Mike:
Employees in every stage of life are on the edge of burnout. In this webcast, you're gonna learn how you can offer employees benefits that truly meet them where they are. Helping them with the stress they may feel about their finances or physical or mental well-being. To kick off our program, we're pleased to introduce Elizabeth Myers, PhD, Senior Director of Thought Leadership at Bright Horizons Workforce Consulting. Dr. Myers, the floor is yours.

Dr. Elizabeth Myers:
Thank you so much, and welcome, everyone. We're so excited that you're here with us today. A little bit about me. As Mike mentioned, I am Senior Director of Thought Leadership for Bright Horizons Workforce Consulting team. What that means is that I work closely with clients and prospective clients to gather data and understand the needs of their employees. I also have the wonderful opportunity to conduct some original research that lends itself to reports and findings that we share with the HR community. And I'm joined today by my colleague, Lynn.

Lynn Clement:
Thanks, Elizabeth. I'll introduce myself. I'm Lynn Clement, VP for Client Services at Bright Horizons. And I have a pleasure of working with organizations and clients across the country as they are developing family support programs, whether that be family solutions, childcare centers, and love the work that I do. As a working mom of four children, I can certainly appreciate the challenges that families have. My background specifically over the last many years has been in workforce consulting and talent management. So, thrilled to be here and talking about some of the research and the information we've got to share.

Elizabeth:
Thanks. So, as we all know, a lot has been going on for human resources teams over the past few years. Just when things start to settle down, there's another trend, there's a new buzzword, thinking about great resignation, great rehire, labor shortages, quiet quitting, great retention, and, of course, now, concerns about inflation and the economy. Just all sorts of things that we need to contend with. So, what we're gonna do today is talk about some strategies that enable human resources professionals and for companies and employees to thrive through many of these situations. And also ones that might pop up along the way that are not, you know, yet a trending buzzword.

So, what we're calling it is meeting the moment. So thinking about how we can support employees at all their life stages. Of course, talent acquisition for top talent is competitive, and it's competitive during the booming times, and also even now during some tougher economic times and some uncertain times. So, what is constant though, is delivering a value proposition that can clearly communicate the importance of well-being to your employees and their families.

So, what we're gonna do as part of this session is share some recent thought leadership that we hope will help you better understand your employees and the moments that are most likely to matter to them. These research reports are gonna include our annual, it's actually our ninth annual, and recently released Modern Family Index, as well as a Gen Z and millennials survey. We're also gonna talk about some additional data from the field as well, but these are some primary research reports that are released by Bright Horizons.

For anyone who's not familiar with our annual Modern Family Index, it is a survey that goes out to 2,000 working parents. This year it was conducted in partnership with the Harris Poll. And essentially what it does is asks what it's like to try to balance work and family. And then our survey from last year on millennials and Gen Zs, that was to really get at, you know, a deeper dive into those generations and what they are looking for from workplace benefits and what's going on in their lives. So, as Lynn and I chat today and share some information with you, we're gonna reference those surveys and more.

Lynn:
So, let me pick up what does meeting the moment mean. I think all of us in our life have had many moments. I like to say, and as I talk with a lot of the organizations, it's really supporting the employees where it matters the most for them so that one size fits one, and changing the shift from surviving to thriving professionally and personally. And what we've seen is that the pandemic has created new worries for employees. We see extreme childcare shortages, isolation with now remote roles, and then just the stress and pressures of considering how to reenter return to office through the hybrid work model. So, examples that I talked to organizations about in terms of meeting the moments, and again, it's all across the life stages for employees and workers, and is a one size fits one.

So, when employees need care for a child, when school's out, whether that be service days, whether that be summer breaks, holiday breaks, those are immediate needs for care. Also when employees have ill parents and need to have somebody help support the care in-home with their ill spouse or parent, that's another big area. Also around advice and support as they consider new roles and educational needs that they wanna have supporting the application process for those new positions. I also like to say too, meeting the moment in terms of the well-being and stress is being able to acknowledge when employees are requesting to have time off or need to have extended time off. So those are all moments that matter, create that employee experience, that engagement, and the compassion and the care culture that organizations obviously are trying to create. And so we're lucky, and I'm lucky to work with clients every day as they tackle those type of situations and everyday occurrences that the employee base is needing to cover.

