Automated enrollment a retention tool
With employers struggling to attract and retain top talent in a tight labor market, it's no longer enough to advertise that a "competitive salary" is being offered.
Today's job candidates are seeking much more than pay, including a broad range of benefits and coverage levels. With such demands often come complex benefit offerings, whose delivery and communication must be simplified to fully realize these key corporate objectives.
"The convenience of automated enrollment and life-event changes is imperative to employee retention," observes Bruce Marks, senior vice president of Benefit Management Group. Cleveland-based BMG, a division of Interactive Information Service Inc., has developed AutoBene, which allows employees to enroll in their benefit plans via the Internet or interactive voice response (IVR).
He believes that enhancing a traditionally painstaking process "can be a contributing factor to making the organization an employer of choice" as employees increasingly appreciate the convenience and ease-of-use of automated enrollment. In the past, Marks says HR departments have underestimated the importance of making it easier for employees to enroll in their plans and research benefit questions.
For as much as employees are finding value in automated enrollment, the approach obviously is just as appealing on the HR and benefits side. The Internet, for instance, can significantly reduce paper enrollment processing and even eliminate paper, altogether, when the process is augmented by an IVR application keeping benefit administrators just as happy as enrollees.
"The Internet will continue to dramatically alter the benefits enrollment landscape," Marks believes. "It enables a company to enroll employees, capture data and seamlessly transfer it to both internal HRIS systems and insurance carriers."
He predicts that the enrollment market increasingly will be characterized by use of both Web and phone technologies for automated employee self-service solutions.
Benefits trend: convenience, customization
As employees increasingly value convenience and customization in their benefits, the focus will shift from core coverage to tailored offerings that strike the best work-life balance a trend fueled by the Internet culture.
The prediction comes courtesy of RewardsPlus, the Web-based benefits firm headquartered in Baltimore, Md. (www.rewardsplus.com).
Organizations, for instance, won't be judged so much on the number of vacation days they offer but whether they provide access to discounted airline tickets, which would make the paid time off even more valuable.
And while health insurance and 401(k) coverage still will command attention, a new breed of benefits will be championed for saving time and money, and appealing to individual employee needs. They include cell phones, laptops, high-speed Internet access, financial planning, retail discounts, pet and auto insurance, legal services, eldercare, laser eye surgery, massage therapy and acupuncture.
"The Internet has dramatically changed the way corporate employers provide access to benefits of all types," says RewardsPlus President Ken Barksdale. "As employees become more familiar with customized service over the Internet, they'll expect and appreciate the availability of customized benefits. Employees are going to select what makes sense for them, not just take what the employer is giving to everyone."
RewardsPlus' extensive research has led the company to develop RealLife Benefits, a delivery system comprised of seven customizable components, including a self-service benefit Web site (www.reallifebenefits.com, communications, administration and enrollment, benefit call center, billing and payroll deduction, provider selection and voluntary benefits at discounted prices.
Those enrolled in the RealLife Benefits program have access to a life-event driven Internet portal through which they can purchase personal financial services and retail products at work or home.
Benefit combats computer vision syndrome costs
First came carpal tunnel syndrome. Now there's computer vision syndrome or CVS, which is triggered by excessive staring into a computer monitor. Both are hazardous to employee health.
But some visionary employers are fighting back. Take NORCAL Mutual Insurance in San Francisco, whose 209 employees recently received a CVS-prevention benefit as an enhancement to the company's eye care benefit provided by Vision Service Plan (VSP).
"People appreciate the added consideration for their health and safety," reports John McClain, the company's vp of human resources.
Indeed, forward-thinking employers like NORCAL understand that access to high-quality eye care is the best means of prevention, adds Don Yee, executive vice president of marketing and corporate development for VSP in Sacramento, Calif.
"The thinking," he says, "is that employees who are healthy and comfortable will be more productive at work a conclusion that makes vision care a necessity, not a luxury."
McClain's expectation is that the effort to combat CVS will improve employee health and lower benefit costs: "We're taking preventive measures that over time we hope will reduce the risk to employees and result in a reduction of health care or even workers' comp costs."
Nearly 90% of people who work with computers for more than three hours a day suffer some form of eye, neck and back discomfort, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control. The American Optometric Association estimates that 60 million Americans suffer from computer eyestrain a serious problem that is costing nearly $1.2 billion each year to diagnose and treat.
Symptoms include eyestrain, dry or irritated eyes, blurred and/or double vision, fatigue, neck or back pain and headaches.
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