A Zombie Movie and the Relationship to Trump’s HRA Changes

Posted on June 17, 2019 | Leave a comment

Rarely do I watch a Zombie movie and when I do, I don’t look to get lessons in business from the movie. However, one movie did give me a lesson in business and since then it has been a conscious part of my daily work-life. If you read previous articles that I had published on LinkedIn or on my blog at http://www.joemarkland.wordpress.com , you will see a somewhat constant theme which is also the tagline to my blog titled, “Challenging Everyday Thought”. The movie, Word War Z, and its lesson have contributed to my writing. It also has also somewhat prepared me and my business for the changes Trump made to the Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) rules where effective January 1, 2020, an employer can give money to employees on a pre-tax basis to purchase personal health insurance.

To summarize the clip from the movie, it is about threat assessment. The Israeli’s (in the movie), because of constant threats against their nation, developed the concept of the 10th Man. In their threat assessment process, they have a panel of 9 people who look at evidence of a threat and vote as to whether it is a threat of concern and would require action. The job of the 10th Man is to take the opposite position of the vote and try to prove them wrong. In the movie, the Israeli’s were assessing a threat of a virus spreading in a small African village that turned people into Zombie’s. The 9-person panel voted that it wasn’t a threat but the 10th Man convinced the other 9 they were wrong. (You can see the clip below.)

In my own business I play the role of the 10th Man. I don’t have a panel of 9 people assessing threats to my business, but I do read many articles in industry magazines and attend webinars and seminars on the health insurance and health care industries to try and get some idea as to where the business is going. My staff has their share of opinions too. I do this because I need to make sure my business stays relevant. The thing is, I have almost always disagreed with what I was hearing in the mainstream media of the industry. I wrote about this in my article, “Sometimes I Feel Like George Costanza”. The current health care and health insurance system is broken, and I see ways to fix it that everyone is seeming to ignore, that is until now, with these changes by Trump.

As one who looks for potential business threats, I have paid close attention to signs from those who have no interest in protecting the status quo. Those voices are hard to find. I did, somewhat accidentally, come across two instances where I heard very credible people talk about the coming changes in the health insurance and health care markets. One was Mark Bertolini, past CEO of Aetna, who I referenced in my article, The Coming End to Employer-based Health Insurance back in December 2014. (See article link below.) In Mark’s presentation to the Mayo clinic, he drew the picture of a future health care system where employers were no longer in the middle. Individuals would choose their own health insurance.

The other I heard while on a hike one Saturday morning in the summer of 2016 while listening to the Larry Kudlow radio talk show about economic issues. HIs guest was from the Trump administration, and they were talking about health care. The Trump advisor stated that somewhere in the second half of Trump’s first term, or the beginning of the second if he were re-elected, he would propose moving the deduction for health insurance from the employer to the employee. He said that the power of the individual consumer would create a new competitive environment and would be the catalyst needed to drive down health insurance and health care costs. While Trump has not done this though tax law changes yet, the new HRA rules are a start to giving the consumer the power. It just happens that Larry Kudlow is now part of the Trump administration as his Director of the National Economic Council.

I find it amazing that I had never heard any reference to the Bertolini presentation, or the position stated by Trump’s advisor, in any other media source including all the health insurance industry publications or at conferences. When I have written about these changes in the past I have often been chastised, as if I was the one proposing these changes.
After hearing these two positions, I evaluated the threat and took action, which is now my current business. However, these current changes to the HRA rules are just the tip of the iceberg and I am not naïve enough to think I have it all figured out. What I do know is that we are in the first inning of a new game and Trump just started this game. I believe there will be much bigger changes in the next 5 years that will transform health insurance and health care in America forever.

If you listen to the same people over and over, you won’t hear anything new. I think most people tend to seek out others whose opinions mirror their own. However, if you listen closely, you can hear those out there telling a different story. So, become your own 10th Man and either take action, or maybe you will need to watch out for the Zombie’s.

Article References:

You Tube of the World War Z Scene

Sometimes I Feel Like George Costanza

The Coming End to Employer-based Health Insurance

 

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Posted in Employee Benefits Distribution, Employer HR, Health Care

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Sun Life Buys Maxwell Health – So What?