Elizabeth:
And I think when we start talking about meeting the moment, well, a lot of what we talk about, or mostly we talk about polls around under the big umbrella of well-being. So, what we're hearing from so many of our partners and our potential clients is that employee well-being, however it is defined by that organization is a top priority. So we know from research that's in the field as well as our own research, that stress and burnout have been rampant. It's especially acute in some industries, thinking most notably about healthcare as well as with certain employee groups like working parents who have been juggling more responsibility than ever. But one of the things that I think is most interesting from our Modern Family Index of working parents, is that we found that working from home, this like great thing that we talk about is actually not a panacea when it comes to concerns for mental health.

In fact, that increased focus on flexibility and well-being that we had during the pandemic where people really started to, you know, get a glimpse into people's home life, really started to understand, you know, the importance of balancing work and family. Everyone was, you know, pretty considerate about, you know, kids popping on the screen, things like that. That feeling that employees had about, you know, being able to take the whole selves to work, being really able to flexibly take care of their family and their work life, that feeling is starting to wane. So what we're seeing is that even though parents, you know, have a benefit of the convenience of working from home, they still feel now we have more system uncertainty. They don't know what the right mix of flexibility looks like. They don't know how much to be open about parenthood and their childcare needs and how to juggle both parenthood and career goals. So that's actually creating some extra stress for parents we found.

There's also a bit of social isolation that could also be impacting well-being. So that actually, because we found this stat interesting as well. That brings us to our first poll. So we're wondering when working from home, what percentage of workers told us in the survey that they only talk to people they live with and they sometimes go days without going outside?

And 32% of you said 40% to 49%, which is actually what we found in the survey. So, we found that 47% of people only talk with the people they live with on several days. And then 41% said that they go days without going outside.

Lynn:
So, wow, that seems higher than I thought, but not surprising, right? Which speaks to the need for keeping well-being as a top priority within organizations. A couple of examples that some of our clients are doing in order to address that is rethinking and rebranding their sick leave to include mental well-being. So, more employees wanting more mental health days to prevent burnout. So acknowledging the burnout issue with balancing all of those priorities now in a hybrid remote work situation. So, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts has done that, so has MD Anderson Cancer Center, and they are encouraged and paid to take wellness days, not just for illness days, but in order to recharge and support their own emotional health when needed. So it's nice to see the shift around language in creating a mind shift that starts to de-stigmatize the mental health issues as wellness issues.

Elizabeth:
And yeah, every time I hear a company talk about a version of this, I just get so excited. My background is actually in psychology. So, I just love it that now as a society, we're talking more about how mental health is health too, and it's just so great when employers support their organizations with these policies. And, you know, by all accounts, whether it's through our research or other studies in the field, integrating employee well-being into a business and talent strategy is going to be key to attracting and retaining talent, both in the long term and short term. A 2022 Gallup poll revealed that stress and burnout have a huge impact on employers, actually resulting in $322 billion in turnover and lost productivity costs globally. And when thinking about what can be done for increased well-being, for many years, employee assistance programs have actually played an important and foundational role. Lynn, what have you been hearing from employers as they work to take their well-being to the next level?

Lynn:
Yep, I hear that all the time in terms of conversations around the benefit plans and thinking through that employee-first focus. An example would be Northrop Grumman, 200 certified peer mental health. First aid employees and leaders have gone through dedicated mental health awareness training, as well as hosting a men's mental health session, real talk about mental health, and having senior level VPs internally share their own stories in terms of mental health, back to destigmatizing the topic, and putting mental health within total health and total well-being. St. Jude and Children's Health, as you would expect within the healthcare industry have also done quite a bit. Therapy dogs, supporting employees throughout the day. Also seeing concierge services, and for Bright Horizons, also providing that, but recognizing that employees, that those moments are critical points and they need assistance now.

And so, meeting the moment by providing those employees, those concierge set of services in order to access experts and not needing to go through that new journey themselves and having a partner along that journey. Whether that be finding childcare support within the elder care and the concierge care consultants help them navigate those moments that can create quite amount of stress. And what I always say is reduce that mental load that the employees are feeling as they're navigating both work and their personal lives. And so I love that help sign because you're sitting at work trying to say, help me. And a concierge care consultant can help them customize what a care plan needs to look like given their specific situation.

Elizabeth:
Yeah, the concierge approach is so great. When I think about, you know, using employee resource groups to share information about benefits, the concierge service is even more like a streamlined and personalized way to do that. And, of course, it's even more important than ever to not only have these great benefits, but to be able to help people find and fully leverage the support they have. As we talked in the beginning, people are burnt out, they're stressed, they got a lot on their plates, so they might not have time to dig through their company resources and find out what's there for them. We actually found in our Modern Family Index that half of employees who have benefits that could be supporting their work-life balance, harmony integration, whatever buzzword you wanna use, but have benefits that could be better supporting them at work and home. They say that their company's benefits were never clearly defined or explained to them, and we found this consistently in other research as well.

