What an action-packed year 2015 has been! Constant news and developments have kept benefits pros working overtime.
This is a roundup of some of the articles you may have missed—or meant to come back to at some point during the year. Coverage includes our blog, industry press, and articles we were thrilled to pen for publications like Forbes and HR Executive.
While this is just a sampling from 2015, we hope these articles are helpful resources as you reflect on your successes of the past year and look forward to what's ahead in 2016.
Highly valued benefit. What if you could get your hands on first-hand data from 2,000 employees about their perceptions and preferences around health and wellness benefits? That’s exactly what we did with Quantum Workplace, an organization that leads the annual Best Places to Work program. Our series on LinkedIn covered the findings related to costs, employee loyalty, wellness, and communication and trust.
That led to coverage by Health Populi (one of our favorite blogs!), which noted that, while employees want health benefits, they don’t necessarily want to talk costs. And Healthcare Dive asked if employee health enrollees even care about cost?
For Forbes, we highlighted the data and recommended ways to use health benefits to strengthen employee engagement.
Personalized communication. Large employers are sitting on a mountain of data about what employees need, want, and use. Yet, few companies effectively harness that data with an eye toward better communication. That fueled our post on personalized benefits communication —a topic that continues to gain traction in the industry.
Behind Buzzfeed. Who doesn’t love Buzzfeed? The publisher of highly shareable content shared its secrets at SXSW. We were there to help share them with you in All about that buzz: 7 lessons from Buzzfeed on making benefits messages go viral.
Boosting literacy and engagement. Most Americans still don’t understand even basic health insurance terms, like coinsurance, deductible, copay, and out-of-pocket maximum. To help change those stats, we wrote 7 tips to boost employees’ literacy and engagement in health care for HR.BLR.com.
Inspiring true change. We know there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for improving health. Our blog on implementing strategies to change behavior acknowledges that wearable technology may be one part of the strategy, but true change requires a multi-faceted approach that combines technology, psychology, and program design.
Regulating wellness. Should the government regulate our workplace wellness? We debate this question in a blog post for Virgin Disruptors, and there’s no simple answer to such a complex question. What is certain: “Employees with access to a company wellness program are four times more likely to be inspired toward healthy choices.”
A case for well-being. Back in June, it was National Employee Wellbeing Month, and we couldn’t have been happier. You see, we’re wild about well-being because data illustrate the effects of poor health and well-being on employers. Not convinced? Read on for the 5 key stats to solidify the case for well-being.
Perhaps the industry’s biggest “new” topic this year. More and more Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, with many having little to no retirement savings. This has prompted tremendous industry interest. We were delighted to partner with State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) to create the financial wellness framework. We brought a large group of employers together to discuss the topic. Benefits Pro covered the event with its article, 6 tips from a financial wellness “hackathon.” HR Executive covered the technological angle (specifically software vendors) of financial wellness. And PlanSponsor noted that retirement plans may be adding financial wellness programs due to an increased interest in retirement readiness.
Our latest article around financial wellness is for HR Executive. We share our tips and best practices for defining a financial wellness strategy to keep employees productive and moving forward.
Along similar lines, the ERISA Advisory Council tackled the topic of how to encourage lifetime 401(k) participation. You can read the three lessons learned from that testimony.