Andie Burjek, Author at Workforce

March 19, 2019June 29, 2023

Employers: Be Bold With Your Benefits

It is an exciting time for employee benefit professionals.

Just a few years ago, we were consumed with legislative challenges and daunting health and retirement issues. Those issues haven’t gone away, of course, but there’s a newfound optimism around the strategic and creative opportunities benefits bring. Several factors are pushing benefits to the forefront of talent strategies and the employee experience.

First, we have an incredibly diverse workforce that needs benefits to solve real problems. It’s marked by a vast range in age — employees from Gen Z (those in their early 20s) to baby boomers (some working well into their 70s) and everyone in between. It also encompasses every definition of family and lifestyle. And it challenges the very definition of “work,” which is evolving as more and more people build careers around part-time and contract roles or take long breaks from full-time employment.

Second, we’re seeing an exciting shift in how we’re designing and talking about benefits. The focus is moving away from traditional benefits like health insurance and retirement plans and toward a more holistic approach to taking care of employees and their families. This change is driven by the understanding that benefits and HR programs can drive greater business results when they’re considered more broadly, with attention to their impact on the mind, body, finances and even sense of purpose.

Third, there’s tremendous innovation in our space as employers and employees demand new programs and new technology (and as venture capitalists have figured out that employee benefits are ripe for disruption). HR technology is starting to keep pace with consumer technology, which means we can now deliver sophisticated benefits to meet those broad needs and create solutions for those very challenging issues we’re still tackling.

On top of all that, people care about their benefits. A lot. For 87 percent of employees surveyed for MetLife’s 15th annual “Employee Benefit Trends” study, having insurance/benefits provides peace of mind for the unexpected. In fact, 83 percent of employees would be willing to take a small pay cut (on average, 3.6 percent) to have a better choice of benefits from their employers.

Finally, consider this: Low unemployment is driving massive competition for talent. Benefits are positioned to be a huge strategic differentiator and a competitive weapon for employers across industries.

The takeaway here is that benefits should be a huge focal point for companies of all sizes. We should be shouting from the rooftops about how amazing benefits are and the tremendous role they play in people’s lives.

And we shouldn’t be shy about the considerable investment employers make in these programs. A significant portion of total compensation goes to benefits, and that percentage is only set to grow.

So, how can you educate employees and position this investment in benefits in a positive light? How do you elevate the significance of benefits in your organization?

One example from this past fall’s annual enrollment stands out. Our client Hitachi Vantara, a tech company recently formed by three industry leaders (Hitachi Data Systems, Hitachi Insight Group and Pentaho) and a leader in cloud-based data solutions.

Hitachi Vantara has made a huge commitment to employee benefits, especially around getting employees engaged in programs and managing costs. Its message during annual enrollment this past fall? “Health care costs are rising. Yours aren’t. For the seventh year in a row, you won’t see an increase in what you pay for your medical plan. Which means your paycheck contributions continue to be significantly less than those at most other companies.”

The company teamed that messaging with a campaign that focused on getting employees to use the programs that are often overlooked, like tuition assistance, virtual doctor visits and fitness reimbursements. And it did so with a bold and definitive point of view on why benefits matter and what they mean to employees.

Susan Ramirez, Hitachi Vantara’s senior director of total rewards, Americas, explains: “Since it really was a ‘good news’ message for our benefits in 2019, we wanted to be sure to share that message with employees. Taking a bold approach not only captured our employees’ attention, it also emphasized that Hitachi Vantara truly cares about them.”

As 2019 unfolds I challenge you to be bold with your benefits. What will you do to make your benefits stand out? And how will you let employees know that you value them by taking care of them?

Make Benefits and Internal Communications Inseparable

March 18, 2019June 29, 2023

Opioid Treatment Programs Offer Second Chances to Workers Facing Addiction

When a job seeker fails a pre-employment drug test, often the company rescinds the offer and both parties move on.

That scenario wasn’t working for the Belden wire and cable factory in Richmond, Indiana, which in 2016 faced a labor shortage due to a spike in retirements and a dearth in qualified applicants. So they tried something dramatically different.

Belden’s factory, which sits near the Ohio state line and employs more than 400 people, began offering drug treatment to those who failed their drug screening with a promise of a job if they successfully complete the program — all on the company’s dime. The pilot program, called Pathways to Employment, was launched in February 2018 and is believed to be the first of its kind.

“We had many people who were retiring and we needed to fill dozens of positions, but it was getting harder to find candidates because so many were failing their drug test — around 10 percent,” said Dean McKenna, Belden’s senior vice president of human resources. “There was no mechanism to deal with this except to say, ‘Sorry, you can’t work here.’ The CEO and others talked about what would happen if we hired these people. They said, ‘How bad would it be to give them the opportunity to get back in the workplace?’ ”

Also read: Construction Industry Nailing Down Opioid Addiction Woes

Belden teamed with Richmond-area organizations including Centerstone, a mental health and drug addiction provider, Meridian Health Services, Ivy Tech Community College and employment agency Manpower of Richmond, to manage the program. Participants are referred to a health care provider for evaluation and to develop a treatment plan, according to McKenna. So far, 26 have been through the program.

