benefits technology

When to Say Goodbye to Your Benefits Broker

Posted on by jburgess10

For many businesses, the process of choosing and administering a health insurance benefits program is a daunting one. They often turn to benefits brokers to help them select and implement plans.

Traditional benefits brokers offer assistance in choosing plans, but typically lack the technological systems and solutions that help companies operate more efficiently and save money. In contrast, technology-backed brokers can use a variety of resources to not only aid in the selection of a health insurance plan, but to administer it and provide year-round support. Ultimately, a benefits broker should make the job of a company’s human resources (HR) department easier. If a broker is not achieving this goal, it may be time to investigate options for a new broker.

What Is A Broker?

Benefits brokers are licensed professionals who assist companies, small business owners, individuals and families in choosing and administering health insurance plans. Using their health insurance expertise, they help businesses choose health insurance networks and plans that fit their needs and budget. In many cases, brokers have long-standing relationships with their clients and can assist them with paperwork, compliance, and annual renewals.

What A Broker Should Be Doing

Establishing a comprehensive health insurance package for employees can be a challenging task for any business owner. With a seemingly endless array of choices, complicated enrollment procedures, and ever-changing legal requirements, even seasoned HR professionals may find the task overwhelming. For this reason, many companies turn to a benefits broker. Taking advantage of a broker’s expertise in plan options, procedures, and rules is a smart choice for business owners. A good benefits broker will make sure that a client has the best benefits package for their needs and budget, and will reduce the workload for an HR department by handling the plan’s administration and paperwork. Part of this process is helping to ensure that you are aware of the types of plans and costs that your competitors are employing, as a part of the benchmarking process.

Utilize Technology Systems and Solutions Appropriately

One of the ways that brokers should be assisting their clients is through the use of technology solutions and systems. Utilizing technology to select and administer a benefits program can streamline the process, ensure compliance with rules, and verify that plan information is readily accessible to both the client and its employees.

A benefits broker should use innovative technology to help clients compare and select plans, educate employees about plan options, send customized open enrollment communications, and comply with all applicable rules and regulations. Specialized programs and applications can reduce paperwork and provide easy access to necessary information.

Provide Help Throughout the Year

Brokers should also be available to their clients throughout the year, offering support for problems or questions that arise about health insurance plans. A good broker will have sufficient staff to provide year-round assistance to clients—not only when it is time to renew a plan. If a company has an employee with a major health problem or life event, for example, a benefits broker should be available to discuss these issues – as well as assisting with other routine questions, and employee education related items.

Provide Assistance in Selecting Health Insurance Programs

When it comes to selecting a health insurance programs, a broker should have access to a variety of products and plans offered by a number of carriers to meet a business’ needs and budgets. Brokers with limited options often cannot respond to their clients’ requirements, leaving companies with health insurance plans that are too expensive or that just do not meet employees’ needs. A top ranked broker brings more to clients by way of leverage – including the ability to help troubleshoot challenging situations that may arise throughout the year.

Explain and Support Compliance

Finally, because the rules and regulations surrounding health insurance plans are complicated, a good benefits broker should protect their clients on all applicable compliance and regulatory issues. This includes making sure that the plan complies with all federal and state laws and regulations, that it is offered to all eligible employees and filing the required paperwork with the IRS and other government agencies. These tasks are important and necessary but may overwhelm an HR staff. A benefits broker should take on this work for clients, easing the burden of administering a health plan – including the tools, and invaluable resources, often through on-staff HR professionals to assist with local, federal, and ACA compliance support.

Is It Time for a New Broker?

A benefits broker should be doing a variety of things to meet client needs, including offering technology-based systems and solutions, offering a range of plan options, providing year-round support, and protecting clients on regulatory and compliance issues. If a broker is not doing any of these tasks, companies should consider finding a broker who can meet their needs.

Companies who are not adequately supported by their brokers may find that their business is negatively impacted. HR professionals may feel stressed and overworked if a broker is not providing assistance in administering a health insurance program, which may ultimately lead to a high turnover rate.

