When Variety Becomes Excess, Consolidation May be Key
When dining in a restaurant with a menu that boasts 25 cuisines and 100 entrees, how could you choose what you actually desire for dinner? In an effort to meet the variable and voluminous needs of their workforces, employers have sometimes found themselves in this same predicament when it comes to employee benefits. If choices are too numerous, the effect is at odds with the intended purpose, and the audience is lost.
How can employers avoid overwhelming their populations with too many choices, while still adequately addressing their employees’ needs? Tailored benefit options, designed thoughtfully with the specific workforce in mind is a place to start. Employee benefits advisors find themselves stepping in as an extension of their clients’ human resources team in new ways. Traditional, limited broker roles of ‘shopping the market’ at insurance contract renewal time is a thing of the past, as employers are keenly aware of the partnership they now need.
When employees are presented with an incoherent, nonintegrated list of benefit enrollment choices, one of two things will generally occur. Employees will either enroll in everything, afraid to miss something they may need, and then ignore all those services throughout the plan year. Employees end up paying for benefits with no utilization, ending up frustrated. Or under the other common scenario, employees will elect nothing, unable to decipher necessary from frivolous choices, and be without vital coverage until the next open enrolment season.
Benefits advisors can prevent this dichotomy with a proper assessment of employee needs, and a consolidated approach to integrated solutions. For example, health plans can address more than primary care needs, as many services now layer in enhanced access to mental health benefits on in-person as well as virtual platforms, under one plan umbrella. Employers with staff that work on a remote basis can educate their employees about the ease of virtual care. Reimbursement arrangements such as HRAs and FSAs can be linked with the underlying health plan, allowing seamless claim reimbursement without loss of vital FSA dollars.
In a growing market of high demands and access to a myriad of benefits, employers need to partner with their benefits advisors to carefully curate a list of meaningful benefits that coordinate and integrate practically.