Introducing RISQ Consulting’s new blog, The Vantage Point! Get ready to learn about more than “just insurance”. We have experts on our team that know so much more than premiums and paperwork! At RISQ Consulting, we are proud to say we focus on educating ourselves in many areas of the business world, not just insurance. This quest for knowledge has inspired many of our team members to dive deeply into fascinating areas such as business technology, organizational management, team psychology, employee engagement and more! The Vantage Point is our way of sharing simple tips and valuable insights with you. Please enjoy!
LATEST BLOG POSTS
Read more +14 September 2021 in Blog40 Best Books of 2021
By Jessica Carlson, Employee Benefits Consultant I’m about to take off on a much-needed vacation (jealous?) but spending twelve plus hours each way between planes and airports all by myself has the potential to get a bit boring. I have loaded my iPad with various movies and shows to occupy some of that time, but
Read more +10 September 2021 in BlogRing-Ring, Your Future Career Calling
By Tiffany Stock, Director of Marketing & Client Relations | Employee Benefits Consultant | Partner I know it may be hard to believe, but there isn’t a never-ending flow of resumes and applications coming in for people looking to get their foot in the door to start a career in insurance. In my almost 14
Read more +08 September 2021 in BlogWhat You Need to Know About the Biden-Harris Administration’s Actions to Prevent Surprise Billing
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login. On July 1, 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration, through the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and
Read more +02 September 2021 in BlogListen While You Work (do do do, do do, do do)
By Jennifer Outcelt, Creative Content Architect [This infomercial is brought to you by: Music.] “Do you have work to do? Do you have hearing ears? If you answered “Yes” to both of these questions, then you need the newest technological advancement in workplace productivity. MUSIC! Music comes in all sorts of styles, tempos, and harmonies
Read more +31 August 2021 in BlogWhy You Can’t Afford to Ignore Nature in The Workplace
By Angela Baker, Employee Benefits Account Manager When I started my working life, the only plants in the office were the occasional dusty, limp palm. In recent years it seems as if every new office, café, and public building has a green wall. The research shows this is not just another office design fad. There
Read more +30 August 2021 in BlogFurloughs and Layoffs
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login. The last thing employees and employers want is lost jobs. It means financial uncertainty for everyone involved, which is
Read more +25 August 2021 in BlogCan We Change The Lens We View Our World Through?
By Natasha Kwachka, Employee Benefits Service Manager Taking the road less traveled has always been my specialty (insight into why some days I literally look as if a train may have run me over). I’m a mom of four and a full-time working professional, a modern feat for sure. And let me tell you, working
Read more +23 August 2021 in BlogYou’re Not Stressed… You’re Afraid
By Jennifer Outcelt, Creative Content Architect I was a bit stressed starting this blog post. You see, I follow this AMAZING podcast called Ologies, by Alie Ward, which explores the study of anything that can be studied with an -ologist of that field. Their tag line is, “Ask smart people stupid questions.” I’m a huge
Read more +19 August 2021 in BlogI’m a FRAUD! – Imposter Syndrome Blues
By Jennifer Outcelt, Creative Content Architect I must admit something to everyone here… I’ve been worrying about this for some time and the immense fear of being exposed has led me to take control and expose myself. I’m a FRAUD. I have no idea what I am doing. I have no special skills. I’m not
Read more +11 August 2021 in BlogHow to be More Productive When Working From Home
By Jessica Carlson, Account Executive Since March 2020 with the beginning of the Pandemic and the world shutting down, working from home has become more and more common. Even as we’re coming out of the pandemic more employers are not only allowing working from home, but some are requiring it. If you are like me,
Read more +09 August 2021 in BlogGetting Smart About Your Risk
By Joshua Weinstein, Employee Benefits President Without risk, life would be a drab. Without the opportunity to fail, success, and even life, loses its luster and meaning. For example, if a cliff dive ensured absolutely no harm, would it be quite as thrilling or appealing? If presenting in front of others had a 100% chance
Read more +09 August 2021 in BlogPlants and Productivity
By Elva Perez, Account Specialist Have you ever walk into someone’s home or office and see they have beautiful greenery and wished you had a green thumb? Below is a list of the top ten plants that require little attention but have great benefits to have around your home or office: Snake Plant African
Read more +05 August 2021 in BlogA Guide to Tattoos in the Workplace
By Shayla Teague, Individual and Family Benefits Consultant In 2005ish my husband was denied a job at a movie theater because he had a visible nautical star tattoo. Nautical Star tattoos are one of the oldest tattoo symbols and have been around for over a century. Sailors used to use the stars to navigate their
Read more +29 July 2021 in BlogGood Neighbor: The Foundation to a Great Home
By Madasin Jennings, Account Specialist Most renters and homeowners have one thing in common: neighbors. Nearly everyone must live next to someone and there is nothing worse than being uncomfortable in your own home. This led me to think that the foundation of any great home, whether you own it or rent it, begins with
Read more +27 July 2021 in BlogWhy Considering the Housing Market Should Make You Want to Benchmark Your Employee Benefits Plan
By Ashley Snodgrass, Executive Account Manager Have you ever wanted to peek over your neighbor’s fence to get a better view of their garden? Maybe look at their blossoming peonies, size up their tomato plants, or get a clue as to why their grass is always the greenest? There’s something similar that happens in the
Read more +21 July 2021 in BlogIs Nostalgia the Key to Marketing?