Without technology-backed solutions, plan administration may be over costly and time-consuming. Employees may also be dissatisfied if they do not have their preferred health insurance options, or if they feel that they do not have access to the information that they need and want about their benefits.

If a broker is not offering a range of plans and carrier options, a company may not even be aware of lower-cost plans or plans that meet their needs better. If a broker is not assisting a business with compliance, the company may be penalized through fines and penalties for not filing the correct forms with state or federal government, or even through missed opportunities to lower their tax burden.

The Advantage of Technology-Backed Brokers

When it comes to selecting and administering a health insurance plan, using the proper technology is key. The world of health insurance is a fast-changing one, with evolving laws and market conditions that make it hard for the average business owner to keep up with the changes.

A good benefits broker should deliver expertise on a broad variety of topics, from compliance with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to tax matters and benefits administration. A good broker should also stay on top of changing regulations and premium rates for their clients. Given the complex nature of health insurance benefits, brokers which provide ease of access to technology-backed systems and solutions offer many advantages over traditional brokers.

Compliance Needs

One such advantage of working with a broker can be seen in how brokers handle compliance with the ACA. While health care reform has provided more affordable insurance options for individuals and employers, it has also brought many rules and regulations. Employers need to determine how many full-time employees they have, ensure that their health insurance plans have the minimum value, determine what they have to report to the IRS, and then make sure that the proper paperwork is filed in a timely manner.

Failing to comply with these regulations can trigger compliance violations, resulting in penalties and missed tax savings. Traditional brokers do not provide support to their clients on these matters, leaving businesses on their own when it comes to navigating this complicated system. However, a technology-backed broker may be able to provide valuable resources to their clients to ensure compliance and help avoid any potential penalties. These tools can help employers save time and money, and allow companies to focus on what is really important—running their business smoothly and profitably.

HR Needs

Beyond compliance, technology-backed brokers may also be able to assist employers with their human resources needs. Traditional brokers are not seasoned in the field of human resources, leaving clients on their own to create their own HR policies and draft an employee handbook. They often do not provide HR support for their clients, and cannot answer questions on thorny HR issues.

In contrast, technology-backed brokers may give their clients access to a wealth of information and resources to assist their human resources team. This could include topical articles on issues that are relevant to employers, forms, sample employee handbooks and communications tools. Utilizing these tools could help an employer avoid claims of wrongful termination, discrimination, and harassment. Technology-backed brokers may also offer support on HR issues to help their clients successfully handle any problems that arise. In this way, technology-backed brokers have a distinct advantage over traditional brokers.

Pre-Renewal Planning Ahead of the Curve

When it comes to providing support, most traditional brokers limit their client contact to renewal time. Employers are left to navigate compliance and HR issues on their own, with little to no ongoing support from their brokers. Unlike traditional brokers, technology-backed brokers understand how important year-round support is to companies.

They may help clients develop strategic plans to lower costs, such as designing employee wellness programs or encouraging healthy employee behavior and habits. Technology-backed brokers may help clients choose the best benefits and support them through the open enrollment process, offering customized communications and education to increase employee participation in the plan. They understand that benefits are about more than just complying with the law; benefits can be a valuable recruiting tool and a way to improve employee satisfaction and retention. With that in mind, technology-backed brokers may provide year-round support and compliance information, ensuring that clients are never left to struggle with plan administration on their own.

Comprehensive Open-Enrollment Support

The advantages of working with a technology-backed broker can be seen in one of the most stressful parts of plan administration for HR professionals: open enrollment. A technology-backed broker may be able to set up an automated enrollment process, which eliminates the expense and hassle of distributing and collecting paper enrollment forms.

It also improves the overall efficiency and accuracy of the process. Using online enrollment typically shortens the enrollment cycle, as employees can learn about their benefits options, compare costs and coverage, and pick plans based on their eligibility for different options.

