Here at Benz Communications, we spend our days advocating for more and better benefits communication. That’s why we always get excited when we see companies putting this into practice. This is why I was thrilled to say “yes,” when benefits giant Ameritas asked me to participate in a series of thought leadership videos for its employer clients.
Ameritas offers insurance, employee benefits, and financial products and services to individuals as well as employers, and the company shares our belief that benefits pave the way to happy, healthy, and financially secure people.
In the first video, I talked about benefits trends, touching on how employers can be a positive influence on employees, and how we’re seeing a shift to consumerism and higher-touch benefits programs.
There is tremendous energy in the HR space right now and in employee benefits to help create that more idealistic workplace, where people really can bring their best selves to work. Many employers are embracing the responsibility and the opportunity to help their employees be successful—not just while they’re at that company but for their lifetime. Employers are in a better position than anybody else to create the environment that is going to help individuals be happy, healthy, and financially secure for their entire lives.
And as we tell all of our clients, happy and healthy employees are also more productive, so it’s to the employer’s advantage to foster an environment in which employees can thrive, and to offer benefits that help them do so. I made this point in the second video, when I spoke about effectively communicating the value of employee benefits.
There’s an incredible connection between benefits and productivity, but it’s one that most organizations don’t necessarily measure. When you have employees who feel better, are healthier, and are less distracted by financial stress, they can show up and do their jobs better. And that’s a key business driver for organizations.
In fact, company CFOs view investments in employee health as a strategic business decision, and 53% of them say they would be able to make better decisions about benefits if health-related improvements in job performance were linked to business metrics, according to findings from the Integrated Benefits Institute’s 2015 CFO survey.
But very few organizations take that extra effort to connect benefits to the business outcomes in terms of productivity. To learn why they should, download our white paper, The Business Case for Employee Well-Being Programs. And let us know how we can help.