Employee Benefits Factors to Consider for High Growth Companies
Posted in: Employee Benefits
If you are an owner or partner in a high growth company, you are familiar with change. From expanding into new markets, evolving your product or service offering, to finding the right talent – you’ve learned that to grow is to change.
The same is true for your employee benefits strategy – especially when you hit 50 employees. While expanding your workforce creates new and exciting opportunities, once you reach 50 employees there are some potentially overwhelming responsibilities that you will need to think through in order to help ensure the success of your company. It’s important to ask yourself whether your current insurance broker has the skill set and expertise to work with you and your company as a growing firm.
Your company’s Benefits Broker should provide a host of services beyond just renewal numbers once a year – they should be a strategic advisor. Human Resources professionals and CFOs must ensure that their advisor is managing plan costs while meeting the needs of the employees and the growth of the company.
Make sure your Employee Benefits Advisor can:
- Provide Updates on Compliance and Health Care Reform and Laws: In the era of health care reform and other compliance mandates, a strong relationship with your benefits advisor takes on an even greater importance. An advisor should provide consistent updates on regulations such as ERISA, HIPAA, FMLA as well as guidance on health care reform, such as:
- Helping to perform a Pay or Play Analysis;
- Making sure you are informed of mandates, fees and new regulations; and
- Advising on the most efficient plan design and workforce structures for your company.
- Implement Technology: Go green. Are you still using paper enrollment forms for new hires and at renewal? Save yourself time and headaches by using online tools to administer your renewal and to onboard new hires. Technology helps to provide a consistent message to your employees while keeping you from chasing paper.
- Provide Access to a Service Team: Having a team who serves as advocates for your employees to help answer questions and managing insurance claims leads to greater employee satisfaction, a better understanding of benefits offered and time savings for Human Resources.
- Develop an Employee Benefits Plan Built for the Future: Are you planning to continue to grow and expand your business? If so, do you have a plan in place? A Benefits Advisor should be able to help you develop a more strategic employee benefits plan that aims to achieve the goals of your organization (i.e. hiring and retaining good employees).
- Help Establish an Employee Wellness Program: Consider implementing an employee wellness program to help reduce health care consumption at your organization. A good wellness strategy can impact the bottom line.
We understand the growing pains of transitioning from a small business to a mid-sized business can be stressful. By partnering with an experienced and knowledgeable benefits advisor, you will help ease some of that pain and be more prepared for the future growth of your firm.
If your company has recently reached or is about to reach 50 employees and you have questions, please contact me at mmoran@psafinancial.com.
