish between personal and professional priorities. Without clear boundaries, people tend to work excessive hours, which in turn, can lead to burnout.

Social Isolation
Another challenge involves communication among distributed team members. Remote workers tend to experience more isolation and loneliness. This is especially important for employers to consider when determining how to build trust, camaraderie, and collaboration, especially in an environment where some people work remotely, while others work onsite or in a hybrid mode.

How Virtual Travel Benefits Help

Virtual travel adventures address some of the most problematic aspects of remote and hybrid work life. These experiences are an easy way to bring employees together and engage them in a shared immersive adventure, no matter where they work. That’s why many employers are adding virtual travel to their portfolio of benefits and perks.

Here’s how the concept works:

By simply logging into their computers at a convenient time, work teams can instantly jump into a captivating live tour of some of the world’s most amazing locations. From coffee farms in Costa Rica to UNESCO Heritage sites such as the Vietnamese town of Hoi An, companies can theme these team-building experiences around key destinations of interest, heritage months, or holidays.

Tours are led by live, qualified local guides who share helpful cultural context throughout the tour and answer questions in real time while interacting with participants. This helps everyone feel more connected with each other and with the location they’re exploring, as if they’re on the ground, walking through the destination together.

This kind of tour can transform getaways from costly once-a-year (or once-in-a-lifetime) vacations into fun group events that are available to all, anytime. And because these adventures are virtual, they’re a sustainable alternative to airline flights and road trips.

Why Virtual Travel Benefits Are So Appealing

By integrating virtual travel with employee benefits, companies can plan and produce formal team bonding exercises or offer employees virtual “time off” so they can casually connect. These programs offer multiple advantages. For example, they can:

Improve team morale by providing staff with time for relaxation.
Foster a more inclusive culture by extending a high-quality travel experience to all workers, regardless of their location.
Create new team connections and strengthen existing relationships through shared learning experiences.
Give employees opportunities to explore the world in memorable ways with co-workers, friends, and family — without depleting their bank accounts or PTO.
Open employees to new cultures and perspectives they might not otherwise be able to encounter.
Offer individuals and teams a unique and enjoyable reward they can look forward to as recognition for their work contributions.

Providing virtual travel to employees as a way of showing appreciation doesn’t have to be limited to periodic team meetings. Companies can also enroll individuals in recurring virtual travel events and add them to a diverse portfolio of ongoing benefits. This is an excellent way to make new-age perks accessible to all while diversifying benefit options.

Digital Perks Appeal to All Ages

Here’s another reason why virtual travel is gaining traction. Right now, the workforce is in a unique position, with five generations working together. To keep employees engaged, organizations must balance the various needs, interests, and expectations of today’s extraordinarily diverse workforce.

From the youngest Generation Z interns to retirement-age Boomers and beyond, each age group brings its own unique idea of work culture, compensation, and benefits that resonate.

Yet virtual travel is one benefit that crosses all generational boundaries. It’s an inclusive experience that everyone can enjoy. And it brings people together on common ground.

There’s Never Been a Better Time for Virtual Travel

In this era of economic and business uncertainty, companies that invest thoughtfully in benefits that help attract and retain engaged employees can build a competitive advantage. For example, according to Gallup, employers with higher levels of engagement enjoy a variety of advantages, compared with low-engagement organizations:

41% lower absenteeism
40% fewer quality defects
17% higher productivity
23% higher profitability

Virtual travel is just one way to elevate engagement. But its value is clear. All it takes is a relatively small investment. But this can open the door for employees who want to explore the world outside their cubicle or home office without depleting their savings or PTO.

Which Corporate Fitness Trends Will Shape 2023?

December 27, 2022/Employee Benefits, Employee Experience, Employee Well-Being, Health and Wellness, Healthcare and Benefits, Winner: Impact Award for Content Excellence /by Ann Wyatt

Content Impact Award - TalentCulture 2022 As a corporate fitness professional, one of my favorite activities at the end of each year is to set aside time to look back at what has unfolded over the past 12 months. It helps to review what has worked for our clients (as well as what didn’t work so well). An open-minded, reflective analysis is always a good way to put things into perspective before considering new possibilities and mapping a game plan for the New Year.

As part of this process, I’m constantly tracking what’s happening with corporate fitness trends. So much has changed over the past few years, thanks to the pandemic and the increase in remote work, it’s important to keep ahead of what no longer seems as relevant or useful and what is gaining traction. And in looking toward the year ahead, all the signals indicate that much more change is still to come!

So, fasten your seatbelts and let’s look at how employers can prepare for the future. Based on trends I’ve been following, along with my direct experience with our teams and our clients in recent months, here are 3 emerging priorities that are likely to define corporate fitness in 2023:

1. More Personalized Training

Get ready for a big surge in employee demand for more personalized services — things like personal training and small group training. Multiple factors are driving this corporate fitness trend. For example:

Early in 2022, as people slowly started to emerge from a more sedentary pandemic lifestyle, I started hearing that employees were looking for help to get back on track with their fitness and wellness goals. Not surprisingly, during the Covid years, many people developed some unhealthy habits — especially in terms of diet and fitness. The isolation of working and living at home full-time didn’t help, either.