Employees can complete the enrollment process independently, finding answers to questions directly on the enrollment site, and can review their benefits information and report life changes at any time, without the involvement of the HR department. Online enrollment also simplifies plan administration, with elections, applies directly to employee records. Employees can readily view and update their records and plans, and the HR department can check enrollment status in real time. Depending on the program used, they may also be able to generate detailed reports on the cost of employee benefits.

Plan Designs and a Discerning Benchmark Analysis

Technology-backed brokers also have an advantage when it comes to initial plan selection. Traditional brokers will research plans, provide quotes and negotiate rates, but they often fail to do a deeper analysis to help companies design a competitive health insurance plan. Having a health plan that is comparable or superior to what other companies in a given industry or region is critical to recruitment and retention of top employees.

A technology-backed broker could perform a benchmarking analysis to determine what others in a given industry or area are providing for their employees, which can help companies choose plans that will give them a competitive advantage. Technology-backed brokers may also utilize programs to project the impact of medical, vision and dental plan changes, estimated renewal cost and streamline the selection process for employees.

Using the right technology to choose and implement a health insurance program through a benefits broker should help a company offer a competitive, cost-effective benefits package to its employees.

Data Analysis and Plan Comparisons

Finally, technology-backed brokers may utilize online systems to analyze clients’ plan data to determine how to adjust plans to save money. These programs may also be able to model recommended changes so that clients can see how suggested changes could save money or provide better benefits for employees. In contrast, traditional brokers do not have the analytical tools or technology to dig into plan data and identify areas for improvement.

Employers who use traditional benefits brokers will never see how their plan data compares to others in the industry, and may waste money. In this manner, technology-backed brokers may help their clients tighten their benefits budget.

In Conclusion

When it comes to selecting and administering a health insurance plan, a benefits broker should make life easier for clients. If a company is not receiving year-round support and access to technology to manage their health benefits, it may be time to look for a new broker. An experienced, knowledgeable, and highly dependable technology-backed broker such as those working at Business Benefits Group is a fantastic option for most companies—offering a range of services to help save our clients time and money, and allow them to focus every effort on running their business. Contact Benefit Administration Group to learn more.

 

Ease the Annual Benefit Enrollment Uncertainty This Year

Posted on by jburgess10

If you’re like most human resources practitioners, you face the annual benefits enrollment with a mixture of dread and anticipation each year. Dread for the expected price increases and anticipation for newer, less expensive and better plans that may be easier to administer and more valued by employees.

This year brings an added complication—uncertainty. With the Trump administration and Congress proposing significant changes in healthcare and tax reform and new twists being reported in the news every day, you and your employees undoubtedly have questions about what these proposals might mean for your insurance plans. New appointees to the federal regulatory agencies, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Commission, the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to name a few, also have the potential to impact your safety and employment law risks.

Our advice? Get ahead of the game and start the planning early. Open discussions with your broker and begin to consider how to best ensure your employees get all the information they need in a format that works for them.

Be Prepared to Overcommunicate
Together with your broker and internal management teams, develop an employee communication strategy. Keeping in mind that employees are hearing and reading about health care reform, you’ll need to be prepared to help them separate the fact from the speculation. This year, anxiety could be playing a large role in your employees’ lives. In fact, a recent survey by Woman’s Day magazine found that 82 percent of respondents worry about finances, particularly the rising cost of healthcare, and 84 percent of women are concerned about the status of health care reform.

Understand the Power of a Strong Benefits Package
Properly designed, positioned, and communicated, the employee benefits package is one of the best tools in your arsenal to attract the right talent, enhance employee engagement, and retain the most valuable employees. Today’s employees expect more. In fact, according to a recent survey sponsored by Anthem Life Insurance Company, more than one in three millennial job applicants have turned down job offers with poor health insurance that didn’t meet their needs. Although millennials are the largest group in the workforce today, they are not alone in their expectations. The same survey found that 27 percent of those from other age brackets responded that they also declined job offers due to an employer’s lackluster benefits offer.

