Relying on stereotypes for program design will not support diversity within your organization
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There's kind of five generations that are generally accepted as being part of the workforce today, starting from youngest to oldest. And the reason for that just had to pick a place to start. We have GenZ
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and we also have the Millennial group. You have your GenX, Y’rs, your Boomers and then your traditionalists or Silent Generation and
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somebody even makes a further distinction. So within the millennial group, and this might just be because that's part of the group that I'm a part of, but within that millennial group, there's sometimes a further distinction of elder millennials. So these are those millennials that were born in the early 80s. They might not identify or report identifying the same way as their younger counterparts and that could be in part because they kind of straddle that free and post-Internet era at a very kind of coming-of-age defining moment if you will,
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transitioning from teenagers into young childhood. And the reason I kind of highlight this, this subgroup is really because it's an important reminder that even within each generation there exists quite a bit of diversity.
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People rarely fit neatly into boxes and there's a lot of kind of stereotypes that go along with those generations. So going to ask for a little bit of audience participation, if you don't mind. And I'm going to run through some of those stereotypes that I've come across for the generations and you just show by raise of hand. If you heard that, that would be great.
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So, Gen Z, has anyone heard that Gen Z's are overly reliant on technology?
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OK, that's actually more hands than I was expecting. The next one, I'm sure I'm gonna see all hands. Who's heard that millennials are entitled?
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Nice GenX here sometimes get a bad rap for you, slacker generation. That's my older brother, so I'm not totally sure because it works. And then our parents are sometimes typecasting Alcoholics, so maybe they don't notice either way anyway,
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because my mind going off.
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Oh, OK, thank you. Yeah. And your traditionalists or Silent Generation are typically kind of seen as conservative, very loyal workers. So if anybody has immediately seen some of the issues with these stereotypes aside from them kind of seeming a bit negative to me, relying on stereotypes can serve a problem when you're looking at designing programs and supporting A diverse workforce. It can foster unconscious bias and it's also just potentially not a helpful strategy in trying to support
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this diversity within your organization when we're kind of relying on stereotypes or we're kind of thinking in terms of averages. And that's not really the goal of supporting a diverse workforce and that can actually hinder what you're trying to accomplish.
Consider strategies to foster a multi-generational workforce and keep up with industry trends
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So there are lots of strategies you can look at. One would be to look for opportunities to personalize your programs for your unique employee base. As an HR representative, you're kind of close to your employees. You probably have a bit better of a pulse on your employees and can make those personalizations. You can also offer opportunities for your employees to find personalization in their own programs. So it might be offering a component of flexibility into their program, or it might be something
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simple as making sure that there are different ways that your employees can interact with their benefits. So are they able to access their benefits virtually as well as in as in person? What do those communications look like? Lots of different opportunities to include that
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have a few other points here if you don't mind. There's also taking making sure you're using data-driven decision-making. So there are going to be, there are going to be statistically supported at trends that differ amongst those generations like older generations just statistically speaking are more likely to need access to prescription drugs and so being conscious of where the data supports those differences.
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You can also solicit feedback from your employees. If you have caveats, you'll notice some of our consultants are big proponents of making sure that you action those surveys which can present its own challenges if not everybody's participated in the survey or if what they're asking for is not feasible based on budgets or for other reasons.
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Also important, you're gonna hear this over and over again. I'm sure from all of our team communication is super important. So how are you telling the story of what you're trying to achieve to your employees and then of course keeping up with trends and industries that those generations are facing?
The lifestyle category is under scrutiny due to emerging anti-obesity drugs
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Terry talked about it a little bit was that Ozempic for weight loss in general, but we're having a lot of discussions not only with our clients but with the insurance companies in the lifestyle category. So in many contracts, I don't know if we're going to change the name or not, but lifestyle category was something that was sort of sitting on the sidebar for many years. But what's being talked about under lifestyle is of course weight loss and anti-obesity drugs. Can I have a show of hands? How many people here in the audience are actually looking at their lifestyle categories and
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talking to your brokers, and consultants about this?
