Employee Benefits Consulting – Strategy And Broking

Small business owners that receive a consultation from an experienced insurance brokerage company can structure employee benefits to recruit and retain talent. The consultant-broker can offer services and reviews that will save your business money while still offering competitive benefits packages. 

Are you trying to structure employee benefits? Are you wondering what your business can feasibly offer versus what the top talent wants? 

Keep reading to see how working with a broker that offers consulting services can help you offer the best employee benefits in the current job market!

In this article, we will articulate how a consulting and brokerage firm helps your small business review and implement successful strategies for employee benefits. We’re here to offer support and advice for business owners.

Corporate Insurance Brokers Versus Benefits Consultants

Typically brokers sell insurance products, and benefits consultants help businesses research and plan what benefits to offer employees and how to manage those. For businesses that want to keep it simple, some companies will offer both consulting services and serve as insurance brokers.

Using a company that offers consultations and serves as an insurance broker can save you money and lower the amount you would end up paying for both services. 

Pacific Prime offers three major services to provide the best value for our clients:

• Consulting

Selecting the best group insurance plans and employee benefits requires a consultation process that investigates your company’s needs, requirements, and goals. 

• Policy Broking

Clients of Pacific Prime get to review and select the best policy. As the broker, we find the right insurers and policies to suggest. We also perform a rigorous annual benchmarking process.

• Plan Administration

Pacific Prime offers plan management continuously. This includes local support with claims, accounting, and benefits communication. These services are available for the entire lifetime of your policy.

Employee Benefits Are An Important Business Strategy 

Employee benefits are also called non-monetary or non-cash compensation. This includes any compensation that is not a direct deposit in an employee’s bank account as an employee benefit. This includes insurance, wellness programs, and more. 

Non-monetary employee benefits have been important to employees for a long time but are becoming increasingly important as healthcare costs continue to rise. 

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, salaries and wages only accounted for 68% of the average compensation. That means 32% or almost a third of employee compensation was in the form of non-monetary benefits!

What Benefits To Offer Employees

The most popular benefits offered by employers are insurance packages. Covering health insurance costs for employees helps hire and retain the top talent in today’s labor market. There are a number of insurance products available including health, life, and disability insurance. 

The most commonly requested health insurance products include:

• Health insurance for inpatient and outpatient coverage
• Maternity coverage
• Family/Dependent Coverage
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance

In addition to health insurance, additional insurance and programs are popular for employees. These benefits may include any of the following:

• Wellness Solutions

Popular Wellness benefits include services like counseling, employee assistance programs, health screenings, health seminars, and smoking cessation programs. Other helpful wellness benefits can be financial management tools and resources including seminars and financial health programs. Company sports events are fun and also popular.

• Group Life and Disability Insurance

Coverage with group life and disability insurance typically includes plans for accidental death and dismemberment, critical illness, as well as short and long-term disability insurance.

• Group Travel and Accident Insurance

Group travel and accident insurance make business trips for employees less stressful. These plans typically cover worldwide travel, inpatient and outpatient care abroad (including possible coverage for pre-existing conditions), and medical evacuation.

In addition to travel insurance for healthcare needs abroad, group travel insurance policies also help out when flights are canceled or delayed or when baggage or valuables get lost.

Benefits can include flexible options and work arrangements, gym passes or fitness classes, and help with childcare or domestic helper costs. For more information on employee benefits, the following articles will provide further insight. 

• What Employee Benefits Should Small Businesses Include?
• Employee Benefits for Small Businesses in 2023
• 25 Types of Employee Benefits to Consider in 2023
• Guide to Employee Benefits

If you want a benefits review and a more personalized consultation for your business, set up a benefits review with Pacific Prime.

Why Companies Offer Non-Monetary Benefits

Companies offer non-monetary benefits to attract and keep the best employees in the labor market. Selecting the best benefits can improve retention and hiring. Additionally, this non-monetary compensation leads to improved outcomes for the business and employees.

• Physical and Emotional Wellness for Productivity

Many in the younger generations are seeking more work-life balance and wellness. Many employers would like happier, healthier, and more productive employees. Offering preventative healthcare coverage and health education can help both the business and the employee. It’s a win-win!

• Less Stress for Employees with Financial Wellness Education Benefits

Many employers have also found happier and healthier employees by offering financial education to employees. Knowing how to budget and plan for the future relieves a lot of additional stress on employees, so it can improve the work environment.

• Tax Benefits or Assistance, Especially for Small Businesses

Small businesses won’t want to miss out on the potential tax benefits of offering health insurance plans. Your business may be eligible for subsidies or assistance to help cover the expense of offering health insurance plans to employees.

