A Proactive Approach to Employee Care Through the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH)
Imagine yourself on a plot of land surrounded by trees. These trees bear fruit of all different kinds and are your source of life and income. With your livelihood at stake, you take the time to learn how to care for each one—ensuring that you can yield the maximum amount of fruit each tree could potentially offer.
Each tree is different and has unique needs. Some need more watering than others. Some need special debugging. Some need trimming. Some need careful weeding. Some need the special placement to grow.
But they all have roots. Their roots, what you can’t see from the surface, is what grounds them the most. Tree roots anchor the tree in the soil, keeping it straight and stable, and produce what they need for the tree's growth, development, and repair. Simply put, a tree cannot and will not survive without healthy roots.
Employees are no different from fruit trees.
Their roots are their social connection to family and friends, access to food, economic stability, transportation, education, and the environment in which they live. When one root is infected or damaged, it affects the health of the entire plant system.
A recent college graduate is stressed about financial burdens and cannot focus on work.
A parent is on the verge of quitting because of childcare issues.
A director is coping with their aging parents whose health is declining and is frequently tardy or begins calling off.
The root cause isn’t by fault of the organization but is affecting how an employee shows up to work: mentally, physically, and emotionally. This impacts turnover, engagement, production, and even medical expenses.
But these root cause external factors can be alleviated with proper support.
As an employer, you are a caregiver in many ways. Not only do you provide income for your employees, but you are also a source of growth for them. When you implement solutions and programs that tend to the needs of your employees, taking care of their roots, they will grow and produce the most bountiful fruits for your business.
There’s no one-size-fits-all care approach, with trees or people. It requires a non-traditional mentality to build solutions that work for each unique organization and employee population. While it seems like a daunting effort, your human resources and internal teams don’t have to do it alone.
achi works to uncover the barriers that keep a workforce from thriving and to help each company reach its core goals. We firmly believe that when employees are healthy and thriving, so is the organization. That’s why we utilize a proactive, data-driven approach to identify and alleviate those life stressors before they reach crisis level and affect the health of the employee and productivity on the job.
For the employee with financial stressors; connecting them to financial resources or establishing an employee hardship fund
For the employee with childcare concerns; partnering with local daycares or childcare centers
For the employee with aging parents; tapping into local senior community resources to lighten some of the day-to-day errands and tasks
If you’re ready to take employee care to the next level and maximize the fruit produced by your teams, please contact Hayley Studer at Hayley.studer@achisolutions.com. We would love to see how achi can be a health ally for your organization and employees.
About achi
achi(pronounced uh-kai) proactively engages people and resources to advance cost-effective, quality human care for all individuals and communities. Through innovative partnerships, cross-sector collaboration, and creative solutions, we equip organizations across multiple industries to educate the people they serve and connect them with resources to improve their lives from the ground up. By partnering with health systems, educational institutions, and corporations,achiempowers lasting transformation in individual lives— resulting in an overall healthier population and data to transform our healthcare payment models. To learn more about achi and its mission, visit www.achisolutions.com.
