Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Looking for a job with competitive pay and great benefits
consider working for the City of Philadelphia. To tell us
all about it, we're joined by Marsha Greene Jones, Deputy
Director of Employee Benefits for the City of Philadelphia. Marsha
oversees a variety of programs designed to support the health, wellbeing,
and work life balance of city employees. We'll be diving
(00:21):
into the comprehensive support offered to city employees and how
these programs foster personal and professional success. So thank you
so much for joining us here today. I'm excited to
be talking with you because wellness. Not every company, not
every organization, emphasizes that. You have emphasized the importance of
focusing on well being rather than just wellness. Can you
(00:43):
tell us more of what that means and how it
impacts employees, their families, and the community.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So one of the most important aspects of wellbeing is
it's talking about the total person. So it's not just
about your personal health. It's about your mental health, it's
about your financial wellbeing, it's about you personally as an individual,
it's about your family and the community in which you
live in. So we believe that if the employee is well,
their families will be well, and our communities will thrive.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Now, the City of Philadelphia is also helping employees improve
their health literacy and become better advocates for their own care.
Tell us more.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, So one of the things that we do typically
on a regular basis is you can find any time
two to three times a month, we'll actually launch a
luncheon learn. And what that does is it focuses on
a health topic. It could be financial literacy, emotional wellbeing,
and we our precursor to that is we'll have a contest.
(01:43):
So to sign up for that actual lunche and learn,
we'll actually test your knowledge about that subject because we
want to understand where you are in terms of your
knowledge of that particular topic. So not only do we
test your knowledge, but we'll also give your price. So
we want to encourage people to do better. We know
that when people know better, they do better. So we
(02:03):
actually will give employees a fit bit to help them
in terms of their physical journey to improve their actual
heart their heart rates, so when they're walking they can
take advantage of a fit bit. So we're constantly testing
employees' knowledge. Knowledge is power, as we know from a
health literacy perspective, so when they do better, they know.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Better absolutely well. You know, when it comes to employees'
well being, having really good medical, dental, and eye exams
vision plans can make such a huge difference. What makes
these offerings that the city offers stand out for employees
and their families.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
One of the things that the city does is we
offer a bundled health care product. So every single employee
employed at the City of Philadelphia receies medical, dental, prescription,
and vision coverage. So it's a bundled package, so it's
not as Zow an employee has to pay additional money
for a vision plan or a dental plan. We think
that those are the most important aspects of your health
(03:04):
care because if you think about it, your eyes. Actually
a vision exam is the least invasive way of actually
diagnosing diabetes. So we know that people go on a
regular basis to get a vision exam. They can actually
early detection, as we know, is actually an excellent way
of identifying and managing healthcare. And so when we think
(03:24):
about employees, we also think about what are the other
things we can offer them, So we actually think about
the well being sphere. So it's not only your health care,
but our well being platform we offer on the GOGA,
which is a well being platform that's offered for every
single City of Philadelphia employee. And what is that platform. Well,
(03:44):
it's about nutrition, it's about psychological wellbeing, it's about physical wellbeing.
It's about how to cook better and smarter. It's about
all of those aspects that make us who we are.
We all know that we come from a frame of
reference that says, Okay, well mom cooked it this way,
rand mom cooked this way, But is there another way
to cook that's perhaps more healthy in terms of our
(04:07):
personal wellbeing.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
One of the things that we have learned through the
whole COVID pandemic is how important mental wellness is. And
that is an aspect another tier that you are very
much in support of. Tell us more about how the
city helps employees and their families navigate personal or work
related challenges.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
So with the City of Philadelphia, our wellbeing platform on
the GOGA actually offers an emotional wellbeing armed as well,
so employees can navigate through that. They can utilize an
EAP service which actually offers employees not only group coaching
and support, but individual coaching and support, So if an
employee feels that they need to talk to someone one
(04:50):
on one, they have that option available. One of the
things that we've been looking at over the course of
since we've back into the office, since the pandemic, what
are the reasons people reach out to an EAP. So
we've identified most of the reasons work seriously enough, are financial, family,
some of them are actually psychological and stress related anxiety.
(05:14):
But we know that the family structure and people dealing
with the day to day aspects of life are the
things that drive presenteeism, whether people are at work but
just aren't there. So we know that these tools are
important in terms of completing that entire employee and making
them feel as though they're part of a whole.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
The City of Philadelphia, Well, there's so many aspects of
this employee support that I was not even aware of.