Many people are now looking to break out of that cycle and are longing for a stronger sense of community. So, prepare to see an upswing in more intimate training environments that give employees broader support and guidance, along with opportunities to connect with others and share their journey through community experiences.

Also, my clients confirm that employees are interested in wellness goals that involve more than physical workouts, alone. People want to get back in shape, but they also realize the importance of focusing on things like sleep, nutrition and stress management. And this means they’re increasingly interested in a more holistic approach to health and wellbeing. These objectives are often easier to achieve with programs that include individualized coaching.

Digital tracking tools can also be helpful in supporting people in their wellness objectives. Already, more than 20% of Americans are using wearables that provide convenient access to personalized health and fitness data. Many people want to use this data more effectively to develop tailored workouts and lifestyle management programs that will help increase their training efficiency, improve their daily habits and elevate their health outcomes.

2. More “Hybrid” Fitness Program Memberships

Another thing I’m starting to hear often from our clients is that their employees are looking for a seamless, connected fitness experience that aligns with their busy lifestyles. They want to workout where they want, when they want.

This is where “hybrid memberships” come in. These relatively new programs provide employees with a combination of corporate fitness center access and virtual fitness classes, along with partnerships with local yoga, boxing and Pilates studios.

With these hybrid memberships, employees can workout at their corporate gym, at home or on the road when they’re traveling—all with the convenience of one membership rather than having to cobble it all together themselves. It’s the best of all worlds. And it’s bigger than just a brick-and-mortar fitness center—it’s a program.

Here’s one example: Kevin is a financial services professional in Indiana who comes into the office three days a week. During those visits, he goes to the on-site fitness center to lift weights. Typically, he talks with several fellow employees while he works out. It’s a great social experience. On the other two weekdays he works from home. On those days, he works out with a virtual fitness class through an app that’s connected to his fitness center and the same staff he knows and trusts. Over the weekend, he takes a spin class at a local studio that contracts with his company through the hybrid health program. Again, this hybrid program lets Kevin work out where he wants, when he wants. It’s all built into his schedule!

Inclusive hybrid memberships like these give employees the convenience, choice and variety they’re asking for. Plus, it provides access to the kind of connectedness and community people need with engagement that is hard to find elsewhere.

3. More Active Time Outdoors

We’re also hearing loud-and-clear from clients and employees that they want to get outside and move! A recent survey from the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry and McKinsey & Company, asked employees this key question:

“In which sports/physical activity categories do you expect to see a lasting increase in participation vs. pre-COVID-19?”

Of the 12 categories listed as potential responses, 84% of survey participants picked “outdoor activity” as their first choice.

Obviously, survey results like these underscore just how massive the pandemic’s impact was on corporate wellness programs. Over the past year, some companies started to experiment with fitness activities and events designed to get employees outdoors. Now it appears that this trend is catching on and may be here to stay.

For instance, one of our clients — a leading insurance company — has invested in a mobile open-air fitness trailer from BeaverFit. This makes it possible for employees to participate in healthy outdoor activities on a daily basis. Combined with programming delivered by on-site fitness professionals, this open air program is flourishing. And workforce wellbeing is improving as a result of employee participation in regular activities with physical and mental health benefits.

Final Notes on the Future of Corporate Fitness

These three corporate fitness trends are only a few of the emerging ideas we can look forward to seeing in 2023, as the space continues to evolve. With more personalized programming, more flexible options, access to innovative digital tools and a broader range of creative fitness locations, employee wellness is poised to make an even stronger comeback in the coming year. I look forward to seeing other innovative trends emerge that we aren’t even thinking about yet!

Flexibility: Key to Employee Retention in 2023

December 20, 2022/Employee Engagement, Employee Experience, Employee Retention, Future of Work, Talent Retention /by Meghan M. Biro

As 2022 comes to a close, several work trends are clearly visible on the horizon. Here’s one employers can’t afford to ignore — an alarming number of employees are still leaving their jobs. For all the talk about “the Great Resignation” being behind us, turnover continues to shape the world of work. And it doesn’t seem to be fading.

What’s the culprit here? In my opinion, too many employers continue to discount the need for flexibility in all its forms. Not sure if this should be a priority for you? Then consider some big-picture statistics:

A recent Workhuman survey focused on workforce behavior and sentiment estimates that 36% of employees plan to leave their jobs in 2023.
Gartner predicts that steep 20% turnover rates will continue for the foreseeable future, with as many as 65% of employees still reevaluating their career paths.

These findings are hard to ignore. But rather than drilling down on disengaged workers and why they’re looking for greener pastures, I’d like to flip the script. Instead, let’s talk about people who want to remain in place. What can we learn from them?

Why Some People Stay

What is keeping people onboard? No doubt, some are hunkering down in reaction to growing economic uncertainty. But despite recent layoff news, many organizations are still hiring qualified talent. So why aren’t more people jumping ship?

