You may already know how valuable diversity and inclusion
(D&I) are to the satisfaction of your workforce and to your recruitment
efforts and ability to retain top talent. But did you know that these important
considerations can also pay off financially? And that D&I efforts can have
a significant impact on your workforce’s productivity?
Many Finance leaders are catching wind, as Deloitte’s 2019
CFO Signals survey showed that two-thirds
of finance heads from large companies said they now have a form D&I
strategy in place at their organizations.
So, aside from D&I being top priorities for businesses
because of the ethical and moral implications, it helps to recognize that there
are additional benefits for the business’ bottom-line as well. In this post we’ll
take a look at what the research shows about how D&I can help financial
professionals drive business value and profitability.
Driving the value of
your business
It’s now becoming common knowledge that a more diverse and
inclusive workforce means stronger organizational performance. This can be
broken down into several categories, including retaining talent, employee
satisfaction and well-being, and greater workforce productivity.
Retaining talent.
Workplaces that focus on D&I efforts and take steps to make employees feel
more welcome tend to retain talent better than those that don’t. For example, a
report from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation showed that 1
in 4 LGBTQ workers have stayed at a company because of an accepting
environment. And it makes sense—employees who feel unrecognized and excluded
are more likely to be unhappy with their job and ultimately, they will leave.
Employee
satisfaction. On a similar note, it’s important to emphasize that welcoming
workplace environments foster more satisfied employees. Modern workers want to work
in environments that not only don’t discriminate, but that also encourage openness about differences.
Gone are the days when biases and discrimination are the
norms in offices. Instead, creating inclusive, diverse environments drive business
value because employees will be more fulfilled by the work they’re doing. An
employee survey from Deloitte showed that there is a strong correlation between
employees being happy at work and feeling
valued by their company.
Greater productivity.
More diverse teams tend to be more productive as well. The combination of
differing perspectives make efforts more creative, and can open the eyes of
team members to views they wouldn’t be able to otherwise see themselves. With
more diverse skillsets, experiences, and ideas, organizations can produce and
create in more innovative ways.
Increasing Profitability
In addition to creating a more valuable workforce, D&I efforts
have proven to contribute to increased profitability businesses as well.
Research from McKinsey & Company shows that companies that have more
racially and ethnically diverse workforces are 35%
more likely to have greater financial returns than industry medians, and
those with greater gender diversity are 15% more likely to see better returns.
McKinsey data also shows that in the U.S., for every 10%
increase in ethnic and racial diversity on the executive team, annual company earnings
rise roughly 1%.
A more recent study from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows that companies with above-average diversity on their leadership teams have a 20% advantage in revenue from innovative products and services for their companies over management teams with below-average diversity. These improved financial results come from the varying perspectives and insights that diverse teams bring to the table.
Effective strategies
for addressing D&I in your organization
Clearly, there is a strong business case for a more intentional
and thoughtful approach to D&I at your business. Aside from the fact that
employees will be more satisfied and fulfilled, the business will likely perform
better financially.
The strategies outlined below will help you get started with
your D&I initiatives and sustain your program’s success in the long-term.
1. Make sure the
strategy is known throughout the company
A good first step in addressing D&I is ensuring that the
entire company knows about your efforts and that it matters to you and the
entire executive team. Less than half of respondents in the Deloitte CFO
Signals survey indicated that their D&I strategy is known throughout the
company, so there’s still plenty of work to do in this area.
Start by sending around an email on these topics, initiating
regular trainings related to D&I, or bringing up issues during
company-wide, as well as departmental-wide, meetings.
2. Set up a
measurement technique
As with any company strategy, a measurement process will
hold you accountable and ensure that goals are being met. Try implementing
things like regular employee surveys, and actually measure your diversity
stats. Consider, who is underrepresented in each department’s management team? Gathering
this data will help you to measure if your efforts are actually working, and
you can update your strategy accordingly.
3. Update your hiring
approach
These efforts go hand-in-hand with your HR department and
the company’s hiring policies. First make sure that D&I is fully integrated
into the employee handbook and other policy documents. This will make it clear
to employees that it is a serious matter that is given priority at your
business.
Then, make sure that hiring and interviewing techniques
support these important policies. For example, what kind of questions are being
asked on applications? Or in interviews? You must ensure that every employee
the conducts interviews understands what type of interview questions are and
are not acceptable, especially when considering sensitive D&I topics.
4. Don’t be afraid to
admit fault
Finally, as the CFO or head of finance, you help set the
example for much of the company. Part of being a genuine leader and exuding
integrity is admitting when something isn’t where it needs to be.
This means that if a diversity goal isn’t being met—for
example, if the company executive team includes solely older white males—you might
admit that this is something the company is working on addressing to integrate
more diverse perspectives. Then, you can show your workforce the strategies
you’re putting in place to fix things. These tactics show departments across
the board that you take D&I seriously and that you’re actually following
through on promises.
Good leaders know when to discuss a challenge area instead
of pretending like no areas for improvement exist.
Key takeaways
D&I continues to drive high performance and profits for
companies across industries. As a financial leader within your organization,
it’s important that you realize the value D&I brings to any team, in
addition to the steps you can take to make it happen.
Remember:
D&I helps increase business value by
retaining talent, increasing employee satisfaction, and driving productivity.
Your bottom line will thank you for your D&I
efforts, as more diverse workforces and executive teams mean more revenue and increased
business profitability.
No matter the numbers, diverse perspectives
bring invaluable expertise and viewpoints to teams to make them more creative
and productive.
Implement D&I into your strategy by:
Distributing knowledge throughout the company
Setting up ways to measure success
Updating your approach to hiring and
interviewing
Admitting there are areas for improvement within
the organization and creating a plan to improve these areas
In addition to these key takeaways, remember to always remain open to change and thus open to the broad range of perspectives that can exist within your company. This viewpoint alone will help you to give D&I the time and attention it deserves.
As
insurers and employers attempt to adapt to increasing healthcare costs, they
have moved towards a model that encourages healthcare consumerism. The
Affordable Care Act marketplace and the rise of high-deductible health plans
mean that employees have more choices and more control over their healthcare
expenses than ever before. Since employees have a larger role in controlling
healthcare costs, employers should make a priority of guiding them towards
becoming engaged and strategic consumers to reduce their own costs. At the same
time, the trend towards healthcare consumerism can make a significant impact on
a company’s bottom-line.
So
what are the impacts of healthcare consumerism on your business’s finances and
your employees’ healthcare experience, and how can you help your employees
become responsible consumers? In this post we’ll explore:
Why healthcare consumerism should be a priority for CFOs
The cost/benefit analysis of healthcare consumerism
How to help employees become responsible healthcare consumers through:
Plan design
Employee engagement in the healthcare process
Educating employees about healthcare options and best practices
Empowering employees by providing them with the proper tools and technology
Why Healthcare Consumerism Should Be A
Priority for CFOs
Guiding
your employees towards embracing their role as healthcare consumers and helping
them become as informed and empowered consumers as possible should be a top
priority for any CFO. As control over healthcare decisions and costs shift
towards employees, so does power to reduce healthcare costs for employers.
Which means that your employees become your greatest asset to reduce your
healthcare expenses and manage your budget. Ignoring the healthcare consumerism
trend can be extremely costly for employers as their employees will be
ineffective consumers who incur unnecessary costs while achieving suboptimal
health outcomes, thus decreasing their productivity and job satisfaction.
At
the same time, consumerism itself is an enormous opportunity for employers. At
its most basic level, it shifts costs from the employer onto employees as
deductibles take the place of premiums and expenses are increasingly paid from
employees’ health savings accounts. And as responsibility transfers from
employers to employees, overall costs go down – especially within the context
of increased consumer choice. Insurers and providers have to compete to win
over employees’ business, driving down prices while increasing the quality of
care where it matters most to consumers. The healthcare industry has to win
over individual employees in their millions rather than a comparatively few
number of employers, leading to more tailored solutions and disrupting the
market to provide new cost-saving opportunities. Healthcare CFOs see
consumerism as their number one
business challenge and their challenge
is your opportunity. They are striving to meet consumers’ needs and generating
serious savings for employers along the way.
Looking
at the issue from another perspective, healthcare consumerism saves companies
significant time and effort because it allows employees to craft their own
solutions and manage their own healthcare. Instead of having to assemble a
health insurance plan that covers each employee’s needs, employers can work
with their benefits brokers to create a range of options so that employees can
opt into what works best for themselves and their families. This form of
healthcare consumerism eliminates waste from unnecessary coverage and makes it
easier for employers to provide their team members with the coverage that they
need.
Cost/Benefit Considerations of
Healthcare Consumerism
The
potential savings from healthcare consumerism are significant, but that does
not mean that there are no risks or tradeoffs. As for all major business
strategies, you should consider the costs as well as the benefits of encouraging
healthcare consumerism and guiding your employees to become better consumers
before launching any initiatives.
Changing
healthcare procedures is expensive, as is employee education and empowerment.
Any major push to make employees more enlightened and engaged healthcare
consumers might well be met with resistance by CFOs who are more concerned
about their short-term bottom line.
There
is also a risk that moves such as implementing HDHPs will be seen as attempts
to reduce benefits and shift costs onto the employee. As such, it is incredibly
important to approach these topics carefully and strategically, always focusing
on the benefit to the employee. It is also another reason why tiered plan
structures are a great idea because HDHPs are presented as an option rather
than a mandate.
But
it is much riskier to avoid adapting to healthcare consumerism. The market is
moving towards a consumer-based model whether employers want it or not. So in
addition to missing out on the benefits of healthcare consumerism we outlined
earlier, failure to adapt can be extremely costly and result in worse
healthcare outcomes for your employees. They will become healthcare consumers,
but they will not be informed about their options and will incur unnecessary
costs, avoid necessary care to cut expenses, and otherwise harm themselves and
your bottom line.
How to Help Employees Become Responsible
Healthcare Consumers:
Plan Design
The
key to consumerism is choice, and your plan design plays an important role in
this. To encourage your employees to become healthcare consumers and take
control over their healthcare costs, you should work with your benefits broker
to develop plan designs that give employees more control and more choice in their
benefits selection.
