May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, and it’s a great time to raise awareness of the impact that mental health has on the physical, emotional and overall well-being of your employees.

About one in 5 employees in the U.S. has a mental illness, but hasn’t disclosed the information to their employer, according to Employee Benefits News. The stigma attached to mental health issues in this country means employees are afraid to talk about this particular aspect of their health. The problem is, the mental health of your employees doesn’t  just affect their personal lives, it significantly impacts their workplace experience, and that of your other employees.

What can you do? Start by providing your HR team with the resources they need to help them handle mental health issues in the workplace and provide your employees with the necessary resources to teach them how to prevent – and handle – life’s stressors (especially financial stress) that are most commonly linked to mental health issues. Remind your employees what steps they can take if they need to reach out for help. A healthy workforce is a happy workforce – show your employees you care.

This week is Small Business Week. Led by the Small Business Administration, from April 30 – May 5, outstanding small business owners and entrepreneurs throughout the country will be recognized during livestreamed ceremonies (you can follow along on social media via @sba.gov and #smallbusinessweek). These national events culminate on Friday, May 4 with a Twitter chat about tips for starting and growing a small business.

Your employees may not be as financially competent as they think. In honor of April’s Financial Literacy Month, First National Bank of Omaha released the results of its 2018 Financial Literacy and Lifestyle Survey. While 93 percent of respondents considered themselves financially literate, nearly 50 percent don’t regularly contribute to a 401(k) and 75 percent don’t stick to a budget. Your employees are struggling with their financial wellness and may not even know it.

Students struggle with medical debt – and are bringing their financial stress into the  workplace. The University of Washington studied its student population and found troubling statistics. Nearly 15 percent of students carried medical debt and almost 40 percent delayed necessary healthcare because of related costs. Some Universities are beginning to offer free student financial wellness workshops. How can HR be prepared for this coming influx of indebted, entry-level employees?

Which HR tech trends are gaining traction this year? HR needs to stay on top of the latest tech trends in order to attract top talent and stay competitive in the marketplace. Watch for blockchain technology, gamification and continuous performance management tools to streamline HR operations management in a major way. Which of these trending technologies will your company use?

Don’t offer a 401(k)? Help your employees explore other options. Employees with access to a work-sponsored retirement plan are 15 times more likely to save for their golden years. But for those without, the cost of starting to save later in life versus early on is significant.  And when people approach retirement without enough savings, they face the financial stress and uncertainty of outliving their money – stress and uncertainty that will impact their place of work, as well.

A Millennial’s dream come true? Their reputation as “job hoppers” precedes them and, it’s forcing employers to become more creative in order to attract and retain the millennial employee. Software-maker Qualtrics offers this over-the-top company perk: in 2018, they started providing each employee with $1,500 to spend on an experience they “wouldn’t normally be able to have,” allowing some employees to swim with sharks, ski the alps and trek the Great Wall of China.

Are you in need of 5 important guidelines to increase your HR Values? Human Resources has grown from its traditional role of hiring and retaining top talent to a much more strategic one: HR is now a significant part of an organization’s overall processes including corporate culture, employee engagement, performance evaluation and operational efficiency.

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According to a recent study by Honeypot, the United States is the second-best country in the world for women in tech. The US ranked at the same position worldwide for its percentage of women in senior management positions, although women make up just over 6 percent of CEOs in the Fortune 500.

While women have made incredible strides towards workplace equality, reports show that women can still earn up to 45 percent less than men for the same job, but it’s not for lack of performance.

New data shows that while women and men in their 20’s are promoted at the same rate, men are more likely to be promoted into management roles. The same study showed that women were 22 percent more likely to achieve higher ratings of job performance than their male counterparts.

Not only do women still earn less for the same work, women also have fewer tools for and less knowledge about financial wellness. “Women have come a long way both personally and professionally, but when it comes to their finances, there is still a trail left to blaze,” said Lorna Sabbia, head of Retirement and Personal Wealth Solutions for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Sabbia believes that women need more support in pursuing financial security for life, including investments, retirement savings and additional financial solutions.