Here’s why I think flexibility is the key. It is one of the most important factors keeping satisfied people connected with their employers and committed to doing their best work. In fact, as a motivational force, flexibility is second only to salary — ranking even higher than a positive work culture.

That’s powerful stuff. But it doesn’t tell the whole story. Let’s look closer.

Making a Business Case for Flexibility

If you’re mapping your HR goals for 2023, keep this caveat in mind: From a business perspective, flexibility may be losing some of its sheen. Organizations are facing the prospect of another year trying to juggle remote and hybrid workforce models. And after years of struggling to get it right, some companies may not be willing to invest as much time and effort to make it work.

Other business factors are causing leaders to push for a return to the office. After all, money talks. And the cost of office space doesn’t drop by 50% if only half of your workforce is filling the space. Also, we hear more executives emphasizing what suffers when people work from a distance — social bonds, career growth, collaboration and innovation.

But if you’re contemplating a full-scale return to office, perhaps you should think twice. Here’s why. I’m reminded of a 2021 #WorkTrends podcast conversation about flexibility with work-life expert and business consultant, Suzanne Brown.

Did Suzanne know something the rest of us weren’t ready to take seriously when she said this?

“People will stick around now. But as soon as the economy starts to strengthen, if you haven’t already built flexibility into your culture, you’ll start to lose people quickly.”

Circumstances may have shifted since that discussion, but Suzanne’s advice still holds true.

Flexibility Isn’t Just Skin Deep

When the conversation turned to imagining what flexible work could look like on the other side of the pandemic, I recall Suzanne saying:

Flexibility is more than just taking an afternoon off once in a while. Flexibility is how you treat employees in the long-term.

So true. The pandemic underscored what employers already knew (but may not have been willing to fully support at that time). But the fact remains, people want and deserve flexibility, even when the pandemic isn’t a concern.

With this in mind, what can employers do to build flexibility into their organization’s DNA? The challenge is to match the right conditions to choices that make sense for your workforce. Flexibility is both an informal and a formal state of work. And every organization is unique.

The possibilities are diverse: job sharing, split-shifts, permanent remote work, four-day work weeks, cross-functional talent mobility programs, project-based talent sharing, freelancing pools, part-time arrangements and more.

But the trick is to offer a mix of options that are relevant and meaningful for your people, while also supporting your organization’s values, culture and goals. If you’re serious about finding the best choices, you’ll involve your people in defining the options and being accountable for their success.

Clarifying the Rules

Flexibility deserves to be more than a random whim or a moving target. Employees and employers alike need to agree on guidelines. Indeed, your team’s ability to perform well in any combination of flexible roles demands a workable game plan.

Because employees see flexibility as the sign of a great work culture, it’s important to get their buy-in. Begin with a renewed reality check. Take the time now to ask employees and managers what kind of flexible options they believe would work best, going forward. (Anonymous surveys and feedback tools are terrific at helping you manage this process and interpret findings.)

Keep in mind that individual circumstances, career objectives and personal preferences change over time. What works for someone today may no longer fit in a year or two. People don’t want to be trapped in a work structure that no longer serves them. What will your process be for people who want to rethink their choices and modify their work model?

Here’s the clincher for employers. You need to demonstrate respect for people’s wishes. Respect and recognition are intimately connected with employee satisfaction, productivity and commitment.

That means leaders must be willing to do more than listen. It’s essential to take appropriate action in response to input. And it’s even more important to repeat this process, over and over again. When you demonstrate an ongoing commitment to building your flexible agenda around collaborative conversations, how can employees resist?

We’ll see what happens soon enough. The pandemic no longer has a grip on our every move, but the Great Resignation is still happening. No one knows for sure what will unfold next. But whatever challenges lie ahead, you can’t go wrong by staying in touch, staying open and staying flexible.

It could just be what convinces more of your people to stay.

How to Level Up Employee Benefits Education With Video

December 5, 2022/Employee Benefits, Employee Experience, Employee Well-Being, Healthcare and Benefits, HR Communications, Open Enrollment, Retirement Planning /by Frank Mengert

As employee engagement continues to drift downward, organizations everywhere are looking for more efficient, effective ways to connect and communicate with their workforce. This is especially true for employee benefits education, where access to clear, complete and timely information is critical.

What better way to help employees understand their benefits than with video? In this article, we’ll explore why video is such an effective form of outreach, along with five ways you can use it to improve benefits education.

Why is Video Ideal for This Purpose?

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. But what about video? In the business world, its popularity as a communication tool has skyrocketed over the past decade. And the pandemic only added fuel to the fire by forcing employers to shift toward video for internal communications.

Now, many organizations recognize just how powerful video can be in employee education. Why?

When people see and hear information within the context of a video, they’re more likely to understand and remember the message.
Video tutorials and walkthroughs are a great way to break down complex topics into manageable, memorable “bites.”
Video content is also highly shareable, so employees can easily pass information along and discuss it with others.

