Managing the “people” side of a going concern can be a challenging job, no matter how you look at it. From value propositions and organizational culture to risk management, a dizzying regulatory environment and a host of insurance products, there’s a lot to know and administer. Many employers and their human resources leaders count on employee benefits consultants to help expand their capabilities – and thinking.

An employee benefits consultant  advises clients on insurance, employee benefits and the extensive underpinnings to their benefits programs like regulatory compliance and risk. “Consultant” and “adviser” are fairly interchangeable; a “broker” is typically more transactionally focused on insurance products.

In going beyond the insurance transaction, the employee benefits consultant takes a long-term strategic perspective of the client’s objectives. Consultants tend to have broad view of the marketplace and know developing trends and risks – health plan cost savings strategies, for example – that may have relevance to their clients.

Here are some of the ways an employee benefits consultant can add value to your organization beyond shaping and shopping your insurance plans:

  1. Aligning benefits with organizational issues and goals. Your employee benefits consultant knows how to design your benefits plans in ways that can improve employee engagement, satisfaction, retention and productivity. Technology tools, including online enrollment platforms, allow your plan's performance to be measured.
  2. Ways to better leverage benefits usage data. There’s a tremendous amount of insight to be gained from how your employees use benefits now. Claims data on everything from emergency room visits to workers compensation inform you on utilization and suggest changes and improvements in plan design for the future. Your employee benefits consultant should not only connect you with the right vendor for secure analytics, but help you understand what plan design changes would matter in response.
  3. Offering marketplace guidance. How will you be affected if the legislative framework for employee benefits changes on the state or federal level? What are the current remedies for high-cost prescription drugs? How is one carrier different than another? Is self-insurance an option? These are all issues an employee benefits consultant should be able to guide your organization through.
  4. Risk management services. Risk management has never been more important. Your benefits consultant should actively manage risks to your benefit plan and be ready to propose mitigating measures.
  5. Compliance support. Complying with benefits regulations is necessary and complicated, but if your plan is not compliant the penalty in fines and legal costs could be stiff. Your employee benefits consultant should have the capability to educate your team and ensure you get and stay compliant.
  6. Communications, especially around open enrollment. Employee benefits consultants should be knowledgeable about the tactics and strategies that work best to educate and inform your employees about your benefits program, especially for open enrollment. All the better if they have the resources to put against creating your campaign.

You have a big investment in your workforce. The right employee benefits consultant can help you ensure it’s optimized to the highest levels.

Contact us to learn more about how HUB can help your organization.