Domestic Partner Benefits are an amazing step forward for all of our co-workers. Listen as Lora and Tric discuss the teamwork and hard work involved in making this happen at Consumers Energy and how it will positively impact the workforce.
Domestic Partner Benefits are an amazing step forward for all of our co-workers. Listen as Lora and Tric discuss the teamwork and hard work involved in making this happen at Consumers Energy and how it will positively impact the workforce.
Description
Domestic Partner Benefits are an amazing step forward for all of our co-workers. Listen as Lora and Tric discuss the teamwork and hard work involved in making this happen at Consumers Energy and how it will positively impact the workforce.
William Krieger
The views and opinions of the guests of the Me You Us podcast do not represent the views and opinions of Consumers Energy. Hello, everyone and welcome to Me You Us, a wellbeing podcast. It's another wellbeing Wednesday here at Consumers Energy. And I'm your host Bill Krieger. We have some exciting news, as was announced a few weeks ago, Consumers Energy is offering domestic partner benefits to all of its employees. And I have two very special guests on the podcast today. I have Lora Christopher, who's the Executive Director of Employee Benefits. I also have Tric Eddy, and she is no stranger to the podcast, who is a Principal Rate Analyst here at Consumers Energy. So I'll start with you, Lora, if you could introduce yourself.
Lora
Sure. I'm Lora Christopher. I am the Executive Director of Employee Benefits. I'm responsible for making sure that our active and retiree population have the benefits they need throughout their course of employment.
William Krieger
Thank you for that. And Tric, if you'll introduce yourself, we'll go ahead and get the conversation started.
Tric
Hi, I'm Tric Eddy, I am a Principal Rate Analysts like Bill said during the day, and then I'm also a co-chair of PACE. So I work a lot with our LGBTQ plus community and making sure that our benefits and other things that we offer at the company are equal.
William Krieger
All right, thanks, Tric. And for the audience who may not know what PACE is, it's the Pride Alliance of Consumers Energy. It is for our LGBTQ folks, but also for allies and those that support the efforts of our LGBTQ community. So, Tric, thanks for that introduction. So we're going to start out with Lora, we're going to talk about domestic partner benefits. And what does that mean?
Lora
Domestic partner benefits will allow our coworkers to have the ability to add their eligible partner and their partner's dependents on our health care plans, and our life insurance plans, ensuring that all coworkers are feeling supported by the company from that standpoint. Do you want to know what a domestic partner definition is? In terms of our health care plans. Would that be helpful?
William Krieger
I think that'd be great. Lora. So yeah, exactly. So what is considered a domestic partner and how do we determine that?
Lora
So a domestic partner is an individual who meets all the following criteria. They have an interpersonal relationship between two individuals, regardless of the gender for more than six months, share a common domestic life, such as a household, but are not married to each other, and are jointly responsible for each other's common welfare, financial support, and expenses.
William Krieger
The next question, I think, kind of comes along. How do we, you know, how do we I don't know if prove it is the right word. But how do we show that we have a domestic partner and the truly meets those criteria?
Lora
Like all of our benefits, Bill, we make sure that we have eligible participants on our plan. And so as part of any dependent that is added on to our health care plan, we do go through a dependent audit process. So we do verify those dependents. So an eligible partner would go through our dependent verification process, as well as their eligible dependent’s children, if interested in being covered under our health care plan.
William Krieger
So this will also cover dependents, as well. So I have a domestic partner that has children that maybe aren't my biological children, that would still cover them?
Lora
Correct, it could cover them, there are a lot of moving pieces, when it comes to the wonderful IRS and making sure that we meet all the requirements under Section 152. And so there are some taxable domestic partner dependents on definitions and now non-qualified domestic partner definitions. So we always recommend consulting with your tax advisor in this space as far as eligibility for domestic partner benefits too?
