Episode 3

Podsdale Episode 3: Let's Talk Benefits

Published on: 27th April, 2021

2021/22 open enrollment is just around the corner and Scottsdale employees have several new incentive programs and coverage additions to learn about and utilize. Even better, these additions come with no increase to benefit premiums! Human Resources Manager Lauran Beebe joins host Holly Walter to provide an overview.

Podsdale celebrates the City of Scottsdale's employees, highlights their stories and accomplishments, and shares city news they need to know. 

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Transcript
Holly Walter:

Hi, welcome to Podsdale.

Holly Walter:

I'm your host, Holly Walter.

Holly Walter:

I'm the City's Public Affairs Supervisor and

Holly Walter:

I'm excited to be back if you can believe it.

Holly Walter:

We're here, episode three already.

Holly Walter:

Okay.

Holly Walter:

First, I want to start off with last week's question and

Holly Walter:

the person who was drawn and had it correctly in our random

Holly Walter:

selection was Public Works Project Coordinator, Melanie Gibson.

Holly Walter:

We asked where the Hashknife arrival was taking

Holly Walter:

place this week for Western week, and she

Holly Walter:

supplied the correct answer, Scottsdale Stadium.

Holly Walter:

Melanie you are receiving a Starbucks gift card.

Holly Walter:

We're going to be sending that over to you, and

Holly Walter:

we appreciate everyone who entered the drawing.

Holly Walter:

And with that, I'm going to turn things

Holly Walter:

over to Stephanie for our Fast Five.

Stephanie Hirata:

Thanks Holly, I'm Public Affairs Specialist,

Stephanie Hirata:

Stephanie Hirata with Five Fast things happening around the city.

Stephanie Hirata:

You need to know, we start the list at number five.

Stephanie Hirata:

What are you doing this summer?

Stephanie Hirata:

You'll find plenty to do with Scottsdale's

Stephanie Hirata:

Parks and Recreation programs.

Stephanie Hirata:

Registration for summer classes began Monday,

Stephanie Hirata:

April 26th for residents and opens at 8:00

Stephanie Hirata:

AM, Tuesday, April 27th for non-residents.

Stephanie Hirata:

Visit ScottsdaleAZ.gov and search

Stephanie Hirata:

'parks and recreation' to sign up.

Stephanie Hirata:

Number four is all about spring cleaning and getting rid of

Stephanie Hirata:

the unused electronics you may have lying around the house.

Stephanie Hirata:

Why not recycle them?

Stephanie Hirata:

Solid waste will host an electronics recycling event from 7:30

Stephanie Hirata:

AM to 2:00 PM, Saturday May 1st at the city's North Corp Yard.

Stephanie Hirata:

Drop off those unwanted items, including flat

Stephanie Hirata:

panel TVs, and computer monitors, PCs and laptops,

Stephanie Hirata:

printers, and copiers, cell phones, and more.

Stephanie Hirata:

For a complete list of acceptable items, please visit

Stephanie Hirata:

ScottsdaleAZ.gov and search 'electronics recycling'.

Stephanie Hirata:

The Old Town Farmer's Market is in

Stephanie Hirata:

our number three spot, wanna veg out?.

Stephanie Hirata:

Here's your opportunity.

Stephanie Hirata:

The market features more than a hundred

Stephanie Hirata:

local growers and specialty food producers.

Stephanie Hirata:

You'll discover a variety of organic and pesticide-free

Stephanie Hirata:

produce, seasonal specialties, flowers, natural

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meats, and free range eggs from Arizona growers.

Stephanie Hirata:

You'll also find cheese, freshly baked,

Stephanie Hirata:

artisan breads, jams, and so much more.

Stephanie Hirata:

The market runs from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM, Saturdays through

Stephanie Hirata:

May in the public parking lot at 3806 North Brown Avenue.

Stephanie Hirata:

Number two is the city's recently

Stephanie Hirata:

adopted anti-discrimination ordinance.

Stephanie Hirata:

The Scottsdale City Council voted unanimously to adopt an

Stephanie Hirata:

anti-discrimination ordinance, which prohibits discrimination

Stephanie Hirata:

based on actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, national

Stephanie Hirata:

origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

Stephanie Hirata:

The ordinance represents the City of Scottsdale's commitment

Stephanie Hirata:

to anti-discrimination and fair treatment of residents,

Stephanie Hirata:

visitors, and employees in the Scottsdale community and the

Stephanie Hirata:

city council support and value for diversity and inclusiveness.

Stephanie Hirata:

The ordinance goes into effect on May 20th.

Stephanie Hirata:

Learn more at ScottsdaleAZ.gov and search 'anti-discrimination'.

Stephanie Hirata:

Our number one Fast Five spot goes to Scottsdale's

Stephanie Hirata:

Chief Information Officer, Brad Hartig.

