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 * Reading Now Cost of benefits strain employers and workers alike By: Emilie
   Shumway
 * Reading Now Employers lean into family support benefits By: Kate Tornone
 * Reading Now Closing the gap: supporting underserved employees with
   personalized benefits By: Peppy Health
 * Reading Now Worker, retiree confidence in retirement savings sees largest
   drop since Great Recession By: Ginger Christ
 * Reading Now How to implement family-inclusive benefits for LGBTQ+ workers By:
   Jen A. Miller
 * Reading Now How Thomson Reuters set a parental leave standard across 74
   countries By: Katie Clarey
 * Reading Now Why cancer could be 2023’s top threat to employer health plans
   By: Ryan Golden
 * Reading Now Employees reiterate a desire for effective well-being benefits
   By: Emilie Shumway
 * Reading Now Employers’ unused PTO problem may be getting even worse By: Ryan
   Golden



Trendline


INSIDE THE RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD OF BENEFITS


PeopleImages via Getty Images

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

When employers look for innovative ways to attract and retain workers while
simultaneously cutting costs, benefits tend to emerge as the answer.

But the benefits landscape is constantly shifting, and recent months were no
exception.

This report details multiple aspects of that issue, including:

 * How employers are grappling with increasing benefits costs
 * A new focus on family-support benefits
 * Why benefits are an important part of DEI efforts

These are just a few of the many aspects of employee benefits that employers are
thinking about. We hope you enjoy this deep dive into the current trends.

Kate Tornone Lead Editor
 * Reading Now Cost of benefits strain employers and workers alike By: Emilie
   Shumway
   
 * Reading Now Employers lean into family support benefits By: Kate Tornone
   
 * Sponsored Closing the gap: supporting underserved employees with personalized
   benefits Sponsored content by Peppy Health
   
 * Reading Now Worker, retiree confidence in retirement savings sees largest
   drop since Great Recession By: Ginger Christ
   
 * Reading Now How to implement family-inclusive benefits for LGBTQ+ workers By:
   Jen A. Miller
   
 * Reading Now How Thomson Reuters set a parental leave standard across 74
   countries By: Katie Clarey
   
 * Reading Now Why cancer could be 2023’s top threat to employer health plans
   By: Ryan Golden
   
 * Reading Now Employees reiterate a desire for effective well-being benefits
   By: Emilie Shumway
   
 * Reading Now Employers’ unused PTO problem may be getting even worse By: Ryan
   Golden
   




COST OF BENEFITS STRAIN EMPLOYERS AND WORKERS ALIKE

By: Emilie Shumway • Published April 13, 2023

The rising cost of benefits — and the insufficiency of their support in covering
employee costs — are straining both employers and workers, a report from Aflac
has shown. Three in 4 employers responding to a survey said their benefits costs
went up in the last year, naming prescription drug costs and an increased need
for mental healthcare and medical appointments as factors.

Of all challenges when it comes to employee engagement and satisfaction,
employers named providing a competitive total compensation package as their No.
1 struggle, with 47% picking this option — topping training and development
(40%), implementing tech solutions (38%) and offering optimal flexible work
arrangements (37%).

Despite employers’ desire to offer competitive benefits, they remain
overconfident in employees’ satisfaction with and understanding of their
benefits packages, the Aflac report showed, with a 22% gap between employer
assessment of employee satisfaction and employees’ own reporting. Employees said
they had to make difficult financial decisions about healthcare, with 21% saying
they had to decide between healthcare or paying a bill, 17% reporting difficulty
affording a prescription and 15% reporting difficulty affording healthcare
recommended by a doctor or specialist. Just under half expressed skepticism they
would be well-covered in the event of an extreme illness, and only 1 in 5
thought they would be covered “extremely well.

Deferred care has been a worrying trend since the beginning of the pandemic,
when employees put off preventive care or chronic health management in droves
due to fears of contracting COVID-19 or difficulty accessing an overloaded
medical system. Aflac’s report suggests employers and workers are still dealing
with the downstream effects, as employees begin to address medical issues that
may have cropped up over the past few years.

That trend is coalescing with a greater need for mental healthcare, as workers
simultaneously manage anxiety and depression — along with other conditions —
that also worsened during the pandemic. Adding in the effects of inflation, it
may not be surprising that workers expressed less satisfaction with employers’
benefits plans than those employers may expect, despite businesses seeing their
costs tick up.