5 Ways to Enhance Benefits Education With Video

1. Offer Benefits Portal Tutorials and Walkthroughs

To ensure employees know how to navigate your benefits portal, it’s important to provide proper instruction. But with video, it’s no longer necessary to bombard people with lengthy written documentation.

Instead, brief tutorials are a great way to give employees a guided tour of your benefits site. Even a few quick, easy-to-follow videos can make all the difference in introducing employees to the portal so they become more comfortable conducting research and serving themselves.

2. Create Enrollment Screencasts

Enrolling in benefits can be daunting, especially when people are unfamiliar with the process. Rather than sending out lengthy written instructions or expecting employees to figure it out independently, you can use screencasting to walk them through the entire process, step-by-step. This helps people understand the open enrollment process, so they don’t become confused or frustrated by complexity.

Offering useful screencasts requires thoughtful upfront planning and production. But in the long run, it can save your benefits administrators significant time, by reducing the volume of routine questions and issues they must resolve.

3. Focus on Key Topics of Interest

Instructional videos are a terrific option if you want to provide more in-depth information about particular benefits topics. These videos can cover anything from an overview of your company’s health insurance plans, to guidance on how to use key portal features.

This is also a smart way to address common concerns or misconceptions employees may have about selecting or managing their benefits. By providing clear, concise information in a compelling visual format, you can help employees better understand every aspect of their benefits and how to use them.

4. Conduct Virtual Benefits Fairs

If your company offers a variety of benefits, staging a virtual benefits fair can be a useful way to consolidate information into a highly accessible “all-in-one” live online experience. Plus, you can record the sessions and make them available on-demand so employees can attend at their convenience.

Your programming could involve a series of short videos covering each benefit category. These sessions could be followed by an interactive Q&A session, where employees can ask questions of an expert at your company or from a related benefits vendor. This gives participants access to the information they need to make better-informed decisions.

5. Produce Video Testimonials

One of the most compelling ways to engage employees in benefits education is to illustrate how others are using these benefits. And what better way to do this than with video testimonials that let members of your workforce tell their story in their own words?

Featured employees can talk about why and how they selected specific benefits to improve their health, save for financial goals, or improve their quality of life. This not only helps others feel comfortable about their benefits decisions, even as it reinforces your organization’s commitment to workforce wellbeing.

Video Engagement Best Practices

Now that we’ve explored ways to use video to engage your employees in benefits education, let’s look at some best practices to keep in mind when creating any video content:

Be sure to put the audience’s interests first. What are their needs? What information do they want to see? How much time are they likely to invest in consuming this content? What should their next move be?
Strive to keep your videos short and to the point. Employees are busy and often can’t devote time or attention to long-form content.
Always test videos before you launch and promote them. Make sure they work correctly from end-to-end, and that employees can understand the concepts you’re trying to communicate. This will ensure a positive, productive enrollment experience for employees and support your broader organizational goals.
Don’t forget the marketing outreach needed to make employees aware of any education resources. Unseen video has little value, so be sure you invest in communication that will lead people to your educational content.

Closing Notes

Helping employees understand their benefits is crucial for employers and human resources departments. If you haven’t considered using video to communicate this information, you’re missing an opportunity to present complex benefits information in a way that is meaningful, quick and easy for employees to access. And in the long run, this self-service content can save your HR team significant time and money.

Which Caregiving Benefits Do Modern Employers Provide?

November 14, 2022/Company Culture, Elder Caregiving, Employee Benefits, Employee Experience, Employee Retention, Employee Well-Being, Healthcare and Benefits, Talent Retention /by Brett Farmiloe

What benefits are top-of-mind for organizations that want to attract and retain great talent in today’s challenging talent market? Many are finding it pays to step outside the standard benefits box with creative options that meet diverse employee needs. For example, caregiving benefits are gaining strong momentum.

To learn more about this, we asked business and HR leaders to describe one caregiving option they believe is essential in supporting employees as they move through various life stages — from family planning and fertility to childcare and eldercare. Their recommendations cover a spectrum of solutions:

Childcare Benefits
Tuition Assistance
Sabbatical Leave
Unlimited PTO
Nutritional Support
Family Medical Leave

To learn more about why these options are so helpful, read the responses below…

6 Caregiving Benefits for the Modern Workforce

1. Childcare Support

One “do-everything” benefit can’t cover all the complexities involved with each stage in life. To ensure higher utilization and satisfaction, focus on stages with the most impact on employees and find the best option for each stage.

Certainly, fertility and family planning are good benefits to consider. However, childcare has the biggest impact on employee retention and productivity.

Childcare costs are soaring. In fact, in most states, the average annual cost of childcare is more expensive than college. This expense means many working couples are considering whether they can even afford to have kids, or if one parent must resign from work to care for their children at home.

Childcare also has a direct impact on employee attendance. On average, parents who must respond to childcare needs miss 9-14 days of work each year. And more than 65% leave work early or arrive late because they lack access to care. This is nearly 3x more productivity lost than from employees who are managing healthcare issues.

