Unstoppable healthcare costs are eating up resources that companies and governments could better use to advance other important priorities. Healthcare rate increases will jump around 5% in 2021, according to a recent SHRM article. Not only does this hamper employers’ abilities to focus on their missions, but it also impacts HR departments’ ability to attract and retain employees by their attractive compensation and wellness offerings.

The go-to strategy of moving employees to high-deductible health plans has inadvertently created adverse financial and health consequences. The Mass Health Policy Commission reports that 46% of the state’s adults skipped needed healthcare in 2019 due to unaffordable out-of-pocket costs. The numbers were especially alarming for low-income and people of color, but even high-income people were not immune. A new study from Gallup and West Health showed similar results.

Disparities in the U.S. health system have come into sharp focus over the past one and a half years, sounding an undeniable call to action. What steps will we take towards a more equitable health system? 

We must reimagine the future of care and solve the challenges that have hindered health equity in the past. Pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) are in an excellent position to lead the way by embracing the precepts of value-based care.

Last January, Sam was one of 190 million Americans that made a New Years’ resolution. Her goal? Improve her physical health and get her finances in order. Sam started strong but by summertime, she found that financial issues were keeping her from achieving her goals. Sleepless nights spent anxiously thinking about debt were compounded by stress eating, and Sam avoided visiting the doctor because of the expense. As a result, her overall wellbeing suffered.

Sam’s story is just one example of how financial wellbeing can spill over into an employee’s physical and mental health. In the workplace today, many HR and benefits professionals are looking to address this link.

Ask five different people how to describe a family caregiver, and you’ll get five different answers. Whether it’s raising young children or looking after elderly parents and loved ones, caregiving is a difficult task that is frequently combined with an equally challenging day job. Yet despite 53 million¹ U.S. adults identifying as caregivers, myths abound about the role, and companies that better understand and support their employees’ caregiving needs can reap significant rewards.

Myth #1: Family caregivers are women with aging parents or children with special needs who live at home with them.

A virus can be blamed for many current realities, and certainly its impact includes the multi-factorial employment issue that Tom Casey and his colleagues at Discussion Partner Collaborative (DPC) meaningfully explore in this blog that’s been repurposed from their hugely popular July white paper of the same moniker.  As their research conveys, however, the global labor shortage won’t be resolved by the cascading impact that the pandemic-inspired ending to unemployment benefits provides.  This multi-factorial employment issue is fundamentally about talent readiness.  Having said that, let’s avoid the tendency to immediately point to Talent Acquisition for solutions.  Instead, as you reference this blog titled “The Labor Shortage – The Unfortunate Reality,” read with your holistic organizational lens.  Talent readiness is as much about retention (a.k.a. organizational culture, executive leadership, demonstrated inclusion, total rewards, professional development, succession planning, etc.) as it is finding and attracting the best talent.  That’s what I experienced differently about this work by Tom and DPC.  We have a crisis around labor that showcases how important it is for the solutions to be everyone’s responsibility, not strictly those who lead or contribute in Human Resources.  NEEBC, and I personally, are honored by the opportunity to share this important work on an emerging, substantial, universal workforce issue. 

Introduction by Robin Antonellis, Executive Director of NEEBC

Working parents have been challenged with safety and health concerns and balancing work and providing care for children whose schools or daycares were closed for extended periods.  

Now that most schools and daycares have resumed in-person education, it might be time to reevaluate benefit options to support employees with dependents. One solution is to offer employees the opportunity to opt into a dependent care flexible spending account, or DC-FSA.

The digital world has opened many doors – including some to theft and the abuse of information. When it comes to retirement plans and participant assets, cybersecurity has emerged as a significant area of focus. Read on to find out how plan sponsors can protect themselves and their participants while meeting fiduciary obligations.

Technology innovation and an unrelenting push toward a digital world open us up to a range of cybersecurity risks. For retirement plans, it’s the risk of sharing financial and personal identifiable information across platforms and third-party service providers. And with participant assets and retirement security on the line, the risks weigh on many plan sponsors’ minds.

A work culture of diversity brings with it new ideas, ways of thinking and problem solving, and greater creativity and innovation. But, committing to diverse hiring practices alone isn’t enough to fully support a workforce that includes employees of different generations, gender, race, ability, LGBTQ+ community, and socioeconomic status. Your employee benefits also need to reflect this shift.

There is no one-size-fits all approach to health care. By choosing and offering a health plan that’s flexible and features comprehensive benefits, you’ll be able to help all your employees access care and live healthier lifestyles.

Introduction

The societal understanding of what it means for an employer to be truly inclusive of all diversity groups has expanded exponentially since the turn of the 21st century. Employers are increasingly faced with multifaceted Human Resources related topics including cannabis, cybersecurity, sexual harassment, and a push, in many states, for equal opportunity for paid leave. Equal opportunity accommodations do not just vary between male and female employees but also between groups based on race, religion, and gender identity.

Each year in June, the LGBTQ community and its allies celebrate Pride Month, showcasing the diversity of the LGBTQ community and exploring the past and present of LGBTQ advocacy. While our society has made great strides when it comes to discrimination against LGBTQ individuals, there’s still plenty of work to be done. As an employer, one of the most meaningful ways you can honor Pride Month is by reviewing your health care benefits to ensure that they fully support the health and wellbeing of all of your employees, including those who are LGBTQ.

