www.hrreporter.com 25
Karley Middleton is an
association member
benefits consultant at
HUB International in
Winnipeg. She can be
reached at karley.middleton@
hubinternational.com.
• Exclusive discounts on proactive
services such as preventative health
assessments, medical diagnostic assis-
tance, and telemedicine services offer
employees the option of "staying
ahead of the game" when it comes to
learning about their health and any
potential risk areas.
• Financial wellness support through
educational resources and profes-
sional advice can significantly reduce
an individual's financial concerns, a
leading cause of stress and presen-
teeism as most of their focus and
energy go towards finding a solution
on their own.
• Employee demographics and levels of
adaptation can help an employer
determine which platform to host the
programs. A company intranet is not
the only option available for hosting,
but potential employee training needs
and the likelihood of utilization
should be taken into consideration
before selecting an external vendor's
platform with "all the bells and whis-
tles."
• If employees aren't comfortable navi-
gating the path to reach the optional
benefits, the employer won't see the
activity that is reflective of their needs
and that will guide them towards
identifying programs of most interest
(many providers are able to share
activity without identifying partici-
pants).
• If you choose to work with a vendor
and use their resources, consider
leveraging those tools and technology
to launch and promote your program.
Identifying the areas of greatest
interest to employees in voluntary
benefits can also assist with any work-
place wellness planning and commu-
nication strategies, and the chosen
platform can perform double duty for
your voluntary benefits and workplace
wellness initiatives.
• An employee and family assistance
program (EFAP) is a benefit that is
voluntary with regards to employee
utilization, but the platform does
come with a per-employee cost to
employers. Studies have shown that
the return on the investment in an
EFAP is impressive, but many organi-
zations have already implemented one
with the primary reason being
employee support. These programs
offer employees and their family
member dependants access to short-
term, solution-focused counselling, as
well as additional features such as
online resources and proactive solu-
tions like resiliency training. The
EFAP is meant to identify primary
issues that present in the participant
(typically through counselling or
self-assessments) and then offer them
voluntary resources to support their
ongoing journey to better health.
Employee wellbeing can be as simple as
achieving a sustainable balance between
good physical, financial and mental
health, and in many cases, feeling
supported by the employer is a large
component of this balance. Through
whatever means you're able to provide
support to employees — financial or
educational — they will appreciate your
efforts.
CHRR
