Partnering with a Benefits Administration expert can offer several appreciable advantages to your organization. In addition to being a cost-effective approach to a relatively time-consuming responsibility, you may also be able to improve the amount of time and quality of services that you provide to your employees. Here are some important things to keep in mind when considering the logistics of working with a company that specializes in benefits administration, employee engagement, and enrollment.
Customization
You want to look for a company that can work with you to craft a plan that meets your objectives in a way that’s not just manageable and affordable, but also can be customized to your business’ specific needs and goals. It’s possible to wholly outsource all of your benefits activities or parcel out individual functions like benefit enrollment, payroll, compliance, reporting, etc.
Compliance
The compliance landscape for employers is constantly shifting and evolving. When outsourcing Compliance, it’s key to find a partner with extensive expertise in their field. Outsourcing requires the service supplier to maintain up-to-date expertise on your behalf. This also shifts the liability for non-compliance; not necessarily 100% but certainly that liability is shared when you contract with a third party to provide benefits administration.
Benefits Enrollment
The annual open enrollment period for benefits can be one of HR’s biggest challenges, especially with a remote workforce. Outsourcing this time-consuming process to professionals can empower employees and eliminate the burden to HR. Benefits Administration tools help employees make better-informed benefit decisions, and enrollments can be made completely paperless from messaging, to selection to payroll feeds and document storage.
Time Management
Time is money. Conserving resources through administrative automation is one of the key advantages of outsourcing benefits administration, freeing up the members of your human resources to devote their time to other, more important tasks. You should remember, however, that the initial transition period to outsource benefits administration may require a little more time commitment than the remainder of your working relationship. Be prepared to allocate more time upfront to ensure a smooth transition.