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It's getting a ton of airtime with the carriers, with their focus bulletins at hockey games. On the panel boards, the housewives are talking about Ozempic and weight loss. So Saxenda, Wegovy Contrave, Xenical. They all fall under the lifestyle category If you're looking at reviewing it, adding weight loss, or anti-obesity, put a maximum place. They're saying that the weight loss drugs are going to be anywhere from 2600 to 36, four, $1000 a year, but put a max in place,
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make sure there are protocols and prior authorization. If you're going to be adding weight loss drugs, there's a new drug coming to market called improving. It's going to be 200 to $300,000 a year. It's going to be entering soon. It's a weight loss drug,
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so employees are asking about it, though we're getting offer letters because we act as a third-party administrator and many of our groups as well where employees are asking up front, do you cover weight loss drugs? Do you cover under the lifestyle category, fertility drugs,
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vaccinations, smoking cessation and then the other one in the area would be erectile dysfunction. So funny I was gonna ask you about this. So lifestyle drugs with my Blogger business and the clients that I'm working with definitely getting a lot of error time, would you say when we look back, traditionally you and I've been in business a little while few years when we look back traditional in a traditional benefit plan, lifestyle was kind of removed. There was a time when everybody kind of removed that. Would you say that now it's almost become table stakes as part of
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part of the traditional plan design? Yeah, absolutely, Jackie. So like I said, it was sort of the hidden category. I'm hoping that the carriers change the name from lifestyle, but it's definitely table stakes because more so than ever, employees are asking about what's covered in their benefit plan because of all the direct-to-consumer advertising that's going on. They're asking if it is covered, but also offer letters planning. Employees are looking at joining organizations. They're asking more and more questions about what's covered under the benefit plan.
Communication is crucial for employees to value and appreciate plans
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EAP programs. There was just an article in Benefits and Pension Monitor last week where two in five employees who have EAP programs don't even know they have it or they don't know how to access it. It's not getting enough airtime,
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so employees are asking how do you get into it? But the big thing here is communicate, communicate, communicate. You're paying for benefit programs that also involve your dependence.
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Their spouses, and their partners. They don't even know about it half the time. So that message is not hitting home the other thing under one roof, Jackie, EAP programs?
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A lot of courses or a lot of seminars can be offered that aren't being put out there. The workforce is aging. A lot of companies are putting on menopause support programs,
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right? There's a lot of absenteeism, presenteeism, people dealing with menopause,
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elder care was mentioned, loneliness, resiliency coming out of COVID. Financial coaching, Gender affirmation. All of these types of courses and seminars can be promoted and pushed through communication and through your AP and your Wellness programs.
Equity and inclusion are reflected in programs, cultures, and companies
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I think from a people perspective, it's really interesting to look at through the lens of multi-generational needs when realistically we talk about each generation or each stereotype or each group of people like we expect to know what their needs are and what they actually want. So we everybody had a good chuckle at the expense of millennials and I find myself in that category and I'm not lazy, but I do have two kids of my own and my needs have changed over the last 10 years dramatically. So if you ask me when I was 25
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whether I wanted a drug program and a disability program, I would have said I'd take the money. But now it has become very, very important. So when you're looking at it through the human lens, I think the most important thing is getting away from those stereotypes and realizing that what we are really dealing with is a really diverse set of individuals with individual needs. And that the Modern Family is way different than it might have been 30 years ago when we started building social constructs around what people are and what they need. I think that we talk about
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diversity, equity and inclusion and now belonging. That
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is kind of buzzwords and things that people are putting a lot of focus in their organizations, and I have some stats about that.
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But what I think the biggest takeaway for me in the research was diversity is a fact. That is something that each one of our organizations, by virtue of having different people at different life stages, coming from different places, at different ages, different genders, different everything, it's a fact. The equity and inclusion and how you build your programs, how you build your culture and how you build your company is a choice.
Stakeholder and employee consensus is needed when introducing diversity into decision-making
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So from a total compensation perspective, I think the companies are prioritizing a range of things depending on their budget, depending on their philosophy. Sometimes you have a little bit to spend, sometimes you have a lot to spend. It depends on your approach and what you feel is important. But what I can say, and I'm going to pull out the cards because I have stats that I want to get right,
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is when it comes to the human piece, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and building better programs. The Conference Board of Canada recently released a survey that says 30% of companies don't even know where to start. So if you don't feel like you know exactly where you want to start in designing your programs and how to approach it from a human perspective, you're not alone.
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Almost half of people don't even know where to begin,
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and part of the people who do probably aren't starting in the right place.
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25% of companies say it's too hard. It's too hard and too complex to keep track of all the things that are changing, all the different groups that we want to take care of and all the different needs that we have. And even those groups aren't the same as they were five years ago, and the people that were trying to serve are different. The good news is nobody knows what they're doing and that each company and culture is unique,
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but what's really important is the process. So are you engaging the stakeholders in your company? Are you bringing those employees to the table with representation from those different groups? Not just because it's the right thing to do or the popular thing to do, but because there is clinically proven data to support that. By introducing greater diversity and a greater mix of people into the decision making and development and planning process, you yield better results, a better team culture, and more innovation in your company.
Successful employers are mindful of employees' needs at all stages of their careers
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I think when you're looking at the modern employee and the modern employer landscape from a people perspective, you have multiple 5 generations in the workforce. Some of them are getting closer to retirement. Penny just celebrated 35 years with us. Congratulations.
