A guide to managing employee website usage
With remote workers, employers need to be mindful of the types of websites their employees are accessing on company-issued technology. Continue reading for key considerations and best practices to review when properly managing employee website usage.
Whether employees are working from home, the coffee shop or the office, employers need to be mindful of the types of websites workers are accessing on their company-issued technology.
New accessibility creates greater flexibility, but employers need to be vigilant to ensure workers maintain the expectation of productivity and workplace privacy. Now more than ever, the workplace heavily relies on technology and companies must understand how to manage it to avoid risk.
Nowhere is the tension between technology and privacy rights more prevalent than in today’s workplace. At the forefront of this discussion is whether employers should block access to certain websites on company-issued technology. Here are key considerations and best practices to review when properly managing employee website usage.
Creating boundaries between work and personal affairs, without invading privacy. Employees typically emphasize that their private affairs should not be accessed by their employer. But the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) states an employer-provided computer system is the property of the employer, so when an employee visits certain websites during typical office hours using company-issued technology, what is accessed by the employee becomes the employer’s business as well.
There is no denying that placing blocks on certain websites is an effective way to separate work and personal matters, maintain professionalism, protect the company’s security, respect company property and utilize work time appropriately. However, employers should beware of potential legality issues regarding privacy. For example, employees are given some protection from computer and other forms of electronic monitoring under certain circumstances.
Productivity distractions. Blocking certain websites will not prevent an employee from utilizing company time for personal reasons, but doing so reminds employees to have integrity, focus and discipline when it comes to using technology in the workplace. Some employees will use company-issued technology to visit a plethora of websites such as social media platforms, personal email accounts, instant messengers, financial institutions, sports, entertainment and music sites, as well as inappropriate websites. It is easy to become distracted with an overabundance of virtual activity at our fingertips, and blocking sites sends a serious message to workers that business technology and time is for business-purposes only.
Security of confidential company data and information. In today’s interconnected world, employers recognize the importance of protecting confidential company information. Employers often choose to block certain websites because of the risk of a security breach. Employers are concerned with the exposure of any release of its data, work products, ideas and information not otherwise disclosed to the public or its competitors. Blocking certain websites gives an organization an opportunity to decrease the risk of its confidential information being accessed by external influences.
What employers can do to be more transparent with staff
There are no foolproof methods to preventing an employee from using their work time for personal reasons or inadvertently exposing the company to security breaches.
Employees can still access many websites of their choosing through their personal technology. However, the aforementioned reasons are convincing enough for employees to take more accountability in using company-issued technology for business purposes only. An employer that endorses a policy and practice of business technology for business reasons sets a clear expectation for employees to remember and follow.
- Enforce a written policy that sets clear expectations for in-house and remote employees about not using company-issued technology to visit certain websites and explain the reason for such policies. Policies and procedures should be well-defined, widely communicated and reviewed at least annually.
- Inform new employees that certain websites are not accessible via company technology. Highlight the written policy for both new and existing employees. Again, explain the reason for this policy.
- Offer training and other educational opportunities that motivate productivity during times when work focus suffers.
- Work with the company’s internal IT department to ensure that websites are properly blocked.
Usually, when employers remain transparent with staff regarding why a policy exists, employees are more receptive. In general, employers are encouraged to consult with an experienced HR professional or employment lawyer to avoid any potential legality pitfalls in the workplace.
SOURCE: Banks, S. (11 March 2019) "A guide to managing employee website usage" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/a-guide-to-managing-employee-website-usage?brief=00000152-14a5-d1cc-a5fa-7cff48fe0001
What HR pros should know about clinical guidelines
Sets of science-based recommendations, also known as clinical guidelines, are designed to optimize patient care in areas such as screening and testing, diagnosis and treatment. Read this blog post for what HR professionals should know about these guidelines.
Your employees and their family members frequently face tough questions about their healthcare: How do I know when it’s time to get a mammogram? When does my child need a vision screening? Should I get a thyroid screening? If I have high blood pressure or diabetes, what is the best treatment for me?
For the providers who care for them, the key question is: How do we implement appropriate, science-backed treatments for our patients, testing where needed, but avoiding potentially harmful or unnecessary (and expensive) care? The answer is to seek guidance from and use clinical guidelines —along with existing clinical skills — wisely.
Clinical guidelines are sets of science-based recommendations, designed to optimize care for patients in areas such as screening and testing, diagnosis and treatment. They are developed after a critical review by experts of current scientific data and additional evidence to help inform clinical decisions across a spectrum of specialties.
