Pandemic drives business support for paid leave, study finds
A new study has found strong support from U.S businesses for a national paid leave policy after months of navigating the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing recession.
Researchers found that 75% of U.S. companies and U.K.-based companies with U.S. operations said they support a government leave plan to help cope with future public health and economic crises. So far during the COVID-19 outbreak, 1 in 5 U.S. workers have taken a leave of some kind.
More than 40 companies of various sizes were surveyed in the study conducted by the nonprofit groups Promundo and Paid Leave for the U.S., which promote gender equity and paid leave policies, respectively.
The U.S. is alone among 41 industrialized countries in not guaranteeing paid sick or parental leave, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. President Joe Biden has introduced a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill featuring temporary paid leave amid signs that support is on the rise on Capitol Hill and in corporate America for paid leave legislation.
“We’re beginning to see is a real demand for a permanent public policy solution,” said Annie Sartor, senior director of business partnerships at Paid Leave for the U.S.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act passed at the onset of the pandemic included two weeks of paid sick leave and as much as 10 weeks of paid family or medical leave for employers with fewer than 500 employees. It expired in December.
Biden’s current proposal includes provisions for as much as 14 weeks of paid sick, family and medical leave and a significant expansion of eligibility. The plan could reach as many as 106 million more Americans than the last emergency bill, expanding coverage to workers at companies with fewer than 50 employees.
Biden’s rescue plan is “a first step” toward permanent legislation, said Michelle McGrain, director of congressional relations at the National Partnership for Women & Families.
“The lack of paid leave in this country was a huge crisis,” she said. “That crisis has continued throughout the pandemic and will continue to exist if big, structural changes are not engaged.”
Almost 45% of companies said more than half of the employees who took leave were women, who often bear the brunt of household and care-giving responsibilities.
Gary Barker, chief executive officer and founder of Promundo, said companies with leave programs cut their job losses, especially for women. In December, women accounted for all of the net jobs lost in the U.S., with 156,000, while men gained 16,000 jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“It points to the importance of making leave normal for women and men, and for us to achieve the equality in salaries that women deserve,” Barker said.
Barker said companies in nations with mandatory leave have built a workplace culture that doesn’t penalize taking time-off.
“Workers worry about taking it,” particularly in the U.S., Barker said. “European countries, because they’ve been doing this for a very long time, you’re not considered a slacker because you take leave.”
SOURCE: Gardner, A. (26 January 2021) "Pandemic drives business support for paid leave, study finds" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/articles/pandemic-drives-business-support-for-paid-leave-study-finds
Addicted: How employers are confronting the U.S. opioid crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic has killed more than 381,000 Americans, but the isolation and remote work environment caused by the rapidly spreading disease has exacerbated an already terrible opioid epidemic in the country.
In the 12 months prior to May 2020, the U.S. recorded 81,230 drug overdose deaths, an 18.2% increase over the previous 12-month period, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC announced in December that overdose deaths had already accelerated in the months before the coronavirus came to the U.S., but sped up even more during the pandemic.
“The disruption to daily life due to the COVID-19 pandemic has hit those with substance use disorder hard,” says Robert Redfield, the director of the CDC. “As we continue the fight to end this pandemic, it’s important to not lose sight of different groups being affected in other ways. We need to take care of people suffering from unintended consequences.”
One way to do that is to better educate the public about the opioid crisis, the nature of addiction and how employees and their families can seek help during times of crisis. Congress acknowledged the problem in its latest pandemic relief bill, including $4.25 billion for mental health services to address the recent surge in substance abuse, anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts.
Shatterproof, a nonprofit organization founded to help people better understand the nature of addiction, created an educational platform for employers to teach their employees about addiction and the many resources available to them. The goal is to destigmatize addiction so that people who are being negatively affected by it can continue to work and get help for themselves and their families.
“The problem with addiction and COVID is that drugs and alcohol are used to self-medicate people, to temporarily make them feel better when they are not feeling great,” says Stephen D’Antonio, executive vice president of Shatterproof.
Add the fear and anxiety associated with the coronavirus, or the economic hardship associated with losing their job or having their hours cut, and “it’s almost a perfect storm,” he said.
Employers are the first to admit that employee opioid and alcohol addiction costs them a lot of money every year in the form of healthcare treatments and missed work. But, before COVID-19, employees didn’t have a lot of free time to do drugs or drink while at work. With remote work, they are even more isolated from society and nobody is around to see them drinking or taking drugs.