“The success rate is better than what we could have hoped for,” he said. “My peers probably thought we shouldn’t do this. There are risks of injury and litigation. You need the right level of support from the community.”

While many states are struggling with the opioid epidemic, Indiana is among a handful that is also facing a growing labor shortage, according to research from Indiana University. The economic damage caused by opioid abuse cost the state $4.3 billion in 2018 and will exceed $4 billion again this year, the study showed.

In 2015, nearly a million Americans were not working because of opioid addiction, according to a study by the American Action Forum, a nonprofit advocacy group. Between 1999 and 2015, the decline in labor force participation cost the U.S. economy $702 billion as the result of 12.1 billion worker hours lost, the study found. In some industries, such as construction, trucking or manufacturing, the numbers are even higher.

In neighboring Ohio, which leads the country in drug overdose deaths per capita, opioid addiction, abuse and overdose deaths cost the state anywhere from $6.6 billion to $8.8 billion annually, according to a 2017 report from the C. William Swank Program in Rural-Urban Policy at Ohio State University.

Also read: State Chamber Fights Workplace Addiction With Employer Opioid Toolkit

In order to help employers improve worker health and safety, the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation launched a pilot program in October to reimburse companies for drug testing and to provide training that helps managers deal with workers in recovery.

“In Ohio we are almost at zero unemployment, but we have employers that can’t find candidates who can pass a drug test,” said Dr. Terry Welsh, the bureau’s chief medical officer. “We aim to help employers hire and manage folks in recovery no matter their addiction. Normally, drug testing is an expense that employers bear themselves, but we are incentivizing them to do it by offering reimbursement. We are also providing professional training to folks in management for second chance employees.”

The agency has been a pioneer in tackling the opioid crisis, according Welsh, who pointed to the 2011 overhaul of its pharmacy program to better monitor and reduce addiction to potentially dangerous prescription drugs. In 2016, the agency also created safeguards to hold prescribers accountable if they don’t follow best practices. The agency saw a drop in opioid addiction among injured workers of 59 percent between 2011 and 2017.

The bureau’s Opioid Workplace Safety Program will provide up to $5 million over two years to employers in the state’s hardest-hit counties for expenses related to both pre-employment and random drug testing, manager training and support for workers in recovery.

At Belden in Indiana, the cost to treat a candidate classified as low-risk for relapse is around $16,000 and up to $25,000 for someone who is considered a high risk. McKenna said it’s a small price to pay.

“When you look at the difference in cost between a manufacturing job we can’t fill and a machine we can’t run versus what it costs to help someone get back on their feet, you see that it’s worth it,” he said. “These are people with real illnesses. They aren’t choosing to be in that situation. It’s unfair to discount them from society because of the problems they’ve stumbled into.”

March 18, 2019July 24, 2024

3 Ways to Help Employees Save Money on Prescriptions

The escalating cost of prescriptions is a hard pill to swallow for employees. That’s because it’s becoming more common for prescription drug plans to shift the cost to participants. Then there’s the behind-the-scenes double Rx whammy: pharmaceutical companies increase prices and pharmacy benefit managers obscure the true cost of medications, causing more headaches for employees.

Employees also feel blindsided when the PBM adjusts its formulary or the plan sponsor moves participants to a high-deductible health plan. Rx sticker shock is on the rise. Consider the employee whose monthly copay of $20 for a generic drug skyrockets to 10 times that per month under an HDHP.

Employees have a hard time paying for important maintenance medications. As prices keep rising, patients are less likely to fill new prescriptions or continue taking maintenance drugs, which can cause more health issues and cost medical plans even more down the road.

Unfortunately, many employees don’t know that the pharmacy they frequent may not always offer the lowest price for their medications. There are more options for finding low-cost prescription drugs than there were even five years ago, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that employees know they actually can price-shop prescriptions.

Also read: What to Ask Your Pharmacy Benefit Manager to Control Spike in Prescription Spending

Employers can work with their insurance brokers to educate employees about better ways to find reasonably priced prescription medications.

In the meantime, here are three Rx buying tips you can share today with your employees.

Retail Store Discounts

Some large retail stores, including Target, Walmart and many grocery store chains, offer discounts on popular brand name and generic medications at low or no cost without insurance simply to drive traffic to their stores. These loss leaders attract shoppers who are likely to buy a few items when they pick up their medication at the in-store pharmacy. The prices of brand name and generic drugs that are discounted vary from store to store. It pays for employees to investigate where they can get the best deal for their medications.

ShopRite, a grocery store chain in the Northeastern United States, has been dispensing free diabetes medications since 2009. Similarly, grocery chain Publix offers the generic type 2 diabetes drug metformin at no cost. The grocery chain also offers 14-day supplies of several prescribed antibiotics at no cost. Walmart offers several drugs at $4 for a 30-day supply and $10 for a 90-day supply. The key to this strategy is to keep “impulse purchases” to a minimum.

Mobile Apps

Not surprisingly, the web now makes it easier to track down the cheapest generic prescription medications. Two examples are GoodRx and Blink Health, which both provide medication prices and direct customers on buying options.

