We think about our dual mission in everything we do, looking for ways to help our people thrive and perform at their best. This includes not only traditional support for professional growth like mentorship, apprenticeship, performance support, and learning—but also our benefits, which we work hard to ensure are both comprehensive and inclusive.
Like many organizations, we’ve moved past the basics of healthcare coverage and pension plans. There’s much more to a colleague’s life journey—and a lot we can do to support it. Our global benefits team, taking into account regional and local availability, thinks about holistic well-being, including physical, mental, and financial. And we think about each of those categories against our ambition to be an inclusive home for increasingly diverse talent – so that each of our 45,000 global colleagues feel seen and supported by our benefits offerings. To do that well, we pay close attention to population and utilization data, as well as trends we see in the marketplace. And even more importantly, we draw inspiration from our people.
Going above and beyond when people need it the most
As Women’s History Month draws to a close, I cannot help but think about a colleague who recently needed specialized support just as her parental journey had begun. Her newborn required a stay in the NICU, which left her sleep deprived and concerned about her baby’s prescribed care plan. Along with our traditional healthcare plan to cover the hospital stay, she took advantage of one of our care navigation programs to receive expert medical opinions and assistance finding top medical specialists in areas previously uncharted for her. High-touch offerings in the moments that matter are increasingly important to long-term health and one of the ways that we can “be there” for our colleagues when they need help the most.
Creating more freedom to choose
The benefits we provide are part of building and maintaining a culture of responsible practices that serve all colleagues. One of our affinity groups, Access McKinsey, was founded to support colleagues with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and mental health challenges. We know that many of our colleagues live with disabilities, both visible and invisible, and need more flexible care than traditional services typically provide, in terms of where, when, and how they receive care. We also know from our data that musculoskeletal conditions are a top need in our health plan. Finally, we know that for many of our colleagues, being present and actively engaged with their teams and clients is a big part of the job. These factors prompted us to introduce a virtual physical therapy program. With virtual care, colleagues can spend time with one another in person and still have access to professionals who help them improve movement or manage pain—at a time and place most convenient for them. It is a small example but one that illustrates the role that benefits can play in giving colleagues more freedom to join projects and teams without having to worry about how they will be able to access the care they need.
Helping with whatever may be keeping someone up at night
My colleagues in Talent Attraction have talked about their commitment to broader talent sourcing, because “exceptional can come from anywhere.” This means our colleagues’ needs can come from anywhere, too—both planned and unplanned. Recently, I received an email from a first-generation college graduate who had run into an unexpected issue with a landlord. He wanted to let me know two things. First, that our group legal insurance had given him easy access to counsel with no additional fee, and second, that our new Colleague Support Center, a multidimensional employee assistance program, had given him access to the mental health support and resources he needed to sleep at night until the matter was resolved. I was proud that we were able to support both his financial and mental health during this time.
Offering the right help at the right moment
Designing the right set of offerings for an increasingly diverse firm is one thing. It is quite another to get the right help to each person in their moment of need. In my view, part of the role of benefits professionals is to demystify and repackage a comprehensive plan into real language, right-sized pieces, and right-timed communications, especially for colleagues in high-intensity roles who focus their time and attention on our clients and project work.
Today, we try to be proactive and find meaningful moments (beyond the standard open enrollment period) to highlight relevant benefits. For example, this past month we tailored the articles on our global benefits site to spotlight benefits that support women’s health and well-being—from refined health provider searches to customized financial check-ups to flexibility programs—and then worked alongside internal affinity and interest groups to better reach their members through email and group chat channels. But this is just the beginning. I hope that someday soon our need-based outreach will prompt our colleagues to say, “This is exactly what I needed right now.”
My team and I are excited to be a part of an organization that believes benefits are an important part of the equation for creating an inclusive workplace. And we are looking forward to the next round of innovations we will develop at the intersection of data analytics and individual needs.