benefits trends Archives

4 Benefits to Help Boost Post-COVID Employee Retention

by Kubair Chuchra | Jun 8, 2021 | Blog

4 benefits to help boost post-COVID employee retention. An employee mass-exodus could be coming to the post-COVID workforce. What can employers do to keep top talent?

According to Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index, 40 percent of the global workforce is considering leaving their employer this year. The mass employee exodus is due in no small part to a changing work landscape and increased employee burnout as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Low employee retention rates cost organizations millions and put additional strain on team members who remain and have to pick up the slack. One solution to increase employee retention is to offer creative benefits that empower employees and make your company stand out from the rest of the job market.

Here are four benefits to help your workforce boost post-COVID employee retention rates.

1. Increased vacation time and bonus with tenure

Most companies reward employees with higher bonuses and more vacation time the longer they stay with the company. To ensure this benefit structure incentivizes early employee retention, companies should have longer vacation time and higher bonuses kick in after just one year of employment.

2. Accessible commuting benefits

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced many employees to the benefits of a commute-free work day. No matter what form it takes, commuting adds stress and hours to the workday. Making it easier for your employees to get to and from work is a productive way to stand out amongst other employers.

Commuting benefits can come in a variety of forms. Some, like public transportation and bicycle-share passes may cost employers up front, but they also signal to employees that their company values their time and money. Other benefits, like public transportation schedule dependent start and end times and company organized carpools, do not cost employers and still look after the wallets and schedules of employees.

If your company can operate remotely, offering employees with long-commutes more remote-work days is also a great way to stand out in the employment market.

3. Physical and mental health wellness resources

Offering employees resources to improve their physical and mental health demonstrates care and prioritization for their wellness outside of the office. While not every company can afford an on-site gym, making room in your HR department’s benefits budget for resources like employee gym passes, access to virtual dietitians and motivational and mental health related speakers could go a long way.

4. Comprehensive financial wellness resources

According to a 2021 Capital One CreditWise survey, 73% of Americans rank their finances as the most significant source of stress in their life. Helping your employees manage their financial stress and reach their financial goals through a comprehensive financial wellness program is one way to help them combat this problem.

Employers looking to increase employee retention must do more than just offer a 401-k and other retirement savings plans and offer employees the resources to empower them financially. Best Money Moves’ insightful, comprehensive, and easy-to-use platform can do just that.

Best Money Moves is a human-centered and individualized approach to financial wellbeing. The comprehensive and user-friendly platform provides a plethora of financial resources and educational tools. The library of resources contains over 700 articles, videos, and calculators. Each Best Money Moves user has their personal feed tailored to the several distinct factors that monitor their personal stress.

Employee information is always private but employers do have access to key analytics that show overall employee financial stress and stress levels over time. The Employer Dashboard also features information on program usage, debt and savings levels and more so employers can see just how valuable Best Money Moves is to their employees.

If you want to learn more about how Best Money Moves can bring financial wellness to your company, download our whitepapers.

Support Workers with Better Employee Benefits in 2020

by LizStevens | May 6, 2020 | Blog

Support workers with better employee benefits in 2020. Targeting the four key aspects of employee wellness to build a better employee benefits package.

There are four key aspects to overall wellness: mental, physical, financial and social. Employees who score well across the board are more likely to be loyal, engaged and productive, according to the latest employee benefits research by MetLife.

“Now more than ever, it’s critical to understand employees’ needs,” said, Todd Katz executive vice president, Group Benefits, MetLife. “In this time of crisis and beyond, providing a mix of benefits and programs can help mitigate stress, improve employees’ holistic well-being and support them when they need it most – which in turn can help bolster engagement and loyalty from the workforce.”

Support Workers with Better Employee Benefits in 2020

The coronavirus pandemic continues to reshape the working world challenging businesses everywhere to adapt to the new normal. Strategizing how employee benefits can better support workers in a time of crisis is a must.

This year, MetLife’s 18th annual U.S. Employee Benefits Trends Report considers how resilient employees are when faced with uncertainty and then looks at the important role employee benefits plays in the overall wellness of workers, identifying the perks and programs that matter most.

Financial Wellness Programs

More than half of U.S. employees told MetLife their biggest concern in the wake of the novel coronavirus is their financial health. According to a survey by Freedom Debt Relief:

41 percent of employees are worried about being able to afford to feed themselves and their families.
41 percent report are struggling to make their rent or mortgage payments.
37 percent will miss payments on some bills in the next six months.
35 percent will use credit cards to pay for groceries.

Over 60 percent of employees say the $1,200 pandemic relief check they received as a part of the CARES Act will not be enough to get through the current economy.

“The coronavirus is clearly contributing to employees’ overall stress, especially as it relates to their financial well-being,” said Katz. “It should come as no surprise that this is particularly true among those with incomes below $50,000, and those in healthcare. Across industries, employers have an opportunity to be a source of support for employees facing unprecedented challenges by offering tools and resources to address their immediate concerns.”

Nearly 80 percent of workers with access to financial wellness programs told MetLife they’re satisfied with the employee benefits their employer offers.

