Skyrocketing healthcare costs are the reason that 70% of Americans have less than $1,000 in the bank. And annual healthcare inflation? It’s outpaced every industry — year over year. For organizations feeling the squeeze to do more with less — the seemingly obvious solution is to pass on these rising costs (in part or in whole) to employees by way of increased payroll contributions. Yet on the heels of the Great Resignation, many are hesitant to tip the scales in the wrong direction.
The days of passing medical plan increases onto your employees at your renewal are over — and at Totem, we’re happy to see them go.
Below are two effective and sustainable ways to stop passing employe benefit costs onto your employees.
1. Directing your employees to high quality care is a viable cost reduction strategy.
When your employees see the top doctors in their area, there’s an average 35% lower cost of care — for you and them. It’s a win-win — and yet, we don’t see most advisors going down that path for their clients.
Through the use of a white-glove approach to quality steerage and centers of excellence, we leverage data-driven solutions and an employee-first mentality to direct your employees to top providers. This ensures:
- Better clinical outcomes, leading to a healthier and more resilient workforce.
- A lower PEPY medical spend compared to most traditional cost containment strategies.
- A competitive edge over your peers.
And like with anything we do, we understand that employees are more likely to adopt change when introduced incrementally. This means we don’t implement every solution or change in the first year — but instead, use a crawl, walk, run approach to optimize results.
2. Providing clear and valuable benefits education can reduce employee benefit costs.
When it comes to employee benefits, the “If you build it, they will come,” mindset doesn’t work. In fact, a recent AFLAC study found that 53% of employees found understanding benefits stressful — and another 43% of them found enrolling in benefits stressful. On the other hand, a recent MetLife study found that employees who understand their benefits, including what’s covered and what isn’t, were 60% more likely to intend to still be working for their organization in 12 months.
What do we take from this?
Strategically educating your employees on their benefits not only reduces their stress level — it actually keeps them working for you. Clear, concise and effective employee benefit communication improves your retention rate (and recruiting efforts) and translates into cost containment.
Our state-of-the-art Benefits Service Center provides year-round employee support and custom communications with targeted outreach for benefits and HR messaging. Our concierge support includes inbound and outbound phone/email/text message in addition to virtual and onsite meeting support.
We take benefit communication seriously — and because of that, our Benefits Service Center is a true value-add (provided at no cost to you) that doesn’t require any additional products.
Take the first step to implementing innovative cost containment strategies today.
We are much more than consulting — and we have over 40 years of experience in helping clients do more with less.
We think outside of the box with solutions that make a difference for our clients. Totem helps businesses transform their benefits approach with the following:
- Benefits Consulting
- Benefits Administration
- Benefits Communication
- Benefits and HR Compliance
- Concierge Employee Support
- HR Outsourcing
To begin exploring innovative ways to reduce your healthcare spend without burdening your employees, click here to book a free consultation call today.