Other surveys are finding the same results relating not only with attracting new employees but also in retaining them. Employees today expect their employers to be creative, consider employee needs, make the benefits easy to use, and offer them choices to help manage their lifestyles. Besides health insurance, benefits protecting their incomes, such as disability insurance, financial planning and retirement benefits are important. In addition, consider that employees are tech savvy and expect to have online tools and calculators, along with complete communications, to assist them in making decisions regarding their insurance options.

Steps for Success
To prepare for this year’s enrollment, work with your broker early determine the best benefits packages and communications program. Make the most of marketing your benefits programs to employees by:

 

  1. Reviewing workforce demographics and benefits usage to get a better understanding of employees’ stages in the lifecycle. Knowing your audience and targeting benefits communications to meet those lifecycle needs makes the benefits more personal and relevant. Employees with young families, older workers preparing for retirement, empty nesters, and young singles all have distinctly different benefits needs and interests.
  2. Packaging benefits by target group and promoting messaging that speaks to that group’s needs while consistently reinforcing the overall benefits strategy and employer branding in the messaging. Different communications delivery systems may also be important to different employee groups.
  3. Starting the messaging with “why” the benefits are structured as they are and “what” the company’s overall benefits strategy is designed to accomplish for employees. Most employees are smart, so don’t sugarcoat any bad news about changes in the benefits program. This is a good time to highlight the important value of their benefits programs, promote wellness, encourage retirement savings, and incent cost-effective usage of benefits programs.
  4. Being ready to address the questions triggered by the federal and state proposals to change tax and benefits rules. Clear the misconceptions and incomplete information and focus on how the benefits package has been designed to comply with the current laws in place.
  5. Keeping the messaging straightforward. Provide clear information, checklists, and decision support tools that are easy to follow. Have the details available but keep the key messages and “what you need to do for enrollment” information central to the enrollment materials.
  6. Bringing company managers and supervisors into the discussions prior to launch. Give them a heads up regarding the upcoming benefits changes and enlist their help in the process.
  7. Tackling the “how” of the benefits communications program, including:
  1. Communications delivery methods. With the variety of mediums available, the world is your oyster. Consider electronic communication, mobile apps, webinars, in-person company meetings, text messages, direct mail home to involve the entire family, social media, or even a live hotline for questions.
  2. Enrollment methods. Will enrollment be online? Manual? Mobile? Make it as administratively simple as possible for employees. Use electronic tools if the budget allows.
  3. Timing. Establish a timeline working backwards from the date that the information must be completed then work forward to deliver the communications program.
  4. Frequency. Employees need time to consider their options and allow the information to soak in. Consider sending employee prompts and reminders so that the enrollment process is completed in a timely manner.

The annual open enrollment communications opportunity is precious—you can influence how employees see benefits or cost changes, alleviate any fears about federal and state benefits or tax law changes that are still being considered by lawmakers and regulators, motivate employees to change their health or savings habits, and let employees know that management is listening, considering their feedback valuable, and responding to their needs.

SPD, Plan Document, Certificate of Insurance – Do You Have What You Need?

Posted on by tomdaly

business-documents

A summary plan description (SPD) is the primary vehicle for informing participants and beneficiaries about their plan and how it operates. It must:

  • Be written for the average participant and be sufficiently comprehensive to apprise covered persons of their benefits, rights, and obligations under the plan; and
  • Accurately reflect the plan’s contents as of the date not earlier than 120 days prior to the date the SPD is disclosed.

SPDs are to be distributed automatically to participants within 90 days of becoming covered by the plan and to pension plan beneficiaries within 90 days after first receiving benefits. However, a plan has 120 days after becoming subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to distribute the SPD. An updated SPD must be furnished every five years if changes are made to SPD information or the plan is amended — otherwise the SPD must be furnished every 10 years.

Plan documents are all documents related to plan, including the SPD. The plan administrator must furnish copies of certain documents upon written request and must have copies available for examination. These documents include the latest updated SPD, latest Form 5500, trust agreement, and other instruments under which the plan is established or operated. Copies must be furnished no later than 30 days after a written request. The plan administrator must make copies available at its principal office and certain other locations.