William Krieger
You know, I do want to say something when it comes to when it comes to the verification. So that may throw some people off, but I will tell you, in my own experience, when I did get married, later on in life, I filled out all the requisite paperwork and everything else. And then I did get this message that hey, we need some proof that you got, you know, that you got married and also proof of your divorce. And so it was a very easy process. It wasn't scary at all. This is really nothing new. It's something that we've done all along. We're just going to apply it to this new benefit. The other question is, you know, you talked about this being for all of our coworkers, so we know that to mean exempt employees and OM&C employees, really all of our coworkers. What about retirees.
Lora
So our retirees are eligible for domestic partner benefits as well. There are definitions around what that domestic partner would be to add similar to a spouse, a retiree can only add a spouse or domestic partner, if they're in that committed relationship the day prior to retirement. So we will offer this to retirees going forward. And we will do a retro back as far as eligibility, not retro back, and coverage, but eligibility to gain access if they're able to provide the documentation within the dependent audit.
William Krieger
And so just to be clear, if a retiree were to get married post retirement, that spouse wouldn't have been covered anyway. Correct? Okay, so it's basically the same the same benefit?
Lora
Absolutely.
William Krieger
All right. Well, I appreciate the high level technical. Here's how we do it. Lora, I do want to talk about how we got here, though, because, you know, I do a lot of reading. And I talked to a lot of people who work for a lot of different companies. And many companies still don't offer this, although a lot of them do. So I want to kind of flip over here to Tric and talk a bit about where did the start? How did this how did this get from an idea to where it's at today?
Tric
Yeah, thanks, Bill. I think the biggest thing was that we now realize that domestic partners aren’t necessarily just for LGBTQ plus individuals, we had, you know, presented this case a few years ago, and it was not really, you know, well received, because it was only for a subset of the population. And we didn't know if it was, you know, economically worth it. But now, people are waiting longer to get married or, you know, never getting married, they don't feel like they need a piece of paper to define their relationship. So it was imperative that we move forward to not only retain our employees, but to make sure we're attracting the best talent.
William Krieger
Where did the idea originally come from? Was this I understand we did kind of this business case, you know, a while back? How did that evolve into this discussion around domestic partnership, rather than just I think we, back in the day, we call the same sex partner benefits or something along those lines? So what kind of flip that discussion around?
Tric
Yeah, I think, you know, honestly, just had the realization that the dynamics and the definition of family is changing. And I personally, you know, brought in some of my own stories, like, you know, I've been married in the past. And I realized that a piece of paper can mean something different to someone to everybody. So you know, I no longer feel that you need that piece of paper to define a family. I have friends that have been with their domestic partners for 20 plus years, and they don't see the need to get married yet they can't carry their person on their insurance, or their children, which, you know, that's not that goes against our company core values that goes against our safety message. It's just, you know, it's not what Consumers Energy stands for.
Lora
I’ll mentioned too, Bill, even for myself, I know, Tric shared her story as well, I, I lived with my spouse prior to getting married for a good couple of years. And from a financial wellbeing perspective, it's really important when you start to look at what is eligible for my household, my household income, and how can I take care of that household, even though, you know, I had the ability to get married, it just wasn't the right time and to have had access to domestic partner benefits, it would have been probably a much better experience, versus having to have individual coverage.
William Krieger
And I think that also, sometimes it may lend itself to people getting married to have those benefits, that maybe that isn't really what they wanted to do. So I completely understand that. So we kind of evolved this discussion and this business case. What was that partnership, like, between paste the other ERGs? And then along with benefits? How that kind of all come together?
Tric
Yeah, I mean, I, I guess I would kind of say that I was the one who said, We got to do this, everybody needs to be involved. And so you know, my first thing was to get all the other energies involved and talk about how this affects people from all walks of life. And then, you know, getting with Lora and her team and seeing where they were at and just kind of explaining the need doing the benchmarking, doing the research as to why we need this to come to the company. And I think once we had that conversation, it was kind of clear that it was needed, but it was the idea that things aren't the same anymore. You know, from 2015. Everything has evolved in that again, just from LGBTQ Unity, but millennials in the new generation, they put off getting married until you know their 30s. And, you know, we don't want our employees to have to sacrifice that.
