When Alison Lucien tackles health-insurance headaches, she doesn't take Advil. Instead, she calls Sherpaa, a third party paid by her husband's employer.
"I don't have to call my husband during the day and bother him by asking, 'Hey, can you talk to HR?' " explains the 33-year-old Clinton Hill resident. "I don't have to figure out who's who within his company."
Whether it's figuring out if they got enough of their deductible back or asking when they'll get reimbursed, her 39-year-old husband Dustin, the CTO of automated-investing service Betterment, says having this service accessible not only to himself but to his full-time working wife takes a load off. Sherpaa researches questions on their behalf, among other duties. "It gives me peace of mind," he says. "It makes me happy — I appreciate that a company not only looks out for myself but also my significant other."
Companies providing perks and services to employees' partners, in turn, help boost happiness among the workers themselves.Photo: Shutterstock.com
The Flatiron-based company takes it a step further by including spouses in additional ways, like invitations to lunch-and-learn talks on Fridays, even for potential employees. "If we're interested in a candidate and there are questions about the culture, we want to include spouses in that conversation," Dustin explains.
Betterment is on to something. According to a five-year study published in 2014 by Washington University in St. Louis, employees whose spouses are conscientious and organized were more likely to be stronger performers at work and happier in their jobs. It's no surprise, then, that companies providing perks and services to partners typically drive loyalty, performance and happiness among workers.
China Gorman, CEO of Great Place to Work, a San Francisco-based company studying and identifying great workplaces around the world, says this idea is spot on. "The results are many — better financial performance, lower turnover, the ability to attract the kind of talent you want, greater innovation, greater collaboration," she explains.
Jill Strickman joined her boyfriend on a recent business trip, and witnessing his company's energy and forward-thinking helped her own work as president of a casting and research firm.Photo: Brian Zak
Gorman says that due to the battle for talent and retention, employers are looking at employees as whole people with partners, spouses and children — as well as having religious and community commitments — as opposed to the 9-to-5 life. "They're viewed less as replaceable cogs in the wheel and more as irreplaceable human partners," she says. "They have a real sense that the employer is investing in them as a whole person."
Klick Health CEO and "The Decoded Company" author Leerom Segal agrees with this holistic approach. The health agency recently flew employees and their significant others to its annual Town Hall meeting in Toronto — all-expenses paid. He says when employers provide perks and experiences to significant others, it's a no-brainer motivator. "When the employer needs a little extra time or concentration, the employee is much more able to say, 'I have to work late tonight because I have this big project coming.' " But if the spouse or partner feels recognized and valued, the workers are "far more likely to be supportive."
That support was transcendent, says Carle Place, LI, resident Michael Spitz, Klick's vice president of strategy, who was hired last January and brought his girlfriend, Jill Strickman, to Toronto. "My loyalty is up completely," remarks Spitz, 50. "There's nothing more loyal than your family, and if Klick becomes an extension of your family — not just by saying it but by doing it — then that sense of loyalty increases tremendously."
And witnessing the company's energy and forward-thinking even affected Strickman's work as president of a casting and research firm in Tribeca. "It made me think about things we may do in the community, like a fund-raiser," she says.
Strickman, 51, also leveraged the company's free concierge service to reserve a tour of Toronto while her beau was entrenched with work. "It was really, really positive and I didn't want to leave," she recalls. "It's surprising to feel like, 'Wow, they're thinking of me, too.' That made me feel important."
"This feeling," Gorman says, "sends a strong message to the employee: 'You're family, and people who are important to you are important to us.' It's a strong message that they're part of the deal."
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