“Employers, as the decision makers of health plan design, have the unique ability to educate and build support systems for employees, particularly those at-risk,” said Cigna’s Dr. Doug Nemecek, chief medical officer for behavioral health. “This not only improves the health of employees, it improves the culture and overall wellbeing at the organization.”
Cigna offers many programs to help its clients and customers overcome and prevent opioid addiction, including comprehensive pain management and narcotics therapy management programs, pharmacy coverage oversight, and designated centers of excellence for substance use.
Ilyse Schuman, senior vice president of health policy for the American Benefits Council, said that the opioid crisis and mental health issues in general go hand in hand, and there is a general lack of access to qualified mental health providers and behavioral specialists in the United States.
“Our employer plan sponsor members are very concerned and very focused on addressing the mental health aspects of the pandemic too,” Schuman says. “If any good can come from this horrible, horrible pandemic and the fact that so many people have lost their lives and so many people are suffering in silence is to highlight the importance of really addressing the opioid crisis nationwide and the mental health crisis,” she said.
Telehealth has allowed benefit providers to expand access to services like behavioral and mental health during the pandemic. The digital platform removes some of the barriers that health professionals face regarding where and how they can practice medicine.
“Employers are at the cutting edge of innovative strategies. In respect to behavioral health, they realize the importance of taking the stigma away from it. They are figuring out how to bring it out of the closet to communicate the importance of availability, of access to support services for them,” Schuman says.
In 2019, the State of Minnesota worked with the Minnesota Business Partnership to develop an opioid toolkit for employers who were looking for additional resources to help their employees. In Minnesota, drug overdose deaths increased 31% during the first half of 2020 compared to the first half of 2019, according to Sam Robertson, community overdose prevention coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Health. Most of those deaths were attributed to synthetic opioids like fentanyl that are used in both prescription and illicit drugs.
The goal of the toolkit is to show people that substance use disorder is a preventable and treatable illness and to present it in a user-friendly way so that employers of any size and type could address substance use in the workplace.
Addressing the opioid crisis in the workplace “is good for business,” said Dana Farley, drug overdose prevention unit supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Health.
The state worked with Shatterproof to develop the content of its toolkit.
Shatterproof’s Just Five program gives employers five steps they can take to be part of the opioid epidemic response. Each lesson is just five minutes long and uses video, animation and expert testimony to encourage people to get professional help, get educated, get support from people going through the same thing and take care of themselves.
The program has been adopted by major employers like General Electric, JPMorgan Chase and McKinsey.
“One of the big reasons people don’t seek help is they are worried about their employer finding out about their addiction,” D’Antonio says. This program helps get the message across that their employers stand behind them and want to get them the help they need.
SOURCE: Gladych, P. "Addicted: How employers are confronting the U.S. opioid crisis" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/news/addicted-how-employers-are-confronting-the-u-s-opioid-crisis
Why your employees need integrative wellness benefits
As employers look for innovative ways to support employee health and well-being during the pandemic, many have been relying on telehealth options and apps. But these alternatives are leaving employees with critical care gaps.
“Conventional care has left people to manage their own healthcare,” says Bill Gianoukos, CEO of Goodpath, a personalized care platform. “There’s been an uptick in telehealth services that do one of the components, but we’re providing a single solution that manages your entire care.”
“People are stitching solutions together, which leaves the patient to mimic what's currently broken in the conventional care system,” he says. “The employee is going out and picking and choosing solutions that may not be right.”
His platform, Goodpath, addresses musculoskeletal, sleep, digestive and behavioral health challenges through an integrated care plan. Clients work with a coach and also receive a box of products, like exercise bands and posture correctors.
“We believe in treating the whole person versus just going after the symptom,” Gianoukos says.
In a recent interview, Gianoukos discussed the health challenges facing employees as COVID persists, and why employers may be hesitant to launch integrative wellness programs.
How does integrative wellness differ from more conventional healthcare solutions?
The U.S. healthcare system is built around things that affect life expectancy, not chronic conditions that affect quality of life. Conventional care has left people to manage their own healthcare — everything from taking prescription medication, to going to see a specialist, to doing imaging, to physical therapy — you're just left on your own to manage your care.
