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In small and mid-sized businesses, there are many common issues that may arise and a number of these problems are related to employee benefits. Recently, I spoke with Roger Thorpe, President of Thorpe Benefits and a specialist in benefits and wellness planning, to discuss his line of work. In today’s blog post, I will highlight some of the problems and share with you some simple solutions and tips that you could try to better manage your benefit plans.

Make no mistake about it: small businesses inevitably struggle with the cost of employee benefits. When a company grows to a certain size, they realize that they must offer a benefit plan in order to attract new employees, who are likely to have had benefits at their old employer. So, the company puts a plan in place for competitive purposes. The cost of benefits varies annually depending on the market, and companies, on average, see a five to ten percent increase in benefit costs per year.

Companies rely on their broker or agent to inform them whether or not a benefit plan is suitable. Nowadays, there are professionals who work in all the different areas of specialty and it is more important than ever to work with a specialist because if you are not, then you are merely getting the generic idea of a service. Having a generic, standard plan could be most frustrating for the business owner because they are not really given a rationale for what the rates cover. Here, I encourage you to work with a benefits specialist and go through a six-step process to discover some of the most common problems and solutions of benefits planning.

1. There is a disconnect between why a benefit plan was introduced in the first place and the role it now plays with employees.

Sometimes, you will find that employee benefits are no longer fulfilling their purpose. With a real mix of Boomers, Gen X-ers and Y-ers in today’s workforce, employee benefits may be way down the list in terms of what they want.

Solution: You want to re-evaluate and ask yourselves: how do I want to treat my employees? This is called the employee benefit philosophy. You want to go back to the basics and set up some parameters and rules around your design. This way, you can really create a benefit plan that would fit the needs of your employees.

2. There is an anxiety when it comes to the cost of benefit plans.

This is one of the most frustrating points for business owners: not knowing what goes into the price of a health or dental rate.

Solution: Learn everything you can about how rates are calculated: the claims, target ratios, loss ratios, inflation, reserves, pooling, commissions, and credibility. Understanding these terms will give you greater confidence when you know what you are paying for. In addition, calculating your own rates will help eliminate that anxiety.

3. The plan is being managed by an inexperienced employee.

In small businesses, this task is often delegated to a junior employee. But with very little training provided, mistakes can go undiscovered, salaries may not be up-to-date, etc.

Solution: Make sure you take the time to provide real training for the administrator in charge of managing the plan. This way, there will be no errors when the company data gets audited. You can even do group training with other companies or schedule one-on-one sessions.

4. There is a lack of employee appreciation and cost accountability.

Employees often don’t seem to appreciate the benefits that they are given by the company. As a result, they start to take them for granted and forget that the employer is the one who is paying for them, not the insurance company.

Solution: Build appropriate employee communication tools. There are a number of ways to do this. First, you could meet with them in person to reconfirm the value that is in the benefit plan and who pays for it. The second thing you could do is to use written statements or memos. An example would be total reward statements, which are summaries of all the salary, bonus, vacation, and benefit costs of an employee, and who pays for them. It is, in essence, an employer- vs. employee-paid comparison, and can be a very powerful tool.

Other methods that allow you to acquire feedback include surveys and focus groups. These are opportunities for employees to discuss what they are looking for from the company.

5. There is no schedule and no tracking mechanism for the plan.

Without a concrete plan, it is difficult to keep track of claims and all the options and alternatives that are available.

Solution: Set up a schedule for the year. Arrange a meeting every 90 days so that you can stay on track with the budget. Plan at least two additional meetings to review all your choices and plan all the alternatives. Allot a time for a face-to-face presentation with your employees for feedback. At this point, you are looking at about seven scheduled meetings throughout the year, but you will find that having these meetings makes managing benefit plans much easier.

6. Incorporating a level of wellness or health promotion into the business is still a fairly new idea.

Solution: Have a discussion on the concept of wellness in your organization and understand how a prevention program could help you in reducing the costs of benefits. In Canada and the U.S., wellness promotion is a huge and important advantage for a company because it educates employees on how to eat well, exercise, manage stress, etc., which shows their competitors in the industry that they can take good care of their employees.

Following these six steps will give you a different way of looking at benefit plan management. This program will allow you to take a more effective and more proactive approach to benefit plans as a business owner. Check out http://thorpebenefits.com/ for tools and resources that can help you create the right plan for your employees or speak to a specialist on this topic.

Related Links
Thorpe Benefits
http://thorpebenefits.com/

How to Choose a Financial Planner
https://www.ironshield.ca/landing/how-to-choose-and-work-with-a-financial-planner-you-can-trust/