Redefining Employee Benefits

When it comes to the benefits brokering business you get people or companies labeling themselves in many different ways. When I started in the business the common title was a Group Insurance Broker. Some added the label “Consultant”. Over time the term changed to Employee Benefits Advisor or Employee Benefits Consultant. I guess in the end you can call yourself whatever you want but the market really doesn’t care. What an employee values as a “Benefit” to working at some employer is something that is personal to that individual. The consumer or customer, or in this case an employee, will determine for themselves what is a benefit and what is not. Even the employer may be offering “benefits” that their employees don’t value much as a benefit to working there.

I think we are in the middle of a redefinition of what Employee Benefits is. A 23-year-old entering the workforce with a ton of college debt more than likely does not view a health insurance plan with a $3000 deductible as much of a benefit. Most don’t see themselves incurring claims over $3000, and if they did, they don’t have the $3000 in the bank to pay the deductible. My son is that 23-year-old and that is what he and his friends told me when I asked them. Granted, this is not a large sample size.

Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna, who has implemented some of the most progressive employee benefits programs for their employees says, their goal is to help employees be “happy, healthy, and economically viable”. Not a bad objective, and I would assume this would help their employees be more productive. I think most people strive to be happy, or at least happier, so helping people be a little happier is a worthy goal.

When a 25-year-old single mother with no money in the bank has her refrigerator break down that is a bad day. When a 40-year-old has their spouse ask for a divorce unexpectedly that is a bad day too. And when your 87-year-old father has dementia and needs to be put in a nursing facility that is a bad day for you and your 89-year-old mother who is slowly losing her partner. These bad days suck the happiness out of most people and this almost always leads to lost productivity at work, at home, or almost at any endeavor. It is hard to stay focused when something else consumes you.

This emerging market demand to help people through their workplace has resulted in a significant amount of capital being invested in new companies providing products and services to fill the need. These solutions include wellness, nutrition and smoking cessation programs, financial fitness, college loan payment support, employee loan programs, help with bad credit, and more. At Aetna, they promote yoga and pay employees to sleep more in additional to many other programs. Aetna claims that these programs have saved them millions of dollars through improved employee productivity and a reduction in sick days. This is certainly a different employee benefits world.

For employers, the idea of providing a benefit to employees should be a good thing. Who doesn’t want healthy, happy, financially viable, and productive employees? For many though, the number one employee benefit, health insurance, has become a necessary evil that still leaves employees with a financial burden. And what employer wants to come to work and worry about managing the health claims of their employees to keep down costs and maintain profitability? You would think they already have enough to do running whatever business they are in. In addition, they are essentially delivering “bad news” once per year when they raise employee contributions. This change has made health insurance much less of a benefit. And many people believe that it is rising health care costs that is holding back salary increases. So, indirectly, employees are really paying for the health insurance through lower incomes.

As these “new benefits” enter the market there are challenges. Employers aren’t sitting there with the budgets to provide all these solutions. HR departments, that are already strapped for time, don’t have the capacity to evaluate, purchase, communicate, and administer such programs. And many programs only address a subset of a population. A 48-year-old overweight diabetic has different needs than a 23-year-old triathlete with no money who just crashed his car. Meeting the needs of a broad employee population is not easy. While today these may be new ideas, there may be a day in the near future when this will be an expectation of employers.

Helping employers meet the needs of this changing market is an opportunity that can also be exciting. The idea of helping someone have a “better day” because you provide an outlet for an individual that has some immediate need, can be rewarding. But, as stated above, this is not easy. As the definition of employee benefits is redefined, it may also redefine what people call themselves who serve this market. It may start separating the traditional Group Insurance Broker/Consultant from those providing redefined Employee Benefits Consulting. Those lines are blurry today. They may not be in the near future.