Employee benefits comprise 30% of total compensation costs in the U.S. Benefits are a top priority with workers: 92% consider them an important factor in their overall job satisfaction. Those competing pressures make it challenging for employers to create employee benefit plans that satisfy everyone’s interests.

It gives employee benefits brokers with a consultative approach an important role to play in helping everyone meet in the middle.

An employee benefit plan is the form taken by non-wage compensation, the most common types being medical, disability, and life insurance; retirement benefits; paid time off; and fringe benefits. It also can refer to individual plans and benefits that are grouped together as a program designed to incentivize the workforce.

Employee benefit plans – both the broad category and the specific types falling within it – can be a complicated matter to strategize. No two employers are alike from the perspective of their financial flexibility and budgetary constraints, from their industry competitive standards, and from their own culture and employee population makeup. Benefits brokers have the industry knowledge and contacts to help create employee benefit plans suited to everyone’s needs.

A broker will work with you to establish your objectives, budgets and priorities. Your employee benefits plan objectives should be evaluated and revised as your business, your growth strategies and employee needs change. Your broker will examine the specific plans that you offer employees, identifying specific pain points and how they might be addressed in a way that meets everyone’s needs.

Here’s how your broker might help you customize your health benefits plan to your organization’s unique needs:

  • Your objectives and budget should lead to a discussion of options for funding your employee benefits plan. You can go fully insured, which typically entails paying a monthly premium for enrollment in medical, vision and dental plans, includes a specific deductible amount that must be met before insurance pays out, and a maximum amount for out-of-pocket expenses like co-pays and co-insurance. Or you can convert to self-funded, where the total variable and fixed costs of health care services account for the plan's maximum cost amount. Nearly 40% of all private sector employers offer at least one self-funded plan.
  • Your broker will likely undertake analytics initiatives to help you understand benefits utilization patterns among your workers, the influences of your workplace demographics, and should also help you undertake workplace surveys to determine specific needs and wants on the healthcare front. This will help to shape the specific aspects of your employee benefits plan.
  • Your broker has the relationships with the insurance carriers and other vendors that match up with your budget considerations and other needs. Telemedicine is a cost-savings and a convenience, and the coronavirus shelter-in-place orders have warmed many people to the concept. It’s also smart to include wellness education options in the package. Any number of social, financial and mental factors can affect an employee’s physical health and productivity over the long term – solutions aren’t costly to add.

If your employees are a critical asset, so are your employee benefits. With forethought and rigor, your organization can create employee benefit plans that meet everyone’s needs.

HUB International’s employee benefit specialists consult with employers of all sizes and in all industries on every aspect of employee benefits program planning and management.