Stephanie Hirata:

Brad joined the City of Scottsdale in May, 1991 and has

Stephanie Hirata:

held several IT positions before he was promoted in 2004

Stephanie Hirata:

to Executive Director and Chief Information Officer.

Stephanie Hirata:

He has led the city through continuous business

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transformations by integrating the effective use of technology.

Stephanie Hirata:

He was also influential in forming the regional

Stephanie Hirata:

wireless cooperative that provides radio communications

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to 19 public safety agencies in the Valley.

Stephanie Hirata:

Brad loves public service and his enthusiasm for it is evident.

Stephanie Hirata:

He retires April 30th, after 30 years

Stephanie Hirata:

of dedicated service to the city.

Stephanie Hirata:

Brad, we wish you the best as you start

Stephanie Hirata:

this new chapter, you will be missed.

Stephanie Hirata:

And that's our Fast Five for this episode of Podsdale.

Stephanie Hirata:

Got something for a future Fast Five?

Stephanie Hirata:

Tell us by emailing communications@ScottsdaleaAZ.gov.

Stephanie Hirata:

I'll turn it back over to you, Holly.

Holly Walter:

Thanks Stephanie.

Holly Walter:

And remember, we will have another

Holly Walter:

trivia question in this episode.

Holly Walter:

So listen up, it could be something in our

Holly Walter:

Fast Five, or it could be something in today's

Holly Walter:

interview, which by the way is about benefits.

Holly Walter:

Something that impacts us all.

Holly Walter:

Open enrollment is just around the corner, and

Holly Walter:

here with me today, I have Human Resources Manager,

Holly Walter:

Lauren Beebe to tell us all about what to expect.

Holly Walter:

Hi Lauren.

Lauren Beebe:

Hi, Holly,

Holly Walter:

Glad to have you here, let's talk benefits.

Holly Walter:

What's new for our upcoming fiscal year?

Lauren Beebe:

Well, Holly, I'm really happy

Lauren Beebe:

to share, the City Manager has recommended

Lauren Beebe:

no rate increases for the plans this year.

Lauren Beebe:

Our benefit plans actually run really well.

Lauren Beebe:

And while some members who might've postponed some

Lauren Beebe:

treatment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we don't

Lauren Beebe:

expect it to have a negative effect on our plans.

Lauren Beebe:

This is great news for employees, and the first

Lauren Beebe:

time we've been able to do this for a long time.

Holly Walter:

Wow.

Holly Walter:

That is really great news.

Holly Walter:

I'm sure everyone's going to be happy to hear that.

Holly Walter:

Um, along with that, we do have a couple of new benefit changes.

Holly Walter:

Can you tell us about what some of those are?

Lauren Beebe:

Sure.

Lauren Beebe:

We're going to have hearing aids added to all plans.

Lauren Beebe:

They'll be available every three years.

Lauren Beebe:

We're also covering diabetic supplies at a hundred percent.

Holly Walter:

Wow.

Holly Walter:

That's pretty huge.

Holly Walter:

I know from just my own personal experience, having a family

Holly Walter:

member with type one diabetes, that the supplies and the insulin

Holly Walter:

that can be a pretty costly expense for someone who needs it.

Holly Walter:

And it does seem like we've talked a lot

Holly Walter:

about diabetes prevention in the past years.

Holly Walter:

How does diabetes impact our employee population?

Holly Walter:

Um, was there a particular reason why the city

Holly Walter:

felt this was important to offer this benefit?

Lauren Beebe:

Yes.

Lauren Beebe:

We've actually been discussing this with our Total

Lauren Beebe:

Benefits Advisory Committee for several years now.

Lauren Beebe:

And this year we recommended covering them at

Lauren Beebe:

a hundred percent, maybe remove some barriers,

Lauren Beebe:

that employees might've had in paying for them.

Lauren Beebe:

We want to keep people that have diabetes healthy,

Lauren Beebe:

and this in turn helps keep our plan costs low.

Lauren Beebe:

We're also continuing to offer our Cigna

Lauren Beebe:

diabetes prevention program with omada.

Holly Walter:

That's awesome.

Holly Walter:

And you know, with one in three people at risk for diabetes,

Holly Walter:

it's good that we have this program in place with a omada and

Holly Walter:

some of these incentives to help people complete that program.

Holly Walter:

And yet another program I know that you're

Holly Walter:

here to talk to us about is a new one.

Holly Walter:

It's called healthy pregnancy, healthy babies and it's

Holly Walter:

another incentive program that we have for expecting moms.

Holly Walter:

How does that one work?

Lauren Beebe:

Yeah, we're excited about this one, so

Lauren Beebe:

any expecting mom who enrolls in either their first or

Lauren Beebe:

second trimester, will work with a nurse case manager.

