If you want to get to a better place with your employee benefits you need to plan the right route, board the bus, trust your driver, and be ready for challenges that might happen along the way.
You may encounter bumps, tight corners and steep hills on the journey, but if you have confidence in your strategy and you communicate with your people, you will reach your destination — an economical employee benefits program.
One that will attract and retain top talent because your people will appreciate and value what is offered. However, you cannot change your destination overnight, you need to plan ahead, listen to recommendations and strategize a way to succeed.
When you take the straightforward approach to your employee benefits, repeating the same process you have before, the path becomes predictable and easy. You feel safe taking the same route, at the same speed, but each time you travel, it costs more to get there.
Change can be intimidating.
If you want more rewards— attractive employee benefits that stay within budget — you may need to approach your benefits in a different way. Learning about your options and understanding everyone involved in the process on a deeper level, which will allow you to choose the right plan for your people.
If you’re worried about making modifications to your plan, know that not all plans need big changes to make a significant difference. Some benefit plans need to be rebuilt, while others only require small adjustments. What determines the changes and produces the best results depends on the needs of your people and business.
But you can make any changes, big or small, if recommendations aren’t understood or if the value of the proposed solution isn’t truly known. As the client you need to listen more and ask questions. Be clear about your concerns and be prepared to work through the process.
Some important questions you should consider are:
- What makes this solution a better option?
- What will making changes accomplish?
- How will these changes benefit your people?
- What is required to roll these changes out?
- What are the long-term and short-term gains?
- Are you ready to make a difference?
Being inquisitive, asking these questions and actually hearing the answers can give your benefits plan the chance it needs to succeed. After all, if you have a strong understanding of your business market and your people’s needs, you should have the same understanding about your benefits plan.
But the results are rewarding.
Our job as advisors is to listen more and be certain the recommendations we provide are a good fit.
We have fantastic strategies and tools to use for clients but to solve problems, we have to understand everyone involved at a deeper level. We can propose a solution, the right solution, but if the solution doesn’t fit the company or the value is not seen, we cannot implement the solution successfully, it just wouldn’t work.
Leaders, advisors and employees need to be open minded, we need to embrace new ideas, and face the challenges that come with innovating and improving what’s already there.
Heading on a new journey and changing your employee benefits program has to be advantageous and truly support your company mission. Every business and every workforce is different and you need an employee benefits plan that is just as unique. Designed specifically to protect your investment and the long-term sustainability of your most precious resource – your people.
If you don’t agree with the recommendations from the beginning, the journey to better benefits will become a problem for you and everyone on your bus. As the team leader, you need to first accept the coordinates so the driver can take you and your team to the desired destination.
