ASHHRA Health and Wellness Pulse
August 2016
 
Purchasing Power, LLC
Benefits
Strategy
Matt Straz, Entrepreneur HR professionals are the glue that holds a company together, but the term "human resources" doesn’t necessarily scream excitement to the everyday person. In fact, to some it feels outdated. But the thing is: HR has never been more strategic, and that’s why more and more employers lately have been shifting away from the traditional "HR" label and to the more exciting one of ... "people operations."
 
Benefit Trends
Oliver Staley, Quartz Recent graduates are stressed out about student debt. Companies are aggressively competing for top talent. Those two forces are producing a new workplace benefit designed for millennials: student loan assistance.
 
Financial
Craig Guillot, Chief Executive While politicians and analysts continue to debate the unemployment rate, many CEOs report that wages are already on the rise. And whether due to market demands and economic forces or to local lifts in the minimum wage, rising pay is starting to take a bigger bite out of profits.
 
Workplace Programs & Perks
Jeff Reid, Fortune Perks are not your basic benefits, like health insurance or retirement accounts. Perks are the "above and beyond" ways that employers can differentiate themselves — from flexible work arrangements to casual dress codes to the stereotypical Ping-Pong tables in the break room. These perks, however small or large, are important for two main reasons.
 
Travis Bradberry, Inc. Tracking vacation days is an archaic method of managing productivity. Learn how innovative companies are boosting their bottom lines by giving everyone unlimited time off.
 
Retirement
Paula Aven Gladych, Employee Benefit News Retirement plan sponsors are beginning to understand why helping employees get ready for retirement is so important. In its Retirement Plan Governance Survey, consulting firm Willis Towers Watson found that employers are increasingly concerned for their employees’ financial well-being and are planning to take action to help them retire in a timely manner.
 
Associated Press Employees of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University and Yale University are suing the schools over their handling of employee retirement plans, alleging too-high fees have undercut their savings. The three lawsuits, one against each college, say the schools did not live up to their obligations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. That law requires them to act in the best interest of participants and plan beneficiaries.
 
Culture of Health
Workplace Wellness
Patti Neighmond, NPR Morning Edition Stress has long been shown to increase the risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and a number of mental health problems. A recent poll finds that a substantial number of working adults say stress is a critical health issue they face at work. So what are employers doing about it? About half (51 percent) of those polled said their workplace has a formal wellness or health improvement program.
 
Work-Life Integration
Associated Press The call for paid family leave on the Democratic party platform is the most ambitious attempt by a major party in years to reverse the United States' status as the only industrialized nation without any standard for paid time off for new parents. But over the last five years, a handful of states and some industries have been quietly increasing this benefit.
 
David Burkus, Harvard Business Review Many executives and employees strive for (and struggle with) work-life balance. To try to control that stress, many of us try to impose better boundaries on our selves and our time. But new research suggests that maintaining strict distinctions between work roles and home roles might actually be what is causing our feelings of stress to set in.
 
Mental Health
Robert H. Frank, New York Times Social scientists have been trying to identify the conditions most likely to promote satisfying human lives. Their findings give some important clues about choosing a career: Money matters, but as the economist Richard Easterlin and others have demonstrated, not always in the ways you may think.
 
Population Health
Katie Dvorak, FierceHealthcare The use of predictive modeling paired with cluster analytics on patient-reported data has the power to pinpoint populations that may need specialty services prior to care delivery, according to a new report published in eGEMs (Generating Evidence & Methods to improve patient outcomes).
 
Hub International Limited
Wellness Trends
Laura Lorenzetti, Fortune Companies are building offices that aren’t just better for the environment but their workers too. When McKesson decided to revamp its headquarters, it knew it was time for a radical change. The drug distribution giant also knew it needed a workplace that was not only inspiring but reflected its primary mission: Making people healthier.
 

 

Take a lunch break with us and join fellow human resources and organizational development professionals in this lively monthly chat about the hottest topics in the field! Sponsored by the Learning & Education Committee of ASHHRA, we meet online the first Thursday of every month from 12:30-1:30 p.m. CT.
 
With the CHHR behind your name, it shows you to be a professional of the highest caliber: One who truly knows the field and is savvy to current best practices in benefits and wellness. ASHHRA members who qualify and apply for a CHHR Scholarship will receive a voucher for the full CHHR exam fee (a $295 value)!

Congratulations to the following who have attained their CHHR in 2016 – you too could be on this list!:
 
Heather Creeden, Acworth, Ga.
Karen Littlefield, Belfast, Maine
Dana Brandt, New Braunfels, Texas
Christopher Westbrook, Augusta, Ga.
Tracy Braman, Saint Joseph, Mich.
Alex Hayman, New Braunfels, Texas
Dawn Rose, Chicago, Ill.
Nicole Schell, Alexandria, Minn.
Tara Kleas, Fort Worth, Texas
Lotus Yon, Northbrook, Ill.
Karen Littlefield, Belfast, Maine
Kim Rainer, New Braunfels, Texas
Richard Pea, Freelandville, Ind.
Lisa Halley, Gallipolis, Ohio
Sabrina Thweatt, Boerne, Texas
Elizabeth Bennoch, Norway, Maine
Chris Wilkes, Maryville, Tenn.
Holly Winn, Black River Falls, Wis.

 
 

 

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