TALENT RETENTION

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

Employers fund LSA accounts and decide upon the employees’ spending options. Typically, employees can choose from a variety of products, services, and activities on which to spend their LSA funds. Unlike taxadvantaged benefit accounts such as flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and health savings accounts (HSAs), employee reimbursements from LSAs are taxable as income. Many employers find LSAs appealing because of the ability to limit and direct employee spending of the employer's money. Employees like LSAs because they get to choose how to use the funds to best meet their specific interests. Ultimately, each benefits plan is unique, and the employer decides what categories and items are covered. Examples include:

PHYSICAL WELLNESS FINANCIAL WELLNESS EMOTIONAL WELLNESS

→ Athletic equipment & accessories

→ Exercise equipment

→ Gym, health club, spa, & fitness studio memberships

→ Recreational sports expenses such as rock climbing, martial arts, & tennis

→ Fitness class expenses such as yoga, Pilates, & cycling

→ Sports lesson expenses such as golf, swimming, tennis, & dance

→ Personal trainers

→ Fitness trackers

→ Nutritional supplements

→ Entry fees such as races or leagues

→ Passes such as ski, snowboard, golf, & swimming

Benefits As A Strategy

Brandi Goldstein, office administrator for Eide Bailly in Denver, participates in campus recruiting and handles the onboarding and benefits reviews for the firm’s Colorado offices. “We are absolutely strategically using our benefits to attract and retain talent,” she says. “Today’s recruits are savvy. Their benefits questions are more detailed than they’ve ever been. They ask what funds the 401(k) is invested in. When I meet with them, it’s not just a rundown of what we offer. They do their research.”

Sometimes candidates even bring new ideas to the table. “They’ll ask specifically for something, and then we research it,” Goldstein says. “We hear about new things all the time. It’s very interesting.”

What Goldstein hears during recruiting and interviewing is that people today want

→ Financial advisory & planning services

→ Financial seminars & classes

→ Estate planning costs

→ Home purchase costs such as down payments & closing costs

→ Renter costs such as housing & utility deposits

→ Remote work costs such as high-speed internet, equipment, & furniture choices. Eide Bailly offers employees the option of a traditional preferred provider organization (PPO) or a high deductible health plan (HDHP).

Eide Bally’s Employee Assistance Program, run through Beacon Wellbeing, looks at employees’ lifestyles, and in addition to free mental wellbeing counseling, employees can also take part in financial and legal counseling. Anyone living with the employee is also eligible for certain services. “If your roommate is impacted by these issues, you are as well,” Goldstein explains.

Eide Bailly is using LSAs to provide even more choice. The LSA has multiple categories and can be used for things like cell phone bills, student loans, home office equipment, wellness, and housekeeping. As years of service go up, the amounts in the account go up. “It’s fun money,” Goldstein says.

“So much of what we do is centered around work-life balance and mental health,” Goldstein explains. “We’re paying attention and acknowledging that these issues are important. It’s a big evolution.”

When Eide Bailly considers benefits each year, Goldstein says the focus is always on adding, never taking away. “Some of these decisions come from employee surveys. Being heard is important.”

The effort to maintain the status quo makes it easier for employees to plan. “We think it’s important to maintain the costs to which employees are accustomed. This is a case where the status quo is great,” Britton says. “When September rolls around, our employees don’t have to worry about what it will look like for next year.” with banks or credit unions to offer financial wellness programs. One option encourages savings: when an employee deposits a certain amount of money by a deadline, the employer will match that amount. “This helps employees save money for times of need versus living paycheck to paycheck,” she says.

→ Meditation classes

→ Non-medical counseling services such as marital counseling, life coaching, parental skill counseling, & executive coaching

→ Retreats such as leadership and spiritual retreats

→ Personal development classes such as art & cooking

→ Pet care such as walkers, day care, & grooming

→ Travel such as airfare & cruise tickets

→ Camping such as equipment & fees

→ Park passes

→ Licenses such as for fishing or hunting

Other popular benefits include:

• Hybrid work environment

• A wellness room for nursing mothers and Milk Stork delivery service for nursing mothers who travel

• Adoption assistance

• Firm-sponsored philanthropy days and an additional eight hours a month that employees can use to volunteer with organizations of their choice (The firm also matches an annual donation of up to $200 to nonprofit organizations to which an employee donates.)

