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Health Benefits & Well-Being: The ABC's to show LOVE 💘

Gallup states that Employees’ well-being is the new workplace imperative.

Remember giving your schoolmates cards and those chalky, not-very-tasty candy hearts to celebrate Valentine’s Day?

We’re all grown up now but showing LOVE to employees is still a great way to appreciate them.

The L-word is not a word we typically hear when describing health benefits.

Although, it is a fact that a high 49% of employees don’t even like their health benefits. Their love for their employers fades away because they feel alone in the relationship.

Here are some stats from the State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report from Gallup (U.S. & Canada) that might crush your heart, but tough love is sometimes necessary to put the reality in perspective:

  • 67% of employees are disengaged from their employers. That’s A LOT!
  • Daily negative emotions presented by employees:
    • Worry – 41%
    • Stress – 50%
    • Anger – 18%
    • Sadness – 22%

Does your health benefits program show employees you care about them and their well-being?

This is probably a question you’ve never thought of


Gallup states that Employees’ well-being is the new workplace imperative.

Engagement and well-being interact with each other in powerful ways. We often think of engagement as something that happens at work and well-being as something that happens outside of work, but Gallup’s analysis suggests that’s a false dichotomy.

  • How people experience work influences their lives outside of work. Employees who consistently experience high burnout at work say their job makes it difficult to fulfill their family responsibilities. They are also 23% more likely to visit the emergency room.
  • Overall well-being influences life at work. Employees who are engaged at work but not thriving have a 61% higher likelihood of ongoing burnout than those who are engaged and thriving.

Employees who are engaged and thriving experience significantly less stress, anger, and health problems.

Organizations need to think about the whole person, not just the worker. Leaders need to add well-being measurements to their executive dashboards. This can alert them to critical warning signs that do not show up on traditional spreadsheets.

They must also prioritize employee well-being as part of their employer brand promise. When leaders take responsibility for the well-being of their workers, the result is not only productive organizations but thriving individuals, families, and communities.

This month we discuss the ABCs for employers to show LOVE to employees and express how much they CARE for their well-being by influencing how they use their health benefits. There is a correlation between well-being and how employees use health benefits.

Three (3) things employers need to save the employer-employee relationship:

  • Advocacy
  • Primary Care
  • Cancer

ADVOCACY

Advocacy is the passion for CHANGE.

Advocacy is defined as helping employees, and their families, with two of the hardest ecosystems on the planet—health CARE and health INSURANCE
YES, they are different.

Employers can change how employees perceive them if they show they CARE. This adds to the well-being of employees. It makes them feel happy, safe, understood, heard, and comfortable with their employer.

An SHRM survey showed that 56 percent of U.S. adults with employer-sponsored health benefits said that whether or not they like their health coverage is a key factor in deciding to stay at their current job.

46 percent said health insurance was either the deciding factor or a positive influence in choosing their current job. Additionally, most workers (71 percent) remain concerned that the cost of their health plans will continue to rise.

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE about the correlation between well-being and health benefits?

TALENT: HIRING & RETENTION.

Did you know that The War on Talent is causing compensation negotiations to become driven by benefits?

A BenefitsPRO article published in January 2023 states that according to a recent Talent.com report, nearly 60% of applicants consider benefits an important element during their job search.

Benefits such as home office stipends, extended parental leave, and fertility treatments will not be unusual to see being offered. Therefore, advocacy is essential for new hires and employees with seniority.

The War on Talent is leaving the employees to call the shots and gravitate towards employers that show employees they MATTER by offering, among other perks, health benefits. Employees are seeking after their well-being, period.

Why is health benefits advocacy so crucial during the hiring and retention process? Because when employees and their families need it, they will be ready to answer questions such as:

  • What do I do now? - the question employees ask after a major diagnosis, accident, or other unfortunate and unexpected healthcare reality.
  • Where or Who is the best provider?
  • How much will this cost?
  • Can I afford it?

