Page 273 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

260B RE-ENGAGE

a particular topic—two perspectives that vary greatly in how they re-
gard the subject. Let’s look at these mindsets and then review their
implications.

: New Mindset
Old Mindset
Some employers are just trying
:
:
. . . while others are making genu-
to “get by,” offering only the bare
ine efforts to meet the needs of
minimum of resources . . .
their employees.
Some employers see their work-
:
employees have lives outside of
force only in the context of what : . . . while others realize that
happens during work hours . . . work that must be understood and
appreciated.
: Some employers are making it : . . . while others work to
the “problem of the employee” by collaborate in partnership with
directing all additional costs to the employee.
the employee side of the balance
sheet . . .
: Some employers blindly continue : . . . while others want to “fix
paying more claims related to the problem before it starts” by
diseases largely seen as driven emphasizing prevention and well-
by poor lifestyle . . . care practices.
: Some employers see benefits as : . . . while others see it as a long-
an expense that drains resources term investment that can reap
from the bottom line . . . generous returns by making
employees more productive.
: Some employers see benefits as : . . . while others look to tailor
a “one-size-fits-all” proposition, their offerings to meet the needs
harking to the words of Henry of various constituent groups of
Ford, who told buyers they could employees who may have differ-
have their car any color they ent needs.
want as long as it was black . . .

We find it interesting that companies are going in such divergent
directions when it comes to thinking about the health and well-being
of their employees. As we were trying to articulate what Best-Places
employers are doing to build overall employee engagement through
this driver, we came across a Hewitt survey report on employer-
sponsored health benefits in which 4 percent of companies reported