I’ve spent two decades as an HR “department-of-one,” juggling compliance headaches, benefit disputes, and the constant pressure to keep everything running smoothly.
Now that I’ve transitioned to benefits advising, it feels right to pass along 7 lessons I wish I learned sooner from my time in HR to help my peers avoid some of the pitfalls I’ve fallen into head-first.
Communicate Your Benefits Plan Monthly
In a reality where the average attention span of an adult is less than 10 seconds (thanks TikTok), benefits are often misunderstood or underutilized because employees aren’t reminded frequently enough. You can’t expect employees to appreciate the full value of their benefits by simply handing them a benefit guide they’ll skim through or hosting a single open enrollment meeting.
You can increase employee utilization of benefits by committing to a monthly benefits communication strategy. Every employee will have a preferred communication platform, so be sure to leverage different mediums (email newsletters, SMS texts, company intranet updates, pre-recorded webinars) to ensure your message is spread far and wide!
Pro Tips
- Lean on your marketing department for help – The task at hand is essentially to “market” your plan to your own employees.
- Don’t try to communicate everything at once – Your communications should highlight specific benefits in “bite-sized” formats with distinct calls-to-action like “Schedule a Health Screening” or “See if your Rx is Covered”. The longer and broader your communications get, the more likely it is that employees stop paying attention and tune out your messages.
Don’t Be Scared of Employee Feedback on Benefits
Asking employees for candid feedback about benefits can feel like you’re welcoming HR and leadership to become a punching bag – but trust me, embracing it shows your employees that you’re genuinely invested in their well-being and are willing to make changes that benefit them in the long-run.
If you’re not actively asking your team what they think about their benefits, you’re missing out on valuable insights. It’s not just about knowing whether they’re happy with their health insurance or retirement plans; it’s also about understanding how easy it is for them to use these benefits. Are they finding the process straightforward, or are they stumbling through confusing paperwork?
Pro Tips
- Surveys are your best friend – a well-crafted survey includes questions on available benefits and the ease of using those benefits. Don’t feel the need to create one from scratch! Feel free to use or borrow questions from LHD’s own annual employee benefit survey.
- Loop in your benefit advisor – taking this feedback and sharing it with your benefits advisor will help them better tailor the benefits offerings to better align with those needs. It’s a win-win. You get a benefits package that’s more in tune with what your team values, and your broker gets to provide more targeted, effective solutions.
Disability Carriers Will Handle Leave Administration
I wish someone had told me sooner that my disability carrier would administrate leave on our behalf before it put me in awkward situations between employers and leadership…
As an HR lead, one of your key responsibilities is handling leave administration. You’re the one collecting forms, figuring out who’s eligible for leave, and making those tough calls.
Now, let’s say you’ve just approved some leave for an employee who’s been having a tough time performance-wise. Later, the manager comes to you and says, “I think we need to let this person go. Their performance isn’t improving.” Here’s where it gets tricky.
Since you were the one who handled their leave request, the employee might start wondering if you’re going to use that information against them. They might think, “Oh no, they know about my medical situation, and now they’re going to fire me. This feels like retaliation.”
Pro Tips
- Separate leave and performance if possible – to avoid the kind of situation detailed above, the safest approach is to lean on your carrier to administrate leave to ensure there’s no chance of bias or mixed signals. Plus, having the carrier handle the paperwork, eligibility, and compliance workload leads to faster claim resolutions and fewer administrative errors.
- Can’t outsource? Document meticulously – If you’re in a smaller team or an HR “department-of-one,” you’re juggling a bunch of roles and outsourcing to the carrier isn’t always feasible. If this is your case, make sure you document everything carefully and keep your decisions based on clear, objective criteria. This way, you’re protecting yourself from any claims of unfair treatment while still doing your job effectively.
Communicate Benefit Contributions in Offer Letters
If you’re not showcasing the full value of your compensation package in offer letters to candidates, you’re going to lose them to a company that is. Highlight the specifics—like how much your company contributes to their health plan or the matching percentage on their retirement contributions.
Be cognizant that different generations value different benefits. For example, your 22-year-old new hire is more interested in hearing about student loan repayment benefits, while the accountant of 40 years wants to know more about your retirement plans. Knowing what benefits your employees value most can help you continually improve your benefits offering to meet their needs.
