7 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Benefits Consultant
Navigating the intricacies of insurance plans, provider networks, and other regulatory requirements can be a daunting task for any business. However, this is where the expertise of a benefits consultant becomes invaluable.
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From tailoring benefits packages that align with your business goals to negotiating favorable premiums and facilitating effective communication with your employees, a skilled consultant can be crucial to designing a comprehensive and successful benefits program.
In this article by Pacific Prime, we’ll shed light on what a benefits consultant is, the numerous advantages they can bring to your company, and the seven reasons why you may need one for your company.
What is a Benefits Consultant?
“So what does a benefits consultant do?” You may ask.
As a leading corporate employee benefits broker, we rely on our consultants to not only sell insurance plans to companies but also enhance your experience with our products.
This requires our specialists’ industry knowledge and market experience to add the value the companies themselves usually lack. This includes:
- Providing simplified explanations and overviews of the benefits market as a whole
- Using in-depth knowledge to design a comprehensive benefits package that matches your business goals
- Engaging reputable providers that offer the benefits you want or need
- Negotiating fair premium prices that are consistent with the current market
- Creating staff communication and engagement plans to ensure benefits and success
- Updating you regularly about industry or regulatory changes that may affect your plan
A good benefits consultant does more than just act as an expert advisor to your business. They’ll become an integral part of your company and fit in alongside your HR team when it comes to administering and monitoring the performance of your compensations and benefits.
With them, your company will make better decisions for its future, while experiencing greater staff satisfaction with your employee benefit offers.
What to Expect From a Benefits Consultant
Client-centric Decision Making
The first thing you should expect from a knowledgeable consultant is that they put you and your company at the center of their decisions.
You can keep a broker and still change insurance and benefits providers. So, we advise you to look for a benefits consultant who is interested in building and maintaining a positive relationship with you.
If your current broker only pops up around the renewal time (where they make their commission), then maybe your “middleman” needs to be cut.
Industry Expertise
Expertise is crucial in the designing of a comprehensive benefits package. Anyone can sell a product but knowing the ins and outs of how it works, how to use it, and when to change it takes experience and knowledge.
Without it, your company can risk wasting your budget on irrelevant benefits or paying for premiums much higher than the market price. They’ll know about the support levels of the providers you’re considering too, so you won’t risk being stuck with poor service for a year.
Corporate Independence
A good benefits consultant will not keep a narrow portfolio. They know that the best plan depends on the company, and having a wide range of providers as a source of solutions is key to matching you with the right benefits package.
Their reputation as a partner with providers such as Cigna, Bupa, Aetna, and the like will also put your business in a good position when it comes to negotiating renewals.
Why Your Company Needs a Benefits Consultant
So we’ve talked about what a benefits consultant does and what they can do for companies. At this point, you might be thinking, “Why do I need one?”
To answer your question, here are some of the reasons why a benefits consultant can be advantageous to your business:
1. Your Premiums Are Not Sustainable
This can be for several reasons. Either your provider initially priced your benefits package too low and has to raise it to be competitive, your plan has seen a lot of usage, or you were simply paying too much for it.
It can be difficult when managing your benefits alone to know why your costs are high, but a knowledgeable broker can put you on the front foot.
2. Your Worldwide Offices Aren’t Aligned
Managing benefits across multiple locations can also be difficult with different regulations, along with the market trends to consider.
Your regional HR staff will need to effectively coordinate with the headquarters to ensure your comprehensive benefits plan runs smoothly across the whole business. If you’re finding this a struggle, a consultant with global experience can help.
3. Staff Aren’t Engaged with Their Benefits
Your HR teams already have plenty on their plate, and trying to educate your colleagues on how to utilize their benefits can be time-consuming.
If they’re not using them, however, the benefits are just costing you money. A consultant who supports staff engagement can make it all worthwhile.
4. You Have a High Employee Turnover Rate
Offering little to no incentives to your employees can be a huge drawback for your company. Employees may not feel connected, or appreciated, and might feel like you have nothing to offer them.
Having a benefits consultant helps you by matching your organizational issues and goals to your benefits plans, as well as evaluating your employees’ requirements.
They can also help you reflect on what you were missing out on and then suggest cost-effective ways to solve employee issues
5. You’re Not Getting the Service You Expect
This can be due to denied claims, delayed processing, and difficult-to-reach service centers. Sometimes your experience with a provider can be the stuff of nightmares!
While you might be set on changing insurers at renewal time, you’ll be stuck with poor service until then. A competent benefits consultant, however, can deal with the insurer on your behalf to seek an improvement in standards.
6. Benefits Consultants Helps Build Strategic Relationships with Your Clients
The main role of consultants is to build strong and long-lasting relationships with clients. Here, they can give you flexible and customized plans and services based on your goals.
Furthermore, they have access to several classified market statistics and data that may not be accessible to businesses that don’t work with consultants.
7. Hiring a Benefits Consultant is Cost-effective
Contrary to what you may believe, hiring a benefits consultant actually saves you money. Think of it as an investment rather than an expense, as you can be assured of easy access to classified information you may not have gotten before.
While a consultant does their research and analysis, you can focus on other areas that need attention. As a result, you’ll get better pricing, access to more details, and a quick resolution to any issue.
Let Us Be Your Benefits Consultant
In today’s competitive business landscape, offering a comprehensive employee benefits package and corporate health insurance plans is crucial for attracting and retaining top talent.
However, navigating the complexities of insurance plans, provider networks, and regulatory requirements can be overwhelming.
If your company is struggling with unsustainable premium costs, misalignment across global offices, low employee engagement with benefits, or dissatisfaction with current provider services, a competent benefits consultant can tackle these challenges head-on.
Not only can they simplify the process of designing benefits packages that align with your business goals but also leverage their industry knowledge and negotiation skills to secure favorable premiums and superior service levels.
This is where Pacific Prime’s team of experts comes into play.
With over 20 years of reputation as a world-renowned insurance brokerage, our client-centric approach, and dedication to continuous communication ensures that your company’s best interests are always at the forefront.
Contact us for impartial advice and expert knowledge, or start by getting an obligation-free quote today!
After obtaining his Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences, International Relations from Mahidol University International College, Veerabhatr has forged his career as a content writer in the travel, lifestyle, and real estate industries, writing in both English and Thai. He now continues to hone his skills as a writer at Pacific Prime, looking to engage and educate the audience by simplifying insurance.
Writer by day, and a DJ by night, Veerabhatr is a staunch music lover, and listens to all spectrums of genres available. He also loves to drink beer (moderately), eat all types of food, go to the beach, and learn about different cultures across the globe. He is also a die-hard fan of football and motorsports.
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