GoodRx collects drug prices from thousands of pharmacies to show where a specific medication can be purchased at the lowest price. They also aggregate coupons and discount programs from manufacturers. Blink Health partners directly with drug manufacturers and negotiates lower prices for medications. Blink Health conveniently lets consumers pick up medications at a pharmacy or order them by mail. Importantly, coupons on these sites often make the price of a medication lower than the copay through the prescription plan.

Manufacturer’s Coupons

Prescription drug manufacturers often offer discounts and coupons for their drugs. If a medication costs more than $50, for example, the manufacturer may cover part of the balance. To access a coupon, just contact the manufacturer to enroll in the savings card program.

Some manufacturers will cover the balance of the drug cost and contribute the balance toward the employee’s deductible. After just a month or two of a higher-priced prescription drug and a manufacturer’s discount, an employee may satisfy their deductible and pay only the copays for the rest of the plan year.

Educating employees about free and discounted drugs starts during open enrollment, but it shouldn’t end there. Emails, postcards and announcements from the HR team are good reminders for employees. Some HR departments develop targeted communications that list expensive prescription drugs and how to save. Helping employees learn how to shop for the best prescription prices can help to keep them healthy and help you contain costs.

Also read: Contracting a Cure for Prescription Drug Costs

March 15, 2019June 29, 2023

5 Paid Family Leave Trends to Watch in 2019

In 2018, Microsoft surprised employers and policymakers alike when it announced a new requirement for its vendors: give contract workers at least 12 weeks of paid leave after having a child, or risk losing the tech magnate’s business. For HR managers nationwide, this was just one of many signs that the conversation surrounding paid family leave is growing from a slow burn to a steady fire.

While federal action on paid family leave has been a nonstarter in decades past, large organizations along with state and local legislatures are pushing Washington to reassess its commitment to national paid time off. As an HR manager, understanding the following national trends and local changes surrounding paid family leave will help you better assist both employers and employees in navigating future policies and complex legislation.

Expect vendor-leave mandates to become more common

While only some organizations are currently mandating vendors to implement paid family leave, it’s likely that trends like these will only increase over time. After all, it’s no secret that paid family leave is rapidly growing in popularity. Around 6 in 10 Americans say they have taken or are very likely to take time off from work for family or medical reasons at some point, and around 8 in 10 support paid family leave for new mothers (around 7 in 10 support paid family leave for new fathers). These numbers are expected to grow, with employers seeking to provide additional benefits for high-quality employees in an increasingly competitive talent market.

Watch for paid family leave on the federal agenda in 2019

The midterm elections shifted political balances in many states. With major shifts in both the House and Senate, it’s likely that a reinvigorated version of the FAMILY Act will move forward. The 2017 bill proposed 12 weeks of paid leave for family and personal medical needs, seeking funding through a 0.4 percent payroll tax split between employers and employees. Previous pre-midterm legislation is less likely to gain new life — this includes the Economic Security for New Parents Act and Workflex in the 21st Century Act.

While a divided federal government may make the likelihood of paid family leave reform less likely in the near future, there has been significantly more bipartisan discussion on this topic than in years past. Both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and House are discussing introducing legislation this year. In addition, longtime congressional veterans, political newcomers and even presidential candidates have made it a core component of their platforms, signaling a renewed interest in moving the needle on this topic.

Look to states for the future of paid family leave

Three states launched or approved paid family leave in 2018:

New York’s Paid Family Leave Act went into effect last year, with up to eight weeks of paid leave for covered employees. This has increased to 10 weeks in 2019, along with increases to benefits and payroll deductions.

Washington state will launch its paid family and medical leave program on Jan. 1, 2020. The program offers up to 12 weeks of paid family leave, 12 weeks of paid medical leave, or 16 weeks paid leave total. Employers will have to choose between the state-run plan or otherwise submit their own plan.
Massachusetts signed paid family and medical leave legislation that will go into effect Jan. 1, 2021. The program will offer up to 12 weeks of paid leave for family member care or caring for a new child, plus 20 weeks of paid leave for personal medical issues.

As the conversation around paid family leave continues, it’s important to take note of these major state-level policies. As of Jan. 1, 2019, 21 states have had a version of a paid family and medical leave bill introduced in either chamber of their state legislature. State legislation will likely serve as a framework for future employers and politicians looking to provide paid family leave in their respective districts.

Expect increased regulation and complexity

While policymakers are responding to the need for paid family leave, complex legislation may make the process of providing leave across state lines a difficult process. It will likely fall to HR managers to sort through the various paid family leave policies that multistate employers face.

Keeping track of individual state legislation and paying attention to national discourse surrounding parental and medical leave trends will help tremendously as paid family leave administration becomes increasingly complex. Additionally, outsourcing help as needed when faced with the prospect of new legislation will free up the valuable time required to study and implement new or revised programs.

Above all, be ready

While each of these trends point to a renewed interest in providing quality paid family leave to millions of Americans this year, the broader message is clear: Leave policies and the administration surrounding them will only become more complex in 2019. As an HR manager, your best frontline defense is a thorough understanding of the local and national trends surrounding leave policy.

Your organization will look to you to make sense of where the conversation is moving — and, when the time comes, they will seek your insights when putting a revised or new paid family leave plan into action. Getting a jump-start on the larger conversation, paying attention and outsourcing as needed are your best tactics for success in 2019. It’s up to you to use them wisely.

