Employee and Workplace Communications -

An AI benefits assistant that answers employees’ benefits questions. A financial wellness app that provides automatic budget planning and savings tips. Platforms that help employees and HR managers manage paid leave and student debt repayment programs.

May was National Small Business month, a time to recognize small businesses, their impact on American culture and economy and honor the amazing people who run them.

This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week (14-20 May) focused on stress. The organisers of the event, the Mental Health Foundation, have highlighted that 16m people experience a mental health problem each year and that stress is a key contributing factor.

Your employees might be confused when they walk into the office for the first time and are handed an employee benefits and compensation packet showing the various options and benefits of a 401(b) retirement plan rather than the standard 401(k).

Employees are taking more time off—and employers are encouraging them to do so—but many in the workforce are still giving away nearly $600 worth of work time annually.

Comcast may be best known for NBC and cable TV, but it is also spending a lot of time figuring out how to tackle employee credit card debt, student loans and barriers to creating an emergency savings fund.

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) are two tax-advantaged vehicles that can help employees pay for their medical costs. With annual health care expenses reaching more than $10,000 per person on average, understanding these options is important for financial as well as physical wellness.

Health and financial wellness is a term we sometimes use to describe ‘extra’ employee benefits—that is, beyond the standard health insurance and retirement plans many companies offer as baseline benefits to their employees. But these ‘extra’ benefits are increasingly becoming the standard for many companies. Which of these benefits are essential and why should you offer them?

Working in an office can be hard work and can be hard on your body. Sitting in front of computer screens for the majority of a 40-hour workweek can cause health problems of many varieties if these problems aren’t in some way mitigated. The good news is there are plenty of things that employees can do for themselves in their offices to head off some of the common health risks, some off their own initiative and some at the suggestion or urging of management.

It’s no secret that healthcare costs are soaring in America, but what will it take to get a nation’s workforce moving?

To get a sense of what to expect on the employee health and wellness front in 2018, it’s useful to look back on the trends that were gaining momentum last year.

As January raced away from us, so too did those noble plans for healthy eating, more exercise and trimming down the weight. It’s a perfect time for employers to lend a hand and offer their employees support to stick to their new year’s resolutions, to help them stay healthy and happy in 2017 and every year.

Financial wellness has long been a hot topic for employees and employers even before millennials started taking jobs while saddled with huge student debt amounts. With tax season mostly over, there’s no better time to discuss how you can help employees be more secure with their finances.

While the number of women taking on jobs and motherhood worldwide increases, becoming a new mother while climbing the corporate ladder is difficult even in modern times. Many new moms are millennial women who were raised as dreamers — led to believe they can be and do anything. These women grew up trusting they could have it all.

Wellness programs may be more about brand building than employee health, but that’s OK.

The health of your employees plays a significant role in the overall health of your company. If employees are sick and out of the office, it will reduce productivity, which will affect your bottom line. That’s where employee benefits come in.

More HR managers and corporate leaders are turning to the concept of mindfulness, along with the tradition of meditation, as a way to improve overall employee wellness and health. Is this approach a simpler, less expensive alternative to hit-or-miss employee health initiatives or smoke and mirrors?

Chris Sullens, BDM at Lifeworks explains how organizations can boost employee well-being through personalized wellness communications strategies.

Physical science is a continuum of breakthroughs that create new paradigms and possibilities. These advances enable new technologies, which enable new business models, which disrupt the status quo.

Mobile banking startup Varo Money recently debuted “Money Diaries,” a series of videos that looks at the lives and financial issues of its core customers—ambitious, professional millennials.