Does Your WorkTech Stack Support Your DEIB Efforts?  

Does Your WorkTech Stack Support Your DEIB Efforts?  

20 July, 2023

Why Workplace Accessibility is About So Much More than the ADA     

When the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990, it was a landmark civil rights law prohibiting discrimination “against individuals with disability in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public.” This included ensuring that people with disabilities – permanent and temporary – are given access to the same opportunities as everybody else through reasonable accommodations to a job or work environment.  

While the ADA has set important standards for accommodating employees with disabilities, going beyond the ADA to create an inclusive workplace requires a shift in mindset from one of mere compliance to one of inclusivity and belonging. Building a truly inclusive workplace means considering more than just legal requirements, and fostering a workplace culture where people feel truly valued.  

An inclusive workplace acknowledges and respects the entire spectrum of human abilities, recognizing that everyone brings unique strengths and perspectives to the table, regardless of physical ability, learning style, or sensory perception.

The positive organizational outcomes driven by diverse and inclusive organizations are well documented. In fact, 87 percent of the time diverse teams make better decisions than non-diverse teams, inclusive teams are shown to be over 35 percent more productive, and inclusivity is known to be a key aspect of a healthy workplace culture. 

However, even if an organization is committed to its DEI efforts, if the technology it uses is not accessible, it limits its potential to create a fully inclusive workplace where all team members feel like they belong. 

Tech Accessibility is Workplace Accessibility  

The workplace has changed significantly in the 30 years since the ADA was signed into law. As reliance on technology continues to grow across U.S. workplaces, so too does the need to ensure that everyone can access and benefit from digital advancements. 

According to a recent Gartner report, the average desk worker uses more than 11 applications each workday, up from just six in 2019. The pandemic also created a shift towards organizations expanding their WorkTech stack to include new collaboration, productivity, and HR tools. HR technologies that include self-service capabilities have also grown in popularity, including benefits administration technology.

The digitization of the modern workplace has dramatically shifted the way people work. As this evolution continues, ensuring the accessibility of workplace technology and the tech used to support employees becomes even more critical. 

Tech accessibility is at the heart of workplace inclusivity. It ensures that individuals with disabilities can participate fully and meaningfully in all aspects of work. It also acknowledges the variety of ways that people interact with technology, be it due to physical disability, age-related limitations, or other factors like neurodiversity.

Empyrean’s User Experience Team is led by Belinda McCall, Director of UX, who has a clear and unwavering passion for ensuring that our technology is designed to be accessible to everyone, regardless of ability. 

We sat down with Belinda to learn more about Empyrean’s approach to accessible tech, how and why it’s important, and the passions that drive her on her quest to ensure everyone can use the Empyrean platform to make better benefits decisions for themselves and their families.

Hi Belinda, we are excited to sit down with you today. To start, how do you define tech accessibility and what does it mean to you?  

Thank you. I am excited to share my passion for accessibility and our approach to it here at Empyrean.  

I have a holistic view of what it means for something to be accessible. For me, it’s about people being able to have an experience. That doesn’t mean that everyone has to have the exact same experience, because we all interact with the world differently. But everyone should be able to have an experience that allows them to complete a task or reach a goal. In other words, everyone must be able to participate in an experience. 

Technology plays a significant role in our work lives. It helps us manage our tasks and enables us to communicate, collaborate, and create in incredibly efficient ways. If an employee cannot interact with their organization’s technology because it’s not designed with accessibility in mind, they are unable to participate, complete their job responsibilities, or reach their goals.  

They will never be able to fully connect with their organization, or fully feel like they belong.

Why are you so passionate about creating user experiences that are accessible to everyone?

For me, accessibility is synonymous with inclusivity. We all want to feel like we are a valuable part of something and that we belong. The feeling of belonging, or not belonging, can have a tremendous impact on how one experiences the world.

As a deeply empathic child, and now adult, I always remember the feeling of being “the new kid in school.” The feeling of not belonging, of feeling forgotten or ignored, always stuck with me – that feeling that you’re not part of the group or not part of the community. It’s a terrible way to feel for any stretch of time as a child or an adult.  

My goal is to remove any barrier that I can to ensure that the people who rely on Empyrean never feel forgotten, ignored, or like they don’t belong. Nobody should have to face any more difficulties than they’re already navigating. 