March 7, 2019June 29, 2023

Caregiving Perks Enter the 21st Century

Employers should consider a more inclusive definition of “caregiver,” argues employee caregiving platform Torchlight, which released its annual report titled “Modern Caregiving Challenges Facing U.S. Employees” in January. While caregiving has traditionally been defined as “care for an aging loved one or child with a diagnosis or disability,” the report says, the “modern caregiver” may or may not fit in that limited box — but they may have similar problems regardless.

Torchlight analyzed its user data to see the top caregiving challenges people face whether caring for a child or an elder. Some of these relate to a specific disability, but others don’t.

For elder care, the most pressing problems include housing (tasks such as helping a loved one move or helping them create safe home environments) and cognitive impairment (managing Alzheimer’s or other causes of dementia). For child care, the most pressing problems are mental health (addressing anxiety or depression in one’s child with a concrete strategy) and executive functioning (teaching children organizational skills and basic skills like managing time and setting goals).

This fine line between a caregiver and someone who simply has family responsibilities outside of work is difficult to define, according to Adam Goldberg, founder and CEO of Torchlight. Still, what makes it necessary is that it provides proactive rather than reactive caregiving support, he added. “So many of the things associated with caregiving can be mitigated or avoided by taking steps upfront, and we feel that’s a really important part of caregiving,” he said.

For example, an employee’s child might be experiencing “homework hell” at school. An employee knows to look out for red flags that might signal a problem like a learning disability, executive dysfunction or emotional issues like budding anxiety — all things that can be chronic, costly disorders. These red flags might not turn out to be a traditional caregiver challenge like a diagnosed disability, but if they do, employees can be proactive.

Many caregivers don’t report their caregiving challenges to their manager or HR until there’s a crisis, Goldberg said. That means that when HR hears about it and they want to help, they’re often struck by the suddenness of it. What may end up happening then is that HR decides to deal with the situation by implementing a point solution, also known as coming up with a solution without considering the underlying issues.

“Leading employers are speaking out and saying the traditional benefits approach [to caregiving] has not worked, so we need to take a fresh look at this,” Goldberg said.

One of PepsiCo’s strategies to address the caregiving population includes something that a company of any size could consider: It looks at the perks it already provides and considers how they could be expanded to help caregivers. For example, the company extended its second-opinion medical service provider perk to extended family members and parents of employees, said PepsiCo Vice President of Global Benefits and Wellness Erik Sossa. It’s a good example of taking advantage of something they were already paying for.

The large organization — with 108,000 U.S. employees — offers other perks that caregivers (as well as other employees) benefit from, like flexible schedules and compressed work weeks, parental leave for mothers and fathers, and onsite day care.

“I don’t think an employer is going to distinguish themselves anymore in having a really great pension plan or a really great benefits plan. Those are the prices of admission now. How do you bring value beyond that? That’s going to distinguish some of the leading employers,” Sossa said.

Also read: Caring About the Employee Caregiver Crisis

In general, large organizations have more resources and opportunities to offer richer caregiving benefits, like leave time, but small- and medium-sized employers can get creative, said Candice Sherman, CEO of the Northeast Business Group on Health.

Even the smallest employers, she said, can do things like provide a list of nonprofits that offer services caregivers could take advantage of, she said. Also, many communities have community organizations, religiously affiliated or otherwise, that may offer relevant services.

“The more recognition there is about the fact that in any employee workforce, there are caregivers in our midst, I think employers will definitely get more creative and expansive in terms of the kinds of things they think about offering,” Sherman said.

Law firm Balch & Bingham, based in Birmingham, Alabama, is another organization trying to appeal to the broader needs of the modern caregiver. While 20 years ago the term primarily described a woman caring for a child or parent, now it applies to a much bigger demographic, said Director of Human Resources Lisa Arrington. The law firm’s caregiving population includes men caregiving with a partner, grandparents caring for a grandchild and employees in less traditional, blended families.

Also watch: Workplace Policies, Resources and Benefits That Support Caregivers

With caregivers in different circumstances, their first and foremost approach is to listen to employees and ask questions, Arrington said. “What are their needs? We have people in all different seasons of life, and all those needs are completely different from one another. It’s important to find and target things for each of those different groups.”

Balch & Bingham, which has about 425 employees, promotes getting this type of feedback from employees through ongoing discussions rather than one-time conversations. This could happen in a formal context like a one-on-one meeting between a manager and an employee or an organized discussion among the workforce to tackle a specific topic. It can also happen informally, just by passing someone in the hallway and asking how their day is going.

Some of the ways the law firm uses to appeal to caregivers include flexible work arrangements; EAPs that offer caregivers support resources about budgeting, dealing with stress and navigating blended families; and hosting family-friendly holiday events like a Halloween costume parade.

One major thing employers of any size can do differently is have top level executives be open about their caregiving experiences, Sherman said. Many executives have personal experience with it, and as more of them that share their experiences, that can help unveil some of the stigma that may exist in the organization around caregiving.

