Board Member Spotlight: A Conversation about Building a Strong Benefits Program and How edHEALTH Supports Their College

This month, we highlight long-time board member Marymichele Delaney, Vice President for Human Resources at the College of the Holy Cross. She shares her experiences with edHEALTH in her current position, as one of our board members, and as part of the original group that helped define who edHEALTH is today. Marymichele also offers a few tips for building an effective, successful, and trusted Human Resources team. 

You have many roles and responsibilities as the Vice President for Human Resources at the College of the Holy Cross. What are some of your favorite parts? What I like about working in Human Resources is that the areas of focus are so broad and varied. I love the opportunity to think about our employee population and how to attract and retain the best talent while helping each employee develop and be more fulfilled.

Also, each employee benefit or program tells a story. It tells what the institution values and what we strive to bring to each employee. There’s always an opportunity to find ways to enhance your benefits package, often without spending more dollars. I really enjoy that challenge as HR folks are problem-solvers, thinking creatively about how to bring about change and elevate everyone’s work. On the employee relations side, I love connecting with individuals. It’s so important that each employee feels, and is, heard. When you authentically listen, you can move forward with trust and transparency, giving way to elevated work outcomes.

Do you have a wellness philosophy on campus, and how does that frame how you engage faculty and staff? Holy Cross is committed to offering a comprehensive program under our BeWell umbrella. In addition to traditional health and wellness opportunities, it encompasses resilience, financial, and stress-reduction resources. We collaborate with our EAP, health plan, and financial planning partners to ensure our offerings are comprehensive and useful. We continually evaluate what’s available and what else can benefit our employees. On that note, we are proud to share that we have received two wellness awards for 2024: the 100 US Healthiest Employers Award and the WWCMA WorkWell MA Award. These recognitions go to our employees who commit to their well-being and utilize our robust wellness benefits.

In 2025, we plan to expand our programs with a new tool that focuses on building resilience through an individualized platform with science-based tools and proven outcomes.

You've been a long-time proponent of the added value the Captive can offer, in particular, edHEALTH. What impresses you? In my opinion, self-insurance is a key funding structure as it provides the institution with de-identified or blind claims and cost transparency. Equally important is that edHEALTH’s leadership board, which I’m a member of, goes to great lengths to learn as much as possible about our schools’ diverse needs, trends to be aware of, and best practices. Everyone is fully committed to making a difference by focusing on employee health outcomes. Being proactive in looking at medical and prescription drug trends is essential so we can find the right solutions from a cost-saving and human perspective. The Captive also clearly demonstrates the value of schools not going it alone. We learn from each other and benefit from pooled purchasing.

How does edHEALTH fit into your work responsibilities? I’m always conscious of Holy Cross being part of edHEALTH. I consider edHEALTH (and its staff) another member of our team. Collectively, we determine optimal plan designs, possible tweaks to current benefits, and the right stop-loss level for our institution.

Do you feel that being on the edHEALTH board enables you to see a different view of the edHEALTH mission of helping to save schools money and have a better healthcare experience? Absolutely. What I find so valuable about the board is that it ensures that the Human Resources and employee benefits lens is part of the decision-making process. In addition to cost efficiencies, it’s critical that we all understand the impact our board and edHEALTH initiatives and choices have on our faculty and staff. What we set out to do must meet their needs. The collaboration among the different skill sets makes the board important to edHEALTH’s long-term success.

Do you have a favorite quote or words you try to live by? This is hard, as I have many favorite authors. I read a lot from Simon Sinek and listen to his podcast, “A Bit of Optimism." His words resonate with me, particularly the name of one of his books, Leaders Eat Last. This simple but spot-on philosophy is something I always have in mind, both at Holy Cross and in many aspects of life. We are not here to eat first!