The
move towards consumer-driven health plans or CDHPs is at the heart of employee
healthcare consumerism. These plans are generally high-deductible, but
low-premium, plans (HDHPs) that are coupled with tax-sheltered or exempt health
savings accounts. They reduce upfront costs for companies and employees alike
and give employees maximum control over their healthcare expenses. Because
employees mostly pay for the healthcare they use, rather than paying a high
monthly premium, they will make more intentional healthcare choices. For
example, they will be more likely to avoid high-cost options such as ERs and
opt for cheaper alternatives like urgent cares centers or telehealth
consultations.
But
while HDHPs give employees control over their healthcare decisions and reduce
costs for employers, they do not give employees choice when it comes to
insurance decisions. Which is why many growing businesses choose to work with
their brokers to develop a tiered insurance structure which includes more
comprehensive plans with higher premiums. These plans also generally require
employees to take on a higher percentage of the premiums. This way employees
can opt to pay more upfront to avoid high-deductibles down the line, but
employers still save. Providing insurance choices should be a part of any move
towards healthcare consumerism.
Employee Engagement
For your business to reap the rewards of consumerism, your
employees need to be aware of their role as consumers and engaged with their
healthcare decisions. Otherwise, they will be unintentional and inefficient
consumers.
The
necessary first step to getting your employees to engage with their healthcare
is to give them the ability to shape their healthcare costs and results. This
entails offering consumer-driven health plans and often providing a tiered
health insurance structure. If employees do not have choices, then there is no
room for consumerism, let alone engaged and intelligent consumerism. But it is
also not enough to simply provide them with choices: you have to give them the
power to achieve positive results by offering them solutions that meet their
needs. If you do not, and all of their healthcare options are unsatisfactory,
then they won’t put much effort into choosing and will not become engaged
consumers. And even if they try to, they will get substandard healthcare and
savings results.
So
a major focus of your employee engagement efforts should be to craft a
healthcare approach that addresses employee concerns and needs. Your benefits
broker can be an invaluable asset in developing healthcare options that
increase employee engagement with the healthcare process. By conducting
anonymous health risk assessments (HRAs) and employee surveys, they can
identify demonstrated employee needs and ensure that your plans cover those
needs. For instance, they might find that your employees need and value dental
care but care much less about vision: these findings would allow you to reallocate
resources towards dental and away from vision, creating healthcare options that
attract employee engagement without increasing healthcare spending.
Once
you have created a healthcare environment that is conducive to employee
engagement, it’s time to work directly with your employees to get them to take
control of their healthcare decisions. The first step is to educate your
employees about their options and how to become better healthcare consumers. We
will explore how to educate your employees and what benefits you can achieve
from employee education in more depth in the next section, but it should be
clear how important of a role employee education plays in healthcare
consumerism. All of the healthcare options in the world will not increase
consumerism if employees do not understand the options and are not armed with
the information they need to choose between them.
In
addition to education, you can also execute several strategies to increase
employee engagement, including:
HSA matching to encourage planning and move employees towards CDHPs
Software solutions to make shopping for insurance and managing healthcare easy and accessible
Hold healthcare events to educate and engage employees
Offer wellness benefits to get employees thinking about their holistic health
Employee Education
It’s
not enough to just get employees engaged in the healthcare marketplace: that
might make them consumers but it will not make them intelligent, savvy
consumers. That’s where education comes in. You should provide your employees
with the resources they need to truly understand their options and best provide
for their health while reducing healthcare expenses for themselves and you as
an employer.
The
good news is that healthcare providers and insurance carriers recognize the
challenge that healthcare consumerism poses and are working to provide
consumers with the information and tools they need to choose healthcare
options. Which makes your job easier and saves you both time and resources.
Your
greatest asset when it comes to employee education is your benefits broker.
Unlike insurance carriers, brokers are truly your ally when it comes to
reducing your expenses and providing your employees with the care they need.
And some of the greatest contributions that brokers can make towards your
business’s success come from employee education. They can provide the
educational materials that inform employees about not only plan details that
help them choose the best options for their health and wallets but also about
healthcare best practices so that they can become the most effective consumers
possible. They can also hold in-person events in your office, from forums and
Q&As to one-on-one guidance sessions with your HR staff and your employees
themselves. Your broker is an expert in the healthcare industry: let them use
their expertise to educate your employees.
That being said, you still have an important role to play
in employee education. Beyond engaging external resources to give your
employees access to education, you should maintain consistent communication
with your employees about their healthcare options, the tools available to
them, and any changes to their benefits. Your employees will have peace of mind
and be more able to make intelligent healthcare decisions and leverage the
assets available to them. It is also vital that you communicate with them
year-round rather than in the lead-up to open enrollment to reduce the pain and
expense of open enrollment for everyone involved.
Empowering Employees
Once
you have given your employees the insurance options that maximize their role as
consumers and the engagement and education that makes them informed consumers,
it’s time to provide them with the tools they need to become empowered
consumers. There are more options than ever to manage healthcare and reduce
expenses, and your broker will likely have connections with trusted providers
who can give you these tools.
There
are two major categories of cost-reducing tools that you should use to empower
your employees. The first is telehealth, which over a quarter of employers
currently provide and 96% of employers plan on implementing. The advantages of
telehealth are significant: not only do
digital consultations cost less than a third as much as traditional doctor’s
office visits on average and divert employees away from extremely expensive
trips to the ER for on-demand advice, telehealth also reduces absenteeism and
increases productivity by allowing employees to access the care they need more
quickly, easily, and without missing work to do it.
The
second tool you can use to reduce healthcare costs for your employees and your
company is a pharmacy savings card. Programs like CleverRX allow
employees to purchase prescription drugs at a negotiated rate that is
frequently lower than their copays would be. In fact, 80% of consumers could
save money using one of these cards. Pharmacy savings cards are just another
example of how providing your employees with as many choices as possible helps
them become empowered, cost-cutting consumers.
Software
platforms should also play a part in your empowerment initiatives. Healthcare
management apps like HealthiestYou allow employees to access plan information
and health guidance, shop for providers, review pharmacy options and rates, and
even receive telehealth consultations all from one centralized platform. At the
same time, open-enrollment platforms can make it easier for employees to make
smart insurance decisions and cut through the red tape that makes employee
engagement a challenge. Online employee benefits portals help employees manage
their healthcare, reap the rewards of the benefits you spend so much to provide
them (increasing employee engagement and retention), and access educational
materials.
Key Takeaways
Healthcare
consumerism is a powerful force that can have a huge impact on a company’s
bottom-line and on employees’ healthcare experiences and outcomes. As such,
encouraging consumerism and helping employees become better consumers should be
a serious priority for CFOs at growing businesses. Just remember that:
Your plan design should allow employees to manage their healthcare costs through HDHPs + HSAs, and also provide them with a range of insurance options
Engaging employees in their healthcare decisions is the first step in guiding them to become responsible consumers
Employee education allows employees to make strategic decisions regarding their insurance plans, healthcare, and health behaviors
Tools and technology such as telehealth, pharmacy savings cards, and enrollment software empowers employees to reduce costs while receiving the care they need
While healthcare consumerism is an enormously powerful tool to reduce costs, it is best used as part of a broader strategy to reduce healthcare expenses. We will be holding a webinar on how to reduce healthcare costs at your growing business on September 19th at 11:00am CST. Join industry experts including Jack Diamond of Teledoc, Brett Cunningham of CleverRX, and our very own Alex Koglin to learn how to manage your healthcare expenses while providing your employees with the best healthcare possible. Register today!
No business that wants to win with talent can undersell the importance of valuable employee benefits, but if HR leaders and insurance brokers spring for every trend or try to find the most comprehensive possible coverage in every situation, those costs can quickly balloon to the point where they become a strain on the organization.
The vast majority of businesses don’t have Fortune 500 HR-budgets, and that means scaling employee benefits with the bottom line in mind requires an understanding of how to maximize the value of what you’re offering employees while keeping costs in check.
Moving forward, we’ll be exploring how HR leaders can maximize the two-way value of their benefits offerings to delight talent and finance alike. We’ll discuss:
• Why more isn’t always better in the world of employee benefits
• Why an emphasis on plan design is crucial to controlling costs
• How to understand which benefits have the greatest value and why
• Why you must leverage employee benefits education
• Why your relationship with your broker is crucial to success
Why “More” isn’t Always Better
One of the biggest mistakes HR departments in organizations of all sizes make is piling on perk after perk and program after program in the name of being employee-centric. While that kind of stacking makes an impressively long list on paper, it doesn’t always translate to actual increased employee benefit, and it invariably ties the organization up with a variety of financial obligations.
Lost Value, Lost Profit Benefits that aren’t understood by your employees and used with high satisfaction aren’t benefits at all – they’re just costs.
While the big, long list of benefits offerings seems like a valuable tool when you’re trying to land a potentially impactful hire, it immediately transforms into a heavy and costly anchor once they’re on board and elect to only take advantage of traditional coverage or insurance options.
Never Losing Sight of Mutual Benefit To be a great HR leader, you need to understand the humanistic side of everyday work within your organization in a way that most other senior leaders simply don’t, and advocate accordingly. At the same time, you’re also responsible for making sure human costs are scaled in a way that turns results from your talent into business growth.
That means your benefits can’t just be employee-facing offerings; they must be planned and chosen with workforce maximization in mind. Which wellness programs will keep your employees and their family feeling ready to succeed in work and school? Which retirement or life insurance offerings will make people feel truly supported in a way that builds authentic company buy-in? Which workplace cultural values or perks will keep people energetic and motivated from day to day?
Employee benefits are indeed employee benefits, but when it comes time to select benefit offerings, it’s a useful exercise to ask yourself: “How will this program improve our team members’ lives in ways we’ll be able to observe and celebrate in the workplace as well?” When you can answer that question, you’ll have a much better understanding of which benefits are truly impactful and mutually beneficial in a way that supports business.