Posted on June 5, 2018 | Leave a comment

Today it was announced that Sun Life acquired Maxwell Health. The first thing I asked was why? I don’t see the benefit to an employer or their employees. I see no benefit to the broker distributors. In fact, I hardly see a benefit to Sun Life. I can see the benefits to Maxwell if they either needed cash or their investors wanted out. I don’t really need to speculate around that here, but I am sure someone will tell me I am wrong. Someone please tell me why this is a good or even “relevant to the market” transaction. I will print it if the reason is sound.

If I am an employer, why would I want a technology solution coming from a single vendor? Technology to manage benefits, HR, and payroll should be owned by the employer, with no attachments. It should be something you invest in to make better every day. It should be engaging and provide employees with all the relevant company information that they need. In a survey I had done, the number one thing employees wanted to see via web or mobile in an employer sponsored HR system was how many vacation days they have left. Most employee benefits technology systems don’t track time off and those that do are bad at it.

As a broker, one would think you would want to represent the employer’s interests. You would want to have more options than representing a single vendor. And why would I need a carrier to bring me a technology solution as I could easily pick up the phone and find ten systems in one hour? Providing choice in health insurance, disability, and other benefits is an asset and the core to being an insurance broker versus an agent for a single company.
Other carriers are already out there providing a broad range of technology solutions. Many are providing discounts. This move by Sun Life could create a competitive advantage, to everyone other than Sun. In my business I could bring a dozen benefits enrollment systems, HR, and payroll to any employer, all with carrier subsidies available from many carriers. I have choice for technology. Choice of carriers. And subsidies for the employer if needed. It is easy to do, and I would add not a real differentiator.

Now if Maxwell develops something real special then maybe there could be something there. However, as I have learned from being in the technology business for years, technology is easily replicated. As the saying goes, “You can’t win or stop a technology war”. So, Sun Life better have a real lot of money to continue to fight the battles of this very active HR/Benefits/Payroll technology war that is going on. I would expect investments of over $100 million per year in their technology would be required simply to compete.

So, my assessment of this transaction is, So What? It is just more noise in a very noisy market that in my opinion doesn’t change the world a bit. (Other than for some employees or investors in Maxwell.)

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Posted in Agency Operations, Employee Benefits Distribution, HR and Benefits Technology

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When Things Don’t Make Sense – Prepare for a Change

Posted on February 21, 2018 | Leave a comment

I was out having a beer after work a few weeks ago with a few friends when a woman across the bar started telling everyone how her son just made $500 selling Bit Coin. The first thing I thought was 2008, when the housing market tanked. When things just don’t make sense, there is big change coming and with it may come a lot of pain. In the movie the Big Short they found waitresses in Florida owning 5 houses when they had little income. Back then I remember thinking, “how can housing prices continue to rise at this crazy pace.” Like most others, I did nothing, and would never have imagined things were as screwed up as they were. Whether it be Bit Coin, Housing, or the Tech Bubble of the late 90’s, it seems like these Ponzi schemes with a product are not going away. In the industry I play around in, the health insurance business, is going through this now. Things don’t make sense. Change will come.

A few other things don’t make sense which is a sign of the times. My daughter is spending her semester of college in Barcelona. It will cost me less to have her study a semester in Barcelona and travel throughout Europe than have her study at the University of New Hampshire, where she will graduate next year. It doesn’t make sense. High college costs need to end. Nobody seems to care.

I saw a medical plan the other day that an employer was providing that had a $6800 deductible. That is not insurance in a country where 70% of the population is living paycheck to paycheck. The system is broken. It must change.

This same health care system has people getting on planes in our version of Domestic Medical Tourism to have surgeries in lower cost areas across the U.S. This is just plain stupid. How do you move populations of people all over the place to get health care when they would prefer it closer to their homes where friends and family can support them? I wonder how this idea can support the 6.5 million people in the Boston area. Are they going to get on planes and fly to Kansas? When you see something real dumb, change is on the horizon.