Education may play a role. Most workers responding to Aflac’s survey said they
spent under half an hour researching their benefits, close to half said they
didn’t understand some aspects of them and nearly 90% said they chose the same
benefits year after year. Younger workers — namely, millennials and Generation Z
— tend to be less engaged and educated on benefits. Employees have previously
expressed an interest in learning more about certain benefits, especially those
dealing in financial planning and budgeting. Helping workers better understand
and select health plans may boost their satisfaction.

Employees have also reiterated that the type of wellness benefit matters as much
as the provision of such a benefit, with those emphasizing physical fitness
winning out; 65% of workers responding to a recent Opinium survey said they
would use an employer-sponsored gym membership, for example, while nearly half
said they would participate in mindfulness sessions and 36% said they would
consider using a yoga membership.

Article top image credit: Layla Bird via Getty Images



EMPLOYERS LEAN INTO FAMILY SUPPORT BENEFITS

On the other hand, businesses have deprioritized benefits like FSAs and home
office stipends in the past year, a SHRM report shows.

By: Kate Tornone • Published June 22, 2023

Employers are increasingly offering family support benefits as talent attraction
and retention tools, a report from the Society for Human Resource Management
indicated.

“The number of employers offering various family support and leave benefits has
increased significantly,” the organization said. “The need for heightened family
support during the pandemic seems to have evolved into long-term parental
benefits.”

Employers are more likely to offer paid leave to care for immediate family
members than in previous years, according to SHRM’s survey, as well as paid
adoption leave. The organization also noted that more employers are providing
lactation breaks and space, but said the uptick may be due to new federal
mandates.

Many other benefits — pet insurance, travel for medical care and more — saw
increased interest from employers, but some declined year over year. The
prevalence of flexible spending accounts decreased for the second year in a row,
for example, and home office stipends are also falling, SHRM said.

The shifts indicate what employers believe will boost talent attraction and
retention, SHRM said. “In today’s job market, employer-sponsored benefits act as
a key recruitment tool, but they’re also pivotal to the employee experience, and
thus to retention, satisfaction and engagement,” said Alex Alonso, chief
knowledge officer at SHRM, in a statement. “Employers are listening to their
employees about their own wants and needs, but also the needs of their families,
as shown by the increase in family support benefits and the emergence of paid
travel expenses for medical care.”

Article top image credit: Ridofranz via Getty Images
Sponsored


CLOSING THE GAP: SUPPORTING UNDERSERVED EMPLOYEES WITH PERSONALIZED BENEFITS


Sponsored content
By Peppy Health

As an HR leader, you understand the value of offering employee health and
wellness benefits. In fact, 93% of firms with more than 50 employees provide
health benefits. But traditional health care offerings aren’t enough. Too often,
standard benefits overlook swaths of the employee population.

As a result, many employees aren’t getting the care needed. That lack of
wellness harms them and their employers, resulting in a lose/lose proposition.
Companies must take a fresh look at how they can support employees with benefits
that focus on overlooked needs. 

BENEFITS YOUR UNDERSERVED EMPLOYEES NEED

It’s common for company health benefits to address illnesses and diseases such
as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. But employees suffer from silent or
taboo health concerns, such as menopause, prostate issues, and HIV, too. And
they need just as much support.

MENOPAUSE: MORE THAN A “WOMAN’S ISSUE”

Menopause usually begins between ages 45 and 55. The symptoms, such as hot
flashes, night sweats, and sleep disturbances, can last from seven to 14 years.
While symptoms can be mild for some women, they can be debilitating for others.
In fact, one in four women will consider leaving the workforce because of them,
and one in 10 will quit if they don’t get the support they need. 

Menopause is a health issue because it disrupts women’s lives, and it’s an
employer issue because of inconsistent support offered by many health plans. 

Here’s why: 75% of women aged 45 to 55 are active in the U.S. labor force, which
means that menopause affects the health and careers of women in the middle of
their peak working years. The result of not addressing menopausal symptoms is
high: A recent Mayo Clinic study estimated that menopausal symptoms cost $1.8
billion in lost days of work each year and nearly $27 billion in medical costs.

The impact on the business is more than financial, says Max Landry, co-founder
and co-CEO of Peppy Health, a B2B digital health platform. “If you as a company
are saying that you want more women in senior leadership positions, how can you
address strategic objectives, like closing the gender or pension pay gap,
without looking at an issue like menopause?” 

MEN’S HEALTH: LACK OF PREVENTATIVE CARE LEADS TO WORSE OUTCOMES

Men’s health is also a significant concern. Twenty percent of men won’t live to
retirement age, often due to avoidable causes. For example, societal
expectations of masculinity lead to risk-seeking behaviors. This, compounded by
a hesitancy to seek help, contributes to physical ailments such as heart
disease, as well as to addictions, suicide, homicide, and road-traffic
accidents. 

