One size doesn’t fit all: It’s time to reimagine traditional employee benefits. Here’s how to do it

This opinion article first ran in Employee Benefit News magazine. 

Traditional benefit packages are woefully outdated, and the time has come for producers to reimagine what that landscape should look like to help their clients secure better results.

Consider, for instance, that health insurance costs have soared 50 percent over the past 10 years, while employee contributions are up 71 percent and deductibles are up 150 percent, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Government research shows these increases have impacted those who can least afford them: Bottom-quartile earners in the South saw a net decrease in pay of as much as $2,352 within that time frame as health insurance cost increases offset wage hikes.

And here we are now in 2021, when Bankrate reports that 58 percent of Americans don’t have $1,000 in the bank. A $3,000 annual deductible for a 27-year-old is hardly a health benefit. Maybe employers should not measure their benefits by what they provide, but how much they charge employees to participate?

Think of it this way: If an employer were to give everyone an automobile as a benefit, would they prefer a $50,000 Lexus that required a $15,000 contribution, or a free $35,000 Ford Taurus? Or better yet, would they prefer to get $35,000 and get to buy what they want?

The current one-size-fits-all nature of today’s programs can’t possibly be best for everyone. A 61-year-old with a heart condition most often has little in common with a 26-year-old triathlete who can’t pay his or her rent. They don’t drive the same cars, wear the same style clothes or like the same music — and they definitely don’t need the same benefits.

Kaiser found that as many as 75 percent of employer-provided health benefits offered only one type of plan in 2019, while those that offered more than one did so through one insurer. Imagine if you only had two or three options from a single pizza place in your area. Everyone would complain.

With most 401(k) plans, employer contributions are provided as a percentage of pay. Yet, when it comes to health insurance, employers charge everyone the same. Lower-paid people are getting less in 401(k) matching because of lower incomes and actually fork over a larger percentage of their pay for health insurance. On average, younger workers are paid less, yet incur far less in healthcare costs — which means they subsidize an older and sicker population.

But the market is recognizing a dire need to provide more equitable benefits. The federal government has also taken steps to change this paradigm. New laws allow employers to earmark dollars for employees to choose their own health insurance on a pretax basis, the first big change in health insurance laws since World War II. In the recent COVID-19 relief bill, employers are allowed to help employees pay down college debt with pretax dollars. Employee emergency funds and loan programs are becoming more common. Amazon is providing free college education. Other programs include wellness, nutrition and smoking cessation programs, financial fitness, help with bad credit and more.

As these new benefits enter the market, there are challenges. Your clients don’t have the budget to provide all these solutions. Human resources departments that are already strapped for time don’t have the capacity to evaluate, purchase, communicate and administer such programs. And many programs only address a subset of the population. Meeting the needs of a broad employee population is not easy. One positive development is that more administrators are surfacing to help employers deliver these solutions to their employees.

If one of the goals is to provide benefits to attract and retain employees, then employers need to think about how beneficial their benefit programs are to all employees. Former Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, who implemented some of the most progressive employee benefits programs for his employees, says their goal is to help employees be “happy, healthy and economically viable.” Not a bad objective, and one that will likely help employees be more productive.

While employers have great intentions with their benefits, many programs are becoming less beneficial for most of their workforce. The time to turn around this disturbing trend has arrived. The opportunity to reimagine employee benefits is here. Personalized benefits programs will begin to replace the one-size-fits-all programs of today.

The products and services are available. Technology has enabled easier implementation and management of such programs. And new government programs with favorable tax deductions have made it possible for employers to provide employees the funds and then get out of the way.

Now all it takes is for your clients to unlock the door and let employees into a whole new benefits world.

Joe Markland is CEO of Nfor1, an HR and benefits company in Lexington, Massachusetts.

The fundamentals of workers' compensation insurance

Almost all of Utah businesses are required by state law to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Your workers’ compensation policy will help pay for medical expenses and lost wages of employees who sustain injuries while on the job. Should an employee experience permanent impairment or disability, workers’ compensation insurance can provide disability insurance for the life of the worker.