Kevin Ehlinger, VP Product Marketing, TOOTRiS

2. Tuition Assistance

Higher education and vocational training open up a wide range of opportunities for employees. They equip workers with the skills and knowledge to pursue additional career options and improve job mobility.

Tuition assistance makes education more accessible, empowering workers and their families to plan for their future. Offering tuition assistance as a benefit helps attract high-quality candidates and helps them hone their skills while helping employers retain top talent. In addition, government education assistance programs in the U.S. let employers deduct sizable reimbursements for employee tuition contributions.

Ben Travis, Founder, HR Chief

3. Sabbatical Leave

Although sabbatical leave was traditionally offered only in academic settings, it has started to gain strong traction over the past few years in the private sector, in response to a rise in employee burnout and the Great Resignation.

Private employers are looking for generous perks to attract new employees, keep them engaged, and help them maintain a healthy work-life balance. Sabbatical leave is the perfect benefit to check those boxes.

In short, sabbatical leave is the option to step away from work for an extended period (usually 6 to 12 months) for any purpose whatsoever. This is a perfect way to accommodate employees at every stage in the employee lifecycle, from cradle to grave.

Individuals can take a sabbatical to de-stress and get pregnant, care for a new child, fight an illness, spend time with a dying loved one, or just travel the world. It is a flexible, practical benefit that allows for a range of uses. Whether paid, partially paid, or totally unpaid, any employee will appreciate the flexibility that sabbatical leave offers.

John Ross, CEO, Test Prep Insight

4. Unlimited PTO

As a business, we are committed to helping our employees maintain a work-life balance. We’re also committed to creating an environment that supports our employees’ personal goals and lets them prioritize their families. One way we do this is through a generous personal time off (PTO) policy.

We offer unlimited vacation time as well as unlimited sick time. We encourage employees to take time off for both personal and family goals, as well as when they need to care for ailing family members.

In addition, we provide resources for employees so they can continue working from home and/or work on a flexible schedule while they are taking time away.

Luciano Colos, CEO, PitchGrade

5. Nutritional Support

One aspect of healthcare that spans the entire lifecycle is nutrition. So one benefit worth considering is coverage for prescribed nutritional supplements — not just prescription drugs. Other ways to support nutritional needs during different life stages is by providing access to educational information and expert talks about nutrition.

Optimum nutrition at each phase in the lifecycle promotes more robust immune systems and higher energy levels. That means it helps keep your workforce and their families healthier. So ultimately, these benefits ensure better performance at work and fewer illness-related absences.

Ruth Novales, Marketing Director, Fortis Medical Billing Professionals

6. Family Medical Leave

Family medical leave is one benefit every employer should consider to help employees address the full lifecycle, from fertility to family planning to elder care.

Family medical leave helps protect an employee’s job for up to 12 weeks if they become ill or they need to care for a family member. A supervisor cannot fire an employee when they rely on this benefit for a legitimate reason, so it can provide a helpful safety net if the need arises.

Lindsey Hight, HR Professional, Sporting Smiles

EDITOR’S NOTE: These caregiving benefits ideas were submitted via Terkel. Terkel is a knowledge platform that shares community-driven content based on expert insights. To see questions and get published, sign up at terkel.io.

Childcare Benefits: A Reckoning for Working Families

October 25, 2022/Employee Benefits, Employee Experience, Employee Retention, Employee Well-Being, Healthcare and Benefits, Remote Work, Talent Retention /by Jessica Chang

It’s not a stretch to say COVID changed everything—including the way working families think about childcare benefits. Before the pandemic, parents struggled with childcare challenges, of course. But the day-to-day realities grew much worse when the pandemic struck.

After the initial shock of schools and childcare centers shutting down, families were left to figure out how to work from home while parenting. Instead of being at school or daycare, children spent the day side-by-side with their parents. In fact, from February 2020-February 2021, the lack of childcare pushed 2.3 million women out of the labor force. And a very long time passed before these women could return to work (if they have returned at all).

While people in some jobs continued to work on-site throughout the pandemic, many workers had to adapt to the new remote work world. This is where many employees still find themselves today, either working remotely or in some form of hybrid schedule—splitting time between home and office.

Today, childcare conditions have improved slightly, but still are far from ideal. Fortunately for some working families, employers are sponsoring more childcare benefits for those who need this kind of support.

Remote and Hybrid Employees Still Need Childcare Assistance

The benefits of remote work are well documented. However, one drawback is often overlooked. I’m talking about the misconception that people don’t need childcare assistance when they’re working remotely. This notion became prevalent early in the pandemic, and unfortunately, employers still haven’t moved on from this line of thinking.

Picture a typical working mother in a remote or hybrid management role.

Compared to her in-office peers, she doesn’t have fewer deadlines, less ambitious KPIs, or a smaller staff to manage. Nor does she have extra hands to hold her baby while attending Zoom meetings or responding to email messages. There are no extra hours in the day when she can feed or play with a toddler.