5 Tips for Building Stronger Benefits and Wellness Programs 

For the second year in a row, edHEALTH member-owner The College of the Holy Cross earned the honor of being one of the 100 healthiest workplaces in America. As this is quite an accomplishment, we want to share insights from the college's Vice President for Human Resources, Marymichele Delaney. Whatever your school size or area of focus, she offers tips to help your team be as productive and strong as possible.

1.     Conduct regular surveys on current offerings and interests.

Gathering honest feedback is one of the most important foundations for successful programs. "We had almost 50% of faculty and staff respond to our recent job satisfaction survey," says Marymichele. In the realm of data collection, that's a strong number.

She adds, "Employee feedback provides a roadmap of what we're doing well and what we could do better. We're going to follow up with focus groups to go deeper into these learnings, action steps we will take, and future pulse surveys. These are free and valuable tools available."

Marymichele also notes that using data collected from her school's employee engagement survey has helped her team know what their employees do want, and care about. Realizing your employees' priorities and needs helps build benefits that encourage employees to stay. Referring back to the data is also valuable when benchmarking and measuring new program success.

2.     Take time to build credibility with your people.

While we often want to make changes quickly, it's critical to establish trust first through relationships. Effective listening and even surveys can help build credibility among employees. Once trust is earned, launching new programs or making needed changes is more manageable and successful. Building credibility helps you to move ahead with greater buy-in.

3. Be flexible and remember that one solution doesn't work for everyone.

Marymichele clearly states that she doesn't want people to be stressed, burn out, or leave. That's why Holy Cross offers a wide range of offerings under the comprehensive BeWell program. "We try to keep it fresh by considering new opportunities on a regular basis. We're also flexible with hybrid positions whenever possible.” (Read more about BeWell in the Board Spotlight section.)

4.     Commit to an onboarding program. Then, build upon it.

Marymichele recognizes that developing and nurturing an engaged employee population is essential to retaining employees. Since joining Holy Cross in June 2021, Marymichele launched a mentor program for new hires. New hires get their own “buddy,” to show them around campus and help them acclimate to the Holy Cross community. “I'm thrilled to see strong relationships blossoming from the program. This year, we provided five lunch/meal swipes for all our employees that automatically renew every September. This has also brought our employee community together in a meaningful way. Everyone loves the free lunches at our Kimball dining hall. For a small money investment, we're encouraging mentors and their buddies, and all of our employees, to connect on a regular basis over a meal."

5.     Communication is key.

Ongoing communications are essential in ensuring that employees know what they need to do and all that is available to them. At Holy Cross, they produce a biweekly newsletter that is widely read by employees. They also regularly host staff information sessions and

Town Hall meetings. We do regular outreach to our hourly employees by attending their department staff meetings to update them and answer questions. Additionally, Marymichele and her team take full advantage of sharing content via LG screens throughout the campus, and on the Ignite intranet site, such as highlighting available resources for behavioral health and wellness offerings.

“Being part of edHEALTH also gives us access to additional communication templates. They work well because they present benefits and programs in an easily digestible way without industry jargon. Communicating in different ways helps to ensure that you're reaching people in the way that works best for them."

edHEALTH Welcomes Stephanie Pasha

As you know, edRISK (which includes edHEALTH) continues to grow. The time is right for us to introduce a new position on the team – a Corporate Governance Secretary, Office Manager, and Executive Assistant.

Stephanie Pasha is more than equipped to bring her attention to detail, writing skills, and meeting-planning talents to this role. This dedicated board position is especially crucial now that we have new boards for the edRISK captive and each cell, edHEALTH, edLIABILITY, edPROPERTY, and their 10 supporting committees. She will also keep our office operations running smoothly by overseeing the administration and business processes for edRISK and providing executive-level support.

Before edRISK, Stephanie worked for many years at member-owner Worcester Polytechnic Institute. At WPI, she most recently served as the Assistant Vice President of Government and Community Relations. Throughout her tenure at WPI, she collaborated extensively with three different presidents, their leadership teams, and the school's Board of Trustees.

Please help us welcome Stephanie to the team!