How Aflac is winning at employee retention and getting workers back to the office: on-site doctors, therapists, and childcare

Think about the buzziest tech workplaces. What perks come to mind? Perhaps kombucha fountains and foosball tables. Now think about the corporate benefits of the past. What comes to mind? Perhaps an on-site fitness center or health care clinic. Maybe even an on-campus daycare center. For Aflac, these traditional benefits have been most helpful in attracting, retaining, and engaging new hires who value perks that create ease over splashiness.

The insurance firm has also found that adding more benefits that require its 12,000-person workforce to come into the office to take advantage of them is, well, a great way to entice employees back to the office. It’s a strategy that CHRO Matthew Owenby admits might sound “old school” to some. But the General Electric and Bank of America alum says it’s helped to retain top talent and ramp up employee engagement.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Fortune: There’s often a knowledge gap when it comes to benefits. How do you close that for employees?

Matthew Owenby: HR people should do better. It’s one thing for me to say, ‘Hey, I’ve given you a benefits handbook, and I put it online, so my work is done here.’ Wrong. Most people in the workplace spend less than 30 minutes a year determining what their benefits are going to be. They spend far more time searching for a vacation than they do on something that not only affects their financial stability but, in a post-COVID world, can be a financial exposure. It’s the job of the HR organization to ensure that this is as important as getting your taxes right. 

You’re missing the point if you’re waiting for annual enrollment in September to talk about benefits. And you’re also not allowing yourself as an employer to use the benefits as another reason to retain your employee base.

What’s worked for you at Aflac?

We communicate to people where they are and how they want to be communicated to. We have Aflac pages for employees on social media. We also offer monthly benefits town halls, meetings, and webcasts. And we highlight elements of benefit offerings on the intranet quarterly. We ingrain it into how we operate, so it’s not just once a year. 

Number two, we are huge on physical interaction, which I know might seem old-fashioned. We have people within the HR department who will meet with employees and talk about their benefits needs, as well as our existing benefits.

What benefits have seen the greatest jump in adoption lately? 

Mental health support is exploding in popularity. We found in our survey that 80% of employees believe their employers should offer mental health coverage, but only about 60% actually have access to this benefit.

The second thing is wellness benefits in general, offerings like an on-campus gym, diet, life coaching, etc. We are fortunate to have on-site gyms—I know that’s old-fashioned. We are also fortunate to have on-site health care. Also old fashioned. You probably see the pattern here. 

Some of those things of the past make dramatically great differences in employee experience and outcomes. We have so many stories of someone not feeling well who dropped by the health clinic before work, and we prevented a heart attack or diabetic coma. Walking into the building, you pass a fully staffed health care unit with doctors to get what you need. And now we have mental health care professionals on-site as well.

Have you seen more employees return to in-person work at Aflac’s offices to take advantage of these services?

Absolutely. We are particularly interested in being an employer of choice for women, and having on-site childcare enables us to accomplish a portion of our strategy there. Again, this is kind of old-fashioned. 

Before the turn of the previous century, employers cared for their employees primarily because the social systems did not exist, but it was also just good business.

Think about the war on talent and the Great Resignation. We didn’t have a Great Resignation at Aflac, and you can’t easily replicate this experience in any other place from an HR perspective. If we take care of our employees, they will take care of our customers and the business.

Amber Burton
amber.burton@fortune.com
@amberbburton

Reporter's Notebook

The most compelling data, quotes, and insights from the field.

Want to boost productivity while bringing people together? Researchers suggest shifting managerial focus away from the amount of time employees spend working. 

“Some leaders may worry that employees will take advantage of remote work and will not perform well. Reassuringly, there is good evidence that when employees are allowed to work with heightened autonomy, it improves engagement without compromising performance,” writes Grace Lordan, an associate professor at the London School of Economics. 

Around the Table

A round-up of the most important HR headlines, studies, podcasts, and long-reads.

- The gig economy, once reserved for the likes of Uber and Doordash, is seeping into every industry, altering work in America. New York Times

- Developers are designing sprawling corporate campuses brimming with amenities like restaurants and gyms in a bid to capitalize on return-to-office mandates. Insider

- Tech workers are more concerned with keeping their jobs than their creature comforts as the industry's famously lavish perks disappear. MarketWatch

- A study found job candidates recommended by women were less likely to get hired than those recommended by men. Quartz

Watercooler

Everything you need to know from Fortune.

RTO double down. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy reiterated his commitment to returning to in-person work in his annual shareholder letter released Thursday. —Eleanor Pringle

In person or in trouble. JPMorgan told employees they will be disciplined if they don't meet the company's office attendance policy. —Chloe Taylor

Lonely at the top. More than half of women in the workplace experience loneliness, according to a survey from TheLi.st, a private networking group for women. “It’s not that so many women are feeling lonely at their job, but they feel lonely because of their job,” says Ann Shoket, CEO of TheLi.st. —L’Oreal Thompson Payton

White-collar outsourcing. As companies contend with the prevalence of remote work and a tight labor market, they could start to outsource white-collar jobs, in what some experts call a “seismic shift.” —Jane Thier