Dear ASHHRA Members:

I hope you are doing great and feel enthused that spring is just around the corner. I realize this winter has been hard for all of us, but hopefully you are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Be sure that you are taking time for yourself to get some exercise and mental relaxation. This edition of the Benefits and Wellness Bulletin (BWB) should help you explore new ideas in benefits offerings and wellness initiatives. 

Enjoy,

Senior Executive Director – Professional Services

American Hospital Association

312-422-3723

One of the only ways today’s healthcare workers have to save for retirement is through their employer-sponsored retirement plan, like a 403(b) or 401(k) account. Healthcare organizations can increase the overall effectiveness of these plans and drive better retirement outcomes for plan participants by understanding the unique savings behaviors of their workforce. Tailoring retirement plan offerings like retirement communication and plan design may increase the likelihood that employees will participate in their plan and save enough to take them to and through their retirement years.  

When young Beatles fans first heard "When I’m 64," the lyric, "Will you still need me, will you still feed me?" was only a cute rhyme. Now, replaying their memories of the Fab Four’s U.S. invasion 50 years ago, aging baby boomers may find the questions more relevant.

In 2013, the crucial parts of health care reform became a reality after months of debate and discussion, employers across the country revamped plans while consumers attempted to make sense of the complex and confusing new landscape. As we begin the New Year, educating employees about new benefit programs through innovative, digital communication will be absolutely crucial.

It’s becoming one of the more common cost-control measures employers have at their disposal regarding health care: dropping spouses from their plan if those spouses are offered coverage through their own employer. But new research suggests there are several unintended consequences of this move many firms aren’t aware of.

Good or bad, the ACA provides employers with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to examine the role of benefits in attracting and keeping the employees. 

Employees with ready access to mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets, prefer accessing employee benefit and pay information using mobile apps rather than using their desktops and laptop computers, an ADP Research Institute Study shows.

Industry onlookers are saying that the voluntary exemption in the Affordable Care Act will do little to improve dental health across the nation as projections point to federal and health exchanges doing little to lower costs for Americans. However, can private dental exchanges and savings plans help to fill this void?

A recent Gallup report found a majority of America's workers – 70 percent – are not engaged in their work. This is bad news for any industry, since, according to Gallup, companies have higher productivity and profitability, less employee turnover, and fewer safety incidents when their employees are engaged.

The short-term motivators and health advice typical of wellness programs provide general benefits across an employee population, but people needing sustained weight loss require concentrated behavior change assistance specific to their condition.

When it comes to wellness, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey found employees’ interests and needs are as diverse as the employees themselves. 

Sixty-nine percent of health care workers feel stressed in their job, and 17 percent are "highly stressed," according to a survey from CareerBuilder and MiracleWorkers.com.

Workplace wellness programs have sprouted up with a vengeance in the last decade or so. The term includes everything from work-sponsored biometric screenings, to anti-smoking programs, to health coaching and, yes, even Zumba classes.

Does your wellness program consist of dangling carrots alone? If so, then let me weigh in. As you might know, social media is abuzz with criticisms that the latest winner of NBC’s "The Biggest Loser" went overboard with her weight loss. She went from 260 pounds to 105, losing almost 60 percent of her body weight by eating 1,600 calories a day and working out "a ton."

Knowing employees spend more than 2,000 hours annually at work, many organizations have realized it makes good business sense to keep them healthy.

With e-cigarettes suddenly in the news after recent bans by Chicago and New York City and the controversy over their use at the Golden Globe awards, employers may have questions about the use of e-cigarettes in their workplace and what changes to smoking policies and procedures they should have in place.

When O’Neal Industries launched a comprehensive wellness initiative in 2011, measuring the program’s success was a critical goal. But O’Neal executives wanted to know more than just participation rates and claims data – the most obvious markers of a successful wellness effort. They wanted to understand the link between smoking and workplace injuries, and the connection between arthritis and absenteeism, among other measures. In other words, they wanted to know exactly how health care costs were affecting their bottom line.

In their quest to find what motivates employees to eat right, exercise, quit smoking, or take a greater interest in their health benefits, employers are experimenting with wellness apps, personal tracking gadgets, workforce health challenges, and other ways to encourage behavior change. But one organization figured it out decades ago in what could be the nation’s first successful social wellness program – Weight Watchers.

It’s no secret that a multi-faceted, well-executed wellness program can be extremely advantageous to both employers and their workers. Wellness can specifically increase job satisfaction among current and prospective employees. However, employers can’t expect these results to occur overnight. While many launch wellness programs, they often fall short of expectations. Perhaps the biggest reason this happens is inadequate communications to employees.