Based upon this process, guidelines are then released by a number of sources and collaborations, including academic and non-profit healthcare entities, government organizations and medical specialty organizations.
From preventive care to treatment protocols for chronic conditions, guidelines provide a framework healthcare providers use with patients to help guide care. However, it’s important to note that clinical guidelines are not rigid substitutes for professional judgment, and not all patient care can be encompassed within guidelines.
The impact on healthcare and benefits
Clinical guidelines are used in myriad ways across the healthcare spectrum, and providers are not the only ones who utilize them. Insurers also may use guidelines to develop coverage policies for specific procedures, services and treatment, which can affect the care your covered population receives.
To illustrate a key example of an intended impact of guidelines on health plan coverage, consider those issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, whose A and B level recommendations comprise the preventive services now covered at no cost under the mandate of the Affordable Care Act.
As another example, the National Committee for Quality Assurance, which accredits health plans and improves the quality of care through its evidence-based measures, uses the American Heart Association guidelines when creating its quality rules for treating high cholesterol with statin drugs.
Other examples exist among commercial coverage policies. For example, some cancer drug reimbursement policies use components from nationally recognized guidelines for cancer care.
Because science is rapidly changing, guidelines are often updated, leading insurers to revisit their policies to decide if they will change how services and medications are covered for their members. Providers and health systems may modify processes of patient care in response to major changes in guidelines and/or resultant changes in payer reimbursement.
Not all guidelines are updated on a set schedule, making it even more important for providers and organizations that rely on guidelines to stay on top of changing information, as it can have a direct impact on how they work. Attending conferences, visiting the recently established ECRI Guidelines Trust, and regularly reviewing relevant professional association websites and journals can help ensure needed guidelines are current. Lack of current information can affect care decisions and potential outcomes for patients. Those who have access to the most up-to-date, evidence-based information are able to work together to make well-informed healthcare decisions.
Why it matters for employers
As employers or benefits consultants, it’s critical to ensure that your health plan, advocacy or decision support providers, and other partners that depend on this information to guide their practices and decisions understand and follow current, relevant guidelines.
Further, by combining information from relevant guidelines and data from biometric screenings, health risk assessments, claims and other sources, it’s possible for clinical advocacy and other decision support providers to identify employees with gaps in care and generate targeted communications (through a member website and/or mobile app) to help them take action to improve their health.
Clinical guidelines are science distilled into practical recommendations meant to be applied to most patients for quality healthcare. By maintaining current, relevant guidelines, organizations and providers who work with your covered population can ensure that all parties have the key information they need to make the best decisions for their health.
SOURCE: Sivalingam, J. (18 March 2019) "What HR pros should know about clinical guidelines" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/what-hr-managers-should-know-about-clinical-guidelines?feed=00000152-a2fb-d118-ab57-b3ff6e310000
Goodbye, suits and ties. Hello, sneakers
As the workplace evolves, one thing many managers have in common is that they are throwing out their traditional business dress code. Continue reading this blog post from Employee Benefit News to learn more.
Casual Friday? Try casual Monday through Friday.
As the modern U.S. workplace evolves, one thing many office managers have in common is that they are throwing the traditional business dress code out the window.
About 88% of employers today offer some type of casual dress benefit, up from 81% five years ago, according to the 2018 employee benefits survey from the Society for Human Resource Management.
The most recent company to join the ranks of the suit-and-tie-less workplace is banking giant Goldman Sachs. The decision — once believed unthinkable for such a straight-laced organization — comes as the company looks to keep up with “changing nature of workplaces,” according to a Goldman memo last week.
“Casual dress attire at work is just one of the many ways employers are trying to retain and attract top talent in this competitive job market,” says Amelia Green-Vamos, an employer trends analyst with Glassdoor. “The unemployment rate is at a historic low, and casual dress attire is an inexpensive perk creating a more approachable and comfortable culture for new and existing employees.”
All employers want to attract the best possible talent and in today’s job market that talent is younger. Indeed, more than 75% of Goldman Sachs’ employees are members of the millennial or Gen Z generations. When it comes to hiring younger talent the more traditional companies — such as big banks — are competing against tech giants and hedge funds that are offering a different kind of workplace.
Facebook, for example, has had a relaxed dress code since the beginning. “We don’t want our people to have a work self and a personal self,” says Facebook spokesman Kyle Gerstenschlager. “That aspect of our culture extends to our lack of a formal dress code.”
Google is another company with a simple dress policy. “You must wear clothes,” was the response Susan Wojcicki — current CEO of YouTube — gave in a 2007 interview with Bay area media outlet The Mercury News. She was VP of ad services at Google at the time.