When it comes to behavioral health, people don't necessarily understand how much behavioral wellness affects overall underlying conditions. [At Goodpath], you come to us with a condition and we will take you through that journey. We will manage your physical therapy and exercise. We will create programs for nutrition. We will create and administer behavioral health programs. We look at all of the multimodal approaches to an integrative care program versus a conventional single-point solution.
What are some of the benefits to this approach, from a productivity and cost-saving perspective?
For back pain alone, an integrative approach might save $11,000 in costs per employee per year. There are many productivity gains, not only from days lost in the office, but productivity lost because of inefficiencies. The average person suffering from a musculoskeletal issue sees 12 days of productivity loss a year. We also make a coach available to you. We believe that any program that actually has a human component has a much higher adherence rate than a standalone digital solution.
Building an integrative approach is very difficult. We see upwards of 12 different specialties represented, from physical therapy to a nutritionist, to a pharmacist, to primary care, to pain management experts. It's very difficult to go and build these complete integrative solutions. So I don't necessarily think you're going to see a lot of companies trying to do this.
What health challenges do you think will see the most need in 2021?
We’re focused on three of the largest conditions afflicting the U.S. population today: musculoskeletal, which can be considered as back pain, shoulder pain, knee pain; insomnia, which also includes fatigue; and then digestive issues like IBS. All of these have a large emotional and mental well-being component. We continuously look at improving and offering more solutions. For example, we’ve trained our coaches on good office ergonomics. Our goal is to keep on offering higher quality solutions for each one of the programs that we're dealing with.
[Some employees] need more urgent care than can be provided through digital therapy. So that’s when we work with employers to integrate with EAPs. We definitely believe that EAPs add a lot of value — we're solving slightly different problems, but overall we're trying to improve the health and the quality of life for all employees at these companies.
SOURCE: Place, A. (25 January 2021) "Why your employees need integrative wellness benefits" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/news/why-your-employees-need-integrative-wellness-benefits
Managers and employees have different attitudes about their COVID workplace
Managers and employees have always had different attitudes about work, and the COVID pandemic has widened that gap even furthur. This divided workforce means most managers believe in the support their company provides, while fewer employees think their employer genuinely cares about them.
Seventy-seven percent of managers feel like their employer genuinely cares about their overall well-being, compared to only 55% of employees, according to a recent survey from Limeade, an employee engagement platform. Similarly, 78% of managers feel as though their employer has engaged in initiatives or offered services to support employee well-being since the start of COVID, compared to 66% of employees.
“This pandemic has not only added to stressors in our life, it’s also taken away some resources we’ve all relied on, like spending time with loved ones, building relationships with coworkers, and getting to explore the world around us,” says Reetu Sandhu, senior manager of the Limeade Institute. “You can see this in the drop that both groups report for their well-being.”
Pre-pandemic, 96% of managers and 86% of employees said that they had favorable well-being levels, Limeade found. However, since the start of the pandemic, those figures have plummeted to 73% of managers and 59% of employees reporting positive well-being.
In a recent one-on-one interview, Sandhu shared what these discrepancies mean for employers and how companies can work to close the gap between employee and manager attitudes in the workplace.
How has the pandemic increased the disparity between managers and employees in the way they view their employers?
The pandemic has emphasized factors that have always been there. Consider power dynamics, for example. Managers are in a position of power that grants them additional permission to prioritize their well-being. This was evident in the findings too — 83% of managers felt comfortable asking for a day off to support their own well-being compared to just 68% of employees. If employees didn’t feel adequately empowered, supported and even expected to prioritize their well-being before the pandemic, they’re only going to continue to fall behind during the pandemic.
Why does this discrepancy exist in the first place?
Organizations haven’t always recognized their role in employee well-being. Unfortunately, companies are only now facing the reality that factors such as power dynamics and organizational norms can have significant impacts on employees. Now, in the face of a pandemic, organizations are scrambling to find the answer. But we can’t expect it to just happen — we need to really consider the employee perspective. Our study revealed that 70.8% of managers feel that since the outbreak of COVID-19, their one-on-ones with their direct reports have focused more on discussing their well-being at work. Only 33.6% of employees actually feel like that is the case.
This disconnect highlights that managers may not be equipped with the resources to lead these conversations, or perhaps there is a gap in trust present in these relationships for genuine conversations about well-being to occur. This isn’t to say that managers do not care. We found that 84% of managers said they feel at least “somewhat” responsible for whether their direct reports experience burnout or not. Instead, it highlights that organizations are missing the mark in enabling both managers and employees to feel supported, cared for and safe to communicate honestly and openly about their experiences.
