View Accessibility page

From the PHP Team

When Your Employee Benefits Fall Short

Here are some helpful guidelines provided by Nancy Blake, PHP Account Executive, for recognizing when your employee benefits may be falling short of your expectations plus simple ways you can switch your plan mid-year with ease.

When Your Employee Benefits Fall Short
The key to a valuable employee benefits package is awareness and understanding from employees — addressing the benefits they are seeking. Also, recruitment and retention efforts are two big issues for employers; employers must stand out in the crowd with outstanding benefits that truly reward key employees.

Three appealing areas for today’s workforce include:

  1. Wellness programs that are personalized, actionable and relevant to their needs.
  2. Access to information and/or customer service to help navigate complicated health benefit decisions.
  3. An interactive website, so members have account information at their fingertips.

If you feel there is a disparity between the benefits your employees expect and the benefits you offer, consider switching to a plan that takes into consideration benefits that are more meaningful and relevant to your workforce as a whole. And, you CAN switch mid-year, often with no penalties.

The thought of switching plans may seem daunting including:

  • Changes in access to care for your employees
  • Penalties and paperwork involved
  • Re-educating your staff about leveraging their benefits

This is where it’s very important to find a benefits partner that is sensitive to your concerns and is familiar with the roadblocks you expect to encounter.

Changes in access to care may include losing a doctor or hospital employees trust. Ensure the new plan you are considering offers a broad range of doctors, hospitals, and facilities, so your employees can maintain relationships with health care professionals they can rely on.

Check with your current benefits partner to assess penalties for switching. Some, but not all, carriers may assess penalties for switching plans mid-year. Furthermore, ask if your employees can keep all credit for deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses which have been met under the prior health plans. This is an important factor that is not honored by all carriers.

Re-educating your staff is part of the change process, so make provisions for transition time, and a trusted local partner to walk your staff or benefits specialist through the necessary conversion. Incorporate wellness programs and employee challenges as part of your offerings and include this training as part of the onboarding process to ensure employees are familiar with their benefit plan.

Whether it be mid-year or at the time of renewal, your benefits partner can help you navigate a smooth transition to a plan that meets both your and your employees’ needs. 

As published in Business People