Health care is expensive and often confusing. No doubt about it. But it is also immensely important. Benefits offerings are a major factor in employee recruitment and retention. So how do your benefits stack up to others in your industry? Are your offerings competitive? Are they the best option for your team? How do you determine if your benefits measure up?
The answers to these questions start with benchmarking. Benefits benchmarking helps provide insights, revealing opportunities for change and areas for improvement. It can lead you down the path toward solutions that control costs, yet also allow you to remain competitive. And it can help you recruit and retain the top talent you’ve been searching for.
New Strategies For Cost Control
Health care reform has brought significant changes to the employee benefits arena. Employers are trying to navigate the new landscape and are actively seeking strategies to help control health care costs. We’re seeing:
- Plan design changes,
- Charging dependent tiers more in contributions,
- Going self-funded,
- Hiring more part-time employees,
- Terminating employer-sponsored plans,
- Increasing salaries, and
- More disease management and wellness programs.
These strategies, among others, are being discussed, tested, and implemented. Some are working while others are struggling to get off the ground. But the key is that they are out there. Companies are talking about new ideas and trying them out. Why should you recreate the wheel?
Utilizing benchmarking data is a way for you to analyze how other companies are structuring their plans and what strategies they are implementing to stay afloat. This could be cost-sharing, contribution strategies, plan design, or other approaches.
Recruiting And Retaining Top Talent
Health care and benefits are critical to your employees, making them an extremely influential factor in the recruitment and retention of top talent.
When you’re seeking new talent, what’s your competitive advantage over industry peers? What are you offering that can draw top talent? Taking time to understand what benefits are being offered in your industry and how your packages compare, can help you identify your true competitive advantage. Then take that knowledge and communicate it to prospective employees. Show them you’re competitive. Show them how you offer a plan or a program feature that no one else provides, or simply one that is well-suited to their needs.
Are you ready to tackle the question again? How do you know if your benefits measure up?
Utilizing benchmarking data sets you on a course to the answer. It provides you with the analysis to most effectively determine how your offerings compare, and help you decide the plan design and funding mechanisms which are ideal for your team.
