Tech talks: Delivering digital experiences your workforce deserves
Language: English (United States)
Benefits matter to employees. They matter to employers. They are a tool for keeping employees happy, healthy, productive and engaged. They are also used as a tool to attract talent. But they really matter when they are needed most; when a scary diagnosis is received, when becoming a parent or supporting one is the most important thing in the world, when time away from work is more important than time at work. Employees trust their employer to support them in these critical moments in their lives, and that’s exactly where benefits come in.
The benefits of benefits are hard to dispute. But it’s also hard to dispute that benefit costs are high and only getting higher. Employers expect health benefits to rise 6%1 in 2025, and that’s AFTER implementing all of their cost mitigation strategies.
Employers are dealing with increasingly difficult questions.
The questions are not new, but the answers need to be. When it comes down to it, every employer has to decide what trade-offs they are willing to make. It’s a balancing act that plays annually.
Let’s discuss a few areas employers can explore:
Drive to quality
There is no correlation between cost and quality in the US healthcare system. Just because you pay more does not mean you necessarily get more. Yet data exists that tells us which are the highest performing providers, and which are, well…not. Employers can implement strategies to drive employees to the higher performing providers. But of course, there are trade-offs to consider: Carrots or sticks? Mandates or choice? Existing vendor or a new one? Resources for this project or for the countless others on the to do list? Whatever the choice is, the strategy deployed will determine the outcome achieved.
Efficiency over abundancy
Delivering a valued benefit platform requires vendor partnerships. But which ones and how many? The answer varies and is based on several factors: employer priorities, employee needs, number of employees, unique cost drivers, etc. What doesn’t vary is the fact that the best solution that is used by no one is worthless. Three “good” solutions that are easily accessible, tightly integrated and highly utilized are better than ten “great” ones that are dis-integrated and hard to find when employees need them. Explore the trade-offs and clearly articulate what value is, how to get it from your benefits ecosystem and maybe most importantly, how you’ll measure it.
Create personalization and choice at scale
Personalization is a common goal among employers. So is choice, and usually they go hand in hand. Achieving them consistently while managing cost and doing so at scale is incredibly difficult. Of all the promises technology brings to managing benefits, perhaps personalization and providing choice is the greatest. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has a role to play here, and it will be a big one. When we asked employers where they think AI will have a significant impact, three of the top five areas were related to personalization and choice1. Employers need to begin now to evaluate these opportunities and put them on the list of strategies that must be weighed in the ongoing balancing act.
Watch our webinar replay to learn more about cost optimization and employee wellbeing strategies.