Category Archives: Employee Health

8 Things to Include in Your Work From Home Benefits Plan

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If your team has gone remote due to COVID-19, you already know how difficult it can be to make sure employees are feeling valued and appreciated. Even though employees are saving time on their commute, studies have shown that, on average, the lockdown workday is 48.5 minutes longer. Which means it’s more important than ever for employers to get creative when it comes to commending their team’s hard work. Including a Work From Home Plan as part of your benefits package can help you make sure your remote employees are being rewarded for their efforts.

Here are 8 things to include in your Work From Home Benefits Plan:

1. Monthly Lunch Stipend for Managers

Pre-COVID, many companies would have perks like free lunches a few times a month. Company-wide lunches aren’t feasible in the current climate however, giving managers a monthly lunch stipend to treat their team to take-out or delivery meals is a great way to ensure team members feel appreciated.

2. Delivery Lunch for Employee of the Month

In the same vein, you may not be able to take your star employees out for a one-on-one meal but you could surprise them with a Postmates or UberEats gift card so they can treat themselves.

3. Monthly Coffee & Tea Stipend

Gearing up for the day by sipping on coffee with your co-workers is a delightful aspect of working in an office. Keep the caffeinated delight going by sending employees monthly credit to a coffee shop or coffee bean subscription service.

4. Virtual Gym Membership

It’s easy to get so overloaded when working from home that employees aren’t incentivized to move, which can be detrimental to their overall health. Since most gyms are currently closed or limited, offering a virtual gym membership can help keep your team healthy and happy. Hosting a group Zoom class with a certified instructor could be a fun way to keep each other motivated and give employees permission to step away from their emails in order to work out.

5. Mental Health App Subscription

Lockdown can be especially difficult for people who are living alone—people across the country are struggling with feeling isolated and depressed. Long-term, this can mean employees feel unmotivated, listless, and less productive. Including a mental health app like TalkSpace for therapy or Headspace for meditation in your Work From Home plan will help employees stay on top of their mental health.

6. Telemedicine and Wellness Checks

Telemedicine has been growing in popularity the past few years, for good reason—it can reduce medical costs and save patients a trip to the clinic or hospital. Now with the pandemic in full swing in the US, telemedicine has exploded in popularity and it’s helping people across the country keep hospital waiting rooms clear for COVID-19 patients while limiting their own exposure to the virus.

7. Wifi or Cell Phone Bill Reimbursement

Instead of using a company phone line or logging onto office internet, employees are taking on the burden of these expenses themselves. Consider offering reimbursement for a percentage of their home internet or cell phone bill to offset the expenditure.

8. Send a Care Package

When it comes to care packages, a little bit of thought goes a long way. Whether you’re sending special company swag or a customized basket of their favorite snacks, getting a little something at their door can help employees feel connected to company culture even when they’re working from home.

BONUS

If your employees live locally, take a few hours to show up (masked-up, of course) to their door with a thoughtful physical gift or care package. The personal touch of seeing their boss in person, even from a distance, can be incredibly meaningful.

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Need help doing an Employee Benefits Audit? Email us at marketing@www.corpstrat.com.

Effective Ways to Manage Employees in a Remote Environment: Company Culture

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In order to create and maintain great company culture, employers are focused on ensuring their staff is motivated, team-oriented, and happy to stay with the company for the long haul. A mere six months ago, this meant company culture was all about happy hours, off-site team outings, and in-office communication and rapport. Essentially, creating ways for employees to interact with one another in positive ways, both within and outside of a work context. Cut to today: employees are no longer in shared spaces, teams can’t gather for meetings or activities, and all communication occurs virtually. Read on as we discuss how to maintain company culture when the workplace landscape has transformed so drastically.

The Danger

Zoom meeting fatigue. Lowered productivity. Ineffective communication. Unmotivated team members. These are all the dangers that occur when teams go remote. Underlying all these symptoms is the larger problem: company culture may be at risk of dying. As teams around the world are planning to stay remote for the foreseeable future, the question on everyone’s mind is: how can you maintain company culture in a remote environment? 

How to Avoid

Everything we’ve mentioned so far may sound dire, but we promise there are ways to adapt your company culture so it can thrive even in a remote environment. Some of these tweaks may not alter things overnight, we all have to work together to gradually adapt to our changing world. However, our aim is to help you develop a mindset so you can find creative solutions to kickstart your company culture in these uncertain times.

Our first suggestion is to have meetings with meaning. It makes sense why many people find giant, 20+ person Zoom meetings exhausting—it’s hard to focus, they have to constantly fight to be heard, and technical errors can make meetings run long. Our solution is to get creative, perhaps you can break your team into smaller pods. Then you can keep larger team meetings succinct and smaller pods can break out into separate meetings in which they can feel seen and heard and be given clear instructions. This way, employees can feel more comfortable asking questions and continue building rapport. 

Second, never underestimate the power of employee feedback. We know employers are doing everything in their power to maintain culture but blindspots occur despite the best intentions. It may be scary but don’t hesitate to ask your employees about what’s working and what’s not. Their honest feedback can illuminate seemingly small issues, which you can address before they become problematic.

