Benefits news you may have missed: July 5-9

The summer vacation boom is upon us: Are you ready? Nearly a year-and-a-half into the pandemic, employees are ready to travel again. Working from home, particularly, has many workers wanting to completely disconnect from the office and take long overdue time off. Experts say that’s a good thing, especially as employees are working longer hours, burnout rates are soaring and mental health challenges continue for stressed-out employees more than a year into the pandemic. But those employee plans may also present a problem: How can employers manage employees taking mass time off? And how can they prevent them from taking the same days off? Read more here.

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Employees working from home report a decline in their mental health: More than a third of employees who work remotely say they don’t feel appreciated by their employer and their mental health has declined because of it, according to new data from Promoleaf, a product company that works with employers. Read more here.

HRE seeks speakers for 2022 Health & Benefits Leadership Conference: Are you an innovative HR leader relying on benefits to retain, help and develop employees? Then you might want to consider submitting a proposal to speak at next year’s Health and Benefits Leadership Conference. Organizers of HRE’s annual event are seeking speaker proposals to present at the conference, which will be April 5-7, 2022, at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The deadline for submissions is July 22. Read more here.

Are you hiring a director of remote work? Here’s why Facebook did: Annie Dean, who assumed the role at the end of 2020, recently spoke at the virtual REMOTE by GitLab, where she shared how Facebook is pivoting to become a remote-first company. Read more here.

HR’s latest challenge: Managing natural disasters in a pandemic: As Tropical Storm Elsa bears down on the Southeastern United States, employers are getting a vivid reminder to check their longstanding policies and plans for managing natural disasters. As with so many things over the last year, the pandemic has changed the way organizations will handle hurricanes and similar disasters. Read more here.

Enhancing the employee experience is a huge priority: The vast majority of organizations say improving the employee experience is a top priority, compared with just 54% that indicated it was important prior to the pandemic, according to new research from Willis Towers Watson. Here’s what that means for HR leaders. Read more here.

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Kathryn Mayer
Kathryn Mayer is HRE’s former benefits editor and chair of the Health & Benefits Leadership Conference. She has covered benefits for the better part of a decade, and her stories have won multiple awards, including a Jesse H. Neal Award and honors from the American Society of Business Publication Editors and the National Federation of Press Women. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Denver.