We are dedicated to providing our members with essential support to help manage their work-life challenges so they can live engaged, productive lives and get the most out of every day. Here’s just a sample of the feedback we’ve received from members this month.
As we continue to navigate the changing landscape presented by the COVID-19 crisis, employees and employers alike are encountering even more challenges as we head into open enrollment season. With historic disruptions to both personal and professional arenas, workforces are turning to their employers for solutions.
In fact, according to a recent Prudential Financial survey, 75% of respondents agreed that due to the pandemic they feel that access to benefits through an employer is now more important than ever before. The survey also found that 72% agreed that a strong benefits package is a big part why they stay at their job and 52% agreed if better benefits were offered they’d be willing to take a chance on a new job right now.
While many organizations are still working remotely, others are figuring out how to work safely in office environments. The pandemic is poised to make this school year as challenging, if not more so, than last school year. Financial impacts from COVID-19 are adding to employee stress, that was already a top concern among workforces nationwide.
Finding solutions for these arising situations can be tough as employees are being forced to make novel decisions that have never been faced before. Now more than ever, offering employee benefit programs to support employees is key to helping them navigate their responsibilities and challenges during this time. While a lot is changing, this support is a constant that employees can rely on.
At LifeCare we’re seeing firsthand what many of the needs are during these trying times. While each member’s situation is unique, here’s just a small sample of some of the requests our members have reached out with and how we’re helping them.
As you can tell from just these handful of stories, our workforce is being challenged in ways we’ve never seen. While we can’t completely do away with our members’ struggles surrounding COVID-19, we’re glad we can help wherever we can. LifeCare’s services are uniquely positioned to support employees and the challenges they’re facing right now. To learn more about programs that support your employees, contact us or call us at (866) 675-3751.
Patti has over 18 years experience in customer service. Prior to joining the LifeCare team, she worked as a Supervisor for the Bargain News in the newly developed Internet Production Dept. At LifeCare, Patti helps members as a Benefits Communication Specialist. She currently lives in Fairfield, CT with her grandson and enjoys going to the beach, painting and spending time with her family.
Q: When a member calls, what is the first thing you ask?
A: Depending on the seriousness of the member’s need, and if they sound upset, I will begin by asking if they are OK and then how I can best help them.
Q: How do you approach each call?
A: With compassion. I care about every member that calls in, whether it is for counseling or an HR related issue.
Q: What is your goal for each case?
A: My goal is to make sure every member has the best experience when calling LifeCare, no matter the reason, big or small.
Q: What are some memorable cases you’ve worked on?
A: One case in particular, I spoke to a member who left their home with her young daughter and they were currently in a shelter. I provided resources and set up an outreach for our Daily Needs Specialists to provide community resources, housing and financial assistance. I explained the EAP counseling benefit that is available and connected the member to a clinician for in the moment phone support.
Q: What is the best part of your job?
A: Knowing I make a difference. I listen and I care, and I know that the members I speak to can feel that.
Q: What is the hardest part of your job?
A: Not getting emotional while on the phone and not knowing the outcome… Are they ok? Did they get the help they needed?
Q: How do you connect with the members you help?
A: Easily. I talk to each one with care. Some I am able to laugh with, others with compassion. I let them know I am truly listening to them.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who doesn’t know if LifeCare can help them?
A: Please just call us. We are here for you and will do everything we can to assist.
Q: In your opinion, what makes your role/team so special?
A: Our team is special because of the love we give to our members, with every call, every day. We are the first voice our members hear when they are dealing with stress, depression, grief, domestic violence, and anxiety, just to name a few. A calm reassuring voice can make such a difference in the moment. We are that voice.
Stay tuned every month for a new feature on our industry-leading, talented team of employees. If you’d like to learn more about how we can support your employees, contact us here or call us at (866) 675-3751.
If you’d like to learn more about our high-impact services or how LifeCare can create a custom program for your organization’s unique needs, contact us here or call us at (866) 675-3751.
We are dedicated to providing our members with essential support to help manage their work-life challenges so they can live engaged, productive lives and get the most out of every day. Here’s just a sample of the feedback we’ve received from members this month.
This year the fall back to school season is going to look very different. Both working parents and employers nationwide will be navigating novel circumstances in the wake of COVID-19. From varied school openings and lack of child care to juggling continued work responsibilities through it all, the challenges are mounting and there’s still a lot unknown.