And recently, Memorial Hermann shared with us that they introduced this concierge service specifically with their younger generations in mind. So when I think about it, when I think about a young person starting their career, they're joining an organization, they excitedly onboard, but then they get, you know, their benefits package. And then fast forward a few years. They get a pet, they have a child, they think about going back to school or continuing their education. They might not remember the benefits introduced to them on day one. They might not know that they have backup childcare or that they have a tuition reimbursement. This is where regularly reminding employees of what's on offer to them is really important, and where a personalized service could be really beneficial in helping employees navigate all the options that they do have to help them balance their needs both inside and outside of work.

So really meeting them in the moment. And that moment does, you know, change over the course of employees' tenure. And I'll just focus on millennials and Gen Zs for another moment. Our millennial and Gen Zs' report found that more than two-thirds of these generations feel stressed about their physical, financial, and mental well-being. And these are concerns that could potentially be mediated by benefits that they already have through work. So, a scaffolded, you know, benefits platform or a concierge service could really guide them through the issues they're facing and help them access benefits and programs to maximize their use of a total rewards package.

Lynn:
So, as we would expect, childcare is front and center in terms of the moments that matter and the employee concerns in terms of return to office, and that's been exasperated by one-third of the childcare centers did not reopen coming out of the pandemic. So, the supply of affordable, high-quality childcare is dramatically reduced and particularly in specific markets that we call childcare deserts. So, we're gonna talk a little bit now in terms of the childcare crisis that employees are facing.

Elizabeth:
Yes, extreme childcare shortages have left 49% of parents of children under five saying that they don't have the care that they need. So, one of the lasting takeaways that we have from the pandemic is that, you know, working from home does not actually negate the need for childcare. It's really hard to focus both on a child and work at the same time. You know, there's a shortage in availability, there are cost issues associated with childcare. And this childcare crisis is costing the nation $122 billion in lost earnings, productivity, and revenue each year from the most recent ReadyNation analysis. Families themselves lose $78 billion per year in foregone earnings and job search expenses. And the productivity problems that parents have, whether that's finding care, having care breaking down, worrying about childcare. So those productivity problems cost employees $23 billion a year annually. So there's just so many childcare challenges faced by the workforce. And as we know, childcare is just so essential to keeping the economy running.

Lynn:
And that tends to be the majority of my conversations right now with clients, is help us understand what are approaches and solutions to provide, whether that be backup care or full-time care for the families so that they are able to return to office and be able to manage the stress. So, it's great that employers are taking notice and are making this a top priority. So, we are gonna move into a quick clip here showing former Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi, who recently was a guest in our work-life equation podcast.

VIDEO BEGINS: [00:19:09]

Christine Michel Carter:
I'm sandwiched right between your daughters with age, and I love how you've said the next 20 years are gonna be the decades of women. We know that last year women was the word of the year, I think in the dictionary. Where do you see women like your daughters and myself playing in the workforce in the coming years?

Indra Nooyi:
Well, just, let's look at the numbers. They say that 70% of high school valedictorians are women. Women are getting more college degrees than men. Women are graduating from professional schools and master's programs at higher levels than men. So you've got this wickedly smart group of people who are just working hard, wanting to get economic freedom, wanting to have the power of the purse, graduating from all educational institutions. Now, if you don't find a way to deploy them in the economy, provide a way to give them the support systems to have families and engage in paid work, as a country, we lose out. So I look at this and say, this is the decades that as countries and companies, we should stop and say, this is no longer a man versus woman issue, it's the best talent issue. If you wanna recruit the best and the brightest, you look at the whole pool, not say, let me just get the best and brightest from the men.

And at the top grades are all women. What are you saying? You don't want the top grades? I don't think that's the right answer. So, if as a CEO or a governor or anybody who's running a large organization looks around they should say, "Let me look at the whole talent pool. Let me extract the best and the brightest." And incidentally, if there happens to be people who wanna be family builders, let's figure out how to put the support systems in place because we want young people too, so that our whole system, our pension system works. So, this is where Bright Horizons becomes an important part of pretty much every community's support structure for young family builders. So I think we've gotta move the debate and discussion away from, how do we make sure that we welcome women because it's the right thing to do for society to saying, it's an economic and a business argument to bring in the best and the brightest. And incidentally, there happen to be women.

