Benefits Archives - Page 13 of 63

November 14, 2018June 29, 2023

How HR Benefits By Getting Political

This month, I spent a long weekend before the midterm election supporting my brother-in-law’s campaign for a state Assembly seat in rural Wisconsin.

We traveled to several campaign offices and spent the days knocking on doors in small towns. Approaching strangers’ houses to ask them about their political affiliations or their plans to vote can be an uncomfortable experience at first. But it quickly becomes energizing as you encounter incredibly interesting people and witness their reactions.

For me, being part of the boots-on-the-ground effort to motivate voters was deeply inspiring, and it renewed my appreciation for the tireless work that happens outside the cable news cycle.

I was struck by the varied examples of people stepping up and stepping into an opportunity to do something for their community. Whether actually running for office, as my brother-in-law did, or staffing a field office, managing a campaign, hosting an event or attending a town hall meeting, there are countless ways to engage in local issues. And it got me thinking about all the other ways I — and our industry — could be adding to important local and national dialogues.

Given the big challenges facing our country, I can think of no group more qualified or capable of influencing our political climate than HR and benefits leaders, who all have expertise in many of the areas being debated at the national level. HR leaders know all about balancing competing interests, creating equal opportunities and managing complex health and financial programs.

We know how to create policies and programs that can scale. We also know that a solid safety net benefits not only those who need it but also the community around them.

Katherine Eyster, deputy director of workplace programs at the National Partnership for Women & Families, agrees that HR leaders have valuable insights: “HR professionals have a key role to play in sharing their experiences with policymakers and advocates to ensure that legislation is thoughtfully and effectively designed with real companies and workers in mind.” Through her organization’s work, more than 75 companies and business leaders recently endorsed the need for a strong national paid family and medical leave policy.

“For too long the false narrative has endured that what is good for workers is bad for business, when evidence shows time and again that when workers thrive, businesses and the economy grow,” she said.

Adding our voices to the national debate is an idea gaining momentum among HR leaders. Rosemarie Day, founder and CEO of Day Health Strategies, has a forthcoming book about engaging in politics to protect access to health care. In it, she presents a “continuum of involvement” that shows the various ways to get involved.

She shares ways you can speak as a private citizen or spokesperson for your organization. The first step is getting (and staying) informed, followed by sharing information, supporting a cause, speaking up, showing up (at events, rallies and more), organizing people and even running for office.

“As a society, we need safeguards and safety nets,” she said. “Benefits managers can represent the human side of capitalism, and they know the limitations of what private companies can do and the gaps that are very critical for the government to fill.”

Renee Lutzen, director of health care product management at UMB Healthcare Services (one of our clients), is a member of the Employers Council for Flexible Compensation. In that capacity, she has been able to visit legislators and regulators and educate them about the issues we face every day.

“Legislative offices are interested in and very receptive to hearing real stories from real people — those of us who are working in the industry of health care, HR and benefits administration. We’re not just sitting at a desk crunching numbers against theoretical concepts. We have real-life examples we can share on how current health care policies are impacting individuals along with insights on the potential effects proposed policies will have,” she said.

This year, I’m vowing to get more involved and helping others do the same. As for my brother-in-law, he lost by a tiny margin, but I have no doubt he’ll have a fantastic career in public life. His efforts and the integrity and vision that guided his campaign inspired thousands of people in his district and beyond. I hope our efforts will do the same.

November 8, 2018October 18, 2024

The Benefits of Offering Backup Elder Care to Employees

As the population of the United States ages, millions of adult workers are already providing care for an elderly parent or family member.

Providing such care while working a full-time job is both physically and mentally taxing for most employees, and studies even show that burnout from caregiving responsibilities cost companies nearly $13.4 billion each year in health care expenses.

To make matters worse, employees who care for their aging parents are more likely to be less productive, take more time off, and arrive to work late on a regular basis. This is troubling news for many companies, especially since lower productivity often equates to lower revenue. Some companies are beginning to offer a variety of support resources to employees doubling as caregivers.

Backup elder care is a benefit some organizations are considering for employees. In general, there are two primary types of elder care benefits:

Dependent care assistance plans. These plans deduct a certain portion of an employee’s paycheck (gross amount before taxes) to pay for elder care costs. According to Forbes, currently, 41 percent of employers offer this benefit.
Respite care. Offered by only 7 percent of companies, this benefit offers short-term care to family members when an employee needs to rest, take time off or go into work.