The Importance of Plan Design
Ultimately, creating a benefits program that attracts, delights, and motivates employees while remaining scaled to company growth objectives comes down to plan design.
Although benefits plan design is one of any HR department’s most important responsibilities, it’s often treated like a chore. In fact, if you’re stepping into an early-stage organization, there’s a high chance that things have always been handled on the fly and there’s never been a consistent, well-articulated approach to benefits or employee compensation.
Impactful leadership that supports the team while keeping the organization primed for growth is the gold standard. If you can create that alignment, you and your organization are both primed for all-star status. To get there, though, you will need to leverage the expertise of some key colleagues.
The Power of Partnership between HR and Finance
Your CFO, director of finance, or controller may not seem like a natural human resources ally at first blush, but their understanding of the company’s value proposition, business goals, and overall financial operations is crucial to any business leader’s work creating a mutually beneficial benefits program.
When you bring finance into the plan design process, you arm yourself with the expertise of some of your organization’s most important and plugged-in leaders, and you can create plans that are built with alignment in-mind from step one.
Of course, from an HR perspective, it’s also your responsibility to serve as an advocate for your team throughout this process. Working with finance doesn’t mean letting them design your program in a way that reflects their values and sensibilities; it means using their valuable perspective as a lens through which to demystify how plans should be scaled to bottom line goals.
Understanding What’s Valuable to Employees
“Know your audience” is a valuable axiom in comedy, business, and life in general. If you’re creating a program that’s of real value to your team members, you can’t possibly do it without a deep understanding of their actual needs, goals, and insecurities. In fact, if you’re planning on sitting down with finance to talk about plan design, a great first step is to conduct a little research to figure out exactly which benefits your employees truly need and value.
Employee Surveys Workforce surveys are a quick and easy way to build a data pool around overall satisfaction with your existing benefits program or to build a better understanding of what employees say they need to feel supported and do a great job. Thanks to technology, surveys are quicker and easier to create and quantify than ever before.
Of course, getting good data from an employee survey requires asking the right questions and providing your staff with a clear, easy way to express themselves. Measuring satisfaction for your benefits program on the whole or for individual elements using a 5-scale or 10-scale can be useful, as it creates easy-to-digest quantifiable data.
At the same time, any employee survey about benefits must also embrace the qualitative and humanistic. For example, if you have team members whose lives (or whose families’ lives) have been changed positively by a program you offer, or whose lives could be changed by the addition of new offerings, you need to hear those narratives and take them into account.
Workforce Healthcare Utilization Data While surveys are a great tool for learning what’s on employees’ minds and what they’re willing to tell you, they don’t tell the full story. The good news is that you can fill in many of those gaps using workforce healthcare utilization data from your insurance providers.
Specific, granular medical records and information are protected under HIPAA, but as employer, you can still access a wealth of usage and billing data that helps you gain a fuller understanding of how widely your health benefits are being used, what they’re costing your employees, and what they’re costing you.
Your employee benefits broker can be incredibly valuable in helping you mine these numbers for takeaways to inform your plan design process. Ask yourselves:
• Which aspects of these programs are actually being used?
• What do the average healthcare needs within your organization look like?
• On average, are employees doing a good job selecting the program that’s most beneficial to them?
• Are we currently offering any packages that are largely unused or just plain inefficient cost-wise?
Benchmarking/Industry Research Once you’ve leveraged employee data to build an internal understanding of needs, gaps, redundancies, and excesses in your own benefits program, it can be useful to look outside your organization to understand the trends and common benefit practices among your competitors.
As we said at the outset, buying into every trend and jumping for every perk that sounds good at first blush is a crucial mistake, but if you’re trying to build value for your organization and your team members, there’s nothing wrong with seeing how businesses of comparable size and goals are doing the same. The exercise also gives you a better understanding of what you’re competing against in talent recruiting and retention scenarios.
Once you have an understanding of what your employees want, need, value, and actually use, you have the information you need to understand what value and benefit at scale for you and your team members actually looks like.
The Incredible Value of Employee Education
Employee benefits are only as valuable and useful as they are accessible. By maximizing each team member’s understanding of their benefits, you significantly increase the chances that they will select the plan that makes the most financial sense for themselves and the business, leverage health and wellness benefits that keep them and their families healthy and productive, and take advantage of the offerings you bring in that pack the most value.
Education has the power to significantly reduce inefficiencies in employee benefit usage and build a better experience for everyone. Advocate with leadership to get professional development time with each department or team in the lead-up to enrollment time, and plan a learning experience that helps everybody understand their options, the value of the benefits you offer, and the importance for themselves (and the business) of getting the best bang for their buck. Your employee benefits broker can help you develop and execute on a highly-effective employee education strategy.
Maintaining a Strong Broker Relationship
One key stakeholder we haven’t delved into yet in this post is your employee benefits broker. The right broker is another experienced planner and a valuable ally for you and your finance colleagues when it comes to understanding which benefit options are best scaled to your business and goals.
What a Good Broker Looks Like Great brokers are dedicated to getting your people the coverage they need while also lowering your healthcare costs. They’re strategic, innovative, and understand how emerging technologies are changing the world of medical coverage and healthcare benefits.
A great broker is a true partner who wants to build a well-scaled benefits program that improves employee experience and maximizes business potential. They’re not trying to sell you on what works for them or what will jump off the page the most; they’re working to understand your goals, needs, and challenges, as well as those of your employees.
Why You Should Always Be Shopping Even if you have an established relationship with a broker who has provided value for your organization in the past, it’s always good to maintain your own understanding of how the marketplace is evolving and continually work toward upgrading both your own experience and the employee experience. That means not being afraid to shake things up and bring in a new perspective, especially if you are in the process of re-planning your entire approach to employee benefits.
More than half of businesses shop their health insurance every year because the market is constantly evolving, both from a healthcare capability standpoint and a business perspective. A business leader looking to maintain a valuable program always has their ears open for the latest innovations and can’t allow their vision to be limited by what one broker offers or says.
Key Takeaways
Scaling your employee benefits program in a way that’s well-aligned with business goals and maximizes the bang for your buck is one of the greatest challenges modern business leaders are faced with. However, success is absolutely possible, as long as you keep in mind: • More isn’t always better when it comes to employee benefits • At the end of the day, a benefits program needs to be mutually beneficial • Maximizing value requires dedication to plan design and finance-minded thinking • Building value for employees requires a deep understanding of wants, needs, and actual behavior • Getting the most out of a program requires strong employee education to ensure team members know what’s possible and how to access valuable programs • Your broker should be a valuable strategic ally in your quest to maximize your bang for your every benefits dollar spent.
Growing companies are increasingly turning to diversity and inclusion, or D&I, initiatives to fuel their success. People are the ultimate drivers of business success and having the widest range of perspectives available to tackle business challenges is an invaluable asset to companies of all sizes. But small-to-mid-sized businesses are particularly strongly defined by the makeup of their employees.
Many businesses have D&I policies and procedures as a matter of course and treat it as a compliance issue or silo it in HR. But others are starting to put the principles of diversity and inclusion at the heart of everything that they do. And they’re seeing real results. Recent studies show that greater gender and racial diversity each are directly correlated with increased profitability and value creation. And companies with the most women and minorities in leadership positions are between 20-30% more likely to achieve above-average financial performance.
One of the companies that have gone above and beyond in their D&I efforts is Launchways client Tandem, a consultancy that focuses on developing custom software solutions for growing businesses. We spoke to Tandem CEO, JC Grubbs, about how and why he has tried to foster diversity at his startup and how these efforts have contributed to his business’s phenomenal success. As it turns out, businesses looking for ways to stand out from competitors and fuel innovation within their organization have a lot to gain from the lessons that Tandem has learned.
Why D&I Is A Top Priority for Tandem
Before delving into the business advantages of having a more diverse and inclusive team, it’s worth spending some time to consider the moral forces that influence businesses like Tandem to focus so much effort into D&I. Generally speaking, many employers feel a moral responsibility to take care of the employees who dedicate so much of their time and energy to growing their company, and that includes making sure that all employees feel welcome and receive fair treatment regardless of their backgrounds or demographics. Diversity and genuine inclusion are important elements of the positive company culture that so many business leaders want to maintain.
For JC, though, his moral obligation to promote a diverse and inclusive workplace at Tandem goes beyond these general principles. As a member of the LGBTQ community who has experienced first-hand both inclusive and non-inclusive environments work environments, he sees it as his duty to make sure that everyone feels welcome and included at Tandem.
Beyond moral considerations, D&I is just good business for companies like Tandem. The studies showing how diversity contributes to profitability and value creation are grounded in business realities that JC has seen at his company. Since starting the company in 2011, he has seen how Tandem’s products and the ways that the company executes its work dramatically improve as the team becomes more diverse. As JC says, “It has happened over time but as I look at the way that we’ve run engagements with clients, I see a continual improvement in that. Part of that comes from learning and process improvement but I attribute a significant portion of that to our efforts in bringing more diverse voices to the table in how we deliver work to our clients.”
So how has JC built such a diverse and productive team? A lot of it has to do with the way that Tandem brands itself and crafts its company culture.
Importance of Employer Branding
Authentic branding should represent who you want to be as a company not just how you want to be seen. With that principle in mind, Tandem recently underwent a significant branding effort, including adopting the name Tandem in place of DevMynd, to put the principles of diversity, inclusion, and human connection at the very core of the brand. This new brand emphasizes the company’s focus on the human side of software development: getting as many diverse voices and perspectives involved as possible to create unique solutions that fuel innovation.
A significant part of the D&I branding effort has focused on how Tandem features their employees on their website. The “Team” page plays a much stronger role in the site than for most companies, and Tandem has done several things differently to foster a sense of diversity and inclusion. The first thing that visitors will probably notice is that the page isn’t organized with the C-Suite at the top and lower-ranked team members as you scroll down. Instead, everyone is mixed together with the CEO and COO right in the middle so that leadership at the center, rather than the top, of the company. And each employee profile features an in-depth bio that helps potential clients and employees get to know the team, plus three photos including one featuring the employee’s favorite hobby to further humanize the team members.
