Editor’s Note

Did you know that a small manufacturing company’s healthcare costs have been rising at about 19.6% rate per year over the last five years? This could be saved and re-distributed to the employees, if they knew what risk factors drove their healthcare costs and what actions they could take to reduce those risks.

Health Care Costs- Are You Losing Out?: Small-to-medium self-funded employers are paying more

Employers do not have access to data that is required to take action when it comes to healthcare. Even if they do, the data is so complicated that it becomes an overwhelming task to analyze it. It is time for employers to understand their healthcare risk and cost drivers, understand which programs are and are not delivering value, and then use financial and clinical benchmarks to prioritize actions.

Employee Benefits and Wellness Excellence February 2016 Advertisers

Unlimited Vacation Policy: How SpinSys made it work for everyone

In a constant quest to attract and retain the nation’s top talent, companies throughout America have begun experimenting with offering enticing perks that help them stand out in a competitive job market. While flexible working arrangements, affordable health care, robust 401(k) matching plans and professional development are all deeply appreciated incentives, unlimited paid time off gets employees most excited.

Mind The Benefits Gap: Your organization could be an employer of choice for “pre-nester” talent

Many of today’s employee benefits are not applicable or are underutilized by younger employees. The reason is simple, most of today’s employee benefits are not designed for the persona of a “pre-nester:” single, no children, healthy, high student debt, and living with their parents. For employers that recognize this disconnect and offer employee benefits that address the “pre-nester” challenges, they will enjoy a competitive advantage in not only attracting and retaining “pre-nester” talent, but also improving their employment brand in the market

Employee Wellness Programs: It can positively impact your company’s bottom line

You’ve all been there, done that.You try to convince your CEO that there are serious outcome benefits for providing employee and workplace wellness programs for your company.Then, the CEO asks you to show how these programs will impact the bottom line, and you’re stuck.You can cite research findings on how stress mastery workshops, for example, will reduce healthcare costs, etc., but when you have a CEO who is mainly concerned with bottom line numbers, your ideas often fall on deaf ears.

What Is Financial Wellness?: Determining the characteristics of a real financial wellness benefit

The underlying concept of financial wellness is financial security, one of the most common goals reported by employees across all sectors. However, very few report having access to the kinds of financial services and benefits that they feel would be the most helpful.

Healthy Workplaces: The new version of worksite wellness

A healthy workplace is more than a workplace that promotes employee health. The National Quality Institute of Canada defines a healthy workplace as being an organization that seeks to “improve overall employee quality of life both within and outside the workplace.” (Health Canada, 2004)

American Heart Month: Educate employees on the importance of supplemental health policies

Although open enrollment season may be far off for some, it’s never too early in the year for human resources professionals to educate employees about their benefits options; especially the advantages of opting for supplemental insurance policies such as critical illness and hospital indemnity. February is American Heart Month, which makes it the perfect time to discuss the importance of these two voluntary policies given that approximately 85.6 million Americans are living with some form of cardiovascular disease or the after-effects of a stroke.1

Evaluating An EAP And Wellness Program?: Focus on 5 key questions

Employee assistance programs (EAPs) have been around for more than 40 years, but advances in technology and the workplace as a whole has changed the face of these employee programs. Employers are now using employee assistance programs as a competitive advantage and simply having a traditional clinical EAP in place is not enough.