Evidence of coverage (EOC) is further information regarding the plan that details coverage for the plan period. Each insurance carrier will have an EOC booklet, also called a schedule of benefits. These documents are often called certificates of insurance. This EOC/schedule of benefits does not meet the SPD requirements under ERISA. The EOC explains the health benefits participants and their dependents have under the plan. It details the services that will and will not be covered and the actions employees must to take to receive the health benefits — such as paying a co-pay, meeting a deductible, or using particular health care providers. The EOC can also refer to a certificate or contract provided to a health plan member that contains information about coverage and other rights.

ERISA requires the plan sponsor (employer) to provide an SPD to all plan participants. The SPD may incorporate the carrier’s EOC by reference, which generally provides sufficient description of the plan’s benefits. However, the SPD also must include specific content, such as ERISA plan number, Employer Identification Number (EIN), plan financing method, and other information that would not be found in a carrier EOC. Many employers choose to do an SPD wrap, which incorporates all benefits in one document instead of having a separate one for each line of coverage.

According to the Department of Labor’s Final Rules Relating to Use of Electronic Communication and Recordkeeping Technologies by Employee Pension and Welfare Benefit Plans; Final Rule, you can distribute insurance certificates and various ERISA required plan documents electronically via a company website. The department allows electronic notification and distribution of documents by email, attachment to an email, or by posting documents on a company website. However, just placing the documents on a company website does not, by itself, satisfy ERISA’s disclosure requirements.

Under ERISA, the rules allow for electronic delivery of all documents that must be furnished or made available to participant and beneficiaries. This includes SPDs, summary annual reports, individual benefit statements, and investment-related information for participant-directed accounts. These rules are limited to disclosures that plans are required to make to participants and beneficiaries under ERISA.

Prior to implementing, a plan administrator must notify all participants and beneficiaries of the availability of the particular disclosure document by sending written or electronic notice that directs them to the document on the website.

What does a St. Bernard, a Pineapple, a Unicorn and Bamboo have to do with HR/Benefits Administration?

Posted on by tomdaly

 

Life is pretty funny sometimes.

I have been in the insurance business since graduating from college in 1992 (24 years if you are doing the math).  Back then, I didn’t know much about anything. I loved math (especially the kind with dollar signs in front), technology (the kind that had a real problem solving purpose) AND working with people (as a trusted resource).  The more I got to know about the insurance industry and specifically employee benefits, the more I realized a fit for me and my personality. And, though I am a horrible salesperson, I have always had business development (SALES) as a big part of my role.  So, much as it pains me to write this in a public forum. . .I am an insurance salesman!

It has taken me a long time to understand and appreciate the role I play and what value I bring to my client relationships.  In my early days, when I would meet someone and they asked what I did, I would go to great lengths to make selling insurance sound more exciting than it is.  It became clear to me relatively quickly that most people do not like talking about, thinking about and definitely not dealing with insurance.

Now comes the funny part. . .

About 3 years ago, a company named Zenefits hit the scene.  They were going to be the fastest growing SaS (software as a service) company since Salesforce – Uber for the insurance/benefits world.  Their story is too long and winding to detail here.  But, here is the latest article that will give you sense of what has happened to them since their founding.

Their “success” (at least in raising money/creating buzz) has had a significant ripple effect.  Today, everyone (that is only a slight exaggeration) wants to get into the insurance/benefits management game.  This includes – Bernie Portal (from Bernard Health), Pineapple HR, Unicorn HRO and Bamboo HR – to name just a few.

While maintaining my day job as an insurance guy, I have always kept tabs on web-based HR/Benefits Administration systems.  Over the years, I have demoed literally hundreds of platforms.  I even took a shot at building my own (that was fun)!

What I have learned from all of these experiences is that properly engineered, implemented and maintained software systems are necessities for any business that has employees.  There is simply too much data/information to gather, share, evaluate and report.  Doing that on paper forms, spreadsheets and sticky notes will lead to missing information, improper documentation, etc. etc.  With the Federal Government now grading your work and enforcing penalties when it’s incorrect, the stakes are too high.