It’s hard to overemphasize the importance of employer branding and featuring employees so heavily on the website. In fact, according to JC, branding and highlighting his team members has been the number one contributor to the increase in diversity at Tandem. One of the first things that people from underrepresented communities look at when they’re considering a potential employer is what the team looks like. As JC puts it, “When they go to your site and see people who look like them and when they read their bios, they read things that feel like them, it immediately puts them in a different frame of mind in terms of how they view you as an employer.”
The benefits don’t stop at attracting diverse and talented employees, either. Another driver for Tandem’s focus on their Team page and D&I branding is to celebrate their success in that area and the success of their team. Small-to-mid-sized businesses are ultimately just a conglomeration of their employees and it’s important that both potential employees and clients see the people they’re going to be working with and get a sense of what voices are going to be in the room. This can not only lead to productive partnerships but also prevent damaging missteps as it can drive away employees or clients who aren’t a good fit. As far as Tandem is concerned, they don’t want to work with employees or clients who do not want to work with a team like theirs, so the more public they make their diversity the better.
Tailoring the Employee Benefits Package for D&I
But branding can only go so far; the real measure of a business’s diversity and inclusion is how they treat their employees. For growing businesses, especially in the tech field, who lack the resources to compete with major companies in terms of salaries and bonuses, this means tailoring their benefits packages to attract talent and build a diverse and inclusive team.
At Tandem, this started with a comprehensive and fully employer-paid insurance package that provides 100% coverage for employees and their families on all major health aspects: medical, dental, vision, and more. Just last year, they added a telehealth program so that employees can get access to medical advice more quickly and easily; a benefit that especially appeals to employees with children.
Tandem tailored its other benefits to accommodate people who have responsibilities that aren’t tied to work, such as being the caretaker for aging parents or being parents themselves. They implemented a flexible time policy that lets employees set their own schedule as long as they are in the office for core work hours from 10:00am-4:00, give employees the option of working remotely one day a week, and allow employees to work from home on other days whenever the need arises. Despite being too small to be required to offer maternity leave under FMLA, Tandem also offers 8 weeks of new-parent leave for natural births and adoptions, on top of standard PTO. Having that flexibility and making sure that the flexibility is integrated into company policies and processes is an important step to support a diverse set of outside of work needs; another key element of D&I.
Tandem isn’t ready to stop there, either. They are already exploring two new potential benefits to better foster diversity and inclusion: fertility and gender transition support benefits. While they are still looking into costs and proper structures and have not pulled the trigger yet, they believe that it is important to think ahead and look beyond traditional benefits to see what you can and should do to support a more diverse set of employee needs.
Ongoing D&I Efforts and Accountability
The final lesson that growing businesses can take away from Tandem’s D&I success is that diversity and inclusion is a constantly evolving process and that it is important to reevaluate current practices to see if you’re doing the right things and if are there new areas that you should explore. In fact, Tandem’s CEO went so far as to say, “If I had any advice for other growing businesses it would be that D&I is not a one-and-done, ‘check all the boxes’ and then move on type of issue: you need to reexamine it on a continuing basis.”
So what should growing businesses who are dedicated to promoting D&I do to monitor and reexamine their efforts? Tandem conducts bi-annual employee satisfaction surveys and the CEO has a one-on-one with every employee at least annually so that Tandem can be sure that it is maintaining its culture, that its employees feel engaged and included, and that any issues can be identified and corrected. JC also decided to create a Culture and Inclusion committee made up of a wide range of employees that meets every quarter to review current practices, discuss possible initiatives, and generally steer the direction of the company’s D&I efforts.
This committee has been central to the successful integration of D&I into Tandem’s brand and operations. It was responsible for raising the possibility of providing fertility and gender transition support benefits after it worked with Launchways to determine what the current insurance covered and what opportunities for improvement were left on the table. It also looks at the public face of the company to see if it is sending the types of signals to job candidates, such as reviewing job descriptions to see if they appropriately emphasize inclusion or use language that can be interpreted as exclusionary.
Tandem also recently completed an ADA study of their physical office space to get a sense of what they need to do to support people who need access to the building in different ways. And Tandem is planning on publicly releasing career paths, complete with requirements to move up to each position and salary ranges for every position, to encourage transparency and fairness both internally and for potential employees. This is significant, because transparency is absolutely vital to fostering true diversity and inclusion.
Key Takeaways
Every company is unique, and its approach diversity and inclusion should be as well. But Tandem provides a compelling model of how companies can put the principles of D&I at the heart of their employer brand, benefits strategy, and processes to build a diverse and innovative team. Hopefully, you can apply some of the lessons that Tandem has learned to fuel your business’s growth. Just remember that:
• In addition to being morally right, diversity and inclusion is just good business and results in increased profits and business results
• Your employer brand defines how potential employees and clients see you, so making sure that it aligns with and celebrates diversity and inclusion can help you build an innovative workforce and productive partnerships
• Benefits are often the most concrete tool that employers have to foster D&I by accommodating a wide range of employee needs
• D&I is an ongoing process that requires constant reevaluation, accountability, and transparency
Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are now becoming more and more engaged in the HR function, and ensuring that each and every aspect of HR is reviewed carefully and regularly is an important step forward for any organization.
Data from a Robert Half survey shows that HR is the top area where CFOs have expanded their reach over the last three years (39%), largely because CFO involvement in HR allows them to address staffing challenges from a financial perspective.
As CFOs continue to put more time into HR, it’s first crucial to understand the major areas in which CFOs should begin their assessments regarding whether an organization has a sound HR operating structure in place. In this post we will overview the main areas of focus a CFO should assess to ensure a healthy HR function.
HR Areas of Focus for CFO Assessment
Company Culture
Company Culture Audit Company culture is one of the most important aspects of maintaining a competitive modern workplace. In a study conducted by RippleMatch, company culture was the leading reason that a candidate decided to accept a job or not, with almost three quarters of respondents (who were 700-plus recent graduates) reporting that this consideration was the most important. When it comes to auditing your organization’s cultural health, measuring employee satisfaction is key.
Employee Satisfaction In HR’s current “war for talent,” with the unemployment rate the lowest it’s been in decades, it’s more important than ever to create a solid recruitment strategy that’s complemented by employee satisfaction as a serious driving force. CFOs looking to assess the current health of the HR department need to put time into assessing employee satisfaction, whether by: • Implementing regular employee satisfaction surveys • Inviting employees to join company discussions or meetings • Gauging interest in benefits like company events, outings, professional development opportunities, and work-life balance benefits • Ensuring a sound manager-employee review system is in place that happens at least once or twice per year
Addressing Critical Culture Issue Areas Another aspect of a company culture audit is identifying the most critical issue areas. To really have a complete, successful HR program, any company culture problems must be proactively addressed. Critical issues often include that the company has no clear values that employees can recognize and thus cling to; that leadership isn’t accessible or transparent; or that there are no long-term goals in place.
If these three common issues can be recognized and addressed by CFOs, company culture will be on the path to being revamped and competitive.
Compensation and Rewards
Of course, another important aspect of HR is compensation and benefits. And part of staying relevant is ensuring that you’re offering competitive salaries and benefits packages to employees.
Benchmarking Salaries Especially with top-level talent and executives, it can be challenging to know if an employee will be tempted by a better offer within a competing organization. One way to ensure you remain competitive and retain this top talent is to benchmark, which means assessing your own compensation structure and comparing it to other companies within your industry. Then, salaries can be updated if necessary (or, benefits can be improved to balance out any salary discrepancies).
Bonuses and Incentives It’s common knowledge that employee satisfaction increases when employee contributions are overtly recognized and celebrated. This is why bonuses or performance-based incentives can be impactful in HR retention strategies. CFOs should try implementing an incentive that’s based on an employee’s performance, giving them something to work towards and thus improving motivation. Year-end bonuses can also help employees feel recognized and satisfied with their jobs. While a simple “thank you” may work at times to encourage and inspire, HR and CFOs should work together to create an incentive program that the organization can afford and which motivates employees.
Benefits Package Similar to compensation benchmarking, CFOs should do their research to ensure that the company’s benefits package is competitive and updated regularly. This means knowing what modern top talent is looking for. According to Harvard Business Review survey data, the most desirable employee benefits are: • Health, dental, and vision insurance • Flexible hours • Vacation time/paid time off • Work-from home options • Unlimited vacation • Student loan assistance • Tuition assistance • Paid parental leave
One of a business’ largest expenses is the annual dollar amount spent on employee benefits. CFOs should make sure that benefits dollars and being invested wisely into crafting a thoughtful, impactful benefits package.
Technology and Data
Another big consideration for HR departments and CFOs alike is data. With the rise of automation and machine learning, businesses can now streamline processes and analyze large amounts of data to make future plans and projections. And these changes apply to HR efforts, such recruitment and retention, which now depend on sophisticated data and a method in place to analyze it, such as a useable online dashboard.
According to a report from KPMG, 92% of strategic HR functions now see automation as having a significant impact on the HR function, and 66% of organizations are putting a greater focus on the automation conversation within their company.
However, actual strategies are still lacking in HR, KPMG data also shows. While around two thirds of HR executives recently reported to believe that HR is undergoing a big digital transformation, only 40% of these leaders said they have a plan in place at either the enterprise or HR level. So, putting these considerations at the top of the priority list could give your business a significant competitive edge.
Assessing the Existing Technology Stack First, CFOs should start by assessing their HR department’s current technology utilization. Is there a method in place to not only gather data, but to analyze it and incorporate it into a long-term strategy? What databases and dashboards are being used, and are they successful? And of course, cost is an important factor in implementing new technologies, so CFOs are encouraged to always consider technology ROI in terms of process improvement.
