Arming Middle-Market Companies with Benefits to Attract Top Talent

06 | 2017 The Magazine of WorldatWork© ®

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How well do your benefits attract today’s top talent?

Despite best efforts to contain costs and broaden coverage under the
changing health-care-reform political landscape, providing employee benefits
remains one of the largest and most confounding cost drivers for employers.
Many employers and resource-constrained HR managers ruefully undergo the
annual insurance renewal ritual of declining coverage, increased compliance
and rising costs, which may average 25% for middle-market plans in 2017.
Companies strive to strike the delicate balance of offering competitive
benefits and mitigating employee disappointment with rising contributions
and declining coverage.

This disappointment shows up in insidious ways in reduced employee
engagement, loyalty and morale. At the same time, many HR managers face the
false choice of presenting a talent management strategy while having little direct
control of the health-care budget, which is typically in the hands of their CFOs.
Against this backdrop and in an environment of increasing competitive pressure
on the topline and margins, the key to winning the benefits war is having clear
tactics and strategies anchored in a philosophy toward investing in people. It is
this investment that, if executed properly, can yield long-term returns including

By Dante Disparte, Risk Cooperative, and Kim Keating, Keating Advisors LLC

june 2017  workspan | 39

What is lacking, particularly among

middle-market businesses, is a clear set of tactics and
strategies and an overarching philosophy toward people.

reduced turnover and increased costs borne by the employer and prioritizing benefits, and it starts at
workforce productivity. employee and contemplates a wide the top with the CEO and executive
range of intangible value, such as team. How many CEOs or executive
Keeping the military analogy, an leave policies, wellness and lifestyle teams sit through employee benefits
army led by a general who equips programs and ways of meaningfully presentations? All too often, HR
soldiers with low-grade body armor improving professional mobility and managers are “fed to the lions” when
will be decidedly less motivated to personal economy. they share the latest reduction in
charge the next hill — and much coverage or cost increase. Imagine a
more mutinous when casualties are For example, Facebook announced day when the annual benefits presen-
suffered. By contrast, soldiers with in February that it has increased its tation is met with the fanfare of the
the very best protective equipment leave policy. Facebook employees latest iPhone launch.
will not only remain loyal to their now receive up to 20 days paid leave
mission, even under duress, they will to grieve the loss of an immediate For small-to-medium-size enterprises
remain ready to take personal risks family member and up to 10 days to reach this standard, total costs
for their enterprise. after the death of an extended family of benefits cannot be their only
member. The policy doubles the measure of success. Middle-market
In civilian life, employees just as amount of time employees receive employers, unlike larger, less-nimble
seriously view their employer’s stance for bereavement. Employees will also organizations, have the advantage of
and investments in their wealth, well- get up to six weeks paid time off to creativity, which can be leveraged by
ness and well-being. All too often, care for a sick relative and three days challenging outside consultants and
the employee-employer relationship to care for a family member facing a brokers to help them break the mold.
is adversarial and the annual benefits short-term illness. Above all, creativity and an abiding
presentation is the battleground. people philosophy are the keys to
What is lacking, particularly among The first step is to treat these breaking the reactive pattern in
middle-market businesses, is a areas of comprehensive benefits employee benefits and engagement.
clear set of tactics and strategies not as costs, but as an investment.
and an overarching philosophy Like all investments, the ones that One area of opportunity for
toward people. All too often, these garner senior executive support middle-market businesses with
approaches are largely reactive, as from the CEO on down are the ones limited budgets is to develop
many middle-market employers that will be realized and appropri- and curate an annual offering of
fiercely battle larger employers ately resourced. employer-sponsored complementary
for talent. With politically charged benefits. Whether these benefits
changes in health-care regulations, The signal value that employee fall into the banking, wellness or
it is now time for employers to benefits is no longer a low-level professional development domains,
be creative and demarcate where priority, but an area of strategic focus, many providers offer these services
they stand when it comes to their is itself motivating. In fact, benefits with little or no cost to plan spon-
people philosophy. are a big factor in employment sors, save for creating meaningful
engagement. According to Glassdoor ways of introducing these services
In the war for talent, winning Benefits Annual Review, some of the to their employees. Companies such
companies focus on creating an more innovative offerings are paid as SoFi, a financial services busi-
experience where employees want parental leave, on-site fitness and ness, or Sohookd, a wellness startup,
to come to work every day, not just pet health insurance. One company’s measure their success by engaging
because they need a paycheck, but benefits plan has covered gender employer groups. The concept of
because they are fulfilled in what reassignment surgery since 2008. economies of scale, which drives the
they do. A best-in-class benefits insurance industry, also holds with
strategy goes far beyond direct These are just a few examples
of creative ways companies are

40  | workspan  june 2017

employer-sponsored complementary a hyper-connected world, knowledge engagement and creative benefits
benefits, as service providers pass on workers, particularly in the professional design. Doing so requires leadership,
their lower cost of sale to employees services domain, can make great gains risk taking and creativity. Failing to
who enroll in their programs. One from anywhere in the world and at any do so will continue pushing the best
example is the advent of tuition hour. However, achieving this standard talent upmarket. 
protection insurance, which provides requires breaking traditional hierar-
for academic continuity as an exten- chical structures where being seen is Dante Disparte  is founder and CEO of Risk
sion of traditional employee benefits equated to being productive. Cooperative, an innovative strategy, insurance and
plans. Driving employee enrollment in risk advisory firm in Washington, D.C. Contact him
complementary benefits can not only Striking the right balance and flex- at [email protected].
improve overall engagement as a part ibility in employee-leave policies can
of a low-cost, high-impact strategy, but not only boost morale, well-being Kim Keating  is founder and CEO of Keating
it will also make it harder for larger and productivity, it can also help Advisors LLC, a human resource consulting
employers to compete with traditional contain the high costs of employee firm in Washington, D.C. Contact her
benefits approaches. The process of burnout and turnover. Some innova- at [email protected]
selecting and curating an annual port- tive organizations have adopted leave
folio of complementary benefits should policies under an “as much as you resources plus
be HR enabled and employee led. need, but no more than the firm wants”
approach, which requires an ongoing For more information, books and education
Another area of opportunity is to balancing act between moments of related to this topic, log on to worldatwork.
review and untether annual leave poli- high employer productivity demands org and use any or all of these keywords:
cies from the traditional work schedule, with moments when employees need
which largely focuses on hours to unplug. In all, middle-market ❙❙ Benefits
completed at a work site as opposed to employers can become the proving ❙❙ Total rewards
true productivity and engagement. In ground for new models of employee ❙❙ Employee engagement.

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