Personal Services and Family-Friendly Benefits

Personal Services and Family-Friendly Benefits

Empire State College

Course: Benefits and Services

Fall 2014

        Each company offers different perks to benefit their employees and make their corporation the best place to work.  There are even competitions where people vote on a list each year to rank the best place to work and it is published in newspapers, magazines and on line publications.  A good example is the Best place in Buffalo to work.  This is put out each year.  Those factors come down not to the health insurance, time off or even the retirement benefits but the personal extras promoted by a company to make an employee’s life-work balance easier.

        This action is normally referred to as voluntary benefits.  At ECMC an optional pet insurance is provided at a discount rate for employees who would like to pay for it.  The company pays no part of it but offers it through a large group enrollment.  A nice perk, that otherwise an employee might not be able to afford to purchase individually.  

        A major one is the employee assistance programs known as EAPs. This program provides an advisory service and counseling programs on a wide variety of subjects.  “One study found that personal mental health was the most common problem addressed by employee assistance programs, followed by family problems” (Dessler, 2013, p. 443). Everyone involved in the EAPs must understand the confidentiality required for the programs to work.                                          Most companies outsource their EAP to companies such as Magellan Health Services and Cigna Behavioral Health.  For companies, an EAP can not only reduce costs but produce advantages. There are laws which have to be followed and it is important to be sure the company you are using has fulfilled all the state licensing requirements and a professional company.  In counseling, one of the laws is the required reporting of suspected abuse of a child or elder abuse and a threat to harm another person or their employer to state agencies. All the files must be kept locked. It is also just as important to minimize any identifying information, and to be sure that all information is monitored with limited access. “Define the program’s purpose, employee eligibility, the rolls and responsibilities of EAP and employer personnel, and procedures for using the plan” (Dessler, 2013, p. 443).

        The stress created by men and women trying to accomplish everything they need to do with work along with supporting and being there for their family has created an undue amount of stress.  Striking a good work-life balance can become extremely difficult and stressful.  As our society has changed over the years, there are more single working parents or a two parent household where both are working to make ends meet.  Also there are more of the over 55 aged baby boomers still in the workforce.  In addition, there are many employees who never marry or live with their significant other, thus the term has become work-life benefits to encompass all lifestyles.