Employee Communications and Engagement Strategist
Employee Communications and Engagement Strategist
HI Everyone:
Today we are announcing that the company has decided to no longer offer health benefits to part-time employees, effective January 1, 2016. This was a difficult decision that the Facilitating Leader Team (FLT) made, but one aligned with the need for all of us to take a close look at our expenses and make sure we are being financial responsible in managing programs and initiatives.
About this Decision
Over the last year and a half, the HR Benefits team has been examining our entire benefits offerings with FLT and Culture Partners (Karen Gray, Liz Wisler, Hilary Old, and Allison King) to make sure our benefits are still meeting the needs of our employees as well as meeting the needs of the company. In particular we devoted a lot of our time evaluating our medical plan to make sure that our plan is sustainable, given the growth of the company and the shifts in demographics.
Since 2008, the company has offered part-time benefits to employees working 20 or more hours per week. This allowed them to enroll in our group health plans (medical, dental, life and flexible spending). At that time, we had specific goals in mind including:
our desire to attract mothers reentering the workplace;
providing health coverage for employees who might not otherwise have coverage options available;
and supporting employees’ flexible work schedules by maintaining access to health benefits.
However, in reexamining this particular benefit, we determined that many of the goals we had outlined for part-time benefits were never being realized. For example, in Wholesale & Retail Management, we had hoped that we would create more part-time roles that would create new opportunities for those who were interested in joining the company in a part-time capacity, or who were transitioning out of the company but wanted to do so in a more gradual way. This did not happen, largely because many leaders were challenged with designing and creating part-time roles on their teams.
Another big factor was the passage of the Affordable Care Act whereby access to health coverage dramatically increased for people.
Moving Forward
By now, all affected employees have been notified of this decision. To support and help ease the transition for those affected employees, the HR Benefits team has selected an outside company, ConnectedHealth, to assist them in securing medical, dental and vision. Employees can work with this company to determine their healthcare needs, identify available plan options and cost, and assist them with the enrollment process. In addition, for employees who are losing medical coverage, the company will provide them with a stipend of $2,600 ($100 per pay period) in 2016.
We remain committed to safeguarding the health and well-being of all of our employees while also managing the financial sustainability and growth of our company. Over the course of the next few months, you will learn more about a road map to 2017 we are developing that will re-design our benefits offerings for the company we are becoming – one that provides more options and scale than we’ve previously been able to offer.
If you have any questions about this decision, please feel free to reach out to me directly.
Pam