How does your health benefits plan TODAY help your employees with the realities of navigating these health CARE and health INSURANCE worlds? How about the realities around QUALITY and COST? Employers and their advisers need to focus more on providing more HELP through education and communication for employees and their families.

How about the straightforward message that employers are still thinking out there like:

  • “I want to make it easy for the employee; I don’t want them to have to think.” This is BAD as bad parenting, letting your kids do whatever they want, free range, without any guidance to navigate real life. You can’t impact healthcare; that has already happened.

Whether someone went to an oncologist or hospital with a 22/100 quality score when diagnosed with cancer or went to the hospital for their MRI and the plan was billed $4,000, then 2 miles down the road, the same MRI with the same machine would cost $400.

  • “I don’t want to get in their business” --- News flash, your business is made up of their “business” whether you like it or not.

Jim Blachek from NextGen and Transparent Health Benefits Adviser has a saying that “without employees, we have no business.” Whether you’re an employer or an adviser, this is TRUE.

Employee health realities impact business results dramatically; HARD dollar and SOFT dollar gains/losses directly correlate to employees’ health and well-being.

Additionally, even if it’s not their health, the employee’s dependents’ health status can have an even more impact on the business. From higher medical expenses typically seen by dependents covered on an employer’s plan to mental aspects of worry that impact productivity, employers need to STOP; as Chief Wellness Officer of Pittsburg Tank and Tower Group Dylan Phelps always says, “being passive in a very active game.”

  • “I’m with a big carrier; they will help”- NO ONE loves your employees like you, and, unfortunately, the current system is riddled with misaligned incentives.

What employers call premium; health insurance carriers call revenue. In addition, healthcare providers, hospitals, and advisers typically make more money when costs go up; employers need to ensure they are taking more control, and ADVOCACY is the way.

BETTER Primary Care

Start with making FUN of the current model!

Does the following sound familiar?

  • You waited 2 weeks for an appointment. You show up and wait in the waiting room for 40 minutes, only to be taken back to the 2nd waiting room to wait for another 15 mins. The doctor comes in and spends 5 minutes with you, and when you ask a question, they tell you that you’ll have to schedule another appointment to talk about that
.
  • How about having to navigate WHERE and WHAT to do next? Where do you go from labs to scans to surgeries to big-level treatments? How much does it cost, and do you even need it?

What can employers do to get BETTER Primary Care?

Let's raise the deductible, take some of those “savings,” and add Direct Primary Care (DPC).

Direct Primary Care is looking after the well-being of employees.

DPC is providing an enhanced primary care experience for employees, and their families, by:

  1. Eliminating the fee-for-service model and including an “all you can eat” model of primary care will remove the cost barrier for members seeking care and becoming more compliant patients.
  2. Increasing the amount of time spent with the doctor. Most studies show that an average office visit is less than 7/8 minutes, DPC visits are a minimum of 30 minutes, and initial patient visits last over an hour.
  3. Provide a plan design structure that promotes compliance; members will have labs, scans, images, and other “downstream” services at NO-COST when they engage and access services in specialized locations – better healthcare for less cost.

Adding the cost of DPC will lower overall costs and improve the experience for employees and their families. If you raise the deductible and get employees to engage, they will be aware of the deductible raise but will not feel the hit of the increase.

This approach allows you to obtain “short-term” lower cost with a longer-term claims management and health improvement strategy in place, which will lower cost, compounded, over the years to come.

By eliminating the obstacles of higher cost, distance, and time away from work, employers will make it easier for employees to be more compliant and lower risk factors. If we add to this equation building personalized health benefits to the diverse workforce, cost, and convenience, make employees appreciate their benefits more, and LOVE their employer, stay, and perform better.

Cancer

Ah, the freaking C-word.

The reality is that all too many employees must deal with cancer, causing physical, emotional, and financial pain while impacting their productivity at work. If we add cancer to daily worry, stress, anger, and sadness, employees' well-being will be at serious risk.

