Agency Board Convenes Committee, Extends Post-Employment Benefit

Heartland AEA’s Board of Directors has been asked by several agency staff members to revisit its decision about ending the current post-employment benefit policy. After considerable conversation, the Board has convened a new Total Rewards Committee to study the issues and establish policies and procedures the Agency will use moving forward.

In order to have time for a thorough study and to be fair to our employees, the Board of Directors voted at its July 8, 2014 meeting to continue the current post-employment benefit for an additional year, until June 30, 2016. See Section 6:13 of the Staff Handbook to review the full version of the post-employment benefit policy and for further information and other eligibility options and requirements.

“Total rewards” is a term that includes all of the tools available to the Agency that may be used to attract retain employees. Total rewards include everything our employees may perceive to be of value resulting from the employment relationship. The Total Rewards Committee is comprised of board members, the Chief Administrator, the Chief Financial Officer and the Executive Director of Human Resources. The committee plans to meet monthly and expects to bring recommendations to the full Board of Directors for possible action sometime during the 2014-15 year.

Understanding More About Total Rewards
The graphic below further defines what we mean by total rewards. For employees, benefit and compensation terms can be complex topics. The concept of total rewards can provide our employees with a complete overview of the “rewards” our agency provides, with the hope that this will be meaningful as you begin or continue your employment at Heartland AEA. 


For the Agency, using a total rewards strategy is intended to: 1) leverage multiple factors to attract and retain high-quality employees, 2) maximize strategic use of resources to support employees across a variety of elements and 3) provide a tool that communicates a more complete picture of Agency contributions for employees/potential employees.

If you have questions about the post-employment benefit, contact Juliette Houseman, Benefits Specialist, at jhouseman@heartlandaea.org or ext. 14315. If you have questions about the total rewards concept, contact Laura Gillon, Executive Director of Human Resources, at lgillon@heartlandaea.org or ext. 14416.