TD Synnex Canada is modernizing its employee benefits plan by getting the best value for money while still protecting employees from a mental-health and well-being perspective, according to Shana Kapustin, the global information technology company’s senior director of human resources, speaking during an event hosted last week by the Group Insurance and Pharmaceutical Committee.
“We’ve gone through four iterations of benefits plans and design since I’ve started at TD Synnex and we landed where we are now because we think this is the best plan that can speak to everybody. Our solution to modernize was to have something that’s simple and complex at the same time.”
Flexibility — in terms of where and how employees work as well as the benefits plan’s offerings — was also a key consideration in the plan’s design, she said. “There is no one size fits all with five generations of employees in the workforce, so flexibility has to be paramount. We need to balance this with making sure [employees] feel secure and supported in all our programs.”
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TD Synnex has also added preferred pharmacy arrangements, smoking cessation programs, pharmacogenetics and a greater focus on mental health. “As we know, mental health is huge, so we drew a lot of resources to help with total well-being,” said Kapustin. “We have wellness committees in all of the geographies in which we operate. We increased our psychology and social work access. Everything our provider offers we’ve put into our workforce, like telemedicine and virtual mental-health therapy.”
Also speaking during the event, Mark Goldasic, a partner at consultancy Jones DesLauriers, said employers are prioritizing cost management and mental health in their benefits plans. “From my perspective as an advisor, when we talk to employers, we tell them they have to align their benefits with their corporate objectives and have a mission statement. That means creating some kind of cultural assessment and figuring out your philosophy as an employer, having a mission statement with guiding principles for your benefits.
Employers also need to have a solid mental-health strategy in place, he added. “They have to understand mental health is not a product; it’s really corporate culture and it starts at the top. There has to be buy-in from the very top and they should discuss it openly and encourage people to participate. They have to remove barriers to employees like access to treatments, lowering cost and removing stigma, which can be all done with proper plan design.”
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