Table of Contents
Survey: HR Leaders Challenged with Employee Mental Health Needs
Uprise Health research provides new ways for benefits brokers to…
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Navigating Life’s Waves: Strategies for Managing Anxiety
Anxiety is a common experience that many of us face…
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Embracing Wellness: Celebrating Mental Health Month
May is Mental Health Month, a time dedicated to raising…
Learn MoreToday is National Employee Benefits Day. This day is intended to recognize and celebrate professionals who work to provide comprehensive and quality employee benefits in the United States. This annual celebration is near and dear to Uprise Health as we work diligently to provide mental health and wellbeing benefits to organizations across the United States. We’d like to take a moment to celebrate the importance of employee benefits, our role in employee benefits, and our Uprise Health People Operations colleagues who help us maximize and use our own employee benefits.
The International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plan (IFEBP) founded National Employee Benefits Day in 2004, and it’s celebrated annually in April. IFEBP is a nonprofit organization that represents 32,000 members and impacts the lives of 25 million people with their research, education, and employee benefits advocacy.
Why Employee Benefits are Important and How They’re Changing
Strong employee benefits are a tangible way for organizations to show their dedication and commitment to their employees’ health, wellbeing, and personal lives. Good benefits also drive value back to the company. They serve to recruit and retain employees (especially in a competitive job market), improve employee morale and engagement, and can provide cost savings by keeping a workforce healthier, fitter, and productive.
Employees also love good benefits—it shows they are appreciated and recognized, and employees broadly know that it is a fiscally important factor in their lives. 80% of employees would rather take a position with a solid benefits package than take a position with no benefits and higher pay.1 But the needs and expectations of employees are changing. Although health insurance and paid time-off still rank as two of the most popular employee benefits, flexible and remote working options and mental health support have now joined the top of the list.2
IFEBP is clearly keeping up with the changes in employee benefits. This year for National Employee Benefits Day, IFEBP is highlighting the future of work, the reimagining of benefits, and how to attract and retain talent using an innovative benefit offering. The 2022 theme is particularly relevant to the work we are doing. In our most recent leadership webinar, our very own Chief People Officer, Melissa Dexter, spoke at length about the current reimagining of benefits. Because of the dramatic shifts in work and employee needs over the past two years, the core of employee benefits has shifted from medical, vision, and dental to include mental health as a fourth essential benefit.
The Role of Mental Health Benefits
Demand for mental health services has risen dramatically since 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated multiple aspects of our already struggling mental health concerns and shortages of mental health providers. In a survey we conducted in December of 2021, 78% of respondents said that their mental health had been affected by the pandemic, and according to a poll taken by the American Psychological Association, nine out of ten therapists say the number of people seeking mental health care is on the rise.3
Addressing symptoms of mental health disorders can prevent costly treatment for related physical conditions. With comprehensive and effective mental health benefits, employers can make a smaller investment that keeps larger costs at bay. There are a wide range of mental health benefits including non-clinician services like automated chatbots, online literature, and self-guided CBT-based courses; as well as clinician-based services like asynchronous text messaging, video teletherapy, in-person counseling.
Increasingly, employers are looking to add a comprehensive and robust option like Uprise Health to their benefits package because we provide end-to-end member care that is personalized and provides validated-outcomes. The Uprise Health digital mental health and EAP platform harnesses innovative digital technology and traditional, personal counseling and coaching for accessibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.
Celebrating our People and Their Work
Melissa Dexter and her People Operations Team play an important role here at Uprise Health. Not only do they work hard to ensure we (the employees of Uprise Health) have valuable benefits that we use, but they also provide meaningful HR and People expertise as we continuously work to improve the employee benefits that we offer (both internally within the company and externally to our clients and members). They help us understand the needs of HR and company leadership, and they make meaningful impacts to our lives and our customers’ lives on a regular basis.
We also want to extend the celebration of National Employee Benefits Day to more teams at Uprise Health. Our client success and customer care teams work hard every day to help our clients and members onboard and actively use the mental health, EAP, and wellness benefits that we provide. They provide a huge value to our company and our members.
Help us celebrate National Employee Benefits Day by:
- Celebrating anyone at your organization that helps provide quality benefits
- Understanding what resources and benefits you have at your company and making the most of them
- Analyzing what your company currently does and does not offer, what is highly utilized, and what benefits could be improved
To learn more about Uprise Health and how to improve employee benefits by rethinking how you support mental health at your organization, watch our on-demand webinar: How to Have a Thriving Workplace in Turbulent Times.