Press & Interviews

Philanthropy: COVID-19’s Silver Lining
by Mariah Shields

While COVID-19 doesn’t conjure positive images, there is something to be said about the constructive ripple effects of this pandemic. With every emergency or natural disaster, there’s always an optimistic side to the distress. This crisis is no exception. The concept of company culture and giving back to the community is stronger than ever before—the pandemic has opened-up an entirely new conversation about what it means to be civic minded.

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Enhancing Company Benefits for a Better Employee Experience
by A. McNeil & R. Avila

Lets start with three questions: How did you develop your company benefits program? Was it built with the employee in mind, or was it to mirror what your competitors are offering? And how do you know if your benefits program is truly meeting the needs of your employees and their families? When we ask employers these questions, the answer we most often get is: “I don’t know.”

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Let’s Talk Benefits in English or Español!

Did you know that many employees don’t fully understand their benefit plans? According to a recent study by VOYA Financial, Inc., 66% of employees say they need their employer to help them better understand their employee benefits…54% of Millennials say they don’t understand their benefit offerings.

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The struggle to put culture into a neatly defined box
Brokers know all too well that even the best benefits plan can be derailed by ill-fitting company culture.
By Natalie Dolce | BenefitsPro Magazine – August 2021

Interview with award-winning Arrow advisors Andrew McNeil and Rosario Avila.

Be intentional on what you are trying to create culture-wise and make sure your people believe in what you believe.
Imagine, if you will, a company that makes culture its top priority instead of, say, revenue generation or product development. What would such an initiative look like? Surely, it would be similar in that it would be measurable with definable goals and ROI. Not necessarily, say the experts at a panel at BenefitsPRO Broker EXPO 2021. Many of the industry’s most recognized benefits leaders tackled the hard questions surrounding the C’s in our not-so “new” normal: culture, communication and creativity. “I see a lot of clients wanting to see immediate ROI on it and that isn’t possible in my opinion,” said Andrew McNeil of Arrow Benefits Group.” If you see things working smoothly, that is the ROI but it doesn’t happen overnight.”

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New workplace divide: Remote versus office jobs in San Francisco Bay Area
North Bay Business Journal Monthly Featured Column
By Andrew McNeil & Rosario Avila
Bringing people back to the office post-pandemic will be one of the most challenging decisions a business will face this and next year. Since the beginning of this crisis, we’ve been debating this tough shift in workplace culture.

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Small and large businesses must deal with employee vaccination issue
North Bay Business Journal Monthly Featured Column
By Andrew McNeil & Rosario Avila
We appreciate that there are people who feel differently about the vaccine, be it for medical, religious or other personal reasons.
So, for employers (no matter the size) that simply want to require that everyone to be vaccinated, we pose the question: Does that decision really make sense for the company?

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Photo credit: Rohnert Park, Calif – Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Petaluma’s Arrow Benefits buys Sebastopol insurance benefits firm Aita and Associates
The North Bay Business Journal
By Susan Wood
Arrow Benefits CEO Joe Genovese told the Business Journal that Aita and Associates served as an ideal fit with Arrow, with its 1,500 clients and 40 employees. He also liked how Aita offered similar employee benefits, a crucial component to retaining and attracting good talent in the age of a coronavirus-spawned labor shortage.

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The Traditional 9-to-5 Workday is Finished—Now What?
by Andrew McNeil & Rosario Avila

The 9-to-5 workday—also commonly known as “the way we’ve always done it”—is how our workforce has behaved since Henry Ford implemented the policy in the 1920s. But since the Industrial Revolution, “work” has changed dramatically…the last 18 months brought the issue completely into focus. A strong argument can now be made that it simply doesn’t make sense to continue with a traditional 9 to 5 workday.

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Think returning to a pre-pandemic work structure is the answer? Big mistake
By Andrew McNeil & Rosario Avila
The most recent fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is the struggle to keep and maintain our workforce. Businesses everywhere are closing their doors due to an inability to hire and retain people. This includes local popular restaurants like Crêperie Chez Solange in Larkfield, Bistro 29 in Santa Rosa, and many others that became severely stressed by this situation. Unfortunately, many of our clients are facing the same dilemma. What can an employer do to get out in front of these challenges?

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Photo credit: Andrew Spear/The New York Times

Growth: Now is the Time to Be Bold
by Joe Genovese

Multiple studies indicate that the U.S. economy is going to experience a strong recovery as we rise out of the pandemic. In a new Forbes.com article, titled “The New Face of Growth in 2021” by Frank Sorrentino, chairman and CEO of ConnectOne Bank, wrote, “Looking ahead, businesses will have to plan for future growth in a much different way than they were accustomed to…one of the biggest trends emerging from the last year has been consolidation.” I couldn’t agree more: The business landscape has indeed changed forever, and now it’s up to us all to adapt and shift.

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