An employee is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits for injuries even if they have been on the job a brief amount of time and/or is only working part-time. If you don’t carry workers’ compensation insurance, not only are you breaking the law, but you are also exposing your business to serious liabilities should an employee become injured while on the job.

A good place to begin your search for workers’ compensation insurance is to contact the agency that holds your other commercial insurance policies. If your agent doesn’t offer workers’ compensation insurance for your type of business, or if you are concerned that you could be paying too much for your policy, shop around to find the best rates on workers’ compensation insurance for your particular line of work.

As a Utah business owner, if you are unable to purchase workers’ compensation insurance through your insurance agent due to your organization’s high-risk status, you are guaranteed the opportunity to purchase insurance from Workers’ Compensation Fund of Utah.

The Utah Department of Insurance helps keep workers’ compensation premiums at a reasonable cost by establishing basic premium rates. The basic rates are modified by each insurance carrier to account for payroll costs and the loss-potential of specific occupations. Each employers’ claims history for work-related injuries and illnesses is also included in the premium calculations.

A business owner’s annual payroll is a key factor in determining premium rates. When a policy is written or renewed, you will be asked to estimate your employees’ payroll total for the coming year. The payroll estimate amount is multiplied by the rate to calculate the premium that will be due over the next 12 months. An employer obtaining workers’ compensation insurance by fraudulently underreporting payroll is subject to criminal prosecution.

After a policy period expires, your agent should conduct a premium audit to verify your business is only paying the premium you truly owe rather than the premium based on your estimated figures. This could mean an increase in premium if actual payroll was higher than original estimates. Or, it could also mean a refund if those figures were less than your estimated payroll amounts. 

One of the challenges of the current work environment is the high level of employee turnover. New employees are not always aware of the best safety practices. When you hire employees from other industries, they might not have the safety experience your more seasoned employees have obtained with years on the job. To help keep your workers’ compensation premiums low, partner with a workers’ compensation insurance provider that supports your organization with value-added services such as safety seminars and industry-specific safety training materials for your employees. A safe work environment is critical to sustaining positive morale among employees, as well as obtaining high levels of achievement in the workplace.

This article was provided by Goldenwest Insurance Services in Ogden.

Strong benefits attract and retain your workforce

Business leaders across Utah need and expect more out of their employee benefits packages, particularly in our current economic environment. Faced with one of the most competitive labor markets in history, taking care of employees is at the forefront of most organizations’ strategic discussions.

What most business leaders want out of their employee benefits can be simplified to four categories:

1. Attract and retain top talent.

2. Improve the health and productivity of their workforce.

3. Ensure employee (and employer) satisfaction with benefits.

4. Lower the costs associated with administering an employee benefits program.

Attract and Retain Top Talent

Economic experts are dubbing the current labor market landscape as “The Great Resignation.” Employee turnover is at one of the highest levels since the statistic was first tracked. Not surprisingly, health insurance and the entire employee benefits package has played a pivotal role in retaining valued employees and replacing vacancies. Unfortunately, some organizations are experiencing the pain of losing employees due to offering a benefits package that has lagged current industry standards. The cost of employee turnover is high, and benefits plays a key role in combatting current trends.

Improve the Health and Productivity of the Workforce

We sometimes view health insurance as the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff to take care of individuals after issues arise for employees. Health insurance can and should be advertised as a means of preventing the fall from the cliff from occurring in the first place. Providing incentives to employees for utilizing the preventive care component of health insurance can drive a positive company culture around benefits. When employees engage with their doctors early and often, a myriad of health problems can be avoided, resulting in elevated feelings of general wellness and employee productivity.

