Long story short: Show employees compassion through your culture and benefits

June 10, 2022 12:16 PM

Don’t forget that your employees are people, too.

Employees are prioritizing workplaces that support their full selves, and employers may need to adjust their programs, benefits and work culture to make it clear they’ll have their back. When it comes to supporting mental health, Allstate partnered with Spring Health to revamp the company’s well-being benefits. Now, employees have access to six free therapy sessions, as well as app-based exercises on meditation and self-care. The company decided to revisit their benefits after hearing from employees about the strain and challenges they were still feeling more than two years into the pandemic.

Another big stressor for employees is childcare and caregiving, and a new partnership between UrbanSitter and Kinside is giving working parents a single platform to find caregiving resources and services. The partnership hopes to alleviate the stress parents are dealing with day-to-day, and provide a simpler solution for employers to offer a helping hand.

Being compassionate extends to DEI initiatives as well — in our other top stories this week, employers may need to audit their DEI policies to ensure they’re not excluding, or even hurting, employees. Unconscious biases are plaguing LGBTQ workers, for example, who experience microaggressions like pronoun misuse. And to support BIPOC employees, employers need to practice ‘anti-racism’ through their practices to ensure workplaces are equal for all. A DEI business coach shares four ways to do it.

See all of this coverage in our stories below:

Why Allstate revamped their mental health benefits more than 2 years into COVID

More than half of employees do not think their employer is doing enough to support their mental health, according to a May survey by The Harris Poll. COVID, global events like the war in Ukraine, and climate change topped the list of stressors impacting employees every day, with 68% saying these issues have a negative impact on their mental health. To help employees navigate new stress and manage existing mental health challenges, Allstate revisited their benefits and partnered with Spring Health on a new program that offers free therapy and other mental health tools.

“All of those things coming at our employees over the last couple of years haven't just gone away, so we wanted to continue to look at and invest in care,” says Tracy Allie, senior HR manager for Allstate’s Good Life benefits program. She shares why now was the time to boost their benefits, and how other employers can follow suit in a one-on-one interview with EBN.

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Why Allstate revamped their mental health benefits more than 2 years into COVID

Urbansitter and Kinside team up on joint caregiving platform to support working parents

Kinside, a company that connects parents with open child care spots and resources, recently partnered with caregiving provider Urbansitter to launch Complete Care. Caregivers will have access to preferred tuition at daycares, preschools, camps and afterschool programs thanks to Kinside, as well as in-home care options including nannies, babysitters, emergency and backup care, eldercare, tutors and petcare from Urbansitter.

“We wanted to create a single source where you could check every single box from a caregiving perspective, from elder care and babysitting to emergency care tutors,” Brittney Barrett, co-founder and chief marketing officer at Kinside, tells associate editor Paola Peralta. Barrett explains why these benefits are critical to retention for working parents.

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Urbansitter and Kinside team up on joint caregiving platform to support working parents

Microaggressions are keeping LGBTQ employees out of the office

According to a 2021 McKinsey survey, more than 60% of LGBTQ respondents have had to correct colleagues’ assumptions about their personal lives. Queer employees were also significantly more likely than other respondents to have heard derogatory comments or jokes about people like them in the workplace.

To address this behavior, employers need to offer training for non-LGBTQ employees on what constitutes a microaggression, Annie Rosencrans, U.S. director of people and culture at software company Hibob, explains to Paola Peralta. A good start is ensuring that everyone — regardless of whether they consider themselves part of the LGBTQ community or not — shares their gender identity to make it easier for members of gender minorities to come out and identify themselves. Having employees add their pronouns to email signatures is a quick solution that creates a culture of belonging for all.

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Microaggressions are keeping LGBTQ employees out of the office

How to run an anti-racist business — a DEI expert gives her 4 top tips

According to a Gallup survey, only 42% of managers feel they are prepared to have a meaningful conversation about race. Trudi Lebrón, a DEI business coach and creator of the Institute for Equity Centered Coaching, talks to associate editor Deanna Cuadra about how they can start by practicing “anti-racism.”

“You don't get the benefit of all of the DEI initiatives that you might be rolling out, unless you have an anti-racism approach,” says Lebrón. “Anti-racism work at its core is about changing life outcomes for Black and brown folks, and in the process of doing that, creating better life outcomes for everyone.” She shares four ways the practice can be applied in the workplace.

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How to run an anti-racist business — a DEI expert gives her 4 top tips