What can employers do to make all employees feel supported and cared for?
When employers invest in giving managers support, this pays out in dividends, as managers are then enabled to support their employees. Managers can think creatively about demonstrating care to their employees. This can include sending them a gift or a pick-me-up, asking intentional questions about how they or their families are doing, scheduling time for team connection and bonding where work is not an agenda item. Managers can declare a team well-being day, or celebrate the work that is being accomplished despite the tough times we are in. These seemingly small moments of care make an incredible impact on people.
It is very important that people feel as though they can speak openly about their work experience with HR and their managers. Managers, leaders and even peers need to establish trust within organizations and ensure that open communication is welcomed and not tied to any negative consequences. Then, and only then, will employees feel the safety and support they need.
Authentic care is the most impactful resource an employer can offer. Only when these efforts are genuine, will organizations see the direct benefits these offerings and open conversations have in supporting employee well-being. As a manager, don’t just say you want your team to prioritize their well-being — hold them to it just as you would their performance. This communicates that you take it seriously and want to support in a serious way.
SOURCE: Schiavo, A. (28 December 2020) "Managers and employees have different attitudes about their COVID workplace" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/news/managers-and-employees-have-different-attitudes-about-their-covid-workplace
6 ways technology changed the workplace in 2020
Without technology, working remotely during a global pandemic wouldn’t have been possible. But it also helped employers overcome unforeseen obstacles created by this new reality.
To help maintain social distancing, 42% of the U.S. workforce has been working from home, according to a study conducted by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. While working remotely has helped quell the spread of COVID, it’s caused new challenges for the workforce: balancing work while caring for children or the elderly, deteriorating mental health, lack of opportunities to network — the list goes on.
Despite the promising news of vaccines pointing to changes in 2021, remote work is here to stay. Employers including Dropbox and Wikimedia Foundation have all announced options for employees to work from home permanently, and Wells Fargo and Apple have extended remote work until the summer.
Professional training and coaching:
BetterUp, a mobile-based professional coaching platform, is teaming up with NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration, in its first partnership with government agencies to provide their employees with personalized professional coaching.
In the coming months, the FAA and NASA will roll out BetterUp’s professional coaching to supervisors and executives. At the individual level, employees will gain unlimited access to one-on-one professional coaching, accessible via any computer or smartphone. Employees will have access to a digital library that includes thousands of resources designed to reinforce coaching session topics.
“Our evidence-based coaching approach has been linked to significant behavioral gains in areas such as resilience, strategic planning, stress reduction, and the ability to lead teams,” says Alexi Robichaux, CEO and co-founder of BetterUp. “Our goal with NASA and the FAA is to serve as a tool that will enable employees to better thrive as individuals and inspire others as leaders.”
Telehealth:
Catapult Health launches new virtual program to improve access to preventive care
As the pandemic has triggered delays in both preventive and elective care, employers are turning to telehealth services to keep their workforce healthy and happy, and prevent the development of chronic disease.
Catapult Health, a provider of onsite and virtual preventive healthcare, has launched a new program called VirtualCheckup, through which employers can offer preventive care to their employees and family members anytime and anywhere.
“Over the past months, people are kicking the can on their chronic conditions,” says David Michel, CEO of Catapult Health. “Individuals that we're seeing now have not been to their doctors in several months. They've been scared to go. So we’re able to reach people where they are in this critical time and offer a solution that's very thorough and very simple for them to do.”
Recruiting:
Gamifying training, onboarding can help boost engagement for Gen Z
As young workers get more technologically advanced and the workforce continues to embrace remote work, training and onboarding processes are vital for getting employees up to speed. But 38% of HR professionals say that remote onboarding is harder than in-person onboarding, and only 9% say that it is easier, according to a recent survey by the HR Certification Institute and MindEdge Learning.
With remote work here to stay for the foreseeable future, tech will play an increasingly large role, says Matt Fairhurst, CEO of Skedulo, a software and workforce management company.
“It’s about how to come up with and quickly implement really interesting technologies that help encourage the connectedness and engagement of employees,” Fairhurst says. “Not as a method of discipline, but simply as a way to lean into the expectations that remote workforces have — which is an incredible desire for engagement and connectivity across the organization.”
Virtual mental health care:
With stress, anxiety and burnout on the rise, employers are seeking new ways to support workers struggling with poor mental health during the coronavirus pandemic.
