Top benefit managers have a difficult job but, when they execute the right strategy, they can make a big difference for employers and employees. That's particularly the case when it comes to health care. Over the past several years, employers have increasingly addressed the problem of rising health care expenses by shifting more of the costs to employees. That's proved an effective short-term strategy for cutting costs, but it's often been at the expense of worker satisfaction and long-term worker health.

It's not easy to develop benefit strategies that tackle complex issue in effective and affordable ways, so when they arise it's worth taking notice.

Philia Swam of LarfargeHolcim U.S., Business Insurance's 2016 Benefit Manager of the Year®, developed such a strategy for her employer by concentrating on creating a healthy workforce in addition to revamping the firm's benefits offerings to save on costs. The fact that she implemented the strategy in the wake of a major merger, which creates benefits challenges in itself, makes her achievements doubly impressive.

One of the keys to her and LarfargeHolcim's success in implementing the changes was not being afraid to invest money to encourage people to lead healthier lives. Most people would agree that the best way to reduce health care costs is to make sure that people don't get sick in the first place, but they often need incentives to make the necessary changes to improve their health.

In conjunction with the introduction of high-deductible health plans, Ms. Swam and her team developed and implemented significant financial incentives to encourage LarfargeHolcim employees to monitor their health more effectively and boost their physical activity. Money was also made available to identify and better manage chronic conditions, which are notoriously expensive to treat over the long term.

In our special profile in this issue of Ms. Swam and the LarfargeHolcim benefits program, you will find numerous examples of creative ways to address the thorny problems that today's benefit managers face.

Congratulations to Ms. Swam, and we hope you enjoy reading about her achievements.