Empyrean Releases Full Agenda for EVOLVE\23

Empyrean Releases Full Agenda for EVOLVE\23

23 March, 2023

Connecting Benefits, Enriching Lives

Empyrean has released its full conference agenda and speaker lineup for EVOLVE\23, which will feature some of the industry’s top thought leaders and HR and benefits experts.

DATE: April 12-14, 2023

LOCATION: The Hyatt Regency Savannah

The theme for this year’s event is “Connecting Benefits, Enriching Lives”, which is also Empyrean’s corporate mission. Thought leadership content covered during the conference will explore the connection between people experience, benefits, and positive HR and organizational outcomes.

The event will feature two dynamic, high-energy keynotes as well as several expert panels. These sessions are designed to provide the strategies and tools needed to effectively lead the charge in using benefits to improve and ensure employee trust, psychological safety, and physical wellness – all of which lead to happy, energized teams and successful organizations.

Conference speakers will also provide actionable insights and strategies that will empower attendees to create personalized, connected, life-enriching benefits experiences that address the needs of the individual while also addressing populations with economic efficiency.

Platinum event sponsors Securian and LifeLock will also share critical information about how to improve people experience through benefits.

Conference Keynotes: EVOLVE\23


Opening Keynote: From Populations to People – Creating Remarkable Experiences One Individual at a Time 

Joey Coleman
Customer & Employee Engagement Expert

The opening keynote will be delivered by Joey Coleman, an employee engagement and customer experience expert who has worked with organizations like Whirlpool, NASA, Volkswagen Australia, and Zappos to design and implement their internal and external brand experiences.

Content covered will include:  

  • Why your employees are your most important customers.
  • How to improve employee experiences to reduce churn and increase engagement. 
  • Delivering personalized interactions at scale.
  • The three elements of long-term employee engagement.  
  • Becoming a more strategic organizational contributor by focusing on people experience and engagement.

Closing Keynote: The Power of a People-First Approach: Aligning HR, Benefit, and Organizational Success 

Mark Stelzner
Founder / Managing Principal at IA HR

While the insights shared at EVOLVE\23 will help attendees better leverage benefit programs for organizational success, it is critical for benefit and HR leaders to understand how to communicate this value up to the C-Suite.

As the role of strategic HR and benefits leaders continues to evolve, so do the demands on those in these positions. HR and benefit leaders are not only responsible for ensuring that their people understand how to choose and use their benefits, but that they also recognize the importance of these programs and how they support every individual’s total health and wellbeing – at work and in life.

This session will examine how HR leaders can survive and thrive during times of unprecedented change, all while continuing to provide essential physical, mental, and emotional support for their people. It will also dive into the many ways that this support advances every aspect of their organizational success, leveraging outcomes that speak to leadership and the C-Suite. 

Expert Panels


Advancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Through Financial Wellness Strategies 

Across the US, people are feeling financially insecure. Whether they’re having difficulty saving, paying off debt, planning for future expenses, or simply managing the cost of everyday life – financial wellness plays a huge role in the mental, emotional, and even physical well-being of today’s workforce.  

A recent survey conducted by PwC found that 56% of employees are stressed about their finances, 49% of which said that money concerns have had a major impact on their mental health in the past year. Financial instability causes widespread uncertainty, and financially strained employees are twice as likely to look for employment elsewhere.

As organizations look to provide resources, programs, and aid for their employees, it is critical to recognize that traditional financial wellness programs are not always inclusive, and may not properly support employees across different backgrounds, incomes, and geographies.  

This session will cover:  

  • An exploration of the growing scope of financial wellness programs, including student loan, home buyer, and caregiver assistance.  
  • Programs and educational resources valuable to employees throughout varying life stages.  
  • How to better support under-represented populations.  
  • Empowering low-wage workers with tools that meet them where they are. 
  • Tax-advantaged accounts and programs.   
  • Promoting financial wellness programs to help candidates and employees understand how to leverage them to their benefit.  

Lifestyles + Life Stages: Optimizing Benefits Value by Meeting Your People Where They Are  

Each member of any given workforce approaches their health, wellness, and financial planning goals differently, depending on what matters to them at that moment. Throughout any employee population, there are also different styles and preferences tied to communication, especially for those working outside of a traditional office environment.  

This session will take a deep dive into how HR and benefit teams can help their team members see the value of their benefits at their unique life stage – whether they are just entering the workforce, expanding their family, or approaching retirement – through targeted, meaningful employee communication and education.  

This session will cover: 

  • Strategies to better understand employee populations, including what they value, how they prefer to communicate, and how and when they absorb information.  
  • Why benefits personalization matters, and the science behind engagement with individualized messages and prompts.  
  • How to position benefits by life stage, including how a particular benefit could have different advantages depending on the age of the participant.  
  • Strategies to promote benefits to ensure everyone at every life stage understands how to enroll in and use the best benefits available to them.  
  • Communication preferences across the generations and how to flex to each style. 
  • How to improve benefits education and fluency across your populations.  
  • Reaching “deskless” and frontline workers in non-traditional office environments.  
  • How benefits personalization can support a DEIB strategy.   

Creating Connected People & Benefit Experiences Across a Dispersed Workforce: A Client Case Study with NexTier  

Learn how NexTier Oilfield Solutions was able to significantly improve their people engagement and retention rates across their dispersed, deskless workforce by using personalized benefits and communication experiences.

The Future is Now: How Empyrean’s Vision Aligns with the Future of Benefits  

During this session, Empyrean’s Chief Strategy Officer, Jim Priebe, and Chief Information & Technology Officer, Kelly Clark, will share Empyrean’s go forward vision as we advance our mission to connect benefits and enrich lives.

Throughout the discussion, Jim and Kelly will talk through the various macro and micro factors influencing the space, including areas where Empyrean will make a concentrated investment in using our technology, security, infrastructure, and services to solve for the evolving challenges impacting Empyrean’s clients.

*Wagmo Pet Insurance is also a Bronze sponsor of EVOLVE\23.

Please contact our events team for more information about this invitation-only conference.