What is Backup Care and Wealthy Partnership. What is that
all about?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Well, you know, I'm very proud of this program. We
are the first city in the United States to offer
backup Care and so we're offering it through a woman
owned business called Wealthy And what backup Care actually is,
it's a program that provides care for your loved ones.
So what we do is we offer our employees eight
(06:08):
uses per calendar year, and those uses can be used
for if your child has the sniffles and you don't
want to send them to nursery school, or if the
schools are closing early and you can't get off work
you need a backup care situation, or your mom or
your dad who actually live with you or don't live
(06:29):
with you, need someone to come in to give them assistance.
So we offer four options to employees. They can actually
utilize a daycare center that's in the group within a
wealthy They can actually use a community based organization such
as a why the Boys and Girls Club, a church
childcare center, a synagogue childcare center. They can use one
(06:51):
of the wealthy actual care beings to come to their
home to provide care. They can take care of an
ill child a parent and or an el can create
their own network of care, which is a family member,
so a family member can take care of your loved
one as well. So we're very excited about this option
because you know, we worry as parents. Okay, I have
(07:13):
to go into work today, what do I do if
the schools are closed? So planning ahead is important, obviously,
but also for those last minute situations when your child
becomes ill on Sunday night and you don't know what
to do and you need to be in the office
on Monday.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
That is fantastic. Now for so many people, they have
some hefty college loans that they're paying off, or they're
looking to expand their educational background to level up in
their jobs, and you do provide tuition discounts and public
service loan forgiveness. Tell us about the educational benefits.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
We have been very focused over the last several years,
especially during the pandemic, are really educating employees about public
loan forgiveness. And so one of the things that we
realize is actually over one hundred million dollars of loans
have been forgiven as a consequence of our programming. We've
actually partnered with various groups to conduct lunch and learns
(08:14):
with employees, and the interesting thing is employees are so
proud of the fact that they've actually gotten to this
level where they actually have their loans forgiven. So we're
very proud of that. The city continues to offer opportunities
for employees to actually get their college degrees through various programming.
We partner with CCP and various other colleges and universities
(08:38):
throughout the City of Philadelphia for actual discount programs. One
of the other things that the city is also proud
of is there is a lot of promoting from within.
If you think about myself or any other individual that
you talk to, most the City of Philadelphia employees, they
started some place in the city and they've evolved over
(08:59):
time through their experiences throughout working in the city to
arrive at the level that they are today.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Well, when an employee starts a job, they have to
look ahead to eventual retirement and also, you know, the
first financial security and planning for the future is absolutely critical.
What are some of the retirement benefits and post service
health coverage that the city offers to help employees prepare
for a secure future.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
So when an employee who meets the age qualifications and
ten years of service with the City of Philadelphia, they
are entitled to five years we call it City Credit
Health insurance, which includes medical, prescription, dental, and vision coverage.
They also will be eligible to receive a retirement pension.
(09:48):
We have several pension plans that we offer to city
with Philadelphia employees and based upon when they started with
the City of Philadelphia, they will receive a retirement plan.
So once that employee actually goes through that five years,
we also offer an additional program which is called post
city Credit. Then again an employee, after their five years
(10:08):
actually have lasted, we will also offer them a direct
pay program that is very similar to what they receive
in a city credit program that they can actually pick
up on their own. I don't know of many organizations
for retiring health nowadays, so it's a tremendous benefit that
we offer employees. And I think we all want to
(10:29):
get to that point where we can retire and get
that five years of retirement health coverage.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah, that sounds amazing. Is there anything else you'd like
to add before we close?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
The thing that I'd like to say is that the
City of Philadelphia is a wonderful melting pot of all
types of professions and people, and I think that we
are a good representation of who the City of Philadelphia is.
We work really hard to deliver the best benefits we
can and the best services to our communities. And one
of the things I always say is is employees or
(11:01):
citizens too and we all work as civil servants to
make the City of Philadelphia the best place it can
possibly be. So when people are thinking about a career opportunity,
I hope that they think about the City of Philadelphia
because I think that we can offer an opportunity for
every single person who lives in the City of Philadelphia.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
If people would like to apply to be a City
of Philadelphia employee, where do they go?
Speaker 2 (11:26):
We are open to all citizens of the City of Philadelphia.
If you're interested in applying for a position with us,
please go to work dot Philla dot gov.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Fantastic again. Looking for a job, competitive pay, great benefits,
consider working for the City of Philadelphia. Marcia Green Jones,
Deputy Director of Employee Benefits for the City of Philadelphia.
Thank you so much for sharing all this great information
with us today