Many companies report that employees don’t understand benefits, don’t read e-mails, and aren’t fully engaged. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Imagine a new employee at your company. They may not know what a deductible is, let alone if your benefits are good. You invest five figures per employee to provide benefits. If you don’t invest in education those dollars may be (at worst) wasted or (at best) underappreciated.
Steele’s passion is to educate employees and help families select the right benefits for their unique needs. We help companies administer and communicate benefits, and we help employees understand them.
Any conversation that tries to help employees get the employee benefits they need should start with a technology conversation. Do you have the technology where you can offer the benefits employees need, and administer the benefits appropriately as an employer? Steele configures Selerix, a platform with millions of employees and tens of thousands of employers using it, for those employers that need a benefits platform. If you already have a platform that is meeting the employer and employees’ needs, we can consider working with the platform you already use.
Once you have the right platform in place, it’s time to choose your offering. You work with a Broker/Consultant on your core benefit offering, but do you have the right voluntary benefits offering? Are you getting a great underwriting offer? Steele can work with your Broker/Consultant to ensure that the right carrier, plan designs, and underwriting offers are chosen. This is one of the ways Steele can help employers bring great value to their employees.
Congrats – you have the right platform and offers. You’re halfway to a great program. What’s next? How about communication. Steele can help you promote your benefits with SMS (text messaging), surveys, quizzes, e-mail, and more. Yes, this is important for open enrollment. It’s also important for hires, life events, and key life moments such as birthdays and work anniversaries.
When employees understand benefits, they stay loyal. But, you need to conduct effective enrollments in order to get the full value of your benefit plans. Steele can help. Employees enroll in one of four ways – 1) HR helps, 2) Steele enrolls 1×1 on-site, 3) employee calls Steele call center, or 4) the employee self enrolls online. All your employees do not necessarily need to enroll the same way. The beauty of working with Steele is that your employees can choose the best way to enroll in order to meet their families’ needs and preferences.
Once enrollments are done – whether they be for open enrollment, a new hire, or a life event – the next step is to get the data where it needs to go. Because Steele enrolls on Selerix, a national platform, we have templates and history-building file feeds for hundreds of different carriers, benefits, and plans. Whether you’re medical is through Blue Cross of Illinois, or Alabama; whether your dental in United Healthcare or Guardian; whether your disability is MetLife or Mutual of Omaha – you’ll find we can work with you.
Beyond employee interaction – there’s also the need for you to complete Affordable Care Act reporting. We know who you hired when they became eligible, whether they elect to participate, which family members they cover when the employee changes benefits, and when the employee terminates. These are most of the data points needed to help you with Affordable Care Act reporting, which is why we’re well-positioned to be a support partner for your reporting.
Transforming Employee Communications Using Engage