Some other types of elder care benefits include:

Flexible work options. These options include allowing caregiver employees to work from home, have flexible hours during the day, or providing paid time off.
Care subsidies. This benefit would help employees with the cost of elder care with subsidies covering either direct costs or backup care.
Support groups. Employers can create onsite caregiver support groups for employees. This will allow them to speak with fellow coworkers dealing with caregiving of senior parents and perhaps find some value in communicating. The employer may also provide online support group resources if onsite isn’t an option.

Respite care is the benefit most commonly referred to as backup elder care, and it is provided through the private insurance companies employers contract with. It is a voluntary benefit, so employees who do not need backup elder care do not have to enroll. If an employee does not know whether they have these benefits, they should speak with a human resources or benefits manager.

The Professional Impact of an Aging Population

According to the U.S. census, nearly 70 million Americans will be over the age of 65 by 2030. This may sound like a shocking statistic to many, but as the baby boomer population ages and exits the workforce, their children and younger relatives might be required to act as caregivers in many situations.

Also read: Elder Care: You Can’t Buy, Pray or Prescribe Your Way Out of It

Backup elder care benefits helps employers reduce the amount of stress caregiving employees experience by allowing them to know that their loved ones will be cared for while they are at work.

Studies show that employees prefer to work for companies that offer a reasonable work-life balance. Companies should keep this in mind when deciding whether to provide backup elder care. Caregiving can be exhausting, even for the most dedicated individual and when paired with a demanding work schedule, employees become overwhelmed.

By providing elder care, caregiving employees will have more flexibility. This means limiting the choice of missing a workday or taking care of an infirm parent.

Scheduling Flexibility

According to a 2012 CareerBuilder study, nearly 40 percent of employees who voluntarily left the workplace did so because of a poor work-life balance. Few employees appreciate being called in at the last minute to work abnormal hours, but sometimes it is unavoidable. Most managers and supervisors are aware of this, but if their employees have outside caregiving obligations, they simply will not be able to depend on them to work outside of normal work hours.

Many employees also have difficulty balancing their caregiving responsibilities with regular work hours. Caregivers are more likely than other employees to leave work early and use paid time off to look after loved ones.

Also read: How to Confront the Elder Care Challenge

This can place a strain on the workplace when a valuable employee is not able to work their normal hours, especially if other workers are forced to pull their weight for them.

Millennials make up 35 percent of the American workforce, and as members of the baby boomer generation age millennials will have to accept the role of family caregiver. As of 2013, nearly 19 percent of caregiving employees were under the age of 40, and this percentage is only expected to increase in coming years. If a company fails to keep such statistics in mind when recruiting younger professionals, it may start to notice its talent pool shrinking because of its perceived lack of concern for its employees who double as caregivers.

Offering Backup Elder Care

As time continues to prove backup elder care should be a benefit offered by an employer, more companies are taking responsibility in offering these benefits. A main provider of backup elder care is Bright Horizons. They offer 24/7 backup elder care to employers. The organization is understanding of both the employer and employee’s needs and even provides an online self-service support for if the employee wants to choose and hire the caregivers themselves. Other providers include Care.com, LifeCare and Town + Country Resources.

Prices vary per provider, with some backup benefit providers estimating a minimum of $15,000 per year to be paid by the employer. The average amount of an employee paying for elder care services is estimated at $4 to $6 per day if the employer subsidizes the cost.

Offering backup elder care is not only beneficial for employees and their loved ones but a company’s bottom line as well. Caregiving employees cost companies millions of dollars in lost hours each year, and by offering backup elder care, you may be able to make up for these losses and retain your most valuable employees who want to work for a company that understands their needs and the importance of family.

November 6, 2018June 29, 2023

Paid Parental Leave: A Workplace Exception or Trend?

For the longest time, many employers differentiated between “maternity” leave and “paternity” leave in their policy manuals.

A typical maternity leave would offer six to 12 weeks of salary replacement for new mothers, while offering only one to two weeks of salary replacement for new fathers. Over time, society began catching up with reality, and now most employers acknowledge that traditional definitions of gender and family no longer apply. As a result, antiquated policies have been modified to offer paid “parental” leave to new parents.

While many policies offer more significant benefits for “primary” versus “non-primary” caregivers, many employers are promoting a more evenhanded approach. As one example, Microsoft recently announced that it will require all U.S. suppliers with 50 or more employees that perform “substantial” work for Microsoft to offer their employees who take time off for the birth or adoption of a child a minimum of 12 weeks paid parental leave.

In its announcement, Microsoft referenced the state of Washington’s paid parental leave law that goes into effect in 2020 and acknowledged that such legislation will benefit only employees of suppliers in Washington (Microsoft is headquartered there) and “will leave thousands of valued contributors outside of Washington behind.”