The workday is still the workday—even when people perform those tasks at home, surrounded by family distractions and obligations, rather than in an office cubicle.

Families With School-Aged Kids Face Unique Challenges

Contrary to what some believe, childcare needs do not stop once kids start kindergarten. I’m a mother, myself, so take it from me! Parents of 5-year-olds are still in the thick of their childcare journey.

Historically, preschool programs (as well as before-school and after-school care) served as a safety net to support a large, productive workforce. But COVID, chronic underfunding, and budget cuts have left these programs with limited capacity, fewer teachers, and reduced hours. The safety net is frayed, at best.

And now, working parents have the added burden of anxiety about COVID risks.

Previously, when children were mildly ill, they still attended school. These days, we know better. Emergency and backup care are must-haves for working parents who are unable to stay home with a sick child.

Even when parents take precautions, they still face the risk of a COVID outbreak at school that can suddenly change the course of a day, a week, or a month—depending on mandated quarantine periods. This is a lot for working families to handle, which is why employee childcare benefits matter so much.

Throughout the pandemic, working parents have been balancing the risks of depriving their children of social interaction or exposing them to a potentially deadly disease. Some families decide to choose individual or small-group professional care, such as a nanny or nanny-sharing arrangement. But this increases overall childcare costs and isn’t affordable enough for some.

The Trouble With Workplace Childcare Centers

Some employers have tried to help working families fill this gap by investing in on-site childcare centers. While an admirable idea and a substantial financial commitment, these large centers fall short for many employees.

These facilities no longer meet many childcare needs, and simply do not work for remote and hybrid workers. For example, how many working parents would want to commute to headquarters for their kids when they may otherwise be working from home? Working families prefer caregivers who are located close to home—which should be good news for employers who don’t want to dedicate massive budgets to build and maintain large childcare centers.

Childcare Benefits Are Key to Employee Retention

No matter which childcare option families choose, it comes at a price. And it’s hard for people to keep in perspective just how unaffordable it has become.

The national average childcare cost has risen to more than $10,000 per year, per child. That’s incredibly steep. How many working families do you know with two or three kids who also have an extra $20,000-$30,000 lying around?

The increasing cost of childcare forces parents (and mothers, in particular) to make a very difficult choice: Stay employed or quit to care full-time for their children. This has pushed record numbers of women out of the workforce.

The reality facing families is stark and alarming:

Childcare costs increased more than 40% during the pandemic — and continue to rise.
The Inflation Reduction Act became law without draft provisions to expand childcare access.
66% of parents made job sacrifices last summer that compromised their household income or job security due to a lack of childcare.
48% of U.S. workers who left a job in 2021 cited childcare issues.

Current and prospective employees value family care benefits more than ever. This means employer-sponsored childcare benefits should play a key role in retention and recruitment strategies.

Final Thoughts

COVID drastically changed employment and childcare. The status quo is no longer sufficient, for both employees and employers. Forward-thinking business and HR leaders are rising to the challenge and supporting working families with employee childcare benefits that make a significant difference in people’s lives. This is a step in the right direction.

Employee Caregivers Are Quitting. Here’s How to Keep Them

October 24, 2022/Elder Caregiving, Employee Benefits, Employee Experience, Employee Well-Being, Health and Wellness, Healthcare and Benefits, Talent Retention, Workplace Empathy /by Dan Kraft

These days, we’re flooded with headlines about The Great Resignation, The Big Quit, and The Great Reshuffle. It’s not surprising. The desire for career advancement and better work/life balance are powerful reasons why people are resigning in record numbers. But these aren’t the only motives. Actually, a growing number of people are quitting so they can take care of loved ones. If your organization can’t afford to lose these employee caregivers, this advice can help you keep them on board.

Factors Driving This Trend

We’re seeing more employee caregivers, partially because the pandemic put older people at risk and disrupted existing family care arrangements. But also, it is the result of broader population shifts and the rising cost of long-term care. Let’s look at how this could play out over the next 15-20 years…

1) Our Population is Changing

Historically, if you mapped our population by age, the chart would look like a pyramid. In the past, many more young people were at the base. As they became adults, they helped support a smaller number of older people at the top. Today, that pyramid is inverted, with a larger elderly population and an increasingly smaller base of young people at the bottom who struggle to support the elderly. This is happening because:

Boomers are aging
Younger generations are producing fewer children
Medical advances are extending life expectancies

This inverted pyramid means that by 2040, the elderly will depend more heavily on the working population than those under 18. Put differently, in less than 20 years, more of your employee caregivers will be supporting elderly loved ones, rather than their own children. Or potentially, they could be caring for both at the same time.

That’s already the case for many employee caregivers. In fact, more than half of middle-aged Americans are currently “sandwiched” between generations.

2) Caregiving Costs Are Rising

Because care is expensive to provide, not everyone will be able to hire professionals to look after aging family members. Instead, they’ll need to provide care themselves at home. According to a recent AARP survey, there are 48 million unpaid caregivers in the U.S. and 80% of these caregivers are providing care to an adult family member or friend.

