Latest news with #workplaceBenefits
Forbes
07-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Hedge Funds Are Investing In Employee Wellness To Enable Peak Performance
A focus on employee wellness contributes to a deeper sense of trust, empathy and loyalty amongst the ... More workforce. Top-tier hedge fund Citadel announced last week that it will be hiring its first ever Chief Medical Officer. The role will be filled by Dr. David Stark, a Harvard trained pediatric neurologist. Per Citadel, the hire comes at a time when Ken Griffen, founder of the firm, is pushing for higher performance from employees. Per Sjoerd Geharing, the firm's chief people officer, Dr. Stark 'will be responsible for driving innovation in employee benefits and wellness to further enhance the employee experience and support peak performance of our colleagues.' The firm already provides some degree of on-site medical services enabled by third-party healthcare providers; the new role will aim to optimize healthcare benefits, concierge care and health plans. The industry overall has been increasing these kind of offerings in recent years amidst the significant competition for top talent. Many firms employ a wide range of roles specifically dedicated to employee wellness, including personal trainers, performance coaches and even chefs. Especially given the heavy workloads and high performance environments required of jobs in the industry, these roles aim to alleviate the day-to-day pressures for employees. Dr. Stark is no stranger to high finance or this type of work; prior to this role, he was chief medical officer and the global head of benefits for Morgan Stanley, helping redesign the firm's approach to employee health plans. Interestingly, this concept is not unique to high finance. Technology companies have been known to follow a similar model for decades, both as a means to ensure employee wellness and performance but also to inculcate a sense of unique culture and camaraderie. For example, Meta is famous for its wellness perks, including an on-site clinic for employees, a barbershop, spa, free meals and onsite fitness facilities. Google similarly offers numerous benefits geared towards employee wellness and success, including cafeterias with free meals, game and activity rooms, child care centers and generous healthcare benefits, such as significantly subsidized fertility assistance. The whole trend has even been popularized in pop-culture; the tv show Billions portrays the work of a psychiatrist at a high-capital hedge fund and the nuances of the industry. The science behind this is also sound. Former U.S. Surgeon General, Vice Admiral (VADM) Jerome Adams, MD, MPH, published a powerful research study in Public Health Reports in 2020, entitled 'The Value of Worker Well-being.' In it, Dr. Adams explains that 'employees who are in good physical, mental, and emotional health are more likely to deliver optimal performance in the workplace than employees who are not.' Additionally, a piece by the Harvard Business Review (HBR) explains how healthy employees tend to stay with companies longer, indicating that 'organizations with highly effective wellness programs report significantly lower voluntary attrition than do those whose programs have low effectiveness (9% vs. 15%).' Furthermore, parallel to these efforts being the means to improve performance and profitability, many of these initiatives are important incentives for employees to maintain a sense of normalcy and zeal for their careers. A sense of culture and loyalty is fostered as the employer-employee relationship is one of give and take; people ultimately care about companies that care about them. The HBR piece poignantly highlights this exact sentiment: 'The inherent nature of workplace wellness—a partnership between employee and employer—requires trust. Because personal health is such an intimate issue, investment in wellness can, when executed appropriately, create deep bonds.'
