Focusing on employee engagement can boost your company's success

Employee engagement rates are a significant factor in how your company will perform. It has a direct impact on many organizational outcomes, including employee retention, productivity, profitability, customer service, safety, and employee health and well-being.

According to the job site Indeed, an engaged employee is likely to:

• Meet deadlines and show responsibility for their performance.
• Be resilient to change and able to overcome problems.
• Show passion for learning and growing in their jobs.
• Be a positive influence.
• Make an extra effort when necessary, to help customers or achieve company goals.
• Contribute to the team and help their colleagues succeed.

Conversely, Forbes magazine defines a disengaged employee as being more likely to:

• Be withdrawn and participate less in discussions and work activities.
• Communicate less.
• Show apathy and accept less accountability.
• Come into work late or be absent from work.
• Be inefficient in their work and miss deadlines.
• Be cynical and negative about their work and company.
• Be rude to coworkers and customers.

A disengaged workforce can also lead to higher turnover rates. Built-in.com says that voluntary turnover – which occurs when an employee chooses to leave your company – can cost up to 200 percent of the employee's salary, depending on the employee's level of responsibility.

This cost includes:

• Advertising the open position.
• Time commitment of interviewing and training a new employee.
• Reduced productivity while a new employee learns a job and gets up to speed.
• Missed deadlines and delayed revenue.
• Risk of losing long-term clients when customer-facing employees leave.

Many companies recognize the importance of keeping their employees engaged and focus resources toward achieving that goal. However, according to a Gallup survey released in January 2023, U.S. worker engagement levels are dropping. In the survey, respondents reported:

• Less clarity about expectations.
• Less connection to their company's mission and purpose.
• Fewer opportunities to grow.
• Fewer opportunities to use their strongest skills.
• Feeling like their employers do not care about them.

Workers under age 35 and females experienced the biggest drop in engagement.

Built-in.com suggests the following ways to reduce turnover and improve engagement:

• Recognize your employees. Praising your workers for a job well done is one of the most important things you can do to increase employee morale. It can be as simple as a thank you from a manager. Research shows that companies that have formal recognition programs have 31% less voluntary turnover than companies that do not.
• Keep the lines of communication open. Many employers assume that their employees are engaged and happy unless they hear otherwise. It's vital to invite feedback and give your employees the opportunity to express concerns. Using surveys that allow your employees to give feedback anonymously can make them feel more comfortable doing so, increasing participation and honesty. This can help you recognize and address problems before your employee engagement levels begin to drop.
• Conduct exit interviews. If you are losing a great employee, it's important to understand where you went wrong. Employees who are leaving are more likely to be honest about their experiences working for your company. You can use this feedback to make improvements that will help you boost employee engagement and help you retain the rest of your workforce.
• Promote the values and mission of your company. Carefully consider your values and mission. Keep them concise and actionable. Communicate them regularly, starting with the hiring process. This will help ensure you build the right team.
• Enhance your benefits package. The benefits you offer can be perceived as a direct reflection of your company culture and make your employees feel valued and cared for. Offering quality health care benefits and a generous amount of paid time off goes a long way to helping your employees maintain good health and achieve work-life balance.

Allstate Benefits Self-Funded Program

The Self-Funded Program through Allstate Benefits is designed specifically for small and mid-sized businesses. It offers options for affordable, accessible medical and dental care, wellness programs and behavioral health Talk Therapy and Teen Therapy programs that educate and empower employees to take care of themselves.

Self-funding used to be an option that only made sense for large employers. But through Allstate Benefits, small and mid-sized businesses can realize the cost-saving advantages without taking added risk. Our program offers:

• One predictable monthly payment. Your monthly payment is determined up-front and guaranteed to increase for a full year, as long as there are no changes to your group's benefits or enrollment. Your payment includes stop-loss insurance, which protects you from higher-than-expected claims and limits your business's financial risk.
• Plan administration and account management. Payment of claims, customer service and reporting is done for you, leaving you the time and energy to focus on your business.
• Quality benefits. All employer-established benefit plans include minimum essential coverage. Preventive services are paid at 100% when in-network providers are used, as recommended by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Our flexible plan designs allow you to choose the options that will benefit your employees the most.

Add-ons that enhance your health benefits plan

1. Dental and vision coverage¹ can be added to most of our self-funded plans. Our dental PPO plans are available with either the Aetna Dental Access® network or the Cigna® Dental PPO SA network. You can also choose to have no network, allowing members to visit any dentist for care.
2. Add Walmart Health Virtual Care² for convenient access to virtual Urgent Care for minor illness and injuries and virtual Talk Therapy (ages 10+) for mental health counseling services.³
3. By adding the Vitality® wellness program to your self-funded plan, you help your employees stay more engaged in their health. Of employees who join the Vitality program:
   • 80% agree the program is personalized to them.
   • 90% agree it has made them more aware of their health.
   • 66% complete point-earning activities each month.

Secure Choice fully insured health plan

For companies that prefer a more traditional option, Allstate Benefits offers Secure Choice,⁴ a fully insured PPO health plan for small business with 2 to 50 employees. Secure Choice is an ACA-compliant product that offers Gold, Silver, and Bronze-level options. All plans cover the 10 Essential Health Benefits - including Preventive and Wellness benefits at no cost to plan members. Walmart Health Virtual Care² is included with all Secure Choice plan offerings.

Call your Allstate Benefits Group Health sales representative to learn more about how our health, dental, behavioral health and wellness options can help reduce your benefits costs and improve your employee engagement and retention rates.

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