Many men try to stay healthy, but only 50% undertake an annual physical. When
health issues aren’t detected early, they may become much more serious before
they’re diagnosed and addressed. The result for employers is decreased
productivity, higher absenteeism and disability claims, and increased health
care costs. 

Like menopause, topics such as prostate health, low testosterone, and erectile
dysfunction are rarely discussed at work. Complications from not addressing,
supporting, and treating these issues include depression, anxiety, substance
abuse, and heart attacks.

LGBTQ+ HEALTH: SOLUTIONS LACKING AT THE WORKPLACE AND THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE

Inclusive workplaces recognize that different employees have different needs.
However, most existing health care solutions inadequately address the specific
needs of the LGBTQ+ employee population. 

This group is historically disenfranchised at work and at the doctor’s office
when seeking information, support, and treatment for sexual health, including
gender-affirming care and gender transition support. When asked to assess their
health, one in 10 LGBTQ+ employees says they are in “not good” or “poor” health.
This contrasts with only one in 16 people who don’t identify as LGBTQ+. With one
in 5 Gen Z adults identifying as LGBTQ+, companies can’t ignore their needs.

HOW CAN COMPANIES SUPPORT UNDERSERVED EMPLOYEES?

Whether it’s menopause, men’s health, the health of LGBTQ+ employees, or other
issues like fertility, companies need to develop well-being strategies that are
personalized and gender-inclusive. To do this at scale, Landry says, companies
must roll out gender-specific health care. 

Companies must shift their culture to support underserved employees and remove
the taboo label from topics such as menopause, endometriosis, infertility, toxic
masculinity, and gender-affirming care. “Starting by having open discussions is
helpful,” Landry says. “A good example is comparing it to how we evolved in
talking about mental health. In the 1990s, it was nearly impossible to mention
your mental health. Today, it’s encouraged.” 

Next, companies should look at their policies and benefit offerings to see where
gaps exist. Fill those gaps by connecting employees to the medical resources
they need. Filling that gap is what Peppy does, Landry says: “Our approach to
health care is finding specific areas where people are underserved, and then
providing appropriate support and giving them direct access to an expert.” 

The Peppy health app provides employees with one-on-one consultations with
medical professionals, one-on-one chats, live virtual events, mental health
support, well-being courses, prescription medications, and other on-demand
resources. 

Wickes, a home improvement company, expanded its benefits package with the Peppy
app and other family and gender-specific health initiatives. As a result, the
retailer increased its female employee population by 16% over five years and its
number of female managers by 187%.

THE ROI OF EARLY, ACCESSIBLE, AND NONTRADITIONAL HEALTH BENEFITS

Gender-inclusive well-being strategies enable employees to address health issues
earlier with expert care. Health outcomes improve, and long-term health costs
are reduced. These strategies also help employers diminish absenteeism and
presenteeism while increasing talent attraction and retention.

“It’s in everyone’s interest to focus on these health issues,” Landry says.
“Healthier employees are more productive, work harder, and are happier, so
that’s good for the company. It’s a win-win solution.”

Article top image credit: Permission granted by Peppy Health



WORKER, RETIREE CONFIDENCE IN RETIREMENT SAVINGS SEES LARGEST DROP SINCE GREAT
RECESSION

The effects of COVID-19 and economic concerns are causing some workers to delay
retirement and some retirees to head back into the workforce.

By: Ginger Christ • Published May 4, 2023

The confidence workers and retirees have that they’ll have enough money for
retirement fell starkly in 2023 — a level of decline not seen since 2008 during
the Great Recession, according to the 33rd annual Retirement Confidence Survey
from not-for-profit Employee Benefit Research Institute and research firm
Greenwald Research. 

Of the 2,537 surveyed in early 2023, 64% of workers believed they would be able
to live comfortably in retirement, down from 73% in 2022, and 73% of retirees
shared that confidence, a drop from 77% last year. Workers and retirees
attribute their concern to having little or no savings, inflation and debt, the
survey found.

“The confidence both workers and retirees have in their ability to finance their
retirements dropped significantly in 2023. … This shows that the current
economic climate, in particular inflation, is eroding the confidence that
Americans had in their retirement preparations going into the pandemic,” Craig
Copeland, director of wealth benefits research at EBRI, said in a news release.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic concerns are causing some
workers to delay retirement and some retirees to head back into the workforce. 

Seventy-one percent of the 2,002 respondents in a survey commissioned by 401(k)
plan provider Human Interest said the pandemic changed their target retirement
age. Among those who had a “very difficult time” during the pandemic, 71% said
they plan to delay retirement. 