Ensure Employee (and Employer) Satisfaction with Benefits

Many years ago, insurance was mostly a simple matter of providing a doctor or facility with a copay for receiving care. Deductibles were rare. Out-of-pocket maximums were low. Unfortunately, as costs have come off the charts, an employee’s responsibility in sharing the cost of their care has grown dramatically. Cost-sharing mechanisms are so confusing that the average employee is afraid of receiving care because the billing can be so difficult to afford and decipher. Health insurance in 2021 needs to be simplified so that employees can receive the care they need with favorable funding options (Hint: health savings accounts, or HSAs, are where the market is headed).

Lower the Costs Associated with Administering an Employee Benefits Program

The constant increase of healthcare and health insurance premiums is a well-documented frustration for every business leader. These increases generally surpass general inflation, resulting in a budgetary burden that becomes more painful with each passing year. There are realistic reasons to be hopeful while passing through this challenging landscape. Dozens of organizations have been founded with the sole purpose of providing cost savings to businesses across the country. By utilizing these programs and resources, business leaders are realizing substantial savings to their bottom line. With so much at stake, the additional work to bring cost savings to your organization has never been more valuable.

This article was provided by Goldenwest Health Insurance in Ogden.

CHOOSE WISELY: Don't forget to do the research when recomme

By Mike Edmonds

Telehealth is the distribution of health-related services via virtual technologies. Historically, telehealth has been a cost-effective and convenient method of treating certain medical conditions in a virtual environment rather than visiting an emergency room, urgent care clinic or a doctor’s office. The telehealth market is changing rapidly as evidenced by an expansion of services, increased adoption and company consolidation.

We saw boosts of telehealth use in 2009, and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic brought behavioral health into the mainstream of this industry as employers sought to add services that address the effects of isolation, uncertainty, stress, anxiety and even depression.

Telehealth services can trace their origins back to the mid-1900s and even further back, to the time the telephone was invented. In 1948, the first radiological images were sent via telephone and in 1961, remote monitoring systems were used by the space program. These early innovations laid a foundation for telehealth and our modern healthcare system, and ultimately to the creation of the American Telemedicine Association in 1993.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly raised customer awareness of telehealth services and the testament of its convenience has increased simultaneously. As the dust settles from the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth is emerging as the commodity that it is, and value-add services are going to be the differentiating factors in an increasingly competitive marketplace. The current trend in the telehealth market is to add services such as virtual primary care, chronic care, remote patient monitoring, specialties and behavioral health.

Trends in telehealth are gaining momentum as the normality of its services increases. In the succeeding years, Beehive Insurance in Murray predicts that virtual care will become mainstream and ultimately replace the many in-person primary care appointments. With technology advancements and accessible tools online, there is less of a need to leave the house and more of an ability to hold appointments without stepping foot in a doctor’s office.

Knowing the predicted trends and the importance our clients already place on quality telehealth services, Beehive Insurance conducted thorough research into the telehealth market, its trends and the service providers who are emerging as best in class. Beehive’s research included an evaluation of eight prominent telehealth providers using 27 factors to find the best overall fit and value for their clients and employees.

This analysis was not focused on cost alone, but included a broader look at total value, quality of doctors, user satisfaction, technology platforms and innovation. They also looked for telehealth providers who excelled in engagement as measured by utilization and quality outcomes.

For purposes of defining the scope and analysis, these emerging services were placed into three categories: acute/episodic medical care, behavioral health and specialty care. The analysis gave higher value to those companies that have included or plan to include these services in the near term. Some telehealth providers offer solutions on a “stand-alone” basis while others bundle telehealth with tools for employee engagement, patient advocacy, virtual enrollment and medical and pharmacy transparency.

Beehive’s research found that pricing has become extremely competitive with most of the pricing risk being borne by the telehealth providers who set rates based on expected utilization. Some buyers in this market may prefer to share the pricing risk in exchange for a guaranteed return on investment (ROI). They found quality providers willing to put their fees at risk and guarantee an ROI. As services are added to the telehealth market, utilization is expected to increase and pricing models will change out of necessity. The expanding market will also draw further investment and drive additional consolidation.

