Filtered Sessions

The rules and regulations governing HR and Benefits are confusing and complex.  It is difficult for many HR professionals to understand how they all fit together as a coherent set of rules so that they can apply them in various situations.  They learn bits and pieces ad hoc as the need arises and that leaves a confusing tangle of seemingly contradictory rules.   This session is designed to provide a high-level overview of the basics of HR and benefits compliance.   This is designed to give attendees and understanding of the structure of the core HR and benefits rules, how they work together, and be able to apply them in specific situations.   Attendees will get a contextual overview and summary of core HR, leave and benefits requirements that all HR professionals should know.  The presenters will give the attendees a structure to bring some order and understanding to the seemingly arbitrary rules associated with HR and Benefits Compliance.   Just knowing the internal structure and logic of individual rules and regulations help to broaden and clarify the rules when applying them to specific instances.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn the overall structure, organization and methodology (versus just a recitation of specific rules) of ERISA, IRC and other laws and regulations that govern employee benefits.
• Learn the overall structure, organization and methodology of the core HR rules and requirements.
• Learn the basics of the various paid leave requirements in the various states and other jurisdictions and how they interact with the federal rules.
• Learn how the various rules and regulations interact in various situations to understand the overall structure and be able to apply the rules in specific situations.

Did you know that 90% of women will have sole responsibility for their finances at some point in their lives?  Every investor has a unique life path, one that's dotted with milestones and perhaps a few pitfalls along the way.  However, women often face similar challenges and opportunities thanks to longevity and other trends.  Join this workshop to learn about what makes financial planning for your female employees particularly unique.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the stressors that your female workforce may face including diverse career paths and caregiving obligations.
• Outline the opportunities employers have to deliver custom financial wellness education and resources to meet their employees where they are today.
• Demonstrate how an employee's current life stage informs their financial planning challenges and opportunities.
• Recognize that a workforce empowered with sound financial planning fundamentals can reduce stress and enhance productivity at work.

Are you responsible for managing your organization's retirement plan? The key to success is a strong process. I know, it sounds boring but this presentation won't be! We will coach you through what proper plan management looks like, ideal fiduciary practices, a sample retirement plan committee meeting, investment monitoring practices, and what partners are necessary to ensure your organization's success. We'll share real life successes and failures that will help you create a successful process for your organization!

Learning Objectives:

• Understand fiduciary liability and how to mitigate.
• Establish and run a proper Retirement Plan Committee.
• Discover what partners to engage to support your retirement plan.
• Properly monitor investments.

After passage of the ACA and updates to it and ERISA, there are even more requirements that employers sponsoring health and other welfare plans need to ensure they are complying correctly. During this fast-moving session, one of SHRM's most highly rated speakers, Gary Kushner, SPHR, CBP will walk through 11 items you'll want to review to make sure you have all of the processes and documentation you'll need if your employer is ever the subject of a DOL audit of your health and welfare plans.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn what the DOL looks for when they do an audit (and what you can do to be totally prepared)
• Identify the pitfalls that many employers miss when sponsoring plans that can show up on audit.
• Understand the rules around electronic SPD and notice disclosures.

Although deskless workers, or employees who rarely sit behind a desk to do their job, make up a sizable portion of the U.S. workforce, employers often struggle to find ways to meet these workers’ needs. To better understand the strategies used to encourage benefits enrollment and utilization among this group, SHRM partnered with Fidelity to conduct a survey of HR professionals. Join us as we dive into the results, and examine the best practices currently used within HR to engage deskless workers about their benefits.

Learning Objectives:

• Primary concerns that HR leaders have about deskless workers’ financial, life, health, and work well-being.
• The engagement strategies used to increase benefits enrollment, and utilization among deskless workers.
• Most effective engagement strategies used to increase benefits enrollment, and utilization among deskless workers.

The impact of reliable, safe child care for workers, their employers, and the broader economy is undeniable. As states explore how to help employers make quality care more affordable for their workforce, companies are stepping up, leaning in, and shaping policy.  In this session, explore what is working across the nation to make childcare more accessible and affordable, and the ways that employers are leading the charge.

