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>> Hi there.

I'm Sandy Thomson, the host of Life Ahead and I welcome you here to our show.

We've got a very wonderful show ahead.

A lot of good information for you about the year 2020 two specifically we're going to be focusing on employment benefits and policies that can kind of take stock of both of those things here as we move through this twenty twenty two era.

>> A lot of things might have changed given the pandemic and we're going to have not only a legal source but some financial information as well from experts here now in just a moment I'm going to introduce those two guests to you.

But first of all, just a moment to give a shout out to Betty from coming in below.

She's the new viewer for us tonight and we welcome you, Betty, and hope you become a part of our Wednesday night ritual at seven thirty.

OK, let's meet our guests this evening.

You're going to see him up here on the corners of the screen.

Nonetheless, you're going to be able to talk to them if you would choose.

>> We have Ted Storer and Ted welcome to LIFE Ahead.

>> Nice to have you with us.

Thank you, Sandy .

Nice to be here.

Good.

And in addition to Ted we have Kyle Cell and Kyle your first time with us on LIFE Ahead.

>> Welcome and thank you for joining us.

It's a pleasure.

Thank you, sir.

OK. All right.

That's a hello to them.

And I did want to mention to you again they can hear you if you would like to call in to with a question this is your opportunity to get some complimentary advice.

The number is on the bottom of the screen and you'll see that here periodically on the show (969) 27 twenty .

>> OK, we do have a phone screener back there.

Patrick is new to our PBS team and Patrick will answer the phones in the phone bank if you'd like to give us a call.

All right.

Let's start out with you, Ted for employers.

>> But what written policy should you have for employers rather what written policy should you have and what should you be doing in regard to a review if your employees what would you say to that?

Well, employers can have and pass policies on any topic they can have policy on attendance.

They can have a policy on conduct of the employees what they expect in terms of performance.

Many employers when they have a certain number of employees will have policies talking about anti harassment, lack of discrimination or equal employment.

But employers can have policies that cover the gamut of their employment relationship with the employees and we always advise employers to put those in writing so that way it's a guide not only to the employees on the expectations but also for the employers when they run into difficult situations and what happens, Ted, when you're when you're doing a review with this employee is that something you keep in mind whether or not they have abided by the policies that have been in writing for them?

>> Certainly that's why you have a policy so that you have a unique situation or a difficult situation with an employee.

You can go back and that way you're treating all employees the same employers run into problems when they start treating employees differently based on any characteristic and so employers have the policies again, we always say that the policies are there for the employer as much as they are for the employee.

And when you have these expectations put in writing, it's much easier for the employer to guide and handle reviews.

As you said, we are here in January of twenty twenty two.

We've just turned into a new year.

So many employers will have conducted employee evaluations in December getting ready for the new year and so they should follow the policies and take a look and see whether those employees are following the policies employers OK go ahead.

>> No, I was just going to say it's probably a good idea if you are an employee to kind of review those written policies maybe you know at midyear or whatever.

So you can kind of remind yourself, hey, am I doing what they were expecting or maybe the department or a supervisor might point out to people mid year hey, you better get better at this because you're not following the company policies.

>> Go ahead and finish what you were talking about.

Know that was an excellent question because we do have situations where we want the employees to understand what our expectations are of them and if we don't have and we don't share those policies, the employees may not understand because difficult situations in employment usually arise when there are misunderstood endings about what the expectations of rules are.

So making sure that both the employee and especially supervise know what the employer policies are is very helpful as the employment year goes on and employees also want to make sure that they understand the policies because many policies are going to govern benefits whether they are insurance policies, whether they are disability policies, things that Kyle may talk about with us today or whether they're simply paid time off policies.

The employees want to know what benefits they have from working for an employer.

So having all these things in writing are very important and what's very important the beginning of the year is that the employer understands that the policies they are enacting are actually policies.

They have it right.

So that's one thing that every employer can do either at the beginning of the year or mid-year just to make sure that you're following your own policies and the written policies are what you are actually doing for your employees.

>> Yeah, it gets very complicated sometimes and it's certainly something that's much more typical now than it might have been 20, 30 years ago and you just go to work and your boss has to do a good job and I'll pay you Friday to jump in here.

>> Kyle, how could you add to this conversation about the employee benefit policies?

>> Certainly yes.

Ted mentioned employee benefits and the interaction between those policies and procedures and the employee benefits.

Certainly when an employee is looking for employment or looking to get the most benefit from the time that they are spending with the employer that includes compensation, that includes benefits, that includes paid time off and all the extra benefits that are available to the employee and those are there in place because an employer wants the employee to be happy, healthy and productive.

