Everyone knows the way to a person’s heart, but who knew the way to attract employees and keep them healthy is also through their stomach? With the relationship between and diet and health so closely related and well known today,…
Healthcare
Employers Moving Away From High-Deductible Plans
With workers harder to find and Obamacare’s tax on generous coverage postponed, employers are hitting pause on a feature of job-based medical insurance much hated by employees: the high-deductible health plan. Companies have slowed enrollment in such coverage and, in…
3 Tips for Maintaining Morale If You’re Changing Benefits Again
It’s open enrollment season again, and if your benefits are changing considerably, it could cause an engagement dip! A Towers Watson benefits study found – perhaps not surprisingly – that employee health and retirement plans are strongly correlated with engagement and retention….
Have You Considered Using Videos to Educate Employees About Benefits?
Does your employee benefits education program consist of handing out dusty benefits manuals and sending a single novel-length email from HR? If so, you could be severely missing the mark when it comes to truly educating your workforce. In fact,…
Training the Ted Talk Way
TED Talks, the popular conference and video lecture series, has a cardinal rule that all presenters must follow: No talk can exceed 18 minutes. As TED curator Chris Anderson puts it, 18 minutes is “short enough to hold people’s attention,…
A Look Ahead at the Legal and Market Forces Affecting Employment
Almost two years into the new presidential administration, and with highly consequential and hotly debated mid-term elections around the corner, Littler’s Workforce Policy Institute’s Labor Day Report examines the state of the American workforce. The WPI offers this report to…
Educate Employees About the Value of Benefits This Open Enrollment Season
Open enrollment is barreling down the tracks once again. It seems to be gaining speed each year. More benefits. More systems. Higher costs. Increased employee demands. We are tired just thinking about it. Before you dive into the review, comparison,…
The 3 R’s of Open Enrollment Success
With open enrollment approaching, you’ve probably spent a lot of energy creating the right blend of benefits for employees. Naturally, you want to give your people a great employee experience by helping them understand their options and make the best…
Talent Competition Is Fueling Wellness Spending Increase
With historic lows in unemployment rates and a growing demand for high-quality, dedicated employees, a company’s benefits and culture have never been more paramount to success. This has raised the pressure on HR professionals to strategically invest in benefits packages…
Consider Value-Based Health Care as an Alternative to Wellness
In an evolving labor market where employees are expecting (and receiving) higher pay and better perks, employers often compete in the race for top talent by offering better and bolder benefits packages. And with the unemployment rate as low as…
4 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Smoking Cessation Program
Tobacco use is the most common substance use disorder in the U.S. Between 8% and 18% of healthcare expenditures, depending on smoking prevalence, are attributable to smoking. Most smokers want to stop, and each year about 50% of all smokers…
It’s Time to Rebrand the HDHP and Here’s How
As a marketing professional, I am highly aware that presentation is everything. In my opinion, there are several marketing hacks that the health care industry could adopt to increase plan participation and to better position certain programs in a more…
How to Make Life Easier for Working Parents
The working parent’s employee experience is difficult, to say the least. According to Bright Horizons’ 2016 Modern Family Index, more than one in three new parents think they’re treated worse than their co-workers. Understandably, this can hurt employee well-being and…
Are You A Stress Addict?
Take a moment and consider the following questions: Do you find that you’re consistently in a state of crisis at work, with one fire to put out after another? Do you regularly reject solutions that are offered for the problems…
Your Job Is Killing You. Seriously
How often have you or your colleagues said, “This job is killing me”? What you likely didn’t know was that you were right — the workplace is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States! (And the results…
An Insurance Primer For Small Businesses That Want to Stay Competitive
For many small businesses, the struggle to compete with larger companies for talent is an uphill battle — particularly when it comes to benefit offerings. While you know recruiting and retention is important, you may not be sure if the…
5 Reasons Why Working Too Many Hours Is a Bad Idea
24-year-old copywriter Mita Diran’s last Tweet, several hours before she lapsed into a coma and died. One thing most millennials figure out faster than workers of older generations is that work/life balance isn’t just important, it’s crucial. While exceptions like Miss…
4 Ways Companies Can Combat Tech Addiction
Technology addiction is damaging our personal and work lives. Studies suggest people are increasingly unhappy with their use of screen time and social media. The endless refresh cycle of major apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, etc. are highly addictive…
Wellness, Flexible Benefits Can Make a Big Difference
New research reveals that an alarming 62% of workers believe that their employer and workplace are having a negative or very negative impact on their wellbeing. But what’s behind this disconnect between employers and employees’ wellbeing? And what can businesses…
3 Stressed Workers Your Wellness Program May Be Overlooking
As more employers start investing in wellness benefits and initiatives, it’s important to understand their objectives. It’s no secret employees need help with managing their stress. SHRM’s annual benefits survey found more employers are offering wellness programs, while a MediKeeper…