Employers, Office Health and Culture

How Long Commutes Impact Workplace Productivity

February 20 | 2018
By: Geoff Mukhtar
Communications Manager at United Benefit Advisors
How Long Commutes Impact Workplace Productivity

What do all employees have in common? They all have a burning dislike for their morning commute! Let’s face it, it’s not the actual commute that most people dislike, it’s the hassle of dealing with traffic, long lines, and rude people that make the trip so despised. It doesn’t matter how an employee gets to […]

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Wellness Checkup

February 13 | 2018
By: Adva Biton
Wellness Checkup

The CDC estimates that 75 percent of healthcare costs come from 117 million people with one or more chronic health conditions. For employers, this can mean paying an annual average of $12,000 per employee on healthcare costs, according to a study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. In recent years, many employers have gotten […]

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Culture, Not Perks, Most Important to Retain Employees

February 8 | 2018
By: Heather Stewart
Culture, Not Perks, Most Important to Retain Employees

As a small business, how can you attract and retain top-notch employees? That was the key question tackled during a breakout session at the Salt Lake Chamber Small Business Summit in early February. With the unemployment rate in Utah hovering at record-low levels, attracting and keeping top talent is top of mind for all business […]

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How to Motivate Employee Participation in Your Wellness Program

February 5 | 2018
By: Sara Saidi
Coordinator
How to Motivate Employee Participation in Your Wellness Program

Have you ever heard the quote, “If you take care of your people, they’ll take care of your business?” It’s great advice and goes beyond ensuring that they get a paycheck each month. Does your company show that they care about an employee’s total well-being? You should, especially considering that an employee’s physical and mental […]

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Cost Effective Wellness Strategies for Small Business Employers

December 29 | 2017
By: Lori Kunkle
Clinical Wellness Director for Power Kunkle Benefits Consulting, a UBA Partner Firm
Cost Effective Wellness Strategies for Small Business Employers

Companies like Google®, L.L. Bean®, and Zappos.com® have the ability to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on wellness programs for their employees. They can build state-of-the-art gym facilities, walking trails around the corporate campus, and offer any number of wellness services to benefit their workers, as well as monetary incentives. For the average employer […]

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Climate Leave: PTO for when the Wind Blows

December 7 | 2017
By: Bill Olson
VP, Marketing & Communications at United Benefit Advisors
Climate Leave: PTO for when the Wind Blows

This year, much of the United States had some form of major natural disaster—hurricanes, wildfires, floods, tornados—and millions of people were either directly affected, or had a family member or close friend who was affected. This life-changing disruption often meant that people couldn’t, or weren’t able to, go to work. While many companies were understanding […]

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Shhhhhh!

October 17 | 2017
By: Geoff Mukhtar
Communications Manager at United Benefit Advisors
Shhhhhh!

There are places where you expect things to be noisy, such as a rock concert, and places where you expect it to be quiet, like an office. And while nobody likes being “shushed,” there are few things more annoying than trying to work when someone else is talking in the background. The ‘80s music group […]

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The Perk of Pets

October 15 | 2017
By: Geoff Mukhtar
Communications Manager at United Benefit Advisors
The Perk of Pets

Companies on the leading edge of employee benefits, especially those that want to stand out within an industry, will offer such pet-friendly perks in order to attract top talent. But what exactly are these benefits? According to an article titled, “Pet-Friendly Perks” in Human Resource Executive Online, employers are offering benefits such as pet insurance, […]

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Are you addressing your employee’s financial health?

October 11 | 2017
By: Nancy Cannon
Workplace Solutions Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company, a UBA Strategic Partner
Are you addressing your employee’s financial health?

The importance of health and wellness in the workplace is more apparent than ever. It’s obvious why healthy individuals make better employees and the positive impact this has on your bottom line. When thinking about building a program to improve the well-being of your employees, don’t forget about the importance of their financial health. In […]

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Don’t Put Up with the Bull of Bullying

October 2 | 2017
By: Geoff Mukhtar
Communications Manager at United Benefit Advisors
Don’t Put Up with the Bull of Bullying

There’s no place for bullying and that’s especially true in the workplace, yet many employees bully their co-workers. So, how does this happen? It used to be that bullying was confined to the schoolyard, but now it’s spread to cyberbullying and workplace bullying. Now, if there’s a culture of bullying at an organization, often it’s […]

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The Killjoy of Office Culture

September 15 | 2017
By: Geoff Mukhtar
Communications Manager at United Benefit Advisors
The Killjoy of Office Culture