And so we want to make sure that those employees understand what the parameters are and then also understand what is available to them because we see a lot of employees that just don't understand what's available to them.

There are a lot of benefits and a lot of programs that are available to them to help them help them and their families that they're just simply not aware of because they're going to work.

They're trying to do a good job.

They're going home and trying to take care of their families and they just they're not spending time looking at the employee handbooks or the benefits booklets to understand what's available to them.

And so to echo Ted's point, it's incredibly important on the employer side but also on the employee side to to spend some time to review that information to make sure that you are taking full advantage of the benefits that are available to you.

>> And I'm assuming when you take the job and those policies are given to you written that you whether or not you agree with them you are abiding by them throughout the year.

What happens if somebody doesn't agree with those policies?

>> I'll ask you that, Tad.

Well, the agreement of the employee is usually taken care of at the time that they're hired.

The employee is usually given the booklet of policy, says U.S.A.

Employers have become more sophisticated over time as have employees and understanding their rights.

So employers in the past may not have have written policies that cover the gamut of any employment situation.

The more sophisticated and larger employers have had experience and so their policies are probably going to be more in-depth and larger that cover all these different issues that pop up.

It's very important for a new employee to understand what those policies are.

Usually there's an onboarding process where someone from the department is going to provide a copy of the handbook or a copy of the policies, a copy of all the benefits and summaries of those and they're going to ask the employee to sign if an employee decides that they don't like those policies they should decide at that time whether or not they want to take the job right.

>> You know, one thing that I think that we really need to address is how the pandemic covid has affected this sort of situation.

>> Let's start with you, Kyle.

How has covered affected what employers are expecting of people?

>> Yeah, certainly I would say communication is one of the biggest expectations that employers are are looking for and expecting from the employees.

It's a difficult and challenging time, especially with parameters and stipulations from the CDC evolving and changing on a consistent basis.

It's difficult for an employee to understand exactly what they're supposed to do if they're having symptoms or if they have a positive test or if perhaps somebody that they've been in contact with has symptoms or has a positive test.

And so what we're hearing from employers in the area, they just want to have an open line of communication between them and the employee and then it comes down to trust.

We have heard unfortunately of instances where employees have taken advantage of some things where maybe they've said hey, I've been in contact and I need to stay at home.

Maybe that wasn't the case.

And so it's open communication and it's a trusting relationship between the employer and their whether it's their direct manager, direct supervisor or somebody from the human resources department and open communication from the employer to the employee about what those expectations are if they happen to have a situation arise.

>> Yeah, OK, I understand that and yeah is moving us into a time of trust card.

What do you think about this and the current situation?

Do you think they're going to be more changes on the way and this was a two part question for you and secondly legally what right do employees have to make mandates or policies concerning covid?

>> And I think I'll hit it on the head remote working became a very important aspect of any professional organization in the last year and a half, which is something most of us didn't have but in the industrial area and manufacturing we don't have the ability for your line workers to work remotely.

So employers have had to as you well know, take a number of different steps to make sure that their employees have a safe working environment in their rules from the CDC and OSHA and all sorts of government entities and agencies making sure that the workplace is safe.

But as Kyle said, it is an issue of trust at the end of the day whether or not the employee actually comes to work or not.

So when we talk about unemployment benefits, some of the available benefits for employees are paid time off.

Do you.

Does your employer have sick leave?

Can you stay at home because we don't want you coming to the workplace if you are showing signs of coping.

So with those things the employee needs to know what time off they have or what the employment and absence policies are of the employer.

So the employer can mandate what those decisions are and the employer can have policies as long as they don't violate any other laws.

So some of the laws that we have for employers with more than 50 employees you have a Family Medical Leave Act which provides for 12 weeks of leave for employees with the most importantly ability to return to your job after a serious health condition.

So some employers have been identifying covid covid symptoms and long covid with the ongoing symptoms from that as an FMLA cover policy or illness.

So a lot of it depends on what the employer policies are, how much pain time or how much absence can you have when you are ill and some that is mandated by statute and whether or not you have a serious health condition as covered by the Family Medical Leave Act.

>> So are you saying that employers with 50 or more employees are mandated to follow FMLA rules?

>> The family medical what is it family medical leave?

>> What's the Yepp act or act OK with the word act?

Yeah but that's a federal statute that applies across the country including in Indiana and if you have 50 or more employees for 20 or more weeks in any calendar year you're covered by the FMLA where you have a mandatory 12 weeks for any illness that's defined and covered as a serious health condition.