Find The Best Strategy For Employee Benefits

There are several advantages when a business owner consults with an experienced insurance broker. Brokers who offer consulting services can help review benefits plans and offer suggestions to minimize costs while maximizing employee benefits. 

A broker will also negotiate and secure the best deals with insurance companies. Insurance brokers help out by comparing multiple insurance packages available to your business. An experienced insurance broker will also help small business HRs navigate the regulations and guidelines of benefits like FMLA. 

An experienced broker will also help businesses find health insurance plans covering employees abroad. This will allow your business to expand globally and remain competitive. 

Choosing A Corporate Insurance Broker 

To secure the best deals and benefits strategy for your small business, search for brokers who work with multiple insurance providers. You’ll want a broker that works on your company’s behalf to negotiate premiums and benefits year after year to combat rising costs.

You will also want to consider what features and products you want from a broker. Here are some desirable features to look out for when choosing a broker:

• Online portals and tools to make navigating benefits easy for you and your employees
• Advice and consultation services for your benefits packages 
• Being able to offer multiple plans to employees rather than one rigid option
• Works with insurance providers around the world to secure the best plans available
• Finding products and solutions for more than employees: find a broker who can secure corporate insurance at the same time
• Will the broker offer or help you find wellness benefits packages?
• Make sure your broker is data-driven to provide you with the best possible outcomes
• Ensure your broker will help you mitigate rising costs by using past data to combat premium increases

Online Benefits Portals

Finding a broker that offers an online portal makes insurance management much easier for human resources departments. A good broker can offer this service at no additional charge to save your business time and money.

As an example, Prime Care Portal allows our users to digitally complete the following tasks:

• Update and maintain member details
• Identify and keep track of new hires and departures from the company
• Allow companies to create subgroups when the company has multiple locations
• Manage member movement from office to office
• Organize and generate customized reports in just minutes
• Manage multiple policies from more than one insurer
• Organize and distribute policy documents

For more tips and advice, read Choosing the Best Employee Benefits Broker 2023.

Choosing An Employee Benefits Consultant

When you choose an employee benefits consultant, you need to make sure that their process and approach fit in with your company’s goals and needs. You will also want to make sure that the consultant has the experience and knowledge to give the best guidance and advice.

Here are the things to look for in an employee benefits consulting firm:

• Market Intelligence

A company with market intelligence will be able to identify the most relevant employee benefits in your industry. That market intelligence will also allow the consultant to identify trends and keep your benefits up-to-date and competitive.

• Industry Knowledge

The best benefits consultants are ones that also broker insurance and/or benefits packages. This is because the consultant-broker has close relationships with corporate insurance providers and can match your company’s needs with the best-fitting insurance provider.

• Risk Assessment

Working with a consultant familiar with insurance and insurance products allows for a more holistic approach to analyzing and addressing risks with appropriate solutions for your business.

• Compliance and Legality

As a multi-jurisdictional company, Pacific Prime can apply our knowledge to identify compliance and legal issues in many regions around the world. Find a company that can offer these services everywhere you would like to do business.

• Claims Analysis

A company that provides a detailed claims analysis will reveal your underlying claiming pattern. With this information, the consultant will identify a fair loss ratio for your company.

• Design a Plan for Your Business Needs

In the final stages of a good approach, the consultant will compile all of the review processes to design the best insurance plans for your business.

Conclusion

Planning employee benefits can be overwhelming and time-consuming. Since such a large part of the employee compensation comes from these non-cash benefits, you’ll want to work with an experienced broker that you can consult every step of the way.

Reach out to Pacific Prime today with your questions about employee benefits and/or company insurance options. You can have one of our insurance experts call you back as soon as possible or at your convenience.

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Jantra Jacobs

Senior Copywriter at Pacific Prime

Jantra Jacobs is a Senior Copywriter at Pacific Prime with over 10 years of writing and editing experience. She writes and edits a diverse variety of online and offline copy, including sales and marketing materials ranging from articles and advertising copy to reports, guides, RFPs, and more.

Jantra curates and reports on the results of Pacific Prime’s monthly newsletters, as well as manages Pacific Prime’s Deputy Global CEO’s LinkedIn posts. Complemented by her background in business writing, Jantra’s passion for health, insurance, and employee benefits helps her create engaging content - no matter how complex the subject is.

Growing up as a third-culture kid has given her a multicultural perspective that helps her relate to expats and their families while 8 years of working remotely have given her unique insight into hybrid work arrangements and enthusiasm for employee benefits.

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