But, it’s not just the Silicon Valley tech companies that have embraced a more laid back attire policy. When Mary Barra — current CEO of General Motors — was vice president of global human resources at the automaker, she set out to replace the company’s 10-page dress code exposition with two words: “Dress appropriately.”
It’s a simple idea, but Barra was perplexed when she received pushback from HR and one of her senior-level directors, she explained at the 2018 Wharton People Analytics Conference. But this actually led to what Barra called an “ah-ha” moment, giving her better insight into the company and teaching her a lesson about making sure managers feel empowered.
Office culture has been evolving for decades, with offices with sleep pods and ping-pong tables now commonplace. But it’s practicality rather than entitlement that is leading offices to adapt their dress codes.
“I have a hard time imagining a position where wearing a tie could be considered an essential part of the job’s responsibilities,” says SHRM member Mark Marsen, director of human resources at Allies for Health + Wellbeing. “Even using arguments that it contributes to or enhances corporate image, client perceptions, or establishing a form of respect. What matters at the end of all, for everyone concerned, is that a successful service was rendered.”
SOURCE: Shiavo, A. (12 March 2019) "Goodbye, suits and ties. Hello, sneakers" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/news/goldman-sachs-embraces-casual-dress
7 employee engagement trends gaining momentum
According to a Gallup survey, organizations with highly-engaged employees outperform the competition by 147 percent in earnings per share. Read this blog post for seven employee engagement trends that are gaining momentum.
Employee engagement is top-of-mind in the HR industry these days. In many ways, it might be one of employers’ biggest pain points. In this tight job market, it’s easier for employees to jump ship — and that’s a big headache for HR. Employers now are working more diligently to retain their key talent who are apt to go elsewhere to seek the working environment they desire.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management, it costs a company, on average, six to nine months of an employee’s salary to replace her. So, for an employee making $40,000 a year, that’s $20,000 to $30,000 in recruiting and training expenses. Others predict the cost is even more: That losing a salaried employee can cost as much as twice their salary, especially for a high earner or executive-level employee.
Think about it. Salary and benefits are important, sure. But in this job market, employees can find what they are looking for in a compensation package. So, what makes the difference? It’s employee engagement — the extent to which an employee’s personal goals and interests align with the vision and goals of the company.
Organizations with highly-engaged employees outperform the competition by 147% in earnings per share, according to Gallup. More companies are realizing the effect that improved employee engagement is having on employee performance, retention and productivity. A G2 Crowd survey reported that in 2019, companies will increase their spending on employee engagement by 45%.
This year has all the makings of being a pivotal year for employee engagement with retention being equally, or even more as important, as recruitment. HR professionals, and companies as a whole, need to review employee engagement practices to make sure their strategy impacts retention, production and performance.
What’s ahead in 2019 for employee engagement? Here are my predictions.
Employers will put much more focus on employee engagement. An analysis from PwC says the new standard for employee engagement is fulfillment — the feeling people have when their work and their motivations are aligned and they gain a sense of meaning and purpose as a result. Others say it’s the employee experience — that it’s more than better perks and benefits. It’s ensuring that employees have positive, meaningful interactions with the organization at every step. Whether it’s employee engagement, fulfillment or experience, 2019 is going to see more employers, and the industry itself, paying much more attention to employee engagement.
Flexibility will be all-important. Millennials, the largest generation in the workforce, have made it loud and clear that they want more workplace flexibility including the ability to shift work hours (such as starting the day earlier or later) and working from home one or two days a week. Turns out that non-millennials are saying the same thing. Look for companies to incorporate more flexibility into company policies this year.
The annual performance review continues to be on its way out. The trend away from the annual performance review in favor of more frequent, real-time reviews and informal feedback will start to take hold in 2019. Ongoing communication is a much more effective tactic. Millennials, in particular, like at least monthly review format/commentary. In addition, steps for development, growth and mentoring can influence an employee’s satisfaction and desire to stay with the company.
Employee appreciation will move to a year-round activity. Call it what you want — recognition, appreciation, etc. But it’s not about an end-of-year holiday party or an employee of the month recognition. And it doesn’t have to always be about the cost of doing it — a manager’s thanks and lunch brought in at the end of a big project can go a long way. This year will see more attention to demonstrating employee appreciation on a year-round basis and rethinking the ways in which we can show it.
