What Great Employee Benefits Management Actually Looks Like
Employee benefits are an important part of attracting and retaining employees, but simply offering a competitive benefits package isn’t enough. Great employee benefits management means helping employers choose, communicate, administer and continuously improve their benefits strategy.
For business owners and HR leaders, the right benefits partner can help simplify administration, improve employee understanding, resolve issues and make sure the company’s benefits investment supports both the organization and its employees.
In the latest episode of The Accel Advantage, Corey Rekers sits down with Accel’s Employee Benefits team, Jamie Harken, Spencer Blair and Tori Douglas, to discuss what effective benefits management looks like beyond open enrollment.
What Is Employee Benefits Management?
Employee benefits management is the ongoing process of administering, communicating and supporting an organization’s employee benefits program. It can include benefits enrollment, employee communication, claims support, compliance, benefits education, technology and ongoing strategy.
Effective benefits management doesn’t stop once an employer selects its health insurance and other benefits. It continues throughout the year as employees have questions, experience life events, navigate claims and use their benefits.
As Spencer explains in the episode, great account management is about more than simply renewing plans each year. It means staying informed about industry changes and helping employers develop a benefits strategy that supports both business goals and employee needs.
Why Is Proactive Benefits Management Important?
A proactive benefits strategy can help employers identify problems before they become bigger issues, improve employee understanding and maximize the value of their benefits investment.
A common mistake is treating benefits as a “set it and forget it” responsibility.
Tori explains that a passive approach can contribute to higher costs, poor communication and gaps in employee understanding. It can also result in employers overlooking important details, such as required employer-paid benefits or beneficiary information.
Instead of waiting for problems to arise, a proactive benefits team works with an employer throughout the year to identify gaps, answer questions and improve the employee experience.
What does proactive benefits management look like?
It can include:
- Regular communication with employees
- Benefits education and support
- Claims advocacy
- Assistance with enrollment and eligibility
- Monitoring benefits administration
- Identifying potential coverage or compliance gaps
- Helping HR teams navigate employee questions
- Evaluating technology and communication tools
- Aligning benefits strategy with business and workforce goals
What Should Employers Expect From a Benefits Broker?
A benefits broker can provide much more value than simply shopping for insurance plans at renewal.
Employers should expect their benefits partner to act as a strategic resource, advocate and extension of their HR team.
Accel’s Employee Benefits team describes its role as advocates, problem solvers and trusted partners. Their work can include helping resolve claims, assisting with prior authorizations and helping employees understand their coverage.
That support can have a significant impact.
In the episode, Jamie shares an example of helping an employee whose procedure had been denied because of missing information. By coordinating with the carrier and provider and helping get the documentation resubmitted, the claim was ultimately approved, saving the employee thousands of dollars.
For employers, this is an important distinction: the value of a benefits partner isn’t only measured by the insurance plan they help you purchase. It’s also measured by the support they provide after the plan is in place.
How Does Benefits Communication Affect Employee Engagement?
One of the biggest challenges with employee benefits is making sure employees actually understand and use the benefits available to them.
Sending information isn’t necessarily the same thing as communicating effectively.
Important benefits information can easily get buried in an inbox, particularly for employees who don’t spend their workday at a desk.
That’s why employee benefits communication should be an intentional part of a benefits strategy.
Accel uses TruHu as an employee communication platform that allows employers to communicate through text, email and employee-facing sites. The platform can also help employers track engagement and determine whether information is actually reaching employees.
This can be particularly useful for organizations with employees who may not regularly access company email.
Why does benefits communication matter?
When employees understand and can easily access their benefits, they’re more likely to appreciate and utilize them. Spencer notes that helping employees understand their benefits can ultimately lead to better outcomes for both employees and employers.
In other words, a benefits program can only provide its full value if employees know how to use it.
How Can Technology Improve Benefits Administration?
Benefits administration technology can help HR teams reduce manual processes, streamline enrollment and make benefits information easier to manage.
Accel’s team uses Employee Navigator as an online benefits administration and enrollment platform. It provides a centralized location for eligibility and plan elections and helps streamline the enrollment experience for employers and employees.
The team also discusses how technology can improve accuracy.
In one example, Employee Navigator and carrier file feeds helped transform an employer’s enrollment process by eliminating paper applications and automating the flow of enrollment information to carriers. The process also allowed the benefits team to conduct audits throughout the year to help ensure billing accuracy.
The result was more than administrative efficiency. Employees reported feeling more informed, confident and empowered when making their benefits decisions.
What Are the Most Common Employee Benefits Management Mistakes?
Some of the biggest benefits management challenges aren’t necessarily related to the benefits themselves. They’re related to communication, administration and lack of ongoing support.
Common mistakes include:
1. Treating benefits as a once-a-year project
Benefits shouldn’t become a priority only during open enrollment. Employees have questions and encounter benefits-related issues throughout the year.
2. Relying on one-way communication
Sending an email doesn’t guarantee that employees will read or understand it. Employers should consider multiple communication channels and ways to engage employees.
3. Not educating employees about their benefits
Employees can’t take full advantage of benefits they don’t understand.
4. Taking a passive approach
A “set it and forget it” approach can allow gaps, inefficiencies and communication problems to go unnoticed.
5. Not leveraging benefits technology
Manual processes can create unnecessary work for HR teams and increase the potential for errors.
What Does a Successful Benefits Strategy Look Like?
A successful employee benefits strategy should support both the employer and the employee.
For employers, that may mean creating a benefits program that aligns with business objectives, managing costs and simplifying administration.
For employees, it means having access to benefits they understand and can use when they need them.
The two goals aren’t mutually exclusive.
In fact, when employees better understand and utilize their benefits, employers can potentially see greater value from the investment they’re already making in their workforce.
As Jamie explains, every employer is different. Effective benefits management starts with understanding an organization’s goals, identifying challenges and developing a benefits strategy that supports both the employer and its employees.
The Bottom Line: Benefits Management Is About More Than Benefits
So, what does great benefits management actually look like?
It’s proactive. It’s strategic. It’s focused on communication. And it’s centered on helping people—not simply administering plans.
The best benefits partnerships don’t disappear after open enrollment. They’re there throughout the year to help employers navigate challenges, support HR teams, communicate with employees and make the benefits experience easier to understand.
Ultimately, great benefits management helps turn an employee benefits program from something a company simply offers into something employees can actually understand, value and use.
Great benefits management isn’t just about managing benefits. It’s about helping people use them.
Looking for a More Proactive Approach to Employee Benefits?
If you’re evaluating your current employee benefits strategy or looking for more support from your benefits partner, The Accel Group can help.
Our Employee Benefits team works with employers to develop benefits strategies, support HR teams, improve employee communication and help employees navigate their benefits throughout the year.
Listen to the Full Podcast Episode
To hear the conversation, check out The Accel Advantage Podcast on your favorite streaming platform.
- Search The Accel Advantage on all platforms (Spotify, Apple Podcast, Youtube, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, and more)
Read the accessible transcript here: Benefits Account Manager Transcript. We provide transcripts to ensure accessibility and a better user experience for all visitors.
Learn more about our Employee Benefits department here.
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