HR Trends

Belonging is one of the most important aspects of the employee experience in today’s world of work. We talk to two powerful HR leaders, Khady Gaye of United Airlines and Kimberly Bowen of Unum, on how you can help create a culture of genuine care.

Leave has never been more important to employees than it is right now. But HR has also never had more on its plate. Listen as Unum leave experts discuss the policies, practices and technology that can make the difference between a best-in-class employee leave experience and one that misses the mark, putting your attraction and retention efforts at risk.

·       A perfect storm. Rising employee expectations, a tough labor market and increasing legal complexity are creating a perfect storm for leave management professionals. HR’s role has become increasingly strategic, and they can’t spend time being bogged down in managing administrative tasks. [02:52]

·       Emerging importance of employee experience. Nationally, employers have shifted from focusing on paid leave to making the leave experience easier and more personalized. [05:35]

·       Bad experiences work against your recruitment and retention goals. If you have great policies, but people don’t know about them or you make it hard to use them, that’s a bad experience. Education and ease of use are critical to success. Employers also need to have holistic policies that address their entire employee population, instead of just focusing on families with children. For example, caregiving needs are growing for employees with aging parents. [07:32]

·       Combine self-service, planning tools and human interaction for the best experience. Compliance is important, but don’t forget that every leave represents a challenging life event for employees.[10:15]

·       Look for ways to take the burden off HR’s shoulders.  The result will be higher retention and more people returning from leave ready to work. [14:06]

 Featured speakers
Ellen McCann
Assistant Vice President, Leave Solutions, Unum Group 

Ellen McCann serves as a leading expert in applying benefits and benefits technology to power modern solutions to more effective employee leave programs, stronger regulatory compliance and enhanced digital HR transformation. In this role, she combines more than 30 years of employment law experience with practical knowledge of the complexities of leave and accommodation management to help develop and create solutions that enable employers to address the challenges of leave and accommodations. She is an acclaimed national speaker on leave management issues including FMLA and ADA, and is a certified trainer for SHRM and CE credit.

Miyuki Iwahashi
Assistant Vice President, Leave Tech Solutions, Unum Group 

Miyuki Iwahashi drives the product strategy for new enhancements for Unum Leave Logic – an industry-leading leave education and planning SaaS solution – and supports initiatives for Unum’s rapidly expanding solutions business. In this role, Miyuki interacts with employers, employees and partners to understand how technology solutions can enhance the employee experience and revolutionize the future of leave in the workplace. Prior to joining Unum, Miyuki pioneered innovative employee programs, including a redesign of an employee-centered leave program and was recognized for her work.

Employee benefits have taken a huge leap in importance, according to two new studies from the insurance-industry research group LIMRA. Listen as LIMRA’s Kelly Landry and Unum Group’s Cindy Nevers discuss five mega trends expected to change the industry – and enrollment tips for employers to implement now. The full reports are available to LIMRA members, and previewed in this special episode for HR Trends listeners. 

• The studies: The first annual BEAT (Benefits and Employee Attitude) Tracker study surveyed employees to determine how benefits intersect with employee attitudes toward work. Harnessing Growth and Seizing Opportunity: The Future of Workforce Benefits presents megatrends to watch in the next several years, distilled from the insights of key industry stakeholders. [04:36]
• See the free LIMRA infographic [A1] on what employees think about work. [07:21]
• Money isn’t everything, especially for millennials: Only about 30% of millennials said salary was the top reason to choose an employer. The rest prioritized factors like work/life balance, flexibility and benefits. [10:38]
• Benefits education and communication are vitally important: All stakeholders agree that helping employees understand their benefits is of mounting importance, especially for supplemental benefits.
•  Rethink the emphasis on total self-service for benefits, especially for younger workers who have less experience buying and using insurance coverage [12:00]
• More is more: There is a strong correlation between employee satisfaction and the number of benefitsoffered. With five generations in the workforce, employers need to offer a large number of benefits employees can choose from based on their individual circumstances. See the free LIMRA infographic on what employees think about benefits. [20:38]
• Rethink your benefits spend: Because employees value quantity and choice, it may not always make senseto commit the vast majority of benefits spending to offering the most generous health insurance plan. Supplementing a less generous plan with voluntary benefits like accident and critical illness can offer similar protection for employees while allowing them to tailor benefits to fit their age, lifestyle, income and other circumstances. [23:38]
• Brokers aren’t going anywhere, but their role will likely change: As it gets easier to obtain digital quotes for benefits, employers will call upon brokers more for advice, guidance and strategy consultation [26:07]
•  Enlisting leadership in the communication effort will make employees feel more valued. [32:00]

Featured speakers 

Kimberly Landry
Associate Research Director, LIMRA

Kimberly Landry is an Associate Research Director for Workplace Benefits Research at LIMRA. She conducts quantitative and qualitative research on hot topics within the employee benefits industry, with a specific focus on employer and employee perspectives. 

 Cindy Nevers
National Sales Leader Voluntary Benefits, Unum Group 

In her more than 30 years with Unum Group, Cindy Nevers has held a wide range of leadership roles for both Unum and Colonial Life brands. She has led oversight for Group Client Services, Global Services/Project Implementation & Journey transformation, Field Operations and Field Compensation, and Client Management. Cindy led national broker strategy at Colonial Life and most recently became the National Sales Leader for Voluntary Benefits at Unum.  

As a talent strategist in this tight labor market, Robin gives her insights on finding ways to encourage internal mobility and expanding the candidate pool by looking at skills instead of job descriptions. And why is Robin skeptical of candidate-matching software? Listen to find out. 

Burnout is at epidemic levels in the U.S. and innovative companies are tackling this problem head-on. Adam – a winner of the HR Tech Product of the Year – discusses the deeply personal stories that led to his company’s creation. “Time off hasn’t been touched in decades,” he says. “There has to be a better way to optimize and utilize it.” Listen to find out how is AI being leveraged to improve employee experience.

“Employee leave needs to be revolutionized,” says Ellen McCann. Listen to this acclaimed national thought leader as Amanda Neely presents some key questions employers have about leave. We cover the vital importance of employee education, how digital access allows employees to do their own scenario planning, and how tech opens up holistic experiences like lactation rooms and mental health support.

The HR Tech conference is no longer about the latest gadget – it’s about the end results. Listen as Steve discusses how businesses can draw a straight line from employee well-being to increased productivity, talent retention and absenteeism reduction – with programs and software that create huge impacts for employees and their families alike. He also discusses what’s next for HR tech in 2023. 

Why is an insurance carrier at Workday Rising? Rich and Polly relate how Unum was the first carrier to become a software partner with Workday®, allowing the two systems to directly exchange data in real time without file feeds. Listen to learn how Unum HR Connect helps Workday users reclaim time spent on benefits administration, leave management and evidence of insurability. 

As a talent expert, Tim weighs in on the high level of venture capital investment being directed at HR tech and what it means for the future of attracting and retaining employees. Listen to hear him discuss why HR needs to improve quantitative success metrics and devise new ways to access and develop talent in a labor shortage that is not going away anytime soon. 

Navigating the transition from working professional to working mom is no mean feat. Denise Chase of The Mom Project stops by to talk about her own journey, as well as how the Mom Project is changing the script and accelerating female workforce participation. Listen as she discusses best practices for getting parents back in to the workforce and increasing their productivity.