Companies will add benefits that satisfy employee lifestyle needs. Employee engagement no longer is one-size-fits-all. Employees have various lifestyle needs that companies can address that show they care about employee life stages. For example, more attention is being paid today to the needs of nursing mothers, and many companies are providing lactation services. For example, Goldman Sachs last year started paying for nursing mothers to ship breast milk to their homes when they travel. PwC introduced a phased return-to-work program following parental leave. Look for companies to identify and add more unique benefits in 2019 that show their employees they care about their life stages.
Employers will take a much more holistic approach to wellness. Gone are the days when employee wellness meant providing a gym membership and orchestrating an internal health fair. In recent years we have seen companies start broadening their wellness approach. Happy, healthy employees are generally engaged employees and that involves addressing all aspects of wellness. According to the University of Maryland, there are eight mutually-interdependent dimensions of wellness — physical, mental, emotional, social, occupational, financial, purposeful and environmental. They don’t have to be equally balanced, and employers likely can’t address all of them. 2019 will see employers studying the holistic wellness approach and making changes that fit their particular organization and their employees the best.
Gamification will be adopted more widely. Whether it’s for onboarding, benefits communication/understanding, wellness programs or other employee engagement tactics, gamification will be considered and adopted more widely this year. Gamification techniques can be used as well to increase use of intranets, social media platforms and mobile communication. Look for employers this year to create more apps and digital games to increase employee engagement.
Employees who feel their companies care about them are more engaged and dedicated to company success. Those of us in HR need to pay as much attention to employee engagement this year as we do to compensation and benefits in order to succeed with employee retention.
SOURCE: Roberts, R. (13 February 2019) "7 employee engagement trends gaining momentum" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/these-employee-engagement-trends-are-gaining-momentum
Free snacks won’t retain workers long term. Here’s what will
According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 32 percent of employers offer company-paid snacks and beverages to their employees. Read on for information on what will retain workers long term.
Free snacks at work can help workers curb late afternoon hunger — but will employees be more inclined to stick around because the office has free food? Probably not, according to a report from recruiting and staffing firm The Execu Search Group.
Offering free snacks at work seems like a good way to attract and retain workers, but it is a misconception that millennials, the largest generation in the workforce, want the benefit, the report says.
The trend of offering free snacks to workers started with big Silicon Valley tech companies — like Facebook and Google — and spread to employers of all sizes across the U.S. According to research from the Society for Human Resource Management, 32% of employers offer company-paid snacks and beverages to employees, up significantly from last year, when 22% offered them.
Free snacks can be a great addition to the office, but only if an employer offers others substantive benefits, says Edward Fleischman, CEO of The Execu Search Group. On its own, he adds, food offers little value.
“[Free food] is great. But some companies are using it as an incentive to keep people there — and that’s not going to keep people there,” he says.
Instead of offering small perks like snacks, the report says that if a company wants to retain millennial workers, it should offer benefits that allow greater work flexibility, more vacation time, training and development, and opportunities to make a difference. In particular, employers should consider instituting benefits like a flexible work schedule and unlimited paid time off, Fleischman says.
“That’s a keyword now — flexibility,” he says. “The flexibility to work from home when they need to, or want to.”
Millennials, in particular, he says, want the ability to work whenever and wherever they want. While there might be initial concern that allowing employees to work from home means they won’t be as productive, this isn’t the case. Millennials are very connected to their devices and will typically respond even after work hours are over, Fleischman says.
“They’ll respond on their iPhone at 11 o’clock at night. They may be at a restaurant, but they’ll respond to you,” he says.
Making changes like adding an unlimited PTO policy or a flexible work schedule could be difficult for legacy companies to institute, Fleischman says. It often requires trust that employees won’t abuse the policy. Additionally, older generations and executives may be used to stricter PTO policies, so it could require an adjustment, he adds.
But more companies are taking the plunge to offer these kinds of benefits. The number of employers offering unlimited PTO jumped from 1% in 2014 to 5% in 2018, according to SHRM. Employers including General Electric, Dropbox and Grant Thornton all offer the benefit, according to Glassdoor.
Fleischman says that in a competitive labor market, benefits are a key factor to recruiting and retaining a solid workforce. If a company is not offering solid benefits, it could mean the difference between accepting a job and looking elsewhere.
“As a company, you have to really set yourself up nicely to recruit that person and retain that person,” he says.
SOURCE: Hroncich, C. (28 January 2019) "Free snacks won’t retain workers long term. Here’s what will" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/news/free-snacks-wont-retain-workers-long-term-heres-what-will?brief=00000152-14a7-d1cc-a5fa-7cffccf00000
Why chiropractic services could be the next big thing in wellness
Could chiropractic services be the next big thing in wellness? The American College of Physicians' care guidelines recommends the conservative, non-pharmacologic treatment chiropractors provide. Read on to learn more.