Opportunity

Just because you’re not in the office anymore, doesn’t mean the old office shenanigans can’t still be in play. Some of the goofy and fun things you used to do can be translated into a virtual environment. For example, if you used to buy the employee of the month lunch, send them a meal via a delivery service like GrubHub or Postmates. If managers used to grab coffee with their team members, give them a monthly coffee stipend from Starbucks that they can use to send drinks to their team. When we’re all apart, small acts of care can go a long way. Also, keep having fun! During team meetings, play a game like “Two Truths and a Lie” so you can continue getting to know each other and not have every interaction be solely about work. 

Tip

Have fun with it and be easy on yourself. We all have enough going on, especially right now.  Bring some good positive energy to the group and take care of your employees. In turn, you’ll continue to have a motivated, hard-working team that enjoys working with one another. 

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See how CorpStrat can help you transform your Company Culture. Contact us at marketing@www.corpstrat.com.

Employee Benefits Package Webinar recap

Effective Ways to Manage Employees in a Remote Environment: The Benefit Package

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Employee Benefits Package Webinar recap

It’s hard to believe that just a few short months ago, our country’s unemployment rate was at an all time low. Pre-pandemic, keeping employees happy often involved pricey company perks like free gourmet lunches, massages, and elite gym memberships. Now because of COVID-19, our entire world has changed: unemployment is soaring and non-essential teams have gone remote (and may remain remote). The entire US workforce and workplace has dramatically changed, which means what we offer our employees in terms of benefits has to undergo a dramatic change as well. Today we’ll go over creative solutions to help shift your benefits package to suit the new economic environment. 

The Danger

For employers, it’s absolutely vital to alter your current benefits package in order to adapt to the current economic climate. Choosing not to do so could leave your company in the dust. In the coming months, as companies begin cautiously opening up offices and rehiring, they’ll face the challenge of potential employees viewing these slimmed down benefit packages as weak. It’s important to strike the right balance of not overspending in this new normal, while maintaining an attractive benefits package. We’ve also found that many employers cut spending in the wrong places because they aren’t aware of important tax opportunities and fail to take advantage of them. 

How to Avoid

A lot of employers have been spending over 80% of the employees’ health insurance premiums on expensive plans. You can still offer full health coverage but switching down to silver plans in lieu of gold can cut costs by as much as 20%. Health insurance is a big line item on most employer’s profit and losses statements. It’s typically in the top three, right behind rent and salaries. Being able to change employer contributions and trim 20% out of employer costs is a huge opportunity right now. 

At the same time inexpensive benefit plans can be added with minimal to no cost. Employees value plans like dental, vision, life insurance, and employer sponsored disability insurance. Plans that feature these can help employers round out their offerings without being a high cost item.

At the end of the day, don’t sell your benefits package short. Sometimes offering an appealing benefits package is all about how it’s presented. Creating a benefits brochure that points out both the obvious and hidden benefits offered can help current and potential employees understand the full scope of their benefits package. 

There is also another great tool called a hidden paycheck. What a hidden paycheck statement does is give the employee an overview of all the money that the employer is spending on them—like taxes, health insurance, retirement plans, and other fringe benefits. For example, if an employee makes $60,000 a year, there’s a good probability they are only pocketing $3,500 a month. On this employee’s hidden paycheck statement, they would see everything the employer is spending on them, often totaling up to as much as $80,000 a year. Employees can then gain a greater sense of their value to the company rather than looking at their $3,500 take home pay.

Opportunity

The opportunity here is to modify plans and contributions based on the current economic environment. Get creative in building your benefit package, use voluntary plans, use ancillary plans, and lastly, shift employee perks  to support work from home needs.

You’ll find that many of the traditional perks like company lunches, free snacks in the office, or commuter stipends, are no longer useful, and won’t be viewed favorably. Shifting perks to include things like virtual fitness memberships, mental health and telemedicine, wellness checks, childcare options, are what employees will value going forward. 

Finally and maybe most importantly is adding a work from home policy in your benefits package. Many teams have gone remote without a noticeable drop in productivity. This means employees both know it’s possible to work efficiently from home and want to continue working from home. Including a work from home policy in the benefit package is going to be vital for most employers going forward to continue to attract top talent.

Tip

As we mentioned at the beginning, this is not a one size fits all. There’s no cookie cutter or plug and play approach, every industry and every situation is going to be unique. It’s important for employers to work with someone who can bring fresh ideas, understand the market, understand the industry and can bring real solutions.

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See how CorpStrat can help you transform your Employee Benefits Package. Contact us at marketing@www.corpstrat.com.

Your Company Employee Benefits – Will you need a reset?

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Shaking hands after job offerWill we return to business as usual post-COVID-19? Sadly, not as quickly as we’d like. Some businesses will resume however, many may never recover. Companies will be focused on revenue generation, resuming some business operations, and restructuring workforce and office environments. One area companies should focus on, that may be key to recovery, is their employee benefits programs. 