“With the pandemic’s after-effects and ongoing inflation, people have had a
revelation about retirement,” Eric Phillips, senior director of partnerships and
strategic insights at Human Interest, said when the results were released in
November. “In the past three years, 42% of employees with a retirement benefit
at work say they saw their employer contribution get cut.” 

Some workers are turning to pre-retirement, a transition period between
full-time work and retirement, the survey found. 

On the other side, some retirees are rejoining the workforce. Twenty percent of
respondents to a Resume Builder poll last year said they planned to return to
work that year. Sixty-nine percent attributed that decision to rising costs.

Article top image credit: jondpatton via Getty Images


HOW TO IMPLEMENT FAMILY-INCLUSIVE BENEFITS FOR LGBTQ+ WORKERS

The ideal package of family inclusive benefits for one company may not be the
same for another, according to experts.

By: Jen A. Miller • Published June 21, 2023

As companies continue to work on DEI initiatives and goals, one area of focus
has been family-inclusive benefits for LGBTQ+ workers. Even if inequities
weren’t baked into benefits on purpose, simple things like referring to parental
leave as “maternity leave” can shut employees out.

“Some organizations weren’t paying attention or just weren’t realizing there
were systemic barriers, even within their benefits, and are taking a look at
employee benefits and making sure all their benefits cater to the diverse needs
of their employees,” said Monica Marquez, co-founder and chief learning officer
at HR technology company Beyond Barriers.

Here’s how.


CREATE FAMILY INCLUSIVE BENEFITS

Family inclusive benefits mean covering all families — not only those helmed by
one cis gendered, heterosexual man and one cis gendered, heterosexual woman.

When benefits stuck with that definition of family, LGBTQIA workers “were
wanting to start families but there were no ways for them to do it” given the
financial burden of different paths they could take, said Marquez. “But
heterosexual couples were getting assistance for benefits, for gestational
surrogacy and adoption.”

Some of those disparities righted themselves when gay marriage became legal in
the U.S. in 2015. But that doesn’t mean benefits are equitable everywhere,
especially with family building benefits.

When these benefits were covered, oftentimes there’d be a need to meet a
traditional clinical definition of interfertility, said Roger Shedlin, MD, CEO
and president of WINFertility, a family-building benefits provider, like six
months or a year of unprotected sex without a pregnancy. “That’s not applicable
to this community.”

In the last five years, Marquez has seen more organizations “really thinking
about FMLA and parental leave, shifting even the language from maternity leave
to parental leave so that fathers could also take time off to care and bond with
a child,” said Marquez.

The definition of “family” is also being reconsidered — by both employers and
state legislatures. The California Family Rights Act grants workers the right to
take up to 12 weeks of leave to take care of a family member. Starting on
January 1, “family member” did not have to be a direct blood relative.

That shift breaks out of the heteronormative definition of family, a California
attorney told HR Dive in October. Oftentimes the people in an individual’s care
network is not necessarily their parent or child; this shift reflects the
reality of care networks, she said.


CREATE EQUITABLE BENEFITS

The ideal package of family inclusive benefits for one company may not be the
same for another. For example, the legal costs associated with building a LGBTQ+
family will be higher in some states, so that benefit might be appropriate if
your organization is located there, where it wouldn’t be somewhere else.

Marquez said benefits managers can either tap into an LGBTQ+ employee resource
group, or to create a specific focus group for the purpose of reevaluating
benefits. Ask: “What would be some things that would be helpful that maybe we
haven’t thought about?” Encourage stakeholders to think broadly into areas like
parental leave, medical and mental health benefits. For example, “you may think
you have the most inclusive prescription coverage, but you find out when you ask
your LGBTQIA employee resource group that certain drugs aren’t being covered,”
she said.

Shedlin said employers should also consider the additional stress that LGBTQ+
families often face when trying to build families “because of added cost and
added complexity” in the process, whatever path they choose. That might mean
employers add additional access to behavioral health specialists, nurse
advocates, network navigation support and informational video libraries. Having
the right network of providers who are comfortable and educated about working
with LGBTQ+ individuals can make a big difference, he added.

Article top image credit: xavierarnau via Getty Images



HOW THOMSON REUTERS SET A PARENTAL LEAVE STANDARD ACROSS 74 COUNTRIES

The company had to consider leave laws in every country where it operates.

By: Katie Clarey • Published April 25, 2023

The patchwork of state and local leave laws in the U.S. often frustrates
employers. In absence of one statute outlining countrywide requirements for paid
time off, employers must consider whether their programs play nice with laws in
California and New York, or that new one in Oregon. 