The next popular wellness perk could be offering chiropractic services at on-site medical centers.
On-site or near-site clinics typically offer services to employees including first aid, occupational health, condition management, wellness and ancillary services — and increasingly chiropractic care.
Employees, healthcare administrators and physicians are recognizing the health and employee satisfaction benefits of integrating chiropractic care into multidisciplinary settings, research suggests. Care guidelines from the American College of Physicians recommend the conservative, non-pharmacologic treatment chiropractors provide. Employers are finding that adding chiropractic care to their worksite health center teams reduces direct costs of care, decreases opioid prescriptions for neuro-musculoskeletal episodes and improves health outcomes.
Healthcare costs for employers are expected to reach $15,000 per employee in 2019, according to the National Business Group on Health. The direct and indirect costs associated with low back pain are estimated between $85 billion and $238 billion, and expenditures for back pain are rising more quickly than overall health expenditures. To help stem that growth, as many as 65% of large companies are expected to offer on-site or near-site care by 2020, NBGH reports.
Employer focus on improving workers’ health and wellness has gained momentum in recent years, as evidenced by last year’s announcement from Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase that they would form an independent healthcare company for their U.S. employees. Another example is employers with self-funded health plans contracting with narrow, high-quality provider networks and even negotiating directly with local hospitals on their prices.
Clinics offer similar cost control and oversight benefits. More importantly, they offer faster and easier access to care that keeps employees healthy, motivated and engaged — and out of the emergency room or hospital. As such, 54% of large employers currently offer on-site or near-site clinics, while another survey showed that 94% of employers reported their clinics improved employee health and 95% said they contributed to increased employee productivity.
Each clinic’s services, cost-sharing, use privileges and staffing can be customized to meet the needs of a specific organization and employer benefit plans. These decisions should be reflective of the objectives of the sponsoring employer and the healthcare needs of the population.
While most healthcare clinics are located on-site or close to the workplace, a growing number are near-site or shared clinic locations, serving populations from multiple locations of the same employer or various employers. Additionally, more care is being delivered virtually. The objective is to provide easy access and immediate attention for employees, at little or no cost, for a host of services and products that an employee would normally have to leave the work site to obtain.
According to a recent survey by the National Association of Worksite Health Centers, the majority of employers reported their workers had expressed interest in chiropractic services at their clinics. The nationwide cost for treatment and management of low back pain and arthritis has reached $200 billion annually. Another study attributes two-thirds of these costs to lost wages and reduced productivity.
The fact that chiropractors deliver drug-free therapies should be particularly meaningful to employers in light of the country’s opioid abuse epidemic. The good news is a recent study published in “The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine” concludes that for adults receiving treatment for low back pain, the likelihood of filling a prescription for an opioid was 55% lower for those receiving chiropractic care than for adults not receiving chiropractic care.
In particular, chiropractors follow evidence-based and value-based guidelines to promote safety and effectiveness. Findings like these and many others show that by adding chiropractic care, employers will strengthen the opportunity for cost savings, improved outcomes, greater worker productivity and stronger employee retention.
SOURCE: Lord, D. (25 January 2019) "Why chiropractic services could be the next big thing in wellness" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/why-chiropractic-services-could-be-the-next-big-thing-in-wellness?brief=00000152-14a7-d1cc-a5fa-7cffccf00000
What to expect when your employee is expecting
How an employee's boss treats them has a major influence on whether or not they return to work after maternity leave. Read this blog post for what to expect when your employee is expecting.
Only four out of five employees return to work after maternity leave. The way their boss treats them has a major influence on that decision.
Women make up nearly half of the American workforce, and 85% of them will become mothers by age 45, according to a study by Pew Research. The same study estimates it costs organizations around $47 billion to replace employees who quit their jobs after maternity leave. Yet, employees going on maternity leave are often pushed aside.
“Women often face having their hours cut, harassment and losing out on promotions for becoming pregnant,” says Robyn Stein DeLuca, a postpartum consultant and professor at Stony Brook University. “It’s important for managers to know pregnant women are just as capable as they were before.”
Pregnancy discrimination can result in costly lawsuits and hurt a company’s reputation. For instance, pharmaceutical company Novartis in 2010 was ordered to pay $175 million to plaintiffs after a boss told female employees they should consider having an abortion if they wanted to advance within the company, DeLuca explains. And last year, thousands of Google employees staged walkouts to protest the company’s treatment of women.
