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2025 Tools & Tactics Webinar: The Employee Leave Journey – Effective Support Before, During, and After Time Away

Wednesday, May 7
9:00 am PT | 12:00 pm ET

Behind every leave of absence is an individual facing a challenging time—whether due to illness, injury, loss, family responsibilities, or the arrival of a new child. Supporting these employees goes beyond approving time off and administering benefits; it requires a thoughtful approach that ensures they feel cared for before, during, and after their leave. This webinar will explore strategies to enhance the employee experience at every stage, from benefits education to self-service tools for planning, claims, and tasks. We’ll take you through a complex leave scenario and share how key resources can help employees navigate life’s demands, whether they’re on leave, balancing responsibilities while working, or transitioning back.

Join us for insights on creating a compassionate, compliant leave experience, leveraging benefits to promote resilience and retention, and building a strong return-to-work strategy that fosters engagement. By viewing leave as a holistic journey rather than a single event, employers can cultivate a workplace culture that values both well-being and productivity.

Learning Objectives

  • Leave of absence is a full-cycle process: Understand how to support employees through every stage of their leave journey from planning to initiation to return to work and beyond.
  • Complementing your leave program with additional benefits and support: Explore how leave-adjacent resources like mental health counseling, caregiving assistance, maternal resources can help enhance the employee experience and boost retention.
  • Leveraging technology for better experiences: Innovative tools can improve transparency, increase efficiency, reduce complexity, and delight employees.

Presented by

Assistant Vice President
Regional Market Development
Unum
Chief Executive Officer
DMEC

This session qualifies for the following CEUs:

1 ADMS, 1 CDMS, 1 CLMS, 1 PHR, and 1 SHRM

TO QUALIFY FOR CEUs

  • You must attend the full duration of the webinar. Following the webinar and once attendance has been confirmed, you will receive an email with CEU reporting information.
  • You must register for and watch the webinar individually. Group participation does not qualify for CEU credit.

Exclusively offered by DMEC, the Certified Leave Management Specialist (CLMS) program is the only professional designation of its kind that provides interactive, hands-on training to ensure your programs effectively comply with state and federal leave laws. Learn more about the CLMS program.

Registration Fees

DMEC Members

Free

Non-Members

29.99

DMEC members receive free registration for webinars.

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Michelle Jackson
Michelle Jackson, MSW, CLMS
Assistant Vice President
Regional Market Development
Unum

Michelle Jackson has a passion for helping people and organizations overcome challenges. After obtaining her bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in social work, she initially practiced clinical social work in Virginia. She specialized in adult issues and specifically the treatment of addiction and the impaired professional to include impaired doctors, nurses and dentist. Michelle started at Unum as a clinical reviewer, and as the Clinical-Vocational Director had responsibility for clinical and vocational resources to include developing broader return to work strategies. She has been dedicated to the national client group (NCG) for over 13 years, working with Unum’s largest most complex customers in a variety of roles to include Relationship Manager as well as managing the Workforce Solution Group which focused on absence management strategies, return to work coordination and disease management services. Michelle is currently driving NCG market development activities and industry engagement for Unum to showcase thought leadership and expertise around current market trends challenging today’s employers.

Bryon Bass
Bryon Bass, CLMS
Chief Executive Officer
DMEC

Bryon joined DMEC in 2023. He brings more than 20 years of experience in the absence and disability management industry. He was previously Senior Vice President, Workforce Absence and Disability Practice Leader for Sedgwick where he oversaw disability and absence management product strategy, innovation, standards and compliance, and product line best practices. He also worked in a variety of absence and disability management roles for employers across a broad range of industries. Bryon assumed the role of CEO in 2024 and provides strategic executive leadership for the association and oversee all association activities.

Allison Morgan
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Lindsay Lueken

VP, Disability & Leave Operations

BROADSPIRE

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Fusce quis arcu placerat, condimentum nisl vel, mollis metus. Etiam lobortis, libero eget blandit pretium, augue ipsum pellentesque lorem, scelerisque aliquet magna enim non ligula. Proin ac imperdiet augue, non auctor ex. Aliquam felis felis, ultricies venenatis dapibus quis, elementum eget magna. Aliquam erat volutpat. Phasellus felis ex, semper vitae erat a, consequat ullamcorper leo. Donec mattis lobortis tincidunt. Nulla pulvinar ac nisl eget ornare. Aliquam elementum elit sit amet dignissim tempus. Ut sed ante vitae eros ultrices porta.

Alice Cotti

VP, Government Segment Business Solutions

AFLAC

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Fusce quis arcu placerat, condimentum nisl vel, mollis metus. Etiam lobortis, libero eget blandit pretium, augue ipsum pellentesque lorem, scelerisque aliquet magna enim non ligula. Proin ac imperdiet augue, non auctor ex. Aliquam felis felis, ultricies venenatis dapibus quis, elementum eget magna. Aliquam erat volutpat. Phasellus felis ex, semper vitae erat a, consequat ullamcorper leo. Donec mattis lobortis tincidunt. Nulla pulvinar ac nisl eget ornare. Aliquam elementum elit sit amet dignissim tempus. Ut sed ante vitae eros ultrices porta.

Seth Turner, Chief Strategy Officer
Seth Turner

Chief Strategy Officer

ABSENCESOFT

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Fusce quis arcu placerat, condimentum nisl vel, mollis metus. Etiam lobortis, libero eget blandit pretium, augue ipsum pellentesque lorem, scelerisque aliquet magna enim non ligula. Proin ac imperdiet augue, non auctor ex. Aliquam felis felis, ultricies venenatis dapibus quis, elementum eget magna. Aliquam erat volutpat. Phasellus felis ex, semper vitae erat a, consequat ullamcorper leo. Donec mattis lobortis tincidunt. Nulla pulvinar ac nisl eget ornare. Aliquam elementum elit sit amet dignissim tempus. Ut sed ante vitae eros ultrices porta.

Michelle Jackson
Michelle Jackson, MSW, CLMS
Assistant Vice President
Regional Market Development
Unum

Michelle Jackson has a passion for helping people and organizations overcome challenges. After obtaining her bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in social work, she initially practiced clinical social work in Virginia. She specialized in adult issues and specifically the treatment of addiction and the impaired professional to include impaired doctors, nurses and dentist. Michelle started at Unum as a clinical reviewer, and as the Clinical-Vocational Director had responsibility for clinical and vocational resources to include developing broader return to work strategies. She has been dedicated to the national client group (NCG) for over 13 years, working with Unum’s largest most complex customers in a variety of roles to include Relationship Manager as well as managing the Workforce Solution Group which focused on absence management strategies, return to work coordination and disease management services. Michelle is currently driving NCG market development activities and industry engagement for Unum to showcase thought leadership and expertise around current market trends challenging today’s employers.