The company “made a decision to apply Washington’s parental leave requirement more broadly, and not wait until 2020 to begin implementation.” In other words, if a supplier wants to have the privilege of working with Microsoft, they must offer parental leave benefits at least as generous as the standards Microsoft has set.

Microsoft’s announcement begs some questions: Will other businesses follow suit? Outside of states where paid parental leave is legally required (to date, only California, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Washington), will paid parental leave become a standard employee benefit instead of a perk offered by only an elite group of employers?

Also read: The Price of a Family-friendly Workplace

And of course, these questions don’t explore underlying motivations: Are companies like Microsoft implementing such programs to benefit families or simply to gain a competitive advantage when recruiting quality talent? And does motivation matter, if the results (for employees, families and businesses) are the same?

I recently worked with one of our middle-market clients to update and improve their paid parental leave policy. Taking note of the disparity in salary replacement to be offered to “primary caregivers” vs. “secondary caregivers” (a very common differentiator in modern times), I played devil’s advocate and asked: What is your goal in offering paid parental leave to your workforce?

The answer, not surprisingly, was to give new parents the opportunity to spend quality time with their newborn or newly adopted child. I further summoned the devil: If that’s the case, then why should it matter who is the primary caregiver, and why not offer the same benefit for both parents? Better yet, why not follow Microsoft’s example and offer a full 12 weeks of paid leave?

Also listen to: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation CHRO on Yearlong Parental Leave

The simple answer the client offered with an audible sigh: “We don’t have the budget for that.”

That’s the practical reality facing most small- to midsize employers, especially those with a predominantly young (i.e., of childbearing age) workforce, as is often found in the tech industry.

Indeed, in such businesses, it’s not uncommon for multiple employees to take parental leave at the same time. (This seems to happen frequently in November which, coincidentally, is nine months after Valentine’s Day.) Establishing and honoring parental leave policies can become expensive.

Most people — including employers — believe that allowing parents to spend more time with their children is indisputably a good thing. But while behemoths such as Walmart, Starbucks, Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, Netflix, American Express, Etsy and Bank of America have the financial wherewithal to implement such programs, many smaller employers do not have the ability to fully subsidize parental leaves, despite having the best intentions and hopes for their employees.

While we don’t expect state parental leave laws or employer policies to become the norm, it seems clear that such requirements and programs are gaining momentum, particularly in certain jurisdictions, markets and industries. The question for employers of any size is how to balance competing demands — fiscal realities, attracting and retaining top talent, compliance with local and state statutes — in a manner that enables them to achieve their business objectives while honoring their organizational values.

There are no broad-brush solutions that can be easily painted into an employee handbook. Each company must conduct its own calculus when deciding on the nature and extent of its parental leave benefits.

November 5, 2018June 29, 2023

Employees Put the Bullseye on Target-date Funds

Target-date funds had been in the 401(k) lineup for more than a decade at Zurich American Insurance Co., but it wasn’t until 2014 that the company started using the investment to automatically enroll workers.

After doing an evaluation at that time, target-date funds were the best option for the company to automatically put workers into a professionally managed investment account at a reasonable and low cost, said Dawn Carthan, benefits consultant at Zurich.

“Target-date funds went hand-in-hand with auto-enrollment,” Carthan said.

Today, the commercial insurer’s reasoning is similar to many companies using target-date funds when automatically enrolling workers into 401(k) plans. In its “How America Saves 2018” report, investment management giant Vanguard found that 51 percent of participants were invested in a target-date fund. For plans automatically enrolling participants, 96 percent were enrolled directly into a target-date fund.

Because of the rapid growth of target-date funds, Vanguard expects 70 percent of participants will be invested in them by 2022.

At Zurich, 94 percent of plan participants are using target-date funds, with 68 percent invested entirely in one. That second number is largely because of a re-enrollment project that took place in the first quarter this year. Prior to the initiative, less than half of participants were invested entirely in one target-date fund, a Zurich spokeswoman said.

“Target-date funds have definitely taken off,” said Jean Young, author of the Vanguard report and senior research analyst for the Vanguard Center for Investor Research. “These professionally managed options are so much easier today.”

Young said target-date funds are popular for three reasons: first, they are professionally managed investments that start at a higher rate of risk when a participant is younger, and continually rebalance, moving to a more conservative asset allocation as that person reaches retirement age. Second, costs have come down considerably over the past few years and are certainly well below what it would cost to have all these investments managed individually.

Finally, the Pension Protection Act of 2006 allowed plan sponsors to automatically enroll workers into what is called a qualified default investment alternative, or QDIA, a type of investment that would meet a participant’s retirement needs. Target-date funds fall under that umbrella.

