Part Two
Key features benefits leaders need to serve employees and meet their goals.
HR leaders deeply value employee happiness and benefits utilization, and they rely on employee feedback to guide their decision making.
Benefits leaders turn to benefits providers, as well as brokers and consultants, to help them do their job well and recruit, retain, and meet the needs of their employees. As they juggle multiple priorities while centering employee happiness, productivity, and retention, they need trusted partners in their brokers, consultants and providers that help them get the job done and can support their goals around benefits education and adoption.
Employee retention is the number one job priority of benefits leaders.
54% of HR leaders prioritize employee retention as their top priority in their role, followed by administration and compliance (51%), and enhancing workplace culture (43%).
54% of HR leaders prioritize employee retention as their top job priority.
Employee feedback, benefit utilization, and happiness are the top sources of benefits success measurement.
49% measure benefits success through employee surveys and polls.
45% measure success by whether benefits are utilized by their employees.
40% look at employee happiness and productivity.
Top health and wellness benefits administrative challenges for HR leaders include addressing employee complaints and benefits adoption.
Top administrative challenges for benefits leaders include:
Employee benefits education and adoption
Addressing employees’ complains
Lack of easy customizable business insights and reporting from benefits providers.
Lack of support for troubleshooting issues.
Learning new technology.
Great customer service and ease of implementation are major draws when choosing and working with a health and wellness benefits provider.
55% of benefits leaders say that better customer service is a top motivator for switching providers.
43% say ease of integration with existing providers and streamlined, easy-to-use technology is a top factor when choosing a platform or provider.
35% also say that key factors include customizable plan designs, easy-to-use technology, and responsive customer service are also top-tier drivers in choosing a provider.
In addition, 45% say that lack of integration options or provider flexibility is a top hurdle when selecting a new provider. About one-third of benefits leaders say that what they value most in a provider is great customer support for employees and administrators, as well as a stacked debit card (one card for all benefits), the ability to bundle benefits, and education resources for employees. Furthermore, when working with a benefits broker or consultant, by far the most important quality for benefits leaders is trust, followed by providing quality solutions.
Analysis and action items
As they manage many pressures on their time, employee feedback, satisfaction, and benefits utilization are critical to benefits leaders when it comes to selecting and staying with a benefits provider. To win and retain business, benefits providers, brokers, and consultants must focus on solutions that are easy to integrate, use, and adopt, support employee education, and provide responsive, knowledgeable support for both employees and administrators.
Action items for benefits leaders
- Survey your employees to find out what they like, and dislike, about your current benefits options, with a focus on benefits that support mental, physical, and financial wellness.
- Review your benefits offerings and analyze them for: Ease of integration with your current systems, utilization by your employees, and availability and quality of support you and your team receives.
Action items for brokers and consultants
- Support your clients in creating and administering an employee survey to determine which benefits are being utilized and what they like, and dislike, about their current benefits options.
- Survey your clients: What benefits are working for them and what are their pain points? Specifically ask about integration, support, and technology.
- Audit your current benefits offerings to ensure that technology is up-to-date, they offer seamless integration, and knowledgeable support in order to build trust and a lasting business relationship with your clients.