Lauren Beebe:

And if they complete the program, they'll be eligible

Lauren Beebe:

for a gift card and we're so excited to offer those,

Lauren Beebe:

to ensure a smooth pregnancy for all our moms.

Holly Walter:

I'm sure that's, you know, puts someone

Holly Walter:

at ease too, who's expecting to have someone assigned

Holly Walter:

to them, a nurse case manager, to maybe answer

Holly Walter:

any questions or concerns that may they may have.

Lauren Beebe:

Exactly.

Holly Walter:

And motivate me.

Holly Walter:

That is yet another program we are rolling out.

Holly Walter:

What does motivate me involved?

Lauren Beebe:

We've just got some new incentives this

Lauren Beebe:

year, so in addition to the health risk assessment

Lauren Beebe:

that everyone's used to taking, it's still going to

Lauren Beebe:

be a gatekeeper for our, all of our other incentives.

Lauren Beebe:

But some of our new ones that we're going to offer, is the $120

Lauren Beebe:

we used to give for the HRA completion, we're now going to give

Lauren Beebe:

it for employees and spouses that actually visit their doctor.

Lauren Beebe:

We want employees to get preventative care every year.

Lauren Beebe:

Also, if they get a preventive cleaning with, uh, their

Lauren Beebe:

dentist where they'll be eligible for a gift card then,

Lauren Beebe:

and we also want to encourage healthy financial habits.

Lauren Beebe:

So it will offer incentives for anyone that will

Lauren Beebe:

meet with nationwide our personal representative

Lauren Beebe:

John Bennett or attend financial education classes.

Holly Walter:

That's great.

Holly Walter:

It sounds like it's pretty well-rounded program.

Holly Walter:

And as a, as a reminder to employees,

Holly Walter:

we don't pay for those wellness visits.

Holly Walter:

Correct?

Lauren Beebe:

Yes, that's correct.

Lauren Beebe:

As long as the visit is coded as

Lauren Beebe:

preventative, it is free to employees.

Lauren Beebe:

As a reminder, you might want to be on

Lauren Beebe:

the lookout for some of those gotchas.

Lauren Beebe:

There are some things that a preventive care

Lauren Beebe:

isn't covered because the FDA doesn't approve it.

Lauren Beebe:

So things like your vitamin D that's come up before.

Lauren Beebe:

So make sure that before you go and have an actual

Lauren Beebe:

test to double check, it's considered preventive.

Holly Walter:

Okay.

Holly Walter:

So just ask your doctor about that while you're there?

Lauren Beebe:

Yes.

Holly Walter:

Great.

Holly Walter:

And we've talked a lot about incentive programs.

Holly Walter:

We've talked about a few.

Holly Walter:

So can employees still earn the incentives for blood pressure?

Lauren Beebe:

Yes, they can still do the blood pressure.

Lauren Beebe:

So when they're going to get their preventive care

Lauren Beebe:

visit with their doctor, they'll bring that wellness

Lauren Beebe:

screening forum, which you can find on mycigna.com.

Lauren Beebe:

Bring it to their doctor, have them complete it,

Lauren Beebe:

upload it on mycigna.com and then there'll be eligible

Lauren Beebe:

for the $20 per month incentive for blood pressure.

Lauren Beebe:

They have to be either under one 40 over 90,

Lauren Beebe:

or be meeting with their doctor about it, but

Lauren Beebe:

it's eligible for both employees and spouses.

Holly Walter:

That's great, so this stuff really adds up.

Lauren Beebe:

Yes, we hope employees take advantage.

Lauren Beebe:

If you do your wellness visits and follow

Lauren Beebe:

all the different things that you can do, we

Lauren Beebe:

hope to keep employees healthy and engaged.

Holly Walter:

Right?

Holly Walter:

That's the ultimate goal.

Holly Walter:

Are there any other changes coming up in our

Holly Walter:

plan year that you would like to mention?

Lauren Beebe:

There might be some minor other ones.

Lauren Beebe:

I encourage everybody to look at the benefits guide,

Lauren Beebe:

that'll be coming out in the next couple of weeks.

Lauren Beebe:

That actually has a great grid that you can refer

Lauren Beebe:

to, um, as well as what's new for our plan here.

Holly Walter:

Perfect.

Holly Walter:

Well, we'll watch for that.

Holly Walter:

And we've also seen some great changes

Holly Walter:

within our employee assistance program.

Holly Walter:

We've had things like a dedicated psychotherapist

Holly Walter:

for individual counseling sessions.

Holly Walter:

We have more accessibility to telehealth and we've had

Holly Walter:

group sessions that touch on different mental health topics.

Holly Walter:

Will these things continue in the next year?

Lauren Beebe:

Yeah.

Lauren Beebe:

This past year has been challenging for everyone.

Lauren Beebe:

Uh, we know that Tori has been well utilized.