The QDIA qualification catapulted target-date fund growth. Last year, target-date mutual funds pushed over the $1 trillion mark compared to $158 billion in 2008, according to Morningstar’s Target-Date Fund Landscape Report. Net inflows surged to $70 billion in 2017, compared to the $40 billion in net flows every year since 2008.

Three providers, Vanguard, Fidelity and T. Rowe Price, have dominated the field, holding a combined $774.6 billion in total assets in 2017. Within the space, 95 percent of all inflows last year built on the longstanding trend in going to low-cost funds. The average expense ratio for target-date funds was 0.66 percent in 2017, compared to 1.03 in 2009.

Low cost doesn’t necessarily mean best fit, said Jeff Holt, director of multi-asset and alternative strategies for Morningstar Research Services.

“There has been this huge move to low cost,” Holt said in a recent webinar. “But plan sponsors and investors should be aware that it’s not a guarantee that they are going to get the better results despite having the fee advantage.”

Plan sponsors should be wary of having a false sense of security with this QDIA, said Ron Surz, president of Target Date Solutions, an investment management firm based in San Clemente, California.

Also read: Retirement’s Gray Area: Health Care Costs

Surz said many plan sponsors offering target-date funds assume that any available ones will work as the QDIA for their 401(k) plan. Plan sponsors often choose funds out of convenience for themselves rather than the best fit for participants, Surz said.

It’s no coincidence, he added, that two of the three largest target-date fund providers are also the largest record keepers in the retirement benefits industry.

“Many plan sponsors think they are safe,” Surz said. “As fiduciaries, they need to be aware of their duty of care to find the best target-date fund for the beneficiaries and not the most convenient one.”

October 24, 2018September 5, 2023

How 401(k)s Can Help Recruit and Retain Employees

Four in five employees indicate they want benefits and perks more than a pay raise, and a 401(k) ranks in the top five requested benefits, according to a recent Glassdoor survey. On top of that, when it comes to millennials, benefits are particularly appealing – 90 percent of employees 18 to 34 years old say they would prefer benefits over pay.

While offering “fun” perks such as ping pong tables, happy hours, and stocked snack corners can be gratifying in the short-term, top candidates are focused on long-term benefits. Many are evaluating a company’s 401(k) offering when choosing which companies to apply to or deciding between multiple job offers.

With a tight labor market and recent trends surrounding retirement concerns, offering a high-quality 401(k) plan is an essential tool to add to your HR toolbox.

Attracting, recruiting and retaining employees is a costly and time-consuming process. That’s why it’s imperative to bring in top candidates and hire them with the intent of keeping them at your company as long as possible.

Here are three ways a high-quality 401(k) can help your recruiting and retention efforts:

1. Attract top talent and build high-performing teams

Fifty-one percent of employees joined their current employer largely because it offered a retirement plan, according to a survey by Willis Towers Watson. Offering a 401(k) shows potential candidates that you care about your employees’ financial well-being – even into retirement.

Companies can appeal to job seekers by demonstrating they are committed for the long-term with meaningful benefits like a 401(k) plan, which enforce a level of seriousness and credibility on the part of the employer.

2. Tip the balance in your company’s favor

Top candidates will have multiple offers with fairly equivalent salaries. A top-notch 401(k) benefit can be a “tie-breaker” for these candidates and will enforce a strong company culture around taking care of employees.

Competing on salary is a battle that is hard to win – there will always be another company that’s willing to pay more. However, thoughtful, long-term benefits that are financially beneficial, like an employer-sponsored 401(k), can really set you apart.

3. Increase employee retention

As top employees get recruited by other firms, 401(k)s are a great safeguard – if your company’s 401(k) or 401(k) match program is strong, it will be something they would lose out on if they switch jobs. In fact, 75 percent of new hires at a company offering a 401(k) say the retirement plan provides a compelling reason to stay, according to Willis Tower Watson’s survey.

While individual raises, bonuses, and promotions may benefit some, a 401(k) plan may be easier and more equitable to apply to your whole company. Employees who feel their employer is invested in them are more likely to be engaged in their workplace and stay with the company longer, reducing the high cost of employee turnover.

Top 401(k)s for Top Talent: How to Ensure You’re Providing the Best 401(k)

retain talent with 401(k) — Fifty-one percent of employees joined their current employer largely because it offered a retirement plan. To attract and retain employees, think about offering a high-quality 401(k) plan.