Companies with operations outside the U.S. face a leave law landscape that’s
even more complex. Thomson Reuters, for instance, operates in 74 countries. The
company recently developed a global minimum standard for parental leave. The
benefit ensures that, as of April 2023, Thomson Reuters’ employees will receive
at least 16 weeks of paid parental leave, no matter where they work.

To develop the new standard, Thomson Reuters worked through the existing
parental leave policies in the countries where it operates, an “enormously
complex” challenge, according to Chief People Officer Mary Alice Vuicic. In a
recent conversation with HR Dive, Vuicic described how her company built the new
standard and her advice to organizations working toward a similar feat.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

HR DIVE: YOUR GLOBAL MINIMUM STANDARD OFFERS 16 WEEKS OF PAID LEAVE TO ALL
PARENTS REGARDLESS OF GENDER IDENTITY, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, MARITAL STATUS OR
FAMILY ROLE. HOW DID YOU LAND ON THIS AMOUNT OF TIME? WHAT DID EMPLOYEES HAVE
ACCESS TO BEFORE THIS WAS IMPLEMENTED? 

MARY ALICE VUICIC: We conducted a peer benchmarking study, held regular sessions
with key stakeholders across the business and geographies, and closely examined
regional data to assess the potential impact of a global minimum standard. 


Thomas Reuters Chief People Officer Mary Alice Vuicic
Permission granted by Carly Rogers
 

Previously, our parental leave policies varied by country according to local
requirements, which is typical for global organizations. For example, in the
U.S., Thomson Reuters’ previous parental leave policy for nonbirthing parents
was already competitive at 12 weeks.  

However, we listened to our teammates, and we wanted to continue to improve our
benefit offering — we felt like 16 weeks accomplished this. Our new 16-week
global minimum standard demonstrates our commitment to creating a positive
work-life balance for colleagues, especially those navigating such a new and
exciting time in their lives. 

AS A GLOBAL COMPANY, HOW DID THOMSON REUTERS NAVIGATE THE VARIOUS REGULATORY
REQUIREMENTS IN BUILDING THIS STANDARD? WHY DID THE COMPANY IMPLEMENT A GLOBAL
MINIMUM STANDARD? 

As we began introducing Thomson Reuters’ new Flex My Way benefits in 2022, we
quickly realized how complex navigating the global regulatory requirements would
be for parental leave. Many countries have no requirements; some define parental
leave differently, so it became obvious that we needed to maintain in-country
policies that meet the global minimum standard. 

Implementing a new global minimum standard gives our teammates the flexibility
needed to welcome a new child to the family. Where a country’s statutory
maternity, paternity or adoption leave regulations are more generous than the
16-week standard we set, this will remain unchanged. 

HOW DID YOU GET BUY-IN FROM LOCAL HR TEAMS? 

We found it critical to work alongside local HR teams to receive their input in
order to understand the cultural and regulatory differences between countries.
The support of the entire executive team was also vital to help build a common
language and supportive culture where parents can take the time they need
following a birth or adoption. 

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES INVOLVED IN COLLECTING THE INFORMATION YOU
NEEDED TO CREATE AND IMPLEMENT THE NEW STANDARD?

We last updated our U.S. parental leave policy a few years ago, but this change
was much broader. Working through the existing policies and administration in
different countries was enormously complex, given the different jurisdictional
requirements and practices. Throughout the process, we had to work with both our
external partners and internal systems to ensure alignment. 

Communication is a huge component of all our standards and policies; the more
people understand the benefits, the more value they get from them. Educating
managers is also important; they need to understand our standards and how to
support and administer them properly. Overall, we must simplify the new
processes for managers to oversee and manage their work within these programs. 

BUILDING A GLOBAL MINIMUM STANDARD LIKE THIS IS A HUGE UNDERTAKING. WHAT MAKES
IT WORTH THE EFFORT?

Welcoming a child to the family is life-changing, and our global minimum
standard ensures parents have more time to care for their new child. Giving
parents time to adjust and bond with their child will have a positive effect on
the physical, financial and emotional well-being of their whole family. 

We are proud of the impact this global minimum standard will have on our
teammates. It’s another step in our effort to foster a positive and supportive
work environment that helps teammates achieve a better work-life balance. 

WHAT’S YOUR ADVICE TO ORGANIZATIONS — LARGE OR SMALL — THAT ARE CONSIDERING
IMPLEMENTING A BROAD LEAVE STANDARD LIKE YOURS? 

