Industrial Athlete
Healthy Employees are Safe Employees
Sometimes getting to DONE, is as easy as a coffee and conversation!
Applying the “Industrial Athlete” concept to Benefits
Thanks to Dr. Anthony Harris for first introducing MP Benefits Inc. to this concept originally coined in the United States when the ergogenic theory of sports medicine was applied to manufacturing sectors to improve the health, safety, and ultimately the performance of employees.
An athlete is considered a person trained to peak performance in exercises, sports, and/ or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina. An employee is someone who is trained and skilled in the required field of their expertise to use these abilities for peak performance.
While these programs typically focus on the prevention of musculoskeletal injuries, they lack the bridge of access to care. This is where strategically designed benefits plans, combined with on-going, just in time education fills the gap of this approach to enhancing employee performance.
Industrial Athlete & Benefits
38% of working Canadians have had a financial hardship due to a health event.
78% of employees haven’t saved (or lack the means to save) money or planed for the “what if” of a health event.
source: Canada
Did You Know?
Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue, Respiratory, and Accidents & Injury claims account for more than 49.8% of total short term claims in 2022, for those companies that offer Short Term Disability as part of their benefit package. Aside from reparatory, these numbers remain consistent for the last three years and stand outside of eligibility for workers’ compensation claims.
Measurable Return On Investment
Early intervention and allowing access to care reduces costs overall by preventing or containing, mitigating reduced performance, workplace compensation, and disability claims.
What’s it worth to productivity rates and overall revenue to keep healthy employees on the job?
Across all age bands, the persistency of musculoskeletal and connective tissue claims (chronic pain) transferring, or in the absence of no short term disability, causing a new claim for Long Term Disability, sits consistently at 21.8% year over year. Musculoskeletal claims primarily consist of spinal disorders, osteoarthrosis, and joint, such as knee, back, and hip.
Reality Check
Aligning benefits with compensation, wellness, safety, and productivity results in:
- Reduced turnover
- Increased productivity production
- Employee performance enhancements
- Elimination of dead time
- Prevention of absenteeism/presenteeism
- Enhanced corporate culture
- Adherence to real employee workplace wellness
Only when you begin to track, can you measure the return on investment.
Employees perform daily. Whether that is at their “peak” engagement level or not can only be determined if it is measured on an on-going, regular basis. It is a fact though, that no matter how much each metric is measured, if employees are not provided with access to preventative care, the numbers are worthless because they are not performing. Nonperforming employees cost money, reduce revenue, and decrease the value of the corporation.
Employees ARE 24/7. How they perform—their impact to corporate revenue—is not just based on when they clock in, but as a result of the magnitude of significant factors that impact them all minutes of the hour, for every hour in the day, like:
- Sleep patterns
- Eating habits
- Hobbies
- Recreation/exercise
- Off-the-job
Job Ready | fit for work ATHLETES
Just like size fits all doesn’t work in shoe size (and most things), nor does it work within the corporate culture. Improved productivity is the ultimate goal because with improved efficiency comes business revenue. In order to accomplish this, we need to:
- Understand the corporate objectives.
- The desired customer experience.
- The reality of the employee journey.
- Existing tools and resources.
This productivity, to safety bridged with benefits playbook needs to include:
- On-going, effective communication
- Education and training
- Human Resources, people, and culture
- Operations and finance
- Safety, policies, and procedures
Just like timely first aid can mean all the difference on the ice for a hockey player to get them back to scoring goals, so too can providing employee with access to the care they need lead them to be proactive, health ambassadors fit for work. Time and benefits are the key. Alleviate aches and pains before they develop into an injury or chronic condition. This is the beginning of how future benchmarking and improved yield can be established with an active return on investment measured.
Compensation Perspective
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Judgement
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Building the RIGHT benefit plan is crucial to the success of the plan.
Trusted By
Thank you for generously sharing your time on Let’s Talk About This SHifT with me on Thursday. I am always in awe of your dedication to your initiatives; from the meticulous planning, you do to the great questions you ask.
I really appreciate you as a person in my life and as a business colleague.
Marnie Kiel
I am posting this recommendation for the services provided by Lori Power/MP Benefits. For the past few years, I have worked hand in hand with Lori to assist us with numerous services, including establishing a health spending account for staff. At no one time has she failed me and she has always been very informative and up to date making her a reliable insurance broker. She is always just a phone call or email away and I think her knowledge and experience is top notch.