For example, employees may worry that if they label themselves as a caregiver and admit they have competing caregiving responsibilities outside of work, they may not get put on a big project they’re interested in or get the promotion they’ve been working toward.

Senior leadership has a promising role in relating their own personal stories to their people, Sherman said. “That goes a long way in creating what we as a business group call a ‘caregiving-friendly working environment.’”

February 26, 2019June 29, 2023

Why SMBs Are Buying — But Not Using — HR Tech

Small and midsized businesses may be investing in more HR technology, but they aren’t making good use of it, and that’s a shame.

A new survey from HRIS provider BerniePortal found that while 64 percent of small and midsized businesses use HR software, few are using technology to manage the full scope of HR. “SMBs are definitely familiar with HR software, but they are not using it,” said Alex Tolbert, founder and CEO of BerniePortal.

Tolbert attributes the lag in uptake to the fact that HR leaders in smaller companies are time-strapped and over-worked. More than half of the companies surveyed have just one HR person on staff, and many of them report that HR is not their sole responsibility.

This creates a Catch-22 for tech adoption. Sole HR leaders know they can benefit from automation delivered through HR software, but they don’t have the time, budget or expertise to choose products, vet vendors and deploy new applications. “The survey tells us that HR administrators are time-challenged, and that they recognize the opportunity to streamline their workload through automation,” Tolbert said. They just need to find the time and resources to leverage them.

SMBs Spend Big

This transition does appear to be occurring. Sierra-Cedar’s 2018-19 HR systems report found that the fastest growing segment of new HR technology buyers is small businesses, with 38 percent reporting plans to spend more on HR tech in the next three years.

“By the time a business reaches 20 to 50 employees, they are starting to see the value of core HR technology,” said George LaRocque, founder and principal HCM market analyst for LaRocque LLC in New York. His research found small companies use an average of seven to eight HR related apps at this point in their growth cycle. “It’s not hard to get to that point even in a small firm.”

Also read: AI Is Coming, and HR Is Not Prepared

Usually they start with payroll, though demand for talent is causing a shift toward talent management systems. The Sierra-Cedar survey found small businesses were more likely to increase spending in talent management applications than any other category.

“Across industries, everyone has a talent problem,” LaRocque said. “They are competing with each other for a limited talent pool, and they have to get creative in the way they source.” That is spurring them to adopt applicant tracking systems and recruiting apps, as well as in-house tools to engage workers and manage succession planning faster than they might have in the past. “HR is being pushed to find more innovative ways to address the talent issue,” LaRocque said. “It is driving the adoption of more HR applications in small businesses.”

Though even if small companies are eager to adopt new tech, they are cautious about where to spend money, and how to generate the most value from limited budgets.

For very small companies just beginning the HR software journey, LaRocque encouraged them to start with core HR solutions. “You want to get payroll, benefits, time and attendance, and paid time off in order, and there are a lot of platforms designed to help small companies do all that,” he said. “Then you can start looking at purpose-built solutions to meet your specific workforce needs.”

The HR problems a company faces will determine the kinds of tools they should deploy — but they shouldn’t delay. “If you think you don’t have time for technology you’ve got your head in the sand,” he said. The time savings that HR leaders achieve by automating laborious HR tasks make these tools immediately worth the investment, especially for small companies with under-staffed HR teams.

February 22, 2019February 21, 2019

Focus on Entry-Level Employee Development

Employee development is a buzzword that human resources professionals and business owners alike are accustomed to hearing. It’s also a powerful and critical success strategy. When executed properly, its benefits are fruitful. Employers will find that development fosters loyalty among their team, inspires engagement and cultivates an attractive workplace for prospective new hires.

However, there is an overlooked group in professional development: entry-level, nonprofessional workers.

According to a report published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 78 million Americans — or nearly 59 percent of the U.S. workforce — are hourly workers. Encapsulating such a substantial percentage of the workforce, it’s vital that companies implement employee development programs that will focus on this underserved sector of the American workforce.

There are many reasons organizations should enact employee development programs that serve entry-level, nonprofessional positions:

Benefiting from your untapped workforce

Too often, development programs are slanted toward people in professional careers. These individuals are groomed for higher-level positions, which lead to higher salaries and increased responsibilities. Left behind are those who are overlooked by upper management: entry-level workers.

While the backgrounds of these individuals vary, more often than not they have less education and less experience than those already in professional positions — one reason why they often get passed over for promotions and development opportunities. Typically, individuals in these roles serve in jobs such as customer service representatives or manual laborers.

To offset this problem, employers should create professional development programs that are offered to everyone — regardless of position, title or experience. By changing the professional development program to a deliberate effort rather than a checkbox exercise, those who wouldn’t typically raise their hand are able to opt-in more readily. Programs that everyone can participate in push all employees to focus on professional and personal growth.

It will also help prepare the organization to pivot and shift focus as needed in order to improve efficiency. Being a forward-thinking organization that focuses on what’s next, through means such as employee development, can have a positive impact on the team.

Reduced turnover rates

When training is offered from the bottom-up, employers will see a reduction in turnover rates. According to Accenture, 56 percent of those in entry-level jobs don’t plan to stay in their positions for more than two years. Since recruitment takes time and money, investing in lower level employees can greatly benefit a company in the long term.