VIDEO ENDS: [00:21:28]

Lynn:
I love that conversation. I just love listening to her talk about the best and the brightest and access to the entire talent pool, and providing support systems that everybody can succeed. A point here too, we're gonna start to move into some of the solutions and the options that we see organizations supporting their employees with so that they can provide that safety net for the families is backup childcare. That's becoming increasingly popular with more than 200 employers that work with us, that is during the pandemic, it's the largest increase that we've seen over the last two years. So there is a high interest in terms of recognizing the workdays that are saved by being able to provide the backup care to those families.

Elizabeth:
And I just love that interview as well. That's a short clip. It's my favorite clip from the interview, but the entire interview is just fantastic. And as you said, Lynn, backup care is such a great option. As you can see on the slide, we at Bright Horizons actually saved more than 1.2 million workdays in 2022. So, a lot of, you know, time saved for employers and employees. So moving on to another poll. In addition to care for young children, what other family supports are your employees asking for? And you can check more than one here.

Lynn:
We're seeing that care needs differ depending on the life stage that that employee's in right now. What I think is really interesting... Oh, there we go. Fifty percent care for seniors and elders. Interesting. That's where I'm at right now in my life. What's interesting in terms of the backup care is that in 2022, more than 10% of the backup care uses for our employers were used for adults and seniors. So that does reinforce that 50% that you have provided in terms of care as well as for spouse. So that's just an interesting fact as well. And we do expect that to continue as baby boomers continue to age and more millennials and Gen Z employees enter the sandwich generation.

Elizabeth:
Yeah, you're right. Our millennial and Gen Z report actually found that 27% of people in that age group are already caring for a person who is elderly or disabled. And that we found both generations are stressed about their parents' physical, mental, and financial well-being. That's one-half to two-thirds are stressed about those three areas for their parents, and those are people who are not necessarily yet in the sandwiched generation with direct elder care and childcare obligations, but they're already thinking about what do I do in the future to take care of my parents' needs?

Lynn:
So, I can't imagine a more complex time right now for HR leaders. So, for everybody that's attended this webinar, times are complex, and the voice of the employee's never been louder is what I'd say too, which is in terms of expressing what they want from surviving to thriving at work, and front and center is the access to the high-quality affordable childcare is super important.

Elizabeth:
Yeah, as I mentioned a few moments ago, it's really difficult to be productive if you're managing childcare at the same time as you're trying to work. Companies that have childcare centers on-site are actually seeing a return on their investment that is especially high in the healthcare industry. We partner with one of...we actually partner with a lot of healthcare systems, but I'm gonna share information with you about one of the largest healthcare systems in the country, who sponsors several childcare centers on-site.

We did a recent return on investment study with them, and we found that while they see a 25% attrition rate among nurses across the organization, for the nurses who use the childcare center, their turnover rate was just above 5%. So there's a huge difference. And when Shannon Medical in Texas opened its center, it saw a reduction in the use of contractors. They had 177, they went down to 93 because employees who needed childcare in order to, or could now access it through their center. And we collect data on parents who use our centers. And 9 out of 10 tell us that using Bright Horizon Childcare Centers positively impacts their ability to concentrate on their job and to be productive at work.

Lynn:
So, obviously during the pandemic healthcare as an industry was front and center with the need for care. But I am also seeing very creative approaches in terms of supporting an employer-sponsored market by the employers and creating supply. Quite often it ends up being in what we call childcare deserts, where there just is not available childcare that's affordable and high quality. So employers will step in and support the development of their own center. A couple of examples Diamondback Energy and Endeavor Energy partnered to open together a childcare center to support the families for both companies. So we're seeing more collaboration and partnerships with two to three partners coming in in terms of the investment for that on-site center. And they knew that they needed to step in and solve for that. Hormel Foods is in Austin, Minnesota, so southern Minnesota, and they recently broke ground on a $5 million construction of an on-site center to support their employees in Austin.

And half of the seats are dedicated towards infants and toddlers, which is one of the more difficult age groups for parents to find available high-quality care. So taking the approach based on the demographics for their workforce population to the need to have a greater percentage of those seats available for the smaller children. Miller County Hospital is building a center to support employees in rural Georgia. Another issue in terms of access to care, and their new center will provide early childhood education plus school age. So, before and after-school care for the school-aged children is also important because the ability then to be able to provide care during the school holidays, the summer vacations. Also, a mildly ill room is located also at the Miller County Hospital. And I've seen that in some of the other healthcare organizations where a child has a low fever, is not eligible or not able to go to school and doesn't need to have care during the day for the parent to go to work.