Lauren Beebe:

She's a great onsite, and virtual provider,

Lauren Beebe:

that will continue through the next fiscal year.

Lauren Beebe:

We also have Talkspace, which is a new, digital,

Lauren Beebe:

space for private and convenient mental health visits.

Lauren Beebe:

And then May is mental health awareness month.

Lauren Beebe:

So be on the lookout for all the

Lauren Beebe:

stuff we're rolling out for that.

Holly Walter:

Great.

Holly Walter:

And great timing to, to roll that out.

Holly Walter:

I've seen Talkspace.

Holly Walter:

That's an app, correct?

Lauren Beebe:

Yes.

Lauren Beebe:

It's a new digital app.

Lauren Beebe:

I'm sure it's going to be fun.

Lauren Beebe:

I haven't checked it out, but I'm going to try it.

Holly Walter:

Awesome.

Holly Walter:

Well, all good stuff to keep in

Holly Walter:

mind as open enrollment approaches.

Holly Walter:

And it's actually right around the corner.

Holly Walter:

It begins online from May 3rd and it runs through the 21st.

Holly Walter:

And as we know, all employees are required to complete

Holly Walter:

their enrollment on the employee self service intranet site.

Holly Walter:

I know this year, HR is excited to host

Holly Walter:

a live virtual health and lifestyle expo.

Holly Walter:

And I know you're also holding several virtual teams and

Holly Walter:

meetings for employees and family members to attend and

Holly Walter:

ask benefit questions and find out more about the plans.

Holly Walter:

What can you tell us about those?

Lauren Beebe:

Yeah, we're really excited this

Lauren Beebe:

year to try this new live virtual format.

Lauren Beebe:

It's going to be on May 4th, from 11:30 to 1:30,

Lauren Beebe:

and employees are going to be able to experience

Lauren Beebe:

different rooms well, where there'll be able to see

Lauren Beebe:

our different healthcare providers or other vendors.

Lauren Beebe:

We're going to have speakers and cooking demos, exercise demos,

Lauren Beebe:

stress management tips, and all kinds of exciting things.

Lauren Beebe:

And employees are going to be eligible for raffle prizes.

Lauren Beebe:

So if they visit a certain number of rooms,

Lauren Beebe:

they'll be entered to win some gift cards.

Lauren Beebe:

So stay tuned for the link to register for that.

Lauren Beebe:

Additionally, we're going to have some teams

Lauren Beebe:

meetings available both during the day and in the

Lauren Beebe:

evening, so that spouse have the ability to attend.

Lauren Beebe:

We encourage all of your family members to

Lauren Beebe:

come and ask any questions they have regarding

Lauren Beebe:

benefits, enrollment, or claims questions.

Lauren Beebe:

We're here to help.

Holly Walter:

And as we always talk about every year employees do

Holly Walter:

have a lot of ways that we can lessen the cost of our healthcare.

Holly Walter:

What are some of those things?

Holly Walter:

Can you give us a quick rundown?

Lauren Beebe:

Sure.

Lauren Beebe:

Cigna, the city's Live Life Well Program, offer a bunch of

Lauren Beebe:

classes and resources to help you and your family stay healthy.

Lauren Beebe:

We've got our Cigna medical group facility, we have

Lauren Beebe:

virtual care providers, we have all our wellness

Lauren Beebe:

incentives, which help offset any premium increases

Lauren Beebe:

or just to save money and put it back in your pocket.

Lauren Beebe:

One of the most important things all of us can do

Lauren Beebe:

to stay healthy is to see your doctor annually.

Lauren Beebe:

We want to make sure we take care

Lauren Beebe:

of any serious medical issues early.

Lauren Beebe:

We want them treated before they become more serious.

Lauren Beebe:

It's very important for you to stay healthy so that you

Lauren Beebe:

can be well here at work and have a happy retirement.

Holly Walter:

Lauren, that's all great information

Holly Walter:

to think about as we approach open enrollment.

Holly Walter:

And I appreciate that you were on the show today.

Holly Walter:

Thank you so much for joining us.

Lauren Beebe:

Thanks Holly, it's a pleasure

Holly Walter:

and that's it for another episode of Podsdale.

Holly Walter:

But before I go, I do have that trivia question for you.

Holly Walter:

And this one comes from our Fast Five, who is retiring April

Holly Walter:

30th, after 30 years of service with the City of Scottsdale?

Holly Walter:

Email your answer to Communications@ScottsdaleAZ.gov

Holly Walter:

to be entered into our drawing.

Holly Walter:

And I'll be back in two weeks with that

Holly Walter:

answer, and another episode I'm Holly.

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Podsdale
A City of Scottsdale Podcast
Podsdale celebrates the City of Scottsdale and helps people stay up to date on the latest news from the city. Subscribe to be "in the know" about the West's Most Western Town!