ASHHRA Health and Wellness Pulse
March 2017
 
Benefits
Strategy
How are you recognizing Health Care HR Week? Share your ideas with us at ashhra@aha.org or tag @ASHHRA on Facebook or Twitter with #hchrweek. Click here for ideas and resources.
 
Employee Benefit News
The Family and Medical Leave Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act have been around for decades, but today’s employers continue to struggle with managing employee leave. That’s why, in response to overlapping state and federal laws and expanded mandates for disability leave coverage, more employers are outsourcing their paid leave plans by a rate of double digits in the last two years. 
 
Benefit Trends
Harvard Business Review
In today’s hiring market, a generous benefits package is essential for attracting and retaining top talent. According to Glassdoor’s 2015 Employment Confidence Survey, about 60 percent of people report that benefits and perks are a major factor in considering whether to accept a job offer. The survey also found that 80 percent of employees would choose additional benefits over a pay raise.
 
HR Morning
Student loan repayment benefits have become an increasingly popular tool for recruiting and retention in recent years and, if this bill passes, that trend is only likely to continue. The bipartisan bill, The Employer Participation in Student Loan Assistance Act (H.R. 795), which was introduced by Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) and has an impressive 23 co-sponsors, would alter Section 127 of the Internal Revenue Code.
 
Financial
World At Work
TR statements highlight all the rewards an employer provides.  Many employees think rather one-dimensionally about rewards in terms of their base pay only, forgetting that there are many elements in addition to base pay that have significant benefit to employees and are provided at significant cost to the employer.  But before you hit the "send" button on your statements, always ask yourself this question: 'Have we recently given employees bad news regarding one or more elements of their rewards package?" 
 
UPMC  Health Plan
Retirement
HR Dive
In a poll of 1,002 401k plan participants with at least $5,000 saved, 56 percent said they were on track with their retirement goals, up from 52 percent a year ago. The poll, conducted by financial managing firm BlackRock, also found that 70 percent think they can save enough for retirement. However, the poll suggests that 401k plan participants are overly confident about stock rates of return.
 
Employee Benefit News
The loss of employee personal information due to a cyber breach is an ever-increasing concern to all employers. After years of work to put into place protocols to comply with HIPAA’s requirements on protected health information, the focus of plan sponsors and service providers now is broadening to include protection of employee information maintained in connection with other types of benefit plans, including retirement plans.
 
Culture of Health
Workplace Wellness
Forbes
It’s easy to feel like the term "employee wellness" is a buzzword. A lot of businesses vaguely reference it when attempting to position their companies as being employee-centric. However, there’s nothing vague or shallow about employee wellness. As successful businesses know, wellness is often the key to inspiring performance in the workplace. That begs the question, how do you build a wellness culture that inspires performance?
 
HR Daily Advisor
Workers are getting older, sleepier, and increasingly worried about their finances while they rely on mindfulness and emerging technology to help them achieve their desired health. This is the state of wellness according to the 2017 Humana Wellness Trends Report. The report guides and counsels employers on the five most relevant current and emerging wellness-related challenges at the top of employees’ minds this year, while offering ways to make wellness programs more inclusive and holistic.
 
Mental Health
Workforce
While most employers and employees would agree that stress in the workplace is a persistent problem, they often differ dramatically on the causes — a disconnect that can undermine the success of any mental wellness program. In a recent survey of workplace health and productivity, employers identified big-picture challenges like technology and organizational change as top stressors, while employees were focused on more immediate and personal concerns like low pay, unclear job expectations and company culture. 
 
Corporate Wellness
The workplace needs a counterbalance. Now, be careful not to confuse that with balance, "an even distribution of weight." We’re talking about counterbalance "a weight that balances another weight" — not unlike the relationship between stress and wellness in the workplace. 
 
Population Health
HealthLeaders Media
Armed with improved demographics data, the nation's safety net providers are poised to take population health initiatives beyond the hospital walls to help patients overcome economic and social barriers to health.
 
Wellness Trends
Workforce
Workplace wellness initiatives continue making headway into employee perks with one important goal: influencing behavior change and improving employee health. A step competition may aim to motivate employees to adopt a more active lifestyle while a weight-loss program could push employees to be more conscientious of their diet. But when it comes to influencing long-term behavior, the popular carrot-and-stick model, which relies on extrinsic motivation like rewards and punishment to influence people, isn’t necessarily the most effective.
 
BenefitsPro
A new report claims health coaching is a good way for employers to get a good bang for their buck when designing wellness programs. HealthFitness, a firm which sets up wellness programs for employers, says although only 30 percent of employees typically sign up for health coaching when it’s offered, these workers provide 70 percent of the cost-savings employers achieve by implementing a wellness program.
 
 

 

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