And Snoqualmie Indian Tribe also recently opened up a childcare center. And what you need too with our centers is we will incorporate the culture of the company within the design elements and the Native American culture and customs are built into the curriculum is also for the students of these parents. And then lastly, Toyota. As you can imagine with the shift schedules has a 24-hour daycare center for their employees on-site as well. So that's another access to care is meeting the unique shift schedules that workers have. And that's where we're able then to customize centers that have the...whether that be a 24-hour or 14-day work shift need to be able to provide center hours that meet the family needs.

Elizabeth:
And we can talk at length about many of the wonderful organizations we partner with. But I'd love to show a video of an employer speaking about the partnerships themselves. A partner of ours for the past two decades that's been doing a really great job at meeting the moment for their employees.

VIDEO BEGINS: [00:29:40]

Hillary Johnson:
Alston & Bird has been on the Fortune Best Places to Work list for 23 years, and we have been partnering with Bright Horizons for 22 years. So, I would think that it is safe to say our partnership with Bright Horizons definitely helps us recruit and retain talent and continue to be an employer of choice.

Alexandra Barnett:
It's really helpful when I've had early meetings, or my husband's had early meetings or has had to work late. It shows that the firm cares about us as entire people and recognizes that people have childcare responsibilities and family responsibilities.

Hillary:
Alston & Bird offers caregiving benefits through Bright Horizons from infancy all the way up through adult elder care. Our philosophy has always been that if we take care of our people, they will take care of our business.

Michael Stephens:
The childcare center or the daycare center have always been a selling point for us. It's certainly a recruiting tactic. We use it all the time to get people here, especially younger lawyers and younger staff members that wanna build or grow a family. And so one of the things, especially with our partnership with Bright Horizons is that we're able to, you know, take away that burden, take away those personal burdens from our lawyers and our staff with childcare offerings and elder care offerings so they don't have to worry about that stuff. And when our lawyers don't have to worry about that, and guess what, they're able to serve our clients much better. And when our staff members don't have to worry about that kind of stuff, they're able to help our lawyers service our clients much better.

Elaine Tapp:
My job can get very demanding, especially in the run-up to assigning or a deal closing. And so even if I can work from home with a child, I can't be interrupted or have to go tend to them. And so, to know that I have someone who can take care of them, entertain them, feed them, and I know that they're okay.

Hillary:
We recognize that in different stages of your life, you need help in different ways.

Deanna Kashdan:
I will say that the college coach eased our process. So I was spending less time really down and dirty on the essays, which allowed me, obviously, less stress to do my job.

Michael:
We have something to offer them to help them, you know, maneuver through these very difficult times in their lives.

Hillary:
I've also used the in-home backup adult elder care for my mother. She has some health issues. And so during the pandemic, we needed some in-home help for her. Just, you know, lighthouse work, companionship, that kind of thing.

Michael:
Families are changing, families look different. We heard many employees say, I don't have children, and my parents are not elderly just yet and don't have any needs for that kind of stuff, but man, I worried more about my dog than anything in the world.

Brennan Fulton:
It just lets me know that they're thinking of us holistically, that we're not all the same. We all have different needs, and that they're really tapped into trying to have something that works for everyone. One of the things that I love so much about pet care through Bright Horizons is that during the day, I get constant updates from the pet care provider.

Hillary:
We recognize that when we hire someone, when we employ someone, we're not just hiring a person, we are bringing on their whole family.

Logan Thore:
It makes a huge impact on my ability to do my job. I think it can be wrapped up in one phrase, which is just peace of mind.

VIDEO ENDS: [00:33:01]

Lynn:
I am so glad that that video mentions pets. I am called the crazy dog mom, and the 23 million households got a pet during the pandemic. And so we realized that families consider their pets as family. And so that removes through the pet care, removes a barrier to return to office. And I got a pet during the pandemic also. So, it comes together.

Elizabeth:
Yeah. And we just saw in our poll that many people reported that their employees are asking for pet care. So we know that pets and caring for pets as people go back to the office is very important. A pet care benefit could also be a great way to attract and retain younger employees. I know I talk a lot about millennials and Gen Zs, but very fond of the research we did there. We did find that 87% of millennials and Gen Zs think of a pet as a member of the family. And then the notable part of this stat is that that was for people who didn't even have pets themselves. So that was the entire group of millennials and Gen Zs, whether you're a pet parent or not, this group really does think of pets as family.