How to Find the Right HR tech for Your Business Every organization has different needs and trends, so it’s important for you to help your HR department figure out which technologies will best meet your business’ needs. Some important considerations to keep in mind include: • How automation will impact the need for long-term HR staff • Training for HR staff to be able to properly use technology to handle and analyze data • Implementation processes and timelines for new technology
Key Data Metrics to Track Over Time So what metrics should your HR department care about most? Here are some of the top data metrics for HR to track and use for future planning: • Cost-benefit analysis: tracking the benefits of a program weighed against the cost (such as a benefits package) • Revenue per employee/productivity: tracking the total amount of company revenue divided by the number of employees so that efficiency and productivity can be measured via human capital • Recruitment: tracking how long it takes to fill a position, and how much it costs • Turnover: tracking how long employees stay at the company and which departments see the highest turnover, in addition to the cost of turnover • Retention: tracking the company’s actual ability to retain key talent
Hiring and Retention
Next, CFOs should analyze hiring and retention strategies, one of the most important parts of the HR function.
Recruitment Tactics How is the HR department currently approaching recruitment? This includes considerations like where job advertisements are being posted, whether recruiters are engaged with platforms like LinkedIn or other social media outlets, and whether competitors’ job posts are being assessed and incorporated into the company’s own job ad approach.
Depending on your industry, recruiters should be involved in researching and reaching out to top talent who they find would be great candidates. This could be through networking events or via online platforms.
Hiring Processes It’s also important to consider the efficiency and effectiveness of hiring procedures, such as: • How resumes or cover letters are received (email, online application, etc.) • How long it takes HR to respond • How the interview process works (i.e., phone interview followed by two in-person interviews) • How job offers are relayed (email, formal letter)
Onboarding and Training A good onboarding strategy can make or break recruitment efforts and retention strategies. It’s important to set up a welcoming, informative program that educates new hires and aims to integrate them into company culture by involving multiple departments and individuals. These early connections are important for any new hire to feel like they made the right decision in accepting a job.
Just as important is training and development that new hires will need, so each department should have its own system in place in addition to the overall HR employee training program. These are important considerations: 69% of employees have a higher chance of sticking with a company for three years if they have a great onboarding experience.
Identifying and Addressing Turnover Issues One of the biggest threats for modern businesses is high turnover. The Center for American Progress says that on average, the cost of turnover is 22% of an employee’s annual salary.
The first step in addressing turnover problems is figuring out when employees leave—if it’s near the start of their tenure at the company, greater focus is needed for onboarding and training, perhaps. If it’s later in the employee’s tenure, the reasons could be related to company culture, benefits, compensation, management, or room for growth within the company. All of these considerations deserve a detailed plan from your HR function.
Compliance Review
CFOs play a major role in HR compliance, since penalties or legal issues could be involved if required policies and procedures aren’t followed. Here are the top areas for CFOs to review regarding compliance.
Employee Handbook Every HR department should create an employee handbook that lists all policies and procedures. This levels the playing field so that employees don’t think one worker is getting special treatment. The handbook should be updated as the industry changes or as new laws and regulations are put into effect, and it should include things like benefits, leave policies, dress code, flexible working opportunities, tuition reimbursement, and more.
Employee Files CFOs should take a look at how employee files are currently handled. There are many records that need to be kept confidential, so it’s crucial to ensure that there is a security system in place for these sensitive records.
Benefits Compliance Review There are important acts and laws for every HR professional and CFO to understand and ensure compliance with. Some of the most important include: • Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): related to required time off for new parents, health issues, or family issues • Fair Labor Standards Act: overtime regulations, minimum wage, etc. • Disability coverage regulations for employees • COBRA: required continued insurance offering after an employee leaves the company
An important aspect of the HR function is ensuring all of these important regulations and policies are followed and applicable requirements are met.
Strategic Alignment Evaluation
Because HR is such a crucial part of company operations, it’s important that the department is aligned with other areas across the organization. HR is often the first point of contact for job candidates, so HR professionals have a unique obligation to reflect company values as well as the positives of working at your business.
Aligning Finance, HR, and Company Goals Part of the CFO’s involvement in HR is to ensure that practices are aligned with finance and overall company goals. Some of the HR metrics to track that were described earlier will apply here, since they’ll be important in determining cost-benefit ratio, the cost of recruitment/new hires, and other HR finance considerations.
Company goals and values should also align with HR for the reasons previously mentioned: HR is often the face of the company during recruitment and hiring, so it’s crucial that these professionals reflect the organization’s mission, vision, and goals. Leadership from each of these areas within the company should meet regularly and discuss any issues so that key team members are aligned across the board.
Long-Term Workforce Planning Many of the considerations already discussed are necessary for efficient workforce planning. This means integrating a company’s goals and mission while ensuring that the organization has the human capital it needs to succeed. HR professionals, in conjunction with the CFO, need to evaluate both current and future needs in personnel and departmental structure, and figure out how to make these efforts cost-effective.
Another consideration here is the professional development and training that will keep personnel effective within the given industry. As mentioned, in regards to technology, systems and processes are constantly changing, and companies have to ensure that they keep up by educating employees, ensuring they can operate with the most cost-effective and efficient tools in place.
Key Takeaways
In today’s workforce, CFOs are tasked with ensuring that HR not only functions as it should on the appropriate legal and financial level, but also that it is making successful efforts to integrate technology and implement high-impact recruiting and retention strategies.
When assessing the current state of an HR department, CFOs should remember to look at the following key areas:
Company Culture
Compensation, Benefits, and Incentives
Technology and Data Strategy
Hiring, Onboarding, and Retention
Compliance
Strategic Alignment and Workforce Planning
Only after reviewing these key aspects of HR can CFOs better make decisions about personnel, policies and procedures, cost considerations, and departmental structure that will drive the business forward.
The LGBTQ community has yet to have full federal protection in the workplace against discrimination. In May 2019, the House of Representatives passed the Equality Act, which bans discrimination because of an employee’s sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity, but the bill is resting with the Senate, who may decide not to pass it.
In your workplace, diversity and inclusion should be two main priorities, and adequately addressing these matters means that you are both recognizing and encouraging the LGBTQ community to feel open, safe, and normal living and working as they are.
Here are key reasons why you should take action to create a more inclusive and diverse workforce, and the ways to do it.
Impacts on the LGBTQ community when they feel excluded
It’s easy to see why LGBTQ workers would continue to feel excluded in the workplace. They often don’t feel understood or acknowledged, and they may feel like they’re not able to participate in normal discussions or activities because of the fear of being judged or stereotyped.
Many people in this community feel overly sexualized. Essentially what this means is that when it becomes known that they have a certain “nontraditional” sexual orientation, they become their sexual identity, instead of coworkers seeing them for themselves and their work capabilities.
This feeling of exclusion leads to negative feelings and even lack of productivity at work: 25% of LGBTQ workers report feeling distracted from work, as the Human Rights Campaign report shows, 17% report feeling exhausted from having to hide their sexual orientation, and 31% report feeling unhappy or depressed at work.
Why encourage openness and acceptance?
According to the aforementioned report, 46% of workers who identify as LGBTQ remain closeted, and half of those surveyed said that there aren’t any employees at their organization who are open about it.
While it’s of course not always a great idea to have everyone discuss or admit to their sexual experiences in the workplace, the reasons behind staying closeted show how fearful a non-inclusive workplace can be for this community. The top reasons that they stay closeted are:
• The potential to be stereotyped by coworkers
• To avoid making others feel uncomfortable
• To avoid losing connections or relationships
• To avoid coworkers thinking they are attracted to them because they are LGBTQ
Make sure in your efforts to encourage openness that you aren’t forcing LGBTQ workers to disclose things they aren’t comfortable with; the key is to educate staff and have serious discussions about these topics. If they aren’t talked about, LGBTQ workers will feel like they have to remain closeted. And while some topics are “supposed to be” taboo at work, like sex or politics, the truth is, many employees talk about their lives outside of work on a daily basis with their coworkers.
Why educate employees?
It’s also important to keep all employees educated about policies and aware of how best to behave in the workplace. You aren’t telling them what to believe, just how to represent the company and treat others while they’re on your watch.
Many employees may just not be aware of these issues, and so they may not even recognize that their behavior is out of line or could be offensive to their coworkers. It’s your responsibility to thus educate them so that they are more thoughtful and deliberate about how they treat certain topics and talk to each other at work.
The Workplace Divided report revealed an additional alarming statistic in this area: 1 in 5 LGBTQ workers have experienced being told by a coworker that they should dress either more feminine of masculine; only 1 in 24 non-LGBTQ workers reported this having ever happened to them. Additionally, 36% of non-LGBTQ employees said that they would feel uncomfortable if an LGBTQ coworker started talking about their dating life.
So, there is clearly still a bias in place that needs to be addressed in each and every workplace. Part of ensuring you are fostering an inclusive and diverse office is educating everyone to get them thinking about their behavior and the way they treat others.
Benefits of inclusivity for your company
Your LGBTQ workers will not be the only ones who benefit from addressing these issues. Think about the benefits your organization will also experience: • Less discrimination lawsuits and therefore less in legal fees • Less turnover, as 1 in 4 LGBTQ workers said they stayed in a job because the workplace was accepting of LGBTQ people • Health insurance costs may go down because the health of all employees is given more consideration • Partnerships could increase as your company becomes known as a socially responsible organization
Another big reason to address discrimination and encourage inclusivity and diversity in the workplace is because a more diverse office is a more profitable office. A study from Boston Consulting Group last year found that companies with above-average diversity on management teams earn 19% more in revenue than companies with below-average diversity on these teams.
Why? Because diverse teams create diverse perspectives; gone are the days of the bureaucracy, where one team of older white men makes all the decisions for an organization. For any company to grow and succeed, diversity, and therefore greater inclusivity, are assets.
Additional strategies to foster inclusivity and diversity in the workplace
So where should you begin? Try implementing these strategies to foster inclusivity and better educate the workforce about discrimination and how to create accepting, inclusive workplaces: • Talk about how detrimental stereotyping can be, in general and also related to someone’s gender or sexuality. • Share statistics similar to those presented in this article to show employees how important these issues really are for a functioning workplace. • Engage with learning materials that present workplace scenarios so that employees can learn how to approach certain topics and actually visualize how to behave to encourage inclusivity. • Always stress the importance of diversity and make sure the executive team shares with the company about efforts they are taking in these areas (for example, those in charge should admit when they become aware of areas they could improve, such as diversifying the board of directors). • Provide resources for LGBTQ workers if they experience harassment or discrimination from coworkers, or if they just need someone to talk to, like an HR representative or counselor. • Implement actual company policies that protect workers against discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Make sure these policies are distributed to all employees and are available for reference.
