Your insider look at the upcoming Health & Benefits Leadership Conference

HRE’s Health & Benefits Leadership Conference will return in person in April—and registration is now open.

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The annual event will be held in Las Vegas from April 5-7, marking a return to an in-person format after three years. (The 2021 event was held virtually due to COVID-19.) The conference will largely focus on COVID-19 strategies for employers to help them through the ongoing crisis, which has reshaped the way HR and benefits leaders do their jobs.

TV personality, ABC News chief meteorologist and mental health advocate Ginger Zee will open up the three-day conference, held at the Aria Resort & Casino. She will deliver the opening keynote address April 5, drawing from her personal journey and history of mental health struggles to discuss why company leaders must step up to destigmatize mental health in the workplace. The session comes in the midst of soaring rates of stress, burnout, depression and anxiety among employees as a result of the ongoing pandemic. In response, scores of employers have stepped up mental health efforts, with experts saying much more work needs to be done.

Related: ‘We have a crisis’: HR’s mandate on mental health

Carrie Bevis of i4cp
Carrie Bevis

Carrie Bevis, managing director of communities and partnerships at research firm i4cp, will deliver the conference’s closing keynote April 7. Bevis will speak about improving workers’ wellbeing when they work remotely—a goal made all the more important during COVID-19, which has resulted in a soaring number of employees who work remotely or in a hybrid format. Experts predict that remote and hybrid work will continue in spades even post-pandemic.

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Also on deck for mainstage events: Jim Klein, American Benefits Council president, will present on all things legislative matters in his keynote, “What to Know About Benefits Policy in 2022.” And Darren Burton, chief people officer of KPMG, and Crystal Gaskin, chief people and culture officer of Mailchimp, will participate in a panel discussion about how benefits and HR leadership have evolved, what will change post-pandemic, and how lessons learned can prepare HR for the next crisis.

Emmy Award-winning personal finance expert Suze Orman—along with Secure’s Devin Miller—will also speak about financial wellness and emergency savings programs, which many point to as an up-and-coming workplace benefit.

The event will feature seven reimagined tracks–all aimed at addressing some of the biggest challenges facing HR and benefits leaders today. Benefits leaders and HR executives from cutting-edge companies, as well as vendors, other industry experts and consultants, will present the sessions.

The tracks are:

• Hot benefits to attract and retain talent: From family-friendly perks to caregiving and education assistance, a look at the latest innovative benefits that are driving recruitment and retention efforts.

• Improving mental health: Discover how companies can support employees by fostering resilience and controlling burnout amid a mental-health crisis in the workforce.

• Managing remote workers: Find out how to engage, manage and encourage an exploding number of full- and part-time remote employees.

• Staying compliant: Gain insight on the latest regulations and compliance issues that affect your organization’s health and benefits decisions.

• Rethinking healthcare: Hear transformational solutions to combat rising costs, COVID-19 and neglected chronic conditions for employees and your organization.

• Boosting employee financial health: Explore how companies are implementing financial wellness programs, helping employees build emergency savings, rethinking retirement strategies and helping alleviate employees’ financial stress.

• Tech solutions that work: Explore how to drive employees’ benefits engagement and strengthen your company’s values and culture with the help of technology.

Registration is now open. To sign up, visit benefitsconf.com.

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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.