Best of the week: The top trends and news from the benefits space

January 15, 2021 11:27 AM

Employees want more from their workplace — especially during a pandemic. Glassdoor rounded up their top 100 employers, celebrating those who boosted perks and benefits that have helped employees through this crisis. But even the best workplaces are struggling to maintain positive communications: a recent survey by Paychex found that more than half of managers believe their relationship with their employees has worsened during COVID-19.

Employee Benefit News has also extended the deadline to nominate a Rising Star until Friday, February 5. EBN’s annual Rising Star Awards has a new look this year to include candidates from the HR benefits space.

See more of our top stories below:

Glassdoor names its top places to work for 2021

Employees want more than just a paycheck and health insurance. They are expecting employers to offer benefits that provide mental health resources, financial wellness and even support through their parental journey — from fertility to child care.

Through the pandemic many employers stepped up to offer employees expanded benefits and perks to help them get through the crisis. With this in mind, Glassdoor, a provider of resources with insights about jobs and companies, has announced its annual Best Places to Work awards for 2021. The winners are based on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback by completing a company review about their job, work environment and employer over the past year.

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Glassdoor names its top places to work for 2021

Relationships between managers and employees are tense — COVID is to blame

Managers and employees have had to forge new relationships and ways of communicating remotely during the coronavirus pandemic. But these changes have left many employees wanting more from their workplace leadership.

A new survey by payroll services company Paychex found that 20% of employees and 54% of managers think their relationships have worsened since the start of the pandemic. One-third of employees communicate with their manager less than when they were working in-person.

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Relationships between managers and employees are tense — COVID is to blame

Chipotle plans to recruit 15,000 new employees in one day

Chipotle Mexican Grill doesn’t want a global pandemic to stop them from hiring the best talent — so they’re hosting an event where they can recruit thousands in a single day.

The restaurant chain plans to host its first “Coast-to-Coast Career Day” in hopes of staffing their U.S. locations with 15,000 more employees. The company says it prides itself on providing advancement opportunities for its workforce. Despite the pandemic, Chipotle promoted 11,000 employees in 2020. More than 70% of the company’s general managers resulted from internal promotions, a Chipotle spokesperson says.

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Chipotle plans to recruit 15,000 new employees in one day

Benefit program offers virtual child care for parents in a bind

Working parents have been dealt a difficult hand during the coronavirus pandemic: Tasked with balancing work, home and child care responsibilities, many are buckling from the pressure. Since the start of the pandemic, working parents have lost a cumulative 720 million hours of work productivity per week, due to the stress and anxiety associated with caregiving, according to a study by family benefits platform Cleo.

Employers have a crisis on their hands that needs to be addressed with accessible and flexible child care benefits. Flexable, provides on-demand virtual child care. Parents can log into the platform and book 30-60 minute blocks of time for their children to be engaged with a virtual host. The hosts play games, perform magic tricks and provide other inventive and creative ways to entertain children so parents can work without distractions.

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Benefit program offers virtual child care for parents in a bind

Revamped Rising Stars to honor new class of leaders in HR and benefits advising

Employee Benefit News and Employee Benefit Adviser has extended the deadline to submit a nominee for our revamped Rising Star Awards. This year, the award will highlight the best young talent in the human resources space and best young benefits advisers addressing the challenges of a new era of work.

If you would like to nominate a Rising Star please fill out this online form by Friday, Fed. 5, 2021.

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Deadline Extended! Revamped Rising Stars to honor new class of leaders in HR and benefits advising