Click here for a full transcript of the episode.

If there are benefits available that may differentiate you as an employer and enable you to attract the talent you need, you should know about them! With this in mind, we invited Paul Ashley from NFP and Bill Snyder from Vivante Health to the show.

The pandemic triggered a couple types of benefits to increase in popularity. Employers are beginning to invest more in emotional well being and mental health, and virtual and telehealth is becoming more widely available. Some of the creative and innovative benefit offerings being talked about now are focusing on pharmacogenomics (using simple genetic testing to identify how well someone will respond to a particular medication), gut health, and family support (including fertility, adoption, caregiver support, and more).

In the last 18 months, Paul has seen more for-profit and non-academic nonprofit clients talk about offering sabbaticals or starting to implement them. They’re beneficial not only for the person taking the sabbatical, but for the organization and the clients. Whether you’re offering the basics or some of these more creative benefits, make sure you have a well thought out internal communication rollout campaign.

Bill joins the conversation to discuss the effect of digestive conditions on the workplace and how you can make it part of your benefit offerings. One in four Americans suffer from a chronic digestive issue, but there’s a lot of stigma associated with the conditions and symptoms. Digestive issues can have a huge impact on productivity and absenteeism – individuals may have to think about their proximity to the bathroom and time their meetings so they have access to the bathroom. And it doesn’t just affect the employee; on average, an individual with chronic digestive conditions spends over $17,000 in medical and pharmacy costs per year, so it can be a big cost driver for employers.

There are a lot of tools that can be offered to individuals with digestive symptoms to meet them where they are and personalize their experience to reduce their symptoms. It may even integrate into a health plan to make it as easy as possible for the HR leaders to offer this benefit to their people without incurring additional cost.

In this episode’s listener mail, a listener asks about suggestions to take to their boss or HR to find a way to overcome burnout while continuing to work. In the news, 69% of Americans swear at work.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Purple Ink
• Powered by Purple Ink
• Susan Tinder White Consulting
• NFP
• Episode 54, ”Benefit Trends”
• Vivante Health
• Care.com for Business
• Kindbody
• Email Paul
• Power Up Your Strengths
• Email Bill
• ”Study: The cities that swear the most in the U.S.”
• SHRM credit evaluation
• The JoyPowered® Shop
• JoyPowered® on Facebook
• JoyPowered® on LinkedIn
• JoyPowered® on Instagram
• JoyPowered® on Twitter
• Email JoyPowered®

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