Feedback: October 2023

Q: What healthcare and wellness issues and programs are your employees telling you are most important to them? Is this a change from previous years? 

BrandyJo Guzman

HR Director
M Culinary Concepts
Sector: Hospitality

In a recent survey with our team, we asked which benefits M Culinary Concepts offers are the most important. Time off was the winner and has been consistent with previous years. Heading in as a second is our free medical and dental program.

We started our free medical and dental benefit program two years ago. We’ve had great participation and success with this program and know that investing in our team members will help them have one less stress in their life.

Time off is also critical to wellness, and, to help people with understanding this, we changed our “Sick Time” policy to “Wellness Time.” This has helped people understand they can use this time for anything, and we would prefer they use it as scheduled time off rather than calling out sick.

It’s critical that employees can take time off and feel they can step away from work for both their physical and mental wellness. Younger generations seem to understand the importance of taking time off more than older generations. Maybe we should learn from them on this topic.  

BrandyJo Guzman is human resources director at M Culinary Concepts, Arizona’s premier hospitality and catering concept. Guzman has extensive experience in hospitality and HR, including a background in hotel management and systems training. Since 2016, Guzman has expanded M Culinary’s HR department and enhanced the employee experience by consistently listening to employees and adapting M Culinary Concepts’ offerings. 

Danette Opaczewski 

EVP of Resident Experience, COO
Revel Communities
Sector: Senior Living

At Revel Communities, we have an amazing culture that celebrates individuality and shows gratitude. That’s why we’ve invested heavily in our benefits to ensure that our team members are offered a choice of plans and programs that meet their unique health and wellness needs. One way we do this is limiting cost increases and providing options at different price points, which is something our team members value given the rising costs of healthcare.

Additionally, we found flexibility to be an important aspect of a desirable benefits package, so we offer options such as HSA and FSA accounts, and a Health Reimbursement Arrangement. More than 50% of our eligible employees take advantage of these programs, proving that a one-size approach to healthcare programs no longer suits all.

Through the pandemic, we saw many team members take a more proactive approach to their health and wellness. We promote the use of telehealth and virtual care options, which make it easier than ever for our team members to receive medical services. We also launched our inaugural corporate-wide wellness program, which provides rewards for completing wellness-related initiatives.  

Danette Opaczewski joined the Senior Housing industry in 2019 after 30 years in hospitality and real estate. She is a proven leader who strengthens business value by using a focused approach on people, processes and systems, strategizing at the highest levels and understanding the complexities of a service-oriented industry. With an emphasis on customer experience and leading-edge branding and design, she has created and maintained operating, financial, and brand standards for best-in-class businesses in the boutique hotel space. She is now bringing that same approach to senior independent living communities as COO under the Revel brand.

Melissa Ribeiro

Chief People Officer
Encora
Sector: Technology

Encora’s healthcare plan has evolved over the years to account for our accelerated growth. We are now serving a larger, global employee base. With this change, one of the things that employees have appreciated as an important role of our healthcare plan is more robust communication and education. Recently, we rolled out a few new programs to keep employees informed on the healthcare options available. This includes:

• A Free Wellness Webinar Series covering all aspects of wellness,
• Winning workplace wellness incentive programs and 
• Email communications called “Big News” sharing exciting news on important health care topics.

Another request we have received is for more options surrounding mental health. The stress and strain that the pandemic has had on employees and families has led to a decrease in mental health. This led us to introduce an Employee Assistance Program, which provides free, confidential mental health service to employees and their families. We’ve also allotted additional Flex time allowing employes to take the time to care for their mental health.  

Melissa Ribeiro has more than 20 years of progressive HR leadership experience. In her role as Encora’s chief people officer, Ribeiro provides strategic leadership to the People & Culture and Talent Acquisition departments. Ribeiro holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Northern Parana University (Brazil) and a Master of Science in management from Parana State University. She also has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from The Georgia School of Professional Psychology.