Lyra Health, a mental benefits provider, is adding the Calm app to their benefit offerings to help manage the added stress. Over 1.5 million employees will have access to the popular resiliency training app, as the new partnership expands mental health support to employees who may be resistant to more traditional modes of therapy.
“The urgency has never been greater than it is now to provide holistic mental health services,” says Joe Grasso, clinical director of partnerships at Lyra Health. “It's a way to support people who maybe aren't ready to engage in therapy but want to dip their toe into some kind of wellness support.”
Workplace safety:
New tool tracks COVID-19 geographical risk to pinpoint when employees can return to work
As new COVID-19 hotspots continue to pop up across the country, employers may be hesitant or unsure of how to proceed with potential reopening plans.
Health Advocate, a provider of health advocacy, navigation, well-being and integrated benefits programs, has launched a return-to-work solution called Return Navigator to help employers understand the critical components of how and when to return.
“For organizations planning the transition back to the workplace, safety and health are top priorities. However, it is challenging to determine the right timing and approach to have employees return,” says Arthur Leibowitz, chief medical officer and founder at Health Advocate. “By combining these valuable tools, employers can make more informed decisions about developing and implementing their return-to-work strategy.”
SOURCE: Webster, K. (23 December 2020) "6 ways technology changed the workplace in 2020" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/list/6-ways-technology-changed-the-workplace-in-2020
Zoom meeting fatigue: How to maintain productivity in the grind of WFH
Let’s face it: like everything else COVID-19, many leaders, their team members and clients are a little sick of Zoom meetings. What started as a useful tool — with a little bit of novelty — has now become yet another reminder of the grind that is just one part of the coronavirus pandemic.
The somber reality for many is that working-from-home will remain a reality for at least another three-to-six months. The very real challenge for leaders in small and large companies alike is keeping our work teams and clients engaged in what seems like an endless remote working model.
While there are many perks to working remote (no one misses commuting), what is lost is the physical connection needed to foster relationships among team members and clients. We have all come to recognize that those in-person meetings or deskside chats really did bring something important to a productive workplace.
Plus, mental health professionals have found that a lack of physical connection with co-workers can lead to feelings of isolation and disconnectedness. These psychological stressors can negatively impact team performance or a client relationship.
It is critically important that leaders recognize and find creative ways to overcome the not-so-virtual burnout to engage effectively with colleagues and customers, while also remaining productive. Here are just a few ways to foster personal connections and maintain workplace energy that are essential keys to overall business success.
- Recreate your standing videoconference. Still running off the same meeting agenda and structure that has been in place since last March and April? It’s time to retool the meeting and, literally, flip the agenda. Rotate meeting facilitators among team members. Incorporate some comic-relief like a video of the week or a rotating share of childhood photos or “hair fails.” Changes can bring a fresh mindset when serious work is discussed.
- Schedule meetings that aren’t strictly about business. When we all worked in the office, we found time for breaks – whether that was the occasional pizza lunch, happy hour or just a conversation in the hall. So, schedule occasional meetings that have nothing to do with work, but instead focus on developing relationships and camaraderie by playing games such as Scattergories. Bring teams and customers together who share interests in movies, music, hobbies, outdoor activities or sports to compete for prizes – this can go a long way toward strengthening connections.
- Bring back the deskside check-in. Not all meetings are created equal. While many organizations have successfully transitioned to virtual meetings, it has come at the expense of quick conversations in the kitchen or casual stopping by a client’s office. Bring this back with 10-minute one-on-one check-ins on a singular topic at least once a week. And don’t limit it to business matters only – the sky’s the limit on what you and a colleague can chat about!
- Bring back the phone call. It can be easy to unconsciously power through the day with little-to-no personal contact other than emails or text messages. Engaged managers should set aside time daily and weekly to reach out and connect with teammates and clients with a simple phone call. They don’t have to be long – they should also sincerely ask this question: “how are you and how can I help?” This keeps the lines of communication open and demonstrates to team members and clients that their interests remain top of mind.
- Set virtual “office hours.” Professors regularly hold office hours where students are able to stop by to ask questions about an upcoming exam or a specific assignment. Why can’t a similar concept apply to the workplace? Hosting regular “office hours,” where clients and team members know they can pop into a Zoom room or chat via phone, eliminates confusion and boosts overall engagement. It also helps brokers continue to build out their business pipeline, especially as open enrollment season comes to a close.