“The walkouts knocked Google off their pedestal as a great place for everyone to work,” DeLuca says. “Thanks to the #MeToo movement, businesses are being held accountable for the way they treat pregnant employees.”
DeLuca spent the last 15 years of her career studying how new mothers cope after returning to work. She applies that knowledge to her consulting business, where she advises employers and working mothers on balancing personal and professional responsibilities.
During her research, DeLuca discovered women were more likely to return to work if they had supportive managers who made reasonable accommodations for their condition. The reverse was also true; employees who didn’t receive support and accommodation were most likely to quit their jobs.
“When you give talented women the opportunity, they’ll succeed,” DeLuca says.
During a webinar for the New York City chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management, DeLuca discussed strategies for managing pregnant employees in the office and during maternity leave. Making reasonable accommodations for them is just as important as good communication, she says. The first thing employers can do is refrain from negatively commenting on the pregnancy.
“When she decides to go public with the news, stay neutral or give a positive response to the announcement. Don’t say it’s the worst possible time for her to go on leave, even if it is,” DeLuca says. “She shouldn’t be made to feel bad about this exciting time.”
The next step should be collaboration, DeLuca says. Once the employee has made her announcement, managers should meet with her to discuss when she’s planning to go on maternity leave, and how best to divvy up her responsibilities after the baby is born. It’s also a good idea for HR to have the phone number of the employee’s OBGYN in case she goes into labor at the office, DeLuca says.
“Women worry about leaving the team in the lurch, but making plans that spell out the details of her leave can reduce anxiety, bring order and set clear expectations,” DeLuca says.
DeLuca suggests asking the employee to make a list of her duties and projects so she and her manager can discuss how best to cover the work. This can help quell any job security anxieties by reaffirming she’s a valuable part of the team.
“It gives her the opportunity to shine and show what she’s accomplished,” DeLuca says.
Coworkers might resent being asked to do extra work for someone on maternity leave. The best way to prevent these feelings is to frame the work as an opportunity for professional growth, DeLuca says. Do this by praising employees for taking on extra work, and for the new skills they’re learning, she says.
Providing these employees with flexible hours so they can address personal needs — like furthering their education or caring for a loved one — is another way to reward them for stepping in for a coworker on maternity leave.
“It helps them feel like they’re not being taken for granted,” DeLuca says.
Most pregnant women plan on working right up until the baby is born, DeLuca says. And despite stereotypes about “mommy brain” — the idea that pregnancy decreases cognitive function — DeLuca asserts that pregnant women are mentally healthy and fully capable of performing their job duties.
“TV portrays pregnant women as flighty and crazy. But pregnancy is actually a good time for mental health,” DeLuca says. “Pregnant women are less likely to suffer from depression, to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital or attempt suicide.”
However, managers should understand that pregnant employees have physical limitations. Depending on their role at the organization, pregnant women may require more breaks and lighter duty.
“She shouldn’t be on her feet all day or lifting heavy objects,” DeLuca says. “The baby is literally sitting on her bladder, so she’s going to make frequent trips to the bathroom.”
Women can be self-conscious about their changing bodies during pregnancy, which can be exacerbated by inappropriate comments and gestures from managers and peers, DeLuca said. HR can help educate the workforce about this issue during harassment training.
“Don’t touch the belly. Don’t say she’s beautiful, looks like a big round ball, or like your wife did at that stage. It’s not conducive to a comfortable working environment,” DeLuca says. “Instead, you can ask how she’s feeling.”
While making plans for an employee’s maternity leave, managers should talk to the employee about how they’d like to get back to work. Some companies allow women to ease their way back into work by letting them work short days toward the end of their maternity leave.
DeLuca recommends deciding beforehand how often, or if, a manager should contact an employee during maternity leave. If the employee would rather not be contacted, set a date for a return-to-work meeting, she says.
“It gives you the chance to fill her in on projects and new clients so she can hit the ground running when she returns to work,” DeLuca says.
SOURCE: Webster, K. (28 January 2019) "What to expect when your employee is expecting" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/news/what-to-expect-when-your-employee-is-expecting?brief=00000152-1443-d1cc-a5fa-7cfba3c60000
Why employers should take offboarding more seriously
According to Glassdoor, 79 percent of job seekers use employer review sites during their job search. These sites provide a public stage for employees to rate and review their employers. Continue reading to learn more.
When it comes to layoffs in today’s online world, companies must focus on providing the best experience possible for departing employees, not only because it’s the right way to treat these individuals, but also because it can have a direct effect on the company’s public reputation.