The research also found that some telehealth providers display their use of technology as evidenced by engaging apps and websites but seemed to have forgotten that the real service they are providing is quality healthcare.

Following the initial evaluation using all 27 factors, the research team focused on a refined list of differentiating factors their clients value most. These factors included total value (did the price and quality of service provide overall value?), reporting capability (do reports track meaningful metrics?), ease of administration (is enrollment simple and error-free?) and innovation (is the telehealth provider looking for what’s next in the market?). The factors also included satisfaction ratings, employee engagement, technology, and the use of employee or contract doctors in their analysis.

After their evaluation, Beehive chose a preferred provider who will give its clients the best overall telehealth experience. Beehive recognizes that other providers may be a better fit for some businesses and recommends that similar research be performed by a trusted advisor before any company chooses a telehealth provider in this dynamic and competitive market. If done thoroughly, the time spent on research and evaluation will allow the employer to find solutions that offer the best services for their employees.

Mike Edmonds is the director of client services for Beehive Insurance in Sandy.

COVID, HEALTHCARE & CYBERSECURITY

By Bahar Ferguson 

COVID, ICU rates, ventilators, job loss, vaccines, death, supply chain, mental health, unemployment.

Since early 2020, we have been subjected to constant barrage of stressful and fear-laden stimuli. Unfortunately, cybercriminals have seen this as an incredible moment to strike. Not only were the opportunities boundless with a slew of individuals shifting to work from home — often immediately weakening cybersecurity structures — but the criminals are taking advantage of our overall more exhausted, weakened state many find themselves in these days.

After almost two years of that constant bombardment of stress and uncertainty, many people have gone into survival mode. This has caused many to accept situations or standards that they normally would not accept under a healthier, happier mental state.

As we know, things will eventually cycle back and our more clear-headed selves will be back running the show. As such, we should do our future selves a favor and start taking control of some of the elements that may have been slacking or that we can improve in the face of these opportunistic bad actors. Here are some of the cybersecurity weakness and attack trends we have seen in healthcare as well as across the business spectrum. We recommend you reflect internally on where you may have had similar shortcomings and then create a plan with your leadership and IT teams to overcome any weak points.

Healthcare Under Attack

The world’s increased focus on healthcare hasn’t escaped the attention of cybercriminals. With the colossal burden that has weighed this sector down, hackers saw an opportunity to attack hospitals, agencies and even individual doctors. This is bad enough in any computer user, but when subject to HIPAA regulations, the risk is even greater.

In March 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported its servers had suffered a massive denial-of-service attack. Almost at the same time, one of the biggest COVID-19 blood-testing centers in the Czech Republic also had its databases attacked. Doctors were stopped from processing vital COVID-19 tests and were even forced to cancel surgical operations.

There are plenty of examples of cybercriminals targeting a wide range of organizations fighting the coronavirus pandemic. The infamous Lazarus Group of hackers tried to attack a company that was working on a COVID-19 vaccine. A few weeks later, they also attacked a health ministry.

In the United Kingdom, plenty of scammers tried to trick doctors and nurses out of their online credentials by providing a fake registration for a COVID-19 seminar. And unfortunately, some healthcare employees were also to blame for cybersecurity issues. An ex-executive in Stradis Healthcare, an American company, disrupted the vital supply of medical equipment in a bid for revenge for being dismissed.

Phishing in the Age of COVID-19

While governments across the globe have been busy dealing with the pandemic and trying to support citizens and businesses, nefarious cybercriminals are attempting to capitalize on the worldwide panic and fear of the virus. Various surveys have concluded that half of Internet users have received at least one malicious email falsely providing information on COVID-19-related topics.

For instance, scammers tried to disseminate fake emails from the CDC asking victims to fill out a survey related to the coronavirus in their neighborhoods. In actuality, the link was a phishing link where they were supposed to provide their email credentials which would have been taken by the criminal and used to log into their real email and wreak havoc.

