Dr. Miles Varn

Employers should be making an ongoing information gathering effort to make sure that as employees’ needs change, their benefit options continue to meet those needs.

When chronic conditions are not optimally managed, they can lead to more severe health issues like heart attack, stroke and organ failure.

As employers build a toolkit to help employees make more informed medical decisions, it’s important that they ensure that these tools are easy for employees to access and use.

Making second opinions available can increase employee engagement, helping them to feel more informed and empowered about making medical decisions, and lower healthcare costs.

The 2021 Pulse of HR Report found that 98% of HR leaders said the pandemic has transformed their role and 70% said that this past year has been one of the most stressful of their careers.

For some employees, nothing their employer does will convince them to remain in their current job.

Even before demand for mental health services ratcheted up during the pandemic, it was often difficult for employees to access the care they needed.

Adding an array of wellness benefits to your offerings can help change the behaviors that increase the risk of health problems developing and encourage employees to take ownership of their health.

Making it easy and rewarding for remote employees to take part in wellness programs builds a sense of belonging and can also have a positive impact on the employees’ physical and mental health and well-being.

It's even more difficult for an employer to know when employees are facing difficult health problems and connect them with the benefits and resources that can help them.