When researching or upgrading work-life programs, employers sometimes assume that the only way to get a high-quality solution that’s affordable is to choose between a web-based model or a call center-based model.
The good news is you don’t have to choose one or the other. You can have the best of both worlds with a multi-channel work-life model, and you won’t have to sacrifice quality to keep from breaking the bank.
Of course, the real beauty of a multi-channel work-life model isn’t just its quality and reasonable cost. It’s the model’s comprehensiveness you’ll come to appreciate in the long run. It will serve all of your employees, no matter how vast or varied their needs and preferences are.
Getting It Right for Everyone
Today’s workers face an array of pressing work-life needs—child and elder care, financial and legal pressures, health and wellness issues, family matters, and more. Some are responsible for caring for older spouses and loved ones, others are struggling to pay back school loans or to put money into savings. They’re also juggling these issues with their work responsibilities and long-range career ambitions. A high-quality work-life program will offer counseling and a wealth of resources to navigate all of these challenges, regardless of employees’ age or where they stand in their careers.
But a truly effective work-life model doesn’t just address their diverse needs. It also serves their differing preferences—most essentially their preference for support via web-based self-service resources or the personalized support provided by a professionally staffed call center.
This is a key consideration because it has a huge impact on your program’s program reach, engagement and effectiveness. If employees prefer telephonic assistance, for example, they’ll likely be disappointed by a program that offers only web-based, self-help resources. More importantly, they won’t use these resources with any regularity. Conversely, employees who want to handle their issues entirely on their own will likely balk at always having to call a specialist for assistance.
It’s All About the Situation
The fact is employees don’t typically use just one type of work-life support when given a choice. In LifeCare’s 35 years of experience, we’ve found the majority of individuals use both online and call center services when they have the option. It all depends upon their situation. In a crisis or when time is of the essence (when employees’ child care falls through and they need to find a caregiver in a pinch) they might want to get live, personalized support, but they might also want to access that support via web or mobile device. Giving them these access options can save an incredible amount of time and stress.
The fact is, at some point, all of your employees might want to speak to a live specialist. They’ll need the counsel of a trained expert … Or they’ll want to know all of the benefits and programs available to them … Or they’ll need to know which resources are best suited to their needs. Employees who are assisted by trained professionals often have a higher level of confidence in the decisions they make, and there’s a real comfort in knowing they can speak with an empathetic subject matter expert at any time of the day or night.
Implementing a muliti-channel model also helps you meet the various generational preferences within your workforce. Younger workers might generally tend to favor the self-service approach of an online model, while older workers might appreciate the personal interaction offered by a call center. But, again, most workers will use and appreciate both online and call center resources over time.
Don’t Forget the Devices!
Given the growing preference for all things mobile in the workplace, it would be wise to at least consider a work-life program that includes mobile responsive websites and specialized apps. Enabling employees to access assistance and resources on the go from any device is particularly helpful with child and elder caregiving needs, backup care emergencies, discount programs, and more.
When employees are able to receive relevant, personalized, time-sensitive information on their mobile devices at any time, they’ll come to rely on your program again and again. And that’s essential to the success of your program.
To learn more about the advantages of a mutli-channel work-life support model and what it can do to improve your workforce’s health and productivity, contact us here or call us at (866) 675-3751.