With decisions on how schools will operate this year so varied across the country, no matter what the school year brings one certainty is clear, employers have an opportunity to support their workforce with their employee benefit programs.
Among companies that have already returned to work or didn’t close, 42% do not have a dedicated plan to help employees with child care responsibilities, according to Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) recent research. They also found that only 24% of organizations without a set return date have a plan while 32% of organizations that do have a set return date have outlined a child care plan.
Employers that don’t offer any support may face decreased retention rates and loss of top talent. When the cost of recruiting and retraining is so high, at times up to 200% of an employee’s salary according to a SHRM report on employee retention, it’s just good business to combat turnover with programs that support employees as they manage their work-life responsibilities.
Looking beyond the cost of hiring and training new employees, employers also must consider losses in productivity as employees struggle to manage child care. A ReadyNation report found that each year employers lose about $13 billion in potential earnings, productivity and revenue due to inadequate child care resources.
Another major concern many parents are facing is whether COVID-19 will affect their children’s growth and achievement long term. According to research, NWEA projects major academic impacts for students. Preliminary estimates suggest students will return in fall 2020 with roughly 70% of the learning gains in reading relative to a typical school year and less than 50% of the learning gains in mathematics.
What Employees Need
Whether employees plan to send their children back to the classroom, keep them home or a hybrid of both, we know they will be facing a plethora of new challenges. Their needs will range far beyond making tough schooling decisions, managing changing schedules and supporting virtual or home learning.
Based on our expertise, what we’ve already heard from our members and our diligent monitoring of updates and trends, in addition to finding care we know the scenarios employees will need to navigate may range across supplementing education, advocating for special needs, figuring out transportation, dealing with food insecurity and pivoting when schools close suddenly as positive COVID-19 cases are confirmed.
In fact, here are just a few of the real requests we’ve already received from our members:
What Employers Can Do
It’s clear that these unprecedented times will make employees lives more difficult. With that in mind, the question is how can employers help their employees juggle everything they’re facing this fall? Here are some high-impact benefits that can support your employees.
Ongoing Care Support
Researching solutions for all of these unique challenges is time-consuming, no doubt impacting employees’ focus at work. Especially when it comes to finding child care, considering the already stressful situation of leaving your child with someone to care for them, it’s important they get the peace of mind of finding reliable, trustworthy, affordable care, or they will be consumed by worry and distraction. Furthermore, having to juggle schedules, drop-off and pickup times, finding and vetting various programs and their ongoing professional responsibilities can feel next to impossible for working parents. Offering Ongoing Care Support programs to do the time-consuming research will save employees stress, money and time.
Online Tutoring & Academic Resources
To help ease some of the educational burden that has been hefted onto working parents nationwide, employers can provide access to online academic programs that offer on-demand access to expert professional tutors and resources like test prep, self-study guides and essay review that can help families overcome educational challenges, and keep kids learning. These benefits cover core subjects across grades K-12, college and university where students all over the country could be falling behind. Additionally, this support can help ease the stress and struggle many parents are experiencing as they are tasked with helping their children learn everything from algebra and biology to reading, social studies and more.
Backup Child Care
Offering company subsidized backup care as regular care plans are disrupted will help working parents bridge care gaps and remain focused and productive while working, knowing their children are being cared for by either trusted caregivers they know or vetted care providers. We’ve seen many of our clients rely heavily on this program during this time, with a 600% increase in utilization. We’ve also seen clients either increase their available care allotment or implement a new program entirely.
Employee Discounts
Many employees are facing new financial struggles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the demands of back to school shopping add further burden. Offering employees an easy to access, complimentary discount program that can help them save on the things they need now, including school supplies, electronics, groceries, meal delivery, child care, home office equipment, and more, is a great way employers can alleviate some of their financial burden.
Emotional Health Support
In the face of all this demand and uncertainty, working parents may find themselves stretched too thin, experiencing increased stress levels, anxiety and emotional health concerns. That’s why it’s important that employers offer Employee Assistance Programs so employees have somewhere to turn to help manage these emotions. It’s also imperative to regularly share emotional health resources and information to help employees recognize if they have an issue and learn how to cope.
