Corporate Wellness Blog

The best worker recognition practices are often the simplest.  

Here’s one that’s lately been adopted at the publishing corporation where I work –  a progam called “See something good, say something good.”  It’s a way for personnel to bring positive attention to things that their coworkers, managers and the company’s different departments do well.

How it works –  the company provides colorful index cards, placing them conspicuously in several commonly traveled areas in the building. When workers and supervisors want to publically recognize someone else’s efforts, they can grab a card and fill it out. It takes very little time.

When the index card is filled out, the employee drops it into a wrapped box (there are two in the building).  The boxes are later collected and the cards displayed in a room the organization uses periodically for meetings, presentations and quarterly employee appreciation events.

In order to build awareness and participation in “Say Something Good,” management put up fliers around the building, so individuals  from every department can see them, as well as visitors and job applicants who’ve come in for interviews.

The health promotion program, which was originally thought up by the head of our product advertising division, doesn’t cost anything apart from the cost of the index cards and paper. There’s minimal administration time, and it takes staff only a moment or two to fill out a card on a fellow employee’s behalf.

But the return is considerable, and the recognition possibilities are endless. It’s a good way to improve morale, encourage productivity and differentiate the company culture from work environments where the negative things seem to get the lion’s share of the attention.

When it comes to health promotion programs, it could be tough to get past all the hype. Here is how to avoid the three most common traps corporations fall into.

Trap #1.  The “one-size-fits-all” approach

For good reason, your company does not simply copy other firms’ 401(k) plans or compensation designs. Yet, all too often, firms adopt ill-fitting wellness programs based on things that have worked elsewhere.

Your CFO may have seen data on the cost savings other businesss have achieved via certain wellness incentives. Or an old colleague of your CEO swears by the wellness program at his or her own firm.

In response, the top brass pushes for a copycat health promotion program – for instance, offering tobacco use cessation incentives.

That might  be a good idea, since tobacco-related diseases are a key driver of your company’s healthcare costs. But how can you be sure? is it good enough to have your personnel undergo a health risk appraisal?

Usually, the answer is no.

Health risk appraisals are a great starting place, but it’s often a mistake to stop there.  The assessments help you get a feel for what your employees’ baseline physical problems are before you try to design a wellness program around them.

This creates rough outlines of what your health promotion program objectives must be and where to target worker programs. When you want the maximum bang for your wellness buck, you’ll have to dig a little deeper for information. Key places to look –

• your organization’s medical-claims breakdown for the last three years

• prescription-drug claims

• worker absence information

• EAP use

• disability claims, and

• worker demographics (workers’ ethnic, gender, age and dependent coverage status points to greater – and lesser – health risks associated with each category).

Trap #2. Leaving the wellness program on autopilot

A lot of health promotion programs often get off to a good start and then fizzle out. Businesss are left wondering what went wrong. Their mistake –  They failed to revisit the health promotion program on an ongoing basis – at least every other year.

Why it’s vital –  Your cost-drivers can easily shift as staff members come and go from the organization.

Example –  This year, emphysema and other tobacco use diseases could  be your biggest cost driver. But two years from now, it could be obesity and diabetes.

Unless you continuously track the wellness program and adjust your objectives as necessary, you might not be prepared to meet those new challenges.

Trap #3. Unrealistic expectations

Usually, it takes at least a year and a half for employers to break even on the cost of a health promotion program.  As a rule of thumb, the typical program cost per employee per month to the employer is about $3 to $5.

If, after three years, you still aren’t seeing results, something went wrong. Currently, the benchmark Return On Investment (ROI) after the third year of a health promotion program is $4 to $5 saved for every dollar spent.

How can you manage the cost in the short-term? In many cases, employers pass the cost of the wellness program on to the workforce. for  instance, let’s say you want to roll out a wellness program effective January 1 (or whatever your first day is of the new plan year).

