HOW TO GET THE BEST POSSIBLE EMPLOYEE BENEFITS SOLUTION FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Group benefits are a significant investment – one that you want to see positive returns from. So how can you secure the best return on your investment? By finding the best possible employee benefits solution for your business.

The Best Possible Provider

The starting point for attaining the best possible employee benefits solution is to choose the best possible provider. Don’t stay with your current provider out of a misplaced sense of loyalty or because you imagine that switching providers will be a lot of work. Times have changed, and the right provider will make the transition painless.

When selecting the right provider, you’ll want to choose one with a proven track record. You need a provider who is willing to work with you to find the right fit for you. It’s a good idea to choose a provider that can give you the best benefit coverage, regardless of which insurers they work with.

You’ll also need a provider who shares your philosophy on benefits. Someone who believes in long-term, sustainable benefits is a must. This is typically a provider who is familiar with cost control and how it can be incorporated into a plan.

The bottom line: don’t settle. Shop around and find the right provider so they can give you the right solution.

The Best Possible Benefits

At the center of the best possible employee benefits solution is the benefits themselves. You can’t have the best benefits solution without great benefits. There are three important elements to great benefits:

1. Customized

Your company is unique, and your benefits should be too! A cookie-cutter plan that is the same for all companies is not going to do the trick. Your provider will need to take into account the demographics of your company, your company culture, your budget and your priorities in order to customize the benefits included in the plan.

When benefits are customized, they are more relevant to your employees and more valued. This helps improve the return-on-investment you can expect. Customized benefits are essential when you’re looking for the best fit.

2. Comprehensive

The best possible benefits must be comprehensive so that both the physical and mental health of employees are supported. In addition, benefits should be in place to protect employees from disruptive health events and their impact on employees and their families.

Comprehensive coverage usually includes benefits like extended health coverage, dental, disability, accident and serious illness benefits, and life insurance. These are good starting points when securing comprehensive coverage. Ensuring the specifics of the coverage are a good fit is the next step.

Support for mental health is often provided through an Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP) or through paramedical coverage for counselling or visits to a physiologist.

3. Progressive

Progressive employee benefits are those that break away from traditional benefit offerings to reflect coverages and benefits that are relevant here and now. They require a forward-thinking provider who can look at challenges or opportunities and tailor benefits to address them.

For example, in today’s digital age, many consumers purchase products and services online. Progressive benefits mean extending this mantra to health coverage. Providing access to virtual healthcare and a virtual pharmacy are progressive benefits that are relevant in today’s world. They improve the benefits experience and help contain costs.

Accident and Serious Illness benefits are another example. These benefits take the traditional Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D) coverage and alter it to be more meaningful now. They take into account the prevalence of serious illness and its effect on employees and provide coverage that wasn’t part of traditional AD&D.

The best benefits are not only progressive, but proactive. Wellness is a great example. Wellness is a category of benefits that focuses on elevating the health of individuals as a means of preventing illness and improving quality of life.

Progressive benefits can have a huge impact on whether an employee benefits solution is really the best it can be.

The Best Possible Support

It’s not possible to have the best possible employee benefits solution without the best possible support of you and your employees. You’ll need responsive, easy-to-access support for your Plan Administrator as they roll out and maintain the plan. This means a team that is willing to help as issues or obstacles are encountered during the day-to-day administration of the plan.

One of the best ways that your Plan Administration team can be supported is with a powerful online interface for administering the plan. An easy-to-use online interface for administration saves time and money, helping set the stage for an exceptional employee benefits solution.

When you’re looking for the best employee benefits solution, it’s important to remember that it’s not just your administration team that needs support. Employees need support as they access and use the plan, and they need help when they encounter obstacles.

Supporting them in accessing the plan is often done through mobile apps or online interfaces. These access points must be straightforward and user-friendly in order to warrant a “best possible employee benefits solution” label.

Cost Containment

It’s naïve to think that the costs of your employee benefits plan don’t matter when looking for the best solution. The truth is the best possible employee benefits solution must also address the costs of the plan and how those costs can be contained. Cost containment must be built into the plan

The best solutions can balance great benefits coverage with cost containment. A good example at GroupHEALTH is our suite of Smart Rx solutions. These products focus on lower cost, equally effective drugs and utilize a central dispensing or “virtual” pharmacy. For employees, they are still getting the medication they need, but the plan isn’t paying for high-cost drugs that aren’t necessary. It helps protect the long-term sustainability of the plan.

Disability management services are another example. These services support employees during a difficult time, while at the same time they often shorten disability leave which can help contain costs. It really does make sense that the best possible employee benefits solution would be one that helps control rising costs

Good advice is key

If you’re looking for the best possible employee benefits solution for your company, you’d better focus on finding the right provider, getting the right benefits, receiving support and containing costs. Review your options with one of our licensed advisors on the phone or in-person or contact us for a comparison quote.

Whether you’re looking for extended health and dental coverage, disability coverage, or life and critical illness coverage, GroupHEALTH has affordable benefit packages that work as hard as you do.