When Covid-19 started, it was very overwhelming. However MP Benefits provided us with valuable information and kept us updated regarding benefits, employment issues and various other relevant materials to assist us as we strived to maintain a consistent presence to provide emergency orthodontic care to our patients.
I have had a very good experience with Lori Power/MP Benefits over the years for the services they have rendered to us. I strongly recommend their services.
Dr. Diane Ruud, Orthodontist
There are only a handful of companies that set the bar high as we do in our quest to exceed the service expectations and needs of our clients each day and MP Benefits gets very high marks in both categories. We are fortunate to work with you and look forward to a long and successful relationship.
All the best.
Scott
An employee group plan has been a great benefit for our employees and has helped with a lower staff turnover and job satisfaction. The health spending account model works well for us as a company, because we only spend what our employees use, plus a small administration fee. Our employees like it because they can spend their entire amount in one category such as dental or optical if they need to. Lori always responds quickly to any questions that we have and is good to work with.
Lowell Grasse
Having a health benefit plan shows employees that GreenLink cares about their well-being. In 2007 we decided to go with MP Benefits Inc., and have no regrets. Lori [Power] was able to understand our needs well enough to find solutions to issues and challenges rather than us selling us a product. Lori is always available and provides valuable information on a range of health plans, costs and benefits. Lori was a valuable resource in helping to develop and maintain an effective health wellness program. In today’s competitive marketplace, finding a company like MP Benefits is an essential part of an overall compensation strategy for retaining employees. You want someone who can guide you through changes and be able to plan ahead.
Sonia Prsa, Office Manager
For the past 8 years, our company has used MP Benefits for our employee benefit program. We like the program for a number of reasons. We can customize the program to meet our specific requirements and requests. The program is very flexible. We have the option of carrying forward any unused funds to the next year, increasing the amount in the employees funds as we see fit, and the administration fees are very small as compared to a lot of other insurance providers. This means our money is being spent on our employees. Our employees like the program because it is a ‘health spending account’ verses ‘insurance’. Therefore, it can be a supplemental program to any employee who may have spousal coverage. payment on claims is quick. Any issues that we have had are resolved easily with one call or email to Lori Power.
Annette Kuester
The employees here at Stellar greatly appreciate the package of benefits MP has supplied us with. It makes staff feel good knowing their health care needs are taken care of. Having a plan with great coverage for both individuals and families has been a great bonus for all employees.
We would certainly recommend MP Benefits to other builders, showing them the great coverage plans, communication and due diligence the company offers for their clients.
Hillary Klein, Director of Public Relations, Stellar Homes/Genesis on the Lakes
For over fifteen years (since 2001), Academy of Learning Career College and its affiliated divisions has been nothing but pleased with Ms. Power’s high level of professionalism, customer service, and knowledge and expertise as a benefits provider.
In our experience, Ms. Power has consistently demonstrated that she is an attentive and diligent representative who prides herself on being proactive in her professional approach. As such, Ms. Power makes the effort to regularly meet with Academy of Learning executives and management, in order to ensure that our benefits plan design continuously meets the needs and expectations of our business and employees. Accordingly, Ms. Power pre-emptively researches, analyzes, and provides comparative information on the most up to date products, services and package options. As a result, Academy of Learning always knows where it stands competitively, in relation to what other businesses in the industry are offering potential candidates, and existing employees.
Shelly Ann Berezanski, Human Resources Manager
Lori has been instrumental in assisting our staff with our benefits plan, whether it be over the phone, by email, or when she travels to Yellowknife to host information sessions for our staff each year. I often seek her advice if I need clarification and she has always been able to answer my questions or act on my behalf in a timely manner.
Lori’s skills as a negotiator can definitely be seen in our budget. Most recently, our insurer proposed a 0.9% increase to plan premiums, however through Lori’s exceptionable negotiating skills, we actually received a 1.4% decrease, resulting in a savings of over $20,000 for the year.
Amy Curran, Pay & Benefits Officer
Lori has been our group benefits consultant for approximately 9 years. Our companies are wide in range and diverse. On Lori’s recommendation, about a year ago, we changed group providers to streamline our benefits to all be combined, but individual per division under one policy and provider. It came with some challenges, but with Lori’s guidance and assistance, it was fairly smooth transition.
Lori is very knowledgeable, professional, and passionate about benefits. If her assistance is needed with inquiries or issues, she is always eager to help and responds very quickly.
Shelley Baker, Senior Accountant & Benefits Administrator