How Bank of America helps employees handle life's biggest events

• Key insight: Learn about Bank of America's strategy for supporting employees during major life events.
• Expert quote: "There are always going to be moments in your life where you need help, and we want to be here." — Sarah Firquin, SVP, head of Life Event Services, Bank of America
• Supporting data: 49,000 cases handled by the specialized employee support team last year.
  Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review.

From the birth of a child to a serious diagnosis to the death of a loved one, employees are bound to experience major life events that require support. For those at Bank of America, an internal team of expert consultants is waiting to help.  

BofA's Life Event Services team is made up of more than 140 specialized consultants who can be contacted 24 hours a day year round during "the moments that matter in an employee's life cycle," said Sarah Firquin, SVP, head of Life Event Services. They come from a wide variety of backgrounds, she explained, from social work to law enforcement to HR, and offer confidential one-on-one assistance with everything from resources to benefits navigation. 

Employees can seek guidance for a diversity of events, such as a new child, a death, a new diagnosis, retirement navigation, military relocation and networking, medical accommodations, domestic violence, natural disaster help, and more. Since its inception in 2014, the team has handled nearly 735,000 cases — 49,000 last year alone.  

"The bank has always had really great benefits, but … sometimes people become paralyzed because they know that there are benefits out there, they just don't know how to engage with them," Firquin said. "My team can start to unpack and listen and understand, and then try to help put the pieces of the puzzle together." 

If something happens to an employee, Life Event Services "provides wraparound services to the team and the manager to ensure [they have access to] grief counseling, on-site or virtual support — whatever is needed from that end," as well as the employee's family, Firquin explained.

"Not only are we here to unburden the employee, we're also here to unburden the manager with a lot of these things as well, because we take that on and say we're the expert, and we're going to help you, too."

Read more:  Q&A: BMO's Melissa Dal Vecchio outlines 3 key benefit trends

Training a strong support team

To equip the Life Event Services team to provide the best support, their preparation and well-being is a top priority, Firquin said, starting with "a very robust onboarding program."  

"We do a lot of side-by-side shadowing to ensure that everybody feels confident, because this job is tough," she said. "You're hearing a lot of things that are happening to folks in their lives. So not only do we provide onboarding, but we also provide support for the team members too, because what they might hear on any given day could be triggering to them, and we want to make sure they feel supported."

Part of the reason employees trust the team is how they are trained to meet people where they are, Firquin continued. 

"Not everybody is ready to take certain steps, and we acknowledge that," she said. "A lot of people want to give advice; this team is trained not to do that, [but instead ask,] 'What are you going through? What do you need from us? How can we help you? Would you be open to this?' Or, 'Here are some thoughts that I have.' We're also not your manager or even your HR partner. We have no impact over your performance or your promotion or your ability to take time off. We're this corner of the world that feels safe to people. We don't pass any kind of judgment, and we don't tell you what to do. We're here to come alongside you and say, 'Here are some options,' but ultimately it's the employee's decision."

Read more:  3 ways women are still struggling in the workplace, and what benefits could help

How caring drives business

The value of a strong internal focus on employee support is appreciated and spoken about from the top down, Firquin said, including "our CEO, [who] talks about this team [in meetings] almost every quarter." 

Showing up for employees is the right to do, she noted, and in many cases, it gives people the ability to keep showing up for the company.  

"Our senior leaders feel very deeply that it is important for employees to bring their whole selves to work and feel supported. [When this happens,] they're going to do a good job for us," she said. "There are always going to be moments in your life where you need help, and we want to be here because if we can do that, we know you're going to be able to perform and contribute. You're going to be able to collaborate in the work environment because we're able to assist with these things that are happening behind the scenes."