What is an Employee Benefits Consultant?
1 big thing: Employee Benefits Consultants should recommend and implement health insurance solutions that improve employee health and lower costs.
Businesses hire consultants to solve specific problems. Employee Benefits Consultants are typically employed because healthcare costs for companies are rising and the firm’s current strategies are failing. In addition to the health plan, Employee Benefits Consultants can also assist in insurance and retirement benefits to help the company vet and select partners aligning with their values and budget; however, since medical benefits are by far the most expensive employee benefit, the majority of the effort and focus of the Employee Benefits Consultant.
Why it matters. Choosing the wrong benefits consultant or broker of record can result in unnecessary extra costs to the business and employees.
Employee Benefits Consultants are paid directly and sometimes also indirectly. Depending on your company size and contract with your consultant, they may get a per-employee per-month fee and a commission from the insurance carrier. Beginning on Dec. 27, 2021, brokers and consultants started to be held to new compensation transparency obligations under the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA). The CAA creates new requirements for brokers and consultants to disclose to ERISA-covered group health plan sponsors any direct or indirect compensation they may receive for referral of services.
Alternatives to working with a broker include outsourcing to a PEO or bringing this work all in-house. Sometimes, companies have trouble meeting their human resources needs, to assist in this area, many companies hire professional employer organizations (PEOs). When hiring one of these organizations, the company and its employees become employees of the PEO, and the company delegates many of its HR responsibilities to the PEO. There are pros and. cons to this strategy, essentially you are paying to outsource the strategy and oversight of employee benefits. On the other end of the spectrum some companies leave it up to the HR department to manage the process without the assistance of outside consultants.
Employee Benefits Consultants Should Earn Their Pay. The bottom line is that if consultants are not adding value then they are not worth the investment, just like all other areas of business. We are not perfect at Bull Benefits, we choose to consult with honesty. If we can’t help we do not invite you to become a client. If we do partner together, we have a “Better Healthcare Guarantee” that ensures if you follow and implement the Bull Benefits Blueprint, you will save money compared to the status quo plans.
Hope this helps!
Justin