ASHHRA Health and Wellness Pulse

BENEFITS

Lena J. Weiner, HealthLeaders Media 

The job of HR and leadership is not to drive employees, says the manager of Vanderbilt University Medical Center's EAP, it's to support them and enforce work/life balance so employees can focus on what matters: patient quality and safety.

Visit http://healthleadersmedia.com/content.cfm?topic=HR&content_id=320623 to view the full article online.

 

Genevieve Douglas, BenefitsPro

Companies looking to attract recent graduates should consider student loan management as part of their benefit package, as many student loan borrowers would prefer to work for a company that offers them some relief from their payments, according to survey results released Sept. 1 by
Iontuition.

Visit http://www.benefitspro.com/2015/09/07/workers-seek-new-perk-help-with-student-loans?t=employer-paid to view the full article online.

 

World at Work

September is Life Insurance Wellness Month, which makes for an appropriate time to bring up an often neglected aspect of financial wellness.

Visit http://www.worldatwork.org/adimLink?id=79119 to view the full article online.

 

Dan Cook, BenefitsPro

Workplace flexibility matters more to men than to women, at least in terms of who takes advantage of such benefits.

Visit http://www.benefitspro.com/2015/09/03/men-most-likely-to-utilize-work-life-balance-benef?t=employer-paid to view the full article online.

 

Nick Otto, Employee Benefit News

In a world of constant distraction, the barrage of emails and ever increasing social media chatter, employers are finding it harder than ever to connect with employees. 

Visit http://ebn.benefitnews.com/news/employer-strategies/the-evolution-of-employee-benefits-communication-2747152-1.html to view the full article online.

 

Jack Craver, BenefitsPro

Snagging an award for treating your employees well is one of the best ways to attract top talent. 

Visit http://www.benefitspro.com/2015/08/31/one-great-way-to-attract-top-talent?t=employer-paid to view the full article online.

 

Gerry Leonard, HR.BLR.com

Employers currently face a number of challenges including an evolving compliance landscape, new pressures to rein in costs and ongoing retention issues emerging from job-hopping millennials. 

Visit http://hr.blr.com/HR-news/Benefits-Leave/Employee-Benefits/The-4-Cs-of-employee-benefits-technology to view the full article online.

 

Scott Wooldridge, BenefitsPro

The recent headlines about expanded parental leave provided by tech giants such as Netflix has sparked discussions about competition for highly skilled workers. 

Visit http://www.benefitspro.com/2015/08/27/why-paid-parental-leave-is-picking-up-steam?t=employer-paid to view the full article online.

 

Richard Shaffer, Employee Benefit News

Commentary: Millennials don’t really care about their workplace benefits, so don’t worry about engaging them in your upcoming benefits enrollment. Whoa, stop right there! I hope you’re not one of the misguided few — well, misguided many, unfortunately — who buy into this fallacy.

Visit http://ebn.benefitnews.com/blog/ebviews/how-to-drive-better-engagement-in-benefits-program-among-millennials-2747308-1.html to view the full article online.

 

Dan Cook, BenefitsPro

As Life Insurance Month rolls along, a new survey shows just how much Americans value the financial security life insurance provides.

Visit http://www.benefitspro.com/2015/09/10/gen-xers-boomers-value-security-provided-by-life-i to view the full article online.

 

Brian White, WorldatWork

Participants who use the investment option on their health savings accounts (HSAs) are seeing higher yearly balances, research shows.

Visit http://www.worldatwork.org/adimLink?id=79093 to view the full article online.

 

Marlene Y. Satter, BenefitsPro

Student loans competing with 401(k)s? They already do when it comes to saving, but now it could go a step further.

Visit http://www.benefitspro.com/2015/09/10/student-loan-help-as-valuable-to-employees-as-a-40 to view the full article online.

 
WELLNESS

Fran Matso Lysiak, FierceHealthcare

Hospital food today is fresher and more healthful than 20 years ago, which goes with society's focus on wanting better quality food, according to an article on AlbanyHerald.com.

Visit http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/hospitals-food-revolution-takes-hold/2015-08-31 to view the full article online.