Not all 401(k) plans are created equally, and plans can vary drastically. To help you find the best 401(k) plan for candidates and current employees, these are the options your 401(k) plan should offer:

Immediate eligibility: With immediate eligibility, employees have the option to sign up and contribute to their account right away. This is extremely important for employees, since they’ll be receiving the full value of their benefit right away, as opposed to waiting a set amount of time. It can also improve participation, since employees are more likely to sign up when they first join the company and are onboarding.

Low-cost index funds: By offering low-fee options, employees can keep more of their earnings and not have fees eat away at their retirement savings. To put it into perspective, even a 1% difference in fees can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost retirement savings.

Employer match or contribution. By offering a generous employer match or contribution, you will most likely boost employee participation and increase your employees’ retirement savings, giving your plan an even more competitive edge. 401(k) matches are essentially financial compensation – with the added benefit of being tax-deferred – and many employees would consider this similar to a salary bump or bonus.

What is considered a good 401(k) match? According to the National Compensation Survey, 41 percent of employers match a percentage of employee contributions between 0 to 6 percent, while 10 percent match a percentage of employee contributions at 6 percent or more. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average 401(k) match is 3.5 percent of compensation.

The bottom line is that your company’s success is tied directly to the quality of its workforce. Giving your employees top-notch, thoughtful benefits, like a 401(k), is a great way to ensure they’re happy, remain loyal to your company, and are engaged in the company’s success.

Now is a great time to reevaluate your 401(k) as we approach business planning and budgeting for next year. Connect with your teams and 401(k) vendor to explore improvements to your plan or start a conversation about getting a new plan launched at the beginning of the next year.

October 22, 2018August 3, 2023

2018 Optimas Award Winners for Benefits

The Benefits award recognizes organizations that designed, developed or implemented innovative benefit programs that achieved organizational goals. Here are the winners for 2018:

Gold: Cherokee County, Georgia, Board of Commissioners

Cherokee County, the seventh largest county in Georgia, wanted to revamp its employee benefits program.

Such a lofty goal — reducing the cost of the health plan without reducing coverage or increasing employee premiums — would be daunting for any organization, and the county had the special challenge of needing to do just that for 1,600 public employees in 30 separate agencies.

Coinciding with the hiring of a new chief people officer in February 2016, the county began designing its health management strategy. In May, it also hired a new benefits consultant. With this new team and new strategy in place, the county assessed the health plan areas where there was room for improvement. The components of the new health management strategy included addressing pharmacy costs, telemedicine and preferred networks.

Rising costs and lack of transparency for pharmacy costs was a major concern of Cherokee County, which addressed this by choosing a new, fiduciary pharmacy benefits manager whose incentives are aligned to its own. At this PBM, there’s no spread pricing and all rebates and manufacturer’s incentives are returned to the county.

Plan members also have no deductibles or copays for telemedicine, which has helped lower overall spend by reducing urgent and emergency care spending.

Other components of this improved health management strategy included unbundling certain services for the carrier and implementing six new vendors who could improve spend, for example an imaging vendor at which members can get CAT scans, mammograms and MRIs at no cost. Also, Cherokee County needed to make a significant education and communication effort to let plan members know about these major changes.

The county officially launched the new health management strategy Jan. 1, 2017, and has seen positive results so far. Pharmacy spend decreased by 38 percent, or $1.3 million year-over-year; inpatient hospital costs decreased by 50.8 percent; and the adoption of telemedicine led to savings of $144,243. In addition, compared to 24 large claims costing $4,790,879 last plan year, the current plan year has only seen nine large claims totaling $1,554,785.

For its efforts to develop and implement a health management strategy for the 2017 plan year, Cherokee County, Georgia, Board of Commissioners is the Optimas Award Gold winner for Benefits.

Silver: Banfield Pet Hospital

The veterinary profession is going through a dramatic demographic shift, and as the workforce becomes younger and more female, workforce concerns like high student loan debt and common mental health issues that often plague young doctors impact organizations like Washington-based veterinary practice Banfield Pet Hospital.

To address the wellness challenges — such as cyberbullying, poor work-life balance and increased risk for suicide — that exist in the profession, whose industry turnover is 20 percent, Banfield launched a new health and well-being initiative in 2017. The initiative focuses on five areas of well-being including mind, body, finances, career and community.

Some components of this holistic approach were discounted gym memberships, the veterinary student debt relief pilot program, continuing education reimbursement programs and a hurricane relief program for pets and owners after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico.

Though the program is new, it has still had some measurable results, with 46 percent of the doctor population participating in the student debt relief program and a 30 percent reduction in the dropout rate of candidates.

For its efforts to gradually increase employee well-being on a holistic level, Banfield Pet Hospital is the Optimas Award Silver winner for Benefits.

