Sponsored Content: Key to help is knowing where to find it: BCCA EBT

The British Columbia Construction Association Employee Benefit Trust (BCCA EBT) prides itself on offering cost-effective employee and employer services and connecting its customers with additional programs and resources. However, says CEO Arthur Chung, you can’t access top-level services if you don’t know where to find them.

“One statistic suggests that 85 per cent of employees in Canada believe the employer is responsible for their physical, mental and financial wellbeing,” he says. “It’s important to help employees understand what the employer can do, and what organizations such as ours can do, so that they can take the shortest route to access the benefits they need.”

As a non-profit, BCCA EBT constantly looks for ways to make a greater range of affordable benefits available to customers — and acts as a resource to connecting employees and employers to the resources that can benefit them.

“Some of the employers we look after are smaller and don’t have an HR department,” says Chung. “While employees can call us to be referred to the most appropriate resource, we also make it easy for employers to direct their employees to the right solutions to address their concerns. Unlike some plans, employees can call us directly. If they call us after hours the call answer system can provide them with an emergency hotline number for the employee and family assistance program.”

Employees can also access benefits by looking through their benefits booklet or by accessing the BCCA EBT resources web page: www.bccabenefits.ca/links.asp

Some of the most helpful resources include:

• Family Services of Greater Vancouver
  “They look after the employee and family assistance programs for us,” says Chung. “We provide these services to the immediate family, but also to parents and older children living with them, unlike some plans where this coverage is optional. They provide, for example, mental health and wellness counselling, crisis counselling, financial literacy counselling, divorce counselling and adoption counselling—a broad range of services.”
• Best Doctors
  “If beneficiaries are looking for a second opinion, or need a referral to a  specialist, they can contact Best Doctors,” says Chung. “You’re not dealing with a call centre, but a specialist who can respond to individual needs. For example, you could provide a photograph of a rash on your foot and they would help narrow down a diagnosis.  Our large pool allows us to include this benefit at a very affordable rate.”
• BC Construction Safety Alliance
  The alliance can assist employers to do anything from design and build policies around health and safety, to performing workplace safety audits. However, they can also train and certify employees in a number of related skills. “Employees who want to be certified in a specific skill can contact the alliance directly,” says Chung.
• Construction Labour Relations Association of BC (CLR)
  Both a client and partner of the BCCA EBT, the association provides rehabilitation planning, assists in creating health and safety policies, and assists in bargaining unit negotiations among other services.

“We’re always working with CLR to keep up to date on exactly what they currently offer,” says Chung. “If an employer contacts us with a problem or concern, we’ll know if CLR is the right resource for them.”

BCCA EBT is also working with a service provider to assist employers to file workplace injury claims using an association portal.

“All up-to-date forms will be available to employers in one spot to file those claims,” says Chung.

BCCA EBT also offers additional portals for opt-in fee programs that:

• assist employers with managing active claim files;
• connect employers with return-to-work programs; and
• align them with absence management services, which not only help employers cope with absence, but actually help to analyze absence patterns to determine why they might be occurring.

“Employers are so busy that when they encounter an injury or an addiction crisis they can often be caught off guard,” says Chung. “Knowing that these resources are in place can help them to access those resources efficiently and cost-effectively and we’re here to help with that.”

This content is sponsored by the British Columbia Construction Association Employee Benefit Trust (BCCA EBT) in collaboration with ConstuctConnect^TM Media. To learn more about BCCA EBT, visit www.bccabenefits.ca.