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benefits
you’ve determined what your goals are, your advisor can walk you
through coverage and plan options that account for your compa-ny’s
growth trajectory. Be sure to consider your provider’s ability
to offer online services so that you don’t have to deal with paper
claims.
IMPLEMENT A STAGED ROLLOUT
Another way to mitigate the risk of unpredictable company
growth is to rollout increased coverage over the course of a year
or even multiple years. Consider phasing in new benefits over a
predetermined amount of time, or implementing different levels
of coverage (i.e. executive class, director’s class, etc.) so that you’re
able to accommodate unexpected claims, high turnover rates or
changes in budget for your plan.
One problem HR professionals commonly face is the potential
for high turnover among new employees. As your company enters
a growth stage, the retention rate for employees may be in flux. To
avoid unexpected claims due to high turnover, talk to your advi-sor
about implementing a waiting period before benefits kick in
– anywhere from three to nine months can work depending on
your industry.
CONSIDER EMPLOYEE HEALTH SPENDING
ACCOUNTS
Health spending accounts are a popular way to cap your budget
while offering your employees the flexibility they want. Rather
than selecting additional coverage areas, such as vision or or-thodontics,
health spending accounts allocate a predetermined
amount of money to each employee to spend on these areas as
they see fit.
These are being used more commonly because employees are
happy with the flexibility these types of plans offer, and employers
are able to set a budget without any surprises. For smaller busi-nesses
in particular, comprehensive packages for all employees can
be challenging to offer.
GATHER FEEDBACK FROM EMPLOYEES
As your business continues to grow, be sure you are opening chan-nels
up for employees to give feedback on the group benefits plan.
Find out what their coverage priorities are so you can refocus re-sources
as you expand your offering. Receiving feedback from plan
members can offer insights that will help you keep your employ-ees
on board. In addition, continue to keep an eye on industry or
regional trends to benchmark your offering against competitors.
Managing the human resources for a growing company can be
tricky, but taking the time to determine your vision for and imple-menting
a plan around your employee benefits will keep everyone
happy. ■
Nolan Friesen is manager of employee benefit sales at Western
Financial Group.
40 ❚ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