You can roll that $3 to $5 per worker per month cost directly into the employee’s monthly share of their healthcare premium. That makes the health promotion program a budget-neutral expense for your business.

But remember –  You get what you pay for – both in time and money invested.  The less guesswork that’s involved in the planning and execution, the better the chance for success.

Variable compensation could be a great way to satisfy demand for higher pay while addressing upper-level management’s need to boost productivity and keep base salaries under control.

But there are some major pitfalls.  Here are two proven ways to avoid the most common legal and return on investment risks.

Non-exempt employees

Beware if you use variable comp as a pay-for-performance strategy for hourly employees. Reason –  It’s easy to inadvertently run afoul of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime rules.

Under FLSA, you must recalculate employees’ hourly wages to include all variable pay (like individual or departmental bonuses) when figuring overtime compensation.

Failure to do so could cost your organization more in penalties and back-wage payments than the variable comp plan saved on the front end.

So it’s a good idea to double-check with Payroll to be sure the department knows to make OT adjustments after hourly employees receive bonuses.

Reward the right things

In order to make the criteria for bonuses easier for workers to understand and management to measure, many firms prefer using strictly objective measurements. Example –  the plan may pay out based on how much money workers save their department in a year.

But what happens if staff members cut corners – on safety, service, quality, etc. – to reach the goal?

At some firms, staff are still rewarded with additional pay, even though their actions potentially did more harm than good to the bottom line. for best results –

• set behavioral criteria for bonuses as well as economic ones, and

• consider using a mix of firm-wide, departmental and individual economic performance measures.

Shopping for heath plans through a broker is a fact of life for the vast majority of corporations. But how well is your broker meeting your needs?

And how can you work together better to minimize costs while getting maximum bang for your organization’s benefits buck?

What’s New in Benefits and Compensation conducted an exclusive survey of 195 subscribers to determine how they view their company’s relationship with their brokers. Here is what they said –

Half see room for improvement

The good news – Nearly half of your colleagues rate their relationship with their current broker as “excellent.” But that means the other half see some room for improvement.

Thirty-nine% of respondents rated their broker relationship as satisfactory and said they were at least “reasonably happy.” the remaining 11% noted “unpleasant surprises” while 4% are actively considering a switch.

Tools for making buying decisions

Of course, the No. 1 reason any business works through a broker is to find the best deals on health benefits. But many of your peers pointed to several areas where their brokers could help make their lives a little easier.

First and foremost, your peers say they’d love for their brokers to provide user-friendly – but thorough – return on investment data they can use to benchmark different plans.

It’s worth discussing with your broker how much arm-twisting the broker can do with health plan carriers to get key data in your hands. Two specific areas of data benefits pros say they’d like help from brokers –

• obtaining and sharing claims cost data to compare to premiums, and

• benchmarking your typical plan costs against those of similar-sized firms in the region.

Regrettably, claims cost data is often hard to pry loose from insurers, at least for smaller businesss’ plans.

Reason –  Without this data, it’s tougher to judge when your premium rate adjustment at renewal time is fair. Fewer than half of respondents (46.3%) say they’ve ever discussed such information with their brokers.

Obtaining benchmarking data on similar-sized plans assists you see how comparably your costs and plan designs stack up in your area. Roughly 43 percent of respondents say they’re armed with at least some of this info when it comes time to decide whether to stay with the existing plan.

Earlier renewals

It’s worth talking with your broker about ways to push for the earliest possible renewals – and strategies for making sure your carrier does not hit you with any unpleasant surprises.

One notorious game insurance businesses play with businesss’ plans is to wait until the last moment to reveal the new premiums at renewal. That way, there’s less time for negotiation – or to shop around with the insurer’s competitors.

About 28 percent of respondents report getting their renewals about 30 days before the rate kicks in. Different brokers use different benchmarks for securing renewals. A minority of respondents (19.5%) have seen them as early as 90 days ahead.

Taking work off HR/Benefits’ plate

The benefits brokerage marketplace is highly competitive. Some brokers attempt to set themselves apart by offering clients so-called value-added services.