The work-from-home environment isn’t going away any time soon — in fact, it may not be until the second or third quarter of 2021 before a sense of normalcy reenters the corporate world. Until then, it’s important that brokers do everything they can to foster engagement with team members and clients. It is a number-one priority for any top-performing team and broker.
SOURCE: Word, J. (28 December 2020) "Zoom meeting fatigue: How to maintain productivity in the grind of WFH' (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/zoom-meeting-fatigue-how-to-maintain-productivity-in-the-grind-of-wfh
The top tool for retaining your working parent population
When Allison Whalen returned to her job following her first maternity leave in 2017, she felt “completely overwhelmed” by the lack of supportive resources available to guide her through the leave and return-to-work process.
“I ended up getting through that first three months back at work and I realized there were about 50 things that I wish someone had told me before I'd even been on leave,” says Whalen.
Whalen says she felt lost in understanding how much child care she would need before and after returning to the office, and felt left behind on her professional development.
After returning to work for a previous employer, Whalen knew something needed to change for working parents going out and coming back from leave. She started Parentaly a parental leave benefits company, in order to help employers streamline the process of getting new parents back to work.
Parentaly provides companies and workers with tools, coaching and resources that help working parents navigate the before and after of parental leave, without sacrificing their career and helping the organization retain its talent.
These benefits became even more critical during the pandemic. Whalen herself experienced her second maternity leave this summer, and having a plan for how she would navigate this time helped her stay productive. Remote work due to COVID was an added bonus for both her and her spouse, she says.
“My second maternity leave was a way better experience because I had made a plan that around six weeks postpartum, I wanted to start spending about two to four hours a week doing work,” Whalen says. “That was possible because [my husband] wasn’t commuting and he had breaks in between meetings where he could take a walk [with the baby]. We could plan because he was there.”
While the pandemic has been a huge challenge for working parents, more flexible work arrangements have actually been beneficial to their overall productivity. Thirty percent of the working parents reported an increase in productivity during the pandemic, according to research from Rutgers University. Overall, 94% of employers say that even with employees working remotely, productivity was the same as or higher than it was before the pandemic, according to Mercer, an HR and workplace benefits consulting firm.
But flexible scheduling is just one part of the puzzle for employers wanting to support working parents. Companies that invest in employees and their families with benefits prioritizing their unique challenges see 5.5 times more revenue growth thanks to greater innovation, higher talent retention and increased productivity, according to research by Great Places to Work and Maven Clinic, a health services provider that supports women and families with their fertility, maternity, and pediatrics needs.
“So much of this comes down to productivity,” Whalen says. “[It’s about] how parents teach themselves to improve their productivity and then how the culture of the organization supports that productivity.”
To keep employees engaged and committed to work while juggling their home responsibilities, paid parental leave is a key place to start when employers look to boost their benefits for working parents. Microsoft offered employee parents 12 weeks of paid time off in order to help them deal with COVID-related school closures. PwC also updated its child care benefits to help parents deal with working from home and virtual school.
While workplaces often focus on maternity leave benefits, it’s critical they provide holistic support for parents at every stage of life, says Kate Ryder, founder and CEO of Maven Clinic.
“The best companies really look at parenthood as a journey. It’s not just about the nine months of pregnancy,” she says. “It’s not just maternity, but it’s fertility, return to work coaching [and] finding backup child care.”
As employers look ahead toward 2021, it’s critical they continue leading with empathy and understanding for working parents.
“The experience of being a working parent during COVID has been intensely difficult and stressful,” Whalen says. “I am hopeful that this experience will result in some major improvements in the longer term for me, namely a reduction in volume and duration of work travel, increased flexibility to work from home, and improved child care benefits.”
Whalen plans to encourage every employer she works with to provide more paid leave and greater flexibility and support when it comes to re-onboarding working parents coming back from leave. These actions now will benefit companies in the long-run.
“COVID has highlighted the importance of focusing on productivity over activity and so we are doing a lot of work focusing on how to work smarter, not harder,” Whalen says. “The companies that will come out on top over the next one to two years are the ones that will continue to invest in developing and retaining top talent during and through this pandemic.”
SOURCE: Schiavo, A. (22 December 2020) "The top tool for retaining your working parent population" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/news/parental-leave-and-other-family-planning-benefits-will-be-a-key-investment-in-2021
HR checklist: 5 things to-do before the new year
2020 has been… a year. But before HR professionals look hopefully to the future, they need to tie up loose ends to ensure their workforce starts the new year off on the right foot.
