Traditional insurance and employee benefits are commoditized foundations of job security, but far from the only cornerstones that companies can use to strengthen the health, safety and well-being of their loyal workers.

"The best-run companies strive to create a thriving corporate culture where each employee has the opportunity to reach full potential and use it for the achievement of company goals," declares John Austin S. Basten, president and chief growth strategist for The Mid-State Group, Lynchburg, Virginia.

"Insurance is just one facet of effective benefit or risk management. We're trying to address the 24/7 systemic causes of injuries, illness, workers comp claims, health care costs, and compliance fines," he adds.

Many small and middle-sized companies lack the resources to field top-tier managers in every department to help navigate complex workplace issues, such as ever-changing regulations with OSHA or the Affordable Care Act. "Busy managers wearing multiple hats in downsized companies welcome Mid-State's bouquet of consultation, thought leadership, or workload balancing," says Basten.

He says Mid-State's big-picture goal is to boost employee productivity and company profits by providing 360-degree education, enrichment and engagement. If needed, Mid-State can deliver an outsourced CFO, safety director, HR executive, wellness coach, ERISA specialist, or Six Sigma consultant a la carte or as an integral custom strategy. With 36 employees, Mid-State has the bench depth to deploy high-level specialists across key areas within a company, along with corporate growth strategists who calibrate insurance and benefits needs.

Mid-State has the bench depth to deploy high-level specialists across key areas within a company, along with corporate growth strategists who calibrate insurance and benefits needs.

Mid-State provides companies a no-fee diagnostic process called Mid-State GPS™ (Growth Positioning Strategies) to identify, measure, prioritize and mitigate risk.

The process targets five key disciplines: safety, HR, wellness, finance, and leadership, benchmarking areas of potential exposure compared to industry best practices, Basten explains. Mid-State then dedicates resources in each area as needed throughout the year to implement, monitor, and adjust strategies as necessary. The service plan blends each specialty into a unified team strategy to help employers and employees reach their goals.

"Mid-State's inclusive, immersive team approach is the secret to energizing growth-oriented companies," Basten notes. "By redefining the work-life employee-employer relationship and providing holistic year-round support, Mid-State hopes to earn lifetime customers while helping eager companies to grow."

Since this model enables companies to reduce exposure at all levels, insurance remains a facet of the total risk management calculus, but more as a last line of defense, he says.

"It's challenging to change perceptions. But in the eyes of people we work with closely, we are no longer insurance salespeople," he says. "Instead, we represent risk managers, consultants, business strategists and peer leaders."

Founded in 1964, The Mid-State Group is the umbrella for specialized consulting companies. These include Mid-State Insurance; Mid-State Risk Management; Mid-State HR; Mid-State Safety; Mid-State Wellness and Mid-State Wealth, all supported by Mid-State Academy's client education outreach.

Mid-State carried a traditional suite of insurance products for three decades. In the early '90s, the agency began to forge holistic risk management solutions. It began grooming a cadre of human resources, wellness, safety, finance, and health care experts to address emerging markets. The "Beyond Insurance" team evolved to support Mid-State's offering of benefits, commercial and personal lines.
"We came to an important realization that in many ways, workers compensation and group health benefits were the same or at least dealt with the same issues-safety, medical treatment and return-to-work programs," Basten recalls.

"In many ways, workers compensation and group health benefits deal with the same issues-medical treatment and personal health." -John Austin S. Basten

This understanding led the agency to retool its approach to service and benefits, he adds. "We're trying to demystify safety and health management. When you manage one, you manage the other."

Mid-State leaders shifted their attention to core employee needs within the context of corporate culture. They correlated psychologist Abraham Maslow's pyramid of needs with its underlying role in the employer-employee relationship.

Using the Maslow model, some of an employee's physiological needs, for example, could be served with health, fitness, functional mobility, nutritional, and wellness programs.

"We realized the human need for esteem or belonging could be nurtured through career development opportunities, recognition programs, team-building activities, and achievement incentives," Basten explains. "Safety might include a safe, clean workplace-along with protection from bad managers, harassment, or discrimination."

While conventional benefits, compensation plans, retirement packages and paid vacations have value, they don't have much real-world impact on daily productivity or loyalty, says Basten. A well-managed company that demonstrates it actively cares for its employees at basic levels has far greater resonance.

