Benefits Buzz

Creating a purpose-driven culture where every employee has a voice and feels comfortable being a leader is a key component to short-term and long-term buy-in of your business’ goals and objectives. Does your business encourage leading from any seat? We talk about what to look for, what the benefits are, and what you can do to develop a lead-from-any-seat culture.

Crucial conversations are just that … crucial. Your ability to have important, results-based conversations with employees help promote employee growth and lead to business success. The way you go about crucial conversations matters. We chat with an industry expert to give you tips on how to hold crucial conversations that will make a difference for your business and your employees.

Check out Barbara Hauser's work at VitalSmarts.com and subscribe to the Crucial Skills newsletter.

Many employers, and specifically HR teams, whose employees pivoted to work-from-home during the pandemic are facing a tough question soon: Should our employees return to the office? When is the right time? What does our company culture look like if they don’t return? Our Chief HR Officer Melanie Tinto shares her thought processes and experiences in facing the same questions.

In the middle of last year, tens of millions of Americans were working from home to stay socially distant. This was a stark change for many, which led to potential mental health issues emerging. Now, with more employers bringing employees back to the office, a return to the daily grind also presents some mental health issues. We have a couple experts with us to talk about the current state of mental health in the workplace.

Our guest Trevor Wilkerson says you should watch for the following symptoms from your colleagues:

Companies such as Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft are incorporating some sort of work-from-home model permanently for some or all of their employees. They’re not alone. Due to this, the world of HR recruiting and retention will dramatically change. Many employers will no longer be confined to an office’s location in recruiting talent. But there are challenges too. We chat with our own Kurtis Karn to discuss this timely topic.

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 allows workers who have been involuntarily terminated or experienced a reduction in hours to continue their employer health insurance coverage under COBRA with a 100 percent subsidy. This has led to increased interest in COBRA and compliance. We chat with an expert on some questions we fielded from employers at a recent webinar.

We answer even more of your COBRA ARPA questions on our blog: https://www.wexinc.com/insights/blogs/health/

Learn more about Benefit Comply on their website: https://benefitcomply.com/

Questions our guest provides his thoughts on: 

The way we collaborate and converse with our co-workers has evolved considerably in the last year. What has changed? What have we learned? And what does it mean going forward? Today’s guest, Whitney Johnson, has written a lot about the importance of listening and learning for today’s leaders. She joins us to discuss what she’s learned over the last year about how we communicate and what our leaders can take from it.

Get more from Whitney at: https://whitneyjohnson.com/

Does it feel like you are addressing the same team performance issues over and over again, no matter what you try? The issues, and the solutions don’t work, can be costly. Fortunately, there’s a way you can identify, diagnose, and address these issues for good.

Open enrollment took on a new, virtual format for many in 2020 due to work-from-home setups and the need to socially distance. Of those who conducted a virtual open enrollment, 85 percent said they will continue to do so in future years. Why did so many employers prefer virtual open enrollment? And what can you do to re-make yours in 2021? We share one employer's virtual fair success story

Everyone can make an impact. That’s at the heart of creating a purpose-driven workforce. And that’s one reason diversity and inclusion are so important in the workplace, because you can’t be your best unless everyone has a voice. Gimbala Sankare, who is our director of global talent acquisition and diversity & inclusion, joins us to define diversity and inclusion, and to share why these topics matter so much today.