Healthcare premiums are up again, and our broker Mercenary Consultants told me this is down to our claims experience. In other words, it is our own fault. Naturally, our employees’ individual medical claims are private, but I do get a summary by type of claims, and the broker has highlighted that there are many conditions which could benefit from lifestyle changes.
Mercenary Consultants also suggests we could run some internal campaigns to help our employees become healthier, which will indirectly reduce our future claims. It put forward several options, all of which it would be delighted to help us with, for a smacking great fee of course. I run this past Big Bad Boss, but he has other ideas. He thinks we can do it in-house which will not cost anything. Thanks.
Getting active
He suggests we do something around running, perhaps set up a lunchtime running club, league tables and so forth. Sigh. As if there wasn’t enough going on about running already. Running, I notice, is the new cycling and it is vying with golf as the thing the Higher Beings in C-suite get competitive about. Every time I look at the intranet one of the execs has run a half marathon or similar for charity. It is a wonder they have any time to do any work. Well, let’s face it, they do not do any actual work, If you look at LinkedIn, you might think you have to be a runner or a charity worker to be employed here.
Despite running’s popularity in the organisation, I am not convinced it would work to get more of us doing it. Even if you could convince unhealthy people to start running (and you certainly could not convince me), it is just as likely to result in an increase in shin splints and ankles strains. Still, I know better than to go against Big Bad Boss’s wishes, so against my better judgement a new running page is up going on our intranet site.
Surely there must be more to a healthy life than just running. I look to see if there are any freebies on offer from our medical insurance provider. It does not give much away, but there some free webinars already online that we could work a story around.
Healthy communications
I meet with our internal communications people to see if they will help me come up with a proper get healthy campaign. We already have a schedule of benefits webinars, but I want something a bit more exciting to get people thinking and talking about health. Well, what I really mean is I want it to look like we are getting people to think about their health. I am still not convinced anything we do or say will make a difference.
I notice a lot of claims are for back problems; we already have an annual occupational health check that is supposed to prevent problems from poor posture, so I suggest we work that in. That reminds me, we once had an on-site massage event which was hugely popular, so I decide to run it past Big Bad Boss. He is likely to say no, so I need to use subterfuge. I ask the provider if it can do a little taster and rather than taking it myself, I offer a free massage to Big Bad Boss. He is a bit sore from his new regime which involves running in a weighted vest, so he is surprisingly open. After his massage, he is sort of spaced out, so this is the time to act. I point out that on-site massages would help to get people in the office, and we could simply fund the first bookings, and ask for a contribution for subsequent massages. My provider is delighted when he signs up to the deal, and tells me it will make sure I get first dibs on a free massage. Bless.
Stress management
We have also seen an uptick in mental health claims, though I am not entirely sure what our medical provider provides on that; the booklet is full of exclusions from the policy. I suppose I really ought to know more. It is not difficult to guess what might be driving the increase. Aside from all the uncertainty in the world, life in our organisation is getting more and more stressful. Targets are harder to meet, and recrimination for failure is swift and brutal. Hopefully, the massages may help alleviate a little bit of stress at least.
There is of course our employee assistance programme, and it will not hurt to do a bit more promotion of something we are paying for anyway. In theory, this is the tool we provide for anyone under pressure, but I know a cultural change towards kinder management would have a much bigger impact. Someone in my reward network has managed to secure an on-site counsellor for their organisation once a week. The thought of being able to unload on an impartial listener sounds quite attractive, but I cannot see getting any budget for that just now, if ever, but I note to try to get some more questions about workplace stress into the annual engagement survey. I have found this is a surefire way to get some actions into the HR budget for next year.
Our get healthy plan is all a bit of a jumble of disconnected benefits, but the comms team do a great job of working up into a campaign with a catchy slogan, a logo which ties into our corporate brand. It is a classic example of form over content, but that is how we operate.
None of this is about benefits management really, but it is a lot more interesting than plan renewals and benefit budgets. Perhaps I should have been employee engagement specialist instead? Then again, I have seen what they are paid.
Next time…Candid introduces financial wellbeing.
