{"id":5209,"date":"2022-03-23T19:23:52","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T19:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/melodybenefits.com\/?p=5209"},"modified":"2022-06-08T20:47:26","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T20:47:26","slug":"empowering-employees-to-maximize-wage-parity-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melodybenefits.com\/empowering-employees-to-maximize-wage-parity-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Empower Your Employees to Maximize Wage Parity Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"
Does it matter if your home healthcare aides use their wage parity benefits?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n After all, if your agency offers benefits in compliance with wage parity law<\/a>, you did your part. It\u2019s up to the aides to decide whether or not to use them. As the clich<\/span>\u00e9<\/span> goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can\u2019t make him drink.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Which is true, but\u2014\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n a thirsty horse won\u2019t perform.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n And neither will your HHAs if they don\u2019t understand (or worse, resent) their benefits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A successful wage parity program can offer multiple benefits over cash wages<\/a>, including significant ROI in employee loyalty and satisfaction. When employees maximize their benefits, you maximize your ROI.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n But how?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n To find out, we turned to one of our top clients, <\/span>Royal Care NYC<\/span><\/a>. More than 90% of Royal Care\u2019s employees use their benefits cards down to the last penny.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sarah Knoll<\/span><\/a>, Royal Care\u2019s Payroll\/Billing Supervisor, shared four Royal Care initiatives and policies that have worked for the Royal Care team of HHAs. Together they answer the question:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n How can you empower your employees to fully appreciate and use their wage parity benefits?<\/b><\/p>\n Offering top benefits<\/a> is just the beginning. Without education, those benefits can remain unused.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sarah identifies two areas to address:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n During open enrollment, when they\u2019re sending other plan info to employees, Royal Care also sends a brochure clearly explaining:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe give them all the details and get the aides excited about their benefits. We show them how the benefits are better for them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Royal Care also goes over the monthly reports we send from Melody Benefits to spot employees who are underusing<\/a> their cards. Then, they reach out personally to those aides to solve the problems that are holding them back.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Even with the best education, questions come up when employees use their cards \u201cout in the wild\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n -How do I get my PIN?<\/span><\/p>\n -Do my benefits rollover to next month?<\/span><\/p>\n -How do I check my account balance?<\/span><\/p>\n -What if my card is lost or stolen?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Without answers, HHAs may stop using their cards. Accessible, friendly customer service solves this issue.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe use our own customer service <\/span>and <\/b>the customer service that Melody Benefits provides. Employees know they can stop by our customer service desk anytime. When there\u2019s a question we can\u2019t answer, we direct the employees to the Melody Benefits helpline,\u201d Sarah explains.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>Our aides know where to go when they have questions<\/b>,\u201d she adds.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Agencies who educate their employees can see 99% usage rates on benefits cards.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n What happens when one size benefits doesn\u2019t fit all?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sarah emphasizes the importance of working with your employees to find out how they use their benefits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n To illustrate the point, she recalls when some employees had trouble using their health benefits. They were trying to buy approved items, but having their benefits cards mysteriously declined.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n She brought the problem to our attention at Melody Benefits. After investigating, we discovered that the issue was occurring in neighborhood \u201cmom and pop\u201d shops that didn\u2019t code their items in a way that the benefits cards recognized.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n We worked with the local stores to remediate the problem, and soon the employees could use their benefits cards in their usual pharmacies.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n And that\u2019s just one example. It\u2019s impossible to predict exactly how benefits usage will play out until it happens. The key is being <\/span>responsive<\/b> and<\/span> flexible<\/b> when the inevitable bumps occur.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cEmployees don\u2019t like surprises,\u201d states Sarah.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>Josh Klein<\/span><\/a>, Royal Care\u2019s CEO, believes in being 100% straight with employees, always. Nothing is hidden. There\u2019s no fooling around.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Starting with the open enrollment brochure and weekly on employee pay stubs, Royal Care\u2019s <\/span>transparency gives employees confidence in the wage parity program.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The 20-21 NYS Budget<\/a> mandated transparent reporting of NY wage parity benefits on employees\u2019 pay stubs, but Royal Care did it since 2015.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sarah explains that they \u201cdesigned custom pay stubs long before it was required. The pay stubs break down the employees’ wages by the base wage and the different benefits. They\u2019re even color-coded!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Royal Care\u2019s aides love that they know exactly what they get each month<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The bottom line?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Royal Care\u2019s results aren\u2019t a mystery. They\u2019re a result of company policies that any home healthcare agency<\/a> can implement.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Are you losing wage parity ROI? Maximize your investment by empowering your employees to maximize their wage parity benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n1. Education and communication<\/b><\/h2>\n
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2. Excellent Customer Service<\/b><\/h2>\n
3. Flexibility<\/b><\/h2>\n
4. Transparency<\/b><\/h2>\n