Learning Objectives:

• Hear the economic impact and benefit of accessible, reliable care for an employer and the broader economy.
• Receive examples of how states that are innovating in the employer-sponsored child care space.
• This includes programs to match employer contributions, tax credits and deductions, and dedicated startup funds to help employers invest in their workforce.
• Discover the role of businesses in advancing STATE efforts to adopt employer incentive programs using case studies and examples.

In 2023, we saw a flurry of activity from various federal agencies targeting employment practices. As of this writing, we anticipate publication of the FTC's final rule effectively banning non-compete agreements as a key example.  When published, the rule is likely to face legal challenges. The DOJ and FTC continued to push their 'no poach approach.' Federal rules and guidance are also changing related to employers' sharing of wage and benefits information, M & A's, and more. Join this interactive program as we review the latest news, trends, cases, and pitfalls to avoid throughout the employment cycle from recruitment to separation.

Learning Objectives:

• Review applicable laws and recent court decisions impacting related policies and practices.
• Consider the most recent federal agencies' rules and guidance.
• Consider the legal question of 'Can we do this' balanced with the subjective, 'Should we do this?'

Developing cohesive global compensation reward programs for your organization that are also appropriately nuanced based on country cultures is a very challenging task! The primary objective is to realize the tried-and-true adage 'Think Globally and Act Locally' and have it embedded as the guiding principle in your organization. To accomplish this, it is imperative to develop and implement effective global compensation programs that are aligned with your organization's human capital strategic plans. In his presentation, John will discuss leading-edge compensation solutions, the factors that impact mobility decisions, and all of the necessary techniques to pay your global workforce equitably. Moreover, you will come away with a real-world 'global schematic' of compensation and total reward perspectives, methodologies and approaches that are practiced in premier international organizations. This will help you to fully optimize the design of your global programs with the result of attracting, retaining, motivating and engaging top performers all over the world.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn to develop effective compensation, benefits and well-being programs in complex multi-national organizations.
• Explore how well-being, recognition, and career development can be leveraged to attract, motivate, retain and engage your employees.
• Identify the challenges of managing international assignments and learn approaches for developing aligned compensation solutions.
• Understand internal and external influences that affect global compensation design and delivery.
• Receive a real-world 'global schematic' of compensation and total reward perspectives, methodologies and approaches that are practiced in premier international organizations.

With its holding in Dobbs v. Jackson Healthcare in 2021, the United States Supreme Court newly invigorated the debate as to state-level rights and restrictions respecting abortion related treatments and services. Regardless of individual perspectives on the issue, the Dobbs decision squarely placed the regulation of abortion related treatments and services in the hands of voters and the state legislatures. With this new authority, many states have already expanded and/or further enshrined abortion protections, while several other states have already utilized this newfound authority to restrict or even ban abortion all together.   For the private employee benefit plan sponsor, these state-level legislative activities raise a bounty of legal and regulatory issues due to both a generalized lack of consistency across the nation, as well the many intricacies involved in the operational requirements of a plethora of laws and regulations. Few times in our history have private employers been drawn so robustly into what many individuals perceive to be a personal (and private) medical debate. Nevertheless, here we are today. Employers must now come to terms with an extensive, ever-evolving slate of contrasting state-level rights, restrictions, and other related legal obligations.   Join us for this timely session to examine the current national abortion landscape. We'll explore abortion-related rights and restrictions placed upon both employees and private employers, as well the options and alternatives for those employers seeking compromises and/or alterative solutions to the dilemma of state-level regulation of abortion related treatments and services.  Learn and understand the current landscape of abortion-related treatments and services regulation throughout the United States.

Learning Objectives:

• Evaluate and understand the current national legal and regulatory landscape affecting individual access to abortion related treatments and services.
• Explore and understand the potential law enforcement consequences arising from a private employer's failure to abide by national state-level restrictions placed upon abortion-related treatments and services.
• Learn and understand options and alternative available to private employers seeking to preserve and/or expand an employee's right to access abortion-related treatments and services.
• Explore employee communication styles, methodologies, and other alternatives for fostering a legal and safe environment for discourse among a private employer's leadership and its workforce related to abortion-related requirements and access issues.