For organizations considering a similar parental global minimum standard, we
recommend partnering with local HR teams to fully understand the cultural and
regulatory differences between countries to determine what makes sense for your
business, and speaking to colleagues to find out what they want and need. We
also recommend working with executive leadership to get their support in
building successful policies that foster a positive and healthy work
environment.

Article top image credit: Robin Marchant / Stringer via Getty Images


WHY CANCER COULD BE 2023’S TOP THREAT TO EMPLOYER HEALTH PLANS

“We have a lot of concern that this situation may actually worsen,” an executive
at the Business Group on Health said.

By: Ryan Golden • Published Aug. 25, 2022

In the push to keep healthcare costs down and employees healthy, large employers
have identified an emerging threat: cancer.

That is one of the key findings of the Business Group on Health’s annual health
benefits survey of large employers for 2022. The Washington, D.C.-based
organization surveyed 135 employers representing some 18.3 million covered
employees.

In all, 44% of respondents said they expected a higher prevalence of late-stage
cancers in their employee populations due to delayed preventative screenings, a
trend that employer-sponsored healthcare observers have long feared due to the
closure of care centers caused by COVID-19.

“We have a lot of concern that this situation may actually worsen,” Brenna
Shebel, vice president at BGH, said during a virtual press event announcing the
survey results. Shebel noted that 13% of employers were already seeing a higher
prevalence of late-stage cancer at the time of the survey. “We will have to keep
an eye on this as we move through future years and [see] the overall effect of
the pandemic.”

The findings come after a 2021 in which large employers’ overall health spending
— already difficult to project because of COVID–19 — exceeded BGH members’
expectations. Accounting for plan design changes, BGH respondents projected
average median health cost increases of 6% for 2021.

By the numbers
 
44%
Percentage of large employers in BGH’s survey expecting a higher prevalence of
late-stage cancers in their employee populations due to delayed preventative
screenings
 
50%
Percentage of large employers in BGH’s survey that said they would have centers
of excellence coverage for cancer in place for 2023
 
+8.2%
Average median health cost increases large employers in BGH’s survey saw in
2021, the highest such increase BGH has recorded since 2017

In actuality, last year saw a median increase of 8.2%. That is the highest
increase BGH has recorded going back to 2017 and a complete reversal from 2020,
when most members saw zero cost growth, BGH President and CEO Ellen Kelsay said.

She added that BGH attributes this jump in part to plan members catching up on
chronic condition management that may have gone off course during the pandemic,
along with other factors such as longer hospital stays. For 2023, BGH members
project increases closer to those seen in pre-pandemic years, or about 5%.

“But a return to normalization is not a return to good,” Kelsay said. “A 5%
trend is still high. These numbers continue to go up at a rate that is quite
honestly unsustainable.”

Cancer topped the list of conditions driving respondents’ healthcare costs in
2021, overtaking that spot from musculoskeletal conditions. In response, half of
employers said they would have centers of excellence coverage for cancer in
place for 2023, while an additional 26% said they were considering doing so
through 2025.

Other strategies include covering genomic testing for cancer treatments, while
common incentives include reimbursement for travel and accommodations related to
care. Prevention and screening also are being prioritized, with employers
expanding or providing alternatives to traditional colonoscopies as well as
updating their plans’ definitions of preventive screenings for breast cancer.

Some employers are focused on covering early detection blood tests within the
next few years, Shebel said, noting that these tests tend to be less invasive
while offering the potential to detect more cancers at earlier stages.


HEALTH EQUITY A GROWING PRIORITY

Most employers identified addressing healthcare inequities as a priority for
their plans in 2021, at 75% of respondents compared to 70% in 2020.

Underneath this category, childcare access emerged as the top area of focus for
health equity efforts, with 47% stating they had already implemented solutions
for childcare this year and 6% stating that they were considering such efforts
in 2023. Further out, 20% of employers are considering addressing food access
and insecurity in 2024 and 2025.

A strong majority of employers, 85%, said they planned to implement at least one
strategy to address women’s health and reproductive health by 2023. Employers
viewed these areas as a component of their health equity efforts, Kelsay said. A
BGH spokesperson told HR Dive that the survey was conducted on both sides of the
U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,
with some respondents completing the survey prior to the June 24 decision and
others completing it afterwards.

Asked if they had implemented, or were planning to implement, programs or
initiatives to improve access to abortion services, 44% of employers answered in
the affirmative, while another 33% said they would consider doing so. Abortion
coverage continues to be a pressing topic for organizations despite the
potential logisitical and legal challenges involved.

Among employers that had made or were considering changes, 96% said they were
looking to provide financial assistance to help with travel and lodging costs
incurred by employees who seek to obtain reproductive care in a different state
or location, the spokesperson said.