Lynn:
That's so great. So we're gonna shift now to talking about Dads for a few moments. We firmly believe that solving for childcare crisis can help and attract...we talked about women, but even bringing those back to the workforce during the pandemic. But we're seeing a trend emerge for dads as well. So they've always been part of the equation, but we're starting to see some new information coming out of the Modern Family Index.

Elizabeth:
Yeah. When lifestyles changed during the pandemic, they hinted at a more egalitarian view of parenting responsibility. Men in this year's Modern Family Index remain more likely than women to worry about how parenting will affect them professionally. With hybrid working dads more likely than moms, about 43% compared to 27% worrying about the negative effect of remote working on their careers when they choose to work from home. Working dads were more likely than working moms to perceive or feel that their company had been sympathetic to working parents during the pandemic. And although they see their organizations supporting working parents, over half of the dads we surveyed wished that their employer would do more to support their own childcare needs.

Lynn:
And I also wanted to weigh in that Surmount puts out an annual list of the best companies for dads. And in 2022, 9 of the top 10 companies all offer childcare support through Bright Horizons. So, we're really proud of that and take a lot of pride in that. And so I appreciate that those organizations are recognizing the importance of supporting Dads in creating a sense of belonging for all employees.

Elizabeth:
That's so great. And that's such a great segue to talk a little bit more about employee resource groups, and including, you know, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, and making sure everyone feels like they're part of the organization. As we alluded to earlier, employee resource groups are great for sharing benefits and resources. As I'm sure most of you know, there are groups within the organization for employees to meet who have shared characteristics or shared life experiences. They can offer support to each other, they can enhance career development, and they can also contribute to personal development as well. They're also pretty great employees who don't necessarily identify with the group either, but want to learn more about how to be an ally or how to support their colleagues, or just what someone else's experience is to build empathy in an organization.

The first official ERG in the United States was actually the Xerox National Black Employees Caucus. It was created in 1970 as a forum for black employees to advocate for inclusion and change within the company. So from 1970 till now, there's now 90% of Fortune 500 companies that have employee resource groups. Bright Horizons has their own ERGs, and we have for more than 20 years. And just on a personal note, after working for other organizations, I just wanna plug Bright Horizons' strategy because I think it's so great. So our ERGs rotate a Tuesday afternoon time slot for meetings. So you can block this one consistent hour on your calendar and then show up regularly to any and all of the groups. It's a great way to get people involved.

And another company that we recently spoke with about ERGs at a fireside chat was Sanofi, which is a life sciences company. So, not only do they have several ERGs that they celebrate, they also discussed a unique benefit for the women in their organization. Recognizing that half of their employees identify as women, and that the average age is about 45, the company recently added a program for women going through menopause with coaching and digital resources and help finding a doctor. And I've read a bit about this as an expanding benefit for other organizations as well. To continue attracting younger employees, Sanofi also expanded their parental leave to a minimum of 14 weeks, and that's for all parents, not just birth mothers. What are you seeing from some other clients, Lynn?

Lynn:
Yeah, I'm really impressed with the many ways that the employers are exploring new ideas and benefits to create that enhanced sense of feeling and belonging. And what I'm seeing too is this flexing of work practices. And so the new norm is this flexibility in meeting the wide ranges across the multi-generations of what's important to them at that point in their life. And that results in retention and access to key talent pools which is an important piece. One of the healthcare clients that I work with is Ochsner Health. They have an ERG called RETRO, R-E-T-R-O, which is resourceful, experienced team rises at Ochsner. And these employees help develop the program, focus on bridging the gap to retirement. The health systems meeting the moment for those looking towards retirement by offering ways for people to work part-time. So, extending the time in the workplace. Quite often that's for economic needs and it really is a win-win. Staff can ease into retirement with additional financial security, and there's some relief to the ongoing and looming labor shortage that the healthcare industry is facing. So that is a very creative way to bridge full employment to semi-retirement, to the retirement lifestyle.

Elizabeth:
It's such a great idea. I also recently heard another conference about a healthcare organization doing something similarly. They've taken a pool of nurses who otherwise would've retired, and they're now working in telehealth roles so that their knowledge and their experience is not lost, just because the demands of bedside care became too much. And Prisma Health spoke to us about their military family program. So, in this program, when a team member is called up for active duty, Prisma sends a letter from the CEO thanking the family for their service. But this letter also includes resources like an HR partner who can address benefits-related questions as well as contact information for the VP of Veterans Affairs, who connects families to resources throughout both the state and military system.