Results from SHRM's Annual Employee Benefits Survey will be covered, including which employee benefits are offered by employers, their prevalence, societal factors that may be influencing employers to increase or decrease their offerings, and how members can utilize the interactive Employee Benefits Benchmarking Tool to view benefits benchmarking data applicable to their organization's size, location, and industry.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify which employee benefits are offered most prominently from SHRM member organizations.
• Interpret increases or decreases in employee benefits offerings based on current societal and workplace factors.
• Understand how to use SHRM's interactive Employee Benefits Benchmarking Tool.

Nonqualified plans have become increasingly important in the last 18 to 24 months. Employers need new and inventive ways to attract, retain and incentivize highly compensated and key management employees.  One of the biggest (and most overlooked) differences between qualified and nonqualified plans is the lack of a 'due diligence framework' on the nonqualified plan side. In the world of nonqualified plan, you and your plan committee are required to meet regularly, and to comply with various fee disclosure, notice requirements, etc.   In the world of nonqualified plans, there's a tremendous amount of flexibility, but due diligence is still imperative to make sure plan sponsors comply with applicable law.   The purpose of this presentation is to identify nonqualified plan due diligence needs and develop a related framework and support system.

Learning Objectives:

• What is a nonqualified deferred compensation plan and how does it defer from a qualified retirement plan?
• What are the related advantages for employers and employees?
• What are the due diligence requirements for nonqualified plan sponsors?
• How can these types of plans provide a significant value add to employers?
• What are the key due diligence considerations?

What is the secret sauce for cultivating a top workplace culture?  In this session you will gain valuable insights from a panel of Senior HR Executives from some of the top workplaces in the world.  From championing inclusion to implementing wellness initiatives, discover the key elements that contribute to a successful workplace culture.  You will leave with practical ideas for elevating your organization's employee experience.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the key elements that contribute to employee experience.
• Develop strategies to support employee wellness, culture, and experience.
• Explore best practices in inclusion & diversity and employee well-being.

Health benefits are one of the most expensive pieces of the employee benefits package—yet many employers aren’t getting the most from their investment, in part due to lack of participant education and engagement. Based on new research by Fidelity Health℠ Thought Leadership that combines sentiment from benefit leaders, employees and spouses, and the doctors caring for them, this session will discuss how learning from “hidden stakeholders” can help employers move the needle on employee health.

 Learning Objectives:

• Better understand the importance of getting employees and their spouses in sync about health benefits available to them.
• Discover the communication, engagement, and incentive strategies that hold the most promise for reaching spouses.
• Learn practical strategies employers can consider that will help clinicians more effectively treat their patients.
• Understand what clinicians see as opportunities for employers to improve health benefits equity and employee mental health.

 Additional info: Supporting insights for the session- https://www.fidelityworkplace.com/s/page-resource?cId=engaging_the_household_in_benefits; https://www.fidelityworkplace.com/s/health-benefits

Mental health issues are largely hidden especially in the workplace. During COVID mental health issues weren't priorities in healthcare treatment triage decisions. In addition, COVID amplified many mental health challenges with isolation, anxiety, depression and self-medication. In the workplace some programs and benefits could help ( e,g, FMLA, sick leave, short term long-term disability benefits and Employee Assistance programs) but because of misunderstanding of mental health issues, possible accommodations and the stigma that attaches to disclosing challenges and seeking help many employees stay in the shadows. This session will discuss EEOC guidance and help HR professionals better understand and address mental health issues and accommodations in the workplace.

Learning Objectives:

• Understanding mental health protections under disability laws.
• Applying workplace policies.
• Walking through medical questions.
• Guiding through the accommodation process.
• Documenting important issues.
• Discussing possible resources ad assistance.