VIRTUAL CARE NOW A MAINSTAY, WITH NEW APPLICATIONS ON HORIZON

An open question for health plans in recent years concerns whether the massive
utilization growth of telehealth and virtual care options during the pandemic
will continue once in-person healthcare visits resume. While BGH observed a
year-over-year drop in the number of employers that said virtual health
offerings would have a significant impact on how care is delivered — 74% in 2022
compared to 85% in 2021 — Shebel noted that this share is still elevated
compared to 2019, when just 52% of employers said so.

“That’s much higher than before the pandemic,” Shebel said. “We know the
pandemic did play a role in the growth and interest in virtual health, but it’s
been building since long before that.”

More than half of respondents said virtual health opportunities were a top
healthcare priority for 2023, followed closely by the expansion of mental health
services at 47%.

Virtual care is primarily being used for acute and minor services, mental
health, diabetes care management, health and lifestyle coaching, BGH found.
Other use cases are less common, but have the potential for future growth, such
as sleep management, cardiac care management, chronic kidney disease management
and care for specific patient populations, such as employees of color and
employees who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community.

The latter is an area of particular interest to BGH, Shebel said; “That is going
to be supportive of an employer’s health equity efforts.”

At the same time, respondents noted concerns about virtual care. Sixty-nine
percent said they were concerned about siloed care experiences on virtual
platforms, while 60% said they were concerned about a lack of integration
between vendors.

“Employers, particularly our members, offer many different types of virtual
health programming … and so the concern is that some of those offerings may not
be working in concert with one another,” Shebel said.

Article top image credit: Vitanovski via Getty Images



EMPLOYEES REITERATE A DESIRE FOR EFFECTIVE WELL-BEING BENEFITS

By: Emilie Shumway • Published Jan. 19, 2023

In a series of recent surveys, workers emphasized their desire for a variety of
wellness benefits. Eighty percent of respondents to a survey by research agency
Opinium said they would feel more supported if their employer were to sponsor
wellness, according to findings the firm sent to HR Dive. Generation Z and
millennials showed the most interest.

Respondents showed the most interest in sponsored gym memberships, with 65%
stating they would use the benefit. Fifty-six percent said they would use a
monthly wellness stipend, 46% said they would participate in mindfulness
sessions and 36% said they’d consider using a yoga membership. Parents showed a
particular interest in programs centered around mindfulness, meditation and
mental well-being.

The findings from Opinium are reflected in surveys recently conducted by two
companies that focus on wellness, Gympass and Calm. Gympass’ survey of almost
9,000 workers found that well-being benefits may be a retention strategy, with
85% of respondents reporting they’d be more likely to stay in their role if
their company focused more on well-being. And Calm, according to results sent to
HR Dive, found that the need for well-being benefits is especially acute among
families and LGBTQ, Hispanic and neurodivergent employees.  

Employee well-being has been a top focus for benefits professionals since
shortly after the pandemic began. Not only has it been a strategy for retention,
as Gympass found, but it has also been used to attract new talent — especially
in the wake of the Great Resignation. Last summer, 80% of employees responding
to an American Psychological Association survey said an employer’s approach to
mental health would be “an important consideration” when job hunting, showing
they were on the lookout for a thoughtful strategy.

Executing on effective wellness benefits has been more complicated. More than a
year ago, about half of employers responding to a WTW survey told the agency
they didn’t have a formally articulated well-being strategy, responding instead
to different issues — such as behavioral health and financial well-being — at
different paces. A WTW spokesperson at the time highlighted the common strategy
of using financial rewards to encourage certain behaviors, noting that this
often fails to move the needle.

Yet another survey backed that statement up; 42% of workers with access to
mental health benefits said they had not used them, with those who were
nonetheless interested saying they didn’t know how to access them, or that they
were worried about confidentiality or cost. 

Workers may want wellness benefits — and employers may provide them — but part
of the equation, experts have emphasized, is designing workplace culture and the
workday to provide employees the breathing room to appropriately deal with
demands like caregiving. This means remaining (or becoming) committed to
flexible work arrangements and allowing remote or hybrid work. 

When it comes to concrete wellness benefits, options like wellness stipends and
subsidized or free gym memberships or class passes — those that have few
barriers to use and can be used in a discreet manner — appear to be popular, as
Opinium’s survey demonstrates. Some employers have also explored creative,
specialized options like connecting employees with special needs’ children to
subsidized caregiving solutions or committing to a companywide week off
annually.