Care Subsidy Administration
Understanding the new child care demand on employees, many forward-thinking employers are offering relief for employees, but can then be burdened by implementing and running the program functions. Subsidy administration programs can help you manage and administer any financial relief you may be offering to working parents, saving your team time and stress.
Although employers can’t completely relieve the challenges their employees are facing this fall, offering the best support possible can go a long way to remove some of the burdens they face and in turn, improve focus, productivity and morale.
As we look forward to the months ahead, the LifeCare team has been proactively planning for the next chapter of challenges organizations and employees will face. We are aware that the current state is continuously changing, and our team is working diligently to stay abreast of the evolving trends and needs.
From back to school decisions and child care to working in this new phase and more, our programs are uniquely positioned to support members right now. Additionally, we continue to curate the most relevant content and information for members, including a new back-to-school focused collection and we’re actively adding new relevant webinar topics. To learn more about how we can support your organization and employees with a customized program, contact us here or call us at (866) 675-3751.
Oliwia has over seven years of experience in the child care field. As a Parenting and Education Researcher she is responsible for researching and referring resources for members in areas such as child care, education, adoption and special needs. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Connecticut. Oliwia currently resides in Berlin, CT with her husband and beloved golden retriever, Lacey. She enjoys cooking for her family and looks forward to weekend getaways to the beach.
Q: How do you approach research?
A: I treat each case as if I’m searching for something for myself or my family. I put myself in the member’s shoes to try to locate the best possible resources and solutions, and do not stop until I do.
Q Why is finding the right matches for the members so important?
A: Finding the right match for each member request is so important because you realize that some people simply do not have the time or resources available to search for solutions or resources themselves, and we may be their only option for help.
Q: What is your goal for each case?
A: My goal for each case is finding the best possible solution or match for each member’s unique needs.
Q: What are some memorable cases you’ve worked on?
A: I remember working on a case for a member of the military who was looking for on base child care. I was having a difficult time locating resources due to the secure nature of military bases. I ended up turning to my co-workers and made some phone calls to local agencies in the member’s area and was able to find him resources for his child. It felt very rewarding when this member wrote me a letter thanking me for the research I had done.
Q: What is the best part of your job?
A: The best part of this job is receiving feedback from members stating how appreciative they are of all the hard work we have done.
Q: How do you work with your team as a whole?
A: My entire team is fantastic! We help and support each other whenever someone is stuck and unable to locate resources. There has never been a time where a member of my team was unwilling to assist me.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who doesn’t know if LifeCare can help them?
A: The advice that I would give someone who doesn’t know if Lifecare can help them is that we are always available if they need us. One of the best qualities of this company is we will work hard to find the best possible match.
Q: In your opinion, what makes your role/team so special?
A: In my opinion what makes my team so special is our ability to empathize with each member’s circumstance and situation. We’re always here to help our members.
Stay tuned every month for a new feature on our industry-leading, talented team of employees. If you’d like to learn more about how we can support your employees, contact us here or call us at (866) 675-3751.
Backup care benefit programs help employees find and pay for care when their regular plans break down on a workday. As these programs have been proven to greatly increase employee productivity, focus and loyalty while reducing employee stress, absenteeism and turnover, they’re one of the fastest growing benefits in the industry. Plus, with the current climate and employees forced to navigate the challenges presented by the COVID-19 crisis, these programs have never been more relevant to both employees and their employers.
It’s no secret that the impacts and cost to an organization when employees have to miss work can mount up over time. A Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) report notes that costs of employee absence include productivity loss, payroll, overtime and replacement worker costs.
Additionally, SHRM found that the total cost of U.S. employee absence ranged from 20.9% to 22.1% of payroll and the average employee productivity loss associated with an unplanned absence is 36.6%, while on average co-workers were 29.5% less productive when providing coverage and supervisors were 15.7% less productive.
According to a Harvard Business School study 73% of employees are responsible for some type of caregiving and more than 80% of employees with caregiving responsibilities admitted that caregiving affected their productivity. A ReadyNation report that found each year care challenges resulting in productivity problems cause employers to lose nearly $13 billion, adding to an annual economic cost of $57 billion in lost productivity, earnings and revenue.
In addition to productivity loss, SHRM reports that 69% of participants indicated unplanned absences add to the workload, 61% said they experience increased stress and almost half reported unplanned absences hurt morale.