I would add that my medical insurance premium renewal was +29% this year. This was after +16% last year. It goes on and on. Then it will crash, and it should. Unfortunately, until then, our health insurance will continue to cause pain. And please, don’t tell me how you saved someone money by putting them in a captive with medical tourism, some new RX plan, and a personal direct primary care physician. All are symptoms of the problem. Aetna and CVS get this. They are trying to change this. Most perpetuate the insanity.

In the health insurance industry, we have seen private exchanges, then captives, now the buzz is referenced based pricing, domestic medical tourism, and direct primary care. For someone who has been in the business for 20+ years all of these seem like old ideas rebranded as something new. Some see this as change. I see all this as symptoms of a bigger problem. These trends will come and go. They may hide the problem for a while or simply push the problem forward a few years. But it doesn’t make sense. So, things will change.

Let 2018 be the year where we start tackling some tough problems. Health care costs, college debt, market bubbles that create havoc, Ponzi schemes with products, are all things lurking behind the scenes that for some reason most of us are blind to. Others we see yet push to tomorrow. The bubbles continue to grow. Tomorrow will come. Look around, if it doesn’t make sense, it should change. We can continue to ride on this rollercoaster of steep ups and steep downs or choose to do something about it. Let’s start.

I am starting by writing my book about how to fix health care in America. I think I have a good solution. I may never finish it, or I may be the only one to read it, but I am going to try. Maybe after that I will tackle the high costs of college. My kids will be out by then, but the madness needs to stop.

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Posted in Employee Benefits Distribution, Health Care, Private Exchanges

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Webinar Series – Taking HR to New Heights

Posted on February 13, 2018 | Leave a comment

WE WILL SHOW HR PROFESSIONALS WHAT IS POSSIBLE

Technology is impacting the HR world no differently than in our personal lives. There are web, mobile applications, and soon to be artificial intelligence and machine learning. Live chat and video conferencing are already commonplace. Yet, for many HR professionals, these capabilities are not realized and appear to be unattainable.

Join us for the first installment of our 2018 ProHCM Webinar Series focused on educating HR professionals about what is possible through current and future technologies in HR, but also provides a plan on how to take action to achieve your goals – that is affordable.

Webinar 1: Taking HR to New Heights

Tuesday, Feb 27th
11:00 am PST / 2:00 pm EST

REGISTER NOW

This webinar will show you what is possible and what new technologies are coming to move HR to New Heights.

We will not only talk about what is possible, we will show you. We do not represent any one technology vendor, so we will highlight multiple vendors with great solutions. You will leave this webinar knowing what is possible.

Webinar 2: Overcoming the Obstacles to Success

Coming in March!

Taking HR to New Heights has its challenges. Some of the obstacles are internal but many are external. Most employers and those causing the problems don’t realize it. In this webinar, we will identify the obstacles and show you how to overcome them.

Webinar 3: Creating an Engaging Employee Experience

Coming in April!

With web and mobile technologies employers are faced with accommodating the new consumer, the employee. The employee experience is a reflection of your brand and culture, so it has to be good. We not only show you what good is, but we will show you how to make it great.

Webinar 4: Redefining Employee Benefits

Coming in May!

Employers are getting bombarded by vendors with new products and services for employees. Wellness, financial wellness, nutrition, college debt repayment, and many more solutions are hitting the market. In this webinar we will give you an overview of the market along with a practical, manageable, and affordable way to introduce new programs to your employees.

 

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Posted in Employer HR, HR and Benefits Technology

The Health Care Solution Can Be Found in the Dunkin Donuts Drive-thru

Posted on October 12, 2017 | Leave a comment

Almost every morning on the way to work I go through the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru and get a large coffee. On an average day there are two or three cars in line. If it is a school day and my timing is off there may be 4-5 cars in line. But every now and then there are 10-15 cars in line. The first time I saw the big line I thought they were short-handed. However, when I pulled up to the drive thru speaker and ordered my large coffee I was asked what kind of free donut I wanted with that. Yes, it was buy a large coffee and get a free donut day. My first thought was that I needed to lose fifteen pounds and don’t need the donut. My second though was that I could not believe how many people changed their morning routine to get a free high calorie food item that costs $1.20 because they purchased a coffee. As a psychology major I came to the simple realization that this is real human behavior in action.

