Organization name: Jordan’s Furniture
Headquarter Location: East Taunton, MA
Primary business: Furniture retailer with headquarters, warehouse and six retail locations in New England
Challenge to solve: Offer an affordable, valuable way to help a diverse workforce address legal and financial matters.
How a Legal Plan Helps Boost Employees’ Financial Well-Being
Jordan’s Furniture, a New England furniture retailer, is known for creating an extraordinary experience for anyone who shops there. The company, which recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, takes the same approach with its employees by fostering a supportive, team-focused work culture that offers innovative employee benefits and programs.
“We have a very diverse and dedicated workforce, and we work hard to meet our employees’ benefit needs,” states Stacia Standish, Benefits Supervisor. “I think as an employer, when you look to offer the best benefits, you have to keep in mind that every employee’s needs are different, from the 22-year-old working in the warehouse to the long-time sales employee on the showroom floor. We try to make sure our benefits, especially voluntary benefits, meet the changing needs, year to year, of each employee.”
In its efforts to meet those unique challenges, Jordan’s developed an employee wellness program in 2004 that originally focused on saving money for health care costs. “But we soon branched out to include all aspects of wellness, including managing stress and financial wellness,” says Standish.
That same year, Jordan’s added ARAG legal insurance, an affordable, flexible voluntary benefit that gives employees a place to turn to address their legal and financial issues.
Fast forward to 2014, when, as part of routine benefit review, Jordan’s decided to change legal plan providers. Looking back on the decision, Standish says, “It’s common for an employer to periodically send a plan out to bid. We got a lower cost from another company and ultimately realized cheaper is not always better, so lesson learned there! Plus, they did things very differently from ARAG and our employees did not like it.”
As a result, Jordan’s switched back to ARAG in 2017 as their legal plan provider. Standish adds, “The main reason we came back to ARAG was because of the network of attorneys — and the customer service was so much better!”
Ever since, the ARAG legal plan has proved to be an integral part of the company’s benefit package — and a perfect fit for a work culture focused on nurturing each employee’s overall wellness. Standish states, “Our wellness program is designed to create a culture of health and provide opportunities for employees to learn more about living healthy lifestyles. We’ve seen good participation over the years and employees seem to really appreciate it.”
Earlier this year, the wellness program featured financial health as its main focus. Employees were invited to attend presentations that covered financial subjects such as healthy budgeting habits and preparing for retirement.
Standish says, “The ARAG legal plan really adds value to the financial piece of our wellness program —that’s because we promote the benefit as a way for employees to think ahead to what’s coming up that might have a legal or financial impact on their lives.”
“For example,” she adds, “We can say to employees, ‘Your legal and financial needs are going to change each year, and several things that you’ll go through in life will require legal help, like getting your will done, buying a home or protecting your personal information.’”
Additionally, the plan offers two levels of benefits for employees to choose from, which provides additional flexibility. Standish points out, “The dual plan offering is a nice option when not everybody’s legal needs are the same, so we’re not making them pay for something they don’t necessarily want.”
The success of the ARAG legal plan is not only evident in the strong 15 percent participation rate it currently garners — higher than the previous plan’s rate of less than 10 percent — but in the service it provides to employees as well. Standish adds, “I feel confident being able to offer our employees a benefit where it will help them get things taken care of and I know they will get the service they need.”