Empyrean Acquires Employee Communications and Engagement Platform and Launches +YOU, a Holistic Solution That Improves Employee Productivity, Wellbeing, and Retention

Empyrean Acquires Employee Communications and Engagement Platform and Launches +YOU, a Holistic Solution That Improves Employee Productivity, Wellbeing, and Retention

19 February, 2023

Houston, TX. [Feb. 20, 2023] Empyrean, (www.goempyrean.com), a company committed to building better corporate cultures through benefits, today announced the acquisition of employee communication and engagement platform Enspire.

Through the acquisition, Empyrean adds an expanded people-centric dimension to its innovative benefits administration technology and compassionate support services. Called +YOU, the new solution integrates Enspire’s employee communication and engagement technology with Empyrean’s benefits administration platform to become a fully customizable and employer-branded people experience — a single front door to an employer’s suite of tools for employee productivity, wellness, communications, and benefits.

“The combined value of Empyrean and Enspire sets a new standard for the way organizations support and communicate benefits and other HR initiatives with their people,” said Rich Wolfe, CEO of Empyrean. “Our new +YOU solution advances our ability to create a better people experience throughout the entire employee lifecycle. Clients can put their brand and culture centerstage while eliminating the need for employees to search across disconnected carrier and wellness apps or the company intranet to find the resources they need. We bring it all together, all in one place.”

As part of Empyrean, Enspire will continue offering a stand-alone communication and engagement platform for employers.

“Enspire solves employee needs by integrating all employee communication and resources enterprise-wide into one custom-branded employee app,” said Amanda Wiles, Enspire CEO and Founder. “Improving employee experiences and productivity results in a positive company culture and impressive employee retention.”

Today, Empyrean clients leverage the company’s well-established and proprietary AI-enabled benefits technology. This technology provides employees with personalized benefits recommendations and guidance based on the individual’s own health data while offering visibility into likely future healthcare needs and associated costs. With Enspire’s technology, employers can offer their people a single connection point for all of their HR initiatives and take advantage of a simplified, self-service digital hub to easily deliver personalized employee notifications or targeted campaigns. The integration of technology from both companies will ultimately create more opportunities to connect people to the benefits they need, right when they need them, through a mobile application that they will want to use every day.

With Empyrean’s new +YOU solution, employers will also have access to advanced data analytics that track employee engagement, retention, satisfaction, and benefits utilization. Enspire’s approach to employee communications has helped companies reduce turnover by as much as 50%.

“We have been a customer of both Enspire and Empyrean, separately, for many years, and have seen a tremendous increase in benefits adoption and engagement from our highly dispersed workforce,” said Felicia May, Benefits Director at NexTier Oilfield Solutions. “We attribute that change to the power of having a single company app, empowered by Empyrean’s benefits administration capabilities. I can’t wait to see what’s to come now that these two innovative companies have joined forces.”

Benefits consultants and advisors deploying Empyrean’s new +YOU solution for their clients will see increased levels of benefits engagement, adoption, and utilization. Clients already using Empyrean’s benefits technology report two times the adoption rate of voluntary benefits offered. With the new capabilities, Empyrean expects that level of user engagement to escalate even further, making it an unrivaled strategic partner to HR organizations and companies looking to engage and retain employees.

Learn more about +YOU from Empyrean.

About Empyrean
We believe that everybody deserves a workplace culture that supports their total well-being through benefits. Since 2006, Empyrean has provided hundreds of employers of varying size, industry, and benefit plan complexity with the innovative technology and best-in-class service necessary to accelerate their benefits strategies and bring their benefits programs to life. Empyrean’s platform and services are designed to create connected employee benefit experiences that enrich lives, strengthen employer brands, and improve workplace cultures for over 5 million people. With our +YOU solution, clients can deliver a holistic employee experience to help HR and benefit leaders simplify the work technology stack for all of the HR initiatives designed to improve employee productivity, well-being, and retention. Visit us at goempyrean.com.

About Enspire
Enspire is a private employee communication and engagement platform that integrates all employee communication into one app custom built to reconnect your employee experiences with your brand. Enspire provides a digital communication platform, team of digital strategy experts, and an analytics engine for engagement intelligence proven to advance employee engagement, productivity, and retention. Visit us at enspire.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Tony Spangler
817-798-3371
tony@thestarrconspiracy.com

Why Your People Experience Matters More Today than Ever Before

Why Your People Experience Matters More Today than Ever Before

15 February, 2023

A Connected and Personalized People Experience Can Help You Overcome 2023’s Top Employer Challenges 

The past few years have presented challenge after challenge for employers, making it harder than ever for HR teams to support their people and reach their goals. Workforces are more dispersed than ever, turnover is high, engagement is low, and it continues to be a candidate’s job market.   

But regardless of these challenges, organizations committed to creating connected, personalized people experiences have been able to strengthen their employer brand, and with it, raise their levels of engagement, retention, and the overall well-being of their people.

What is a People Experience?

Organizations are made up of people; individuals working towards a common goal but each with their own unique perspectives, backgrounds, experiences, and motivators.  

The way your teams experience and connect to your company culture and benefit programs influence everything from engagement to retention to performance – each of which has a tremendous impact on HR and organizational success.    

A strong, strategically executed people experience and benefits strategy should be leveraged by HR and benefits leaders to advance all people-related goals. The key to leveraging benefits success to advance your broader HR goals is delivering these life-enriching benefits through a personalized, connected people experience.  

Today’s Top Employer Challenges  

Here are some of the top challenges employers are facing today that can be improved by offering a strong people and benefits experience.  

Talent Attraction

Even through today’s economic uncertainties and highly publicized layoffs, the January 2023 jobs report showed that the unemployment rate continues to hover around 3.4 percent.  

Even before they apply for a position, your potential new hires begin to engage with your employer brand. A strong candidate experience drives your ability to attract talent, and your Talent Acquisition teams need reliable tools to leverage your company culture and benefits programs to compete in today’s competitive market.  

Engagement & Retention

A recent study conducted by Monster.com found that a staggering 96 percent of U.S. workers will be looking for a new job in 2023. Forty percent of those surveyed say they need to find a higher-paying position due to inflation and rising costs of living.  

Employees often overlook the value of their total rewards package and other workplace benefits like a strong culture, flexible work arrangements, and opportunities for professional development and advancement.  

To engage and retain talent, it is critical that you deliver positive, personalized experiences that make each person within your organization feel valued and supported as the individuals they are – or your talent will look elsewhere without hesitation.  