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bolt's millennial founder has just ‘killed' its unlimited PTO perk because it was actually causing burnout
As companies like double down on unlimited PTO benefits, the boss of $11 billion fintech company, Bolt has just axed the policy altogether. Its millennial founder and CEO Ryan Breslow says instead of encouraging flexibility, it bred burnout and unfairness. Now, he's capping vacations because the 'bad ones' were taking too much time off. On paper, unlimited PTO sounds like the holy grail of benefits a company can offer its employees—the ability to take endless vacations and avoid burnout. But for the $11 billion fintech startup Bolt, (not to be confused with the Uber rival, also called Bolt), unlimited PTO has been a double-edged sword that has caused more problems than solutions. 'We just killed unlimited PTO at Bolt,' its founder and CEO, Ryan Breslow has just revealed on LinkedIn. 'It sounds progressive, but it's totally broken. When time off is undefined, the good ones don't take PTO. The bad ones take too much.' While this is contrary to research from financial services firm Empower, which found that employees with unlimited PTO take on average 16 days off versus 14 days for those with limited policies, Breslow said much of that time was taken off by 'b performers'—leaving high performers to pick up the slack. 'This leads to A-performer burnout. B-performer luxuries. And feelings of unfairness across the board,' the millennial boss explained. 'So we're flipping the script: no more confusion. Every Bolter now gets four weeks of paid vacation (yes, the traditional corporate standard), with the opportunity to accrue more with tenure. Not optional,' Breslow added. 'We mandate everyone take all four weeks off.' Now, the company is capping annual leave at around four weeks—but Bolt workers can accrue a maximum of 25 days leave with tenure. 'We believe a team executing at the pace and scale we do deserves real, protected time off, not vague promises,' a Bolt spokesperson echoed in a statement to Fortune. 'When we saw in our own data that our A-players weren't taking enough time away, we knew we had to fix it.' Breslow rejoined Bolt this year after a rocky few months that included rounds of layoffs and a failed fundraising attempt that carried a $14 billion valuation. It was last valued at $11 billion in 2022, with investment coming from top firms like BlackRock. Reshaping Bolt's culture has been a centrepiece of the 31-year-old's changes since retaking the helm in March. On top of the PTO change, Breslow also publicly announced the company was doing away with its HR department in favor of 'people ops'—which is more focused on efficiency over fluff, he wrote on LinkedIn. 'HR is the wrong energy, format, and approach,' he said. 'People ops empowers managers, streamlines decision making, and keeps the company moving at lightning speed.' The company also had some wins in recent weeks, including securing partnerships with Klarna and Palantir, but the only way to make sure that continues to happen, Breslow said, is to ensure top talent can thrive. 'If we're asking people to move fast, build hard, and operate at the highest level, we need to protect their recovery time with the same intensity,' Breslow said. 'Execution requires clarity. That applies to PTO, too.' Despite growing calls from workers for better work-life balance and indications that unlimited PTO could lead to outperforming the S&P 500, the policy remains embraced by just 7% of employers, according to SHRM. Netflix is considered to be an early pioneer of the policy. Reed Hastings, the billionaire cofounder of the streaming service, has said he takes six weeks of vacation each year—and encourages his employees to do the same. 'I take a lot of vacation and I'm hoping that certainly sets an example,' the former Netflix CEO said in 2015. 'It is helpful. You often do your best thinking when you're off hiking in some mountain or something. You get a different perspective on things.' Today, the company claims to not have a strict 9-to-5 workday–or even holiday schedule—and encourages workers to take time off to observe what's important and when their mind and body need a break. More than a quarter of workers, or 26%, say they would consider a lower-paying job if it offered the unlimited option. At the same time, shifting to the policy has sometimes backfired. In 2014, Tribune Publishing—the company behind the Chicago Tribune and formerly the Los Angeles Times—attempted to transition from limited to unlimited PTO, but faced backlash from its employees. Less than two weeks later, the publisher reversed course after receiving 'valuable input from employees,' citing that the new policy actually just 'created confusion and concern within the company.' This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Unum Group (UNM) Board Approves Hike in Common Stock Dividend
On May 22, Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) announced that its board of directors has approved a roughly 10% increase in its quarterly common stock dividend. The new dividend rate will be 46 cents per share, or $1.84 annually, and will take effect with the expected payment in the third quarter of 2025. Close up of a person's hand signing a life insurance policy. As a prominent provider of workplace benefits through its Unum and Colonial Life brands, Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) offers a broad range of insurance and support services, including disability, life, accident, critical illness, dental, and vision coverage, as well as leave management and behavioral health support. With a history spanning over 175 years, the company continues to focus on helping employees and their families succeed. This proposed dividend increase will mark the 17th straight year Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) has raised its dividend, a testament to its steady financial performance. Over this time, the company has grown its quarterly payout from $0.083 to $0.420 per share, reinforcing its appeal to long-term income-focused investors. Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) has a dividend yield of 2.11%, as recorded on May 22. The stock has surged by over 9% since the start of 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of UNM as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued dividend stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued dividend stock that is more promising than UNM but that trades at 10 times its earnings and grows its earnings at double digit rates annually, check out our report about the . READ MORE: and Disclosure. None. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