Bronze: Panda Restaurant Group

For its efforts to use the Panda Associate Assistance Fund to financially assist employees going through crises including death, illness and natural disasters, Panda Restaurant Group is the Optimas Award Bronze winner for Benefits.

Go here to read about the rest of the Optimas winners for 2018.

October 22, 2018August 3, 2023

2018 Optimas Award Winners for Innovation

The Innovation award recognizes organizations that have developed an innovative workforce management strategy that addresses a fundamental business issue. Here are the winners for 2018:

Gold: SmartSimple Software Inc.

As SmartSimple Software Inc. found its team growing, they realized an innovative solution was needed to ensure ongoing employee engagement.

Inspired by the time machine from the movie “Back to the Future,” the cloud software provider built its model to manage the flow of incoming issues, ideas and comments, allow discussion and collaboration and finally output the solution, according to the application. It also provides a structure and concrete road map for fostering and developing innovative thought.

Growth in a company can be good, but it also comes with its challenges. SmartSimple began to gain interest from organizations outside of its traditional clients, causing them to move into unexplored territory and causing the company to face a steep learning curve. Because of this, additional talent was recruited to help provide insight into the unknown fields.

“The Flux Capacitor of Innovation is a concentrated dose of the processes and activities that were part of our everyday when we were a smaller organization and innovative thought flourished organically. It has enabled us to carry on our test-and-learn, curiosity-driven, start-up mentality that has brought us to where we are now,” said Alex Wong, director of marketing at SmartSimple.

Before the Flux Capacitor of Innovation was implemented, communication and ideas weren’t being developed past each team or department. The company realized that communication is key and now encourages every person in the company to share their opinions.

“The Flux Capacitor of Innovation changed this entirely because it introduced an element that every department had common ground in working with — our clients,” said Wong. “The feedback mechanisms that inherently feed the top end of the Flux Capacitor funnel foster inter-team collaboration and communication because every department has a stake in managing the client relationship.”

For its efforts to use the Flux Capacitor of Innovation as a structured road map for communication within the company, SmartSimple Software Inc. is the 2018 Optimas Award winner for Innovation.

Silver: NCSoft

Why not start the first day on the job with a game? NCSoft executives realized they needed to up their game where employee onboarding and retention was concerned.

Their onboarding program, NC Launch Onboarding, is a way to make the process more effective and increase employee retention. The site is filled with characters from the company’s games and takes new hires on “quests” to finish items like payroll, playfully referred to as “loot.”

The gaming business knew it needed a change when departments such as IT complained equipment wasn’t being set up on the first day and there wasn’t enough communication between managers and new employees.

The program has succeeded since launching in 2017. Future plans include incorporating more of an employee’s journey into the program, such as leaves of absence and training.

For its efforts to improve its onboarding process with a new platform, NCSoft is the 2018 Optimas Award Silver winner for Innovation.

Bronze: Riverside Healthcare

For its efforts to use its Well in Mind Employee Support Program to provide strong mental wellness to its employees, Riverside Healthcare is the 2018 Optimas Award Bronze winner for Innovation.

Go here to read about the rest of the Optimas winners for 2018.

October 19, 2018June 29, 2023

OSHA Softens Stance on Safety Incentive Programs, Post-incident Drug Tests

It’s been two years since OSHA announced its hard-line interpretation of its then newly announced anti-retaliation rules — that using incentive programs to penalize workers for reporting work-related injuries or illnesses, and that conducting post-incident drug testing without a reasonable possibility that employee drug use could have contributed to the reported injury or illness, constitutes unlawful retaliation under OSHA.

Last week, OSHA published a memo that specifically clarifies that it “does not prohibit workplace safety incentive programs or post-incident drug testing.” [emphasis in original]

What does this mean?

Incentive Programs

One example of an incentive programs is one that rewards workers for reporting near-misses or safety hazards. According to OSHA, “Positive action taken under this type of program is always permissible.”

Another example rewards employees with a prize or bonus at the end of an injury-free month, or evaluates (and bonuses) managers based on their work unit’s lack of injuries. According to OSHA, these programs are also permissible, “as long as they are not implemented in a manner that discourages reporting.”

According to OSHA:

If an employer takes a negative action against an employee under a rate-based incentive program, such as withholding a prize or bonus because of a reported injury, OSHA would not cite the employer [for retaliation] as long as the employer has implemented adequate precautions to ensure that employees feel free to report an injury or illness.

What are “adequate precautions to ensure that employees feel free to report an injury or illness?”