This means organizations will increasingly have employees who are juggling job performance with the burden of being a caregiver—along with all the time, energy, and emotional commitment that caregiving requires. While they may manage caregiving by missing time at work, it could also be as serious as leaving the workforce altogether.

For example, consider these statistics:

51% of employee caregivers say their family duties “negatively affect” their ability to satisfy work requirements
32% of employee caregivers have left their job to perform these family duties
53% of caregivers who resign say the cost of paid help is a key factor
40% leave because they can’t meet the demands of both caregiving and work

How to Support Employee Caregivers

What are forward-thinking HR leaders doing to help employee caregivers? Our recent conversations focus on three key action areas:

1) Provide Financial Solutions

One of the most important ways to support employees is by helping them plan for their own long-term care. While younger employees may not see the need, education and planning now will offer them more care options in the future if they’re injured or become ill.

When you create financial programming, be sure it includes discussions about the role of:

Medicare and Medicaid – Some people see government programs such as care options. However, they typically don’t cover long-term care (Medicare) and access involves significant drawbacks and limitations (Medicaid).
Retirement savings/401k – Similarly, using 401(k) and retirement savings to pay for care is possible, but this also comes with drawbacks. These investments are best reserved for funding life expenses during retirement and are not recommended for use during working years.
Standalone long-term care insurance – This coverage may be offered at work or purchased through an independent insurance provider. It can be a viable solution that can help cover some costs of long-term care.
Hybrid life insurance with long-term care benefits – This lets people purchase life insurance coverage that includes the ability to advance part of a death benefit for care needs. Many products on the market focus care benefits on professional care such as a nursing home or home health aide, but new products in this category cover family caregiving, as well.

2) Promote Your Employee Assistance Programs

Another way to support your workforce is through an employee assistance program (EAP). The right program can help employees navigate the challenges they face as caregivers. Whether it’s offering care planning tools and strategies or access to tools to help people manage complex aspects of care, be sure to consider a wide range of resources. For instance, you could include:

Care planning services
Care needs assessments
Help in finding and evaluating care
Life insurance claims support
Long-term care claims support
Home care placement assistance
Legal support for wills, trusts, and power of attorney documents
In-home loneliness solutions
Home modification services
Relocation support

Finally, it’s important to share details about your EAP program, and re-communicate the program’s features and benefits on a regular basis. Pairing this with enrollment or re-enrollment of your financial support solutions is a great way to protect your employees.

3) Pay Attention to Caregiving Legislation

Many state governments are taking notice of the need for care—the growing number of people who need a solution, the lack of affordable care, and the expected future drain on state Medicaid funds. A growing number of states are enacting legislation to address these care issues.

For example, in 2021, Washington became the first state to pass this kind of legislation. The Washington Cares Act provides long-term care financial support for state residents. The program is funded by a payroll tax. Employees with qualifying long-term care coverage could opt out of the program (and the associated tax).

Although this legislation may provide a rough blueprint, each state’s approach is likely to be different. To prepare their organizations and their employees for the future, employers should begin tracking legislative activity.

Start Planning

It’s hard to know precisely what’s in store for employers as more Boomers leave the workplace and younger employees step in to care for aging loved ones. But thus far, it’s clear that employee caregivers will need support and solutions as they navigate an increasingly challenging eldercare crisis.

HR leaders can be an essential part of the solution, but it’s important to start planning now. Workplace programs and policies need to evolve, with active involvement from employers and their employees. Start by educating your workforce about the need to plan for long-term care–whether caring for an elderly parent or planning ahead to manage their own care should they need it. Working together with employees to address their needs will help them understand your commitment to them, and encourage them to stay.

Keys to a Successful Open Enrollment Season

October 10, 2022/Employee Benefits, Employee Well-Being, Healthcare and Benefits, Open Enrollment /by Cassandra Pratt

Open enrollment season is upon us again, and the world of work continues to shift at a head-spinning pace. This fluid environment poses benefits-related challenges that HR leaders can’t afford to ignore. For example, decision-makers are wondering:

How to address employees’ evolving needs. It’s essential now to meet individuals where they are and provide clear pathways to benefits that resonate.

How to communicate effectively in a “work anywhere” environment. Everyone deserves easy access to clear, relevant benefits information, regardless of whether they’ve returned to the office, they’re working remotely, or their schedule blends both work modes.