Key takeaways
• Because discrimination rights based on sexuality continue to stall on a federal level, take action in your individual workplace
• If the LGBTQ community feels excluded in the workplace, they’re more likely to leave and are more likely to feel unhappy or depressed at work
• Encourage openness and acceptance at work so that LGBTQ workers don’t feel like they have to remain closeted to be liked
• Educate employees, especially non-LGBTQ workers, so that they are aware of these issues and are better aware of how to behave
• Recognize the financial and productivity benefits that an inclusive and diverse workplace provides
• Create support systems and company policies that address these issues
When you’re able to educate and encourage, and foster diversity and inclusivity—teaching your employees what they mean, why they’re important, and how they help the entire workplace—your company culture will shift toward being more socially aware and responsible.
We live in a digital age where every aspect of people’s personal and professional lives is increasingly conducted in the cloud. Companies and employees alike are adapting to and taking advantage of new possibilities for remote working, continuous communication, and other technology to fuel creativity and collaboration. But this same technology can make just as big an impact on your business’s healthcare costs. Businesses are used to the idea that meetings do not have to be conducted in person, and more and more are discovering that many medical visits do not, either.
The percentage of employers who offer a telemedicine program has doubled since 2015, according to a Mercer survey. That’s because it’s an effective strategy to reduce healthcare costs by encouraging employees to get treatment that heads off future healthcare expenses while preventing unnecessary doctor’s office, urgent care, and ER visits. In fact, the average savings per single employee annually is $300 according to the AMA, and that number goes up to $1000 per year for a family of four. Given that benefits like healthcare makeup 25-40% of most companies’ payroll expenses, tackling healthcare expenses through telehealth seems like a worthwhile investment for any growing business. Especially since it is easy to implement and requires minimal upfront investment.
Best of all, implementing telehealth is a cost-cutting measure that actually increases the standard of care for your employees. That means that they are happier and healthier, making them more productive and engaged team members. So telehealth can boost your revenue and help you maintain a stable workforce while it reduces your healthcare costs.
So how exactly does telehealth generate savings which can help give SMBs the financial stability they need to grow? In this article we will explore how telehealth generates:
• Short-term savings from reduced cost of care
• Increased revenue due to employee performance
• Long-term savings
Reduced Cost of Care Generates Short-Term Savings
The clearest cost-cutting benefit to implementing telehealth is that employees will opt to get their medical advice digitally instead of by going to a doctor’s office, urgent care, or ER. These savings can add up quickly as telehealth consultations cost an average of $40, compared to $125 for equivalent office visits. So not only will your healthcare costs go down, but your employees’ out-of-pocket costs will too.
The biggest savings come from averted emergency room visits. Telehealth is highly effective in staving off these extremely expensive visits when employees have unexpected healthcare needs. A study of a telemedicine platform in Pennsylvania found that the majority of employee health concerns were resolved in a single virtual-consultation and that the telemedicine option generated short-term savings by diverting patients from higher-cost options. Each avoided emergency room visit saved $300-$1500, which can make a significant impact on growing businesses worried about maintaining their bottom line.
Telehealth provides employees with a convenient and affordable alternative to a wide range of traditional healthcare services that can incur significant healthcare expenses. That means that implementing a telehealth platform reduces short-term costs for employers and employees alike. It also means that employers will be able to negotiate lower premiums because their employees present a lower risk for insurers.
Increased Revenue from Employee Performance
The savings from diverting employees away from high-cost consultation and treatment options might be exceeded by the revenue generated from fostering a healthier and more engaged workforce. Making healthcare more accessible and affordable for your employees means that they will take advantage of it more often and receive the treatment that they need, making them more high-performing team members. Also, because telehealth can be accessed immediately and from anywhere, employees will not have to choose between going to work and getting medical advice. As a result, employers who implement a home telehealth platform can expect their employees to take fewer sick days due to doctor’s appointments.
Reducing absenteeism generates significant cost savings from increased worker productivity by itself, but it is just the tip of the iceberg. Healthier employees are more productive, straight and simple and telemedicine can help keep them that way. In the current employment and healthcare climate, employees frequently avoid treatment until an illness gets “bad enough”; which means that they come into work sick for extended periods. That’s bad news for companies because sick team members are less productive while collecting the same salary and benefits, and worse still can infect other employees. Getting treatment as soon as issues arise ensures that employees get back to peak performance as quickly as possible.
Home telehealth also streamlines the healthcare experience for employees and saves them significant time and money. That doesn’t just make them healthy and able to work but also makes them happier and more satisfied with their work. It is an additional benefit which makes your employees feel well taken care of, increasing their loyalty and their engagement with your company. Growing businesses can struggle to compete with larger companies to attract, engage, and retain the talent they need to succeed partially because their smaller budget limits the range of benefits that they can offer. Telehealth is a great way for these businesses to stand out for their meaningful benefits program while simultaneously reducing costs.
Long Term Savings
Home telehealth is not just about getting treatment when illness strikes: it also makes it easier to access preventive care and ongoing treatment for chronic conditions. As such, it can prevent significant future healthcare expenses from treating preventable or neglected conditions.
Employees are increasingly foregoing primary care visits and other preventive services. The total number of trips to primary care doctors dropped by 18% between 2012 and 2016. This issue is particularly great among Millennials, a third of whom do not even have a primary care doctor. That can become a big problem for employers as Millennials continue to make up a larger percentage of the workforce. Primary care can help identify potential issues before they become costly and damaging to the patient and provide holistic guidance that increases overall health. Telehealth can help fill in this gap, especially for tech-savvy Millennials.
Telehealth can also provide easy and affordable access to wellness benefits by helping to identify risk factors and guide employees through prevention. This matters because 70% of employer healthcare expenses come from preventable lifestyle-related conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and lung cancer. Telemedicine consultations can help employees figure out what challenges they need to address and can help guide employees through the process of tackling those challenges. For example, telehealth platforms can give employees access to advice and consultation to support weight loss and smoking or alcohol cessation.
Using telehealth to manage treatment for chronic conditions can also lead to significant ongoing savings. People with chronic conditions account for three-quarters of doctor’s visits and nine out of ten prescriptions so managing their health effectively and cost-efficiently should be a priority for any employer. Telemedicine can make this care easier to get and cheaper for employee and company alike, reducing those doctor’s office visits and hospital stays. Employees can access advice about medication management quickly and easily while incurring fewer expenses for themselves and their employer. These savings can be especially great when combined with mail-order prescription fulfillment. And the long-term savings add up when you consider the significant healthcare expenses that can result from untreated, undertreated, or mistreated chronic conditions, all of which can result from under-utilization of healthcare options due to cost and inconvenience.
The last and frequently overlooked area in which telehealth can save your business money is in mental healthcare. Insurers, providers, and employers are beginning to recognize the importance of mental health in addition to physical health, but the infrastructure is still catching up to employee needs. Even when options are available, employees often avoid accessing mental healthcare because it is stigmatized and because regular psychologist or psychiatrist visits are too much of a hassle. Luckily, telemedicine has proven to be an effective method to treat mental health and is cost-effective for employers compared to in-person visits. Not only that, but it is more convenient and private than traditional treatment, making it more appealing to employees. That means that you can reduce employee burnout, underperformance, and turnover due to untreated mental conditions such as depression or anxiety. You will pay less for care and your employees will be happier and more engaged in their work, making them more valuable team members.
Key Takeaways
Home telehealth is a constantly expanding field and there is no way for us to cover every aspect of how it can improve your employees’ healthcare and your bottom-line in one article. But hopefully, we have given you a sense of how telehealth can play an essential role in your efforts to control healthcare costs. Just remember:
• Telehealth appointments are significantly cheaper than traditional alternatives and prevent costly ER and office visits
• The affordability and convenience of telehealth means that it can make your employees healthier and more productive, helping your business grow sustainably
• Telehealth can reduce ongoing and future healthcare expenses by supporting preventive care, managing treatment for chronic conditions, and providing mental healthcare
If you want to cut your business’s healthcare expenses while still attracting and retaining the talent you need to grow your business, telehealth should be just one part of your strategy. We will be hosting a comprehensive webinar to address how CFOs and business leaders can curb healthcare costs on September 19th at 11 AM CST. Learn from industry experts in benefits administration, telehealth, and more so that you can effectively manage your healthcare expenses. Register today!
The Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003 has been amended, effective September 29, 2019, with updated guidelines on what employers can and cannot base hiring decisions on. Particularly, employers cannot make hiring decisions based on salary history of candidates. So, what does this mean, exactly, and what else did the amendment change?
No More Asking About Wage or Salary History
The amendment has prohibited Illinois employers from doing the following when going through the hiring process:
• They cannot screen candidates or applicants based on their prior wage or salary history, or their current compensation. This includes benefits. They cannot require this information to be disclosed or have minimum and maximum criteria for hiring.
• They cannot request wage or salary history as a condition for employment consideration while an applicant is being interviewed.
• They cannot seek out a candidate’s wage or salary history from their current or former employers. But, if this information is a matter of public record, or if the employee is currently working for the employer in a different job, this rule does not apply.
• They cannot have an employee sign a contract that prohibits the employee from disclosing their salary, wage, benefits, or other compensation.
• They cannot discharge an employee who fails to comply with an inquiry into wage or salary history.
It’s important to note that if an employee voluntarily discloses salary or wage information during the interview or hiring process, employers are not in violation of the new law. The employer is just not allowed to consider this disclosure when making a decision about whether to hire the candidate, the salary to offer them, or future compensation.
What are employers still allowed to do?
