We’ve been on this journey of employee benefits for a long time—more than 100 years, in fact. An important milestone that started it all was when American Express Co. created the nation’s first private pension plan in 1875. At that time, benefits were one-size-fits-all, which made sense. The concept of adding pension plans was a […]
Tag Archives: behavioral science
23
Oct
Oct
Earlier this year, I wrote about why our commitment to the closed loop is so vital, and how it leads to real outcomes. Now, I’d like to examine the loop a little closer. Even incremental changes can cause a major impact on the bottom line—both for the business investment and in people’s lives. Little reminders […]
05
Jul
Jul
Sometimes a nudge is just a nudge. And sometimes, a nudge becomes a revolution. Nudge theory (behavioral economists and social psychologists have many labels for this concept) entered the public conversation more than a decade ago. Some think the landmark book that became the multimedia phenomenon known as Freakonomics had something to do with it, […]
12
Jun
Jun
When was the last time you received an email or a text message from your cell phone provider, reminding you to pay your bill? Last week? Last month? What about your subscriptions? Do they renew automatically? Many online publication, streaming video, and music subscriptions are set to automatically renew when the current subscription period ends, […]
08
Jun
Jun
“In theory, there is no difference between practice and theory. In practice, there is.” — Computer scientist Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut There are mountains of qualitative and quantitative research on the concept of behavior change, all with profound findings and theoretical opportunities. But how do we apply this knowledge in meaningful ways that […]
22
Feb
Feb
“Hey, Alexa! Which benefits should I choose?” We may not be that far from the day when artificial intelligence can assess an individual’s unique circumstances, stage in life, number of dependents, and past benefits utilization, and determine an optimal benefits package that is relevant to that person. Or are we already there? Selecting benefits is […]
07
Dec
Dec
Recently, some colleagues and I attended the Design for Action conference here in Chicago. At one of the sessions, Dr. Steven Wendell laid out an interesting scenario: Imagine you find a fish flopping around on the ground. You and the fish share a common goal of the fish getting back in the water. How can […]
26
Oct
Oct
Your goals: To keep your employees informed about their benefits offerings, to help your employees take advantage of the benefits you offer right when they need them, and to maximize the value of your benefits for both your company and your employees. So, how do you get there? By creating personalized multimodal messaging for members […]
19
Oct
Oct
As mentioned in a previous blog post, determining an individual employee’s specific mode of preference when it comes to receiving communications (and being able to deliver the message on all modes) is crucial to making sure messages are received and read. Once you’ve found out how your employees like to be reached, add the second […]
14
Sep
Sep
As an HR leader, you put considerable effort into selecting which benefits you offer your employees, and put just as much care into selecting the vendors that provide those benefits. The vendors you’ve chosen offer high quality services, but when they operate in a vacuum—that is, without linking to or communicating with the other vendors […]