Helping people feel like they belong goes way beyond digital accessibility and I feel lucky that I get to lead a team that makes sure each person using the Empyrean platform has a great experience and feels like they belong.  

What shaped your passion for tech accessibility?  

Earlier in my career, I supported the Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program (CAP) that was a part of the Department of Defense (DoD). The work I performed in this role opened my eyes to all the different ways people need technology to be accessible and how we play an important role in ensuring that accessibility. 

CAP provides assistive technology (AT) and devices as reasonable accommodations (RA) to support individuals with disabilities and wounded, ill, and injured Service members throughout the Department of Defense in accessing information and communication technology. 

As a part of my support to CAP, I worked with stakeholders and software engineers to manage the development and accessibility of their public-facing website and their internal request and procurement system. Additionally, every deliverable I created – every email, prototype, PDF, and document – all had to be accessible. The steps it took to ensure accessibility looked different for each deliverable provided. 

My work took on a new meaning and the experience prompted significant and lasting shifts to my own behavior. One of the first things I learned was that my presentation style had to change. A great example of this was during one of my first stakeholder presentations, where one of the people in the room was unable to see and another was unable to hear.  

I quickly realized that I needed to properly describe any visuals so that everyone in the room could follow. I needed to talk at a slower rate so that the sign language interpreter could translate what I was saying. Finally, I realized that I needed to present concepts in bite-sized chunks and pause to answer any questions before moving to the next concept or idea. 

By presenting in this way, it made my presentation easier to comprehend for everyone, not just a few select stakeholders. Again, it comes down to making people feel like they belong and that they can actively participate. As the presenter, it was my responsibility to set that standard and uphold it. Everyone in that room needed to understand what I was presenting because their feedback and participation is valuable. People are valuable.

Additionally in that role, I learned about the technical aspects and laws related to accessibility such as web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Section 508 compliance. But underneath all those legal requirements – at the root of everything – what I was really learning was how to empower people to have a meaningful and positive experience regardless of their abilities. 

Why should everyone care about accessibility?  

I truly believe that an accessible work environment is better for everyone. Not only does having an accessible workplace signal that your employer cares about your well-being, but you truly never know when you yourself will benefit from it directly.  

Accessibility isn’t only important for people with permanent disabilities, it’s for every person of every ability. When you design an experience with accessibility in mind from the beginning, it can create an improved experience for all of us.  

When we think about disability, we oftentimes just think about permanent mental or physical limitations. But there are temporary disabilities, like injuries. For example, I had a recurring wrist injury years ago and was unable to use the hand that moves my computer mouse – that is a temporary disability where I benefited from tech accessibility.

There are also situational disabilities. Consider the new mother who has a sick baby crying loudly next to her, but today is the deadline for her to register for her health benefits. Her deadline is looming but she’s unsure of what benefits she needs, so she’s trying to watch a video that tells her what a certain benefit is or about the coverage it provides. If the video has closed caption capabilities it is accessible to her in her moment of need. And that matters.  

How does Empyrean’s shared passion for tech accessibility set us apart?  

Our commitment to building accessible experiences means that accessibility is at the forefront of our minds and not an afterthought.  

Many organizations design things and then figure out how to make them accessible. Our team makes sure our platform is accessible from the start.  

Designing with accessibility in mind is built in to our everyday processes. And that culture of inclusivity filters throughout the Empyrean organization to our developers, our designers, executive leadership, and everywhere else.  

For us, technological innovation isn’t solely about creating new gadgets or systems—it’s also about enabling more people to use them. 

Our UX team is also constantly learning and advancing our skill sets. We are all enrolled in online coursework at Deque University, which specializes in training in every area of digital accessibility. 

We’ve come a long way to recognize the different types of accommodations someone might need – whether it be at home, in the classroom, or at work. We keep all categories and types of disabilities in mind when we are designing Empyrean’s user experience.  

In addition to our developers following best practices for writing accessible code, we frequently consider the wording or instructions we provide on screen. We know that in this country there is already a knowledge gap when it comes to employee benefits, so we take care to be as concise and clear as possible with our language.  