The best financial wellness programs, like Best Money Moves, are gamified and harness machine learning to guide employees to the resources they need most. If you want to learn more about how Best Money Moves can bring financial wellness to your company download our whitepapers and sign up for a demonstration here.

Mental Health Benefits

Close to 60 percent of employees struggling with mental health said their employer doesn’t offer mental health programs that meet their needs, or that the programs they do offer are too difficult to access or understand. Effective mental health programs can help ease stress, anxiety and depression that can fuel burnout and disengagement at work.

Flexibility

There was a trend towards flexible work arrangements long before the coronavirus pandemic began. Now, flexibility has shifted from being a highly sought after perk to a crucial necessity to maintain operations and accommodate workers.

Assigning reasonable workloads, offering flexible work hours or arrangements and providing sufficient time to address personal needs can mitigate stress, burnout and depression. At the same time, MetLife finds these practices are also top drivers of productivity, engagement and loyalty.

Over 80 percent of employees believe their employers have a responsibility to address their health and well-being. Employers can leverage the right mix of benefits, perks and programs to better support employees and in turn boost engagement, job satisfaction and retention.

Choosing the Most Important Benefits to Employees in 2020

by LizStevens | Aug 7, 2019 | Blog

Choosing the most important benefits to employees in 2020. Increase employee benefits participation and engagement with our three-step strategy.

Best Money Moves recently forecast the top 10 employee benefits for 2020 and we’ve developed a simple, three-step strategy to help you identify the benefits your employees want most and formulate a communications plan to increase participation and engagement.

How to Choose the Most Important Benefits to Employees in 2020

Step #1 Audit Your Current Employee Benefits

Conduct an audit of your current employee benefits package. You’ll want to know which benefits are used most frequently and which benefits are underutilized. If there isn’t an annual report for benefits utilization, work with HR to create a process for it going forward. Historical data comes in handy whenever you’re making benefits decisions.

If a benefit is underutilized, it doesn’t necessarily mean that benefit should be scrapped. Nearly half of employees don’t understand all the benefits their organization offers. The next step helps you determine whether it’s a benefit that employees don’t value a benefit that needs to be restrategized.

Step #2 Survey Employees and HR

A short employee survey gives you insight into what benefits are the most important benefits to employees in 2020. Make sure to include questions about benefits that appear to be undervalued and benefits you’re thinking of introducing. Multiple-choice questions quickly determine which benefits are most sought after, and, if you include open-ended questions, they’ll tell you why those benefits matter most.

While you’re at it, survey your human resources team. What questions do they get about benefits? Are there any benefits employees have asked about that the organization doesn’t offer? What do they think about the current benefits engagement process? Is there any way they think benefits communication can be improved? How? Including HR in the planning process gives you a better understanding of how benefits are managed day-to-day and where improvements can be made.

How to Increase Employee Benefits Participation and Engagement

Step #3 Improve Benefits Communication

Employee benefits participation and engagement comes down to one thing: communication. Traditional meetings or emails that give employees large amounts of information are no longer an effective way to educate employees. Shorter, bite-sized benefits information sent over a longer period of time is a better way to improve employee understanding.

“Releasing “bite-sized” bits of information on different benefits every quarter could vastly improve employees’ understanding of benefits selection and enrollment,” said Misty Guinn, director of benefits and wellness at cloud-based benefits platform provider Benefitfocus.

This does mean more work for HR, but the good news is that most of it can be automated with minimal updates once templates are written. Test different methods of communication, like text messaging, phone calls and instant messenger in addition to emails or meetings. Track participation, open and click rates to see which method is the best way to reach your employees.

Employee benefits and perks are the battlegrounds where employers are fighting the war for talent in a tight job market where unemployment hovers at a nearly 50-year low (3.7%). Moreover, employee benefits account for more than 30 percent of total employee compensation. It’s worth developing a better benefits process and improved engagement strategies to make sure your organization offers the most important benefits to employees in 2020.

More on the Most Important Benefits to Employees in 2020:

Top 10 Employee Benefits for 2020

4 Big Employee Benefits Trends for Family Planning

Financial Wellbeing and Its Role in a Complete Employee Wellbeing Program

5 Must-Have Benefits for Millennial Employees

Top 10 Workplace Etiquette Rules for Communication

Hiring Trends to Watch in 2020

How to Support Mental Health at Work

Financial Wellbeing & Its Role in a Complete Employee Wellbeing Program

by DHS Group | Jun 6, 2019 | Blog

Financial wellbeing and its role in a complete employee wellbeing program. In this guest post, DHS Group‘s VP of Employer Solutions, Rich Siegenthaler, recommends four ways your employee wellness program can keep up with changes in the benefits industry. The opinions expressed in this blog belong to the author and DHS Group.

It’s getting more and more common to see employers focusing on strategies to assist their employee population in managing their complete wellbeing rather than one single area. They’re accomplishing this by adding programs that benefit the financial wellbeing and mental health of employees. This is a step in the right direction that’s quickly leading to healthier employees in every sense of the word.