This gets me to what I have always believed about the U.S. health insurance and health care market. I believe that the major obstacle to achieving significantly lower costs are laws and rules that prohibit normal and instinctive human behavior. If we simply unleashed the power of an individual to act in their own self-interest as they do to get a free donut, the entire market would react to meet the demand that this behavior created. Costs would drop like a rock as insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, and drug companies restructured their businesses to accommodate this new buyer. These lower costs would also free-up needed capital to cover those that need a safety net.

Most can’t imagine this new world because their minds are stuck in the current model. The new models would be very different. Maybe insurance products would not be as complex. I often reference how Steve Jobs was a uability fanatic. He cared about the fonts on the cell phone. If the iPhone wasn’t easy nobody would use it. Apply the same logic to health insurance. Would some company design an easy to understand product? I always make fun of a prescription drug plan that I saw that had 12 different ways to get reimbursed for a prescription. Does anyone really understand what a non-formulary non-network drug is?

A few years ago, I read that 87% of employees had one health insurance option through their employer. That may be a little higher today but still a low number. With almost every other product I purchase I have dozens of options. Dunkin Donuts has 20+ donut options. The local ice cream place has 30 flavors and that is just one place. How many different cars can I buy? A buddy of mine owns a vodka business. How many types of vodka or beers are there? Yet with health insurance I have one option and the price is going up 15% every year. Maybe there is a relationship between these two stats.

I read all these articles by brokers and others about working with employers to try and control health care costs. In my opinion, while it is necessary in today’s world, it is all garbage. It is a temporary fix. I know this may be blasphemous to say such things in the world that I travel but I really don’t think employers want to be going to work and worrying about how to control the claims of their employees. I often say that the best way to control costs is to not hire old fat people. The current market does promote that type of discrimination.

The two areas in then U.S. where there is easy access to capital are in health care and college education. These are also the two areas where costs are exceeding inflation by a mile and are the biggest burdens on our society. In health care employers pay a large part of the premium taking the obligation away from the individual. In education the student loan programs give loans in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to young people who have no job, no credit, and have no idea what $150,000 in debt really feels like. The solution to both is to change the incentives to drive down costs. It seems so simple that I really can’t understand what is preventing this from happening. If a free donut can change human behavior in this way then why not try it in health care and education. I bet it would work.

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Posted in Employer HR, Health Care, HR and Benefits Technology

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Redefining Employee Benefits

Posted on September 27, 2017 | 1 comment

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.

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Posted in Agency Operations, Employee Benefits Distribution, Employer HR, HR and Benefits Technology

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The Zenefits/OneDigital Partnership – It’s Magic

Posted on September 21, 2017 | Leave a comment

You may have seen the news about the Zenefits/OneDigital deal and the how Zenefits will now start working with brokers. This news reminds me of a magician performing a magic trick. They get you to focus on one hand while the other is where most of the action is happening. With this new partnership, most brokers are probably focusing on this competitor named Zenefits. The real story however is about the competitor named OneDigital.

The details of this relationship and how Zenefits may partner with other brokers has yet to come out. Let me speculate here. First, I would assume the OneDigital deal with Zenefits is similar to what OneDigital has done with other brokers in their small group outsourcing business. OneDigital gets 50% – 60% of the commissions to manage the business and the other broker gets 40% – 50%, or something like that. Without some significant share of the commission being retained by Zenefits this deal would not have happened. If Zenefits was giving away free software then they certainly can’t give away all the revenue and still employ all their people.

I would assume that any broker that wants to have a relationship with Zenefits will have to provide what OneDigital is doing. Handle all the service for 60% of the revenue. Or if they want to sell Zenefits technology, I would imagine the fees would need to be closer to what the market is.

The thing about OneDigital is they built a business based on leveraging technology in the most optimum way to drive down costs and provide better service. Brokers tell me all the time they can’t make money on small group for 100% of the commission yet OneDigital does it with only 60% of the revenue. How can that be?

The idea of combining HR/Benefits/Payroll technology with services is something we have been touting for years now. In fact, a shift in our business was made because of the need to provide the united services around the technology. Even Namely recently announced they are moving from a software as a service model to software with services model. These services include benefits brokering along with benefits administration and of course, HR and payroll.