Some of the other aspects of design we consider are font, icon, and component styles that are all tied to a design system created with accessibility in mind.

We are proud that we play such an important role in building positive people and benefit experiences that help everyone – regardless of their abilities – thrive and succeed in the workplace.  

By actively creating a more inclusive workplace, we not only help those with disabilities to thrive, but we also foster a healthier, more creative, and more productive environment for all. In the end, a truly inclusive workplace isn’t just about compliance – it’s about demonstrating our commitment to dignity, respect, and equity for all.  

Editor’s Note: Belinda’s passion for tech accessibility extends beyond the Empyrean platform. She will also be leading the charge in ensuring the accessibility of all Empyrean market-facing assets, including the upcoming redesign of the Empyrean corporate website.

Elevate Your BenAdmin RFP to Drive Improved People & Benefits Experiences

Elevate Your BenAdmin RFP to Drive Improved People & Benefits Experiences

18 July, 2023

Employer-sponsored benefits play a key role in any organization’s ability to achieve its people-related goals, whether it be through building a positive workplace culture, better attracting and retaining talent, supporting diversity and inclusion, or improving employee health and wellness.

But the success of your benefits program is about far more than plan design. To be truly successful, your people need to be able to recognize the value of their benefits, understand how to choose and use the best benefits available for their unique situation, and then make the connection between these benefits and your company culture.

Research has shown that employees cite the need for better benefits as a top driver for finding a new role. However, 58% of U.S. workers who quit their job in 2021 said the benefits offered by their new employer were the same or worse than at their last job.

This raises an important question: If your employees understood the value of the benefits program they already had, would they have jumped ship?

This data and many similar studies make it clear that employees need help understanding the value and impact of their HR and benefits programs.

HR and benefits leaders also need support in the form of a strategic partner to help them leverage the value of their benefits to help them meet their people-related goals and the goals of their overall organization.

Finding the right strategic partner starts with your RFP.

As the impact of your benefits program continues to broaden, so does the influence of your benefits administration technology and service partner.

To help you take a more strategic approach to evaluating a potential BenAdmin vendor, we have developed key RFP questions and prompts designed to help you find a partner that can improve your people and benefits experience, and ultimately, your bottom-line results.

Download our strategic guide for insight into how you can expand the breadth of your BenAdmin RFP to find a partner that can holistically support the organization you are today and the one you strive to become in the future. 

Using Positive Benefit & People Experiences to Combat K-12 Educator Burnout

Using Positive Benefit & People Experiences to Combat K-12 Educator Burnout

10 May, 2023

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week, and If you’re a caregiver to a school-aged child, you may have attended a celebratory breakfast or contributed to a classroom gift in honor of the millions of educators across this nation who are shaping future generations.

Teaching is consistently cited as one of the most rewarding paid professions in the U.S., and the gratitude shown towards educators during events like Teacher Appreciation Week undoubtedly helps teachers feel recognized, reinforcing the meaning of their work. However, the cost-reward balance of a career in education has reached a critical tipping point, and many educators say that they continue to feel that their well-being is not prioritized by their employers.

In fact, research conducted by McKinsey & Company found that 75 percent of educators say they put more into their job than they receive, and 69 percent say that their total compensation does not reflect their qualifications, efforts, value, or output.

Unfortunately, many educators do not recognize the true value of their total compensation, whether it be in the form of healthcare benefits, mental health resources, pensions or retirement plans, or other wellness programs.

Additionally, communication challenges can plague this unique, deskless workforce, making it all the more critical that districts ensure that their people understand and leverage the support available to them.

K-12 Educators are Leaving Their Posts at an Alarming Rate

Unfortunately, the number of K-12 educators is dwindling at an alarming rate, a trend that began even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. After 2020, new issues emerged and existing ones were amplified, driving an estimated 55 percent of educators to consider leaving the profession earlier than they had planned.

The same study, conducted by the National Education Association, also found that a disproportionate number of those looking to leave the education field “are Black (62%) and Hispanic/Latino (59%) educators, already underrepresented in the teaching profession.”