We all need love, but employees with cancer need more love, compassion, kindness, and care from all of us. A proactive plan to help employees and their families deal with the big C are SO important.

According to stats from 2015 thru 2019 shared by The Mesothelioma Center, Asbestos.com:

  • In the fourth fiscal quarter of 2018, the weekly median income for a full-time wage or salary worker was $900, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Even with a typical employer-sponsored health insurance plan, a patient with 25% coinsurance would have monthly out-of-pocket costs of $2,500 for a cancer drug that costs $10,000 each month. That’s nearly 70% of the average American’s monthly income.

  • Nearly 20% of cancer patients and their loved ones surveyed by The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com estimated that they spent more than $20,000 each year in out-of-pocket costs.
  • Forty percent of cancer patients surveyed had difficulties paying medical bills, while 12% lowered the dose of prescription drugs to make them last longer.

 

Cancer: The Role of Employers

According to a July 2022 SHRM article, employers should be ready for a significant increase in costs due to the demand for care for cancer. Cancer treatment is expected to average $10,000 per month for each patient and account for greater than 25 percent of high-cost health insurance claims by 2025.

"For employees, it's nearly impossible to have cancer and 'navigate' the health care system and their lives all at the same time," Mahon explained. "Employers need to consider a solution that prevents unnecessary stress, recovery delays, and employee costs."

Employers can help ease the minds and worries of an employee diagnosed with cancer by:

  • Allowing a flexible work schedule to accommodate doctor's appointments, treatments, and rest.
  • Encouraging time off—from sick leave and paid time off to short-term disability, depending on the person's needs.
  • Checking in with the employee. Create a safe environment for the employee to be honest with their teams and managers about what they need and try to accommodate those needs.
  • Sharing a simple but robust list of available resources through their benefits packages.
  • Providing instructions for how to access their benefits.

Companies should also assess their current benefits packages and ask themselves:

  • Do we have the right tools and resources available to support the mental health and well-being of someone diagnosed with cancer?
  • Do we make navigating health care simple and easy for the employee?
  • Does our health plan offer access to a range of reputable cancer centers with high-quality services?
  • How can our benefits help to relieve some financial burden on our employees?

"When a colleague is diagnosed with cancer, confidentiality and flexibility are key," said Kristina Thomson, senior director of health systems for the American Cancer Society. "Supervisors can support the employee by focusing on plans for how work will get done rather than on the person's medical condition."

We can go on and on sharing stats on how Cancer impacts the lives of employees and their families.

Millions of people deal with it every year at this very moment while you read this. It’s money they don’t have to spend, time out of work they can’t be productive and perform to their highest level, and they feel lost, not knowing where to go and what to do.

Conclusion

This is a great month to show employees we are showing up for them. Employers show employees appreciation by letting them know they CARE for their well-being.

Show them how much you LOVE them by HELPING them with advocacy, communicating and educating them on how to use their health benefits to their fullest, saving them money, increasing their quality of care, and most of all, making sure they take care of their health proactively through Direct Primary Care; it is well-being.

Focus on providing a health benefit plan that can ease their burden, giving them the tools to become better health consumers.

They will take care of your business if you take care of them.

The C Word: WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

SHRM states that some employers assume people with cancer do not want to work or are too ill to work. However, Cancer and Careers research indicates that about 7 in 10 people diagnosed with cancer prefer to continue working during treatment.

The benefits of working include necessities like a paycheck and insurance but feelings of normalcy, identity, routine, productivity, and community. Employers must consider a solution that prevents unnecessary stress, recovery delays, and employee costs. For employees, it's nearly impossible to have cancer and 'navigate' the health care system and their lives simultaneously.

Strong emotions like worry, stress, sadness, and anger fuel diseases. When employers build their health benefits plan, it is not just about the numbers but about saving lives. Looking for the correlation between health benefits and the well-being of employees and their families shows LOVE; serving them with PASSION must be the ultimate goal.

 

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