By Casey Kirkeby, Strategy Consultant For some people, this may remind them of that pivotal episode of Mad Men when Don Draper mentioned that, in Greek, nostalgia literally means “the pain from an old wound.” Man, I love that show. For others, it may remind them of a time in the past when they watched
Read more +15 July 2021 in BlogUtilizing Your Local or State Chamber of Commerce to Network
By Casey Kirkeby, Strategy Consultant For the last 7 years I’ve attended countless networking events, after hours and fundraisers and it has helped me create a network of friends and colleagues that really care about our community. 2020 was a very challenging year because everything was virtually virtual (see what I did there), even the
Read more +07 July 2021 in BlogDazed and Confused
By Bailey Penrose, Employer Services Account Manager Marijuana is becoming a problem, y’all. Not from any philosophical or moral viewpoint (that’s an individual’s point of view and out of my purview) but from an employment standpoint. As it currently stands, 36 US states and 4 US territories have legalized cannabis products for medicinal use; 18
Read more +22 June 2021 in BlogEmotional Intelligence for Your Inner & Outer Child
By Alesha Combs, Account Manager Kids only know what they’re taught. What were you taught as a child and what do you want to teach your children? Think back to your 4- or 5-year-old self. For me, at that time, there was an emphasis on learning the ABCs and 123s, science, manners, and learning how
Read more +11 June 2021 in BlogThe Productive Value of Not Being Productive
By Alison Nelson, Sales and Marketing Coordinator A couple weeks ago, I wandered over to a colleague’s desk where we started chatting up a storm of, non-work related, topics. A few minutes into our conversation, the Employee Benefits President of the company walked by and asked me what I was up to. I told him
Read more +11 June 2021 in BlogThe Law of Attraction
By Shayla Teague, Individual and Family Benefits Consultant We all have suffered from a “case of the Mondays,” but what if we could turn all our bad days into good ones? Have you ever noticed that bad days often just get worse? First, you wake up in the morning feeling unrested, then you stumble to
Read more +09 June 2021 in BlogMental Health in the Workplace
By Alison Nelson, Sales and Marketing Coordinator Last week, Naomi Osaka, a world-renowned tennis player, withdrew from the French Open. Why would she withdraw from such an important match, resulting in a $15,000 fine? The answer is simple: mental health. Naomi Osaka explained that she struggles with depression and anxiety and needed to put her
Read more +08 June 2021 in BlogAlcohol at Work, a Pro or a Con?
