Doing Employee Benefits Better
Your employee benefits package plays a key role in attracting and retaining the best individuals. However, managing the benefits for your most valuable asset – your workforce – is more complex than ever before.
Peel & Holland helps companies take care of the most important part of their business – their people. If you are like most employers, the cost of insurance coverage for your employees is a top line item expense. And you’re also likely frustrated with the complexity of selecting and managing a program.
We help you simplify the benefits selection process and help your employees understand what they have. With our expert team as your partner, you get expert advisors that come alongside your team to help drive cost containment while ensuring your employee benefits remain competitive.
Our regional benchmarking report is just one tool that helps us to guide your program based on meaningful data. Simply put, we are committed to helping you do employee benefits better.
OFFER A COMPETITIVE BENEFITS PLAN
Medical
Every employee group is different – different size, different risk, different situations. But no matter what, your group is made up of people who need good medical care. By offering a group health insurance plan, you’re providing the fundamental element of your employee benefits offering. The choices are many and the cost factors are complex.
There are a lot of things to consider when choosing a health insurance plan for your employees. It’s never easy to find the perfect medical insurance for everyone’s needs and budget. However, these are some questions you might start with:
- Who will be covered (full-time, part-time, dependents, etc.)?
- How much does my business need to contribute toward the cost of coverage to be competitive?
- Would employees rather pay more up-front and less when medical care is needed? Or vice versa?
- What products should we bundle as riders to the medical plan?
- Do I have a trusted advisor who can expertly review our plan on a frequent basis?
- What steps can be taken to help us manage costs?
Our advisors will look at your group’s data and determine the best possible coverages, at a fair price. We will listen to your goals and make certain that medical coverage is in place to protect your team, keeping your workforce as healthy as possible.
Dental
Most employees consider dental benefits to be a valued part of their employee benefits plan. So, most employers choose to keep them smiling by offering options to off-set the cost of dental care. With so many dental benefit plans available to patients today, it’s important to learn the differences between them. You’ll want an advisor to guide you in establishing a dental plan that will be valued by your group. Options include:
- Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO) – a network of dentists under contract to the insurance company to deliver specified services for set fees
- Dental Health Maintenance Organizations (DHMO)/Capitation Plans – contracted dentists are “pre-paid” a certain amount each month for each patient that has been designated or assigned to that dentist. Dentists must then provide certain contracted services at no-cost or reduced cost to those patients.
- Indemnity Plans – sometimes called “traditional” insurance, in this type of plan, an insurance company pays claims based on the procedures performed, usually as a percentage of the charges
- Direct Reimbursement – a self-funded plan that allows patients to go to the dentist of their choice
- Point of Service Plans – patients with a managed care dental plan have the option of seeking treatment from an “out-of-network” provider
- Discount or Referral Plans – contracted dentists agree to discount their dental fees, then patients pay all the costs of treatment and there are no dental claim forms to file
- Exclusive Provider Organizations (EPO) – requires that subscribers use only participating dentists if they want to be reimbursed by the plan
- Table or Schedule of Allowances Plans – indemnity plans that pay a set dollar amount for each procedure, irrespective of the actual charges, and the patient is responsible for the difference
Group Life
Group life insurance provides you as the employer with a master contract for coverage that is extended to employees. The good news is that group term life insurance is relatively inexpensive compared to individual life insurance policies. As a result, employee participation is high and is an expected component of a comprehensive benefits package.
Of course, there are eligibility requirements, such as being a permanent employee or 30 days after hire and standard coverage amounts vary based on several factors. You’ll want to be informed about what an employee (especially a potential employee) might expect. Peel & Holland advisors can help you establish a competitive group life benefit and will evaluate carrier options to meet your needs.
Disability
As important as it is to have sound medical coverage for your employees, Disability Insurance is just as essential. It happens more often than we like to admit, but consider the likelihood of someone suffering an illness or injury that could take them out of work for an extended period of time. Disability policies can be tailored to address several situations, including:
- Supplementing employer benefits
- Providing benefits to the self-insured
- Funding a business disability buy-sell agreement
If an employee becomes disabled, for the short or long term, many will struggle to pay the costs of daily living assistance during periods of serious illness or disability. These costs are not covered by traditional health policies, so offering options for Disability Insurance is important.
Our advisors will evaluate your workforce data and help you determine which disability programs to offer as a part of your overall employee benefits.
Enhanced Benefits
By offering Enhanced Benefits, you can make your employee benefits program more robust while leaving the choices up to individuals on the plan. With Peel & Holland’s guidance, you can offer innovative, competitive and diverse benefit options. We will keep you up to date on new solutions and trends to help you build a quality program that employees value.