“This has been a strange year, and a stressful one for both employees and their companies,” says Tauhidah Shakir, vice president of human resources and chief diversity officer at Paylocity, an Illinois-based HR software company. “Anything you can do to get ahead of things to wrap up this year is going to help alleviate that stress and get everyone off to a good start.”
The pandemic has caused a lot of stress in the workplace. In November alone, 42% of Americans reported experiencing cases of anxiety or depression, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As an HR manager, Shakir believes that staying organized, and helping employees through end of year changes will help alleviate stress for everyone. To help other employers cope with these unprecedented times, she created an end of the year to-do list to help other HR professionals stay on track.
Note last payroll date
“Keep an eye on the payroll process, and be sure to note the first day of the New Year falls on a Friday so it doesn’t take you by surprise,” Shakir says. “You have to make sure people are getting their sick and bonus time. Have it all plotted out so you’re not rushing at the last minute.”
Open enrollment
“This isn’t like any other open enrollment; HR needs to over communicate what benefits they’re offering, and which ones are going to help their employees the most,” she says. “We don’t know how much things are going to change in the New Year; make sure employees are prepared by making them aware of any mental health, financial wellness and other benefits that can help.”
Go paperless
“Since many of us are not all working in the same space right now, this is the perfect time to switch the workforce over to a completely paperless documentation process,” Shakir says. “Email employees their end of year documents; it’s going to be a lot less stressful than them waiting for it to come through the mail.”
Employee feedback
“This year presented a lot of challenges for everyone, and you’re going to want to take any lessons learned into the New Year,” she says. “You’re looking for lessons learned, ways to improve to make benefits more accessible to employees. There’s always room for improvement, so be sure to be open to what employees are telling you.”
Be flexible
“A lot of employees are fatigued about working from home and feeling like they have no control right now,” Shakir says. “Remember employees have a lot on their plate right now, especially with the winter holidays going on, so be kind and flexible about when they work so they can juggle all their responsibilities.”
SOURCE: Webster, K. (16 December 2020) "HR checklist: 5 things to-do before the new year" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/list/hr-checklist-5-things-to-do-before-the-new-year
5 tips for a work-from-home holiday
Unfortunately, this holiday season will not offer a respite from the pandemic. Vaccination and a return to normalcy are on the horizon, but they won’t arrive before the end of the year. In fact, the cold temperatures and increase in travel during the holidays are forcing experts to urge caution and predict the worst. Under these circumstances, holiday work gatherings are foolish and even keeping the office open feels unwise. That doesn’t mean, though, you have to shut down the holiday spirit.
You already have the tech in place for a remote holiday experience. You’ve gotten used to Zoom, even if you’re not in love with it. When you know how to lead in a work-from-home environment, emceeing a party is no biggie. Is it as fun as a party in the flesh? Probably not, but it can still be fun all the same. Here are a few tips to ensure you do just that.
Prioritize safety
This tip is a no-brainer if there ever was one. The advice from experts is clear: You should not host an in-person gathering for your holiday party. It’s just that simple. As Thanksgiving showed, some people simply cannot resist getting together with their families during this time of year. While you won’t be able to enforce prudence in your team member’s personal lives, you can surely do so when it comes to company parties. No matter how much you love your annual gathering, no matter how much you’ve been looking forward to it, you just can’t have it as you normally would.
Keep mandatory events brief
At this point, we all know how real Zoom fatigue is. It’s one thing when we have to stay in meetings all day for work purposes. However, making people wait on-screen for hours during optional activities is akin to cruel and unusual punishment. To avoid this fate, front-load important games, events, and announcements on the party schedule. Over time, the party should get more formless, allowing people an easy escape if they don’t want to hang out for too long. In other words, don’t make it like a wedding where everyone needs to wait four hours between the ceremony and the food.
Prioritize interactivity
There are a whole host of ways to bring partygoers together across physical space. From games that work well over Zoom to sending cocktail kits to your team, there’s a method of group interaction that will delight your team members. I would recommend not doing anything that’s too onerous on the team members themselves. For example, it’s better for you to send gifts to the team than to try to organize a virtual Yankee Swap. The latter may be a good idea in theory, but it will run into snags if everyone fails to mail their gifts on time. You’ll find more success if you handle that stuff yourself. Also, don’t forget to tell team members to expect a piece of mail, lest they open it before the party and ruin the surprise.