It can be hard for people to recognize the value you bring as their employer. A rich benefits program has been traditionally a disconnected one, experienced through different carrier apps, your intranet, and even corporate email.  

A connected and centralized people experience brings together all that you offer as an employer – better demonstrating to your teams just how you’re supporting them in both work and in life in a way that is tailored to their unique situation, lifestyle, and life stage.  

Increased Benefit Expectations 

Today’s consumers have nearly unlimited choices when it comes to purchasing items they need and want.  

Benefits and healthcare are no different, putting employers and the entire health system under more pressure than ever to transform the consumer experience and provide transparent, easy-to-navigate health and wellness experiences.  

A positive benefits experience not only drives well-being for your people, but also demonstrates the value of the benefits you offer as their employer. Connecting benefits into one experience empowers your team to choose and use the best benefits for them while optimizing their value.  

Benefit Education Gaps   

Even as people demand more from their benefits programs, benefits education gaps persist. According to a recent Aflac study, nearly 3 in 5 employees spend less than 30 minutes researching their benefits, with 24% of those surveyed reporting spending less than five minutes.  

Your employees need year-round guidance on choosing and using the best benefits available for their unique situations and circumstances. Creating personalized messages and experiences guides your people towards better benefit enrollment, adoption, and utilization decisions, improving the wellbeing of both your people and their loved ones.  

Centralizing benefit experiences and communication points also increases levels of benefit engagement while offering more opportunities to educate your people about how to find and use the best resources available to them in ways that improve overall benefits and workplace satisfaction.  

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging 

The positive influence of diverse and inclusive workplaces on organizational success has been well documented. Diverse and inclusive workplaces are tied to:  

  • Higher revenue growth 
  • Greater readiness to innovate  
  • Increased ability to recruit a diverse talent pool  
  • 5.4 times higher rates of employee retention  

No matter how rich your benefits program is, you may be delivering it in an inequitable, non-inclusive way. Your people need to understand how the benefits you offer specifically support them today in their current situation while setting them up for success tomorrow.  

Unless benefits are delivered in a way that feels personalized for each member of your population at any life stage or circumstance, no one will feel like they belong.  

Dispersed Workforces 

Whether you have an in-office, hybrid, or remote-first workplace, or if you have a high population of front-line and deskless workers, today’s workforce is more geographically dispersed than ever before.  

Employers that are strategic and thoughtful about how to engage workforces scattered across different locations by creating one centralized, accessible communication channel will find the most success in connecting their people to their culture.  

Lack of Financial Security Impacting Employees  

U.S. workplaces lose an estimated $500 billion dollars each year due to lost productivity tied to personal financial stressors plaguing their employees.  

Due to the rising cost of consumer goods, more than a third of all American workers report that they made a difficult healthcare decision in the past year, including having to choose between paying for a prescription or medical treatment and other household bills.  

More than 84 percent of employers report increased retention as a result of their financial wellness benefit offerings. As your people navigate rising expenses and other financial insecurity, they are relying on you to help them make informed and educated financial wellness decisions that are right for them today and in the future. Employees value this type of support and guidance, and a connected people experience can help them optimize the financial wellness programs you offer.  

Are you ready to change the way you think about your people experience?

If you’re ready to change the way you think about your people experience, we can help.  

+YOU is a single entry point that connects your people to your company culture and all the benefits and resources you’ve invested in to support them – from one centralized place.  

Learn how NexTier leveraged +YOU to connect its dispersed, deskless workforce amidst 41% headcount growth.

New Research from Empyrean & NelsonHall: The Evolving Role of Today’s Strategic Benefits Leader

New Research from Empyrean & NelsonHall: The Evolving Role of Today’s Strategic Benefits Leader

14 October, 2022

Organizations are facing unprecedented challenges impacting their workplaces, from managing through the COVID-19 pandemic, to attracting and retaining talent during the Great Resignation and labor shortages, to ensuring employee engagement as reports of “quiet quitting” trends continue to climb.

These challenges have driven a concentrated shift away from viewing the benefits administration function as a tactical necessity disconnected from organizational goals and better recognizing benefit teams as strategic contributors greatly influencing company culture, employee experience, and positive organizational outcomes. 

Empyrean and HR analyst firm NelsonHall partnered to conduct a proprietary research study of more than 100 HR and benefits leaders to better understand this shift. The results of this research identify ways today’s benefits leaders can improve their own individual effectiveness as well as the impact of their entire benefits function.

The findings shared in our comprehensive report outline:

  • Attitude and expectation alignment between HR and benefit leaders
  • Critical HR-related issues identified for the coming 1-2 years
  • Connections between organizational outcomes and the execution of benefits strategies that drive improved employee experiences
  • Key tools and skills required by benefit leaders to execute their go-forward benefit strategy

Download the full report here.

Benefits Maturity Model & Assessment

NelsonHall used the results of the study to develop a Benefits Maturity Model used to measure the sophistication and impact of a benefit function against key indicators identified through our research.

Take our online Benefits Maturity Assessment to see your score on our custom Benefits Maturity Radar and to receive a personalized report highlighting your areas of both strength and opportunity as it relates to your organization’s benefits function.

Online Benefits Maturity Assessment

Online Benefits Maturity Assessment

10 October, 2022

Get the personalized insights you need to become a more strategic benefits leader with our online, interactive Benefits Maturity Assessment. 

Empyrean Announces EVOLVE\23 – April 12 – 14 in Savannah, GA

Empyrean Announces EVOLVE\23 – April 12 – 14 in Savannah, GA

03 August, 2022

Connecting Benefits, Enriching Lives

Empyrean is excited to announce that EVOLVE\23 will be held from April 12-14 at Savannah’s Hyatt Regency along the city’s historical riverfront.

The theme for our upcoming EVOLVE conference is “Connecting Benefits, Enriching Lives”, a topic closely aligned with our mission to deliver optimized and connected benefit experiences to the over 4.6 million people who rely on the Empyrean platform every day.

Conference programming will be developed and presented by HR and benefits industry experts, with content anchored around the realities that employee populations are made up of real people, each with a unique background and personal story. These stories determine what employees need from their benefits program to thrive both inside and outside of work.

