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Benefits Products & Services
Facilitating plan choices in a changing era The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America's online tools help employers evaluate options and guide employees By Thomas A. McCoy, CLU Employees face a potentially confusing array of options at enrollment time. As more voluntary products are introduced into their plans, they must make hard decisions about where to spend their money. For many, the initial uncertainty of dealing with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will complicate those choices. Brokers, plan providers and employers share responsibility for communicating a plan's features to employees in this era of change. The rewards of doing so effectively are significant. One study of 1,600 plan participants in 2012 showed that while overall less than half of them were "very satisfied" with their plans, the number of the "very satisfied" jumped to 70% for those who said they felt confident in their benefits selections. (See "Benefits Products & Services," November 2012.) Guardian, which offers both employer-paid and employee-paid voluntary products, has taken note of this study. As a result, "We've made a heavy investment in educating employees and providing them with planning tools," says Phyllis Falotico, assistant vice president of group marketing at Guardian. It's logical to assume that it's just as critical for employers to feel confident about the products and services they choose to include in their benefits plan. Employers face some pretty formidable choices as they enter the world of ACA. What additional products, both employee-paid and employer-paid, will work best for them? What administrative support can the employer provide? How is ACA likely to affect them most directly? How can they provide a benefits program that is both competitive and compatible with their goals and budget? "Some are overwhelmed by the choices; others are simply too caught up in other aspects of their business to devote time to their benefits decisions," says Falotico. Recently Guardian introduced an online tool that is designed to clarify some of these choices for employers, as well as help them consider where they stand in relation to other companies. The Guardian Benefits Value ToolSM grew out of the Benefits Value Index, which the company previously created to measure how employees viewed their benefits. "For a long time, employers have been telling us, 'We want some way to compare our company to others of similar size or other characteristics,' " says Falotico. "The online tool lets them measure themselves against similar firms as a starting point for reaching their objectives. For the broker," she adds, "it helps them begin the conversation about the choices their clients will be making, so that as we get closer to January 1, those employers will at least be informed of the variety of options and how to approach them." Guardian's voluntary products include dental, disability, life, vision, critical illness, cancer and accident. Falotico notes that Guardian, like much of the industry, has been experiencing strong growth in voluntary business. "To support that growth, we've invested not only in voluntary products but the service and enrollment functions to support that business, from our own platform to a multi-carrier platform that includes medical options, and 800 number support in multiple languages." An employer using the Guardian Benefits Value Tool first lists its number of employees, then answers eight questions, which rate the importance the employer attaches to various goals for a benefits program. Based on the answers to these questions, Guardian provides the participating company with an index score, which helps it to identify its priorities in comparison to those of similar size firms. Rough Notes filled out the questionnaire making up answers to the eight questions for a hypothetical company with under 50 employees. The result produced an overall score in the "moderate" range (where 62% of participating companies fall). The 16% of companies falling in the "high" range place a higher overall value on their benefits program, and the 22% in the low range, the opposite. It told us, in part, that the moderate score indicated, "While your employees' needs are important to your company, price is most likely a driving factor in selecting benefits." It also raised the question of whether this (hypothetical) company wished to continue to handle benefits administration. The results Guardian provides to employers also come with a brief summary description of potential choices about the use of exchanges. It lists both advantages and disadvantages of the "traditional model" (no exchange), a private exchange, and a public exchange. Guardian has field-tested the use of its Benefits Value Tool, hosting meetings with benefits brokers and their clients. "The meetings have helped us learn more about employers' needs and how we can help brokers communicate effectively about our products," says Falotico. "Guardian's culture is very much into understanding the needs and dynamics of the marketplace and then using data to come up with solutions to problems and needs." One of those solutions for Guardian is a new interactive online tool called Benefits KickstartSM that employers can use to provide employees with materials to educate them on the need for different types of coverage. "Materials can be sent out prior to open enrollment to give employees time to evaluate what type of coverage might be right for them," says Falotico. "It's turnkey and extremely easy to use. "We encourage employers to think of annual enrollment almost as a marketing process, consisting of three distinct phases," she continues. "The first one is 'It's coming'—informing employees about the upcoming enrollment and encouraging them to consider their needs. The second phase is the 'It's here'—two or three weeks when the employer coaches employees through the decision-making process. The final stage—'Just do it'—is a further call to action." Guardian will continue to emphasize its benefits education and communication tools, both for employers and employees, as it adapts to the ACA era. The changes resulting from ACA accentuate the need for those tools. Falotico asserts, "We understand that there are going to be more choices, and there will be segments of each of our customers who will want a variety of different platforms (exchanges or traditional), so we want to make sure we're matching up our offerings with what our customers' demands are. It will no longer be in the traditional model only, although we believe that the traditional model will still be the most likely platform, at least initially. "But we recognize that some people will want to buy in other channels and we want to be there for them."
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