Game Changer!

Almost every Human Resource Benefit Professional would rejoice if their organization purchased a new state-of-the-art Benefit Admin system, which would reduce time consuming benefit admin tasks, better engage their workforce, and provide real-time API connections with benefit providers. Right?!

Not so fast!

Employers rely on HRIS and Benefits Administration platforms to assist with complicated and time-consuming processes, including:

• Onboarding new hires

• Open enrollment and plan selection

• Benefits communication and education

• Absence management tracking and reporting

• Day-to-day administrative tasks

It’s true, employers in the mid-to-large size segment are updating to new, modernized HRIS/Ben Admin platforms such as Workday, UKG, and ADP's Workforce Now, at a rapid pace.  For a good reason.

So, what’s the problem?

You’ve installed your new Ben Admin platform and are excited for your employees to experience their first Open Enrollment on say, Workday, or UKG.  Even with a new, top-of-the-line platform with the latest features, there may still be gaps your HRIS/Ben Admin system is not able to address.

Let’s look at some potential gaps:

• 30% of your workforce doesn’t have access to a computer at work.  How will they enroll?

• You assumed that your employees could figure out how to enroll on the new system.  But now your phone is ringing off the hook with employees asking you how to use the new system to enroll.  And yep, the Benefit Admin provider offers IT support, but not actual enrollment support.

• The new Ben Admin platform provides an improved benefit enrollment experience compared to the old.  But truthfully, self-serve Ben Admin solutions provide a minimal level of effective employee benefit education.

• Your company is in a growth mode, and you are onboarding 50+ employees/month.  New hire orientation is a challenge, and time consuming; but leaving a new hire to figure out how to use the new Ben Admin system doesn’t make for a great onboarding experience. 

There’s help!

Employees are much more likely to report satisfaction with their employer and participate in benefits offerings if they understand what is being offered to them.  Especially, if they understand how to use the Ben Admin system. 

While the Ben Admin decision support resources provide some level of employee education, technology can be complemented with human assistance. 

Human assistance via a benefit counselor, during the Open Enrollment or New Hire Orientation, can be a great way to introduce a new benefit admin/enrollment platform to your employees. Licensed employee benefit counselors can assist employees via face to face or virtual meetings, or through an on-demand call center.  Benefit counselors can help employees learn to navigate and use a new enrollment platform. Counselors educate employees on the benefits program and provide decision-making support and can enroll employees directly on the new Ben Admin platform.  For those employees that do not have access to a computer, the counselor can capture enrollment elections telephonically on the new Ben Admin platform.

There are many professional firms that offer benefit counselor services.  Some firms charge a PEPM; others will leverage commissions generated from a voluntary benefit to fund the expense of counselors.  Choosing a highly qualified firm that best identifies with your corporate goals, culture, and provides Grade A service can be a complex process.  Partnering with a Voluntary Benefit Specialist can assist in the vetting process.

The final word:

A modernized Ben Admin platform coupled with human assistance via licensed benefit counselors, can be a game changer.   As a result, your employees will feel confident in their benefit decisions, have an improved understanding on how to navigate the new benefits enrollment platform, become better consumers of insurance, and acquire a heightened sense of value and loyalty to their employer. 

If you want to learn more about this topic and benefit counselor options, please reach out to us here at Navis Benefits Group.

Navis Benefits Group, LLC is a specialty benefit firm, partnering with employee benefit consultants and employers, to design, market, install, and administer new, creative, and exciting benefit programs.  We help employee benefit Firms focus on what they do best – health insurance – by serving as their outsourced, turn-key specialty benefits partner.