Our dynamic sessions will provide participants with the strategies and insights they need to tackle the ongoing challenges tied to supporting individual benefit needs while also addressing populations with economic efficiency.

EVOLVE\23 will also explore how to ensure employees understand how to choose and use their benefits, including how to create personalized, connected, life-enriching benefit experiences that result in high levels of employee trust, psychological safety, and physical wellness, all leading to happy, energized employees and successful organizations. 

DATE: April 12-14, 2023
LOCATION: Hyatt Regency – Savannah, GA

Event registration will open in Fall 2022, and additional conference details will be shared at that time. For now, we invite our clients to mark your calendars for this engaging event!

Employee Benefits Continue to Play a Critical Role in Ensuring Talent Attraction and Retention Success

Employee Benefits Continue to Play a Critical Role in Ensuring Talent Attraction and Retention Success

30 March, 2022

A record-breaking 47.4 million U.S. employees voluntarily left their jobs in 2021, impacting businesses of all sizes and industries across the country.

Data collected in a study conducted by PwC found that 66 percent of employees surveyed are looking for a new job, with 88 percent of executives polled saying they are experiencing increased levels of employee turnover.

Benefits are the Second Leading Driver Pushing Your Employees to Seek New Employment

According to the same PwC study, those employees looking for new roles cited better benefits as the second leading driver for seeking a new position, ahead of desires for increased flexibility or career advancements. Fifty-seven percent of employees say they are at least somewhat likely to accept a position with slightly lower pay in exchange for a more robust benefits package.

The volume of voluntary quits this year has made it clear that employers who do not meet the evolving demands of employees can expect to see high levels of turnover, making it critical that employers take the time to inform both future and existing employees about the value of their benefits offering.

The impact of benefits on an organization’s ability to attract and retain talent has been highlighted in Empyrean’s 2022 Benefit Trends Report, as it becomes more and more clear that benefit leaders need to apply an increased focus in this area.

HR Teams Must Work Together to Attract and Retain Talent 

To combat attrition, HR teams will need to increasingly work together to ensure they understand what their employees’ benefits needs truly are.

“Gone are the days when benefits and HR teams could work in a silo,” says Angel Seufert, Executive Vice President of Human Resources at Empyrean. “HR and benefits leaders need to work together to listen and understand exactly what your unique employee populations are looking for, whether that be through exit surveys, engagement and stay surveys, or through a benefit utilization analysis.”

Seufert also says that talent acquisition teams, HR, and benefits leaders must work together to create cohesive and thoughtful communication campaigns that positively demonstrate the value of your benefits program throughout the candidate and employee lifecycle.

“Without a big picture understanding, neither candidates nor employees will be able to truly understand the value of your benefits offering. This understanding is especially critical as employees continue to make employment decisions based on the benefits program they believe they are getting,” Seufert adds.

Looking Forward

As the war for talent continues through The Great Resignation and The Great Hire, HR teams will need to work together to create a positive journey throughout the employee lifecycle, starting with candidate experience and communications.

“While the great resignation and great hire show no signs of slowing down soon, employers need to hone in on which benefits will both retain current talent as well as attract new desirable talent,” says Empyrean Strategic Account Advisor, Scott Mesteller.

Even when the job market eventually shifts to favor employers, it can be expected that top talent will continue to prioritize employment with organizations that demonstrate they value employees through commitments to positive employee experiences and total wellbeing. One of the most tangible ways for employers to express their commitment, values, and dedication to positive workplace cultures will continue to be through employee benefits.

For more information about how benefits will continue to play a role in talent attraction and retention, download our full 2022 Benefit Trends Report.

Empyrean Releases Full Agenda & Speaker Details for EVOLVE/22

Empyrean Releases Full Agenda & Speaker Details for EVOLVE/22

25 March, 2022

Empyrean is excited to welcome some of the industry’s top thought leaders and benefits experts to EVOLVE/22!

DATE: April 6-8, 2022
LOCATION: The Hutton Hotel, Nashville

Building Culture Through Benefits

The theme for this invitation-only event is “Building Culture Through Benefits”, and from our high-energy opening keynote all the way through our closing session, our dynamic speakers will explore the strong connections between employee benefits, company culture, and positive organizational outcomes gained from employee health and wellness.

Our conference agenda is designed to challenge participants to think differently about benefits and their own role in sparking change within their workplaces.

Conference Agenda & Speaker Information

April 7, 2022

Opening Keynote: Culture That Rocks! How to Amp Up & Rev Up Company Culture

Presented by:

Jim Knight
Owner & Founder
Knight Speaker

  • Strategies for defining company culture, including understanding the differences between your organization’s “heritage” and your current workplace environment.
  • Why your benefits strategy is the foundation for a strong company culture.
  • Approaches to “amp up” employee communications to drive improved outcomes.
  • Methods for managing through organizational change.
  • Tactics for creating employee brand ambassadors.
  • Techniques for building resilient teams.  

Regardless of your company’s cultural history or status, this program will provide you with the insights and tools necessary to build positive workplace cultures within your own organization.

Diversity & Equity in Benefits

Presented by:

Dede Orraca-Cecil
US Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Egon Zehnder

Antoine Carter
Sr. Director, Client Services
Empyrean

Diversity, equity, and inclusion have been long recognized as critical to any healthy workplace culture, but have these pillars made their way into your benefits strategy?

While your benefits program may be designed to support your different employee populations, your team members may not understand how certain programs or benefits are advantageous for someone in their unique situation or circumstance.

This session will explore the importance of diversity and equity in benefits, including:

  • Positive correlations between diversity and favorable organizational outcomes.
  • Impacts of equity and inclusion on employee and organizational performance.
  • Employing a benefits strategy that is inclusive and supportive of employees of all backgrounds.
  • Employee communication approaches that meet employees where they are and fuel a stronger understanding of how each benefit offering in your program can support their own unique needs and that of their family.
  • How to use the Empyrean platform to fuel your DEI benefits strategy.

You will leave this session with the insights, strategies and techniques needed to improve benefit inclusivity across all employee populations, creating a more equitable workplace.

