Flexible Benefits and HRO Add Choice for Employees and Options for Employers

Mercer’s What’s Working Survey found that one-third of European participants are seriously considering leaving their organization. This had me immediately questioning why. Does it have something to do with the employee’s benefits package? Probably not in the U.K. since 36% of respondents stated that their benefits package was the primary reason for staying at their organization.

In fact, 30% of survey participants in the U.K. said that their employer’s benefit package was the key reason for joining the company in the first place, up 5% since 2005. Across Europe including France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, and Italy, the average percent of employees that are content with their benefits package is 50%, representing a general decline over the last five years.

The survey shows what employees value varies by country, culture, and age. While surveyed European employees have many common interests, there is variation by country. Employees in France and Italy were the most dissatisfied over many of the employee value proposition elements studied including base pay, benefits, and development opportunities. In most cases, score varied. For example, employees in the Netherlands were less likely to intend to leave and were satisfied with their benefits, but were dissatisfied with employer assistance in retirement plans and base pay.

With pressure on all aspects of workforce costs, including benefits, what is an employer to do?  One option is to add a flexible benefits program to increase employee desired choice while still controlling costs. Program designs include one or both of the following:

• Employer paid benefit “credits” that employees can use to select the choices most important to them
• Employee paid benefits available through the employer, payable with payroll deductions and usually at better prices than available in the general market.

While flexible benefits schemes have been slow to take off, the continued adoption rate will have a positive effect on flexible benefits service providers since internal HR departments tend to lack the skills necessary to administer these benefit choices successfully. According to Mercer’s European Survey on Employee Choice in Benefits, flexible benefits programs generally meet employer objectives (63%) and are well-received by employees (71%).

Using HRO to administer the programs reduces administrative cost and complexity for employers.  The number of European organizations outsourcing their flexible benefit plan has increased. Specifically, Mercer’s survey found the following:

• 36% of employers outsourced their entire flexible benefits program, up from 28% in 2009
• 33% use a combination of in-sourcing and outsourcing for their flex program, up from 23%
• 16% manage the flex offering in-house, down from 35%.

NelsonHall’s upcoming Targeting Benefits Administration market analysis report will indicate that growth opportunities for flexible benefits are very good as organizations look for an alternative to salary increases and bonuses while meeting the needs of increasingly diverse workforces.

Amy L. Gurchensky, Research Analyst, HRO, NelsonHall

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HRO – A Healthy Option for Health and Welfare Administration

Health and welfare (H&W) benefits administration is a well-accepted foundation partner of the HRO services family. It is also the fastest growing part of benefits administration according to the last NelsonHall Targeting Benefits Administration market analysis. Amy Gurchensky, my NelsonHall HRO colleague, is underway with her research for the benefits 2012 report. (H&W HRO service providers, if you are not yet scheduled for your interview, please contact Amy. See contact information below.)

In the meantime, there are elements of H&W that we can explore now. Carol Harnett, HR Executive Online, has written several columns recently on H&W with the linking theme of flexibility and lifestyle. Her first article asks, “Should we give employees what they want?” In that piece, Harnett says that many employees are interested in a wider range of lifestyle benefits. Pet insurance, child care or elderly care subsidies, commuter benefits, and even onsite massages have value to one or another employee group. Access to products and services with special discounted pricing is valuable, if relevant and better than what is commonly available. There is even a new company, BetterWorks, which will help you find what they call “hyper-local” discounts for your employees.

From the employer perspective, consider the nature of the business as relevance will vary with the characteristics of the work and workforce. Occupational health and safety is a big H&W issue for manufacturing. Employees with long tenures will have a wider range of stage of life needs compared to a retail workforce that is largely young, part time with high turnover.

Many H&W programs can meet the needs of both parties, if packaged, serviced, and communicated well. I see a new level of packaging benefit programs together in the area of EAP and wellness, which together will help employees and employers manage productivity and healthcare costs. Ceridian recently launched its redesigned LifeWorks.com portal that combines EAP, work-life, and wellness.

HRO H&W service providers can be advisors to clients reassessing and revamping H&W offerings. In addition to strategic consulting services, vendors can also offer practical operational advice. Buyers, ask your providers what they see new and different. Ask what else they offer and if they have experience with new point solution vendors, or have preferred suppliers that may be helpful in your decisions making. Run new options by them to evaluate operational costs and issues and assess total cost. For example, consider when to provide payroll deduction services or stored value cards to access benefits compared to letting employees pay directly from both a tactical and operational cost perspective.

Every so often we need to reassess the point and purpose of employer benefits. Beyond any regulatory mandated benefits, organizations need to find a dynamic balance between what employees and their families want and what employers need to support retention, productivity, and manageable cost. In H&W, one size may not fit all, and yesterday’s programs may not meet today’s needs.

Linda Merritt, Research Analyst, HRO, NelsonHall

Interested in reading the latest HRO news from NelsonHall? Subscribe to our newsletter by emailing amy.gurchensky@nelson-hall.com with “HRO Insight” as the subject.