Moreover, employees who are offered opportunities to be trained and grow are more likely to be engaged in their role and want to stay in the organization. This is a great perk for selling employee development programs to those in upper management who are always watching the bottom line. To some, a program of this sort may not seem beneficial enough to financially back it. However, over time, the impact is evident through advantages such as higher retention rates.

Becoming an employer of choice

When a company places an importance on development and caring for their employees, they inevitably become the employer of choice for individuals looking to grow professionally. In turn, this benefits culture, engagement, hiring and retention. It will help companies become highly sought after and will attract top talent.

Even when development doesn’t appear to directly benefit the company, showing team members that their employer cares can be extremely impactful.

By implementing a robust employee development program that emphasizes the growth of entry-level and nonprofessional workers, companies will witness reduced turnover rates, inspire a generation of underserved workers, and develop into a highly sought-after employer.

Also read: It’s Time to Rethink the Value of Training and Development

Also read: J&J Human Performance Institute Banks on the Science of Behavior Change in the Workplace

February 14, 2019June 29, 2023

The Rumor Mill Can Create a Sexually Hostile Work Environment

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, I bring you the story of a employee rumored to be sleeping with her boss to get a promotion. She wasn’t, but the workplace rumor mill sure thought she was.

Evangeline Parker began working for Reema Consulting Services, Inc., as an entry-level clerk. She received six promotions during her first 15 months of employment, ultimately to the position of Assistant Operations Manager.

Two weeks after her final promotion, Parker learned that “certain male employees were circulating … an unfounded, sexually-explicit rumor about her,” that she had slept with her manager, Demarcus Pickett, to obtain her management promotion. Participation in the rumor mill spread all the way up to the plant’s highest level manager, Larry Moppins, who asked Pickett, “You sure your wife ain’t divorcing you because you’re f–king [Parker]?”

Parker claimed that as the rumors spread, her coworkers, including those she supervised, treated her with “open resentment and disrespect.” It culminated in a staff meeting from which Parker was forcibly excluded, during which the rumor was openly discussed.

When Parker later tried to talk to Moppins about the issue, he blamed her for “bringing the situation to the workplace,” and told her that “he could no longer recommend her for promotions or higher-level tasks because of the rumor,” and that he “would not allow her to advance any further within the company.” A follow-up meeting several days later ended with Moppins screaming at Parker.

Thereafter, Parker and Donte Jennings (the man she accused of starting the rumor) filed harassment complaints against each other. In response, Moppins simultaneously issued Parker two written warnings and fired her.

In Parker v. Reema Consulting Services, the 4th Circuit held that Parker sufficiently pleaded that she had been subjected to a hostile work environment based on sex.

RCSI argued (and the district court concluded) that the rumors could not support a sexual harassment claim because they had nothing to do with Parker’s gender, but instead were about her conduct. The 4th Circuit rejected this argument and reversed the district court:

As alleged, the rumor was that Parker, a female subordinate, had sex with her male superior to obtain promotion, implying that Parker used her womanhood, rather than her merit, to obtain from a man, so seduced, a promotion. She plausibly invokes a deeply rooted perception — one that unfortunately still persists — that generally women, not men, use sex to achieve success.…

In short, because “traditional negative stereotypes regarding the relationship between the advancement of women in the workplace and their sexual behavior stubbornly persist in our society,” and “these stereotypes may cause superiors and coworkers to treat women in the workplace differently from men,” it is plausibly alleged that Parker suffered harassment because she was a woman.

No good ever comes from the workplace rumor mill, especially when the rumors are about an employee sleeping her way to the top. According to one recent poll, 97% of employees report that spreading rumors about a co-worker’s sex life is the most inappropriate office behavior.

What can you do to limit the harm caused by workplace gossip, especially that about an employee’s sex life? Consider the following 5 suggestions.

Implement a “no-gossip” policy. A year ago I would have told that the NLRB would have serious issues with such a policy as a violation of employees’ rights to engage in protected concerted activity by talking about their terms and conditions of employment. Currently, however, the NLRB concludes that no-gossip policies are perfectly legal under its new Boeing rules on facially neutral handbook policies.
Keep private matters private. If you don’t want employees gossiping about their co-workers’ private lives, then encourage employees to keep their private lives private. Employees can’t gossip about that which they do not know. That said, in the age of social media, when we are all connected with each other 24/7, this goal is increasingly difficult to accomplish.
Set a positive example. The rumors in Parker were bad, but became that much worse when management began participating. If you want your employees to stop gossiping and spreading rumors about each other, set a positive example, and expect all employees to follow suit.
Encourage complaints. Employees need to know that HR and management are receptive to complaints about gossip and rumors. Even if not sex-based, take the complaint, and treat it seriously. This means investigating, and talking to those starting or spreading the rumors to make sure they stop.
Spread positive news. Is an employee doing a good job? Did he or she go above and beyond? Spread that type of news around the work place. The flip-side of negative rumors are positive stories about employees, customers, and culture. Good news stories will help drown out the negative.

And, for goodness sake, do not in any way, shape, or form permit employees to suggest that another slept her way to the top, or discipline the victim when she complains.