By Natasha Kwachka, Lead Account Specialist I have always loved the controversial topics, the cans and cannots, the dos and the don’ts, that are engrained in our society. After all, discovering what went wrong to create the guidelines that were put into place is quite intriguing. For as long as people have been people, we
Read more +26 May 2021 in BlogDressed to Impress
By Bailey Penrose, Employer Services Account Manager You can see the bottom of my face now. I’m vaccinated, and when the CDC came out with their updated guidance on masks earlier in May, I rubber banded the mask I was wearing off my face so fast it hit a wall. I still don the mask
Read more +25 May 2021 in BlogThinking Critically
By Jessica Carlson, Employee Benefits Consultant I was recently required to watch a video for my job. In the video, the presenter talked about how having a lack of critical thinking skills has become a major weakness due to API (application programming interface) influences. When you look at your social media feed, you’ll notice that
Read more +19 May 2021 in BlogDon’t Forget to Break the Ice
By Ashley Snodgrass, Executive Account Manager For so many employees, the thought of coming back to the office evokes a mixture of thoughts of excitement and anxiety. If you’ve been working from home for the past year, can you remember what it is like to be around other people regularly? Work has continued throughout the
Read more +11 May 2021 in Blog4 Reasons to Learn a New Language Even Though English is Taking Over as the Universal Language
By Aimee Johnson, Account Executive According to Josh McWhorter, a Linguist and Columbia Professor, English is on its way to becoming the world’s universal language for better or for worse. There are currently more Mandarin speakers in the world, yet more Mandarin speakers are learning English then English speakers learning Mandarin. Additionally, by the end
Read more +07 May 2021 in BlogTop 5 Cryptocurrencies to invest in May 2021
By Casey Kirkeby, Strategy Consultant Cryptocurrency have seen their biggest boom in the last four years than any other currency out there. Bitcoin, the most popular and the most valuable, hit a record high of $63,000 per bitcoin in 2021 alone. There is still a lot of unknown risks out there on how to invest,
Read more +03 May 2021 in BlogWhat’s the Tea – Your Guide to Understanding Your Gen Z Coworkers
By Alison Nelson, Sales and Marketing Coordinator Sometimes I’ll say a phrase at work and receive blank stares from my colleagues. It’s easy to forget that different generations have varying phrases and slang and, while the world focused on Millennials, Gen Z has slowly entered the work force. According to this article, Gen Z was
Read more +30 April 2021 in BlogCreating Healthy Boundaries
By Jessica Carlson, Employee Benefits Consultant Do you have a hard time saying no to people? What if someone needs a simple favor or needs to borrow money? What about at work? Are you busy and someone you work with needs something done ASAP? How do you decide what takes priority? Setting boundaries is essential,
Read more +28 April 2021 in BlogLong Live the Hierarchy
By Jennifer Outcelt, RISQ Consulting Account Specialist I love hierarchy, don’t you? It’s just so much nicer when you can easily separate the important from the masses. Clear leaders guiding your mind is the only way to maintain order. Without hierarchy countless systems would devolve into chaos… What’s that? You think I have extreme political
Read more +22 April 2021 in BlogWorkers’ Compensation Benefits Overview
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s MyWave Connect portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login. Workers’ Compensation Benefits Overview When employers purchase workers’ compensation insurance, such a policy is used to cover expenses that
Read more +20 April 2021 in BlogReflecting on the Last Year
By Andrew Kupperman, RISQ Consulting Employer Services and Workforce Technology Consultant, SHRM-CP We are now past the 1st year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic. Things do seem to be turning in the right direction from the perspective of getting closer to life as we knew it prior to this monumental event that’s impacted all of
Read more +13 April 2021 in Blog10 Key Principles of Servant Leadership
By Shayla Teague, RISQ Consulting Individual and Family Benefits Consultant While speaking with my mom the other day, I mentioned my servant leader at work. Shocked, she said “They call you a servant at your work?” I then realized that it is not a common term and figured I had better explain it. Servant leadership
Read more +07 April 2021 in BlogHello Alaska, Let’s Plan a Summer Staycation!
By Aimee Johnson, Account Executive I’ve travelled to many international locations and dream on exploring more (once able). I do have to admit that I am a little embarrassed on how few places and adventures I have taken in my home state of Alaska. After 30+ years (that’s all you will get from me in
Read more +05 April 2021 in BlogKeeping Indoor Plants Alive
By Angela Baker, Account Specialist One of my favorite things to do is to go plant shopping. I always end up bringing a few new beauties home and I need to know how to care for them properly because plants are not cheap. Keeping plants alive is not as hard as you think it is.
Read more +25 March 2021 in BlogHaving a Work Smarter, Not Harder Mindset
By Tiffany Stock, Vice President, Marketing & Client Relations Many years ago, in the throes of a project that I no longer remember, one of my colleagues said something that has stuck with me – work smarter, not harder. I had never heard that phrase before that I could recall, or at least not at
Read more +23 March 2021 in BlogWorker, Interrupted: The Cost of Task Switching
By Andrew Kupperman, RISQ Consulting Employer Services and Workforce Technology Consultant, SHRM-CP Do you ever feel like you spend an entire day doing a million different things at work, but by the end of the day, you feel like you’ve accomplished nothing? Even the best planned out workdays can easily get side tracked by the
Read more +18 March 2021 in BlogYou Had a Great Idea, Now What?
