3 Trends in Employee Benefits for 2021
When weighing your employee benefit options, it is important to know what the actual needs and expectations of your workers are. While you cannot fully adapt to every upcoming trend, it is important to remain competitive within the market to support retention and recruiting. We’ve compiled 3 of the most non-negotiable trends in employee benefits across all industries for 2021.
Virtual/Telehealth Care
While telehealth is not a new concept in healthcare, it certainly exploded in light of the COVID-19 pandemic due to stay at home orders and social distancing. Now that patients are catching up to the developments already made by healthcare providers, insurance carriers are eager to provide plan options that brandish virtual care for subscribers. As we continue to overcome the effects of the pandemic, today’s convenience-focused consumers will enjoy the freedom to seek non-emergency care from the comfort of their own homes.
Mental Health Programs
Anxiety and depression are just a few of the mental health symptoms that have worsened due to a year spent in quarantine. Time away from loved ones, daily routines, and the sense of normalcy has left an inevitable effect on people at all levels of the workforce. As an employer, it is your duty to support the mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing of your employees, by finding and implementing balance. Now more than ever, employers should recognize the increased needs of their employees by offering health plans that incorporate cohesive mental health benefits.
Child Care Assistance
Working parents are one cohort who have faced especially challenging conditions throughout the pandemic. Schools and daycare centers quickly left many parents in a frenzy when they shut their doors indefinitely. In many cases, maintaining virtual attendance was more work on the parents than not. Some working parents were even left with the difficult decision between work and childcare if both guardians were in essential positions. Now, employers are increasing child care benefits to alleviate the workload of parents, so they can be more focused and productive at work.
While the long-term effects of the pandemic are unknown, it is important to have some compassion for your employees at this time. The last thing you want to do is elicit employee burnout. For additional information or direction on your employee benefits program, contact Benchmark Planning Group for a free consultation.