Technology is not THE solution.  But, it is a part of the solution.  It will evolve as technology always does.  So, pick your platforms and partners wisely.  If you ever need help sifting through the options, my team and I are happy to lend a hand.

Hire Your First Employee (in 8 Steps)

Posted on by tomdaly

we-are-hiring-940x517If your business is booming, but you are struggling to keep up, perhaps it’s time to hire some help.

The eight steps below can help you start the hiring process and ensure you are compliant with key federal and state regulations.

Step 1. Obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN)

Before hiring your first employee, you need to get an employment identification number (EIN) from theU.S. Internal Revenue Service. The EIN is often referred to as an Employer Tax ID or as Form SS-4. The EIN is necessary for reporting taxes and other documents to the IRS. In addition, the EIN is necessary when reporting information about your employees to state agencies. Apply for EIN online or contact the IRS at 1-800-829-4933 FREE.

Step 2. Set up Records for Withholding Taxes

According to the IRS, you must keep records of employment taxes for at least four years. Keeping good records can also help you monitor the progress of your business, prepare financial statements, identify sources of receipts, keep track of deductible expenses, prepare your tax returns, and support items reported on tax returns.

Below are three types of withholding taxes you need for your business:

  • Federal Wage and Tax Statement
    Every year, employers must report to the federal government wages paid and taxes withheld for each employee. This report is filed using Form W-2, wage and tax statement. Employers must complete a W-2 form for each employee who they pay a salary, wage or other compensation.

Employers must send Copy A of  W-2 forms to the Social Security Administration by the last day of February to report wages and taxes of your employees for the previous calendar year. In addition, employers should send copies of W-2 forms to their employees by Jan. 31 of the year following the reporting period. Visit SSA.gov/employer for more information.

  • State Taxes
    Depending on the state where your employees are located, you may be required to withhold state income taxes. Visit the state and local tax page for more information.

Step 3. Employee Eligibility Verification

Federal law requires employers to verify an employee’s eligibility to work in the United States. Within three days of hire, employers must complete Form I-9, employment eligibility verification, which requires employers to examine documents to confirm the employee’s citizenship or eligibility to work in the U.S. Employers can only request documentation specified on the I-9 form.

Employers do not need to submit the I-9 form with the federal government but are required to keep them on file for three years after the date of hire or one year after the date of the employee’s termination, whichever is later.

Employers can use information taken from the Form I-9 to electronically verify the employment eligibility of newly hired employees by registering with E-Verify.

Visit the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s I-9 website to download the form and find more information.

Step 4. Register with Your State’s New Hire Reporting Program

All employers are required to report newly hired and re-hired employees to a state directory within 20 days of their hire or rehire date. Visit the New Hires Reporting Requirements page to learn more and find links to your state’s New Hire Reporting System.

Step 5. Obtain Workers’ Compensation Insurance

All businesses with employees are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance coverage through a commercial carrier, on a self-insured basis or through their state’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance program.

Step 6. Post Required Notices

Employers are required to display certain posters in the workplace that inform employees of their rights and employer responsibilities under labor laws. Visit the Workplace Posters page for specific federal and state posters you’ll need for your business.

Step 7. File Your Taxes

Generally, employers who pay wages subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes must file IRS Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return. For more information, visit IRS.gov.

New and existing employers should consult the IRS Employer’s Tax Guide to understand all their federal tax filing requirements.

Visit the state and local tax page for specific tax filing requirements for employers.Download Adobe Reader to read this link content

Step 8. Get Organized and Keep Yourself Informed

Being a good employer doesn’t stop with fulfilling your various tax and reporting obligations. Maintaining a healthy and fair workplace, providing benefits and keeping employees informed about your company’s policies are key to your business’ success. Here are some additional steps you should take after you’ve hired your first employee:

Set up Recordkeeping

In addition to requirements for keeping payroll records of your employees for tax purposes, certain federal employment laws also require you to keep records about your employees. The following sites provide more information about federal reporting requirements:

Complying with standards for employee rights in regards to equal opportunity and fair labor standards is a requirement. Following statutes and regulations for minimum wage, overtime, and child labor will help you avoid error and a lawsuit. See the Department of Labor’s Employment Law Guide for up-to-date information on these statutes and regulations.