Among your peers, the most well-liked services are those which relieve the company’s HR/ benefits manager of time-consuming tasks. Some examples –

• investigating  plan documents

• Auditing (and, if needed, reconciling) carrier bills for errors

• monitoring plans for compliance (HIPAA, COBRA, etc.)

• offering tech support for a benefits intranet and/or staff member self-service software, and/or

• helping with worker education.

Which costs your business more – workers who miss work or ones who show up physically but take a mental PTO day?

For most corporations, it’s the latter. So why do even savvy upper managers and finance directors (we’re not just talking about the bean-counters) worry about absenteeism while downplaying so-called presenteeism as a drain on business productivity, not to mention the compensation and benefits budget?

In some cases, senior managers seem to think that admitting that presenteeism even exists at the firm is akin to saying, “We are a poorly run company.” In reality, presenteeism exists in every workplace.

Virtually every employee, manager, supervisor and executive who has ever tried to “tough it out” at work when he or she’s been sick has been a presentee on those days.

So has anyone who’s ever been distracted at work by non-work issues – whether it’s spending the day trying to resolve an individual financial matter, checking on a sick child at home or constantly checking for scoring updates from a sporting event.

In brief, unless we’re to believe that every staff member is productive every single day, no business in the world is immune from presenteeism.

Some corporations that don’t bury their heads in the sand about presenteeism still don’t track it. Why? Typically, there’s a belief that chronic presentees eventually get rooted out of the company.

And short of watching over every other employee’s shoulder throughout the workday, it’s too challenging (and even counterproductive) to attempt to estimate the cost to the corporation.

Here are some strategies that firms have used to not only measure the cost but also reduce the problem.

Creating a cost estimate

If your corporation is like most, senior management worries endlessly about health benefit costs without realizing undetected presenteeism is just as costly, but easier to control.

Consider these facts from a recent CSG study – Almost 10 percent of the typical annually pay and benefits

budget is spent on non-productive (but treatable) workers.

Add in employees who call out at the last second and the percentage rises to 17%, according to SHRM.

But how do you estimate the actual dollars-and-cents cost to your firm?

Let’s assume you have 50 personnel, who make an average $40,000 a year. Over the while the year, the average worker is non-productive 2.5  percent of the time, because of assorted personal issues or minor diseases that serve as distractions.

In this instance, presenteeism costs your business $50,000 a year. If you’ve a 5% presenteeism rate, the figure shoots up to $100,000.

While it’s impossible to entirely stamp out presenteeism, even small reductions in presenteeism add up to big bucks in controlling compensation and benefit costs.

The next step, of course, is doing something about the issue. Broadly speaking, the process ordinarily works in three phases –

• review current policies and procedures for things that accidentally increase presenteeism

• get supervisors and staff members involved on the front end, and

• stress the importance of work-life programs to upper management and supervisors.

Let’s look at each area to see how they work in real-life practice.

Unintentional effects

Three common ways many firms try to cut absenteeism often increase presenteeism –

1. Over-stressing attendance in employee’s annual reviews

2. Having supervisors check up on employees who take sick days to verify they are really ill, and/or

3. Disciplining personnel for last-moment sick callouts.

From a practical and cost standpoint, the best solution may  be to switch from separate vacation and sick-day benefits to a single paid time off (PTO) bank.

When folks have no-questions-asked control over their off days, they’re sometimes more likely to use a PTO day when they’re sick.  Of course, you know that PTO carries some risks of its own.

Early detection

Fewer than one business in 10 gets both managers and staff members involved in the process of spotting and eliminating presenteeism.

That’s too bad, says advisor Mary Beth Chalk, because it can been done pretty easily.

Ask a sampling of employees to rate how energetic and productive they ordinarily feel at work, on a percentage scale. Have supervisors estimate their staff as well. Then split the difference.

The result is a pretty good barometer of your organization’s current and future presenteeism risk.