Pro Tips
- Steal this offer letter template – At LHD, our offer letter clearly outlines direct compensation (Salary, PTO) and indirect compensation (Insurance Coverages, Retirement Contributions) to give candidates a complete understanding of benefits.
- List summary of benefits in paystubs – It might seem like a small detail, but including a summary of benefits on each paystub is a great way to remind employees of the percentage of benefits the company is paying for. Seeing those benefits listed on their pay stub reinforces the value of their total compensation and helps them appreciate what you’re providing.
Leverage Your Compliance Tool
If you’re like me, enough compliance tasks in a day will make you want to rip your hair out. Platforms like ComplianceDashboard are a game-changer for staying on top of the abundance of legal requirements that employers and their HR teams are held to. These platforms help you track and submit benefits compliance (Form 5500, SARs, ACA Reporting), labor law compliance (EEO-1, OSHA, FSLA) and state/local compliance (SUI Reports, State-Specific Notes).
In my own experience, having a compliance tool that supported our organization has reduced a lot of unnecessary stress and helped us avoid those dreaded missed deadlines that can lead to fines and other headaches.
Pro Tip
- Your benefit advisor should help it make sense – Not only should your advisor/account manager help you stay on track and (sometimes) submit documents on your behalf – they should also be actively educating you about deadlines/submissions to ensure you’re empowered to answer any questions that arise from your team.
Outsource COBRA Administration
Quick refresher: COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) requires employers to offer continued health insurance coverage to employees who leave the company. Managing and administrating it can quickly become a time-consuming, complex, and a potential non-compliance penalty mine field!
When you outsource administration, you’re bringing in experts who are up-to-date on all the legalities and can handle the nitty-gritty details in a timely-manner for you – resulting in fewer compliance headaches and reduced risk of costly penalties.
For employees transitioning off your health plan, the COBRA process can be a confusing and stressful time. Hiring an administrator ensures that these former employees receive professional, timely assistance, which can enhance their overall experience and reflect positively on your company.
Pro Tip
- Finding a capable partner – a proven COBRA administrator like HRPro will offer features like automated notifications, easy online access for former employees, and a user-friendly interface for managing compliance. A good partner handles the heavy lifting, leaving you with peace of mind.
Show the ROI of Benefits to Leadership
Your benefits plan isn’t just a line item in the budget—it’s a strategic tool that impacts employee satisfaction, retention, and even your company’s bottom line. As one of your company’s biggest investments, it’s essential to regularly communicate its return on investment (ROI) to leadership to ensure that it doesn’t end up a possible target in cost-savings measures. So, how do you do that?
Regular check-ins with your benefits advisor and their team are key to staying on top of how your benefits are performing. Here’s how you and your advisor can measure the health and profitability of your benefits plan:
- Cost-Benefit Analysis: A cost-benefit analysis to compare the costs of your benefits plan with the tangible benefits it provides, such as reduced absenteeism and increased productivity. This can help you quantify the value of your investment.
- Turnover and Retention Metrics: Track turnover rates and compare them with industry benchmarks. If your retention rates are higher than average, it’s a sign your benefits plan is doing its job.
- Utilization Rates: Monitor how often employees use certain benefits. High utilization rates can indicate that your benefits are valuable and being used effectively. If certain benefits aren’t being used, it might be time to reevaluate their value.
- Benchmarking Against Competitors: Compare your benefits package with those of your competitors. This can help you understand how competitive your offerings are and how they contribute to attracting and retaining talent. To get a quick start in benchmarking, reference LHD’s 2024 Indiana Employee Benefits Benchmark of over 315 Hoosier employers.
- Health and Wellness Metrics: Track metrics related to employee health and wellness, such as decreased sick leave or improved health outcomes. These can be indirect indicators of the effectiveness of benefits like wellness programs or health coverage.
Transitioning from an HR “department-of-one” to a benefits advisor has “pulled back the curtain” on the other side of managing employee benefits. By sharing these lessons, I hope to help make life a little bit easier for my HR peers by streamlining processes and enhancing the way they approach building/improving their benefits strategy.
At the end of the day, all the lessons I’ve addressed in this article are items any employee benefits advisor can help guide conversations on and structure solutions to. If you have any questions on building a better benefits strategy, I’m always available for a conversation! Contact Me
