How the Right Benefits Can Improve Employees' Health, Finances and More
Employers spend a lot of time contemplating which benefits to add to their plans. When those offerings are then utilized and go on to improve an employee’s life, the effort is more than worth it.
As employees continue to demand support around their health and well-being, it’s critical organizations offer a wide variety of benefits to fit those individualized needs. Fortunately, as new benefit solutions enter the market, there are plenty of options available — be it around health, financial wellness, mental well-being and more.
Access to the right healthcare can be lifesaving, and it’s something that drives Ellen Rudolph, the CEO of WellTheory, to disrupt the traditional approach to autoimmune disorder support. Her own years-long effort to receive the proper diagnosis for her chronic disease eventually led her to start her platform, which provides assessments and access to specialists for autoimmune disorders. While Rudolph did finally receive her own diagnosis of Lyme disease, she’s determined to ease that process for other employees in the future.
“We have patients that maybe have been diagnosed for over 10 years, but they still haven’t been able to find treatments or solutions that work. What we’re trying to do is create a more compassionate type of care,” Rudolph says. “I was able to reclaim my health. But afterwards, I learned the unfortunate reality that my story is actually not unique at all.”
Financial health also plays an important role in an employee’s experience with their organization. For Jon Lowe, CPO of DailyPay, a platform that provides earned wage access as an employee benefit, his decades-long career in HR has shown him just how powerful — and necessary — the right financial support can be. “The way people get through a month is not solely driven off a singular source; it’s now a byproduct of multiple sources that are highly variable,” Lowe says. “Being able to provide a degree of transparency around the finances people have at their disposal so they can be thoughtful and efficient in the way they deploy them is really exciting.”
Often, mental health disorders are treated as a taboo topic in the workplace, but they are starting to enter the benefits conversation. For the millions of employees managing obsessive-compulsive disorder, the right mental health care can help them manage their symptoms and productively and positively engage with their work. Several employees shared how their OCD diagnoses have impacted their careers, and why therapy, flexible scheduling and compassionate management have helped them excel.
For caregivers, a combination of financial and mental support can help them navigate a very challenging situation. Depending on the type of company and range of needs, common approaches to supporting caregivers might include counseling programs, in-home care benefits, paid leave benefits, improved childcare support and a comprehensive family caregiving solution.
Personalized assistance helps employees save precious time and energy, as well as prioritize their own well-being so that they don’t need to leave the workforce or face further financial and mental distress. Employee caregivers play a vital role in today’s workforce, even as they balance professional responsibilities with the demands of caring for loved ones. Recognizing and supporting these individuals and their families can significantly improve company culture.
“I didn’t know I had OCD until much later, but thankfully I’ve done cognitive behavioral therapy, and that has helped me a lot,” says Paul Silva, who was diagnosed with OCD four years ago and has utilized a variety of employee benefits. “[Support from employers] is crucial. It’s hard for people who don’t have this to understand that. If more people talk about this, it means it is going to help educate everybody.”
Contact CMR Risk & Insurance Services, Inc. for more employee benefits resources and guidance.
Article Published By: benefitnews.com
Article Written By: Alyssa Place