An incentive program that rewards employees for identifying unsafe conditions in the workplace;
A training program for all employees to reinforce reporting rights and responsibilities and emphasizes the employer’s non-retaliation policy;
A mechanism for accurately evaluating employees’ willingness to report injuries and illnesses.

Post-Accident Drug Testing

According to OSHA, “most instances of workplace drug testing are permissible.” Examples of permissible drug testing include:

Random drug testing.
Drug testing unrelated to the reporting of a work-related injury or illness.
Drug testing under a state workers’ compensation law.
Drug testing under other federal law, such as a U.S. Department of Transportation rule.
Drug testing to evaluate the root cause of a workplace incident that harmed or could have harmed employees. If the employer chooses to use drug testing to investigate the incident, the employer should test all employees whose conduct could have contributed to the incident, not just employees who reported injuries.

Employers no longer need a nexus between the possible or suspected drug use and the reported injury or illness.

If you have questions about implementing or modifying a workplace safety incentive program, or a post-accident drug testing program, contact your Occupational Safety & Health team.

Jon Hyman is a partner at Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis in Cleveland. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

October 18, 2018June 29, 2023

Boutique Fitness: The Holy Grail for Wellness Programs?

EDM Cycling. Surf Set Fitness. Punk Rock Dance Class Aerobic Kickboxing (yes, really!). Hot Yoga. Class Rowing. Barre. Boutique fitness studios and newly fashioned fitness crazes held in small group settings are growing in popularity and helping millions of people get active. Creative instructor-led group classes cater to multiple generations of consumers and are highly effective at engaging members to live an active, healthy and fun lifestyle.

boutique fitness wellness program — Nick Park, benefits consultant at Corporate Synergies

Access to boutique fitness studios is also becoming an appealing voluntary benefit. Now, some employers are sponsoring access to both small studios and big box gyms with the help of tech-forward companies that aggregate multiple fitness facilities into single-point networks.

The trend toward coached fitness has injected adrenaline into employer-sponsored health and wellness initiatives. That’s because boutique fitness classes appear to engage employees in healthy long-term behaviors. Some progressive HR pros are wondering if they’ve finally found the holy grail of employer-sponsored fitness programs. The answer: maybe.

Wellness programs have changed drastically from the days when employers handed out pedometers at wellness fairs. Today, many businesses provide discounts to traditional, big box gyms. Employees track each visit (often through a gym’s app or their membership system, but sometimes still by hand) and receive monetary reimbursement after visiting a specified number of times in a year — say $150 for 150 visits.

While traditional gym reimbursement is a stride forward, it can still limit engagement to a specific type of self-motivated employee and family member. Big box gyms often offer a limited number of classes that are appealing to the masses.

Boutique fitness studios are becoming increasingly popular because of small class sizes that allow instructors to focus more attention on participants and creative approaches to fitness that engage participants.

Beyond of what most Americans remember from ninth grade Phys Ed class, the vast majority of adults don’t know how to exercise outside of basic running and calisthenics. High-impact exercise on an untrained body can lead to injury, which means that employees need more personal guidance at the start of an exercise regimen that boutique studios can deliver.

Those who are motivated may also miss out on the benefits of a health and wellness program. Employees who would rather cycle for 45 minutes or take part in hot yoga may not get credit from their employer’s wellness program just because they choose to work out at a boutique fitness studio or other instructor-led classes outside of a traditional gym.

Tech-forward fitness companies like ClassPass, Peerfit and Gympass enable employees to pay a monthly subscription fee to attend classes at different boutique fitness studios, as well as traditional gyms. Here’s how it works: An app shows users nearby studios. Employees can register for individual classes, whether it’s cycling, boot camp, yoga or kickboxing. Some apps also use algorithms to recommend new or different fitness classes or fitness trends depending on user behavior.

As more people use the service, the apps compile feedback from users and suggest highly rated classes based on positive experience and popularity.

Boutique fitness studio apps can help make a difference with instruction, coaching, motivation and flexibility:

The apps encourage users to exercise regularly; some also incorporate peer motivation so employees can sign up for classes and encourage their colleagues and friends to join them.
They can help users set goals and stay on track with push notifications and messages (a benefit particularly useful for those just starting their wellness journey).
Some apps include audio coaching for interval running on a treadmill, weight lifting, aerobics and meditation.
When employees travel, they can easily find a participating boutique fitness studio in their area or work out alongside a streaming on-demand video.

Employers that wish to offer this service can often do so at a discount to their employees. The specific pricing structure depends on the app or service chosen; however, they are typically competitively priced.

A boutique fitness studio benefit could be offered as a sole gym membership benefit, or it could be added to a more traditional gym membership reimbursement program to give employees more flexibility in getting and staying fit.