While there are several new things that employers cannot do under the amendment, they can still engage in the following activities:
• Ask the candidate about their compensation expectations, but without trying to get any information about the candidate’s current or previous salary
• Offer information about compensation for the position the candidate is interviewing for, but without trying to solicit information about the candidate’s compensation history
Equal Pay Claim Threshold Lowered
Another change the amendment is bringing is a lowering of the threshold for establishing an equal pay claim. This means that employers who have at least four employees are prohibited from paying unequal wages to men and women if they are:
• Doing the same or substantially similar work,
• Doing jobs requiring substantially similar skills, effort, and responsibility, and
• Doing work performed under similar working conditions.
This means that it may be easier for workers to make an equal pay claim.
The numbers: What are the penalties?
Under the new law, an individual can bring a civil action related to the above matters within five years of the occurrence and recover damages incurred and special damages up to $10,000, injunctive relief, and costs and attorney’s fees. Employers are now subject to civil penalties of up to $5,000 for each violation of the new law and each employee impacted by the violation.
How to Prepare
Because there could be serious consequences if employers go over the line with trying to solicit compensation information from candidates, they should take the following steps to revamp their hiring process:
• Go over current applications and ensure there are no past or current salary- or wage-related questions.
• Implement a training process so that employees are aware of these restrictions and they are trained on how to discuss compensation during the interview process.
• Review all employee documents, such as handbooks that list policies and procedures, to make sure they don’t forbid employees from taking about compensation with other employees.
Important Key Takeaways:
• Employers cannot ask or solicit information about a candidate’s previous or current wage or salary, including benefits and other compensation. • Employers cannot prohibit employees from discussing their compensation with other employees. • Hiring decisions cannot be made based on salary history. • The threshold for individuals to make an equal pay claim has been lowered, so employers need to pay more attention to how they approach compensation decisions.
No organization can survive, thrive, or grow without great talent. With that said, unemployment is at its lowest in nearly 40 years, which means difference-making employees have greater power and more opportunities to pick their landing spot of choice than ever before.
In this post, we’ll explore some of the highlights and main ideas of the webinar, including:
• The role of employer branding in talent acquisition
• How to create winning recruiting and hiring practices
• How to use the interview process to find the best talent
Mindful Employer Branding Bringing great talent into the fold and retaining them over time requires having a business that feels inviting, functional, positive, and drama-free. In the past, employees were willing to put up with more due to the perception that there were a limited number of “good jobs” at strong companies, but in today’s environment, hiring and holding onto business-driving team members requires more than the offer of a “good job.”
Now, businesses of all sizes and industries must actively and thoughtfully brand themselves in order to create an identity that is attractive to top talent and invites them to buy into corporate culture. In fact, everything should flow backwards from the brand.
Understanding Your Existing Standing and Perception No business can leverage their workplace culture – even if it’s a great one – if they don’t fully understand it themselves. Small and medium-sized companies often grow so quickly that mindfulness of company culture gets lost in the shuffle as operations scale up. On the other hand, for large enterprises, there’s often so much distance between leadership and rank-and-file employees that a culture gap – or, more precisely, a gap in understanding of culture – can easily form.
Before any business can create a talent-centric culture initiative, they must form a rich understand of both their existing internal culture and the perception of the organization within the talent marketplace. Tools like employee surveys and Glassdoor can be incredibly useful in informing this work.
Once that understanding of existing culture and perception are in place, organizations can begin the work of identifying culture targets and planning initiatives to get them there.
Articulating a Great Culture Branding in a way that speaks to top talent requires identifying what is special or unique about an organization and building out from there. In order to achieve that, each organization must articulate what they value from both the business and humanistic sides of workplace culture and consider what’s really special about who they are, what they do, where they do it, and how they do it.
The better an organization can articulate why employment is a positive and valuable overall experience that will improve each employee’s life and not just a “job,” the better they are able to attract great thinkers and workers without needing to jack up compensation. Once those value-based pillars are in place, the next step is to plan how the organization will staff, train, and develop to foster, reinforce, and maintain that culture.
One important note about establishing and building an effective culture: it requires patience. As soon as you and your core leadership team are sick to death of discussing culture goals and articulating what your organization is all about, that information is probably just starting to sink in at the individual worker level. Once you have buy-in at that level, however, promoting your thriving culture becomes much easier.
Web Presence The internet provides businesses with a powerful, mostly free space to spread the word about their brand identities and individual corporate cultures. A strong, positive web presence helps an organization seem modern with a unique personality and relatable set of values. A weak or negative web presence, on the other hand, will prevent many potential superstars from even applying to work at a company.
For those reasons, digital marketing should be a top priority for organizations of all sizes and ages, not just for lead attraction but also for talent attraction. When an organization’s footprint on the web feels responsive, looks professional, and contains well-planned and well-written content, it gives job seekers an increased sense of confidence and makes a workplace seem future-facing and attractive.
Remember, there are more top jobs out there than top talent, so there’s no incentive for any of those professionals to even consider working in an environment where they don’t have great confidence they will succeed, grow, and build a happier life.
Let’s take a closer look at two of the biggest and most crucial online platforms for businesses trying to establish a strong culture and brand identity: • Glassdoor – Thanks to social proof, if a business has a great team and a thriving culture, Glassdoor can be one of their greatest hiring tools. If the ratings are low, however, it can become a struggle to even create a viable applicant pool for an opening. The more authentic, positive reviews a business can build on Glassdoor, the more attractive they seem to outsiders and prospective applicants.
• LinkedIn – LinkedIn is the ideal social media platform for organizations looking to share their company culture with the world and invite others to join the conversation. Using LinkedIn, business entities and their individual leaders can increase brand awareness, build thought leadership, and share company successes – both business and humanistic – with a wide community of industry professionals. A strong, active LinkedIn presence helps an organization present their values and meaningful work side by side, creating a brand identity that attracts great talent.
Recruiting and Hiring to Win Once businesses have established a talent-centric culture and leveraged online platforms to start circulating that message throughout the industry in a way that attracts talent, they are faced with an equally important next step: actually hiring the right people.
Here are a few guidelines that organizations can use to create an effective recruitment and hiring strategy to ensure they land the right talent.
Have a Plan Building a great team in the office is just like building one on the athletic field: it’s a process that takes multiple years, requires several key acquisitions, and must be dictated by an over-arching plan or strategy. Hiring employees on a purely ad hoc basis is a recipe for disaster, and signing on new hires without an eye toward cultural fit, values, or long-term potential can be destructive as well.
Each organization can empower themselves and simplify their hiring processes by articulating an organizational philosophy on and approach to hiring. While this seems like a huge responsibility up front, it’s the most direct way to measure twice and cut once.
“Always Be Hiring” Growing organizations frequently make the classic mistake of building exactly the team they need in the moment. While that sounds like an ideal situation, it’s actually a liability because growing organizations must be able to grow, and with a goldilocks-sized staff, that potential for instant growth is limited, creating the possibility of backslide.
Organizations who don’t want to miss out on great talent are always hiring because that superstar difference-maker might not be searching for a job the same week the office has an explicit need. By always remaining open-minded about the possibility of bringing on the right new team member, businesses maintain their ability to grow and leave the door open to for the right voice to come on board at an unexpected moment.
One of the worst things a business can do to itself is to get put in a position where a hire must be made under duress or an unexpected exit sends work grinding to a halt. When organizations are proactive rather than reactive, however, they protect productivity and provide themselves with more opportunities to connect with great talent.
Fill the Pipeline Of course, the “Always be hiring” philosophy requires a steady influx of talent and C.V.s, but embracing that constant flow of talent opportunities is a good thing. When a business is constantly talking about new talent and staying in touch with the talent marketplace, it builds organizational confidence that the business isn’t over-reliant on current team members and keeps everybody up to date on talent trends.
One way organizations can keep themselves plugged into the talent market is to set aside one day each month to interview attention-grabbing or potentially intriguing candidates, regardless of specific “needs.” This practice keeps businesses open to great potential opportunities and invites both applicants and leadership to discuss goals, culture, and market trends in a way that helps both sides gauge the potential value of a working relationship.
Never Settle! Talent acquisition isn’t called “worker acquisition” because, in a business setting, it’s much more important to hire the right person than it is to put a body in the chair. In order to win with top talent, organizations must accept nothing less. Nobody should ever be hired just because a position needs to be filled, and no prospective employee who isn’t a strong fit in terms of culture or skill should ever be hired just to end the process.
Conclusion/Takeaways: Attracting and hiring great talent is more complex than ever, but with a clear approach in mind, the use of the right marketing tools, and a strong understanding of itself, an organization of any size can build a brand, culture, and hiring process that ensure they wind up with the best talent possible.
Remember: • Branding is essential to attracting the best talent o To create a successful brand, organizations must articulate, achieve, and maintain a strong, positive workplace culture -That culture should reflect what’s unique, exciting, and humanistic about the work at hand o Web presence (particularly on LinkedIn and Glassdoor) is essential to establishing that brand awareness in the talent market • Recruiting and hiring should be guided by an over-arching plan and approach but also remain flexible so businesses never miss out on great talent in an unexpected moment or find themselves talent deficient after a sudden exit
These are just a few of the ideas explored in Launchways’ webinar “How to Win the War for Talent: Actionable Strategies to Attract and Retain Top Talent at Your Business.” To gain more incredible insight from our roundtable of talent acquisition experts, watch the free recording of the webinar now!
Choosing a new health insurance broker to manage your employee benefits can be an overwhelming task. Health insurance and employee benefits are a large part of your payroll expenses, so picking your broker is a high-stakes affair. The quality of your new insurance broker can make the difference between having an engaged team of high-quality talent that fuels your growth or watching your best team members leave for employers who provide benefits which meet their needs.
In this article, we’ll take a comprehensive look at the process of choosing a new health insurance broker, including:
• Why your health insurance broker matters
• How to start the process to find a new health insurance broker
• What to look for in a new employee benefits broker
• How to tell if an insurance broker can really deliver value to your business
Why Your Health Insurance Broker Matters
Why is it so important to be strategic when it comes time to choose a new health insurance broker? Employee benefits, particularly healthcare, are enormously powerful tools in your arsenal to attract, retain, and engage the talent that you need to grow and sustain your business. Companies of all sizes are struggling to build and maintain effective teams as the job market encourages employees to switch jobs more frequently and Millennials make up a greater share of the workforce. And the challenge is greater for small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs), who are at a disadvantage compared to their larger counterparts with deeper pockets.