By Casey Kirkeby, Strategy Consultant We are in 2021 and now more than ever, it seems like everyone is selling something and trying to create a value proposition. We have all had an idea or thought, “could that actually create value and make a difference in the world?” Just the other day I thought about
Read more +16 March 2021 in Blog122 Emails a Day
By Ashley Snodgrass, Executive Account Manager I spend a lot of time in my email inbox. Reading, replying, forwarding, sorting, unsubscribing. Repeating. Over, and over, and over again. A weird measure of time I keep is how many messages have sent. If you work in Outlook for Desktop, you can head on over to your
Read more +10 March 2021 in BlogWarmup and Stretching – Improve Flexibility, Performance and Avoid Injuries
By Tonya Mott, Director of Continuous Improvement Well, it’s been a few weeks since I wrote about my success in finally getting my butt to the gym. I Made a Habit of Going to the Gym I’m proud to say that I’m still going and don’t see an end in sight! The only concern I
Read more +02 March 2021 in BlogHow I Conquered Insomnia and Lost My Quarantine 15
By Shayla Dablemont, RISQ Consulting Individual and Family Benefits Consultant My husband and I got married in July in the middle of COVID-19. This created newlywed comfort along with the push to support our local restaurants. The result? Double the weight gain. I like to call it the quarantine 15, but it was more like
Read more +18 February 2021 in BlogI Made a Habit of Going to the Gym
By Tonya Mott, Director of Continuous Improvement Against all odds because it took me 20 years to make it happen, I have been going to the gym 6 days a week consistently since January 1, 2021. And, no, this was not a New Year’s resolution type deal, it just so happened to line up with
Read more +16 February 2021 in Blog3 Ways to be a Better Leader Today
By Tiffany Stock, Vice President, Marketing & Client Relations Our agency has really gone against the grain when talking about who is a leader within the organization. Preferring the definition of a leader as someone who can see how things can be improved and rallies people to move toward that better vision. At RISQ, everyone
Read more +10 February 2021 in BlogG2’s Best HR Products for 2021
By Andrew Kupperman, RISQ Consulting Employer Services and Workforce Technology Consultant, SHRM-CP G2 is one of the best review sites out there when it comes to Workforce Technology. They’ve recently shared their 2021 top 50 list for HR Products. RISQ Consulting has experience in using, as well as consulting for the systems at #1, #2,
Read more +04 February 2021 in BlogExplosion of the Athleisure World
By Dena Lythgoe, Senior Account Executive & Partner I don’t know about you, but I have worn more active gear without actually being more active since March 2020. COVID being the main cause for virtual meetings has helped create a new style definition, ‘below the shoulder’ attire. We have all seen the horrible faux paus
Read more +28 January 2021 in BlogHave You Changed HOW You Work Over the Years?
By Joshua Weinstein, Employee Benefits President I’m no longer a member of the youngest and hippest generation. My daughters keep me apprised of the trending memes, hand gestures, and terms, but at heart, I know I’ve crossed into deep mid-life. With that ascension comes maturity and growth, right? While I still break into fits of
Read more +26 January 2021 in BlogWinter Vegetable Options Got You Feeling Down?
By Tiffany Stock, Vice President, Marketing & Client Relations Normally I try to share articles that are deep, insightful and nonetheless thought provoking, but sometimes we all need a little break from the norm as long as it provides some inspiration! Based on the most recent data from the CDC, in Alaska, only 19% of
Read more +19 January 2021 in BlogReady. Set. Shop! Earn 10% Cash Back at 1,000+ Stores.
By Joshua Weinstein, Employee Benefits President I’m a minimalist by nature. I believe everything you own is a relationship you’re in that requires maintenance. That said, many things spark joy and should be kept around, even if they require TLC. When new “things” are needed, I try to maximize my purchasing power. Heck, we so
Read more +13 January 2021 in BlogVolunteer Time Off: The Benefit That Gives Back
By Alison Nelson, Sales and Marketing Coordinator We’ve all heard of paid time off, but what about volunteer time off? Volunteer time off (VTO) is an increasingly popular employee benefit that businesses are offering as a way to demonstrate how seriously they take social responsibility. Offering VTO is also a way to recruit and retain
Recent Posts
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40 Best Books of 2021
By Jessica Carlson, Employee Benefits Consultan... -
Ring-Ring, Your Future Career Calling
By Tiffany Stock, Director of Marketing & C... -
What You Need to Know About the Biden-Harris Administration’s Actions to Prevent Surprise Billing
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zy... -
Listen While You Work (do do do, do do, do do)
By Jennifer Outcelt, Creative Content Architect... -
Why You Can’t Afford to Ignore Nature in The Workplace
By Angela Baker, Employee Benefits Account Mana...
