Building a robust health benefits package on a budget is a daunting task. But armed with options and the right outlook, employers can better accommodate the needs of a dynamic workforce.
Peter Freska, a partner at fintech and insurance firm Acrisure, works to understand companies' employee populations — who they are, what kinds of offerings they value, ways to help them stay healthy long term — and craft their benefits accordingly.
"Profitability is a broad term; sure it means financial profitability — [employers] need a business that's going to be sustainable and successful in order to do all these things, but how [else] are we profitable?" Freska says. "[It's] the people we hire, teach, train and develop for long-term success."
This means that employee benefits cannot be viewed in a vacuum. Freska makes it a point to drive this mindset home with small and medium-sized businesses — which account for 99% of companies in the U.S. — and for which balancing desired benefits and staying within budget can be especially hard. Whether working with a smaller family-owned business or a large corporation, he develops a close adviser-employer relationship that can help the C-suite make the most informed, effective choices.
"Employers have a responsibility to their employees, and it is our responsibility as advisers to make sure [they] are looking at the market and being provided all the best opportunities or options that are available to them," Freska says.
Communication is a vital part of this connection, and Freska is proactive in this area, from emails to frequent phone conversations to visiting employers in person.
"We like to look at and speak about what's in the best interest of your organization from an employee benefits perspective, a cyber liability perspective, payroll perspective, a commercial risk perspective — there are so many items that a business owner needs to deal with," Freska says. "We have an open enrollment meeting coming up, and my team is going out to 20 different locations for the organization to do in-person meetings."
One main way Freska helps employers tend to the long-term health of their employees is by identifying and removing barriers to care. He encourages them to consider things such as eliminating copays for primary care and offering unlimited telehealth and mental health visits — anything that makes it easier for workers to seek the preventative care they need and that minimizes the chance of untreated health issues becoming dire.
Freska will be sharing more of his expertise as part of a panel discussion on employer fiduciary responsibility at EBN's Benefits at Work conference, taking place Sept. 17-18 in San Diego.
"If you are investing in your employees' training and education, let's also invest in their health," Freska says. "A healthy employee is going to work for you, they're going to show up, they're going to be more productive, they're going to be better on the job. So let's look at healthcare or employee well-being as an investment versus an expense."
Lee Hafner
Editor, Employee Benefit News
Source: EBN
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