Fueling Improved Employee Experiences Through Decision Support Technology: A Pilot+ Case Study

Presented by:

Tammy Kaplan
Product Manager, Employer Strategy Enablement
Empyrean

Desta Millner
Strategic Account Advisor
Empyrean

This micro-session will explore how Pilot+, Empyrean’s claims-based decision support and personalized healthcare navigation tool, has driven positive employee experiences.

This quick-moving discussion will provide real-world insights and direction on how to:

  • Leverage decision support technology to fuel a better employee experience.
  • Utilize predictive analytics to help employees understand future health risks and corresponding costs.
  • Influence improved enrollment and utilization decisions using claims-based data.

You will be left with the actionable data and insights necessary to improve the experiences and health and wellness outcomes of your own employees and organization.

Creating a Culture of Benefits: Supporting & Engaging the Whole Employee

Moderated by:

Elizabeth Rennie
HR Technology & Services Research Director
NelsonHall

Panelists:

Michelle Latham
Senior Director, Benefits
Dollar General

Shaun Snyder
Sr. Director of Benefits, Wellbeing & Shared Services
The Aaron’s Company, Inc.

Scott Kline
Director, US Benefits
Sanofi US

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting changes to our everyday lives have created physical, mental, and financial challenges that American workers had never faced before, causing employers to pivot towards benefit strategies that support total employee health and wellness.

Empyrean’s recent study of 2022 benefit enrollment trends shows that this shift is expected to continue, driven in part by employee demand and increased enrollment in supplemental benefits.

Join our expert client panel with representatives from Dollar General, The Aaron’s Company, and Sanofi US as they discuss why benefits that support total employee heath, wealth, and wellness are a critical part of any employer’s ongoing employee benefits strategy, including:

  • What total employee wellness means at their organization.
  • Connections between health, wealth, and company success.
  • How their support of the total employee has impacted employee attraction, retention, and diversity and inclusion efforts.
  • Shifting employee expectations and demands related to benefit offerings.
  • Why total employee wellness drives positive employee experiences and positive workplace cultures.

Participants will learn the strategies and approaches needed to build and execute a benefits strategy that supports the whole employee, including how to drive their employees towards offerings that support them in their life at work and outside the office.

Emerging Risk & New Compliance Standards

Moderated by:

Colleen Waymel
Chief Operating Officer
Empyrean

Panelists:

Chris Condeluci
Principal
CC Law & Policy

Rocco Muratore
Director, Strategic Partnerships
Equifax
Event Gold Sponsor

The past several years have been filled with new regulatory compliance standards at the local, state, and federal level, as well as emerging areas of consumer risk in our increasingly digitized world.

This session will feature our panel of compliance experts as they explore emerging legislation impacting the benefits space as well as new areas of risk to the consumer which employers can hedge against through voluntary benefit offerings.

The Hidden Paycheck: Using Benefits to Attract & Retain Employees

Moderated by:

Angel Seufert
Executive Vice President, Human Resources
Empyrean

Panelists:

Bob Murray
Executive Leader, Benefits and Wellness Strategy
Whole Foods Market

Jeff Streeper
HR COE Director, Benefits and HR Service Center
Securian
Platinum Event Sponsor

Whether you call it The Great Resignation or The Big Quit, employees continue to leave their jobs at the highest rates ever recorded. These employees are seeking greener pastures, whether it be the ability to work from home, improved flexibility and a better work environment, increased pay, or better benefits, employers have been left struggling to backfill positions while also recruiting to fill newly created roles.

Benefits are often viewed as “The Hidden Paycheck”, since many employers fail to demonstrate the true value of their benefits offering to both candidates and existing employees. This is a major miss when it comes to employer branding and employee experience opportunities.

Employers who neglect to properly educate future and current employees about their benefits offering leave it up to the individual to acclimate themselves, demonstrating both a lack of employee support and an uncaring company culture, no matter how generous an employee benefits plan may actually be.

This session will explore:

  • How to improve your benefits strategy to focus on the programs your employees care about most.
  • Strategies to fuel improved employee attraction and retention through enhanced candidate and employee communications.
  • Approaches for benefits leaders to be a stronger partner for talent acquisition and HR teams to improve attraction and retention outcomes.

This session will provide strategies and techniques needed to better leverage your benefits offering to attract and retain the talent your organization needs to be successful.

April 8, 2022

The Future is Now: Our Forward-Looking Product & Partner Vision

Presented by:

Jim Priebe
Chief Strategy Officer
Empyrean

Kelly L. Clark
Chief Information & Technology Officer
Empyrean

During this session, Empyrean’s Chief Strategy Officer, Jim Priebe, and Chief Information & Technology Officer, Kelly Clark, will provide our audience with an overview of Empyrean’s go-forward brand vision.

Throughout the discussion, Jim and Kelly will talk through the various macro and micro factors influencing the space, including areas where Empyrean will make a concentrated investment in using our technology and services to solve for the evolving challenges impacting our clients. 

Removing the HDHP Stigma Through Year-Round HSA Engagement

Moderated by:

Desta Millner
Strategic Account Advisor
Empyrean

Panelists:

Scott MacDonald
SVP, Regional Sales Manager
HSA Bank
Event Gold Sponsor 

Crystal Thomas
Benefits Manager
Hearst Media

High deductible health plans (HDHPs) often have a bad rep, with many employees failing to see their value – and consequently fueling a narrative that organizations that offer them are looking for cost savings at the expense of their employees.

Benefits leaders know that HDHPs are a strategic choice that not only save employees money through lower premium payments, but also offer the opportunity for employees to divert pre-tax earnings into a health savings account (HSA) that builds financial health.

This session will explore ways to remove the stigma of your HDHPs and change the negative narrative. Content covered will include:

  • Approaches for creating a communication strategy that educates employees on the benefits of HSAs as a financial wellness tool.
  • Methods for improving employee HSA contributions and utilization.
  • Strategies for demonstrating the savings offered through HDHPs especially when complemented by HSAs, including the costs of being over-insured.

You will leave this session with proven strategies to remove the stigma around your own HDHP and demonstrate the true value of your benefits offering.

Closing Keynote: The Changing Role of the Strategic Benefits Leader

Presented by:

Elizabeth Rennie
HR Technology & Services Research Director
NelsonHall

In our closing keynote, we will share the findings of a proprietary research study of more than 100 HR and benefits leaders, co-commissioned by Empyrean and HR analyst firm, NelsonHall.

