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LifeCare Focuses Industry's Attention on Work/Life ROI with Nationwide Series of Forums

LifeCare recently launched its “In Focus: Work/Life ROI” campaign, a series of Employer Forums to be held nationwide that focus on the need to accurately calculate the ROI (return on investment) of work/life programs and how to enhance ROI. The highlight of the Forums is a demonstration of LifeCare's patent-pending ROI tool, which was designed to help employers more accurately determine the bottom-line value of their work/life programs.

“Given today's economy, it's more important than ever that HR professionals demonstrate a solid ROI for their work/life spending—yet, there have been no industry standards or tools to help them do so,” LifeCare's vice president of sales and account management, Thomas A. Carey, told attendees of the initial Forum, which was held in Chicago on October 16. The Forum was co-hosted by Hewitt Associates, a leading global outsourcing and consulting firm, and was attended by HR professionals and work/life experts from several major area employers, including Abbott Laboratories; Allstate Insurance Company; Centegra Health System; Fujisawa Healthcare, Inc.; Motorola; and Northwestern University.

Jon Van Cleve, a leading work/life consultant for Hewitt Associates, opened the Forum by discussing the evolution of work/life benefits and their importance in today's highly competitive marketplace. “Every penny that an organization spends today must be spent wisely. So work/life programs need to deliver measurable results,” he states. “Without a truly accurate picture of a program's results regarding absenteeism, turnover and productivity, HR professionals simply can't build a strong case for their work/life spending.”

According to Carey, that's precisely why LifeCare invested a significant amount of time and research into its powerful new ROI tool. “The HR staffs at our client organizations have told us that they now feel confident about clearly demonstrating to senior management the ongoing value of their LifeCare programs.”

LifeCare's ROI tool is incredibly robust, Carey says, because it encompasses industry-specific data from a variety of research and survey sources (including CCH Incorporated's 2002 “Unscheduled Absenteeism Survey;” the Society for HR Management's 2000 “Retention Practices Study”; and the MetLife 1997 “Study of Employer Costs for Working Caregivers”), survey data from thousands of LifeCare's client employees, and historical data collected from nearly 20 years of LifeCare's experience in the work/life field across its entire book of business. “By encompassing baseline data from all of these sources, we believe that we offer the most comprehensive and accurate ROI analysis available anywhere,” notes Carey.

Hewitt's Van Cleve believes that accurately measuring the ROI of work/life programs will only become more important to organizations going forward. “As employers look to serve a more complex and more diverse set of employee needs, they'll need high-value/cost-effective programs. And the only way to know whether a particular program truly meets these standards is to measure it accurately. LifeCare is wisely anticipating this need with its new ROI tool.”

Carey is quick to point out that strong ROI is partly dependent on effective employee communications. “Promoting work/life services among employees is absolutely essential, and we devote a significant portion of the Forums to discussing this in detail,” he states. The Forums are also intended to foster an open and honest dialogue among attendees about the particular challenges they face in measuring and promoting work/life programs at their own organizations.

LifeCare plans to host future Employer Forums throughout 2004 with interested co-host organizations in major metropolitan areas such as New York, Georgia, Texas and California, among others. Additionally, LifeCare has been asked to present its ROI model at the 2004 Alliance of WorkLife Progress Conference.

Organizations interested in hosting or attending an ROI Forum—or in receiving a customized ROI analysis—should contact Thomas Carey at LifeCare at 203-291-3502 or by email at sales@lifecare.com.