Just two months ago, companies had to compete for talent by offering robust packages and supporting programs to attract talent and retain staff. Now that a large number of Americans are unemployed, companies will have their pick of talent, a phenomenon we have not seen in years. In the coming months, companies will be feeling the pressure to offer a competitive benefits package while struggling to put back the pieces of their business. Here are some simple, low-cost ways to ensure your employee benefits package is appealing in the new normal. 

1. Ensure you are COBRA compliant

Every employee who has lost coverage is entitled to COBRA continuation rights. The question of “who” makes the offer is a function of your group size and state. If your firm has 20 or more employees, it is your responsibility to comply, as penalties for non-compliance are steep. Keep in mind it is not just a termination issue! Work with your broker to make sure you are completing all the necessary parts of the COBRA compliance.

2. Review current offerings and contribution formulas

As previously mentioned, companies were ferociously competing for talent pre-COVID. Benchmarking benefits were critical and expanding offerings was essential. Looking forward, you need to review what you offer, why you offer it, how you offer it, and what the market demands for retention and attraction. Companies will scale coverages back, look to change contributions for employees, and seek ways to manage their benefits budgets. What’s right for your company may be different from others – given geography and demographics. Note that COVID hasn’t helped the pricing of benefit plans. Expect to see increased costs for healthcare in the years ahead. 

3. Explore voluntary benefits

These are the hidden gems of benefits—plans that can be purchased by employees, and many times pre-taxed. It’s not only Aflac, but a host of offerings from life insurance, sickness, critical illnesses, and even pet insurance. These plans can add up and the premiums can have a collective reduction in payroll costs for workers’ compensation and payroll taxes.

4. Expand pre-tax offerings for premiums and healthcare expenses

This includes health reimbursement accounts, dependent care expense accounts, and review of health savings accounts. Each of these can help employees use pre-tax dollars to pay for items they are likely to pay for and saves taxes for all. (FYI – for post-COVID, the FSA has been expanded to allow for over-the-counter health care expenses).

5. Deploy an HR system that integrates payroll, time, attendance, and benefits

Companies have quickly figured out that having a system that can integrate payroll, time, attendance, communication, GPS tracking, and benefits enrollment is an essential tool for companies—big and small. With that in mind, a fully-integrated Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is a powerful tool to be equipped with. Without one, companies won’t thrive.

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Want an experienced professional to help you map out your benefit package strategy? Get in touch with CorpStrat today.

Learning with CorpStrat: Free Courses for Clients

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Black Woman Working From Home With Laptop Computer

We understand there are many businesses struggling during this very challenging time.

With most people working remotely now, it is easy for employees to feel disconnected from the rest of their team, having to manage stress and learn to adapt each day. While we have also been adjusting to remote work, some have also been juggling their other jobs as parents, teachers, & employees.

As part of our 21st Century HR Solution that uses technology to simplify and streamline HR procedures, we are offering CorpStrat Learning: a platform for employees to come together to connect and collaborate, which allows companies to assign, track, and educate their staff and managers on a host of subjects.

Our CorpStrat Learning tool is for clients to empower employees during these times when everything can start to feel rather bleak.

Here are the 5 courses we have identified as the most purposeful and helpful during this time:

  1. Coronavirus Preparedness for Managers and Employees
    This course informs managers and employees of simple steps they can take to stay healthy and prevent the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19). (Recommended for: Managers and Employees)
  2. Crisis Management and Emergency Response Planning
    This course teaches managers how to safeguard their employees and the reputation of their organization with advance planning and swift, effective actions during a crisis or emergency situation. (Recommended for: Managers)
  3. Handling Stress
    In this course, managers and their team will learn effective techniques to learn how to best manage their stress levels, allowing them to not only improve their overall sense of well-being but also to work more productively. (Recommended for: Managers and Staff)
  4. Working Remotely
    Whether your business has always been remote, or this is the new normal for you given the circumstances around COVID-19, our “Working Remotely” course offers managers and their team strategies on how to be an effective, remote employee. (Recommended for: Managers and Staff)
  5. Managing Remote Teams
    As we touched on earlier when it comes to working remotely, feeling connected and touching base frequently is important to keep your team productive and engaged. Not to be confused with our “Working Remotely” course, this course focuses on providing managers guidance on how to strengthen their team’s synergy during times of remote work. (Recommended for: Managers)

We know times are tough, so CorpStrat is proud to offer this platform for FREE to our existing agency clients. Contact us now to enroll and roll out these courses.

P.S. (If you have more “downtime” and want to get ahead of the compliance curve, CorpStrat also offers a full set of California compliance training courses. As a reminder, it is required by California law that employers of 5 or more employees are required to provide Sexual Harassment Prevention Training. Although the current stay-at-home order may give us all a sense of comfort with this issue, it is important to ensure this is completed before January 1, 2021.)

Ready to feel empowered to tackle working remotely?
Email us at Learning@CorpStrat.com to get started.