How much do you invest in your broker? This may sound like a strange question. But while commissions are paid by the insurance company, the commission level is negotiable in most products. Your premium is directly related to your employee benefits broker’s commission level, so lower commissions lead to lower premiums. Commissions are your investment in benefit advice and support, not a sales incentive from the insurer. So make the most of what you pay.
Step 1: Quantify your investment. Until you know how much you are investing, it’s impossible to maximize that investment.
Understand Your Why
Why do you offer benefits? At the surface, most employers would answer, “We offer benefits as a form of compensation to attract and retain talented employees who make our business successful.”
But dig a little deeper. Do any of your benefits actually help attract and retain talent or make our business successful? Do people come work because of your dental plan? What about your life insurance benefit? Go line by line and be honest with yourself: why do you offer what you do, and what is the quantifiable business implication of increasing or decreasing your benefit offerings?
Step 2: Know your why. It allows you to quantify the true business implications of any change.
Understand Your Wants and Needs
What do you need out of your benefits? How will you use them to achieve the why you identified above?
Everyone needs their employee benefits broker to be an insurance expert, conduct market studies, and negotiate pricing and contracts. If that is all you need, then negotiate the commission or fee appropriately as today’s standard commissions are sufficient to get you much more. But if you want more, what else do you need to maximize your benefit investment?
Did you know that an employee’s satisfaction with benefits is not how good the benefits are? The biggest indicator of satisfaction is effective communication. So if your benefits are to create employee satisfaction and increase retention, communication is the best way to maximize your benefit spend.
Step 3: Identify what you need to maximize your benefit investment and ask your broker to include it in their package of services.
Understand Your Company
What sets your company apart? Your company has a unique culture and workforce. Because of this, your benefits and needs will be unique. Taylor your benefit strategy to achieve your why in order to align your employees with your organization.
Step 4: Define your benefit strategy based on your culture and workforce.
Learn more about how we help maximize our client’s investment, or contact us to speak with one of our advisors today!