Not only is teacher turnover high, but the pipeline to replace those teachers is in jeopardy as well. The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) says that enrollment in colleges of education has been steadily declining for the past decade. The AACTE says that concerns about pay and working conditions have been a long-standing contributor to the decline, but recent increases in educator-reported stress, legislative pressures and public scrutiny on curriculum, and increased shortages driving unsustainable classroom sizes are predicted to continue to drive a recurring cycle of teacher shortages and exits from the field.

Those considering leaving the field represent just one piece of an alarming cycle of staff shortages, workplace stress and burnout, and eventual turnover that is expected to impact educators and students for years to come.  

The Impact of Educator Burnout & Turnover on Student Learning

A recent data analysis conducted by Chalkbeat shows that more teachers than ever left their posts last year. Their analysis also saw a troubling uptick in teachers leaving their classrooms mid-school year, making it even more challenging to replace them, and creating additional stressors for educators forced to absorb the workloads of exiting teachers.

While employee turnover also skyrocketed across the private sector during The Great Resignation, experts say that turnover in public education is much more meaningful and detrimental to a district’s ability to make up for pandemic-era learning loss and build a strong sense of community across its students.

“Teacher attrition can be destabilizing for schools,” said Kevin Bastian, a researcher at the University of North Carolina. Bastian’s research found that successful, effective teachers were increasingly leaving their positions as well, leaving an even greater void across many districts already struggling with limited resources.

Research conducted by Stanford University has cited the negative impacts of teacher turnover on student achievement, most negatively impacting underfunded districts and those with high proportions of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch. Learning loss is cited to be fueled by issues like losing relationships with trusted educators, an influx of early career or inexperienced teachers, and in many cases – no replacement teachers at all.

What is Driving Educator Turnover?

Data across time and different survey groups show that workplace stress is the most common reason cited for leaving public education before retirement.

While high rates of workplace stress and burnout are impacting American workers across all professions, the impact is disproportionately high amongst those in education. A 2021 study conducted by RAND Corp. found that 25 percent of teachers reported symptoms of depression. Declining mental health was not just concentrated to teachers – school administrators are also experiencing not only their own workplace stress, but also the stress of supporting the mental health and well-being of their teachers.

A 2022 Gallup Poll on occupational burnout listed teachers as one of the top two roles experiencing ongoing workplace stress and burnout, and 44 percent of K-12 teachers say they very often or always feel burned out at work. Female teachers are disproportionately represented as experiencing constant workplace burnout at 55 percent.

McKinsey & Company research compared the top reasons educators reported wanting to leave their current role or the profession altogether against those looking to stay in their roles.

The top factors driving teachers to leave include:

  1. Compensation
  2. Expectations
  3. Well-being
  4. Leadership
  5. Workplace Flexibility

Research also shows that “the quality of a teacher’s work environment plays a major role in determining teacher retention, satisfaction, and effectiveness.” Teachers who do not feel supported in their work are not only more likely to leave the profession, but to isolate from their school community.

How Can You Improve District & Educator Outcomes Through a Positive People Experience?

McKinsey & Company found that the top factors that would drive educators to stay in their current roles are meaningful work, colleagues, compensation, and community.

So, how can districts retain their workforce – especially those who cite compensation, unreasonable expectations, and an inability to protect their well-being as top motivators to vacate their role? Even with limited budgets and resources, there are ways districts can support their people and improve educator outcomes through positive people and benefit experiences.

1. Make it easier to understand and access the mental health resources you already offer.

Data shows that employer-sponsored mental health support improves teacher resiliency and decreases feelings of workplace stress. However, the National Education Association says that nearly 35 percent of educators report not knowing what mental health resources are available to them or how to access them.

This is not an issue exclusive to education. Benefit education gaps persist across the private sector as well. Only 49 percent of employees say they can accurately recall their benefit elections, making it critical that all employers make it as easy as possible to understand, access, and engage with the benefits available to them.

Executing a strong, year-round benefits communication plan will draw attention to the programs you already offer, driving improved adoption, ease of access, and improved well-being.  

2. Build a strong community.

Districts that build strong communities across teachers, administrators, students, and parents will go far in being able to retain their educators and drive positive outcomes for their workforce. Among those educators who say their school community has influenced them to stay in their role, 87 percent attribute their longevity to colleagues who show genuine concern and support for one another.