Online scammers also frequently send malicious emails regarding welfare benefits — almost five times as many as they did before the pandemic. These were usually from fake email addresses claiming to represent everyone from local governments to the World Health Organization and the International Monetary Fund. They’d promise their victims some sort of compensation while just asking for a tiny “commission” for the process. But, of course, there were never any real benefits to begin with. Similar issues cropped up with news of grants for small businesses, which malicious hackers readily exploited.

Bad actors also took this opportunity to play on the wants and needs of many people, by sending virus-laden emails (either through links or attachments) targeting the desire of people to have the latest information on the virus, contact tracing, exposure alerts, etc. Users not subject to regular cybersecurity awareness and policy training were at an increased rate of falling for these tactics.

Remote Work

Whether you’re working from home, or you have a second office at home, you cannot afford to let your guard down when it comes to your home computer setup. When we saw the huge spike in work from home in March 2020, people were focused on the hardware and accessing files. Security took a back seat. While understandable to a degree in needing to keep your business afloat, it’s time to review what policies are in place for remote employees. Even with many companies being back in the office, more and more people have adjusted to doing some work from home from time to time, even if simply supplementing a full day at the office.

Studies have shown that over 70 percent of employers hadn’t organized any special courses or training on safe usage of corporate resources online. While this would have undoubtedly reduced the number of security breaches caused by human error, key decision-makers and managers dropped the ball in terms of cybersecurity.

Home Equipment

The scramble. When the world seemingly “shut down” back in March 2020 and people were forced to work from home to keep their businesses alive, business owners scrambled. It was yet another survival moment inflicted upon our world. Revenue needed to continue. They needed employees to fulfill job roles to make that happen. So, they got them up and running the quickest way possible. Many companies didn’t give their remote workers the necessary technical equipment for their newly established home offices. Instead, they allowed their employees to use their personal home devices to connect to the corporate IT infrastructure remotely and often insecurely.

Even companies that did provide the hardware (laptops or desktops) were intermittently using the device for personal reasons or accessing company networks from a personal computer. Structure was simply not put in place. Many employees who transitioned to home offices set up their networks and routers themselves, creating further security risks in the process. Companies that did not have cybersecurity policies in place prior to account for remote employees were forced to triage their business issues, leaving cybersecurity to fall behind serving customers and making payroll.

For obvious reasons this quick handling that resulted in skipping proper cybersecurity strategy and implementation has created a huge cybersecurity gap, one that malicious online actors were more than ready to exploit. Between unsecure access to company files and data to preying on mix use of devices connected to the network or company information, cybercriminals hit the jackpot.

Vulnerabilities from Collaboration Tools

In physical offices, workers would often collaborate by gathering around a single computer to edit documents and by attending in-person meetings. However, the new realities of remote work have forced them to resort to online collaboration tools and videoconferencing software to a much higher degree, dramatically increasing the associated cybersecurity risks.

Plenty of legitimate software for videoconferencing had previously unnoticed security gaps, including world-renowned solutions like Microsoft Teams. In 2020, Microsoft discovered and eliminated a vulnerability in their Teams software, which allowed cybercriminals to use it to gain access to every account on an organization’s network. Also, Zoom developers fixed some bugs on their macOS version, allowing attackers to do the same thing and take over remote devices.

Advice for Protection

One of the biggest lessons we have learned is that, while cybersecurity threats have increased in volume, most of them aren’t any radically new and inventive schemes. Instead, they’ve simply exploited people’s fear and anxiety over the current situation as well as the increased number of pain points due to shifts to a remote workplace.

However, it is time to sit back and reflect on how this process was handled and what may still be looming as a threat to your company. Once you review potential areas of weakness with your leadership and IT team, you can work on fixing the issues and become better prepared for the future.

Bahar Ferguson is president of Wasatch I.T., a Utah provider of outsourced IT and managed compliance services for small and medium-sized businesses.