What is your company doing to help minimize the gender pay gap and provide financial wellness for all of its employees?

Workforce demographics are changing, reinforcing the need for employee financial wellness.  Millennials are flowing into your workforce and are concerned that social security may not be around for them when they need it. Which may be why they’re proving to be more financially conscious than their older counterparts by contributing at higher rates to their 401(k)s, and are twice as likely than baby boomers to say that stress interferes with work productivity.

Should HR be taking its cues from the IT department? In today’s world, five-year plans and predictable career paths seem out of date. In order to keep up with today’s rapid pace of corporate change, you need a forward-thinking HR department willing to be transformative and meet the demand of evolving skills, technology and work models.

Right now is the best time to plan your new benefits programs for 2019. YouDecide studies and develops enrollment best practices. They’ve determined that Q1 is the ideal time to review last year’s enrollment results, while Q2 should be reserved for assessing employee population needs and evaluating your employees’ overall benefits enrollment experience.

“It’s so obvious.” Millennials, who were raised on technology, are flooding the logistics workforce. Evan Garber, CEO of EVS has created a new warehouse management system: “one device that can do everything” which runs on Apple iOS. And he’s not the only one. More back-office operations systems are being designed to look, feel and run just like your technology at home, an obvious evolution of tech-at-work.

Will HR automation save you time and boost job satisfaction, too? As robotic process automation (RPA) is becoming more commonplace within payroll and benefits practices, many HR teams are realizing the broader opportunities that RPA can bring to their workplace. Between onboarding, recruiting, learning and development, RPA is reducing errors and growing overall HR capacity. Could this be the right tool for you?

Employees know what they want. Studies show that the  digital health benefits employers provide have low engagement while employees are finding solutions to meet their digital health needs on their own. It’s a lose-lose proposition. Is 2018 the year that employers and employees get on the same page regarding benefits?

Do more fertility benefits equal lower turnover? A new report from FertilityIQ shows that workplace fertility benefits directly correlate to strong employee loyalty, higher levels of retention and higher rates of productivity.  Although an expensive investment for the employer, it might be worth it.

Have something to add? Do you have any questions, comments or concerns?
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Everyone knows that a competitive benefits package includes much more than just financial wellness and a good salary. And, an exceptional benefits package may even counteract a high salary expectation.

Piecing together your exceptional benefits package doesn’t need to be difficult. The first step is simple: provide your employees with the tools they need to be smarter about how they handle their personal finances. Your employees are craving financial education – studies show what we already know: your employees need help with understanding how to manage their finances – and they want you to help.

Employee financial wellness doesn’t just create happier and healthier employees. Providing a best-in-class employee financial wellness program increases engagement and productivity while reducing unexplained absences, turnover, and ultimately, healthcare costs. Improving overall financial wellness has a solid corporate ROI – one that you can easily share with your CFO. If you’re seriously looking to attract cream-of-the-crop talent, you also need to offer transformational HR technology. From mobile-first financial wellness platforms to videoconferencing apps, to recognition and rewards, this new wave of HR technology integrates wellness, development, education and performance management. And, with unemployment at or near all-time lows, your company needs every tool available to be on the cutting edge of competitive.

Your employees may not have the tools to deal with workplace stress. Financial stress is the number one source of all employee stress – which not only negatively impacts personal health and wellbeing, it also costs your company money in the form of lost productivity, higher costs in healthcare, higher turnover and more absenteeism. Helping your employees learn how to prevent financial stress, learn how to cope with it and learn how to recover from workplace stressors will be one of the best benefits you can provide.

Are your employees living up to your expectations – or down to them? Often, too many rules can create a work environment where employees feel like they’re stepping on eggshells. GM CEO Mary Barra explains how empowering your employees to make small – yet important – decisions will strengthen company culture while empowering them to step up in other areas, as well.

How do your benefits stack up against those of other employers in your area? Newly published research shows employee benefits choices and costs – by region – as well as data on employer provisions. Both employers and their employees can access information on benefits offerings from across the region. This can help employees better understand their selection of voluntary benefits at their company – and at others.