So there are a number of different issues and not all employees are covered even if the employer is because employees have to be employed for over one year and twelve hundred 50 hours within that year they are entitled to take FMLA leave so there are a number of statutes that apply to a live situation for health conditions.

We also saw in twenty twenty where the federal acts involving covid did provide for special time off if you had covered or covid symptoms or needed to stay home with your children who were school aged.

Now those expired at the end of twenty twenty and they haven't been reinstated I think.

>> OK good information and certainly if those of you that are watching if you have questions, make sure you check with your management to see specifically what is expected of you in that time frame.

Kyle, here's a question for you what trends are you seeing in employee benefits now that should employees be aware of in what should they be aware of going forward?

>> So are things changing?

Yes, the labor market is in a place where I don't I don't know if we've ever seen it at this place before where competition for talent is at at a peak efforts to attract and retain talent are among the top priorities for employers going forward and certainly compensation is one of the top factors there but also what we would consider non-cash compensation and that's benefits and PTO in what that package looks like to attract and retain employment, our employees.

And so in terms of trends, what we're seeing going forward is certainly a robust benefits package.

We're seeing more and more employers offering multiple medical plans to allow employees to select the plan that makes the most sense for them and their families.

We're also seeing a more holistic approach to benefits where we're not just looking at physical health but we're also looking at mental and financial health as well.

And so we're seeing more employers offering employee assistance programs where they are offering free counseling sessions to the employees and then their immediate family members especially with the stress and uncertainty that's come about during covid that is more important than ever to provide mental health counseling for employees.

And so we're seeing more and more employers that reach out for those resources and make sure that their employees are aware and take advantage of those resources if things arise.

>> Yeah, it certainly seems like that's been the trend that the companies or employers are offering more than they did a year ago because it's harder to get people staff get full staffing now or get people to come to work for them.

One more question on the benefits side.

What about health savings plans ?

>> Is this something that somebody should ask their company about if they are interviewing?

Yes, absolutely.

If you're sitting down as a potential employee or a candidate sitting down with the hiring manager, I would strongly encourage them to to ask to see the benefits package, to ask to see a benefit booklet what you want to look for if you're interested in if especially if you've already had a health savings account from your previous employer and you want to carry that over to your new employer, you need to be sure that that employer offers what is called a high deductible health plan and that's that does it have anything to do with the actual number necessarily that's that set for the deductible instead it's an IRS stipulation that that that that medical plan allows for a health savings account and so you see that set against what is a traditional plan.

And when you're looking at these these two different medical plans, you're really looking at deductibles and co-pays but you really need to have the high deductible health plan in order to take advantage of the health savings account we see the health savings account is a huge, huge advantage, especially when we talk about financial health and financial wellness.

Sure there's a triple tax advantage that you're you're able to utilize with that health savings account.

The money goes in tax free, it grows tax free and it can be used for qualified medical expenses tax free and that's what point at what point are people taxed then they're not on that on that health savings .

OK, as long as the money is used for qualified medical expenses, that's part of that triple tax advantage.

>> And so there's almost no other financial vehicle that allows for the tax savings there.

And so we see people, especially younger people who are healthier and maybe don't have a lot of ongoing medical concerns.

We strongly, strongly encourage them to to enroll in a high deductible health plan and start contributing towards that health savings account.

We see people use it as almost a pseudo or a side retirement account for medical expenses because you can carry that well into your later years and use that for Medicare premiums and medical expenses throughout the rest of your life .

>> So it's sort of like four one K in a different vein in terms of saving for four years.

>> Yeah, if you think of it as a health retirement account, sure that can run right alongside a 401k retirement account and if you're contributing to that on an ongoing basis you'll be you'll be in good shape going forward.

>> And Kyle is I think you said that if you're leaving one employer and you're going to move to a new position with a different company that probably that health savings account can transfer the funds.

OK, that's a distinguishing factor of the health savings account is it is your money and essentially operates as a debit account that is OK.

It's your money if you compare and contrast that with flex spending account and FSA that those funds the way that we describe it is there use it or lose it.

So if you put money into an FSA, a flexible spending account and there is unused funds at the end of the year you lose those funds whereas with the health savings account and then you notice the distinction there health savings versus flexible spending, flexible spending is the idea is that you're going to spend that money for medical expenses throughout that year.

You're going to exhaust those funds.

Health savings account is meant for a long term savings for medical expenses.

>> So you're saying the flexible spending then you'd have to use that money that year, is that what you're saying?