These days, HR doesn't merely have a seat at the table; it IS the table. The importance of attracting and retaining quality talent has never been higher. Therefore, the impact of offering creative benefits packages that demonstrate a company's culture and values can be significant. In this presentation, Alegeus CTO Anna Lyons and CGO Melanie Hallenbeck explain how account-based benefits can empower HR teams to stand out and excel in the race for talent.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the different account-based benefit options available (HSAs, FSAs, HRAs, LSAs, incentives) and their potential cost-savings for employers and employees.
• Hear real-world examples of creative benefit plan designs and how you can apply the learnings to your own business.
• Learn how emerging benefit options like lifestyle spending accounts (LSAs) can play a role in demonstrating a company's values.
• Learn how to work collaboratively with benefits administrators and brokers to diversify your benefits and tell the story of your benefits package in a way that resonates with job candidates and employees.

Repeated on Tuesday at 3:30pm.

Beware! HR professionals, like most people in general, are often unaware of the dangers of Medicare-related mistakes- until one bites them. Unfortunately, just one Medicare mistake can be incredibly costly - or even deadly. In this session, you'll learn the most common Medicare-related mistakes made by HR professionals and how to steer clear of them, with a special emphasis on COBRA, Medicare secondary payer rules and Guaranteed Issue Right.

Learning Objectives:

• Why Medicare is the primary payer for employees on COBRA after the age of 65.
• What Guaranteed Issue Right is and why it's important for those on COBRA.
• Simple, yet powerful, talking points about Medicare to use with employees.
• Specific strategies to bridge potential gaps in coverage during work transitions.
• How to integrate Medicare into the broader narrative of employee benefits and healthcare planning.

Repeated on Tuesday at 2:00pm.

Women make up almost 57% of the US workforce. Working women also spend nearly twice as much time as men caring for children or other household responsibilities. What are some of the well-being challenges women are dealing with and what impact could this be having on your business? This session will address unique factors impacting women's health and workplace productivity and what organizations can do to better support, attract and retain this key employee population.

Learning Objectives:

• Gain a better understanding of the challenges and factors that influence the health outcomes of women.
• Recognize the importance of providing workplace benefits and programs that support the unique challenges of women.
• Learn strategies and gain resources to improve women's health, well-being, workplace engagement and productivity.

While we typically think of pay equity in economic terms, have you considered how pay transparency-a cornerstone of pay equity-impacts employee well-being? We analyzed over 6,000 employee survey responses representing 40 employers from diverse sectors-and the results are eye-opening. Better understand pay transparency and how to effectively implement it, discover actionable insights for promoting pay equity beyond pay practices, and align your compensation philosophy and values to create a workplace that works for everyone.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn how policies and practices beyond compensation contribute to pay inequity, and what you can do to build a healthier and happier workplace.
• Understand your 'why,' including how pay equity aligns with your organization's values and how it will help you achieve your larger goals.
• Access tangible, data-driven strategies to promote pay equity across your own organization.

The 2023-2024 SHRM State of the Workplace report delves into the significant challenges organizations faced in 2023 and what they foresee looking ahead into 2024. Integrating the perspectives of HR professionals and U.S. workers, the research explores topics such as inflation, labor shortages, the state of HR departments and organizations’ adoption of AI. We invite you to join us as we unpack the findings, and share our recommendations for navigating 2024 and beyond.

Learning Objectives:

• The key issues faced by organizations in 2023.
• The emerging trends and anticipated challenges for organizations in 2024.
• The adoption and utilization of AI technologies in HR.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the 'ACA'), the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act ('MHPAEA'), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ('HIPAA'), the Employer Retirement Security Act ('ERISA'), and other federal laws and regulations, lay out a plethora obligations and requirements for employee benefit plan sponsors. Crisis of contract and organizational security may easily arise to the extent an unknowing or inexperienced transactional team is employed to conduct employee benefits related oversight during due diligence operations conducted in corporate mergers and acquisitions. An unsuspecting buyer might be plagued with post-closing transactional liabilities reaching into the millions of dollars, requiring months or years of negotiations to settle private and federal administrative agency-related enforcement liabilities. To avoid such liabilities, employers must prepare and execute a systematic and comprehensive due diligence operation to catalogue, evaluate, and appraise the relative values and underlying liabilities associated with a seller's performance of a wide range of federal compliance mandates and other regulatory requirements. This program is designed to assist the employer in pre- and post-closing evaluation of employee benefits related due diligence operations arising in the M&A context. Participants will explore foundational aspects of many benefits related laws and regulations, while learning strategies to evaluate, assure and document a seller's current and historical performance of these important legal and regulatory obligations.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn and understand the basic federal regulatory requirements for employee benefit plan sponsors, including legal responsibilities and other obligations arising in connection with the ACA, ERISA, privacy and security laws and regulations, mental health parity laws and regulations, and others.
• Understand and learn to administer a successful due diligence operation respecting the evaluation and assessment of performance of employer liabilities arising in the context of a corporate merger or acquisition.
• Learn strategies for the inventorying of a seller's present and historical performance of certain regulatorily required component tasks underlying satisfaction of the ACA's Employer Shared Responsibility Provisions.
• Learn and deploy a holistic approach to the identification, assessment, and satisfaction of a seller's historical performance of certain complex transactional requirements, such as substantive compliance with the quantitative and nonquantitative treatment limitation requirements of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act ('MHPAEA').

