Although it’s a new year, many business owners are still faced with the same challenges surrounding their benefits plans. The recently introduced minimum wage increase has added to the strain on employers. 2018 will see renewed focus on how to balance employee needs with the ever-changing workforce and, of course, escalating plan costs. Personalized benefits have been mentioned repeatedly as a top trend to watch for in 2018*.
Employee-directed plans are the perfect solution to give workers control of the benefits they select, engaging them in the culture the company wants to foster and addressing plan sponsor cost control concerns.
As personalized benefits become more popular, many of your clients might be left wondering how they can transition, or which plans are the right fit.
We’ve collected three key factors to consider when converting a traditional plan to an employee-directed plan.
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USAGE REPORTS:
Review usage reports to see which benefits employees use and appreciate most, and make sure those are included in your core plan. Employee-directed benefits plans, like Benecaid’s Honeybee platform, allow you to select a core plan to provide extended health care coverage. These core plans can be customized to include other highly valued benefits, such as dental or EFAP coverage. Usage reports that highlight the number of claimants by category will show which benefits the majority of the group is using. If the usage reports aren’t clear, ask the client if you can conduct a simple employee survey. There are many free anonymous survey tools that you can use, such as Survey Monkey, that allow you to set up a survey and then clone it to use with multiple clients.
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COST PER EMPLOYEE:
Identify the cost per employee. If plan utilization is low or varies across different types of coverage, chances are there are benefits your clients are paying for that are not valued by employees. Employee-directed plans empower workers to decide how their benefit dollars will be used. This provides a more plan that employees appreciate. Benecaid’s Honeybee platform also allows groups to offer non-traditional benefits within your plan to provide additional value for employees. Through the Honeybee Allowance Account, employers can opt to provide unique benefits like pet insurance, fitness memberships, public transportation costs and much more.
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TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC:
Does the group match the target demographic? Employee-directed plans, such as Honeybee, leverage technology to make it easy to customize coverage. This means that the target demographic for these types of plans is usually groups with employees that are more accustomed to using technology, and business owners that are looking for a way to make their benefits plan stand-out from their competition.
Find out how the Honeybee benefits platform can help you stay ahead of the pack by offering digital employee-directed benefits plans – click here to set up a demo of the Honeybee platform or contact your Benecaid Benefits Consultant for more information through email at advisors@benecaid.com.
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Seven benefits trends to watch in 2018
