Imaging being told NOT to tell your employees about benefits they were already paying for.
In my last post I wrote about a really good friend of mine who was essentially told by his supervisor not to do his job.
He did it anyway, although he did so in secret and waited until after he passed probation before telling his supervisor that he actually did his job.
My good friend did have a habit of picking winners for bosses.
He was the Wellness Program Coordinator for a large, unnamed public agency, and his three year tenure had become the yardstick for all future tenants of that position.
My friend had a habit of disagreeing with his supervisor, but he did so in the most endearing, professional way.
My friend is a professional and saw his duty as doing the right thing, even if his boss disagreed with him.
According to the conventional wisdom of the day, workplace wellness programs had a $3 return on investment for every dollar spent on employee wellness. That was the driving force for the Wellness Program in the first place. From a business point of view, corporate wellness programs make sense.
Also making sense is to figure out where to find alternate revenue streams and utilize any which happen to come your way.
One such alternate revenue stream was a very large, unnamed pharmaceutical company which was looking for a corporate wellness program to donate some of their “guilt” money through a payment called “corporate citizenship.”
This very large, unnamed pharmaceutical company had already partnered with the large, unnamed public agency in the past, and they were looking to renew the partnership.
They had sponsored a rewards program for employees who signed up for and participated in company provided wellness events. My good friend’s supervisor was Wellness Program Coordinator at the time and the rewards program had been a success.
Now very large, unnamed pharmaceutical company was back and they had lots of money that they wanted to give away.
Adding complexity to the current situation was that employees in the large, unnamed public agency had employer-provided health coverage. This employer-provided health coverage featured brand new benefits for employees – a rewards program for employees who signed up for and participated in health program-provided wellness events. And the representatives from the health plan companies wanted to come in to the unnamed, public agency and present the new benefits to the agency employees.
They wanted employees to know about the benefits they were already paying for.
My good friend, as Wellness Program Coordinator explained this to his supervisor, expecting her enthusiastic support. Imagine his surprise when she told him not to proceed with inviting the health plan representatives to the large, unnamed agency so they could tell employees about the benefits they were already paying for.
She explained that if employees knew about the benefits they were already paying for, they would not sign up for the rewards program sponsored by the very large unnamed pharmaceutical company which was trying to give away their corporate citizenship “guilt” money.
My good friend told his supervisor that was the whole idea.
He explained it like this. On behalf of public agency employees, benefits were negotiated for long and hard. Rewards programs are themselves the health plan equivalent of corporate wellness programs – they focus on illness prevention by rewarding participants for making healthy choices. Since employees are already paying for these benefits, he would be remiss in his duties as Wellness Program Coordinator if he did not inform employees about the benefits they were already paying for.
Over the objections of his supervisor, my friend booked the agency auditorium and invited representatives from all the health plans to make two presentations of their rewards programs to the large, unnamed public agency employees.
He told his supervisor that he could not in good conscience decline letting employees know about the benefits negotiated for on their behalf and for which they were already paying.
She replied that if he should go ahead with this, he would not receive her support.
My good friend shrugged and continued to listen to his conscience. The two presentations by the health plan providers were both received enthusiastically by employees.
Later he was stopped in hallways by employees who thanked him personally for setting up the presentations. Many employees signed up for the rewards programs and the health plan representatives personally thanked my good friend for his support in their endeavor.
My friend’s supervisor complained until his last day on the job that the very large, unnamed pharmaceutical company withdrew their offer for their own rewards program since employees already had their own rewards program through their own health plans. She blamed him.
Unbeknownst to his supervisor, my good friend was contacted by the very large, unnamed pharmaceutical company, who wanted to thank him for his time.
They sent him a case of Washington pears, which he thoroughly enjoyed.