Balancing market pay and internal equity is a challenge when developing your compensation plans. You must choose aligned survey sources to ensure you are paying market rates. Equally important is to make sure your organization's internal values are represented. After all, the market operates on pure supply and demand, with no inherent 'values'; whereas your organization has values that must be recognized, such as, pay equity, core position identification, and other company-culture considerations. How do you reconcile the two? In his presentation, John Rubino discusses the most important techniques and methodologies to ensure that you strike the right external and internal balance. You will learn how to articulate your organizations compensation philosophy and pay policy, choosing your benchmark jobs, identifying and analyzing survey sources, as well as internal job evaluation and pay equity methodologies, and much more - all to achieve an optimal balance in your compensation programs!

Learning Objectives:

• Identify and apply the optimal emphasis for your organization between market competitiveness and internal equity, to ensure that your compensation programs are properly equipped to attract, retain and motivate a well-qualified and motivated workforce.
• Create and articulate your organization's compensation philosophy and pay policy.
• Identify and analyze your benchmark jobs and valid market survey sources to ensure market competitiveness.
• Identify and apply the most-aligned internal job evaluation and pay equity methodologies to ensure that your organization's core values are properly represented in your compensation programs.
• Discuss additional tools and techniques to ensure that you are striking the right balance between market competitiveness and internal equity in your compensation programs.

Non-Qualified plans like deferred compensation, RSU's, options, and corporate owned life insurance policies are exploding in popularity as employers look for new ways to attract and retain key personnel. This presentation will take you all the way back to the basics. Why do you (or should you) have one of these plans in your benefits package? How do they work and what are the different ways to structure them? How do you evaluate an existing program and determine if it is successful? Here is a crash course in all types of Non-Qualified Plans and how you can maximize their benefits.

Learning Objectives:

• What is a Non-Qualified Plan?
• Why are Non-Qualified Plans becoming more popular?
• How can a Non-Qualified Plan help an organization meet their goals?
• How to administer your plan to maximize its benefits.

There is a heightened focus on pay equity, pay transparency, and pay reporting and it's growing. This presentation will update the SHRM community on the impact of EEOC and OFCCP enforcement pay trends, ramifications from pay data collection initiatives, and potential implications of the U.S. presidential election on the future of pay equity.  The session will highlight the landscape and leave attendees with strategic and practical tips for analyzing and reporting pay data.

Learning Objectives:

• Increase your knowledge of legal rules and developments related to pay transparency, discrimination enforcement, and mandatory pay data reporting.
• Develop skills to evaluate options for assessing your pay equity programs that align to compliance needs.
• Apply your understanding of contrasting and complex legal requirements and recommend strategies to leadership to enhance your compensation programs.