William Krieger
When you talk about that, it's it reminds me also that many times people later in life, maybe they've lost their spouse or their partner. And they, they develop these relationships that are very deep and very meaningful. But neither party wants to get married for lots of reasons. And it sounds like this is a way to address that as well.
Lora
Yeah, I would, I would also just elaborate to partnering with having Tric and the ERG PACE, come forward and talk to us within employee benefits, it actually worked out really well. Being responsible for employee benefits, I do have accessibility to benchmarking data that is relevant to our industry, which is very important in the utility space. As we start to transition benefits moving forward. I think that was one of the things that was pretty exciting for PACE to be able to have the data and as well as the cost analysis and projections associated with our active and retiree health care. That's kind of the boring stuff that goes behind the scenes on these cases. But it's also the most important piece of it too, when we start to think about making sure that we're taking care of our employees and offering benefits that are affordable to our participants, yet also affordable to the organization as well.
William Krieger
So that brings up a point, many times when we're doing analysis, we really tend to look at the cost of doing X, whatever X is, right? We seldom kind of flip that around and look at what the cost of not doing it is it sounds like maybe we did some of that here and said it was going to cost this much to do it. But here's the real cost of not doing it. And how did that all kind of play out?
Lora
Tric talked about that. It's really on the attraction retention of our coworkers, the stress, the anxiety, the financial hardships, that can come from not having adequate health care coverage for your family members within your household, our message is safety, right as an organization as a whole. And when you think of safety, you think of the total wellbeing right. If we have distractions within our mind, and we try to work, you know, and it's stressing us out, we're not able to fully be able to perform our job duties. And so it was really important to make sure that we have benefits that are available to help our coworkers improve their overall wellbeing for themselves and their dependents.
William Krieger
Well, you know, I think that, as a coworker here, Consumers Energy have been here for a few years now. And I look at the benefits that we have. And I've never in my entire adult life and never been without benefits. But I do have a family member who owns his own business and does not have benefits and really had to talk him through some things recently, because of the cost of health care. It was, you know, it wasn't just that he was physically ill it was that it was causing him all sorts of other problems. Like you said, Lora, around, how am I going to afford this? What am I going to do now? You know, what if I am really, really sick and I and I end up in the hospital, I don't have insurance. So I can see where that would alleviate a lot of those problems. You know, Tric, the other thing I want to talk about too, was when you talk with the other ERGs. And you kind of transformed this request, it reminds me of kind of the parental leave benefits, right? Where when I think of parental leave for my own personal situation, I think well yeah, I'm the dad. And it's great that I can use these benefits if I ever have children again. But when you look at it holistically, we bring all of the ERGs in, we realize that parental leave impacts not just folks over in what we might call a traditional, you know, family unit, it involves all of these changing values and changing descriptions of what a relationship with a family is in. So do you see that from this perspective as well, that bringing in the other ERGs really helped kind of mold that?
Tric
Oh, absolutely. I mean, that was one of our biggest pushes to benefits and talking to Lora is that this does not just affect you know, the LGBTQ community. I think before when we were talking, you know, it was will now that same sex marriage is legal in all 50 states, we don't need this benefit and then it's like whoa, wait a second. This is not just for you know us anymore. This applies to all people of walks of life and we really, We need to be more cognizant of, you know how we're defining a family. Kind of like what the same thing with the paid parental leave, like, what, what makes a family to you, it's not the same to me.
William Krieger
And I think that really speaks somewhat to implicit bias, right? Because we apply things to how we see them, and maybe not how other people see them, and we might miss out on those things. Um, Tric, I gotta ask, you know, if, if one of our coworkers or a member of an ERG, or even someone who doesn't work for the company, maybe works for a different company, but as listening in this podcast, is looking to make a change and a fairly significant change? Because this is one of those, what would you recommend that they do?
Tric
Um, what do you mean, as far as change?
William Krieger
Well, um, so for instance, we, we saw the change in our parental leave policy, right, we see the change in domestic partner benefits. So if we're looking to, you know, kind of get away from that status quo and change things for the better. What would you recommend that they do? Where do you think they should start?