Why Benefits Education Counts

To illustrate how important education is for a successful open enrollment season, consider these U.S. health benefits research findings:

72% of employees wish someone would tell them the best health insurance for their particular situation. (Justworks/Harris Poll)

Nearly 90% of employers think their benefits are clear and easy to understand. Yet only 65% of employees agree. (via MetLife)

54% of employees don’t know the full scope of their health benefits. Yet nearly 65% say these offerings significantly influence their willingness to stay with an organization. (Justworks/Harris Poll)

This means education is vital—not just to help people choose relevant benefits. The truth is that, without effective benefits education, you’re putting employee retention at risk. But improving open enrollment communication doesn’t need to be overwhelming. Below are a few simple ways to help employees through the decision-making process and ensure better overall results:

5 Ways to Improve Open Enrollment Education

1) Host Multiple Information Sessions

Conducting a single all-hands open enrollment season meeting no longer covers all the bases. Even if 100% of your employees work on-site, you can’t expect full participation. Some people will be out ill or on vacation. Unavoidable business priorities will keep others from attending. It’s smart to plan ahead and assume conflicts will make it impossible for everyone to join a live session.

You can rise to this challenge by producing content in various formats (for example, an in-person meeting, a live webinar, a digital recording, and a series of podcast episodes). You’ll also want to share this content through multiple delivery channels (for example, sending email messages, sharing in Slack groups, and posting on your organization’s intranet platform).

The goal is to make information easily accessible and available whenever people can fit it into their schedules.

2) Plan Open Enrollment “Office Hours”

To augment your core benefits “broadcast” content, consider offering prescheduled office hours with an HR staff member. You can structure and promote this as an opportunity for individuals to drop by in person or online and discuss their specific circumstances with a benefits expert.

Often in public information sessions, employees hesitate to ask questions about what they don’t know. But office hours provide a private safe space for discussion. This frees employees to speak more openly about their specific concerns. At the same time, it helps the HR team provide more relevant information to ensure individuals understand the impact of their open enrollment choices.

You may also find it helpful to extend the value of these sessions by repurposing the content for broader use. In other words, you can select some of the most common questions from “office hours” visits and repost them anonymously as “frequently asked questions” on a wiki or web page.

3) Get Your Vendors Involved

Sometimes, information is best received directly from the source. Hosting virtual live and recorded benefits fairs gives vendors a platform for sharing details about their solutions and services. It also provides more time for providers to discuss specific questions in-depth with employees.

So, instead of conducting a standard 1-hour session where your HR team summarizes available health benefits, you could schedule a series of 30-45-minute sessions showcasing key vendors. (For example, you could feature each of your health insurance companies, along with sessions devoted to specialized vendors, such as onsite dental services, wellness consultants, or fertility benefits providers).

These sessions can focus on basic facts about each solution, as well as ancillary benefits that are underutilized. Then you could close each session by answering individual questions from the audience.

Also, if you’re scheduling topic-focused HR office hours, you may want to ask vendor consultants to join relevant sessions. Or you could invite key vendors to conduct their own 1:1 sessions. Sometimes, employees feel more comfortable talking to external benefits specialists. For these people, dedicated vendor sessions or 1:1 office hours are an ideal solution.

4) Integrate Micro-Learnings into the Process

Micro-learnings are brief educational events and materials targeting topics that tie in with key benefits, such as health and finance. This kind of knowledge sharing encourages more employee interaction and tends to generate deeper interest in relevant benefits.

To illustrate, here are a few micro-learning themes:

“Urgent Care vs ER: What’s the Difference?”
“The Link Between Mental Health and Overall Health”
“How to Balance Work Life with Family Caregiving“

Top online learning providers (such as LinkedIn Learning and YouTube channels) already provide excellent educational content about these topics. This means you don’t have to create content from scratch. Instead, you can curate strong programming from several online sources and then easily deliver the content to interested employees.

Packaging and promoting this kind of useful information upfront is invaluable for employees. It saves them time because they don’t have to research these topics on their own. Plus, the convenience of “anytime” access to high-quality educational content about health and benefits enhances workforce well-being.

5) Customize Educational Materials for Various Interests

Every employee is unique. And the beauty of today’s workforce is in its diversity. So everything about open enrollment season should support this reality. In other words, it’s important to appeal to various interests within your workforce.

For instance, recent grads may not appreciate benefits that appeal to new parents and vice versa. Instead of offering a generic “one-size-fits-all” menu, think about how you can categorize benefits so they align with groups that will value them most. Then present these benefits collections on your open enrollment site as packages. (For example, you could specify “Benefits that support LGBTQIA+ employees.”)

Clearly, you’ll find overlap among groups, so you don’t need to recreate an entirely new package for each community. But structuring benefits options in this way helps people more quickly identify the benefits information they’re likely to want.

If you’ve already established dedicated employee resource groups, consider creating packages for each of those ERGs and sending a customized message to each group with a direct link to their accompanying package. This extra measure ensures that individuals can quickly and easily find materials that matter most to them.

Conclusion

As we continue to navigate today’s dynamic business and benefits landscape, this year’s open enrollment season is sure to present challenges. But continually reflecting on your communication process, seeking employee feedback, and making informed adjustments can help you move forward more smoothly.

Remember to distribute information in more than one format. Also, make it as easy to find as possible, in as many places as your budget and resources will allow. And above all, focus on personalizing communication when you can. Although this is a “broadcast” communication challenge, benefits decisions are highly personal for each employee. The more willing you are to meet people where they are, the more successful you’ll be.