Bereavement (i.e., the loss of someone significant through death) and bereavement leave have a substantial impact in the workplace. Research by the Center for Creative Leadership shows that bereavement impacts job performance, physical wellbeing (e.g., absenteeism), and long-term job attitudes (e.g., engagement). Most employees report insufficient bereavement leave, which is related to lower employee mental wellbeing. This research, along with a supporting framework, will help decision makers establish (or modify) HR policies and practices.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn the 'basics of bereavement,' including common grief reactions and prevalent misconceptions about bereavement (e.g., the 'five stages of grief' myth);
• Recognize the subtle ways that bereavement can impact employee and coworker performance and interpersonal interactions;
• Understand the impact of varying lengths of bereavement leave on bereaved employees and possibilities for structuring more flexible bereavement leave policies;
• Assess current organizational policies and practices for alignment with a suggested framework;
• Identify 'small win' ways to support bereaved employees.

We will cover the difference between 'pay equity' and 'equal pay for equal work.' Comparisons will be made between the litigation-based North American model and the reporting-based European model by using specific examples from the US, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, Australia, Japan, and China.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the difference between 'pay equity' and 'equal pay for equal work'.
• Understand the difference between North American vs. European models.
• Understand the complexities of wage and hour issues in myriad international jurisdictions.

In this groundbreaking session, we'll highlight the pivotal role that Child Care Benefits play in shaping the future of work. As organizations strive to create environments conducive to employee diversity, well-being, and productivity, the spotlight has shifted to comprehensive support systems. Join us to explore how investing in Child Care Benefits isn't just an ethical choice but a strategic imperative for businesses navigating the complexities of the modern workplace. This session promises a fresh perspective, backed by data-driven insights, on why Child Care Benefits are the key to unlocking the absolute potential of the workforce.   In a world where the boundaries between work and life continue to blur, providing robust Child Care Benefits has emerged as a game-changer for businesses aiming to attract, retain, and unleash the full productive power of their workforce. This session will dissect the symbiotic relationship between quality Child Care support and organizational success. Drawing from real-world case studies and industry best practices, we will navigate the strategic landscape, offering actionable insights that transcend traditional HR practices. Attendees can expect a dynamic discussion that transcends rhetoric, providing tangible takeaways for immediate implementation.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand why child care benefits are not just a perk but a strategic imperative for organizations seeking sustained success in the ever-evolving landscape of work.
• Explore the direct correlation between child care benefits and employee well-being, mental health, and Job satisfaction, and Learn how this impacts overall productivity.
• Gain insights into how organizations leveraging robust child care benefits gain a competitive edge in attracting top talent and retaining valuable employees.
• Delve into the broader economic implications of investing in child care support, from reducing turnover costs to fostering a more inclusive and diverse workforce.
• Acquire actionable strategies and best practices for implementing and optimizing child care benefits programs within your organization, ensuring they align with both employee needs and business goals.

Aging populations can be drivers of economic productivity and an asset to employers.  However, a population who cannot afford to retire, not only drives up healthcare expenses but can impact morale.  Consider how to thread the needle between avoiding the proverbial 'brain drain' and empowering your employees to have the financial freedom to choose how and when they work.

Learning Objectives:

• Outline opportunities for the business community to leverage the resources of an aging workforce.
• Consider 'journeys' or pathways for the advancement and legacy of older workers so that succession happens effectively and beneficially.
• Demonstrate how health insurers are underwriting longevity risk and how employers can manage the trend of increased costs.
• Learn how to utilize your organization's retirement plans to offer meaningful financial planning tools and resources to employees.
• Consider what the future holds for retirement and healthcare benefit trends.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is having a significant impact on many aspects of our professional and personal lives. This couldn't be more true for you, the HR Leader. According to research, it will revolutionize a number of industries with an incredible growth rate in the next decade. As AI continues to grow it has become more important than ever to understand how it can help you improve your HR operations, processes, and procedures.  This live, interactive event aims to unravel the complexity surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) within the realm of Total Rewards. It will provide clarity and understanding regarding how AI can enhance and optimize the design, implementation, and management of employee compensation and benefits.

Learning Objectives:

• We'll start with providing an overview of the principles and applications of AI, focusing on its potential to optimize compensation strategies, benefits administration, and overall Total Rewards management.
• We'll also offer hands-on guidance and best practices to analyze employee data, design customized compensation packages, automate routine tasks, and improve decision-making processes through AI-driven solutions.
• Finally, we'll discuss ways to foster a culture of responsible and ethical AI adoption within Total Rewards, emphasizing fairness, transparency, and the elimination of biases.

