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Choosing the right benefits administration platform for your business is important if you value employee satisfaction. High levels of employee satisfaction lead to a higher employee retention rate, which means less time spent onboarding new hires and more time spent tending to the job at hand. Of course, with so many ben admin platform providers on the market today, it can be hard to determine which one offers the best employee benefits for your particular business. Here are five things you should factor into your final decision.
Benefits Offered
One of the most important things to consider when choosing a ben admin platform is the variety of employee benefits they offer. While life insurance, health insurance, and dental insurance are all fairly standard offerings, it’s important to think about your employee’s specific needs. If a vast majority of your employees have pets, does this potential provider offer pet insurance? Assuming that some workers will retire from your company, what can this potential provider offer them for retirement options? You may want to consider getting input from your staff while reviewing the options, since actual employee needs may differ from your initial assumptions.
Insurance Carrier Support
Although technically possible, it’s highly unlikely that all of the benefits offered will be routed through a single insurance company. Instead, you will most likely be receiving benefits through multiple carriers (with 8 to 12 being fairly commonplace). It’s important to ensure that your new ben admin platform is not only capable of handling employee benefits with multiple carriers, but also that they can do so in a quick and timely manner. This is especially important during high-activity times, such as open enrollment, when a large amount of employee information must be processed in a short amount of time.
PPI Security
Unfortunately, cybersecurity is something that you must take into serious consideration, no matter the current size of your business. Ransomware is often used to disable computers from use until the hacker’s monetary demands are met. In some cases, even after being paid off, the devices still won’t be usable, leaving businesses out of luck and in need of new computers. Employee PPI (Personally Identifiable Information) is another common target for hackers, who can sell the information online to the highest bidder. You’ll want to discuss cybersecurity with any potential ben admin platform to ensure that all information (both business and individual) is protected from cyberattacks.
Ease of Implementation
Like most things, switching to a new employee benefits provider will take time—the question is, how much? You’ll need to figure this out in order to determine a realistic timeframe for implementation. It’s also worthwhile to look into the overall process itself: What information will need to be provided? Will you have training and/or assistance during the implementation? What can you expect for a final bill? Is there ongoing support provided? These are all important questions to ask before committing to a specific benefits administration platform.
Customer Support
This is another important consideration that must not be taken lightly. If you choose a benefits administration platform without any customer support, then you’ll need to figure out any technical issues yourself. Ideally, the new provider will offer U.S.-based customer support, who can attend to any issues you may have with your new system. On the benefits side, we recommend choosing a provider who offers detailed benefits descriptions. If not, your employees may end up being under (or over) insured, as employees who can’t educate themselves properly on the available benefits are unlikely to make the most suitable choices. Unfortunately, this can end up costing them thousands down the road.
Whether you’re choosing a benefits administration platform for the first time or trying to find a better service provider, the choice you make is important. Not only does it affect your business as a whole, but it also influences the lives of all your current employees (and highly satisfied employees mean a productive workforce!). If you want to kill two birds with one stone, consider choosing an all-in-one system like UZIO, which combines payroll and HR into a single system for maximum overall productivity. Finding the perfect balance between business needs and employee benefits may take time, but with a little bit of research and some stunning testimonials, you’re sure to make the best decision for your company as a whole.
