When I was a kid, I loved “home-made” blueberries. Nature made, more like, but who has the vocabulary as a child?
I soon discovered, “home-made” involved a double whammy. Enjoying an ice cream on a warm summer day created the plastic quart container that we would be instructed to take to the blueberry patch behind the house to fill.
Somehow, we didn’t mind the bugs, the bending, the hours spent in the patch working. The reward was the coming home, our faces and fingers purple and knowing there was a pie, muffins or cake on the horizon. The most basic of returns on the investment of our time, energy, and effort.
All benefit plans are “home-made”. There are no effective “in the box” solutions. And certainly no “set it and leave it” plans. “In the box” is choosing to someone else to decide what is best for your staff members in the way of coverage. While “set it and leave it” is equivalent to set the plan and let it fail.
Any benefit plan worth investing money, should also show return on that investment. Like all investments, it doesn’t come in a pre-determined box and requires constant monitoring and adjustments—pivoting with circumstances as they arise. The only way to achieve an effective return is through real planning…getting down to patch and picking the berries. A benefit plan should align with expected performance…the berries to the pie. This will improve safety, knowing that safe employees are healthy employees. With this revenues increase.
For a benefit plan to be operative, key drivers need to be considered and reviewed annually.
· Improving employee performance
· Improved productivity creates increased business revenue.
· Increased revenue is the return on investment of the benefit program.
When corporations only look at the costs of a plan, they miss the bigger picture of what can be achieved through an applicable, strategically built benefit plan. Rates are a one-dimensional viewpoint. Benefits are 4D. Rates are always part of the equation, but it is NOT the reason.
We like to get down into the blueberry patch and:
· Understand the CORPORATE objectives.
· The desired CUSTOMER experience.
· Reality of the EMPLOYEE journey
· Align SAFETY / PRODUCTIVITY expectations
· Bridge existing tools / resources of BENEFITS
Return on investment:
· Benefits + Rates = Premium Costs
· Safety + Benefits = Productivity
· Productivity – Premium = ROI
Let’s have a conversation about putting the “home-made” back into benefits. Give us a call.
Note: this was written without the aid of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Disclaimer: Please note that the information provided, while authoritative, is not guaranteed for accuracy and legality. The site is read by a world-wide audience and employment, taxation, legal vary accordingly. Please seek legal, accounting and human resources counsel from qualified professionals to make certain your legal/accounting/compliance interpretation and decisions are correct for your location. This information is for guidance, ideas, and assistance.