Work-life balance

Anything you can do to promote work-life programs at your firm can have a positive effect on the bottom line. Proven ideas include –

• rewarding supervisors who support flexible work arrangements

• sending sick personnel home

• cover onsite flu shots, and

• Actively promote your existing Staff Member Assistance Program.

Any benefits HR/manager can adopt these ways to make employees feel more appreciated.

The common thread –  using your own communication skills as a powerful tool for improveing morale.

1. Put in face time

When time permits, managers may want to put in some “face time” with personnel. This in and of itself is a kind of employee recognition. Example –  There’s a lot of value in simply walking around the building, chatting with personnel.  Ask personnel about the personal items they display at their workstations.

In the short-term, folks will notice and appreciate your interest.  Long-term, this may inspire ideas for rewards and incentive programs.  The same technique works at  firms with multiple locations.  Make a site visit to get a feel for the morale. This is much cheaper – and often more effective – than designing a formal benefits survey.

2. Send ‘em personalized stuff

Looking for a simple way to show employees that HR/Benefits cares? Create a template from which you are able to send customized “Welcome” letters to new hires or “Happy Anniversary” notes for employees’ business anniversaries.

3. Target overlooked employees

Most firms have staff members (e.g. part-timers) who aren’t eligible for the 401(k), medical plan and other company-sponsored benefits.  Small gifts help firms connect with these often-overlooked staff members.

Example –  on the first day of spring, send them a packet of flower seeds and attached a note from Benefits. Burston-Marsteller Worldwide has used this simple, low-cost idea and gotten good results.

Looking for recognition ideas that get results?  Here are two keys to success –

The most common characteristics of high-Return On Investment recognition programs – regardless of their monentary value – are their spontaneity and perceived value by personnel themselves.

In reality, the cost of some of most effective spot awards and bonuses often amount to less than 1% of base pay – and the awards don’t even have to be given in cash.

Less sense of entitlement

Part of the problem with traditional end-of-year or quarterly bonuses (apart from the fact that they cost employers an average of 10 percent of base pay) is that workers expect to receive them for reaching certain goals.

Sometimes employees simply expect it no matter what. for example, at many firms, an annual holiday bonus is viewed as an entitlement and individuals  inevitably grumble that it’s not high enough. on the flip side, with spontaneous awards and bonuses, employees are often pleasantly surprised.

Benefits consultant Ken Stahlmann spells out four keys to making the latter type of awards work, even if they’re lower in cost –

1. Creativity is crucial

The most effective programs usually give out awards weekly or monthly.  To avoid over-stretching the budget – and avoid a ho-hum attitude establishing in – creativity is a must.

One way that never gets old –  combining time off with a second, non-cash award. Example –  One firm gives a half-day off in combo with movie passes once a month.

Another, at weekly staff meetings, holds a random drawing for a dinner gift certificate, plus permission to leave work early once.

2. Make it personal

Rewards have more lasting impact when they’re geared to individuals ’s personal needs or interests. Two examples –

• one firm with many foreign-born, low-wage personnel awards a $20 pre-compensated phone card after 90 days of service, and a $100 card for outstanding work, and

• Another corporation with a lot of sports nuts took a few top-performers to a ball game. Managers said it was the best $200 they’ve ever spent in terms of building ongoing enthusiasm.

3. Add structure

The awards may seem spur of the moment, but top programs have a fixed budget and structure set before anything is handed out. Example –  One retail firm awards “points” for good work. Folks can then trade in their points for store merchandise.

By letting individuals  bank points for additional valuable rewards, the business saw a solid jump in retention.

Other corporations prefer to let staff reward each other. for  instance, a small healthcare provider keeps a “goodies box” on-site – compensated for in petty cash and stocked by staff themselves.

When someone spots a coworker going the extra mile, he or she pulls out a prize and awards it.

The program is a gigantic hit –  It’s immediate and personal, yet structured.

