Healthcare

Employee mental health is a workplace crisis, with frontline workers struggling with increased anxiety and depression during the coronavirus pandemic.

An early look at the impact from the economic shutdown was not as bad as feared, while industry insiders see opportunities for advisers and sponsors to talk up the value of retirement and emergency savings.

Employers are in a unique position to address employees' financial struggles, as benefits programs are a powerful tool that can help support employees in meeting their current and future financial needs.

“Employees really want to feel if they are going back to the office that they will be safe,” Sequoia CEO Greg Golub says.

“We read this as an occasion to really integrate women's health with children's health, and that the combination of that integrated support is what makes happier and more successful working parents,” says Erik Lumer, chief product officer at Maven.

A benefit start-up unveils a new platform that consolidates maternity and parental benefits into one.

Switzerland’s second-largest bank is recommending higher ranking employees purchase two additional weeks of vacation this year, according to a Credit Suisse spokesman.

In order to maximize the plans fiduciary responsibilities, a contract with appropriate terms and definitions must be in place to allow the plan to exercise their right to carve-out prior authorization.

Around 63% of workers say their company could do more to support their emotional and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Within this group, 22% said their company’s response was “barely adequate,” “a disaster” or “non-existent.”

“As that complexity has grown, it was important for us to make sure that we continue to invest in capabilities that are going to be the necessities that employers are looking for,” says Voya executive Lou Strippy.