"Companies that really get behind employee self-actualization are fertilizing the environment for growth," adds Basten. "Such a culture provides aspirational pathways so the employee has inspiring, rewarding opportunities to reach peak potential and help achieve company goals. That's what redefining employee benefits is all about."

Basten points out that HR was the logical arena to begin practicing the Maslow principles. Mid-State HR was established in 2009 as a full-service consulting and executive management arm "to put the 'human' back into human resources."

Before pursuing all the lofty goals of employee empowerment and self-actualization, Basten says Mid-State had to first crack a more pressing ceiling: overburdened HR managers.

"With limited time, budgets, personnel and resources, today's HR professionals are looking for creative ways to seamlessly outsource certain labor-intensive responsibilities," explains Ronny Michelle Smith, director of Mid-State HR. "They yearn for an easier, simpler way to focus more effectively on higher level priorities."

"With new clients, I begin by looking at every aspect of the workplace environment, in every way possible, to manage the health and safety risks." -Steven Mouzon

Smith often encounters HR staff overwhelmed with keeping up with hiring, personnel issues, benefits administration, policies, procedures, and payroll, along with blizzards of federal, state, and local regulations.

While many companies have enough workers to be required to comply with most federal and state laws, they can't or won't dedicate resources for specialized expertise. In smaller companies, HR managers are often promoted from within and juggle other job roles, she adds.

"A lot of employers are struggling with management issues outside of the structure of insurance and employee benefits," Smith explains. "There is a true need to bring outside HR expertise to these companies."

Mid-State HR now works with 45 employers, helping them offset workloads, defuse issues, update policies, provide advice or put out fires. The consulting practice has grown 75% in five years, and client retention under the new model is 100%.

With work-related accidents costing companies billions per year and a majority of American employees having at least one chronic condition, Basten says Mid-State launched WorkLife360™ and WellSafe401k™ for employers and employees, respectively.

WorkLife360 assists employers in implementing workplace enhancement programs, mirrored by WellSafe401k, as a new benefits package that invests in the long-term well-being of employees.

According to Basten, the interactive programs, combined, provide education, coaching, policies and organizational change to nurture opportunities for employees to enjoy a better quality of life. "They interdependently balance an employee's well-being and risk for injury both on and off work. Both multi-faceted ?programs are built for cause-and-effect results through gradual change management.

"Healthy, engaged employees are usually happy employees," says Basten. "Happy employees are usually more productive and perform better. It's just that simple."

Smith says Mid-State HR might administer leadership development or realignment that helps employees benefit from better supervisors placed in best-fit roles. Skills testing, career coaching, or employee job fit evaluations might reposition workers in roles where they perform well and gain confidence. If applicable, in-depth focus on non-discrimination compliance leads to a more tolerant, less hostile workplace.

"With limited time, budgets, personnel and resources, today's HR professionals are looking for creative ways to seamlessly outsource certain labor-intensive responsibilities." -Ronny Michelle Smith

Health and mobility screening, for example, might lead to voluntary participation in one-on-one functional fitness coaching or nutritional support from Mid-State Wellness. The end result for the employee could be reduced pain and stress levels, lower medical costs or fewer lost unpaid work days.

Steven Mouzon, director of Mid-State Wellness, creates a health platform which could feature basic movement training, ergonomics, or workflow restructuring.

"With new clients, I begin by looking at every aspect of the workplace environment, in every way possible, to manage the health and safety risks," says Mouzon. "Every aspect of a person's life has a relationship to his or her safety and wellness. Our goal is to engage every employee in some aspect of the program."

Though participation in safety and wellness programs is voluntary, the agency has achieved a nearly 96% participation rate at 30 client companies. Many employers begin by establishing safety and wellness committees to address health issues from both a workers compensation and employee benefit perspective.

"Employers need to realize that safety and health are two sides of the same coin," says Mouzon.

Not every employer sees immediate ROI in the first year. The program is initially rolled out as a benefit to encourage participation. As the program takes off, employers usually get excited about improvements in productivity, attitude and energy, says Mouzon.

"Self-insured employers often see quick returns due to fewer claims because they manage their costs in real time. Others need to be sensitive to the more subtle improvements in attitude, productivity and commitment to health," he adds.