Also in The Practical Employer: Training Won’t Fix Your Hostile Work Environment

February 11, 2019June 29, 2023

Health Enhancement Research Organization Taps Its HEROs

Now is as good a time as any to rethink our workplace health and well-being initiatives. It’s a chance to freshen up stale offerings and engage with employees who might be looking to make health changes of their own.

The winners of the 2018 HERO — Health Enhancement Research Organization — Health and Well-Being Awards have ideas that should help. The HERO Health and Well-Being Awards recognize individuals for leadership, research contributions and other noteworthy accomplishments in the field of workplace health and well-being. In interviews conducted at the 2018 HERO Forum, winners talked about four key elements of successful well-being initiatives.

Employee perspective matters. The innovative well-being initiatives that 2018 Heart of HERO winner Sheri Snow oversees at American Cast Iron Pipe earned that company the C. Everett Koop National Health Award in 2014. One key to those offerings, she said, is the opportunity for employees to shape what is available to them. Whether they gather information through surveys, one-on-one interviews or other methods of exploring employee perspectives, Snow believes it is important for employers to understand what employees want in a well-being initiative.

“Employers can really enhance their programs by listening to employees and involving them in planning, seeing what they want,” Snow said. “Conduct surveys and listen to what employees say they want, not just what you think they need.”

Health and Well-Being Awards — Sheri Snow. Photo credit: HERO.

Bill Whitmer Award winner Shelly Wolff said the gap between employer and employee perspectives on well-being can be instructive. As health and workforce effectiveness leader at Willis Towers Watson, Wolff works with her clients to reduce the existing gap and adjust their well-being offerings accordingly. “Understanding that gap has helped companies dial into the importance of hearing directly from employees,” Wolff said. “That evolution of human-centered design and putting the employee at the center of the effort is having a big influence on what well-being means to employers.”

Support starts at the top. Leadership support plays an important role in the success of well-being initiatives. Research has shown that organizations realize better results on both health improvement and medical costs when leaders recognize healthy behaviors, and when they model work-life balance with their own actions. Healthy HERO Award winner Amanda Potter offers real-world support for that theory. The award, now in its second year, recognizes employees who have used their employer’s well-being offerings to transform their own lives and encourage co-workers to make positive changes. Potter, a social media manager for Midco Communications, changed her nutrition and fitness habits after the birth of her son, leading to improvements in her mental well-being and physical health. She also started a workday walking group that earned early buy-in from the people above her on the pay scale.

“When I started that walking group, I created an email list that allowed people to opt in if they wanted to participate. I got my boss and my boss’ boss on board immediately,” said Potter. “That made a big difference — to have them be not only supportive, but embracing it.”

Balance is key. One of Jerry Noyce Executive Champion Award winner Beth Bierbower’s biggest accomplishments is the implementation of a digital detox policy that bans work emails from 6:00 p.m. Friday through 6:00 a.m. Monday. That break gives employees a chance to get away from work, connect with their families and get re-energized for their return to the office. That policy might not work for everyone — some businesses or groups may need to be connected 24/7 — but Bierbower is an advocate for thinking broadly about well-being and not just focusing on physical fitness and activities.

“The broader you get, the more you can get your employees engaged,” said Bierbower, president, employer group segment at Humana. “If an employee isn’t interested in physical fitness, maybe they’re interested in volunteering, or in financial well-being. When you create a better balance of well-being offerings, you’re creating more entry points where people can get involved.”

The value of data. Whether it’s the latest fad diet or the hottest tech gadget, people like new things. The same is often true in the area of well-being. It’s easy to chase trends, but Mark Dundon Research Award winners Kerry Evers and Sarah Johnson prefer a more measured approach, and they believe in taking the long view when it comes to well-being and behavior change.

“It’s important to rely on the evidence base that’s been developed,” said Johnson. “It’s so easy to fall into the exciting trends that are happening and ignore the evidence base, so it’s important for people to remind themselves how important it is for efforts to be rooted in science.”

Evers recommended looking beyond major benchmarks while measuring well-being progress. Doing so moves us away from an all-or-nothing approach where measurable results are key and adds an understanding of how changes take place over time.
“If you look at the entire continuum, you can see groups and programs making progress and making incremental gains along the way,” said Evers. “Understanding those gains is key to keeping morale up and for implementing programs, to see how successful they are.”

Also read: Workplace wellness Dominates at Employer Forum

Understanding of health and well-being initiatives will continue to evolve because people will continue to change. Millennials have different priorities than baby boomers, so their perspective on well-being will naturally differ from that of their older colleagues. As that evolution continues, it’s important to check in from time to time with the people who are close to the heart of the industry. There’s no better time than now.

February 7, 2019June 29, 2023

Eating Disorders Belong in Your Workplace Behavioral Health Strategy

A while back a source mentioned to me that many people have a limited view on mental illness. It’s depression; it’s anxiety; or maybe it’s PTSD. But there are many more mental illness conditions to address. Like eating disorders.

Eating disorders account for the highest mortality rates of all mental illnesses, with someone dying every 62 minutes as a direct result of an eating disorder. The National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions hosted a webinar a few weeks ago on the topic — perfect timing to educate employers for Eating Disorders Awareness Month in February.