This qualitative study explores the changing role of benefits leaders and uncovers the insights, tools, and education needed to become a successful member of your broader HR organization while overcoming challenges presented by the ever-changing business landscape.

Content covered will include:

  • The many roles played by today’s benefits team that go beyond the oversimplified label of “benefits administration”.
  • The strategic role benefit teams play within their organization to build successful business outcomes through the deployment of wellness programs and enhanced employee experiences.
  • The evolving demands on the providers of benefits administration platforms, uncovering how these technologies must evolve to support the increasingly strategic role that benefits programs play within HR strategy.

Findings will also uncover how benefits leaders are key contributors to the success of your HR team, overall business, and the employees who make up your organization. You will leave this session with actionable insights to adopt and implement within your own business as you enable a benefits strategy that serves to build positive employee experiences and strong company cultures.

Evening Events & Musical Performances

Beyond our daytime programming, our team has made sure to leave ample time for networking opportunities, evening fun at exciting venues, and performances by some of Music City’s hottest performers!

With musical performances by:

  • High Fidelity
  • George Shingleton
  • Gwen Levy Duo

The sweet sounds of Nashville and our culture-focused educational sessions will inspire our attendees to spark change within their own organization by building culture through benefits.

Please contact info@goempyrean.com for more information about this invitation-only client conference.

Empyrean’s 2022 Benefit Trends Report

Empyrean’s 2022 Benefit Trends Report

17 March, 2022

As we enter the third year of pandemic-era life, it is clear that the way American workers view their employers, benefit programs, and overall workplaces has changed, creating both a significant and lasting impact on the HR and benefits space.

Our 2022 Benefit Trends Report uncovers the year’s top five trends influencing the state of employee benefits, sharing both quantitative data and expert insights that demonstrate how the many reactionary shifts, once thought to be temporary, in all likelihood may be permanent as the workplace continues to be forever reshaped by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are some of the key insights and takeaways from our full report.

1. Total Wellbeing is the New Normal

Benefit election data and employee behavior show that today’s employees have come to both expect and demand a broader range of supplemental benefit offerings from their employer, making an increased focus on total employee wellness a significant benefit trend again this year.

Enrollment data collected from the over 4.6 million participants accessing their benefits through the Empyrean platform shows that employees continue to gravitate towards supplemental offerings, selecting benefits that align with the changes they have experienced in their own lives. Some notable shifts include:

  • Shifts away from office-centric benefit enrollments, including a 16.58% decrease in commuter benefit participation
  • Enrollments that reflect remote and hybrid work arrangements
  • 56.37% increase in pet care benefit enrollments

As our report explains in further detail, Empyrean’s experts forecast that employers will continue to trend towards taking a more holistic approach to their benefit offerings due to employee and market pressure to do so.

2. Improved Consumer Education is Driving Adoption, Employee Vulnerability is Accelerating the Trend

Since the introduction of the HDHP, employers have leaned on supplemental benefits as a way to round out traditional programs, and plan sponsors have spent significant resources educating their employees on why enrollment in these supplemental programs can be advantageous.

Data suggests that this education has started to take hold. Whether employees are looking for a better work-life balance, financial planning support, or new ways to cope with stress, the adoption of voluntary benefits is improving.

Some of the enrollment increases discussed in our report include:

  • Hospital Indemnity (9.8% increase)
  • Accident Benefit (6.95% increase)
  • Critical Illness (5.85% increase)

After two years of pandemic life, it may come as no surprise that more employees are enrolling in benefits that insure for catastrophic events, perhaps recognizing their own physical and financial vulnerabilities during the public health crisis.

Download our full report to learn more about both continued and emerging trends related to mental health and employee burnout, and predictions that employees will continue to lean towards benefits that round out their traditional medical benefit programs.

3. Increased Focus on Using Benefits to Attract & Retain Talent

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a record 47.4 million U.S. employees voluntarily left their jobs in 2021, making the need for improved attraction and retention through benefits an emerging trend in 2022.

The volume of quits this year has made it clear that employers who do not meet the evolving demands of employees can expect to see high levels of turnover. The Great Resignation has had a tremendous impact on health and welfare benefits, increasing the need for employers to rethink their benefits strategy and better demonstrate the value of their benefits program to both future and existing employees.

As described in our report, we predict that as the war for talent continues, HR teams will need to work together to better understand what their employees’ benefits needs actually are, and create a positive journey throughout the employee lifecycle, starting with the candidate experience and communications.

Traditional, supplemental, and non-monetary benefits will play a starring role in an employer’s ability to differentiate themselves against the rest of the market. Delivery of a positive employee experience, from candidacy through termination, will be a key driver in an employer’s ability to attract and retain talent.

4. Increased Need to Deliver & Communicate a Positive Benefits Experience 

While employers are working hard to develop a strong benefits strategy that combats attrition and contributes to positive company cultures, equal effort must be made to ensure employees have positive experiences when enrolling in and utilizing these benefits, as research has shown employees will leave an organization for a role offering a more competitive benefits package.

The problem for many employers, however, is demonstrating that their benefits program is in fact valuable.

In a 2021 Voya consumer survey, one-third of respondents reported that they did not fully understand any of the employee benefits they enrolled in during their most recent open enrollment period. Despite materials and support available during open enrollment and throughout the year, many employees lack a full understanding of their benefit coverage and how to make cost-effective selections that are sized appropriately for their unique needs.

Providing employees with meaningful, year-round benefits education continues to be a major challenge for employers. Only 19 percent of organizations report that they believe their employees have a high-level understanding of their benefit options and elections, and 88 percent of employers from the same study say their main employee communications goal is to help participants better understand and utilize their benefit offerings.

More and more employers are relying on decision support technology to help employees navigate employer-sponsored health and wellness benefit offerings through an individualized lens, enabling better education, selection, and utilization outcomes.

As described in our report, going forward we expect technology to play an even bigger role in the employee benefits experience, with employers leveraging predictive analytics and real-life claims data to drive benefits engagement. These platforms provide enrollment recommendation intelligence tied directly to the claims data of the individual enrollee, creating entirely customized forecasts based on real-life prior events.