Tric
Yeah, that's a good question, Bill. I think, you know, the number one thing is you need a sponsor, you need someone you know, that's higher up, get your executive sponsor, have your ERG involved, get the other leads, and the other ERGs involved. And then, you know, just make sure that you're talking to the right people, you know, and use those avenues. So they can start talking, start the conversation. And then once you do that, you know, it's kind of easy from there.
William Krieger
Well, and Lora, kind of the same question for you, as well, Tric, you know, said talk to the right, people. But many times, we don't know what we don't know. So What recommendations would you have to make sure that we are talking to, or at least having all the stakeholders at the table?
Lora
I think I would echo Tric, it really is still talking to the right people, I'm just one person on the team that was able to get this through the finish line, right? There are many other people that are involved. And it's really important to have positive intent in these discussions and learn, the more that we learned, the better we can communicate these, like a business case, so that we can move it forward and cross the finish line. Because this isn't the first time that we've had this topic. We have brought it up before in years past. And it was different this time. And I think we had a lot of strength within the business case. And we also have learned more, and things have evolved as well, which is all really good. I think my biggest advice is don't ever stop either. And keep it going and put the momentum behind it. And if you hear no, it's okay. Do it again and do it again.
Tric
That's exactly what I was just going to say learn. Don't take no for an answer. If you get no from one source, go to another because you aren't going to find someone that understands they are going to find the right avenue for you to get where you need to go.
Lora
I often like to think of the word no as no, not yet. And so okay, and then let me go back, and let's figure out who we can partner to continue to do that forward.
Tric
It's also important to do the benchmarking Bill, like we did a lot of research, you know, so when we came up and like, look, Herman Miller, does this whirlpool does this, you know, these are all the competitors that are around us that we're going to lose our employees to that we currently have and, you know, possible in the future. So is that really something that we want to risk?
William Krieger
Well, you know, Tric, something I have found, too, is that when you do the benchmarking, and you find out other companies that aren't necessarily doing it, that's a great argument as well. Right? Let's be on the cutting edge of this, okay, they're not doing it. Let's be the company that does, right.
Tric
Absolutely. If we're going to be a world class company, I mean, you need these benefits. And even if we're just, you know, one of five in the entire nation that makes us world class that separates us that makes people want to come work for us.
William Krieger
Yeah, let's be the benchmark. Right, and the other thing is, you know, for the folks in the audience that don't know, Tric, I'm going to make this comment that all of these things are great, but you have to have passion around what you're doing. Right. And in Tric, and Lora, both of you, I know you're very passionate about what you do and what you stand for. And when you say don't stop and don't quit. In working with both of you. I'm not sure that stop and quit are in your vocabularies. So I know that all of our coworkers appreciate that.
Lora
That's probably a fair assessment.
Tric
Same here.
William Krieger
So we you know, like I said at the beginning of the podcast, we did get this communication from Kathy Hendrickson, yesterday afternoon, actually, yesterday morning. And I know that that's really just the first step. So what are we doing from here? What are kind of the next steps that are going to show up as part of this? And I'll let either one of you jump in,
Lora
I'll jump in from a benefits perspective. So that's the first announcement and we need to sell it made that announcement. It's amazing, awesome, and exciting. More to come for annual enrollment because this benefit starts January 1, 2023. Annual Enrollment is in the October timeframe. So our employees and retirees will receive additional communication around the benefit and the benefit offering. So, look in the mail, you'll get an email as well. And make sure that you read that information. And if you do have a domestic partner to add that individual during the open enrollment period, timeframe. And then remember to not ignore that dependent audit request and to ensure that your benefits for your domestic partner and or eligible dependents will start paying January 1, 2023. There's also some additional communication I know that's going to be transpiring. And Tric, I'll hand it over to you from an ERG perspective.
Tric
So from a PACE and ERG perspective, there is going to be another article in the between the lines, so look out for that that'll be happening in June. And then we're also going to be scheduling a lunch and learn with Lora and her benefits team. So there's an opportunity to ask questions that were not answered in the articles.