Websites like Glassdoor, Fairy God Boss and Indeed provide a public stage for employees to rate and review their current and former employers. A whopping 79% of job seekers use sites like these during their job search, according to a recent Glassdoor study. Reviews can come in the form of happy employees who cheerlead and promote their employer, as well as disgruntled employees who take the opportunity to air out their employer’s dirty laundry.
In an economy with nearly full employment, where disgruntled employees can and do turn to public online review sites where prospective employees are sure to visit before an interview, organizations cannot afford to take their separation and off-boarding processes lightly.
Reviews by exiting employees have the potential to be very damaging to an employer’s reputation and deter prospective employees from even applying for potential jobs. This kind of transparency also offers a lot of benefit to job seekers; prospective employees can get a better idea of what it would be like to work for a particular company and have greater ability to select a company whose culture and values match their own. In fact, Glassdoor’s study found that 69% of job seekers would not take a job with a company that has a bad reputation – even if unemployed.
One theme that repeatedly appears in negative reviews centers around the topic of layoffs, including write-ups of various HR blunders made throughout the process, inadequate communication, and a lack of empathy and respect toward the departing employees.
While much consideration is given to the onboarding and retention phases of the relationship between employee and employer, the separation phase is often given far less attention. Whether due to a layoff, reduction in force, performance termination, or some other event, managing employee separations can be challenging and can easily turn for the worse, leaving the employee with a negative perception of the company – and an axe to grind on social media.
To address the organizational need for reputation management during a reorganization, many companies work with a third-party specialist to guide them through the necessary steps to maintain employee good-will and satisfaction. A consultative partner can offer added benefit by bringing a fresh perspective and specialized experience to a delicate situation.
For companies committed to attracting new talent, maintaining a strong online reputation should be a priority. Whether you choose to work with a partner-firm or not, ensuring that offboarding is carefully planned and managed will help your organization be more prepared and better equipped to manage a layoff action skillfully, in a way that leaves people feeling heard, cared for and appreciated.
SOURCE: Mellis, L. (21 January 2019) "Why employers should take offboarding more seriously" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/why-employers-should-take-offboarding-more-seriously?feed=00000152-a2fb-d118-ab57-b3ff6e310000
No primary care doc, no problem: How millennials are changing healthcare
Do you have a primary care physician? Forty-five percent of 18- to 29-year-olds reported that they do not have a primary care physician. Read this blog post from Employee Benefit News to learn more.
Millennials, and Generation Z behind them, are changing the way they access healthcare. In fact, 45% of 18- to 29-year-olds say they don’t have a primary care physician. Instead, they’re opting for on-demand healthcare.
Traditionally, individuals and families see primary care physicians several times a year and build relationships with their doctors over time. Visiting the same primary care physician when an illness strikes, or for an annual wellness checkup, can help the doctor notice changes in a patient’s health and catch issues before they become more serious (and costly).
But for millennials, having a primary care physician isn’t necessarily a priority.
That’s in part because they seem to prefer on-demand healthcare options, such as urgent care, drug store clinics and telemedicine services, which are easily accessible and typically include shorter wait times. The number of urgent care centers reflects the trend — they’re projected to grow by 5.8% in 2018, according to the Urgent Care Association.
Then there is employers’ shift away from health maintenance organizations, which often required that each employee choose a primary care doctor at the start of the plan. HMOs also require a referral from the primary care physician to see specialists. Recent research shows that most often, employers offer preferred provider organizations (84%), while 40% offer consumer-directed health plans and 35% offer HMOs.
Finally, physician shortages are leading to longer wait times for appointments. The U.S. population continues to grow and age, which may lead to a shortage of 120,000 primary and specialty doctors by 2030, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
For employers, it’s important to understand the reasons behind the shift to on-demand healthcare and educate employees to ensure they can get appropriate medical attention when they need it.
One crucial part of this education is helping employees understand when they should visit urgent care versus the emergency room, and reminding them that telemedicine is available. More than 95% of large employers and just over one-third of small- and mid-size employers offer telemedicine benefits. But adoption rates among employees remain low — only 20% of large employers report utilization rates above 8%, according to the National Business Group on Health.
Ensure your employees know that the service is available throughout the year and help them understand the cost if any is associated with the service. You may consider offering $0 copays for telemedicine visits to encourage employee use.
