It’s always a great idea to assess if your employees are satisfied with their insurance coverage. About 33 percent of people surveyed in a 2013 Towers Watson survey said that healthcare benefits were a big reason why they wanted to be with a certain employer; almost half (47 percent) said benefits are the reason why they stayed with an employer. Healthcare is just one of the things that employers want—they also want good retirement plans.
Handling this part of any business can be complicated. It’s an area where anybody can always use some improvement. Communication is key and it’s important to make sure that your employees understand their benefits package thoroughly. If you’re interested as to how to improve your employee benefits administration, which can in turn improve your overall employee satisfaction and reduce your agency’s liabilities, then this blog is for you.
How to Better Manage Your Employee Benefits
An HR department is the one who is going to manage employee benefits, but even without it, the task still needs to be done. Here’s how to streamline that process, courtesy of Resource Management Incorporated:
- Assess Current Employee Benefits. The first thing that can be done is look at what current benefits are available to employees and look for any inconsistencies. An example of this includes when you offer several benefits but there’s certain ones that employees aren’t using. Maybe dental and vision aren’t as popular with your employees.
- Get Rid of Useless Benefits. After assessing what benefits aren’t needed, it’s time to effectively eliminate them. This task will make it that much easier for who is responsible for your employee benefits administration. It gives you one less thing to deal with (and pay for), and more time to focus on the benefits that your employees care about.
- Give Your Employees Information They Need. To make sure that your employees know their benefits package inside and out, you have to communicate with them about it. If questions are asked, answer them in a timely fashion, providing expertise when it’s needed. Assembling a package of information for your employee to take home or directing them to an online resource is a helpful way to get them up to speed.
- Purchase Benefits Administration Software. Keeping track of multiple employees and their benefits packages can sometimes be tricky. But with benefits administration software, it can be that much easier to handle your employee benefits program. Don’t get it done manually; with this special software, you’ll have one less thing to worry about.
- Consider a Benefits Management Coordinator. If you have no HR department and you’re feeling frazzled, hiring some outside help might be sufficient. Overworking your current team is only likely to lead to improper benefits administration and employee benefits liability insurance claims.
Employee Benefits Liability Insurance
Our Employee Benefits Liability insurance program is designed to cover acts, errors and omissions in employee benefits administration, including but not limited to:
- Describing benefit plans and eligibility to employees, beneficiaries and family members;
- Maintaining records and files pertaining to employee benefits;
- Enrolling, maintaining, and terminating relevant parties in benefit plans.
With thorough coordination, clear communication, and the right protections in place, you can ensure that your employee benefits program will not come with any drawbacks.
About World Wide Specialty Programs
For the last 50 years, World Wide Specialty Programs has dedicated itself to providing the optimal products and solutions for the staffing industry. As the only insurance firm to be an ASA commercial liability partner, we are committed to that partnership and committed to using our knowledge of the industry to provide staffing firms with the best possible coverage. For more information about Staffing Professional Liability Insurance or any other coverage, we have available to protect your staffing business, give us a call at (800) 245-9653 to speak with one of our representatives.