Also, visit the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Fair Labor Standards Act.

Top 5 New Year’s Resolutions for HR!

Posted on by tomdaly

The New Year is always a time for fresh starts and forward thinking resolutions.  Here are a few HR Resolutions for 2016:

5.  Eliminate/Reduce use of paper for things like employee notices and enrollment forms.  Compared to stone tablets, paper was a game-changer.  But, in today’s world, it is NOT the best means to deliver mandatory notices or request information from employees.  There is (and has been) a better way.  It is time to embrace it.

4.  Develop at least one HR Metric to track to measure success.  This is one of those goals that can meet you where you are.  If you currently do not track anything related to HR, maybe keeping an eye on something relatively easy to calculate like turnover or average length of service is a good start.  If you are already metric-rich as an organization, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and determine what result would most impact your organization.  Focus on your burning question and a metric can be built for you.

3.  Increase networking and learning opportunities.  HR people, by the nature of their profession, are generally good at networking (know lots of experts in various/related fields) and like to learn new things (which is a good thing given all that has been thrown at HR in the lats 3 years).  But, HR people who are not consistently networking with their peers and professional support network AND learning something new regularly CANNOT keep up with the pace of change in 2016 and beyond.  Networking is about personal connections and contacts.  Though LinkedIn and other social networking sites can accelerate the number of connections, they are not a substitute for personal interaction.

2.  Embrace new means of communicating with Millenials and Gen Z’ers.  This may be about WAY more than communication and is probably worthy of more than 1 resolution.  But, this is where you need to start.  From a recent article – “In 2020, Millennials (born between 1980 and 1994) will make up nearly half of the workforce and 20 million members of Generation Z (born between 1995 and 2010) will start their careers.”  That is a big deal and relying solely on traditional means of communication will not get your point across appropriately.  Mobile and web-native communication technology will be a must, and is certainly worthy of some focus from HR.

1.  Get your IT together.  With all of your new, post-ACA HR jobs – Compliance Management, Hours Tracking, Notifications, 1095 Reporting,. etc. – it is time to make friends with someone in your company (or a trusted outside resource) that can help you gather, configure, push and pull data from multiple systems.  This includes HRIS, Payroll, Time and Attendance, Recruiting, Insurance Carrier, Administrative Vendor, etc.  Though data is commonly shared between these parties, you are the one someone will come to when the data does not flow properly.  Automatically sharing data between third parties can be tricky and if something goes wrong, they always point at the other one – while you still have an issue to solve.

2015 Forms 1094-B, 1095-B, 1094-C, and 1095-C

Posted on by tomdaly

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released finalized forms and instructions for 2015 to help employers prepare for compliance with the new information reporting provisions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Employers are required to report for the first time in early 2016 for calendar year 2015.  These forms will be due out by the end of January.

Who is Required to Report
As a reminder, Forms 1094-B and 1095-B will be used by insurers, self-insuring employers, and other parties that provide minimum essential health coverage (regardless of size, except for large self-insuring employers) to report information on this coverage to the IRS and to covered individuals.

Large employers (generally those with 50 or more full-time employees, including full-time equivalents or FTEs) will use Forms 1094-C and 1095-C to report information to the IRS and to their employees about their compliance with the employer shared responsibility provisions (“pay or play”) and the health care coverage they have offered.

Note: Employers subject to both reporting provisions (generally self-insured employers with 50 or more full-time employees, including FTEs) will satisfy their reporting obligations using Forms 1094-C and 1095-C. Form 1095-C includes separate sections for reporting under each provision.