The one-stop-shop for everything HR is an attractive value proposition for employers. Mike Sullivan, One Digital’s Chief Growth Officer stated in today’s Employee Benefit Advisors article that, “In a very client-centric way, the alignment of these two platforms makes sense for small businesses.” Indeed, it does.

This is not OneDigital’s first play in this space. It was less than two years ago when they announced their investment in GoCo. The title of the press release said, “GoCo Takes Zenefits Head on with Digital Insurance Partnership and Investment”. You can see that press release here. Even today Mike Sullivan is still listed on the GoCo website as a Board Member. I don’t know where this leaves that relationship.

What will come out in the coming days or weeks is how Zenefits plans to partner with other brokers. I wonder if and how the insurance commission is going to be leveraged to deliver this joint offering. Somehow, I don’t think this strategy of benefits commissions subsidizing HR technology game is over. Firms like Gusto and Namely are still combining benefits brokering with HR/Payroll technology and services. And we all know that other brokers are subsidizing systems across the country to get new business. As I have stated in the past, the idea of giving away free technology to get a broker of record started at least a dozen years before Zenefits was even founded.

Personally, I don’t think Zenefits has anything special, but OneDigital does. So, while most brokers are paying attention to what they perceive as the fall of Zenefits, I think the competitor to look out for is OneDigital. They will be knocking on your client’s door.

Note: This article is wildly speculative, but it is my blog. As more information comes out I will write again.

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Posted in Agency Operations, HR and Benefits Technology, Uncategorized, Zenefits

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What is the Speed of Your Benefits Business

Posted on July 31, 2017 | 1 comment

I often wonder why the benefits world is so slow to advance new ideas and new technology. I have been in the business for over 30 years yet have seen very little evolution relative to other industries. In my personal life, almost everything has evolved. The way I do my banking, communicate with friends and businesses associates, book an airline ticket, turn lights on and off in my home, pay at Starbucks, or get around a city, have all changed. Things are easier. Yet, for the most part, the benefits business is almost still the same as it was when I got in the business in 1986. Up to this point lack of change has not significantly impacted those in the business. I think that is about to change.

I started my career in finance at General Electric where the CEO, Jack Welch, was good at putting things in perspective. One quote has stuck with me and that is as follows:

“If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, then the end is near.”                                  Jack Welch

Since I have been running a business I have heeded that advice. We try hard to change with the times and it isn’t always easy. I would say it is never easy. But we haven’t sat still.

With all the attention to health care and health insurance in the U.S. I have spent a great deal of time researching the market so that I can make an educated guess as to where the market is headed. What I have seen is that the outside world, (outside of the current benefits market including carriers, brokers, TPA’s etc..) is moving much faster than the inside world. If you only looked on the inside; at broker and carrier conferences; read benefits magazines or blogs; or listen to one’s buddy in the business; you would miss what is going on outside. The outsiders don’t care about the insiders. Unlike the past 30 years, new technologies, new business models, significant capital, a populace looking for better solutions, and government debt that is unsustainable, are the catalysts for change that exist today and not at any time in the past. Things are different.

A changing health care market is right under everyone’s nose yet many don’t see it. The Apple Watch, an Amazon Echo, Bitcoin and Blockchain technology, Artificial Intelligence and machine learning (highlighted on 60 minutes) all can be the foundation for huge changes. Never mind simple things like video conferencing, online chat and text messaging, and bots.

A few years ago, some benefits organizations started pushing Private Exchanges as some new idea. I wasn’t buying it. I sold similar plans in 1987. Many think they are offering some game changing idea, but most are simply different packaging of the same thing.

In the benefits business, small brokers may not have the capital to make the changes needed to keep up with the outside world. Many larger firms appear to be building moats around their businesses hoping the outside world won’t touch them. And as the old saying goes, it takes a long time for a big ship to change its course. The outsiders will just go around or over the moat anyway.
One doesn’t need to invent everything to have a sustainable business in a changing market. You may be able leverage the tools or resources invented by others to compete effectively. But all this change is not easy. Yet we all know that “Hope” is not a strategy.