The alliance referred to eating disorders as a “hidden health crisis” in email communications about the webinar and, I have to say, to me this sounds like an accurate way to describe it. I had no idea that they accounted for so many deaths! I also fell victim to the stereotype that the demographic most likely to develop an eating disorder are young, white, rich girls. Really, it cuts across gender, ethnicity and socioeconomics at pretty much the same rates.

Also, as someone whose been writing about benefits, wellness and health for 2 ½ years, this may have been the first time I’ve seen a pitch or an event about eating disorders. Panelist Craig Kramer, global mental health ambassador at Johnson & Johnson, cited some basic numbers on eating disorders:

30 million Americans suffer from eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder. There are other problems that are still in the process of being officially defined as a disorder. To be clear: An eating disorder is different from dieting or occasionally consuming too much. It’s a clinically diagnosed mental health disorder.
Eating disorders are “the only chronic condition of the young,” with half of sufferers experiencing them by age 14 and 75 percent by age 24. Most people don’t receive treatment, for reasons like stigma and lack of access, and the longer they wait to treat it, the worse it gets. Although people often develop this at a young age, it’s possible for people to still have an eating disorder into old age.
The eating disorder community is underfunded, raising about $10 million per year. Kramer pointed out that an organization dedicated to autism, Autism Speaks, raises $50 million a year.

There are several reasons why this applies to the employer population. One, this is a major mental health consideration, and many employers are saying they want to address mental health issues. Two, employers are developing an affinity for employee health and wellness programs. As they focus on areas like exercise, diet, weight loss, healthy eating initiatives and body mass index, they should also acknowledge that eating disorders are a big deal. Three, people have eating disorders in the workforce but have never received treatment for it.

One of the interesting ideas that came from this webinar was the causation of eating disorders. Alliance President and CEO Mike Thompson brought up an organization that deals with childhood obesity. Through this organization, Thompson learned how sensitive one must be when they talk about weight with children. It’s possible to push a child in the direction of developing an eating disorder if you don’t communicate with them the right way.

This reminded me a Corporate Wellness magazine article about the impact of wellness programs with people suffering from eating disorders. This messaging could be sensitive to other people, not just developing children.

The National Eating Disorders Association was one of the organizations that, three years ago, opposed the EEOC’s “voluntary wellness rules” that allowed for incentives up to 30 percent. According to the association:

“There’s an increasing trend of tying these [wellness] programs to health insurance benefits, with penalties that can mean that the employee ends up paying more money for their health insurance. Additionally, these programs aren’t necessarily just harmless ways to encourage people to be healthier, they could also include office-wide, Biggest Loser-style group weight loss programs that can be triggering for people who struggle with disordered eating.”

The bottom line for employers: Don’t underestimate the impact of an eating disorder, even in a workforce full of adults. Think about eating disorders when you’re crafting messages for weight-loss programs.

When you’re thinking of your population, ask yourself, “How easy it is for them to find an in-network specialist provider who has adequate training, specifically treating this [eating disorder]?” said panelist Jenna Tregarthen, founder and CEO of Recovery Record.

And, as panelist Kristina Saffran, co-founder and CEO of Project Heal, said: “People are not quite sure where [eating disorders] belong. Although there’s a medical and a behavioral component, it is a mental health condition when it comes down to it. So, it should be a part of your behavioral health strategy.”

Other wellness topics on my mind …

Money and motivation: There’s an idea floating around that more money doesn’t motivate people; rather, other rewards like trips or non-cash prizes do. Every time I read or hear that, I have one major reaction, even though I don’t doubt there’s some truth in this. It makes perfect sense in certain contexts. Still, I hope companies don’t use this as an excuse not to give employees standard-of-living raises or to raise minimum wage. Financial wellness is more than just giving employees access to financial advisers or tips on how to save money. It’s also acknowledging that as the cost of living rises, appropriate compensation will help them with basic financial needs.

Hate crimes: Ever since the alleged hate crime against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, I’ve been seeing a lot online about the broader topic. For example, the number of hate crimes in Washington, D.C., have nearly doubled since 2016, with crimes based on sexual orientation accounting for half the city’s total hate crimes in 2018, according to the Washington Post. This is a major public policy and public health issue, but the workplace should take notice, too. I plead with employers — no matter what religion or morality your organization associates with — to think seriously about how your employees’ behavior and workplace policies impact LGBTQ people, especially now. Are you taking incidences of harassment or discrimination against this community seriously?

As columnist and employment law blogger Jon Hyman has written in several posts in Workforce’s blog The Practical Employer, there is no good reason for employers to be anti-LGBTQ rights. Hyman wrote:

“When LGBTQ discrimination becomes universally illegal in the United States (and it will), and history looks back on this era during which this brand of discrimination was questionably legal, on what side of history do you want to be as an employer? The side that condoned (or, worse yet, participated in) this discrimination, or the side that took a stand against it?”

Good news from our columnist!: Jennifer Benz, the Benefits Beat columnist for Workforce magazine, had a major announcement recently. Benz Communications has joined forces with consulting firm The Segal Group. Benz is now the SVP communications leader at Segal Benz. Congratulations, Jennifer!