It used to be that a good salary and solid benefits were enough to win an employee’s loyalty for years or even decades. That started changing in 2008 as the job market became less stable and accelerated as the economy recovered and more Millennials entered the workforce. Not only has it become a job seeker market, but what employees are seeking from their jobs has changed. Work and salary are no longer ends in themselves but need to be means to something greater for employees to stick around. Many, particularly younger employees want personal development and meaningful work. As a result, people are staying in their jobs for 2-3 year stints before moving onto the next position that offers them an opportunity for growth and fulfillment. They want workplaces where they feel supported and cared for, otherwise they will leave for somewhere that provides that for them.
And employee benefits are a vital part of any strategy to meet those needs to attract and retain talent. An Aflac survey found that most employees would change jobs for a lower salary but better employment benefits. Unsurprisingly, the same survey found that 80% of respondents believed that their employee benefits plan influences their engagement in their jobs. Competitive benefits are a necessary component for an effective strategy to build and engage your team so that you can grow your company. But how can small businesses who lack their competitors’ resources offer benefits that will make potential hires choose to work for them or stop current employees from jumping ship?
The answer is to develop a careful employee benefits strategy which minimizes costs while maximizing the impact on employees. And to craft and implement an effective strategy, small businesses need a dedicated benefits broker who understands their unique needs and is willing to be deeply involved in their business. Growing companies cannot afford to pay employee benefits broker commissions to major brokers in exchange for out-of-the-box solutions. They need customized solutions and a small-business approach.
So how do you find the insurance broker who will meet your unique needs? Well, let us outline the basic steps to finding a new health insurance broker and what to look for when choosing your new employee benefits partner.
How to Start the Process to Find a New Health Insurance Broker
What an Insurance Broker Is and What They Do
It’s time for a quick definition, in case this is the first time you are shopping around for a new benefits broker. What exactly is the difference between a health insurance broker and an insurance agent? Well, an insurance agent is employed by a specific insurance provider and is the point of contact between the insurance carrier and the plan purchaser. They might be able to offer discounts and assemble a specific group health insurance plan for employers, but they won’t be able to shop around between different providers to deliver the best results.
An insurance broker, on the other hand, is the representative of the employer rather than of the insurance carrier. They are empowered by the employer to negotiate on their behalf with any and all insurance providers. This means that they can get the best rates in the market rather than from a given carrier and can put together a specialized employee benefits package from multiple providers that meets both the employer’s and the employees’ needs. They can also serve as a benefits consultant to help their clients develop effective benefits strategies.
How to Tell if It’s Time to Find a New Insurance Broker
The first step in your journey to find a new employee benefits broker or insurance broker is to decide whether or not you need a new broker. We’ve covered this topic extensively in a previous article but here are some clear warning signs that it’s probably time to start your employee benefits broker search:
• Renewing the same employee benefits package year over year with little consideration for a long-term benefits strategy
• Receiving less guidance or a lower standard of customer service from your insurance broker
• Going several years without reexamining the benefits broker relationship
• Finding it difficult to determine ROI that justifies investment in your current health insurance broker
How to Start the Search for an Insurance Broker
Once you’ve decided to find a new employee benefits broker, you should define your goals for your benefits plan. This will help you find a partner who will work with you to meet those goals. Do you want to reduce costs for your existing healthcare benefits so that you can expand other benefits your employees value like dental or vision insurance? Or do you want to completely restructure your entire employee benefits plan?
Based on these goals, set the criteria to define promising health insurance brokers based on these goals and your knowledge of the market. What does your ideal employee benefits broker look like? What do you not want in your next insurance broker? These criteria will also tell you what questions to ask a new benefits broker.
If you want to be extremely thorough, you can input the criteria you identify into a benefits broker Request For Proposal. Think of the benefits broker RFP as a formalized job description for your next benefits broker. Your benefits broker RFP should include a statement of your benefits and health insurance needs but leave room for brokers to “wow” you with additional services. You can then share your broker RFP with brokers who seem promising during your research so that their representatives can tailor their proposals to your unique needs.
What is more important than the procedure for starting your search is knowing what to look for in a broker. You want to set the right goals for your business, identify accurate needs, and put together criteria which will be genuinely useful in choosing a new health insurance broker.
What to Look for In a New Health Insurance Broker
Size and Customer Service Approach
Generally speaking, you want to work with a boutique broker that specializes in SMBs. This is relevant because large brokers will often prioritize their big accounts over your business. Smaller insurance brokers will treat you as a priority no matter how big your business is because every account is an important account for them. An SMB health insurance broker will be much more willing to offer more customized solutions which are tailored to your specific needs. And they won’t have had a chance to develop the bureaucracy which makes working with the largest benefits brokers so frustrating
In addition to overall size, another thing to look for is the benefits broker’s approach to customer service. You should work with an insurance broker who will provide you with a dedicated account manager, access to key players in their organization, and continued support after setting up the initial insurance plan.
Minimizing Expenses While Maximizing Value for Employees
Your new health insurance broker should do everything in their power to minimize your expenses while maximizing value for your employees. Far too many insurance brokers focus on the former and neglect the latter, but both are vital for a successful benefits strategy.
The best employee benefits brokers are proactive in their approach to insurance challenges. First, they identify demonstrated employee needs by conducting health-risk assessments (or HRAs) and other employee surveys to find out what benefits your employees really need. Then they create an employee insurance package which meets those needs while cutting costs from lower priority benefits. These steps are absolutely necessary to effectively minimize costs and maximize impact.
What should the resulting insurance package look like? An effective health insurance broker will put together a flexible and creative company benefits plan. Often, the package will include a tiered insurance structure which allows low-risk employees to choose cheaper plans and other employees to take on more expensive plans in exchange for more comprehensive coverage.
The foundation of the tiered approach for small businesses will be high-deductible health plans (HDHP) paired with health savings accounts. These plans allow employees to take on more responsibility for and control over their healthcare expenses. They provide a much higher standard of care than the ‘catastrophe insurance’ which is becoming popular but at a low cost to both employer and employee. And thanks to a brand new IRS rule, HDHPs can now offer more preventive care at low-deductibles to reduce your business’ healthcare expenses in the long-term.
Ask potential insurance brokers what they can do for your business. If they answer in terms of both what they will do to help your bottom line and what their plans will do to help your employees stay happy and healthy, odds are that they will be a great partner for your growing business. If not, they’re almost certainly not the right choice for you.
Creative Employee Benefits: Wellness Benefits and More
A great health insurance broker won’t stop at the conventional. They will be at the forefront of the benefits conversation, offering uncommon benefits which will help you stand out in the competitive employer marketplace. And one of the biggest areas which your new employee benefits broker should cover is wellness benefits. These benefits include smoking-cessation and weight-loss programs, gym memberships and nutritional programs, and other ‘lifestyle’ benefits.
Your insurance broker should not just want to put out fires after they’ve started, but rather should head off expenses at the pass. Wellness benefits can prevent healthcare expenses from lifestyle-related illnesses, which represent a full 70% of all healthcare costs. That’s one reason why wellness benefits have an average ROI of 3:1. Plus, they do a great job of making employees feel valued, taken care of, and engaged in their work at the same time as they are saving your money.
Employee Benefits Technology
Another important factor to consider when choosing an employee benefits broker is what employee benefits technology they offer. Generally, brokers will offer two different kinds of technology: benefits enrollment technology and telemedicine.
Benefits enrollment technology is software which can be used to facilitate the benefits experience for your HR team and your employees. The best employee benefits brokers will offer top-of-the-line enrollment software to streamline open enrollment and record the necessary compliance information. They may also offer a company benefits portal which allows employees to review and manage their benefits, request time off, and learn about their healthcare options.
On another note, telemedicine is transforming the way that employees access healthcare. Allowing employees to consult doctors digitally keeps them healthier, reduces costs for everyone involved, and reduces absenteeism. Other software solutions can offer pharmacy discounts, notify employees of nearby providers, and otherwise streamline the healthcare experience for your employees.
How to Tell that a Boutique Health Insurance Broker Can Deliver the Goods
Proven Track Record of Success
Actions and results speak much louder than words and results are the best way to measure the worthiness of a potential health insurance broker. A benefits broker worth their salt will be able to provide you with evidence of past success with clients who are like you. You should look at their website to see if they have published any client case studies. If they do, that’s a great sign in-and-of-itself because it shows that their clients are happy with their results. But you should also take the time to read through the case studies to see if the insurance broker provided their client with the kind of services that you are looking for at your business.
The greatest test of a broker, though, is whether they will let you talk to any current clients to get a truly unfiltered perspective on what working with them will look like. Giving access to their clients is a real sign of trustworthiness and a testament to the kind of relationship that a broker has with their clients. As an employer, you ask for a list of references from any potential hires. You created a job listing with your benefits broker RFP, why shouldn’t you ask for references as well?
Key Takeaways for Finding an Insurance Broker
The decision of how to choose a new health insurance broker is a pretty big deal. The right broker can help you cut costs, provide more value for your employees, and win the war for talent by attracting, retaining, and engaging the talent your business needs to succeed. This can sometimes seem like an overwhelming task. Hopefully, this article has given you a good idea to start. Just remember: • Decide what you want to accomplish with your health insurance plan and employee benefits package so that you know what to look for in an insurance broker • Put together a benefits broker RFP to help define what you’re looking for and solicit proposals • Boutique brokers will make growing businesses a top-priority and provide more customized, hands-on service • Questions to ask a new benefits broker include whether they provide wellness benefits, tiered benefits, and benefits technology • Pick a broker who takes an approach that both minimizes expenses and maximizes impact for employees; focusing on just one isn’t enough • Brokers with a proven track record of success and provide case studies or even direct access to clients are a much safer bet than unknowns
Are you interested in working with a more proactive broker who helps you maximize the human potential of your business? Learn more about Launchways today.