William Krieger
And I'm assuming that it's from here till then, and whenever it's always going to be okay to either reach out to you, Lora, or to you Tric to kind of get folks to where they need to be to get those questions answered.
Lora
Absolutely. And we wanted to share it in front of annual enrollment season, most employers have annual enrollment in the fall, but there are some that start as early as July 1. And so we wanted to make sure that household households knew what their options and choices were if there were dual workers in that household to make the right decision for the family.
Tric
And this is also a huge, huge movement, you know, for the company. And for employees who have been waiting this for a long time, we didn't want to wait until October to make this announcement. We want to push this out as soon as possible.
William Krieger
Well, and I think also, you know, I know that again, this is for all of our coworkers, and it’s really domestic partner benefits. So it covers a lot of different areas. But I think it's also kind of appropriate that this is kind of kicking off as we get into pride month as well, because the efforts really did start at that point. And now here we are a few years later, and this really helps all of our coworkers.
Tric
Yeah, no doubt this will definitely be a benefit for the LGBTQ community. But again, this goes for all of our employees that are in domestic partner partnerships.
William Krieger
Yes, absolutely. So we are getting close to the end of the podcast. But before I wrap up, I want to give you each an opportunity to kind of talk to the audience. And so I'll start Tric with you. What would you like our audience to take away from our conversation today?
Tric
I guess my advice is that you know, don't say no, if you think there is something that needs to be done at your company, then make someone listen. If you talk to one person and they can't understand, go back, and do the research, bring the hard facts in front of them and find that right person and again, find your executive sponsor, find your manager, go straight to people and culture HR. Someone is there to listen so don’t let that deflate you and don't let that stop you. You know, Bill, there were a lot of people that made this business case possible PACE definitely led the way but without these people I would not have been able to accomplish this business case. Is it okay if I give a quick shout out?
William Krieger
There's always room for a quick shout out it doesn't even have to be quick. Let's make sure we cover all bases there. So go ahead.
Tric
Okay, yeah, probably not going to be that short, actually. So I just want to give a shout out to Carson Seal, Lynn McCollum, Lauren Foytek, Marty Smith, Brady Driver, Nick Milton, Noah Coleman, Tammy Brockwell, Randy Richards, Nate Waters, Lora Christopher, Alison Matthew Dietrich Rozelle, Aaron Lawrence, Shelly Ortega, Teressa Stasiness, and Katrina Springer-Fidler.
William Krieger
It almost sounds like you just received an Oscar I'm just going to say. All right, thanks, Tric. And Lora, same for you. What would you like our audience to take away from our conversation today?
Lora
Just the importance of inclusion, really, when we start to think about all of our coworkers and what our coworkers needs are, it's really important to live those culture values, and inclusion is so important for our coworkers and their dependents from a benefit benefits perspective. We offer great benefits; we will continuously look and evaluate our benefits which we do every year to see how we can make improvements in a DEI perspective as well. And I am just really excited and thrilled to have been part of this and super happy and can't wait to 1/1/2023 when our first healthcare claim goes through for one of our domestic partners, super excited.
William Krieger
I'm excited to see that as well. And I think that maybe at the beginning of next year, sometimes we should get together and do this again and talk about how this is being successful because I'm sure that it will be wanting to say thank both of you for coming in and talking with us about this exciting new benefit that we have for all of our coworkers. And I look forward to hearing about how successful it is in the future.
Lora
Thank you, Bill.
Tric
Thank you, Bill.
William Krieger
Thank you to the audience for listening in today. The Me You Us podcast is proudly sponsored by Consumers Energy leaving Michigan better than we found it. Remember, you can find the me us podcast on all major podcasting platforms. So be sure to go out find us and subscribe. If you or someone you know is in crisis, please contact the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. That's 1-800-273-8255 If you are a veteran or know a Veteran who is in crisis, you can call 1-800-273-8255 and press one for the Veterans Crisis Line. And remember to tune in every Wednesday as we talk about the things that impact your personal wellbeing.