Maybe you’re already putting some of these strategies to work or maybe you’re hoping to in the near future. Wherever you are in the journey, DHS Group’s VP of Employer Solutions and experienced employee wellbeing professional, Rich Siegenthaler, has a few recommendations to get you started and make sure you’re on the right path to complete employee wellbeing.

Expand Beyond Traditional Wellness Programs

Traditional wellness programs put surface programs at the forefront – think: step challenges – while these are important, the industry is changing and what employees are looking for is changing.

Integrate Mental Health Programs

For years, mental health has been something that both employees and employers have strayed away from discussing with each other. However, as mental health conditions are spreading rapidly – with issues like anxiety, depression and worry being dealt with by people everywhere – employers can’t afford to not offer these types of programs as part of their wellbeing plans.

Provide Financial Wellness Programming

The number one stressors in American households today are financial. While employees do need to understand how to invest their resources in traditional ways (like 401Ks), the new trend is to provide tools for employees to manage their day-to-day and month-to-month budgets.

Many times, employees say they understand they need to put more into their 401K, but know that if they do, they will not be able to pay their bills. Financial wellness programming helps people look at their earnings, bills and expenses, and learn how to manage them more effectively. It is a day-to-day management strategy that helps employees lead a more comfortable and accountable lifestyle when it comes to their financial health.

Improve Communication

However you decide to start expanding your wellbeing program to a more complete package – communication is key. There will be growing pains, but in order to help lessen those, remember that your employees are people too. Open up the lines of communication to hear from your employees about what they’re looking for overall and what they are looking for in their wellbeing programs.

Before you do anything, the ultimate first step is to look at your workforce, your employee demographics and how your very own organization operates. Then, with these details in mind, alongside Rich’s recommendations above, you’ll be well on your way to a complete wellbeing program that benefits the employee AND the employer.

Learn more about bringing complete wellbeing to your employees with DHS Group’s HealthSpective Engage program here.

More on Employee Wellbeing and Wellness Programs:

From Employee Wellness to Wellbeing: Transforming Your Workforce

4 Big Employee Benefits Trends for Family Planning

How to Support Mental Health at Work

Employee Benefits Success is All About Communication

What’s Wrong With Wellness Program Incentives?

What Benefits Do Employees Want in 2019?

4 Big Employee Benefits Trends for Family Planning

by LizStevens | Apr 30, 2019 | Blog

4 big employee benefits trends for family planning. What you need to know about family-friendly employee benefits like fertility services, paid maternity leave and childcare assistance.

More employers are offering family-friendly benefits like paid maternity leave and fertility services to attract employees in today’s competitive labor market, according to a report from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.

“Employers are recognizing that all employees have lives and commitments outside of the workplace and are expanding their benefits to be more inclusive. These types of benefits help employees address work-life conflicts, while keeping them productive and engaged at work,” explained Julie Stitch, CEBS, associate vice president of content at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. “I expect we’ll see family-friendly benefits continue to grow as part of the larger trend of expanding work-life balance policies.’”

Family Planning Employee Benefits for Fertility

Fertility benefits aren’t just for big corporations anymore. Ten percent of employers with 50 or fewer employees offer some sort of fertility benefit (up from 4 percent in 2016). More than 30 percent of employers with 500 or more employees offer fertility benefits (up from 24 percent in 2016). Employers most commonly offer:

In-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments (23 percent)
Fertility medications (18 percent)
Genetic testing to determine infertility issues (15 percent)
Non-IVF fertility treatments (13 percent)
Visits with fertility counselors (9 percent)
Egg harvesting or freezing services (7 percent)

Paid Leave Benefits Are Expanding

Paid leave offerings are expanding as employers strive to meet the demands of employees’ personal lives. Maternity leave is offered by more than 40 percent of employers of all sizes, from employers who manage fewer than 50 employees to companies with more than 10,000 employees. More than 30 percent of employers now offer paternity leave (up from 24 percent in 2016) and more than 20 percent offer paid adoption leave.

It’s important to note employers are providing additional types of leave for different situations, for example:

Paid family/caregiving leave (17 percent)
Paid leave to attend a child’s activities (8 percent)
Unpaid family leave (34 percent offer this beyond FMLA requirements)
Unpaid adoption leave (26 percent)
Unpaid leave to attend a child’s activities (25 percent)

Flexible Scheduling Benefits for Parents

Flexible scheduling is a must, especially for parents. More than half of employers offer flexible work hours or compressed work weeks. Nearly ten percent of employers offer ‘job sharing’, where two or more employees share one full-time job. Employers also offer childcare benefits that resolve some of the need for flexibility and help parents cover the steep cost of childcare:

Resource and referral services for childcare (27 percent)
Emergency/sick childcare (7 percent)
On-site or near-site childcare (5 percent)
Childcare subsidies (3 percent)

Employee Benefits for Financial/Family Planning

Financial planning is a necessity for family planning. More than 70 percent of employers offer dependent care flexible spending accounts. Fifteen percent of employers now offer 529 savings plans that help save for children’s higher education. Over 10 percent offer scholarships or paid tuition for employees’ children.