Since the enrollment recommendations are tailored specifically for the employee, it is clear that the employer is not trying to drive them towards a lower cost plan that will save company dollars. Instead, the employer is able to demonstrate their commitment to providing the employee with benefit programs that meet the employee where they are in support of their total health and wellness.

5. Continued Developments Surrounding Benefits Regulatory Compliance

Employer-sponsored benefit plans have been historically subject to a significant and ever-changing list of regulatory compliance standards, however, the sheer volume and complexity of legislation governing the employment law space has been a continued trend since the start of the pandemic – and one that can be expected for years to come.

Our report outlines some of the most critical new and shifting regulations employers need to know, including trends that go beyond compliance standards to ensure positive employee experiences.

Looking Forward

It is critical that employers and benefit leaders take a step back from the “survival” modes employed since 2020 to understand the future of benefits and how to shift go-forward benefits strategies for both organizational and employee success.

Benefit leaders can conclude that the majority of benefits-related changes made by organizations in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic are here to stay. Employer-sponsored health and welfare programs have been forever redefined to focus on mental and financial wellness benefits that support the whole employee in all facets of life, both inside and outside of work.

This year, employers have the opportunity to think differently about their benefit strategies to drive healthy and happy workplace cultures. As more businesses recognize the connections between benefits, employee experience, and positive organizational outcomes, leaders will continue to level up their benefits offering to build culture through benefits.

For additional data and insights tied to this year’s benefit trends, download your copy of Empyrean’s 2022 Benefit Trends Report today.

The Critical Role of Supplemental Benefits in a Go-Forward Benefits Strategy

The Critical Role of Supplemental Benefits in a Go-Forward Benefits Strategy

03 February, 2022

Webinar presented by Dr. Kristin Tugman, VP Health + Productivity, Prudential | Desta Millner, Empyrean | Melanie Haniph, HR Consultant. The COVID-19 pandemic has created physical, mental, and financial challenges that American workers have never faced before, causing employers to quickly shift their benefit strategies to one in support of total employee wellness. A recent study conducted by Empyrean shows that this is a trend that is expected to continue, driven in part by employee demand. Join our expert panel as they discuss why supplemental benefits will be a critical part of any employer’s post-pandemic employee benefits strategy. 

HR’s Growing Role in Data Privacy & Protection

HR’s Growing Role in Data Privacy & Protection

28 January, 2022

Insights and Advice from an Empyrean Expert

The role of our HR and benefits leaders continues to evolve and expand, and now our human resources teams are at the forefront of the battle to ensure both company and employee data remains protected and secure in our increasingly digitized world.

Gone are the days when only certain subgroups of an employee population relied on technology to perform their jobs. Today, nearly every American worker touches technology in some form on a daily basis, putting an increasing burden on HR teams to manage and train our evolving workforce on the best practices for ensuring data protection and security.

HR professionals are tasked with ensuring that employees follow IT and security policies and protocols to protect not only the company they work for and the customers they serve, but also themselves. Following the trend of supporting total employee health and wellness, more and more employers are offering identity theft protection as a voluntary benefit. However, an analysis of Empyrean’s enrollment data shows that only 13.8% of those employees offered the benefit enroll.

While we may tend to focus on highly-publicized and wide-spread security and data breaches impacting huge numbers of consumers, a study conducted by the Ponemon Institute found that just eight percent of all data breaches are caused by external cyber-attacks. Instead, the overwhelming majority of data breaches are caused by human error.

While experts recognize that it is a huge undertaking, they caution that HR professionals need to partner with IT to concentrate efforts on building a workplace culture where all employees are playing an active role in keeping data safe and secure, including instilling a sense of accountability across teams to ensure that data security needs are a priority.

In recognition of Data Privacy Day, we sat down with our Senior Security Analyst, Joel Tristani, to discuss the importance of data privacy and protection, including how we protect our own client data here at Empyrean.

Let’s start with the basics. Why is data privacy so crucial, and what should employees and organizations know about it?

Organizations are entrusted with handling personal data, and must take all necessary precautions to ensure it remains protected while in their care, including while it is being stored, processed, or is in transit to another authorized party.

There are many reasons why an employee might want to keep data about their identity, health, finances, or other matters private, and it is every person’s right to decide who has access to their personal data, and how it should and should not be used.

How can employers help employees safeguard data privacy?

There are a myriad of ways that employers can support safe and effective cyber hygiene. At Empyrean, we provide security awareness training to all of our employees, which includes important tips and tricks on how to look out for various red flags when using email, browsing websites, and operating computers and other devices.

We encourage all employers to ensure your employees are equipped with the proper tools, resources, and guides to help them handle their own data, and their clients’ data, in the safest, most secure way possible.

How does Empyrean protect our own client data?

At Empyrean, the protection of client data is a top priority.

Client data is always encrypted while at rest within our systems and during transfer in from a client or out to an authorized partner. In addition, before it’s transferred through an encrypted pathway, data is further encrypted at the file level to ensure that only the owner of that data can decrypt and access it, even after it reaches its final destination.

Access to client data while in our care is limited to only the client team members that require access in order to service the account. Beyond secure data handling practices, we maintain a robust security control environment and multi-layered defense strategy to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our own and our clients’ information assets.

What’s your best advice for everyday data privacy protection?

A quick tip for everyday data privacy protection is to enable multi-factor or two-factor authentication for bank, insurance, and other websites that store your personal data.

And please – I cannot stress this enough – do not re-use passwords! If one of your accounts is compromised, all of your accounts with the same email and password combination will also be at risk. Multi/two-factor authentication mitigates this to some extent, but your best bet is to create different, strong passwords that will help protect you against cyber threats. Establish your own multi-layered defense, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Whether you’re an employee trying to protect your own personal data, or an organization safeguarding client information, everyone has a responsibility to ensure sensitive data is sent, stored, used, and viewed safely and appropriately.

About Joel Tristani, Senior Security Analyst at Empyrean

Joel joined the Empyrean team in 2021, and plays a pivotal role as a member of the organization’s IT and security teams. His decades-long IT career includes time spent at corporations like Widespread Technologies and BCI, as well as time spent at municipalities and within the private consulting space.

Joel earned a B.S. from Hodges University, as well as a M.S. in Cybersecurity from DePaul University. He resides in Tucson, Arizona.

