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Companies of all sizes are looking to reduce inefficiencies, streamline administration, and lower costs in their employee benefits programs. At the same time, they want to be able to increase employee satisfaction with the benefits offered. "Today, we're seeing a real evolution in the employer/employee relationship, one that is more and more defined by shared responsibility when it comes to benefits provisions," said Greg Arms, global leader of Marsh's Employee Benefits Practice. Arms was one of the featured panelists in Marsh's recent New Reality of Risk Webcast, "Making the Most of Your Employee Benefits Budget."
"If you think of employees as a corporate asset, then staff turnover becomes a costly item and needs to be well managed, as does any risk," Mr. Arms said. "Employees who leave a firm take with them knowledge about customer relationships, proprietary information, and much more. And that's not to mention the potential litigation risks that an employer could be exposed to if certain benefits programs are not managed properly."
Having a benefits offering that is well-suited to your employees and is managed efficiently can help reduce such risks, Mr. Arms and others said during the Webcast.
Health care is one of the most prominent benefits issues facing employees these days, and it's important for firms to keep abreast of developments in Congress, said Kerry Finnegan, leader of the U.S. Health and Benefits Advisory and Enterprise Practice at Mercer, a Marsh sister company.
"The potential cost impact generally falls into three categories," he said. "One is eligibility rules, another is contribution rules, and the final is coverage levels within their organization. Modeling those scenarios is going to be key. It may be appropriate to have multiple scenarios based on the various types of programs that could come into place."
Chris Covill, national sales leader of Marsh US Consumer, said that many of the initiatives companies are taking to control benefits costs fall into the following four categories:
- cost shifting;
- providing employees with access to money-saving benefits;
- reducing benefits expenses; and
- increasing employee participation.
Also on the Webcast:
- Jon Picoult, principal and founder of Watermark Consulting, discussed how employee benefits affect employee loyalty;
- Glenn Shapiro, vice president of claims, Group Benefits Division at Hartford Life, discussed absence management strategies; and
- Tom Ryan, a managing director with Marsh Risk Consulting, talked about the relationship between workers' compensation and absence management.
Listen to the digitized replay of the Webcast.
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Related Information
Listen to the Replay of Our Employment Practices Liability Webcast
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