4. Don’t let good intentions backfire

Most spot awards go over well. But keep these four issues in mind –

• For most cash or cash-value awards, there are tax implications (just as with traditional bonuses)

• Awards need to be spread around or else resentment can creep in

• Make certain honorees don’t mind being the center of attention (some firms have accidentally alienated individuals  they tried to reward), and

• Make sure the reward is something people  actually want. One firm that awarded a VIP parking space next to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) found no one used it. No one wanted the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) knowing what time he or she came and left.

Looking for ways to increase morale, productivity and retention? Spot awards might  be the way to go.

They’re the most well-liked recognition incentives among workforce, a recent study  shows.  The best part –  the incentives generally amount to less than 1% of base pay. That also can makes this option attractive to C-levels.  And the awards don’t even have to be given in cash.

Spontaneity grabs ‘em

Traditional end-of-year or quarterly bonuses cost companys an typical of 10 percent of base pay yet often have a lower payoff in morale and retention.

Reason – Workers appreciate them less because they expect to receive them for reaching certain goals. By their nature spot awards are spontaneous and compensated out immediately. Honorees are pleasantly surprised and see the organization values their work.

Here are four keys to successful spot bonus programs, as reported by benefits advisor Ken Stahlmann –

1. Creativity is crucial

The most effective programs usually give out awards weekly or monthly.  To avoid over-stretching the budget – and avoid a ho-hum attitude setting in – creativity is a must.

One way that never gets old –  combining time off with a second, non-cash award.

Example –  One firm gives a half-day off in combo with movie passes once a month. Another, at weekly staff meetings, holds a random drawing for a dinner gift certificate, plus permission to leave work early once.

2. Make it personal

Rewards have more lasting impact when they’re geared to individuals ’s personal needs or interests. Two examples –

• one firm with many foreign-born, low-wage workforce awards a $20 pre-compensated phone card after 90 days of service, and a $100 card for outstanding work, and

• Another firm with a lot of sports nuts took a few top-performers to a ball game. Managers said it was the best $200 they’ve ever spent respecting creating ongoing enthusiasm.

3. Add structure

The awards might seem spur of the moment, but the most effective programs have a fixed budget and structure set before anything is handed out.

Example –  One retail firm awards “points” for good work. Folks can then trade in their points for store merchandise. By letting individuals  bank points for more valuable rewards, the business saw a solid jump in retention.

Other businesses prefer to let staff reward each other. for example, a small healthcare provider keeps a “goodies box” onsite – compensated for in petty cash and stocked by staff themselves.

When someone spots a coworker going the additional mile, he or she pulls out a prize and awards it.

The program is a gigantic hit –  It’s immediate and personal, yet structured.

4. Don’t let good intentions backfire

Most spot awards go over well. But keep these issues in mind –

• For most cash or cash-value awards, there are tax implications (just as with traditional bonuses)

• Awards need to be spread around or else resentment can creep in

• Make sure honorees don’t mind being the center of attention (some firms have accidentally alienated individuals  they tried to reward), and

• Be sure the reward is something people  actually want. One firm that awarded a VIP parking space next to the CEO found no one used it. No one wanted the CEO knowing what time he or she came and left.

In the last few years, there’s been a lot of publicity about the fast-growing crime of identity theft. More than half happen in the worksite. Benefits and compensation files are the most vulnerable targets.

The scariest part –  Victims of benefits-related ID theft often make out worse than those who fall prey to the more common variety.  The bad guys are ahead of investigators after such thefts occur, and are often very good at covering their tracks.

Additionally, because benefits ID-theft is a relatively new kind of crime, there’s no well-established system for victims, plan sponsors and providers to set things straight after the fact.

401(k) accounts a prime target

Not surprisingly, employees’ 401(k) accounts have become the primary target for benefits thieves.  An alarming MSNBC news report showed just how easy it can be for thieves to tap into an employee’s 401(k) accounts – If an online account gets hacked into or account paperwork falls into the wrong hands, it takes only several mouse clicks to wipe out the victim’s retirement savings.