Understanding LGBTQ health disparities
Health care equity is a real issue when it comes to the LGBTQ population. People who are LGBTQ are at higher risk than their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts for a number of medical conditions, diseases, and infections, including cancer, obesity, and behavioral health issues.¹ There are also barriers to health care access for LGBTQ individuals, most of which can be traced back to discrimination and oppression.²

Women are often the custodians of family health, taking on the role of caregiver for their children, partners, parents, and community. A recent study found that the onset of the pandemic brought on additional responsibilities: In 55% of households, women are twice as likely to have primary or sole responsibility for cooking, cleaning, childcare and education. What’s more, 80% of mothers said they were the ones managing home school since the coronavirus lockdowns.

With these added responsibilities, working moms in particular have expressed feelings of burnout in their daily lives and a sense of being betrayed and abandoned by society. Often faced with a “right choice trap” between taking care of family and work obligations, they’re forced to put their own mental and physical health needs on the back burner.

May is a much anticipated and welcomed month for New Englanders. At last, the discolored piles of snow have melted, and shovels and winter jackets are retired. April’s rain has given way to a colorful blooming ecosystem. Some people anticipate the end of homework battles, time spent outdoors socializing (while physically distanced), and warm weather activities they treasure. May, however, is not experienced in these ways by everyone. In fact, for many it can feel gloomy like an endless rainy January afternoon, or full of panic as when a tornado strikes. Perhaps you know one or two people who are experiencing life in these ways.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and an opportunity to raise consciousness and advance the dialogue around mental health impacts, what to say to someone who is struggling, and how to promote help-seeking behavior. Let us consider how employers can support employees in distress by being observant, connecting with empathy, and guiding them to professional support and resources.

Employers and benefits consultants looking to bend the cost curve in 2021 will have their work cut out for them. In response to recent legislative changes and the uncertainty the pandemic has brought, here are three fail-safe methods you can use to bend the cost curve for your employees and your organization.

For Employees
Benefits for unique needs and times
One of the many disparities the pandemic threw into sharp relief was how few employees were equipped to work from home. While certain workers may have had a slightly easier time, many were left turning bedrooms and kitchens into makeshift cubicles.

A workplace observance that’s been around less than twenty years, National Employee Benefits Day well deserves its spot on the annual calendar. Recognizing all those administrators, insurers, and professional advisors who balance the broad spectrum of plan design, day-to-day benefits administration, affordability within budgets, ever-evolving compliance rules and emerging trends is smart business. These teams shape “wellbeing,” literally by stewarding finite resources to bundle what American employees need AND want. Isn’t that the definition of wellbeing? Who’s with me on replacing the current “employee benefits” lexicon with “employee wellbeing”??…that’s a topic for another day.

When I asked rising executive and thought-leader, Alexa Baggio, to be NEEBC’s blogger for National Employee Benefits Day, I knew first-hand her talent for recognizing the pulse on the employee benefits landscape and her ability to translate it into actionable opportunities. In her blog below, she exceeded my expectations for delivering fresh, crisp, poignant perspective on designing and offering meaningful benefits, including distinguishing three new benefits categories. 

My first career milestone came in 1982 when one of the nation’s premier financial institutions welcomed me into its formal training program. Having never viewed my gender as career relevant, imagine my surprise on Orientation Day when one other woman and I sat among twenty black men with a flip chart – prominently positioned – with the words “Welcome to our Minority Internship Program.” While my title recollection may not be precise, learning I was a “minority” has never faded. In America, the needle for women has moved in the last four decades. But, enough?

March, encompassing both Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, celebrates, honors and remembers the women on whose shoulders we’ve stood. And, these observances invite deep reflection and resolve. Using COVID-19 as a lens, as well as seeking a future where gender equity is secure, we share below some pandemic-related examples and questions to consider.

March 20 marks World Oral Health Day – an annual reminder that taking care of your mouth is critical to taking care of your overall health and well-being. In 2021, preventive oral health care is especially important after many people delayed scheduled appointments when dental offices were closed to all but emergency services at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In fact, an August 2020 Biomedical Journal article suggests that a healthy mouth could decrease the severity of COVID-19 symptoms and reduce associated morbidity¹. As an employer, you can play a key role in helping to improve health outcomes for your employees by prioritizing oral health care in your organization. Solutions that make dental care affordable for employees, such as dental benefits that include preventive care, along with policies that make it easy for employees to make and keep dental care appointments, are a great place to start.

Women often face special challenges when planning for retirement. For example, if they are the primary caregivers in their families, their careers may be interrupted to care for children or elderly parents, which means they may spend less time in the workforce and earn less money than men in the same age group. And even if they remain in the workforce, women still tend to earn less than men, on average. As a result, their retirement plan balances, Social Security benefits, and pension benefits are often lower.

In addition to earning less, women generally live longer than men, which means having to stretch potentially limited retirement savings and benefits over many years.

While the pandemic’s effects forced employers into an uncomfortably reactive position, managing their way through this experience proved that flexibility is a critical asset. The work environment has undergone some lasting changes, and acknowledging this shift frees employers to focus on overcoming the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Prioritizing workplace flexibility has become a cultural imperative that’s more than a single decision or policy change. It’s a value that nurtures the ability of organizations to respond resiliently to future change, helping ensure business continuity and growth.

Formal processes to approve and transition a relatively small number of employees to a nontraditional work setup are no longer a perk. As a new normal takes hold, work-at-home and other flexible arrangements are becoming a new standard.