How Decision Support Technology Can Fuel a Better Employee Experience

How Decision Support Technology Can Fuel a Better Employee Experience

25 January, 2022

Read our Decision Support Guide to learn about the top 5 factors to consider when evaluating recommendation engine platforms. Understand how predictive analytics can help employees understand future risks and costs, and what to look out for when comparing platforms to ensure you get the best fit for your needs.

The Changing Role of the Strategic Benefits Leader

The Changing Role of the Strategic Benefits Leader

21 January, 2022

Since the start of the pandemic, company benefits have played an increasingly important role in helping organizations protect the safety, wellness, and health of their employees. This is increasingly the case, not only for physical wellness, but organizations now have greater awareness of mental health and financial wellness impacts on their staff given recent challenges and mass resignations.

2022: a perfect storm for benefits

The dominance of remote/hybrid work environments also opens up new opportunities for benefits functions to offer new benefit types that could be seen as tangible expressions of a company’s culture. Therefore, If employee welfare, attraction, and retention are not top of the list of your key strategic priorities for 2022, they should be. Not only are organizations and HR functions adapting to new ways of working and changing business environments, they are also facing the fact that employees have started to “vote with their feet”, demanding a better work-life balance. We are experiencing the largest wave of mass resignations seen in most of our lifetimes. This is also not helped by the retirement of baby boomers and an aging workforce. 2022 is the year to act, and these challenges also offer a great opportunity for benefits teams to relook at the role they can play in strengthening the resilience of companies and their workforce.

Empyrean Announces EVOLVE/22 – April 6-8 in Nashville, TN

Empyrean Announces EVOLVE/22 – April 6-8 in Nashville, TN

19 November, 2021

Empyrean is excited to announce that this year’s EVOLVE conference will be held in beautiful Nashville, TN from April 6-8, 2022.

The theme for EVOLVE/22 is “Building Culture Through Benefits”, with an educational agenda focused on the strong connection between the role benefits can play in building company culture and the positive organizational outcomes gained from employee health and wellness.

Event participants will hear from HR industry leaders, benefit practitioners, and peers during our dynamic educational sessions, and there will also be plenty of networking windows and opportunities to explore the historic city of Nashville and its exciting music scene.

DATE: April 6-8, 2022
LOCATION: Nashville, TN

Event registration will open in the coming weeks, and the full event agenda and conference details will be released at that time as well. For now, we invite all of our clients to mark your calendars for this engaging event!

Empyrean Launches New Brand Messaging, Enhanced Corporate Website Focused on the Critical Role Benefits Play in Building Positive Workplace Cultures

Empyrean Launches New Brand Messaging, Enhanced Corporate Website Focused on the Critical Role Benefits Play in Building Positive Workplace Cultures

11 October, 2021

Houston, TX. [Oct. 11, 2021] Empyrean (www.goempyrean.com), a leading benefits administration technology platform and service provider, announces the launch of its new website and brand messaging aligned with the organization’s mission to help employers create positive workplace cultures by connecting their employees to life-enriching benefits.

Empyrean’s new brand message makes a strong connection between the role benefits play in building a company’s culture and positive organizational outcomes tied to total employee health and wellness. The brand strategy reflects Empyrean’s product roadmap, as the company continues to develop and roll out employee-centric technologies and services along with strategic carrier and service partnerships designed to improve employee experiences and strengthen employer brands.

“Our commitment to building culture through benefits challenges us to continue to think beyond simply managing the complexities around benefits administration,” said Empyrean’s Chief Executive Officer, Richard Wolfe. “How we connect with our clients’ participants, the experience they have using our technology and interacting with our people, are all critical to supporting them as they get the most out of their benefits – both today and in the future.”

Jim Priebe, Empyrean’s Chief Strategy Officer, says that while the organization has always been positioned to support an employee’s ability to better understand, access, and utilize their benefits program, Empyrean is now fully embracing its role in helping employers to improve their employee experience.

“The pandemic has shifted the thinking of many employers, putting a renewed focus on employee experience and employee wellbeing,” Priebe states. “We recognize our ability to improve benefit engagement not only at enrollment, but also on a year-round basis, helping employers connect the dots between building a strong company culture and the important role benefits play in making that a reality. It was important for us to make sure our brand message reflects this.”

“Empyrean’s innovative platform and outstanding service delivery have always set us apart, and we are taking the steps to move the needle even further,” added Priebe. “Now more than ever, we continue see clients and the market coming to us to not only solve their core administration needs, but to also find a partner that can support their benefit strategies and improve employee engagement.”

The launch of Empyrean’s new website and brand positioning comes during a year of significant growth for the organization with the expansion of headcount across all divisions and within the executive leadership team. Much of this growth can be tied to Empyrean’s rapidly expanding client base and roll out of several new technologies and services, including new vaccination tracking features, enhanced ACA reporting capabilities, and the launch of Pilot+, Empyrean’s claims-based decision support and personalized healthcare navigation product.

About Empyrean

Since 2006, Empyrean has provided employers of varying size, industry, and benefit plan complexity with the innovative technology and best in class service necessary to accelerate their benefits strategies and bring their benefit programs to life. Empyrean’s platform and services were designed to create connected employee benefit experiences that enrich lives, strengthen employer brands, and improve workplace cultures.

Today, more than 3.6 million participants across the U.S. & Canada rely on Empyrean’s cutting-edge systems and best in class support teams to inform and guide their benefit enrollment and utilization decisions. Focused on total employee health and wellness, Empyrean is dedicated to delivering a scalable and tailored benefits experience for all employees and their families by combining innovative technology with employee-centric services to empower participants to better understand, access, and engage with their benefit programs not just at enrollment time, but on a year-round basis.

Empyrean’s platforms and services empower employees to not only better understand the value of the benefit programs offered to them, but to then connect with these benefits in a way that drives better outcomes from themselves, their families, and their organization.

Headquartered in Houston, TX, Empyrean has additional office locations in Minneapolis, MN and Nashville, TN, as well as remote teams located throughout the U.S.

Empyrean is a subsidy of Securian Financial (www.securian.com).

MEDIA CONTACT:
Brienne Driscoll
Head of Content & Communications
Empyrean Benefit Solutions, Inc.
bdriscoll@goempyrean.com

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