Employee Benefits Insights
The Workplace Is Changing — Has Your HR Tech Kept Up?
FEBRUARY 7, 2023
Your organization may have evolved to accommodate work from home, but has your human resources (HR) technology kept pace with the rapidly changing workplace? Employers rely on various HR and benefits administration platforms to assist with complicated and time-consuming processes, including:
- Open enrollment and plan selection
- Benefits communication and education
- Day-to-day administrative tasks
Whether your organization relies on a top-of-the-line system with the latest features, or has been juggling several platforms to address all its needs, there may still be gaps your HR or benefits administration system is not able to address:
- Workarounds that don’t operate in sync with plan design and benefits can be time-consuming and prone to errors.
- Failing to complete evidence of insurability (EOI) may prevent certain benefits from taking effect, such as life insurance and other voluntary benefits. EOI completion is a critical component of HR technology to ensure employees have the full benefits they expect.
- 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. Decision support resources can help with employee education and enrollment in the plans best suited to meet their needs.
- Lag between your open enrollment data and your insurance companies sometimes results in inaccuracies that can be challenging to resolve. Syncing enrollment data with your insurance companies helps reduce and resolve errors before they become an issue.
- Your remote employees may not always have access to an on-site location. Mobile/remote accessibility is a must-have for remote employee engagement and retention.
- Data breaches caused by third-party software vulnerabilities cost U.S. businesses an average of $4.55 million per incident in 2022.1 Employers must evaluate the data security of their HR technology to ensure personally identifiable information and protected/personal health information is safeguarded against a breach.
- Failing to provide required notices can result in costly penalties and fines. For example, the U.S. Department of Labor may impose a penalty of $110 per day per participant for failing to provide COBRA notices. HR technology that can keep you current on regulatory requirements at the federal, state and local level can help your organization maintain compliance and avoid fines.
With a new plan year in effect, now is a great time to review your HR and benefits administration technology to ensure it’s up to date and addresses your organization’s unique benefits, enrollment and compliance needs.
How USI Can Help
USI Insurance Services’ HR technology consultants work to close gaps in HR and benefits administration platforms, using our proven discovery process to help clients:
- Identify appropriate communication channels and education resources
- Determine the insurance companies, products and enrollment support solutions best suited to the organization’s needs
- Evaluate and select the most appropriate technology
USI’s national network of HR technology consultants make recommendations based on experience and best practices, leverage national partnerships, and negotiate programs to provide clients with customized solutions and exclusive discounts and support from best-in-class vendors.
Voluntary benefits insurance companies may also be willing to provide discounts and credits to reduce the overall cost of implementing a new HR technology platform. USI has partnered with leading voluntary benefits companies to form the Technology Credit Program (TCP), featuring USI-negotiated discounts between $0.50 and $1.00 per employee per month (PEPM) for USI clients, and a credit paid directly to the carrier that ranges from $0.20 to $2.50 PEPM. With these discounts and credits, the TCP may save employers $15,000 to $50,000, offsetting the project cost for the search and selection of HR technology.
Closing the gaps in your HR technology results in a streamlined process that reduces the administrative workload of HR departments, benefits administrators and business managers, helps ensure regulatory compliance, and improves recruiting and retention efforts.
See what effective HR and benefits administration solutions can look like for your organization. Contact your local USI benefits consultant or email ebsolutions@usi.com to learn more..
Sources:
1IBM, Cost of Data Breach Report 2022
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