Dear
Aflac –
I
stumbled upon this advertisement on Thursday in a business magazine, and it
caused me to become confused. My first thought was “Aflac doesn’t do worker’s
compensation!” and my second thought was “I need to fix this advertisement.” I
immediately went to your Aflac.com/business website as the advertisement
instructed me to. There I learned that no, you don’t provide worker’s
compensation, but yes, you do provide voluntary insurance to cover accidental
injury that happens off-the-job.
 |
| Reads: "When your star employee gets hurt, Aflac will see him through." |
Okay, also, why do you assume that the "star employee" is a male? Grrrr. Hear my inner feminist roar.
Then I decided to learn more about your services (out of
curiosity) and discovered your “AFLAC WorkForces Report – Executive Summary”
from March 2012. I liked what you had to say about the state of the U.S.
workforce and am paraphrasing or quoting pieces below.
Businesses need to recognize “the reality of a large number of workers
simply biding their time before jumping ship at the first signs of economic
stability.” You state that “business leaders need to be in prevention
mode.” With this focus on prevention, why, oh why, did you use the phrase “When your star employee gets
hurt” in your advertisement (emphasis added)?
Is it because you know that, according to the National Safety Council (NSC), U.S. workers work
safer on the job than they do in their homes or communities? The injuries
or deaths that occur off-the-job in the home and community are due to
poisoning, falls, mechanical suffocation, and drowning. According to the
2011 edition of the NSC Injury Facts:
- Nine out of ten deaths occurred
off the job (90%!)
- Nearly 3/4 of medically consulted
injuries occurred off the job
In the “AFLAC
WorkForces Report – Executive Summary” you continue to focus on prevention and
wellness programs – I believe that off-the-job safety should be a more
prominent piece of wellness programs. You state that:
“Impactful
wellness programs are not just hosting a company fun run, or hanging a few
health-related posters around the office. Wellness programs must be comprehensive, engaging and holistic,
encompassing key areas of employees’ everyday lifestyle and include a focus on
a healthy workplace and community, education about eating well and
exercise, and the ability to manage stress and focus on prevention.”
If you
could modify this statement to include education about off-the-job safety, it
would make me happy.
You also
discuss workplace mental health, and how workers’ personal lives directly impact
their productivity:
“Employers
are also feeling the effects of worker anxiety. Individuals with stress caused
by large outstanding debts and unstable financial situations report incidences
of ulcers and digestive problems, migraine and other headaches, anxiety,
depression and even heart attacks at rates between two and three times the
national average. This stress
translates into higher health care costs and other negative effects on the
workplace. Financially-stressed employees experience higher absenteeism and
turnover, lower levels of job satisfaction and lower productivity.”
Another
statement on personal distractions was the following:
“Companies
are also experiencing higher productivity losses due to distracted workers.
Nearly half (46%) of workers who have experienced a personal issue that impacted their ability to get their work done,
say it was due to a health issue specifically. Additionally, the Aflac study
finds that nearly half of companies (43%) estimate their average productivity
loss stemming from employees’ concern over personal issues is between 11 and 30
percent. Productivity losses related to personal
and family health problems cost U.S. employers $1,685 per employee per
year, or $225.8 billion annually.”
I
appreciate that you didn’t blame the Internet or the various social networks
for the worker distraction issues. Since many workers spend the majority of
their waking hours a) away from their families, and b) at work trying to be
productive, when family issues occur, workers are not able to just “turn off”
their family responsibilities the second they walk in the door. The various
social networks allow workers to maintain contact and *hopefully* healthy relationships with
their friends and families, on their terms, rather than taking unnecessary vacations, long phone
calls, long lunches, personal days, etc.
I also appreciated your comments on communication of benefits in the workplace. Too
often, employers just send an email or have a link on the company intranet that
says “click here to learn about your benefits” leading to a gazillion-page
document that is overwhelming to mentally digest. When employees go to Human
Resources (HR) in this situation, telling them that they aren’t sure what to
pick, they are often not helped by HR. You state that:
“Unfortunately,
feedback from U.S. workers indicates most companies’ communications and
education about benefits isn’t up to par. In fact, the Aflac WorkForces Report
finds that only nine percent of workers say their HR department communicates
extremely effectively about benefits packages offered. Another 22 percent say
their HR department communicates not at all or not very effectively.”
I
especially appreciated your comments on employee loyalty to employers:
“A more confident workforce, combined with
more job openings, can lead many workers, who may be on the fence about job
change, to move forward and make their exit. The recessionary environment has caused workers to reassess the
employer-employee value proposition. They are now taking a
closer look and asking, ‘What is my employer providing me, in both
hard and soft benefits, that makes me loyal to them?’”
There have been a number of studies on declining employee
loyalty, which seem to boil down to these key points:
- Employees feel their jobs are in constant threat due to massive
layoffs during the recession.
- Employers have reduced benefits (at higher cost to employees),
to fatten the bottom line and please shareholders; this places all the risk for
rising health care costs and pathetic 401k returns on the employee rather than
the employer.
- The Millennial generation (I am one!) has a different
expectation for their careers. In short, we want to get back what we put into
ANY relationship.
- Employers have decreased the opportunities for growth and
training while asking/forcing employees to take on job responsibilities they
may not be prepared for.
So, in short, I am no longer confused by your advertisement
and believe you offer a useful service. Voluntary benefits for employees at
little to no cost for the employer – sounds good.
"Aflac’s third annual employee benefits study discovered:
- While more business leaders are embracing cost-friendly consumer-driven
models, consumers are largely unequipped and unprepared to effectively take the
reins.
- There are long-term implications for businesses taking a short-term approach
of shifting control and responsibility of health insurance decisions to workers.
- An organization’s degree of health care benefits engagement and knowledge
factors heavily into its HR metrics – attraction, satisfaction, productivity,
and retention of talent.
- Amid massive changes in health care, what remains unchanged is the
unequivocal role benefits satisfaction plays in the welfare of the workforce.
- The growing importance of voluntary products in a consumer-driven health
care environment characterized by a largely financially fragile population."
I think your findings were well-portrayed in this image from the 2013 Executive Summary.
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| Aflac's portrayal of the cycle: Corporate Disengagement from Benefits Initiates Cycle of Difficulties. |
BUT, I would like you to
revise your future advertisements to focus on prevention and the services you actually
offer. The advertisement shown previously is slightly misleading.
Something like this:
 |
| The Industrious Hygienist's revision of the Aflac advertisement: "If your employees get hurt off the job, Aflac will see them through." |
Yours truly –
The Industrious Hygienist
