Millennial Employees: A Turning Point For Benefits?

My article "Work-Life And Mental Health Strategies For A Millennial Workforce" was just published in the most recent issue of Benefits and Pension Monitor.

As noted in the article:

Studies abound debating the engagement, productivity, and well-being strategies that best resonate with the growing number of Millennials entering the workforce. Notably, HR and benefit leaders are rethinking, transforming, and championing new program designs and incentives—and abandoning benefits once considered inviolable.

The millennial generation (aka Gen Y, the NET generation) are the demographic cohort that directly follows Generation X and includes individuals born between approximately 1976 and 2004. They are the first generation to make less money than their parents, to enter the workforce with tremendous student loan debt, and to grow up with social media. They also experience more stress and depression than any previous generation in the workforce.1

Compared to previous workforce generations:

• Millennials are the largest and youngest generation in the workforce, foreshadowing career longevity that will have lasting impact on employers.
• For Millennials, wellness is a daily pursuit. They follow healthier lifestyles, avoid tobacco, are more likely to exercise, and more likely to maintain healthy weight.
• Millennials are more concerned about work-life balance and work schedule flexibility and less concerned about financial incentives.
• Millennials are looking for more frequent and personalized communications regarding benefits and career performance.
• Millennials are more technology-driven and have higher expectations for innovative and electronically-delivered wellness programs.
• Millennials want to be part of a socially-conscious workplace culture--work that has a positive impact on community and makes a difference in the world.

Noting further in the article:

In this era of economic uncertainty, increased competitiveness, narrowing profit margins, higher employment and benefit costs, higher incidences of depression and consequent high disability costs, The Millennial generation calls for a transformative, creative ‘rethink’ of all benefit offerings, including how they are communicated, delivered, and personalized. Traditional benefit frameworks must be reviewed, overhauled or abandoned and created anew.

Never has the call to abandon traditional benefit offerings and communication been stronger. Yet this call presents a unique opportunity--to engage a unique workforce ripe with energy, enthusiasm and entrepreneurship, eager to seek wellness and work-life balance.Read the full article in the Benefits and Pension Monitor.

About My Workshops and Educational sessions/lunch ‘n’ learns

Location: Vancouver and Lower Mainland, BC

From 30 years' experience supporting employees and employees with mental health, well-being, lifestyle, workplace psychoeducation, I am highly aware that only a few key issues are responsible for the majority of the ill mental well-being, STD/LTD, absences, presenteeism, benefits costs, and the like. The rest of the typically presented well-being topics are icing on the cake…good to know. But not having the most evidence-based impact, and not having a reasonable ROI.

I provide your employees, and leadership, with practical, actionable, entertaining, and highly focused psycho-educational experiences.

I am known for my passion and authentic passion for the improving the lives of others through changing thought and behaviour. I acknowledge many of these challenges, myself, and can quickly connect on an unusually intimate level with an employee group, while balancing to meet your needs as an employer for cost-effective, timely, reliable presentations where change will actually come about.

And I recognize the unmet needs of smaller employers, in particular, given limited budgets and less access to in-house or contracted expertise, and psychological benefits.

Of note, all workshops are available as more brief educational presentations.

Workshops

• Beyond Worry: Using Mindfulness To Better Relax And Focus
• Keeping Anger In Check
• Overcoming Depression And Stopping Your Emotional Pain
• Resilience: Responding To Adversity With Optimism And Action
• Stress: What Can I Do About It?
• Constructive Living: Accepting Your Feelings And Taking Purposeful Action Despite Them

Educational Presentations

• Ageing and Depression
• Recognizing Bipolar Disorder And Getting Off The Emotional Rollercoaster
• Coping With A Diagnosis Of A Chronic Illness
• Coping With The Death Of A Co-Worker
• Financial Denial: The "Joneses" May Lease Their Lifestyle, So Don't You
• Getting To A Healthy And Happy Weight: Eating Lettuce Won't Get You There
• Harnessing Willpower To Make Lifestyle Changes Last
• Heart Health: Lifestyle Choices So You Don’t “Skip a Beat”
• Living Well With Dementia
• Managing Chronic Pain
• Marriage And Commitment: Nine Keys To Lasting Love
• Mirrors Don’t Lie: The Painful Trap Of Eating Disorders
• Mobile Well-Being Apps: Ten Thousand To Choose From?
• Parenting: Is Being SuperMom Or SuperDad Stressing You Out?
• Retirement Preparation: More Than Money In The Bank
• Seasonal Affective Disorder
• Sleep: How To Rest Peacefully
• Stress And Its Nasty Effects On Your Body
• Therapy: What Works And What Doesn’t?
• When A Loved One Has A Mental Illness
• What Do Counsellors And Psychologists Do?
• Supporting the psychological aspects of returning to work (managers and leadership)
• Communicating Difficult and Sensitive Issues (managers and leadership)

Contact Me

I welcome a conversation and answering questions you may have.

Please email me at [email protected]

And visit my newly launching (admittedly, incomplete since I have been travelling without internet for two weeks):

www.workplacementalhealthsolutions.com