Article top image credit: Valerii Apetroaiei via Getty Images


EMPLOYERS’ UNUSED PTO PROBLEM MAY BE GETTING EVEN WORSE

Workers left an estimated 28% of PTO unused in 2019, according to Sorbet. In
2022, that share jumped to 55%.

By: Ryan Golden • Published Dec. 22, 2022

The pandemic disrupted employers’ paid time off policies, but years later, a
recently published study shows the problem may have only grown worse.

Results from a survey of U.S. adults by PTO solutions provider Sorbet found that
55% of PTO went unused by employees, compared to 28% in 2019. In all, the
company said 57% of workers left PTO on the table in 2022, compared to 37% in
2019.

That unused PTO translated into a real monetary cost for workers, too. Sorbet
estimated that the average employee held $3,000 in unused accrued PTO.

“We tend to think of PTO in terms of time, [but] people often don’t realize is
that there’s a dollar and cents implication in your compensation when you accrue
PTO,” Veetahl Eilat-Raichel, Sorbet’s CEO, said in an interview. “And when you
don’t take it, you essentially end up with a hard-earned portion of your
compensation locked up and unavailable to you.”

The vendor’s findings seem to mesh with those of other organizations. Eagle Hill
Consulting announced survey results that showed 42% of U.S. workers had not
taken a vacation in the past year, though not all workers in the cohort reported
having access to PTO.


THE IMPACT OF FLEXIBLE WORK

Years after COVID-19 created shutdowns and wreaked havoc on employers’ accrual
systems, Eilat-Raichel said employers still have difficult questions to consider
with respect to how their organizations handle time off, such as whether to
adopt policies that group all PTO into one bucket and allow workers agency to
choose how to use their time, or create separate buckets.

But as far as employees’ lack of willingness to take time off, the pandemic may
have only highlighted a pre-existing problem. “Partially, this trend of not
taking time off is deeply rooted in culture,” Eilat-Raichel said. “It has to do
with the fear of the optics of it [and] being seen as unprofessional or less
committed.”

Employees felt even less legitimacy to take time off with the advent of remote
work, she added, because of the ways in which life activities and events bled
into the work day.

Few trends are perhaps as reflective of this sentiment as the “workcation,”
described in a March BBC article as a trend in which employees who are able to
work from anywhere combine elements of a vacation with a workday in an exotic
locale.

As excited as employees may be at the thought of cliff diving in between days
spent working on a laptop, a recent Visier survey found that employees who
worked while on vacation were more likely to quit their jobs than those who
disconnected. The firm also found in a separate 2021 survey that one-third of
employees felt pressured to check in with their jobs during vacation — while
many respondents described vacation as a mere temporary relief from burnout.


WHAT CAN HR DO?

HR cannot solve the unused PTO problem by itself, Eilat-Raichel said. Instead,
departments will need to work with leadership and management to address the
cultural component involved. That could start with a baseline of ensuring
employees have the time they need to take care of themselves, and then ensuring
that leaders model the behavior they want to see from workers.

“If the general sentiment is that you need to always be on in order to perform,
that’s not going to work,” Eilat-Raichel said.

Having access to the right data also may help. Eilat-Raichel said she is seeing
employers track PTO use and include it as part of employees’ performance reviews
so that managers can follow up on the subject.

Employers also may need to be aware of the inequities inherent in PTO
availability and use. Sorbet, for instance, found that male employees received
10% more PTO days on average than women, and that men took 33% more days off
than women.

Since the start of the pandemic, employers have experimented with enhanced PTO
policies on a small scale. Google announced in February that it would implement
a minimum of 20 vacation days for employees alongside expanded caregiving
leaves. Others, like Hootsuite, have taken companywide weeks off with the aim of
addressing burnout and mental health issues.

PTO can be an expensive and difficult benefit to administer, but the fact that
workers let their time off go underutilized and unused “almost does the exact
opposite of what PTO was originally intended to do,” Eilat-Raichal said.
“There’s so much to be unlocked by this incredible benefit that you already
have.”

Article top image credit: Joe Raedle via Getty Images





THE TOP EMPLOYEE BENEFITS COMPANIES ARE FOCUSING ON

With the current state of the labor market, employers are further customizing
benefits to both attract and retain employees. As the benefits landscape
continues to shift, discover the priorities HR leaders are focusing on.

INCLUDED IN THIS TRENDLINE

 * How to implement family-inclusive benefits for LGBTQ+ workers
 * How Thomson Reuters set a parental leave standard across 74 countries
 * Employers lean into family support benefits

Our Trendlines go deep on the biggest trends. These special reports, produced by
our team of award-winning journalists, help business leaders understand how
their industries are changing.
Davide Savenije Editor-in-Chief at Industry Dive.

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