Some of the ways you may choose to enhance your employee benefits program include:
- Implementing benefit strategies that includes voluntary benefits and long-term care options
- Diversifying benefit solutions and plan options for employees
- Increasing employee engagement and retention without incurring added benefit costs
We offer integrated programs to complement the typical core offerings of an employee benefits program. We can analyze your current plan to determine the best products and carriers to include, based on your industry, geography or employee survey results.
FSA | HRA | HSA
You can choose the funding options to help employees pay for and manage their health care expenses, and we will advise you of the details you need to consider. By offering a flexible spending account (FSA) you are allowing employees to take home a larger portion of their paycheck by reducing their taxable include. If employees enroll in this benefit, tax-free dollars are contributed into an account that can be used on qualified care expenses. This reduces their out-of-pocket costs.
Health Reimbursement Account
- Employer owns the account
- Any type of corresponding health plan arrangement is allowed
- Unused funds remaining at the end of the plan year can carry over to the following year if the employer configures the account accordingly
- The account is not portable between employers
Health Savings Account
- Employee owns the account
- A high-deductible health plan is required to qualify for an HSA
- The individual owns the account and any contributions made to it, regardless of the source or timing of the contribution, can be carried over
- When leaving an employer, the account is portable since the individual owns the account
CAFETERIA PLANS
You think of a cafeteria plan as a benefits plan that resembles a menu of options for your employees to choose from. Known as a section 125 plan, it’s nicknamed a “cafeteria plan” because an employee can choose between medical, dental, vision, and other employee benefits — or opt to receive the same amount in cash. Once a section 125 plan is understood, it can be a great way for some businesses to offer benefits while also getting a tax break.
But it’s not quite as simple as it may sound. To be compliant with federal regulations, your section 125 cafeteria plan must have several things included. Therefore, you’ll want to rely on us to make sure you are doing what it required.
- Plan Document – outlines specific details, such as a description of the employee benefits that are covered through the plan, participation rules, annual limits, election procedures, eligibility and employer contribution
- Summary Plan Description (SPD) – summarizes specific details of the plan, claim filing procedures, and information concerning plan sponsorship and administration
- Federal Compliance – requires that section 125 plans cannot discriminate as to eligibility and benefits being provided
Implementing a cafeteria plan can be a great way for a business owner to provide benefits while saving money and keeping their employees happy. Our advisors can guide you to do things correctly and to reap the benefits while staying compliant.
VALUE-ADD SERVICES
Managing employee benefits can be challenging, and we see it first-hand. That’s why we offer a diverse set of tools to hopefully make your life easier. The Peel & Holland team will go beyond the basics to address your risks and the needs of your employee group in a thorough way that you will feel good about. We bring together systems and tools that work for your best interests — because we work for you, not the carriers.
We will guide you through awareness and then show you ways to control and manage your employee benefits program. Here are some of the services we offer:
- Strategic Risk Analysis
- Compliance Portals
- Health Data Analytics
- Human Capital Management Technology
- Wellness Program Planning
- Enrollment and Engagement Tools
Value-add means simply that — adding value to strengthen the success of your program while simplifying the complexity of day-to-day management.
Wellness
The well-being of your employees is critical to your success. We find that most businesses want holistic wellness programming that promotes healthy lifestyle choice to keep their workforce at its best. Naturally, you also want to effectively manage your employee benefits overall spend. The problem is that developing and sustaining a culture of wellness can become a full-time job. It’s overwhelming to manage for most.
But the benefits are real, when expectations are properly established. In fact, research tell us some exciting outcomes of offering a sound wellness program, such as:
- 26% reduction in health costs
- 28% fewer sick days taken
- 30% savings in workers’ comp management costs
We believe an organization’s workforce is its greatest asset and promoting its health and well-being should be simple. That’s why for more than 10 years we’ve partnered with clients to make Wellness easy.
ARE YOU HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?
Any licensed agent can sell you insurance, but you and your employees deserve more than that. You need an employee benefits advisor you can trust and a program that doesn’t cause you headaches. We start with a detailed assessment, followed by a combination of advisory services that come in many forms — all with the goal of delivering a holistic approach to developing and maintaining your employee benefits plan.
Ask us about Benchmarking, Care Transparency, Compliance Support, Health Data Analytics, and how we can help improve Employee Engagement and boost your team’s morale.
GET CUSTOMIZED COVERAGE
We analyze data to learn all we can about your team and then develop a custom employee benefits program that is innovative, while keeping you compliant.
CONTAIN YOUR INSURANCE COSTS
We will show you funding options and other methods to manage the costs of claims as well as premiums, and maybe even get some money back.
MAKE THE TRANSITION EASILY
We do all we can to make the transition to new program painless, while making sure your employees know the value of the plan you’re providing.
The Peel & Holland team is very professional in their approach. They have numerous resources to provide expert healthcare advice and program management. They have partnered with us not only to help with long-range cost and benefits planning, but also are very supportive with short-term and day-to-day issues.
David Edwards | Tarter Farm & Ranch Equipment
