By Gabriella Chiarenza, a writer and communications advisor for Fed Communities
This story is reposted from Fed Communities.

About 10 years ago, Amir Hamad happily informed an entry-level hospital employee he supervised that they had earned a promotion. The employee thanked Hamad but declined the offer.

“I thought they would be thrilled about it,” said Hamad, now vice president and chief nursing officer at a different organization, Ascension Saint Thomas West Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. “I could not understand why they turned the position down.”

“I asked and they said, ‘If I take this, I’ll get a raise. I’m appreciative of that, but it will exclude me from these public assistance benefits that I get,’” Hamad said. “That’s the first time someone opened my eyes to the benefits cliff.”

Benefits cliffs can occur when people earn raises or take on more work hours and lose eligibility for benefits like food or housing assistance because of the increased income. The additional earnings may not fully cover the lost benefit value, creating a financial resources gap.

One Nashville restaurant worker, for example, shared that the roughly $200 per month raise she earned would cause her to lose more than $800 in monthly public assistance benefits.

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Partnering with community resources when in-house coaching isn’t an option

Employers who don’t have in-house coaches can instead connect with community organizations to help employees address the cliffs they face. That kind of partnership is at work between Ascension Saint Thomas West Hospital and Beyond the Cliff, a collaborative based in Nashville’s Martha O’Bryan Center.

Hamad said Timberley Russell, Beyond the Cliff’s director of training and employer engagement, frequently participates in hospital events and career fairs. Employees recognize and connect with her to learn more about the coaching options available through the Martha O’Bryan Center and other community resources.

“We want to create an environment where an employee won’t just leave their job once they get that letter informing them that their benefits reduced because their income went up,” Russell said. “Instead, they’ll go to that trusted person within their work environment for help.” For employees at Ascension and other companies partnering with Beyond the Cliff, that trusted resource may be Russell herself.

Ascension Saint Thomas West also focuses on educating staff about the benefits cliff in neutral ways to avoid stigmatizing those who then realize they might be in a benefits cliff situation. The hospital provides information through partner organization brochures placed around the facility and handed out during career conversations.

Russell said this practice reflects the advice she regularly offers to area employers who want to help but are concerned about invading their employees’ privacy. “It’s great if you can put what employees need in front of them without any pressure or requiring them to identify themselves,” she said.

Russell suggests that human resources staff and managers actively talk about the benefits cliff at new hire orientations and when they review benefits and career plans each year with employees. These are moments when people may be considering a change in position or may be offered a raise, potentially triggering cliffs.

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Read Gabriella Chiarenza’s full article here.