2020 may go down in history as the year of COVID-19 but don't be fooled — the crises faced by the nation in 2020 are still very much with us in 2021. "As the coronavirus pandemic is pretty much guaranteed to be a fixture in our lives through at least the first half, likely three-fourths, of the year, the organization that isn't figuring out how to reset is going to be the exception," says Mike Barone, president of employee benefits at HUB International. And it's not just COVID-19, he goes on to say, because "this disruption has changed the entire landscape for benefits, compensation, wellness, diversity and more — and it's necessitating major recalibrations if everyone's interests are best served." Major recalibrations were front and center for the de Beaumont Foundation, which funded a report prepared by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Health and Productivity Studies that asked 40 business and public health leaders how best to address the pandemic while also preparing for the inevitability of future health crises. Conversations among these leaders were held virtually throughout July and August 2020 with the aim to provide practical recommendations that both public health and business officials could support to help public health institutions. "Throughout the discussions, it was emphasized by those interviewed that for the private sector to survive and thrive, the U.S. needs to do more than just react to crises," the report says. "Rather, it needs to build and maintain an effective and resilient public health infrastructure that supports good health for all people." The report distilled those conversations into seven broad recommendations with accompanying action items. While some of those recommendations take a long view for the future, many of them can be implemented immediately by businesses, either on their own or as part of broader-based coalitions. "We've created a dichotomy between lives and livelihood," says one participant. "It's not either/or; they're intertwined." See our slideshow above for highlights from the report, and click here to read it in its entirety. Related: |

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