With typical credit-card or bank account fraud, victims need only call their card issuer or bank, report the crime and refuse to pay for an item. But 401(k) theft is much, much harder to resolve.

Three immense obstacles –

1. Money in 401(k) accounts isn’t federally insured, like a bank account.

2. 401(k) accounts rarely – when ever – come with automatic identity theft protection from the provider, like credit cards.

3. Even when the theft is successfully resolved, the situation becomes an ERISA nightmare for plan sponsors, because your corporation also has to account for the way the theft affected the growth of the employee’s account before the money was restored.

Many EAPS fall into a common – and hazardous – category –  Management thinks the program is great, but staff think it’s a waste. But it doesn’t have to be that way if you have an EAP or are considering one.

Seventy-three percent of all firms (59 percent of small employers) have an EAP. But how well does the average employee assistance program work? Not as well as we’d hope. A Mid America Coalition on Healthcare study found –

• just 50% of 6,400 personnel surveyed said they’d use the employee assistance program when they felt overwhelmed by personal issues, and

• one-third said they didn’t even know how to access its resources.

The good news –  Firms like yours have seen dramatic improvements in three relatively simple steps

1. Employee attitude surveys

The best starting place –  Take the pulse of your personnel with a short, confidential attitude survey.

Objectives –  Ask workers if they know how to use the EAP’s resources. Then test workers’ knowledge and opinions of depression and other personal issues that may affect their worksite performance and/or safety. In the final section, determine how workers would handle a serious personal issue.

In other words, figure out where your people  would likely turn for help. Would staff members seek out the EAP? Would they prefer to discuss the issue with their family doctor? A mental health expert?

The Mid America Coalition’s survey remains an great design model from which to craft a recent survey for your own personnel.

2. Promote EAP through education

Your survey data ought to help you pinpoint areas where staff members need more education about your EAP. Some awareness-increaseing techniques that have gotten results –

• Lunch-and-learn sessions. Possible topics include dealing with personal-finance stress, caring for elderly parents, understanding depression or dealing with a dependent who’s potential psychological health issues.

• Worker newsletter. If you have a benefits newsletter, spotlight the EAP from time to time. Some businesses without newsletters have done e-mail campaigns or targeted mailings instead.

• Workplace posters spotlighting EAP.  The ones that work best are often posters designed around a specific theme (e.g., anxiety about personal debt) rather than a general “need help?” message. In addition to posters, you might want to distribute wallet cards with employee assistance program (EAP) contact info.

Need help locating educational material? There’s lots of free EAP-related brochures and FAQs here. Do not forget –  When doing employee assistance program (EAP) education, constantly remind employees that the program is strictly confidential.

3. Be sure to work with supervisors

For legal reasons, supervisors need to tread carefully when they suspect an worker has a mental health issue.

What you don’t want –  supervisors taking disciplinary actions without consulting HR or playing amateur psychologist and “diagnosing” the employee’s problems. Here’s a PDF of some proven tips and talking points for doing supervisor-specific EAP education.

Medical Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance –  Beware non-discrimination issues

HIPAA’s non-discrimination rules impact both mental health benefits and general health plans. Under current interpretations, medical plans can no longer have benefits exclusions that deny benefits for injuries resulting directly or indirectly from pre-existing mental health issues.

That’s true even when the psychological condition wasn’t diagnosed until after the injury and even when the injury was self-inflicted. Example –  Suppose an worker gets hurt in a worksite accident he or she caused. After the fact, the worker is diagnosed with a mood disorder that previously escaped detection by the employee’s doctor.

Under current regs, health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA)-covered plans can’t deny benefits. This puts companys in a bind. Mental health issues like depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder are one of the medical conditions that’re most likely to go undiagnosed or underdiagnosed.

That’s why, in most organizations, having a strong employee assistance program (EAP) is one of your best compliance tools.