For many people, employee health plans are confusing and frustrating to use. This becomes even more pronounced when the plans come from different providers and do not work well together. Integrated benefits management combines various components of employee benefits, particularly medical and pharmacy benefits, along with wellness and financial services, to make them easier for people to understand and use.
When benefits work together like this, employees receive better care. They can understand what their plans offer, find it easier to use their coverage, and feel more satisfied overall. This has lasting implications for your business, as quality benefits can help you retain employees and improve productivity.
Here’s what you need to know about integrated benefits management and the value it offers with a seamless benefits administration strategy.
What is Integrated Benefits Management?
Integrated benefits management brings together different components of your employee benefits plan, creating a holistic experience that incorporates health, wellness, and financial areas. Traditionally, employers often find themselves piecing together employee benefits from various providers, which results in disjointed services.
These integrated plans approach healthcare holistically and cohesively, bringing together care across the different categories of benefits. When employees have access to complete packages that impact all these different components of life in a single, easy-to-understand way, they receive far-reaching advantages in their personal lives. Happier employees can then create more productive work environments.
The Connection Between Benefits Management and Employee Retention
According to McKinsey, “many” Americans view the benefits of job offers as important as the salary itself. The benefits package you piece together, therefore, will impact your ability to hire and then retain top talent, which will impact your business productivity.
Additionally, when you have comprehensive and integrated benefits, you also provide employees with the tools they need to take better care of their personal health. When your employees take care of themselves, this also impacts your business positively. Specifically, one McKinsey study found that treating depression and anxiety in your employees can give you as much as a 4:1 ROI. In other words, for every $1 you spend, your business will see a return benefit of $4.
Creating these benefits packages will help you build a workforce that is ready to help your business perform optimally.
Advantages of Integrated Benefits Management
An integrated HR benefits management program offers advantages across multiple areas:
- Improved Transparency: Employees will immediately benefit from a more transparent understanding of their benefits. Rather than sifting through information from various providers, they’ll have a single, cohesive resource for their health and wellness needs.
- Simplified Access to Care: With clearer benefits information, employees can access their care more easily, reducing confusion over what coverage they have and how to use it.
- Personalized Benefits: Integration allows you to tailor benefits to meet the specific needs of your workforce. By offering holistic packages, you can adjust benefits offerings based on employee feedback and needs.
- Reduced Administrative Burden: For HR teams, integrated benefits management simplifies administrative processes. Streamlined services reduce errors and frustration, freeing up time for your team to focus on higher-level tasks.
Altogether, these advantages lead to higher employee engagement and satisfaction, which results in a happier, more productive workforce.
How Integrated Benefits Management Enhances Employee Experience
With an integrated HR benefits management system, businesses and employees will start to have a more positive employee benefits experience immediately. Technology makes it easy for people to access their benefits and understand what types of coverage they have. These capabilities can also provide each employee with a personalized look at the benefits they have accessed and how they have used their plans throughout the year.
As businesses transition to this more integrated benefit outlook, communication is vital to ensuring everyone understands what is available to them and how they can take advantage of all the benefits offered. Companies can host informational meetings or provide handouts that outline the new features, for example. This can be coupled with personalized portals that give each person a first-hand look at what they can access. Making sure everyone knows what is offered and who they can speak to if they have questions about their plans plays a key role in a smooth transition and employee satisfaction.
Implementing Integrated Benefits Management in Your Organization
When your HR department decides to implement integrated benefits management, following a structured, step-by-step approach ensures success and smooth adoption by your team:
- Research Integrated Solutions: Start by researching benefits management systems that provide holistic health, wellness, and financial services for employees.
- Provide Employee Portals: Make it easy for employees to access their benefits with personalized portals that show what benefits are available and how they’ve been used.
- Host Informational Sessions: Educate employees on the new system by offering sessions or handouts that explain the new benefits and how to use them.
- Partner with Experts: Work with services like those offered by Payday to help transition to an integrated benefits approach and ensure that employees navigate the new system seamlessly.
Build Your Employee Benefits with an Integrated Approach Today
Integrated benefits approaches make it easier for employees to understand their care options and navigate the complexity of the benefit systems. An integrated approach empowers businesses to provide a more holistic health and overall wellness offering for employees, leading to increased employee satisfaction and, therefore, serving as one of the optimal employee retention strategies. Consider how this system will work for your organization.
Ready to take your benefits management to the next level? Contact Payday today to discover how integrated benefits management can help you retain your top talent and improve employee satisfaction.