The Issue
Many employers today struggle with managing the cost of employee benefit plans while improving recruitment, retention and productivity all at the same time. Unfortunately, accomplishing this while maintaining employee satisfaction is often difficult, especially in today’s diverse workforces and rapidly increasing benefit pricing. This was the case for one of our long-time customers who had grown significantly over 10 years by acquiring a few smaller firms and with it, their employees. As the client integrated these new employees into its culture, it became apparent that most did not understand or appreciate the full value of their benefits package, even though they were competitively advantaged when compared with the organization’s industry peers. The client’s dilemma was twofold: How could they continue to increase the value of the benefit package and improve awareness and appreciation of the programs without incurring increases in either compensation or benefit costs?
Our Solution
After conducting a thorough review of our client’s changing employee population over time and understanding the challenge they faced, we decided to recommend a more integrated benefits program. The plan was to modify their core company paid benefit package and add a comprehensive voluntary benefit plan offering, paid by the employees. The voluntary benefit offering was substantial, including things like additional life and disability coverage, cancer coverage, accident and critical illness plans, legal aid, etc. We also designed some of the voluntary benefits to fill gaps in the client’s medical coverage. For example, the client offered employees a discount program for fertility treatments and medications, which were not covered on the employee health plan. Many integrated benefits packages can also include discounts on movie tickets, amusement parks, retail shopping, restaurants, vacations and other products and services valued by employees. Additionally, to help educate the workforce about the total value of their benefit program we produced a Compensation Statement, to be distributed annually.
The Summary
By adding a voluntary benefits package to supplement the core, company paid programs, the client demonstrated its commitment to continually strengthening the total compensation package for employees and even managed to save $37,000. This strategy led to increased employee benefit awareness, satisfaction, improved morale and a strengthened loyalty.
Creative solutions are often required to overcome common benefit administration challenges. At Ro-Can Partners Consulting we confidently accept the challenge to "think outside the box" to solve the dilemmas facing our clients.