4 Ways Automation Makes a Difference in Your Employee Benefits Strategy
Paper and manual-based employee benefits strategies are fast being replaced by automation and new digital tools. But automation isn’t just a cost center for modern companies – it can significantly add to your bottom line. In fact, studies show that 81% of employees with easy access to benefits information, report higher loyalty levels to their employer.
Even as digitization and automation sweep across the industry, there are a few companies that continue to believe that employee benefits administration is better off as a paper-and-spreadsheet process.
Many argue that the costs incurred for automation outweigh its measurable ROI. While no employee benefits automation package of any worth can be offered for free, this argument is very far from the truth. In a highly complex regulatory landscape, an outdated approach to paperwork, leads to human errors, delays, and operational gaps, denting employee productivity, company reputation, and cost escalations. The writing is on the wall – a digital employee benefits strategy is not just an option – today it is a business imperative.
“A benefits platform can help create a values-driven experience for employees by recognizing individuality. Technology enables organizations to deliver a consistent message and experience, while still offering the flexibility that empowers employees in their benefits experience,” says Chris Bruce, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Thomsons Online Benefits, speaking about the merits of a digital employee benefits strategy.
He also shared a few telling insights to guide decision-making: “Thomsons Online Benefits’ Global Employee Benefits Watch report found of the 2,200 people surveyed, over 50% of employees said they were either unsatisfied with their benefits management tools or did not have the option to access their benefits in the way they preferred.
The survey also found that 81% of employees who can easily access their benefits said they feel loyal to their employer, while 79% of employees who can easily access their benefits said they were proud to work for their organization.”
Clearly, a digital employee benefits strategy is essential for any enlightened company.
Also read: Should Benefits Enrollment be Automated?
So, in defense of a benefits automation program, what are its primary impact areas? Here are 4 key value drivers.
1. Enhanced efficiency, for both employee and employer
“Even though 72% of employees would love to have the ability to customize benefits, the majority of employers are simply unable to deliver that functionality. One of the reasons is the lack of automation and decision support that would allow employees to make the best choices,” said Rachel Lyubovitzky, CEO at EverythingBenefits, in conversation with HR Technologist.
The best thing about automating employee benefits, is that it makes everybody’s life easier.
Timelines are massively affected, even as employees can get hold of the documents they need, and quickly complete any action items. On the other hand, the company gains transparency and accuracy when it comes to benefits administration – maintaining compliance, ensuring engagement, and freeing up critical HR resources for more strategic initiatives, in line with one’s employee benefits strategy.
2. Failsafe processes and risk mitigation
“Soon we will see five generations in the workplace, when previously there were only three or four at a time. Changing demographics will create a challenge for digital health adoption, as employers need to spend more time developing and offering personalized benefits,” Bruce explained. No matter how diligent or conscientious the employee, if it’s humans entering the data, the ‘human error factor’ will creep in sooner or later, negatively impacting a company’s employee benefits strategy game plan.
This could vary from missing out a critical regulatory guideline to missing out a particularly important report detail. And then, this could lead to heavy fines, and hours lost in corrective measures.
With an automated benefits administration solution, the entire process is automated, containing error frequency while addressing any minute requirement, streamlining the employee benefits strategy.
3. Staying in line with compliance protocols
The regulatory landscape has vastly changed over the years. Consider the Affordable Care Act or ACA which is layered, documentation-heavy, and at times, quite confusing. So overburdened are HR directors in regulation emails and paperwork, that often additional personnel is hired to manage the workload.
Remember, no matter the business, every company must stay in line with legal and regulatory norms such as these – a key driver of one’s employee benefits strategy. It doesn’t matter if you’re less than 50-strong or a giant entity offering full insurance coverage – every employer must detail what’s being done, as per the standards set by the ACA.
There’s no other way to say this: a benefits automation program can make a company’s employee benefits strategy simpler, streamlined, and mapped as per protocol. Consider a solution like Humanefits – it processes information from a multitude of HR databases, and helps dramatically reduce administrative pressures.
“With Affordable Care Act (ACA) compliance, Humanefits handles monthly migration of the necessary payroll, benefits, time and attendance, and other employment data, maintains the necessary ACA records, and provides detailed monthly reports so clients know where they stand at every step in the process,” elaborated Robert Sheen, President and CEO at First Capitol Consulting, the company behind Humanefits. Read more about the solution here.
Also read: Voluntary Benefits – A Beginner’s Guide
4. Improved employee satisfaction rates
At a time when employee engagement is key to business success, an automated benefits program will help workers file their documents faster, making their lives simpler, and their tasks completed faster
Not only will this boost motivation, it will also urge people to focus on critical business targets, and drive productivity.
More importantly, as an increasing number of millennials enter the workplace, staying in-sync with the latest technology is part of any company’s value proposition, strengthening a company’s employee benefits strategy. “Our Global Employee Benefits Watch report found that 61% of 18 to 25-year olds expect their benefits program to support them in staying fit and healthy as opposed to 43% of 56 to 65 year olds. This expectation from younger employees for support through their benefits must be listened to by employers, especially as they progress through their careers to become the majority of the workforce,” added Bruce.
Also read: The Technological Optimization of HR Benefits – An Interview with Prashant Srivastava of Evive
Born as digital natives, these employees do not like wasting time and effort over cumbersome processes, preferring automated systems like a cutting-edge benefits administration platform.
“Adoption will continue to increase at increasing rates as more and more decision-making positions are filled by millennials whose default position is that things should be online,” believes Alex Tolbert, Founder and CEO at BerniePortal.
These are among the most common reasons why firms across the board are looking to automate benefits administration as a key component of an organization’s employee benefits strategy.
Begin your journey by looking at your specific needs and determining if a custom solution is what you need – or a payroll-plus-benefits bundle works for you. “For a large segment of the workforce, it is really important to present the benefits package in a digital format. It is a shame to spend a lot of money on benefits only to have employees annoyed at the inconvenience of enrolling in paper,” Tolbert recommends.
The roadmap for a digital employee benefits strategy is pretty clear – no matter the technology selected or the implementation model you choose, companies and modern HR teams must stay abreast of the digitization wave, using technology to empower, elucidate, and envision the future of work!
Also read: How To Evaluate Benefits Administration Technology Solutions For Optimal Results