• Free access to the Calm app

• Business travel insurance

• Student loan refinancing

• Short- and long-term disability plans

• Accident insurance

• Professional certifications reimbursement

• CPA certification bonus

The employee-focused culture starts with having the firm’s human resources team involved at the very top. “Our chief human resource officer participates in our firmwide meetings to discuss updates and continually focus on mental health,” Goldstein says. “We invite guest speakers who emphasize to our people how important it is to not forget about yourself. Employees have expressed how much it means to have a company that cares.”

Employees can submit ideas for new benefits via an internal app. If an idea receives 15 thumbs-up votes, leadership considers the idea. “A lot of great ideas have come out of that,” Goldstein says. “Things are always evolving.”

The Good Kind Of Status Quo

Heather Britton, CEBS, director of benefits and wellness in the City and County of Denver’s Office of Human Resources, says that over the past three years, benefits haven’t necessarily expanded, but the department has implemented a new goal: limiting benefits cost increases for employees and maintaining a $600 wellness incentive, which has become increasingly important as the city works to fill several hundred open positions after a retirement buyout in 2020.

Britton has been with the city for 21 years and describes the first 10 years as having to chase dollars. “Every year there was a premium increase, and we passed it along as benefits became exceedingly expensive,” she says. Seven years ago, however, the city made a big change to mitigate the increases by switching from health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to HDHPs and HSAs. “We switched plans, stabilized rates and contributions, and stopped passing along every increase that was unmanaged and unbudgeted. We were in a recession and the City Council was looking for ways to cut costs. That’s not the case now. We’re absorbing most cost increases.”

Overall, Britton says the city is focused on not changing benefits in any way that would negatively impact employees. “Every benefit change is examined through that lens. If it negatively impacts employees, we rethink it.”

Another shift has taken place in the city’s pension compensation. Britton says the portion that employees pay has actually dropped.

Other additions to the benefits program include more on-site resources. “We’ve hired two counselors and a full-time nurse fully dedicated to our employees,” Britton says. “We’re being more creative with our offerings.”

Other programs can help pay down student loans or pay off credit cards, typically by taking over payments and then using payroll deduction to pay down the financial liabilities. “There is a lot of education and details around these programs, but for groups that have put the programs in place, it’s a sticky piece for retaining employees,” Mease says.

MAKING THE MOST OF WHAT YOU’VE GOT

Mease says it can be challenging for smaller employers to compete with larger organizations on the benefits front. She recommends focusing first on employee health, via medical benefits, and then con-

With its downtown location, Britton says one of the biggest challenges is parking. The city subsidized parking through 2022 and is providing each employee with a free transit pass through the end of 2023. “Employees told us they needed help with parking if they were coming back to the office.”

As of Jan. 1, 2023, the city began offering eight weeks of paid leave to care for themselves and family members. “There was a big demand for such a program,” Britton says.

Britton says that Denver City Council remains very aware of the need for a rich benefits package. “They know how important it is for recruiting and retention. They do not want us to cut benefits anywhere.”

Financial Wellness Benefits

Statistics show that much of the U.S. population has less than $500 in the bank at any given time. Mease says there are some great financial wellness tools that employers can put in place to help employees financially. Many organizations partner sidering add-ons. While larger employers can offer financially oriented incentives, companies of any size can offer things like ID and legal shield, or create unique offerings with the discount programs and wellness offerings. “Work with your benefits advisor to find ways to set up a unique offering while still taking care of medical health,” she advises.

As the talent shortage persists, Goldstein says businesses are recognizing they have to evolve. Companies are putting effort and resources into the process with an emphasis on meeting employees’ needs as a whole person, especially in the aftermath of COVID. “No one has the magic answer, but I think what we’re coming out of on the other side is going to be great.”

Learn more about this and other topics during the COCPA’s biweekly lunch-andlearn series, beginning in May. Visit cocpa.org for more information.