Encourage employees to get a wellness visit each year to help uncover health issues and take steps to prevent others. One way to do this without forcing employees to wait for an appointment or commit to a doctor is to bring the service in-house. Increasingly, large employers are adding this service to help employees stay healthy. In fact, one-third of employers with more than 5,000 employees and 16% of employers with 500-4,999 employees now have onsite clinics. Another 8% of midsize employers plan to add clinics in 2019.
Providing health assessments as part of a health and wellness program is another way to get employees, especially money conscious millennials, in front of a doctor. Younger workers are likely to embrace incentives or premium discounts that are tied to a physician visit.
Direct primary care is yet another employer option to provide easy-to-access primary care. With direct primary care, employers partner with primary care physicians to offer a designated doctor for their employees. The benefit for employees is more face time with a doctor and the opportunity to get personalized care.
Importantly, employees who have known chronic issues should see a primary care doctor regularly to help monitor and manage their condition.
The trend toward seeking on-demand healthcare at alternative sites isn’t likely to reverse direction any time soon. Instead, it’s up to employers to understand why it’s happening and educate employees of all ages on their options for care.
SOURCE: Milne, J. (7 January 2019) "No primary care doc, no problem: How millennials are changing healthcare" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/no-primary-care-doc-no-problem-how-millennials-are-changing-healthcare?brief=00000152-14a5-d1cc-a5fa-7cff48fe0001
Poor hiring practices costing employers valuable talent
A survey by CareerBuilder and SilkRoad discovered that 68 percent of employees believe that their experience as a job candidate reflects how a company treats their employees. Read this blog post to learn more.
A growing number of employers say they find it hard to land good talent — but their own complicated or outdated hiring process may be partly to blame.
Job candidates today have higher expectations for communication, technology and onboarding during their job-search process, according to a new survey from job site CareerBuilder and onboarding tech provider SilkRoad. In fact, 68% of employees believe their experience as a job candidate reflects how the company treats its people.
Dissatisfaction with the process can begin as early as step one: Close to half of prospective workers (46%) are only willing to spend up to 15 minutes before giving up on an application, according to the report.
Not only is time of the essence, but the application experience is paramount, too. While potential workers won’t discount a company entirely for not having a mobile application option, employees are searching for jobs on their mobile devices more than ever before.
The fight for talent is only going to become more intense, and employers need to deliver on job seekers’ continuously evolving expectations to attract the best candidates, says CareerBuilder CEO Irina Novoselsky. “This starts with streamlining the entire hiring process, from the first candidate engagement to new-hire onboarding, which can be achieved through technological innovation and a more intuitive, mobile-friendly experience.”
A consistent dialogue remains another big must-have for candidates. Expectations among applicants are changing for when and how they hear from a prospective employer, the study found. Once they’ve applied, job seekers want more — not less — communication.
Many applicants cite a lack of acknowledgment or receipt notification from an employer for a submitted application as a top frustration of the job search. Additionally, 76% of job seekers say they expect to receive a personalized email from an employer acknowledging they received the application. This percentage decreases steadily as the age of the job seeker increases, but it’s consistently the top method of communication expected.
Other top notification methods include phone calls (36%) and text messages (18%).
Regardless of the type of communication, a majority of applicants want — and expect — employers to keep them updated throughout the process when they apply for a job. Candidates want a clear timeline for the hiring process and will begin to discount a company if they are left in the dark. When applying to a job, 55% of employees are willing to wait less than two weeks at the most to hear back from an employer before they give up and move on.
And employers shouldn’t end the engagement once an offer is made, the survey results suggest, because with 51% of potential candidates continuing to look for new opportunities after being extended an offer, the use of personalized, ongoing communication through the onboarding process will remain key.
When nearly one in 10 employees have left a company because of a poor onboarding experience, it’s important to understand the full scope of onboarding that is expected by today’s employees, according to the survey. Successful onboarding for a new hire is critical for their long-term vision of culture and career potential at the new company. However, a focus on the mission and growth factors of the company can’t neglect seemingly basic onboarding elements for the employee’s day-to-day experience and overall integration into operations.
“Technology is playing an increasingly critical role in enabling touchpoints along the recruitment and new-hire journey to facilitate human interactions,” says Robert Dvorak, CEO of SilkRoad. “We realize the customer’s journey doesn't end with a purchase, nor does the employee’s end with an offer. By using technology throughout the entire employment journey, employers can intentionally onboard candidates and employees, keeping them engaged at key points over time.”
SOURCE: Otto, N. (28 November 2018) "Poor hiring practices costing employers valuable talent" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from: https://www.benefitnews.com/news/poor-hiring-practices-costing-employers-valuable-talent