How to improve your health and wellness benefits this fall

With kids back at school and workplaces calling people back to the office, it's time to revisit the habits and benefits that best support employees with their health. 

Many of our recently announced Excellence in Benefits award winners are prioritizing these efforts with programs and platforms that prioritize health and well-being, while working to reduce expensive healthcare costs. Canva's global head of people Jennie Rogerson has ramped up the company's PTO policies to give employees more time to tend to their mental and physical health — the company boasts 18 weeks of parental leave, eight weeks of PTO for gender-affirming care and five additional days for employees to use at their discretion. 

"We recognize that team members may be going through times they can't easily talk about, and we want to support them," says Rogerson. "We saw the biggest impact we could make was to let people take time away without needing to explain why."

Read about how Canva's PTO supports health and well-being for all workers: Canva's Jennie Rogerson is raising the bar for employee wellness

Getting employees to feel comfortable taking their PTO is especially important as cold and flu season approaches, yet 90% of employees have still worked while sick in the past year, according to BambooHR. But taking the stress out of sick leave can lead to more productive employees and better health outcomes for all. 

Read these tips for ensuring that employees know their health comes first: Sick of being sick: Employer tips for dealing with illness in the office

If employees do get sick, a visit to a healthcare professional is an often necessary step, but nurses and other medical professionals are struggling with overwork and unsafe conditions that can impact their own health and well-being, too. Nationwide, nurses' unions are asking employers to provide safer working conditions for themselves and their patients — and they are not backing down. The demands are the same for nurses everywhere: lower patient-to-staff ratios so nurses can better care for their patients and produce better health outcomes. 

"Nursing is a calling — we're all in this profession because we want to take care of people," says Taylor Warner, a pediatric registered nurse at Rochester General Hospital and a member of the Rochester Union of Nurses. "I've cried so many times in my car in the parking garage because I just felt so bad that I'm physically unable to do everything I possibly can for that patient."

Read more about why nurses are striking, and why better pay and working conditions can benefit everyone: Union strikes from California to New York: Why nurses are demanding better pay and safer work conditions

For some tech innovators, revamping the entire healthcare system is a lofty goal, but one  they're determined to achieve in order to create a better system that supports patients and reduces healthcare costs. Sach Jain, founder of Carrum Health and one of this year's Excellence in Benefits award winners, has introduced a bundled service model to ensure that patients understand the costs and coverage of their entire treatment. 

"The goal of the company is to make world class healthcare accessible to everyone at the most affordable prices," says Jain. "We want to achieve lower cost, better quality outcomes, and a better experience."

Read more on this new way to pay for healthcare: Carrum Health's Sach Jain wants you to pay less for healthcare