This session will delve into the crucial aspects of fair compensation practices within an organization. It will cover the various components of pay philosophy, compensation design,  including salaries, bonuses, and non-monetary benefits. Additionally, the session will explore the concept of pay equity, highlighting the importance of ensuring fairness and parity in wages among employees regardless of gender, race, or other differentiating factors. Strategies to analyze, address, and mitigate pay disparities will also be discussed, emphasizing the significance of creating an inclusive and equitable workplace.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss: What is an organizational pay philosophy and why does it matter?
• Learn: Best practices for sustainable and competitive compensation design.
• Learn: How to infuse pay equity into your compensation philosophy and plan design. What does pay equity really mean?
• Backtrack: What should I do now? Discuss ways to mitigate pay disparities to create an equitable workplace, regain trust from your employees, and position the company to acquire and retain top talent.

Repeated from Monday at 3:30pm.

Women make up almost 57% of the US workforce. Working women also spend nearly twice as much time as men caring for children or other household responsibilities. What are some of the well-being challenges women are dealing with and what impact could this be having on your business? This session will address unique factors impacting women's health and workplace productivity and what organizations can do to better support, attract and retain this key employee population.

Learning Objectives:

• Gain a better understanding of the challenges and factors that influence the health outcomes of women.
• Recognize the importance of providing workplace benefits and programs that support the unique challenges of women.
• Learn strategies and gain resources to improve women's health, well-being, workplace engagement and productivity.

A living wage is an essential component of your JEDI strategy, employee wellbeing, internal equity, and elevating the operational efficiencies of your organization. Organizations often find they are not paying employees a living, let alone a thriving, wage. Learn how two organizations, Ford Foundation and The James Irvine Foundation, had the courage to ask themselves the question and then do something about it, and how you can lead your organization to take the next step.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand how paying a living wage is part of a comprehensive JEDI program.
• Learn how to assess whether their organization is paying all employees a living wage.
• Understand the difference between paying a living and a thriving wage.
• Navigate the administrative complexities of program design, including financial navigation.
• Approach leadership to consider a living wage program.

Repeated from Monday at 3:30pm.

Beware! HR professionals, like most people in general, are often unaware of the dangers of Medicare-related mistakes- until one bites them. Unfortunately, just one Medicare mistake can be incredibly costly - or even deadly. In this session, you'll learn the most common Medicare-related mistakes made by HR professionals and how to steer clear of them, with a special emphasis on COBRA, Medicare secondary payer rules and Guaranteed Issue Right.

Learning Objectives:

• Why Medicare is the primary payer for employees on COBRA after the age of 65.
• What Guaranteed Issue Right is and why it's important for those on COBRA.
• Simple, yet powerful, talking points about Medicare to use with employees.
• Specific strategies to bridge potential gaps in coverage during work transitions.
• How to integrate Medicare into the broader narrative of employee benefits and healthcare planning.

Join us for an invigorating session on empowerment, accountability & ownership in the workplace.   Learn how to navigate the challenges of fostering accountability when employees are asked to 'do more with less,' working within structures where influence is greater than authority, and all are reporting up through managers with differing goals and agendas. Is it reasonable to expect that all organizational goals align and employees are unified in pursuit of a common agenda?  Explore the delicate balance required between intrinsic and extrinsic motivators to cultivate commitment and accountability. Understand the impact of unnecessary fear in the organizational culture and how it can hinder accountability by promoting excuse management.  Uncover strategies for identifying signs that employees may not be taking accountability and gain insights into whether expecting employees to act as owners is realistic. Explore the nuanced distinction between compliance and commitment. What are the potential pitfalls of relying solely on extrinsic motivators?  Don't miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights and avoid the potential adverse effects of relying solely on financial rewards for promoting accountability and commitment.

Learning Objectives:

• Actionable accountability strategies to guide your employees toward results.
• Deepen your understanding of the differences between ownership, accountability, and responsibility.
• Delve into the intricacies of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators for employees.
• Explore methods to foster responsibility and accountability through motivation, recognition, and collaboration in the workplace.