Employers looking to reset the clock and go back to pre-COVID norms should prepare for a rude awakening when their employees
“If we just go ahead and say, let’s reset and go back to a pre-pandemic state of play, we’ve failed,” says
To avoid losing a valuable sector of their workforce, employers need to start connecting the dots, Sacchetti says. The benefits that employers put in place need to cover every aspect of the working parent experience in order to fully support them now and as they navigate post-COVID norms.
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Sacchetti recently sat down with Employee Benefit News to explain how to make those connections with platforms like Cleo and why she’s optimistic about the future for working parents.
What are some of the things employers might be overlooking when they're saying to working parents, we want you back in the office, we want things to get back to normal.
I feel like there's a new study every week about this looming attrition workplaces can expect to face if they don't adapt to the
If you're not thinking about how to address their bespoke unique needs, especially coming out of such a dark tunnel that was the pandemic, I think you're going to lose them. And working parents are a precious part of your workforce, not just culturally, but oftentimes at that management level. So how do you meet them where they are and give them more tools and more support?
What are benefit programs missing when it comes to addressing the needs of working parents?
There’s been a huge separation that many forward-thinking employers and health plans are starting to connect to, which is that oftentimes the main caregiver in the home is the entry point to household health and career health. At Cleo, we’ll see a member come to us with a childcare issue and it leads to a
It's a really interesting time and I think COVID broke so many of our norms, but it also hopefully broke the barriers for how some of the more siloed parts of HR and benefits are working together. Often, HR manages these silos separately: workforce productivity, retention and recruiting through one arm and healthcare spend and total benefits through another. Companies like Cleo are very much built for today's parents' needs, versus more traditional benefits, like an EAP, that just doesn’t cover or reach out to employees in the ways that they need today.
How is Cleo providing these more integrative benefit offerings to meet parents where they’re at now?
For today’s working parents, an EAP is a backup. There’s no longer a primary caretaker at home that can navigate so many of the ups and downs of the healthcare system, or the child care system and beyond. EAPs put all of these programs on a shelf and employees have to find them. With Cleo, it’s relationship based and proactive — every member gets a Cleo guide who reaches out to you in a more personalized, technology-forward way. On any given day, you can get a tip that's personalized to your journey as a parent, whether you're on a fertility journey, whether you have a neurodiverse child, whether you're expecting.
Family benefits are having a really exciting moment. The amount of companies launching every day speaks to both the needs of this unique and growing audience of our workforce, which are families and caregivers. When you see a great deal of competition it means that there's a true need. More innovation and more competition means better designed products. If there's this much innovation today, I think it's a really great sign for progress.
