By Christina Bridges Editor’s Note: Absence and disability – including a short-term disability – often create uncertainty for both the employer and the employee. Employees are contending with health, wellness, and income concerns; and employers are looking to ensure a smooth return to work, as well as a seamless tracking of the leave. It can…
By: Phil Bruen, senior vice president, Life & Disability, Group Benefits, MetLife While more than two-thirds of employees consider paid and unpaid leave to be a must have benefit, fewer employers offer these programs now than they did in 2019 and 2020. Phil Bruen shares three tips for businesses around the successful application of leave…
Prior to the pandemic, the United States saw a decades-long epidemic of “diseases of despair” with increasing rates of depression, suicide, addiction and overdose deaths. Mental health and substance use issues—and the economic and human costs of those conditions—were a focus for employers. Then came the pandemic. Rates of anxiety and depression tripled and remain…
This article originally appeared on the author’s LinkedIn page. I don’t know what’s going to happen to the economy, or what course the pandemic will take. All I know is what I’m eating for the next 3 weeks, because it stares me in the face every time I open the fridge (which is often). But…
When most people consider disability, they picture something catastrophic happening—an injury on the ski slope, or a speeding car hurtling into theirs—and, for the most part assume it can never happen to them. That’s why human resources experts often find it challenging to convince their employees of the importance of disability insurance even though you…
Benefit packages can be confusing to understand, and – it’s sad but true – many times are forgotten the minute the onboarding paperwork is signed. Unfortunately that leaves many employees not fully understanding their benefits package, and one area of frequent confusion is what their “paid” and “unpaid” leave options are. Not being clear on what you can…
By Peter Fabiankovic, Corporate Counsel, U.S. Insurance Law, MetLife Workplace leave and absence management is top-of-mind for employers and employees, as it provides an important element of financial stability. Several studies bear this out, including MetLife’s 17th annual U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study, where more than 90 percent of employees said short-term disability insurance…
As we head into the busy holiday season, two forces converge—one, some workplaces get extra busy, and two, everyone is craving time off for their own personal celebrations. Here are some suggestions for helping manage employee time off so that everyone feels that they have been treated fairly—or as fairly as possible. (Remember that these…
The yard sale is part of the spring cleaning and organizing ritual. Spring is here – get our guide for a successful yard sale.
A recent study by Guardian on absence management informs us of how employers can help their workers while on leave from a disability, and provide the support they need for when they return to work.