Employers that have established health and wellness programs can also incorporate boutique studio subscriptions into their programs, or build a wellness program around them. The fitness apps provide data to track participation and encourage use. Some vendors will go as so far as to build an application programming interface (API) that will work with a pre-existing wellness technology platform used by an employer. APIs feed participation data to an employer’s wellness platform so employees get credit for it.

Providing boutique fitness studio subscriptions can address two focuses for employers — keeping employees healthy and catering to an increasingly diverse workforce. This type of benefit provides more flexibility to employees, gives them better access to fitness classes (which is a big advantage for teams spread across multiple locations) and has the potential to increase engagement in health and wellness programs.

October 12, 2018June 29, 2023

A New Crop of Benefits: Fresh Produce Grown at the Office

Most employers want their employees to be healthier, and healthy eating is one way to achieve that. One company is taking this idea to the extreme and offering organizations the chance to grow fresh produce on site with their own farm.

Boston-based agriculture technology company Freight Farms builds IoT-connected, vertical farms — literally growing plants on the walls of shipping containers — using hydroponics, a growing method that utilizes 90 percent less water than traditional growing and a mineral nutrient solution in a water solvent without soil. The company sells its farms — called the Leafy Green Machines — to companies that would then be the ones responsible for staffing and upkeeping the farms.

In September, Freight Farms announced a new service called Grown that provides the labor to manage the farm, said Caroline Katsiroubas, director of marketing and one of the founding members of Freight Farms. Previously, some organizations didn’t have the staffing or facilities maintenance capacity to maintain a farm. With the Grown service, organizations pay an average pay $5,000 a month, for custom crop scheduling, maintenance, supply replenishment, 24/7 farm monitoring and all farming operations, such as seeding, transplanting and harvesting.

“We hope to see this huge barrier to entry for these organizations get resolved,” she said.

Indoor farming has come a long way in the past two years and become increasingly mainstream, she said. It’s becoming less of a challenge to convince people that it’s possible to grow food in an indoor shipping container.

The Leafy Green Machine operates by growing in a shipping container, 40′ x 8′ x 9.5′ per unit, in a climate-controlled environment, Katsiroubas said. Air temperature, carbon dioxide levels and watering are managed. LED lights stimulate day and night for the plants to echo a more natural environment. A central brain in the farm knows when to increase or decrease and turn off or on these environmental factors.

Freight Farms focuses on leafy greens such lettuce, heartier greens including kale and herbs because this produce uses the space more efficiently and growers get more food per square foot.

This isn’t unlike what many other indoor farms do, according to the “State of Indoor Farming, 2017” by Agrilyst, a management and analytics platform for indoor farms. Agrilyst tracks and analyzes farm data from 150 farmers who participated in this survey. This research found that 57 percent of growers focused on leafy greens, while only 16 percent grew tomatoes and 10 percent flowers.

Dassault Systemès SolidWorks Corp., a company that develops 3D editing software and is based in Waltham, Massachusetts, is using the vertical farm as an employee benefit, Katsiroubas said. “It helps them skip the produce aisle essentially when they’re going grocery shopping,” she added.

By growing its own fresh produce on campus Dassault Systemès was able to set up a community supported agriculture, or CSA, program with weekly deliveries that employees could sign up for, said Jim Wilkinson, former vice president of user experience architecture at Dassault Systemès and leader of the Boston Campus Employee Activities Committee. He recently retired after 22 years at the company.

A CSA is an arrangement in which consumers can subscribe to receive a certain amount of fresh produce from a farmer on a regular basis. For example, by signing up, an employee could receive a couple heads of lettuce, a couple heads of kale and a box of herbs every week.

About 50 employees, or 6 percent of the campus population, signed up for the deliveries, which cost the same or less than other local CSA programs, he said. Also, the produce doesn’t need to be washed, lasts longer in the refrigerator and does not need to be consumed right away.

“Plus, we were able to give input on what type of produce we would prefer which was a big bonus,” Wilkinson said. “Often CSAs deliver types of produce that you don’t even know what to do with.”

Dassault Systemès, whose software Freight Farms uses to design their farms, was interested in having their own farm for a few years, but, before the CSA program was introduced, that was not possible, he said. Now, the software company is participating in the first pilot for Grown.

Another way employers can distribute this company-grown produce is by offering a salad bar to employees, Katsiroubas said.

Freight Farms is starting out with its new service in the New England area with plans to grow in other geographies next year, according to Katsiroubas. Although she sees this as a benefit for interested employees, what often attracts leadership is how the hyper-local Leafy Green Machine contributes to corporate social responsibility, she added.