One of the latest things trending right now in business is the importance of office culture. When everyone in the office is working well together, productivity rises and efficiency increases. Naturally, the opposite is true when employees do not work well together and the corporate culture suffers. So, what are these barriers and what can […]

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Emails Never Sleep: Employers Consider Email Expectations

August 14 | 2017
By: Robert Black
Software Developer, United Benefit Advisors
Emails Never Sleep: Employers Consider Email Expectations

For some employees, when they leave work, they don’t even think about it until they return the next morning. For others, while they may leave their place of employment, they’re never truly disconnected. That’s because there’s a workplace culture where some employees feel they must check and respond to their work emails 24/7/365. While this […]

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When Grief Comes to Work

August 10 | 2017
By: Kathryn Schneider
Benefit Solutions Division Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company, a UBA Strategic Partner
When Grief Comes to Work

Death and loss touch all of us, usually many times throughout our lives. Yet we may feel unprepared and uncomfortable when grief intrudes into our daily routines. As a manager, when grief impacts your employees it’s helpful to have a basic understanding of what they are going through as well as ways you can help. […]

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The Future of Corporate Wellness – Where Will We Go From Here?

August 7 | 2017
By: Valeria S. Tivnan
MPH, M.ED., Director, Population Health and Well-Being at EBS
The Future of Corporate Wellness – Where Will We Go From Here?

I am proud to say that I have been involved in corporate wellness since the mid-1980s. Helping employees live healthier and happier lives, as well as supporting employers with best-in-class tools to improve their cultures, have been my passion and purpose. I have witnessed and worked on corporate wellness since the time when physical health […]

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Workspace Cybersecurity Begins with Employees

July 17 | 2017
By: Tara Marshall
Help Desk Specialist, United Benefit Advisors
Workspace Cybersecurity Begins with Employees

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now From up and down and still somehow It’s cloud illusions I recall I really don’t know clouds at all — Joni Mitchell, “Both Sides, Now” And like that song from 1969, it appears that most employees really don’t know cloud computing at all. In an article on […]

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The Pitfalls of Online Enrollment Systems

June 19 | 2017
By: Elizabeth Kay
Compliance & Retention Analyst, AEIS Advisors, A UBA Partner Firm
The Pitfalls of Online Enrollment Systems

Online enrollment platforms are great, but communication and understanding are terribly important for the end-user. I always say, “technology is great, when it works.” Online enrollment platforms have been around for years, and the technology that powers them has grown and advanced at an exponential rate. Who would have guessed that we would be enrolling […]

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Well-Being Strategies for a Diverse Workforce, Building Value at an Individual Level

June 12 | 2017
By: Lindsay Simpson
Organizational Wellness Lead, The Richards Group, a UBA Partner Firm
Well-Being Strategies for a Diverse Workforce, Building Value at an Individual Level

Your organization has 312 employees, which means you have 312 different needs for well-being support. Well-being strategies should not be a one-size-fits-all approach. Developing a set of flexible and responsive well-being strategies that meet changing individual needs throughout an employee’s tenure is a critical way to both attract and retain talent. A few case studies […]

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Factor Emerging Trends, Generational Needs Into Wellness Program

May 23 | 2017
By: Jennifer Jones
Population Health Strategist at LHD Benefit Advisors, a UBA Partner Firm
Factor Emerging Trends, Generational Needs Into Wellness Program

Your wellness program seems to have it all – biometric screenings, lunch and learns, and weight loss challenges. So, why do you struggle with engagement, or to see any real results? While traditional wellness components are still a large part of plans today, emerging trends, coupled with generational differences, make for challenges when designing an […]

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Handling of Retaliation Complaints under Section 1558 of the Affordable Care Act

January 12 | 2017
By: Nancy Bourque
HR Practice Leader at United Benefit Advisors
Handling of Retaliation Complaints under Section 1558 of the Affordable Care Act

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently released a final rule on the procedures for the handling of whistleblower complaints under Section 1558 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The regulations protect employees (which includes former employees and applicants for employment) who may have been subject to retaliation for seeking assistance under certain […]

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Identify and Evaluate the Impact of Your Wellness Program

January 5 | 2017
By: Mary Delaney, MSPT, CWP
Managing Director for Vital Incite, A UBA Partner-Provided Solution
Identify and Evaluate the Impact of Your Wellness Program

Measuring program value, or return on investment, is critical and imperative in managing a healthy wellness program. Further, clearly identifying and objectively evaluating the impact helps keep the vendor focused on what is critical for the employer. If these programs are not having the impact intended, then the cost of those services is only adding […]

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