Meanwhile, when you consider that during normal times employees are struggling to find care and remain productive, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly increased the demand for employee backup care benefits. We’ve seen firsthand the emergency care needs of employees nationwide. Here are just a few recent real member requests we’ve received.
Without their backup care benefit, all of these employees might’ve been forced to miss days of work, potentially weeks. So, while it’s clear that implementing a best-in-class backup care program is a terrific way to combat the high cost of absenteeism associated with disruptions in employees’ regular care routines, not all backup care programs measure up. Here are some backup care best practices to consider when looking for the right program for your organization.
Flexibility
Service
Transparency
While both employers’ and employees’ needs are always changing, especially in the face of a crisis like COVID-19, it’s vital to implement support programs that will help both an organization and its workforce to thrive. LifeCare’s industry leading backup care program is designed to support our members and clients when they need us most.
In fact, as we saw a 600% spike in backup care requests when the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe, unlike many other providers, LifeCare’s backup care program model put us in the best possible position to offer continuity of care. We seamlessly handled this significant increase in volume at the same service level.
Additionally, LifeCare’s program design allowed for quick collaboration with clients to make program modifications to meet their expanding backup care needs, such as increasing reimbursement rates, waiving copays and adding additional visits, so their employees were able get to work during the pandemic.
If you’d like to learn more about how we can customize a high-impact backup care program for your organization, contact us here or call us at (833) 282-3366.
We are dedicated to providing our members with essential support to help manage their work-life challenges so they can live engaged, productive lives and get the most out of every day. Here’s just a sample of the feedback we’ve received from members this month.
The American Psychological Association’s Stress in America Survey maintains that personal finances are still one of the top causes of stress in the United States, with 60% of Americans reporting money as a significant source of stress. With finances already holding a top spot among sources of stress, and the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic spreading across the globe, employees have never needed financial guidance more.
According to the Charles Schwab Modern Wealth Survey, 59% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and 44% usually carry a credit card balance or struggle to keep up with bills. The survey found that only 28% of Americans have a written financial plan noting they think it’s too complicated or they don’t have enough time or money for a formal plan. Additionally, more than 20% of people polled by the National Financial Educators Council said they don’t have anyone to turn to for trusted financial guidance.
MetLife’s recent Employee Benefit Trends Study states that in a post COVID-19 world, the “new normal” calls for enhanced employee financial wellness for better management of work-life stress. 55% of employees who struggle are expected to postpone their retirement due to their financial situation. Plus, 52% of employees said they are concerned about their financial health in the wake of the pandemic. Employees with poor financial health also rated their mental, social and physical health significantly lower than the average.
However, the impact of financial wellness doesn’t stop with employees. Employers will often feel the effects of their workforces’ financial strain, from losses in productivity to losses in talent. In fact, U.S. businesses are losing $500 billion a year because of employees’ personal financial stress, according to Salary Finance.
The Bank of America Merrill Lynch Workplace Benefits Report found that employees are spending a median of 100 hours at work per year on personal financial matters. More than half of employees surveyed said they want their employer to provide them with financial literacy education to boost their own financial wellness. The report also found that employers who embrace their role in supporting their employees’ financial wellness may be better positioned to build more loyal and productive workforces.
PwC’s Employee Financial Wellness Survey found that financial stress is a major productivity disruption with one-third of employees saying they’re distracted by finances while at work. Additionally, 78% of employees that are stressed about finances said they’re more likely to be attracted to employers who offer financial wellness benefits. With that in mind, employers need to consider the costs associated with replacing an employee lost to a competitor, which can be up to 200% of the employee’s annual salary, according to a SHRM report on turnover.
Furthermore, the PWC recent survey also notes that in 2020, employers need to recognize the economic realities of COVID-19 and understand the important role they can play in helping reduce financial difficulties and stress their employees will likely encounter. Employees will need objective guidance as they recover financially and strive to protect themselves from future financial issues, and employers have a unique opportunity to help.
But how can employers help? It’s evident that now more than ever, receiving financial guidance employee benefits is vital for employees to help them improve their financial wellness so they can reach both short and long term financial goals. LifeCare’s high-impact financial support services are designed to empower employees by increasing their financial literacy and reducing stress. To learn more about how we can help you offer a customized financial wellness program contact us here or call us at (866) 675-3751.