 

Janet Boivin, RN, for HealthLeaders Media

Safety experts are fed up with health care workers who do not comply with hand washing and influenza vaccination mandates. It's time to take a new approach to ensuring compliance, they say.

Visit http://healthleadersmedia.com/page-1/QUA-320330/Wash-Your-Hands-and-Get-Your-Flu-Shot-or-Get-Out to view the full article online.

 

Dan Cook, BenefitsPro

When employers take food and nutrition seriously, their workers really do get healthier.

Visit http://www.benefitspro.com/2015/09/01/nutritional-focus-at-work-reduces-worker-obesity-r?t=wellness to view the full article online.

 

Nick Otto, Employee Benefit News

As technology evolves, benefits professionals are increasingly inundated with data. In the case of wellness programs, measuring results with credible data is a laudable goal, but it’s an incredibly tricky endeavor.

Visit http://ebn.benefitnews.com/news/health-care/connecting-the-wellness-dots-2747302-1.html to view the full article online.

 

Dan Cook, BenefitsPro

By banning smoking at work and in restaurants and bars, the U.S. government has apparently made a dent in teen smoking.

Visit http://www.benefitspro.com/2015/09/11/this-is-what-happens-when-you-ban-workplace-smokin?t=employer-paid to view the full article online.

 

WorldatWork

With private- and public-sector employers spending some $660 billion on employment-based health benefits in 2013, plan sponsors are increasingly interested in ways to improve workers' health and productivity.

Visit http://www.worldatwork.org/adimLink?id=79114 to view the full article online.

 

Jayson Marwaha, Quartz

Hospitals should be following successful hotels’ lead in driving a culture change among their nurses rather than investing in costly — and unnecessary — luxury amenities. Engaged nurses would not only produce happier patients but better quality of care too.

Visit http://qz.com/497426/rather-than-turn-hospitals-into-expensive-resorts-healthier-patients-require-happier-nurses/ to view the full article online.

 

Shannon Firth,
Medpage Today

We've seen it on TV, on social media and in memoirs — medical professionals sharing their struggles with serious mental health conditions, inciting both praise and censure from colleagues and the public.

Visit http://www.medpagetoday.com/Psychiatry/GeneralPsychiatry/53399 to view the full article online.

 

Jack Craver, BenefitsPro

Americans might find it hard to get to the gym, but they find it even harder to give up unhealthy food.

Visit http://www.benefitspro.com/2015/09/03/americans-more-likely-to-exercise-than-eat-healthy?t=wellness to view the full article online.

 

Zack Budryk, FierceHealthcare

Nurses who work shifts of 12 hours or longer are at severe risk for burnout according to an international study published in BMJ Open.

Visit http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/12-hour-plus-shifts-linked-nurse-burnout/2015-09-11 to view the full article online.

 

Debra Beaulieu-Volk, FiercePracticeManagement

Physicians' demanding work often makes it difficult to practice the lifestyle and self-care that they recommend to patients. Respondents to a recent survey from Physicians Practice, however, rated their overall health, happiness and habits as well above average.

Visit http://www.fiercepracticemanagement.com/story/more-docs-take-charge-their-health-and-happiness-survey-suggests/2015-09-01 to view the full article online.

 

Karlene Kerfoot, API Healthcare

It’s no surprise that working long hours can take a toll on employees, especially health care employees. A Health Affairs study found that nurses who work more than 12 hours in a shift and 40 hours in a week are more prone to increased turnover and job dissatisfaction.

Visit http://www.apihealthcare.com/blog/engaging-your-staff/the-impact-of-overtime-on-employee-and-patient-satisfaction?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HealthcareInTheKnowBlog+%28Healthcare+In+The+Know+Blog%29 to view the full article online.

 

Rick Buer, Occupational Health & Safety

There is emerging evidence that many work-related factors and health factors outside the workplace greatly influence the safety and health problems confronting today's workers.

Visit https://ohsonline.com/articles/2015/09/01/wellness-and-safety-programs-expand-to-embrace-employee-wellbeing.aspx to view the full article online.