Are you sending out late-night work emails from the comfort of your bed? In the wake of France’s law banning work email after hours, New York City may be one of the first cities in America to follow suit, banning the requirement of an after-hours response. According to New York City Council member Rafael Espinal, “the lines between our work and personal lives have blurred. My bill will simply protect employees from retaliation when they choose to disconnect.”

Organizational rhythm: have you got it? How can you gauge and identify what makes people behave in the way that they do? What makes your employees tick? Happy employees are more creative and enterprise organizational growth. Organizational rhythm comes once you’ve learned what elements hone your employees’ continued success. “The paradigm shift will only happen when you observe employees from far and see how they behave and converse informally.”

Is your company expanding but leaving women and minorities behind? Even as workplace diversity, equity and equality are on the forefront of HR and media awareness, young women and people of color are still at high risk of discrimination – at all levels of employment. Workplace discrimination can come in many forms, both intentional and otherwise. Employers must ensure that they’re protecting the safety and welfare of all employees by taking stock of their hiring practices, organizational culture, core values and salary structure in order to ensure that all employees are given the same opportunities.

Have something to add? Do you have any questions, comments or concerns?
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Are you looking for a way to turn your employees’ financial stress into financial wellness? Giving them actionable information may just be the ticket – and it’s your lucky month!

This month marks the 18th April in a row to celebrate Financial Literacy Month. Originally promoted by the Jumpstart Coalition as an evolution from the National Endowment for Financial Education’s Youth Literacy Day in 2000,  Financial Literacy Month has come a long way. Reaching from family living rooms to high school classrooms and into corporate boardrooms, decision makers across the spectrum are taking this opportunity to implement conversation, educational programming and benefits plans to meet this important need among people at every age, position and income level. And at the end of the month, the Federal Reserve Banks across the country will celebrate Money Smart Week, where tens of thousands of free money classes will be offered in more than 100 languages.

Read through the Huffington Post’s collection of articles highlighting the importance of financial education and financial wellness during April’s Financial Literacy Month, here:

Financial Literacy Month – Information to Last You Well Beyond April

It’s common knowledge that financial stress is the leading cause of lost productivity, unplanned absences and greater distractions among employees. More than half of your employees say that they want their employers (you) to provide financial literacy education in order to boost their own financial wellness. Let Financial Literacy Month help you to help your employees in order to get everyone on the right track to their own financial wellness.

Don’t forget: there’s not one down side to employee financial wellness. What are you waiting for?

Engage Employees for Successful Financial Planning

Reduced financial stress may reduce health care costs. Financial wellness and physical wellness are directly linked – so, it makes sense that providing financial wellness programs for your employees will inevitably reduce company healthcare costs. And, shouldn’t you apply the same “healthcare metrics” used to track our health – to our money behavior as well?

The Tipping Point of Financial Wellness Looks Like This

When was the last time your company invested in upgrades for its employees? Far too often, employee wellness benefits miss the mark when it comes to blue-collar workers. And these dedicated employees are missing out. Hilton and Hyatt Hotels recognize the importance of investing in all ranks of its employees, both full and part time.

Hilton Hotels’ Newest Upgrades are Strictly for Staff

Despite the rumors, your millennial employees are pretty good savers. Unfortunately, they still don’t know how to properly invest their savings funds. Approximately 42 percent of millennial employees aren’t investing enough for retirement. Here’s why.  

Millennials Are Saving Well, But…

Human Resources departments are being digitized – on a massive scale. And, they’re incorporating everything from metrics to contests to training. Here’s a list of the fastest growing, most transformative and innovative HR tech trends.

Emerging Tech Trends that Will Upend the HR Practices

Yes, it’s still tax season. Thirty-seven percent of young people rely on their parents to file their federal and state income tax forms. If your population is heavily Millennial, they could be distracted this month by the upcoming April 17th deadline. Point them in the direction of IRS.gov for their free file help. And, Money Magazine has a few good last minute thoughts, too.

The Tax Deadline, Early Retirement, & Better Credit

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