So, look around and not just at your competitors or at some broker conference. When your Apple watch gives you your pulse. When you talk to your Amazon Echo. When you video chat with your son or daughter. When you turn on the air conditioning in your house from work. Wonder why this isn’t happening regularly in the benefits business. Is the outside moving faster than your inside? If so, well hoping Jack Welch is wrong is probably not a good strategy.

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Posted in Agency Operations, Employee Benefits Distribution, HR and Benefits Technology

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Webinar Invite – Taking HR to New Heights

Posted on May 3, 2017 | Leave a comment

2017_webinar_hr_without_limits_linkedin_mast33

For those employers interested, we are conducting a Webinar about HR and HR Technology that can change the way you think about HR. We guarantee you will hear a perspective on the market that will get you thinking. We have done this live and employers have said, “You made 4 or 5 points that I have never heard before.”

The market is changing and the opportunity to “Take HR to New Heights” exists. The problem is most employers don’t get there because of all the obstacles in the way. We analyzed the market and identified 54 obstacles to success. This webinar will expose those obstacles and provide an action plan to take HR to New Heights.

If you would like to attend please click on this link. REGISTER NOW . This is reserved for employers or partners of ProHCM only.

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Posted in Employee Benefits Distribution, Employer HR, HR and Benefits Technology, Uncategorized

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The Southwest Approach to HR and Benefits Technology

Posted on March 19, 2017 | Leave a comment

Recently I flew from Boston to Ft. Lauderdale on a Boeing 737 with engines made by General Electric. I had a window seat, Wi-Fi, and I got a Diet Coke on the plane. I reached my destination comfortably and on-time. A few weeks prior to that I flew on a Boeing 737 with GE Engines from Boston to Chicago. I had a window seat, Wi-Fi, and a Diet Coke. I was much less comfortable and my flight was 45 minutes late. Boeing was terrible on my Chicago trip.

What is wrong with my last statement? The experience I had on my first flight was from Southwest Airlines and the second was Delta. The technology these airlines used was, for the most part, exactly the same. The experience however, was much different. Boeing was not responsible for my expected outcome. Southwest and Delta were.

Southwest entered a business with non-proprietary technology and managed to shake-up the industry and become one of the most profitable airlines year-in and year out. They looked at every part of the airline business process and changed things that got in the way of achieving their main objective. This lowered costs, made flying more affordable, and improved outcomes while enabling them to be profitable. They didn’t really invent anything. They simply applied new processes to a business that was ripe for a change.

The same opportunities exist in many industries where the technology is simply the tool. Company A creates a product and other companies either use it for their business as Southwest does or they resell, implement, and service some technology. The differentiator in the end isn’t the technology, but the services around the technology.

In the HR and Benefits business many service providers including benefits brokers seem to be missing this concept. They think they have to bring employers the best “aircraft” versus understanding the service model needed to provide better outcomes. The result of focusing on the technology is a lack of understanding of the services.

Another misperception when it comes to technology is the cost. In many industries, the cost of the technology is small compared to the cost of making it run the right way and supporting it. When I fly from Boston to Chicago the majority of the costs are for things other than the aircraft. I saw a statistic that said the cost of the aircraft itself on a per person basis was around $30 per flight.

When it comes to HR and Benefits technology these same rules apply. The cost of the technology often pales in comparison to the cost of implementing, supporting, and operating the system. Yet many are still focused on the cost of the technology. I regularly replace low-cost benefits enrollment systems that actually drive costs up because of all the necessary workarounds because the technology lacked functionality. If I need to fly from Boston to Chicago a single engine plane would not be the optimum technology.

So, when it comes to Benefits technology you must ask yourself, are you Boeing or are you Southwest? Or are you neither? Are companies like ADP, Paychex, bswift, or Namely, more like Southwest or are they Boeing? Or are they both? Maybe trying to be both is the problem.

The HR and Benefits technology business, and maybe the benefits business as a whole could use a little Southwest. While your competitors are looking for that better jet the opportunity to help the employer in their journey is much greater. You can even drive down costs more by understanding the process than beating up some technology vendor. The result can be lower costs and better outcomes. Who doesn’t want that?

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Posted in Employee Benefits Distribution, HR and Benefits Technology

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