Consider alternative ways to say thanks
One upshot of not having an in-person party is that you’ll save a ton of money. Consider doing something with this to benefit your team and community. Maybe you want to make a charitable donation on behalf of your firm. Perhaps you’d like to offer some precious extra time off to the folks who’ve given their all during an incredibly difficult year. Whatever route you choose, these gestures will surely make a real difference in people’s lives.
Keep the spirit alive
The holidays, we’re often told, are defined by the spirit of generosity and warmth more than by any event or gift. This year will put that maxim to the test unlike any other. Sure, things look a little differently this year, but we can all adapt, overcome, and still partake in the most wonderful time of year.
SOURCE: Vetter, A. (16 December 2020) "5 tips for a work-from-home holiday" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/list/5-tips-for-a-work-from-home-holiday
5 ways HR can help millennials be smarter than their parents about retirement
Getting younger employees to save for retirement is right up there with getting a finicky child to eat their vegetables. Sure, it's good for them, but it's not always what they want.
Participation rates and average deferral rates in voluntary enrollment plans for workers younger than 35 are well below those of other age groups, indicating that HR teams may need to take extra steps to reach this segment of their employee base, according to data from Vanguard, a leading 401(k) provider.
HR professionals are uniquely positioned to best assist younger workers. The best tack for HR experts to take with millennials in regard to retirement saving is to point out some of the mistakes their parents' generation has made in that area.
Help employees understand the destination
When it comes to saving for retirement, a lot of older workers are clearly lost. Younger workers have an opportunity to do a better job of staying on track.
Vanguard’s data show the average 401(k) participant within 10 years of retirement age (i.e., between ages 55 and 64) has a plan balance of just $69,097.
That may not provide much help over a retirement of 10 or 20 years.
Caution young staff members that one reason older workers are so badly behind in retirement saving is that they haven't checked first to see where they're going.
A MoneyRates retirement plan survey finds that 71% of workers within 20 years of retirement age still have not done a calculation of how well their savings will hold up over their retirement years.
Encourage your workforce to determine what enough savings is. Inform your staff that it only takes a few minutes to use a retirement calculator to see how much to put aside to meet savings goals. That way, your employees will know where their retirement plan is heading.
Educate employees on how to get debt under control
Saving for retirement is undermined when employees are also building up debt at the same time.
Stress that debt costs more than retirement investments are likely to earn, a dollar in debt can more than counteract the benefit of a dollar in savings.
According to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances, the typical household still has $69,000 in debt by the time the head of that household is within 10 years of retirement.
Notice that this figure almost exactly matches the previously-mentioned amount that the average 401(k) participant in that age group has. In other words, debt can effectively wipe out a person's 401(k) savings.
So, your team’s first step toward educating workers about building a more secure retirement should be to do something many in their parents' generation failed to do: get debt under control.
Teach employees how to spread savings to make the burden lighter
Retirement saving is a big job, but younger workers have something very important on their side: time. Emphasize that spreading retirement savings out over 25 to 40 years makes the job much easier.
It gets tougher if young workers do what many of their parents' generation have done--wait and then try to catch up in the last ten years or so until retirement.
The golden rule: Don't leave free money on the table
When employers provide a 401(k) match, all staff should understand there's a direct financial incentive to start saving now. Every time employees put money into their 401(k) plan, the employer kicks in some on their behalf.
If employees don't contribute money into the plan, they don't get this money from the employer. There's no going back in future years and reclaiming that extra money the employer would have put in on the worker’s behalf.
The only way not to miss out on this free money is to contribute each and every year— and to contribute enough to get the maximum employer match available.
Show employees the benefits of saving
A dollar saved today can equal $10 at retirement age.
Saving money is hard work, but HR professionals can show their employees that it gets easier when they let their investments do the work for them.
The investment returns earned become much more powerful when compounded over a long period of time. Compounding means earning a return not just on the original money invested, but also on the returns earned in other years.
Younger workers must recognize that a dollar invested today could be worth much more than a dollar invested toward the end of their career.
There are many people of older generations who would be a lot better off today if they absorbed each of these five lessons when they were younger.
SOURCE: Barrington, R. (14 October 2020) "5 ways HR can help millennials be smarter than their parents about retirement" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/opinion/ways-hr-can-help-millennials-be-smarter-than-their-parents-about-retirement