Lynn:
I'm gonna shift now to education because we know that education is known as the great equalizer and is really a requirement for career mobility in many organizations. And so as part of our EdAssist business, we've got a team that is working with organizations and understanding that the finances are often a barrier to advancing education. So, in 2022 alone, EdAssist saw 33% increase in the number of healthcare companies offering free education as a strategy to attract, retain, and upskill talent. And then specifically, Memorial Hermann and Northrop Grumman are meeting the moment by including a virtual credit card as part of their education programs. The virtual cards then can be used for tuition, books, and other educational-related expenses, and they don't have to tap into their own funds. And it's super easy and convenient. So that's really important for Gen Z and millennial employees. That's particularly powerful because they don't have the savings at hand in order to advance their education. So, Northrop Grumman has found that 75% of the participants in this program choose the convenience of the credit card, and 90% participating employees are retained, and those are some great stats.

Elizabeth:
Those are such great stats. And with labor shortages expected to be a challenge, especially with frontline and hourly staff, some of our other partners are recognizing the untapped pipeline out there to invest in as well. And one of those would be the 36 million adults over the age of 25 who don't have a high school diploma. This, you know, as you imagine, really set employees back and prevents them from applying for some critical roles that really need employees.

So, CVS is meeting the moment with the introduction of its career online high school program, which reengages adult learners at no cost to the employee. And the program, you know, makes content relevant to their lives. It's a career-based curriculum, it has competency-based learning. They have hands-on support with a dedicated academic coach from start to finish. So, it gives them the ability to complete coursework when it's convenient for them. They can continue working with CVS. And with 10 to 12 hours of coursework at their own pace, most students complete the program in 6 to 12 months, but they can have up to 18 months if they need it. It's a really great program. And CVS found that participants across their education assistance programs overall are three times more likely to receive a promotion than non-participants. So, this investment is really paying off in being able to upscale and re-skill their workforce.

Lynn:
That's great. And it touches both retention but also financial well-being. So, having the economic success through the promotion process. There's also a growing number of employers that are providing student loan repayment. And that's also another approach in terms of retaining and attracting employees, particularly as women. A recent USA TODAY article reveals women account for two-thirds of U.S. student loan debt. So that's a big number. And we see a lot of healthcare companies offering this benefit. And since 2020, we've observed a 70% increase in the number of clients that offer student loan repayment. So we love to work in this area.

For example, since 2017, the technology company, Nvidia has been offering student loan reimbursement to employees who've been with the company for at least three months and work a minimum of 20 hours per week. Eligible workers can receive up to 6,000 per year and up to 30,000 in total. So that's a great example. So that goes a long way to addressing student debt. That continues to be a stressor for employees. And offering student loan support helps provide flexibility and equity across your benefits and really helps meet the moment for those employees across all demographics and life stages as they try to tackle the burden of debt.

Elizabeth:
Yeah. And before we, you know, wrap up and move on to questions from the audience, I wanted to just circle back to the frontline and essential workers. They've done so much over the past year, their work has been remarkable. In addition to, you know, the education benefits we just discussed, there's lots of other support that frontline and essential workers need. The Modern Family Index found that nearly two-thirds of parents in these groups feel that piecing together childcare is actually another full-time job to them.

And relative to the other parents, over the last two to three years, these employees are less likely to feel that their company has been sympathetic to their personal situation. They're also less likely to say that their company has added or changed benefits to support them, and they're less likely to receive any mental health benefits or help managing their stress in their personal work-life balance. So, just say that this stress and lack of support is really leaving a mark on these employees with nearly a third of them telling us that they're likely to leave their current job within the next year, and 18% reporting that they're actively looking. So this is a group that definitely needs some more support.

Lynn:
Yeah. One stat, Elizabeth, that stuck out for me is that these employees don't feel new or enhanced benefits have been added, which is not what I'm hearing from the clients, especially our healthcare clients. And so the need to amp up communication and visibility for all employees is really important. And so I've got also some stories too in terms of just some really creative ways that organizations are helping to increase the awareness around the benefits, whether that be new employee experience initiatives, sending postcards, creating materials in Spanish, asking leaders to participate in storytelling, to give some examples around the benefits in the programs. And, of course, I think the most important are the ongoing well-being check-ins by managers with their teams to be able to provide the opportunity to reinforce those available benefits.

Elizabeth:
Great point, Lynn. And before we wrap up for questions, let's show one more video that shows how supporting working parents in healthcare can really make a difference.

VIDEO BEGINS: [00:48:24]

Dr. Kristian Stodghill:
Five years ago I completed my fellowship in palliative medicine, and at that point, I was looking for a full-time job. I had several options on the table, but one of the things that drew me to Wellstar was their mission for being a good place for the working mother. And I saw that in one, having this center available for childcare, and two, also having great maternity leave.