Experts also encourage districts to increase teacher connection points not only with students, parents, and each other, but also with leadership. Studies point to the positive impact on satisfaction and sense of purpose when leaders connect with their teachers and students through coaching, feedback, and mentorship programs. Experts also recommend removing administrative burdens often placed on teachers wherever possible.

3. Leverage technology and individualized health data to drive centralized and personalized benefit experiences.

Educators are susceptible to the same communication overload as any other American worker, but they spend the vast majority of their contracted workday in front of a classroom, not in front of a screen engaging with email or other types of online communication.  

Additionally, K-12 educators have decentralized communication channels – especially as it relates to email communication. Separate email addresses often exist for district or city communications and touchpoints with parents, closed communications with students, and personal email addresses for union communications make it even harder to keep track of important messages. This is in addition to other decentralized, online communication channels for things like school closures due to weather. This can lead to communication fatigue, and can cause educators to ignore channels not dedicated exclusively to their work output.

Personalized benefit communications from one centralized access point increases benefits communication engagement, which has a positive correlation to improved benefits adoption and engagement.

Additionally, leveraging technology that uses individualized health data can support the delivery of messages that are personalized for that individual. This makes it possible to send tailored communications, whether tied to diabetes management or pre-natal care, helping your people to better navigate their individual healthcare journey in ways that lead to improved employer and employee outcomes through increased health and wellness.

4. Make it easier for educators to understand the value of their benefits as part of their total compensation.

While many teachers cite compensation as a reason they have left or are considering leaving education, for many, this refers to salary alone. As the cost of living rises and financial uncertainty looms, it is clear why teachers are focused on take-home pay as a standalone metric of compensation.  

Experts encourage districts to emphasize the value of the total compensation offered to K-12 educators. While pensions and other long-term retirement plans are a strong incentive for many teachers to remain in their roles, for younger generations it can be hard to prioritize long-term financial health against the need to care for themselves and their families today.

This makes it critical for districts to communicate the value of their total benefits offering. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the value of a teacher’s benefits program is on average equal to 45 percent of their annual wages. That compares to just 19 percent in the private sector. As healthcare spending continues to climb (even more quickly than the rate of inflation) the monetary value and impact of a rich healthcare program can quickly outpace a wage bump gained by leaving their current role.

Providing total compensation statements can help provide greater visibility into your employer value proposition. Additionally, providing year-round insight into the performance of their health plan, incurred savings, and even access to preventative care and resources also makes it easier for your people to understand the full impact of their benefits coverage.

Let’s appreciate our teachers beyond Teacher Appreciation Week.

The negative impacts of workplace stress on mental and physical health are widely documented, and perhaps nowhere more clearly than when it comes to our educators. Supporting our teachers through benefits and positive people experiences will go far to better support the well-being of this critical workforce.

Empyrean Announces EVOLVE\23 – April 12 – 14 in Savannah, GA

Empyrean Announces EVOLVE\23 – April 12 – 14 in Savannah, GA

03 August, 2022

Connecting Benefits, Enriching Lives

Empyrean is excited to announce that EVOLVE\23 will be held from April 12-14 at Savannah’s Hyatt Regency along the city’s historical riverfront.

The theme for our upcoming EVOLVE conference is “Connecting Benefits, Enriching Lives”, a topic closely aligned with our mission to deliver optimized and connected benefit experiences to the over 4.6 million people who rely on the Empyrean platform every day.

Conference programming will be developed and presented by HR and benefits industry experts, with content anchored around the realities that employee populations are made up of real people, each with a unique background and personal story. These stories determine what employees need from their benefits program to thrive both inside and outside of work.

Our dynamic sessions will provide participants with the strategies and insights they need to tackle the ongoing challenges tied to supporting individual benefit needs while also addressing populations with economic efficiency.

EVOLVE\23 will also explore how to ensure employees understand how to choose and use their benefits, including how to create personalized, connected, life-enriching benefit experiences that result in high levels of employee trust, psychological safety, and physical wellness, all leading to happy, energized employees and successful organizations. 

DATE: April 12-14, 2023
LOCATION: Hyatt Regency – Savannah, GA

Event registration will open in Fall 2022, and additional conference details will be shared at that time. For now, we invite our clients to mark your calendars for this engaging event!

LET'S TALK