Employers show focus on workplace future

February’s top 5 opinion pieces: Employers show focus on workplace future

February 23, 2021 1:32 PM

Two months into 2021, it’s clear employers have one goal in common: improving the mental and physical well-being of their employees.

Employee mental health is showing improvement; employees reported a 30% decline in depression and a 25% decrease in instances of PTSD, according to the January Mental Health Index by Total Brain. But employers want to avoid returning to quarantine burnout levels, and are looking for tools and solutions to help maintain productivity.

In February, nearly 5,000 readers turned to our Views articles for advice from industry experts on how mental health and healthcare benefits can be improved to support employees during this new normal. Scroll through to read more:

4 workplace policies to reevaluate this year

As spring approaches and our thoughts turn to fresh beginnings, it’s useful to consider how turbulent our lives have been from a social and business perspective.

This is a good time to review and update your employee handbook and its related policies. In all likelihood, the pandemic has significantly altered the way your business operates. As a result, policies and procedures should be updated to reflect the new reality.

With many employers adopting remote working arrangements as a result of COVID-19, it is easy to run the risk of not having contact with colleagues for a prolonged period of time. Maintaining your workplace culture is essential to upholding its guiding principles. Reinforcing your workplace culture and guiding principles is essential. With or without a pandemic, we all need to take time to reflect upon who we are and why we do what we do.

The top disruptive benefit trends to watch in 2021

The insurance carrier-led status quo in employee benefits has produced an abysmal record of failure, with two decades of annual increases in healthcare costs causing annual increases in insurance premiums. But two big trends are disrupting both the benefits industry and healthcare — and it’s about time.

Innovative advisers are driving two disruptive benefits trends that both improve the quality of care and reduce year-over-year healthcare costs — by as much as 10-15% in the first plan year alone. With these next-generation plans, by year five many employers are paying as much as 40% less than with their status quo plan. Moreover, employees in these plans often pay zero out of pocket for their healthcare, with no deductible or co-insurance.

4 best practices for supporting your remote team

2021 marks the beginning of a new year and the end of a year that brought many trials and tribulations. Companies battled business shutdowns, workforce reductions and adapted to a new work-from-home lifestyle that we all thought would last two weeks. Employee burnout was more prevalent than ever and brought new challenges that came with remote work.

Almost a full year after the world changed in the blink of an eye, we’re still figuring out how to navigate this “new normal,” not knowing when we’ll all be able to gather in conference rooms and ditch the video calls that have all of us fatigued. While there have been many advancements made towards ending the pandemic, morale should remain a top priority for HR professionals and team leaders alike.

EAPs have never been more important to employees

There is a reason why most employers have an EAP and the data proves it again. EAPs have never been more relevant than they are today because employees and their families need mental health and work-life assistance. Most EAPs report that the volume of calls from employees requesting help has increased and that the nature of the calls is more severe. If your EAP is not being promoted enough to be highly visible, employees with complicated COVID-related issues could remain underserved.

One thing we know for sure is that full service EAPs have proven their value. The 2020 Annual Report for the Workplace Outcome Suite (WOS) measured the effectiveness of EAP counseling. The report found significant improvements in all five measures of work presenteeism, work engagement, workplace distress, work absenteeism and overall life satisfaction.

The crisis affecting employees that they're too afraid to speak up about

It’s estimated that more than 41.8 million Americans are unpaid caregivers for another adult, according to a recently released AARP report. There are 8 million more caregivers today compared to five years prior. The COVID-19 pandemic has made caregiving for an ageing reality a new reality for even more Americans. After being isolated within long-term care facilities and unable to see family members due to safety precautions, older Americans are embracing another option — aging in place, often bringing along more responsibility to their adult children. For many families, this means that family homes are once again multi-generation, putting even more strain on caregivers who are now balancing caring for their kids and their parents.