OK, all right.

Let's go back to you for a minute.

We've been talking about benefits and that sort of thing .

>> What retirement benefit plans allow for tax free contributions or generally those are considered your 401k plan and that's a benefit that is available through many employers.

But it's up to each individual employer how they wish to provide for retirement account for most employers and most employees the days of having an old fashioned pension plan.

Therefore when you retire no longer there.

So employers have a plan called a 401k that allows you to do tax free savings now unlike a health savings account, my understanding I'm not a tax professional or a financial analyst but my understanding is then when you take out your contributions and savings 401k those would be taxed as income but you still get tax free savings at the time while you're employed and putting that money away.

Many employers have simple IRAs and they have different plans that provide for similar tax free savings and there are post-tax savings as well.

But again you have a number of professionals on other shows talking about these financial options.

As Kyle said though, the employment situation right now is very competitive.

You're in a time when economists are calling it the great resignation.

Employees are taking a clear evaluation of their own circumstance deciding where to go.

So employment benefits like the benefits that Kyle was talking about are very important, enticing and bringing the best talent you can as an employer.

So most employers are carefully reviewing their benefit plans right now and trying to make sure they have maximized those both for their own benefit and to get the best employees in well so then if somebody is job seeking right now they've kind of got the upper hand in terms of being able to look at if there are a lot of jobs available and it seems like right now there are they can look at the benefits that's offered at the different companies.

>> We only have about three more minutes left in the show.

But I do want to ask each of you what what's the most important advice or tip you can give our viewers?

>> Let's start with you, Kyle.

>> What would you say to people that are listening tonight?

Yeah, I would say there's two fronts if you're in a leadership position at an organization, I think the thing that a lot of people are missing is the communication and marketing of your benefits to your employees if you're only having one meeting a year where you're talking about the benefits, you're kind of missing out on an opportunity to continue to sell yourself to your employees.

>> And so we really encourage folks as they're doing reviews, as they're meeting with their direct reports to talk about the benefits to make sure that people feel comfortable using those benefits and they understand when all is available to them.

I think people miss out on the opportunity to really sell themselves to employees especially in this market and on the employee side I think the one thing that we see is a really strong need to become an educated consumer.

Health care expenses are continuing to rise and so we need to be really savvy and informed consumers when we're pursuing health care whether that's prescriptions, lab services, imaging x rays, MRI, those sorts of things.

They're significant savings available to folks if they're asking the right questions and communicating and advocating for themselves with their health care providers.

>> Yeah, that's just excellent advice and I appreciate that, Kyle Ted, you've got a chance now to give your best advice to people but my best advice to employers is to make sure your policies that are written down that you're sharing with your employees are actually the policies and the way you handle employment situations for employees.

The best thing you could do is to become that informed consumer as Kyle was talking about.

There's absolutely nothing that prevents an employee from having a good idea and sharing it with the employer and communicating that idea.

If you've heard of benefits that are available from your friends who have different benefits that their employer there's nothing wrong with sharing that information because it's possible that your employer simply hasn't considered that as a benefit and your employer is going to benefit on its own from having an employee who understands what's going on in the community and what's best the better or best for the employee and the employer in most circumstances wants to know what that is to keep the employees who are good and hardworking, engaged and happy with their employment.

>> Yeah, that's certainly good advice as well.

And I'm assuming since we've talked about how competitive the market is right now to get employees try to be a very advanced and informed employee and as employers I'm sure politics as you've mentioned have changed considerably here through this covid and maybe will stay changed for a while.

I don't know.

Very quickly, Kyle, what do you think?

Do you think things are going to change or stay this way for a year or two ?

>> I think both employers and employees are going to take what has benefited them and continue on.

I think a hybrid or flexible work schedule has benefited a lot of people as long as productivity is up and people are continuing to produce good work, I think employers are willing to be flexible and accommodate people's personal lives.

>> It's a really, really important thing.

And again, people as there are looking at possibly entertaining moving that's one of the questions that they're asking during the hiring process is what's your flexible work schedule?

You allow remote work and so if that's going to be an integral piece in recruiting and retaining talent, then I think employers will have to adapt and adjust.

>> Yeah, they probably will.

Well, I want to again thank store.

>> Thank you so much, Ted and Kyle.

So you've been just wonderful.

I love all the information you've both given.

Thank you for watching.

LIFE Ahead tonight and of course remember we're on every Wednesday night right here at PBS for LIFE Ahead.

>> Goodnight.

Stay safe and try to stay healthy .