2015 Forms and Instructions
Final versions of the 2014 forms were previously released for those employers that chose to voluntarily comply for the 2014 calendar year. The following forms and instructions are now available for 2015:

Forms 1095-B and 1095-C must be electronically filed if the employer is required to file at least 250 of the specific form.

For More Information
Additional details on the information reporting requirements for providers of minimum essential coverage, including self-insuring employers, are available in IRS Questions and Answers. More information about the information reporting requirements for large employers subject to “pay or play” is available in separate IRS Questions and Answers.

Zenefits v. ADP – Round 1

Posted on by tomdaly

Well, I guess a Benefits Administration brawl was bound to happen sooner or later – ADP Sues Zenefits for Defamation

As an insurance broker/technology nerd who has spent the last 23 years in the trenches of HR, Benefits and Payroll struggles, I hate to say that my first reaction to this was to chuckle a bit.  I am very sorry to all of the effected small businesses who are caught in the middle of this data management fight.  But, you had to see this coming.

Zenefits came onto the scene about 2 years ago and instantly caught my eye.  The software they built was nothing earth shattering – compared to others that had been in the space for years. But, they had packaged it up and were selling it very well.  It was what I had been talking about for years – technology to support the administration swirling around HR, Benefits and Payroll. Their platform was and is very clean and intuitive, and it is flexible enough to accommodate lots of common plans and most small business structures.

It has been fascinating to watch their journey.  They have become a sales machine – using every form of direct marketing available to reach the small business customer.  Their sale to small businesses is basically free software in exchange for becoming the company’s insurance agent (which can be effective for the small employer that is not getting much from his existing agent).  But, their biggest sales by far were to their investors (Ashton Kucher and Jared Leto among them):

It is a good thing the company has raised this kind of money.  Because they will need it to fight the fights they have picked. Payroll companies, HR Outsourcing firms, Retirement Plan Providers, Insurance Brokers and Insurance Companies (if they do not already) will all have competing platforms to manage HR data.  All will want their system to be THE trusted system that an employer relies on to manage the data sharing.  And all will likely give their platforms away – just as Zenefits has.

So, where does that leave Zenefits?

I think they will change the landscape of the benefits industry and the expectations of small employers related to the broker relationship for sure.  I think this change will be a change for the better.  But, they will not dominate that market in their current form (which they would need to do to justify this valuation – sorry Ashton and Jared).

The service of coordinating the data/document/information flow between all of these disparate entities will not be automated by a third party because these entities will not allow that – keeping the process of providing that service somewhat manual and NOT SCALE-ABLE.  This is not exactly where a “technology startup” needs to be and, once that becomes clear, their valuations will be adjusted. I hope they mentioned all of this to Ashton and Jared before they cut their checks.

Regardless, this is the most excitement this industry has seen in a LONG time and it looks like it will get even more exciting as the fights continue.  So, stay tuned!

Next Generation Benefits Administration

Posted on by tomdaly

The world of small employer benefits has changed.  Isn’t it time you made some changes too?

Reduce the stress of paper-based Benefits Enrollment and disconnected systems for ongoing Benefits Management.

We provide the tools to manage everything online and the people to support it.  Say goodbye to paper and hello to an easier way.

  • Web-based customized employer benefits portal for single point entry
  • Open Enrollment Management with confirmation statements and automated reminders
  • Full Suite of reporting capabilities
  • Year Round payroll deduction assistance
  • Full workflow processing services (managing employee salary changes, job changes, age changes, etc.)
  • Carrier File processing
  • For small and mid-sized employers
  • Billing and payroll reconciliation
  • Life event management
  • New Hire processing
  • Evidence of Insurability management
  • Ability to self-enroll voluntary and worksite products

Easy Implementation

We build your site to include all your unique eligibility and business rules.  This promotes accurate enrollment and eligibility tracking, as well as enabling HR to quickly access all data at any time.

Everyone Benefits

The online system reduces paper work and enrollment errors.  Moreover, employees no longer have to fill out multiple forms such as, Medical, dental, flex benefits, etc. One electronic form takes care of it all.