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But with that 35 years comes a wealth of knowledge and experience stuff that we want to pass on to our new generation of employees, some in their first year with us in the room
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and also being mindful that we want to take care of Penny as well. So you start having conversations around modified work weeks, reduced hours. Are people going to start working part-time? How do you structure that from an HR perspective and legal perspective? And hopefully, Sean can help us out with that a little bit later on. But also, how do you tactically target that as a company to keep that knowledge in-house and to continue to provide rewarding work and experiences for Penny that keeps
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Penny or anybody in that situation engaged, but also accommodates their needs as well as what the company is aiming to do?
The meaning of financial wellness can differ from person to person
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Yeah. So I think an important first step is to look at the concept of financial Wellness, which has become a little bit of a buzzword or a buzz term for the past several years. But I think for a really good reason. There are so many stats out there that prove that money and finances are the top stressor amongst Canadians, even over things like work, personal relationships, and physical health. So money and finances seem to be the problem, and Financial Wellness is that
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overarching solution. But the solution looks so different from one person to the next. You might have somebody who feels so much stress about whether or not they're going to make their rent payment every month. And then you might have somebody else who feels a lot of pressure and stress around whether or not they have enough money for retirement. Retirement might be five years down the road, and they're worried about whether they're going to be able to maintain their lifestyle when they're no longer working. So I think you first have to kind of take a step back
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and look at the big picture and understand that financial Wellness is so individual and differs from one person to the next.
Staying current on retirement plan trends is essential for staying competitive
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I'd say it's so important to stay up to date with the trends that we're seeing in the industry and that one is a great example other than penny, gone are the days when an employee says that the same organization for the duration of their career or at least that's kind of becoming the new normal. So you really do have to adjust the plan design of your workplace program accordingly. So just by way of hand, who here is currently in a defined benefit or a DB pension plan?
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There's a few.
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So not there are a few, not a ton, which is really what I was expecting I when I asked that question. I mentioned earlier that we're really seeing a shift away from those traditional pension plans towards products like RSPS and DPS that offer a lot more in terms of flexibility and even portability. But even those eligibility waiting periods, So waiting periods before you're allowing your staff to join your workplace retirement program are shortening or they're nonexistent. Where there was once maybe a three-month up to a year
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long waiting period to join the plan, plan sponsors are really allowing their new hires to join immediately to take advantage of that matching contribution.
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The other thing is the matching contribution itself. So if it's within your budget, offering a higher match, a higher contribution to your employees' accounts is really going to give you a one-up against your competitors and it really is
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that key for attraction and.
Retirement program education positively impacts employees' lives
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Yeah. So program education is of course so important for so many reasons.
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There's again been studies in statistics proving that when an employee understands their workplace retirement, program participation rates are going to be higher. But I think, more importantly, the more your staff understand
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their workplace retirement program, the more value it's going to bring, the more they're going to see the impact that it has on their savings goals, whatever those goals may be. But again, with program education, you have to direct it to the right audience. So, you know, right now I think there's so much information and awareness out there about environmental issues. There are a lot of people who are highly equal conscious and really value sustainability.
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So if you can offer an education session just around how your fund lineup within your workplace plan integrates those environmental, social, governance considerations, the ESG considerations, I think it could be really powerful.
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The other thing is if you have some people that are getting close to retirement, maybe five years away from retirement,
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providing them with resources or support or even an education session around retirement readiness, I think would be
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it would show a lot of value to that group of people,
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absolutely.
Mental health is the top diagnostic category across industries and generations
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What I would say is we've talked a lot about stereotypes, and I think there's a lot of stereotypical conversations around mental health, what it means to have a mental health diagnosis. So stereotypically, yes, a younger generation is less resilient. They're more likely to just give up. They're more likely to just go on claim and not deal with it. Older generations are more likely to just suck it up and move on. And I think one of the things that regardless of the generations that you're working on is there a different level of education,
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understanding and understanding the individual employees' limits. So you may see an older worker that might just be struggling as much as anyone else would with the pressures of everything else that the panel's talked about today and the younger worker understanding that that's beyond my limits. And so it's an understanding that although there may be generational differences in how individuals approach mental health, as an employer it makes it really difficult to sort of manage, but also to now understand and develop
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flexible programs that align with that. So are you seeing differences in the incident rates across the generations when it comes to disability? Yes, I would say none of you in the room was probably surprised. Mental health is the top diagnostic category in almost every industry company and category if not the very close #2. As unexpectedly the younger generation is more likely to struggle with a mental health claim. There are 60% more likely to have a
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mental health diagnosis then the worker over the age of 50. My panellists have talked about all the pressures around that cost of living, affordability, pressures on inflation, and ongoing stigma within the workplace. Hear the word burnout, and burnouts being talked a lot about in the industry. And so you get to a stage where you're workflow is has also changed. So when you get an older workforce that may have traditionally just sucked it up and moved on now being replaced by a younger generation that's
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aware of their mental health, health, their limits and now the ability to sort of continue to manage through that. So it becomes equally more challenging as an employer to find ways to support that population.