Let’s talk absence management

Employers need help adapting to a changing benefits landscape

As employee needs rapidly change, keeping up can be a challenge for employers. They must balance evolving leave regulations with the need to offer competitive employee benefits. But we have learned that many employers are successfully adapting to this changing environment by:

• Evolving ways to communicate with employees. Employees want options for accessing information and demand more digital communication channels.

• Focusing on the employee experience. Employers ranked having standard, written policies that were clear and easy to understand as having a positive impact on the employee experience.

• Expanding company plans as state leave laws grow. 88% of employers are likely or very likely to move to broad paid leave policies.

• Outsourcing to help drive better outcomes. The number of employers who outsource leave administration has more than doubled from 2012 to 2021.

For additional insights, check out our Absence Management Activity Index & Study .

How do you evaluate your clients’ current absence management efforts? Start here.

The Guardian Absence Management Scorecard is a tool you can use to help your clients gauge their absence management efforts, which are also benchmarked against similar companies. At the end of the scorecard, you have an opportunity to discuss recommendations that can help maximize program effectiveness.

Get the score

Help your clients understand absence management best practices

Companies that follow the five best practices for absence management success are better positioned to create better outcomes for their employees.

In addition to following the five best practices, our research recommends these supporting activities:

• Wellness/prevention programs

• Wellness program incentives

• Integrated disability/FMLA reporting

• Disease management referrals

• Centralized STD/FMLA administration

Why employers outsource absence management

Here are top reasons employers turn to outsourcing leave management. If these reasons resonate, or if the Absence Management Scorecard identifies these challenges among your clients, Guardian Absence Solutions^SM can help.

Learn more to see if outsourcing is right for your client.

1. Lack of expertise and/or difficulty interpreting and managing FML leaves can lead to Department of Labor investigations and fines, and lawsuits that can be costly and disruptive — regardless of the judgement. Guardian provides continuous monitoring of federal and state leave regulations by an accomplished team of legal and compliance professionals.

2. Keeping up with coordinating different leave types and tracking intermittent leaves. Guardian offers expansive leave coverage, including federal and state leaves, company leaves, insured and self-funded short-term disability, and state paid family leaves, plus easy reporting and tracking of intermittent leave via a mobile optimized, self-service portal.

3. Ensuring employees have the tools and support they need during an often difficult time. Guardian offers convenient claims intake, both online via our self-service portal, or by talking with a live representative.

Introducing Guardian Absence Solutions

With Guardian, you can offer clients a guided absence management experience that supports optimal return-to-work outcomes, protecting their company by taking complexity and compliance head on.

How we help your clients:

• Compliance with all federal and state regulations

• Integrated claims intake and consolidated billing

• Expansive leave coverage, including federal and state leaves, company leaves, insured and self-funded short-term disability, and state paid family leaves

• Close collaboration on return-to-work and stay-at-work strategies to maximize total productivity

• Dashboard reporting, highlighting top diagnostic categories and leave reasons, current claim status/info and historical data also available

How we help your clients’ employees:

• Unified service experience across all claim types

• Preference-driven methods of contact, including text, phone, and email

• Mobile optimized portal with access to self-service claims information, including the ability to enter intermittent absences and return-to-work dates, and to submit new absences

• Proactive outreach by leave and clinical professionals to support timely and safe return to work

• Customer service to support absence-related questions