Female Speaker:
Dr. Stegel is one of many working parents drawn to Wellstar because the health system invests in flexible childcare benefits, including two on-site centers run by Bright Horizons.

Courtney Kopsie:
Having access to the childcare center is an incredible benefit that Wellstar provides its team members. And I feel incredibly lucky that I get to work for an organization that puts so much value on being a mother, being a father, being a parent in general.

Female Speaker:
With women making up 80% of its workforce and competition for healthcare workers at historic levels, Wellstar has made caring for its caregivers, especially working parents, part of its core employee value proposition.

Dr. Rebecca Gomez:
My work-life benefits are part of my village. You know, Wellstar is a part of my village, and that goes for childcare. Those benefits are there to alleviate those burdens outside of work, creating that culture at the workplace where it's supportive of being a mom.

Female Speaker:
Both Bright Horizon centers offer the high-quality education parents in healthcare want, the extended hours they need to care for patients, and the convenience that helps ensure they don't miss the moments that matter.

Speaker 6:
It's so powerful because I could go to the muffins with mom, I could go have lunch, I could go nurse my baby. And if they were sick, I could get to them in an instant.

Female Speaker:
The centers have become talent magnets for Wellstar.

Michele Harris:
In 2022, we completed an ROI study from the previous 12 months using turnover data for team members who use our on-site childcare centers, and we found that that turnover was about 1.5%.

Female Speaker:
The health system also offers backup care options to help employees fill in coverage gaps for older children, ailing spouses, aging parents, and even pets.

Michele:
In 2022, our backup care program saved nearly 2,000 workdays, and that's a win-win. Our team members found high-quality care for their family members, and we had frontline team members coming into work to care for our patients.

Hannah Saporsky:
I work right across the street at Wellstar Cobb as a heart failure nurse navigator, and I would not have been able to continue working if it was not for this place.

Kristian:
They're really trying to help me be able to do my job better so I don't have to worry about my kids.

Female Speaker:
The benefits of Wellstar's Total Rewards program go beyond employee satisfaction, promoting overall wellness and helping minimize burnout and stress, the return on investment.

Sarah Elliot:
You have happy, healthy team members taking care of, you know, our sick community. And so if we are a healthy community, our patients will feel that.

VIDEO ENDS: [00:51:48]

Lynn:
I love that video. That always gets me. So those moments that matter sitting right there in the day and day and being able to run down and join the muffins with moms is pretty powerful.

Elizabeth:
I agree. And, you know, watching the videos is just such a better illustration than just us talking about these organizations. So, I just love the videos. So, that's it from us. I just wanna say thank you all for listening to our conversation today. Remind you that you have resources available to you. And I want to try to squeeze in a question or two before our time is up.

Mike:
All right, let's turn to our audience questions. We'll start here. Audience are asked, "For some larger companies. Are you seeing more employers looking into the on-site childcare option?"

Lynn:
I can answer that, Mike. We do. So we see quite a few organizations looking at the on-site childcare option. And we've got a process as we work with organizations to talk about the feasibility and looking at their employee population and demographics to see if that's a good solution for them, or also helping them to get connected to our many community centers and have tuition subsidy and priority access within our centers. So there are various avenues for full-time care that we work with organizations on.

Mike:
And unfortunately, we have time for one more question here. We'll go with this one from a viewer who writes, "How do you help make sure spouses and family members know about the benefits that are being offered?"

Elizabeth:
That's actually pretty funny. Yeah. We did a conference presentation with one of our clients a few weeks ago, and a member of the audience learned about her spouse's benefit because the company was presenting with us and discussing them. So that was pretty amusing. So I'd say start with making sure that the employee actually knows about their benefits too. So that's where emails, ERGs, on-site flyers, table tents, digital posters, all those resources come in handy. We've heard that, you know, home mailers work, they may seem old school, but they work because I suppose our partner is more likely to, you know, find something that comes in the mail than something that's just in their spouse's email box. And then a centralized website that's accessible to the outside we've also seen to be beneficial. In a presentation we just did with Sanofi, they highlighted their mental health finder tool, which navigates you the benefits based on what you're dealing with at the moment. And that tool is accessible outside the organization, so spouses have access to it as well.

Mike:
Thank you. We are coming to the close of our program. We wanna thank Lynn Clement and Dr. Elizabeth Myers from Bright Horizons for the information they shared today. That concludes this program.