A few years ago, executives at NorthBay Healthcare in Fairfield,Calif., decided they wanted a place on the Fortune “100Best Places to Work For” list. That's a lofty goal for a smallhealth care system. But as they saw it, there was much to be gainedfrom the effort. Health care employers can experience highturnover. To combat that—and build a high-qualityworkforce—NorthBay began looking at employee compensation andbenefits packages.

Ken McCollum, NorthBay's vice president of human resources,started researching the vast array of benefits offerings in orderto build a package that would not only land NorthBay on theFortune list, but more importantly, offer benefitsemployees value and change the way they perceive their employer. Aspart of his research, McCollum began looking into conciergebenefits.

“Improving the quality of work-life balance and the quality ofwork experience is a big part of recruiting and retaining qualityhealth care staff,” McCollum says. “Anyone in our business focuseson what you need to do to keep employees happy and engaged.”

McCollum eventually found ACI Specialty Benefits, an employerassistance program provider based in San Diego, Calif. McCollum andNorthBay signed up for ACI's concierge benefit, which is marketedunder the “Leverage” brand.

As he looks back on it, McCollum says, the move paid off.Concierge is one of NorthBay's most popular benefits offerings.

“We've built the utilization to where it's extremely popular,”McCollum says. “It's easy to use. It's online 24-7 so nurses andstaff on the night shift can put in a call in the middle of thenight. They love the convenience of it. What they really like arethe discounts—we all like to save money and ACI has a discountprogram for things like amusement parks or concerts. Discountedmovie tickets are one of the most popular things.”

Benefits brokers and agents would be wise to pay attention toNorthBay's success with concierge benefits. The Patient Protectionand Affordable Care Act has the power to change the lives of everyAmerican, but it also will deal a heavy blow to the benefitsindustry—especially to brokers who rely on health insurance for asignificant portion of their incomes.

In order to survive, brokers and agents must adapt—and gettingeducated about benefits such as concierge can provide an incomestream or help attract new clients.

“It only makes sense for a broker to have more things that willplease a potential customer,” says Ann Clark, CEO and founder ofACI Specialty Benefits. “It's another reason to call a customer, soI think it's an excellent foot in the door. And it's low cost.”

And, says Jonathan Edelheit, executive director of the VoluntaryBenefits Association in Palm Beach, Fla., only a small percentageof brokers currently offer the benefit to clients.

“[Brokers] should be looking at how to bring new products andservices to their employers,” he says. “There's some agents thathave buried their heads in the sand, and a lot of those agentscould disappear, and then there's the ones learning about PPACA andbringing new services. Those are the brokers and agents that arepicking up a lot of new business.”

Benefit basics

Concierge benefits aren't difficult to comprehend. Most peoplein the industry begin by explaining that the benefit's foundationis very much like what people see in a fancy hotel. While peoplewho work in corporate concierge aren't stationed at a desk in abustling hotel lobby, they do a lot of the same things.

They procure tickets to concerts, shows, sporting events andmovies as well as make reservations at restaurants and spas. Asconcierge has grown into a work benefit, providers have added ahost of services that make overworked employees at employerswithout the benefit envious. Concierge providers connect clientswith dry cleaning services, meal delivery, travel arrangements andmore.

Concierge services can locate a plumber, electrician, repairmanor landscaper. Other services include finding house sitters orfinding eldercare. One service that ACI offers NorthBay is on-sitecar washes, one of the most popular concierge services at NorthBay,McCollum says.

Some concierge providers serve American workers overseas,connecting them with English-speaking hospitals, doctors andlawyers. And as the world economy sends more and more people towork in other countries, concierge service can help employees easetransitions, avoid scams and navigate a foreign country'sservices.

Industry watchers say concierge has taken off as a benefit inthe past five years—with the health care sector leading the way interms of utilization. But that doesn't mean other industries areignoring it. Concierge increasingly is finding a foothold incorporate America with more than a handful of Fortune 500 companiesincorporating it into their benefits packages for employees orexecutives.

“We'll have a large company and they'll say 'We want to giveback to our employees—they're working 60-80 hours per week; whatcan you do for us?'” says Dustyn Shroff, chief operating officer ofOne Concierge in Boca Raton, Fla. “We're providing services toemployees that don't have time to fulfill them … Basically whateveran individual doesn't have time to do themselves, we do it.”

Shroff says his corporate clients have asked his conciergeservice to do a number of things, including picking up groceries orexchanging merchandise. Currently, Shroff's company doesn't usebrokers and agents to drive business. But, he says, he's open tostart a conversation with them.

Using the concierge service, for employees, is simple. Theyeither call a phone number or visit a website. A growing number ofcompanies provide an on-site concierge. Some companies provide thebenefit to all employees while others narrow the benefits'availability to executives.

“The feedback we get is amazing,” Shroff says. “Sometimes, weget asked if we can expand coverage hours or can we expand to otherlocations. The value is something the company realizes right away.We're giving employees back their time.”

Good timing

Benefits professionals who want to look into adding conciergebenefits to their line-up of offerings should start by contactingtheir EAP providers. Because concierge service helps reduceemployee stress, it's a natural fit with EAPs. In fact, somevendors seamlessly blend concierge along with EAP services.

Other vendors create separate, branded platforms, such as ACI's“Leverage.” Still other companies, such as OneConcierge, specializein providing concierge services only, and offer it as a corporatebenefit alongside more traditional clients such as hotels, resortsand high-rise condos. Some concierge companies bundle services intoa package or they allow their clients to select what servicesthey'd like to offer employees.

One company that incorporates concierge into its EAP isPhysician Wellness Services of Minneapolis, which specializes inproviding EAP services to doctors and physicians. Mitchell Best,chief executive officer of PWS, says the concierge service helpsdoctors and physicians reduce stress by helping them balance theirprofessional and personal lives. PWS has helped doctors andphysicians with everything from planning a vacation to drycleaning.

“There's literally a lack of time to get things done,” Bestsays. “And that contributes to burn-out and stress. It can bethings like getting plane tickets or getting a car cleaned. We talkto them and we do the legwork. If you want us to schedule this orthat for you, we'll do it. Then, the physician can focus on theirwork.”

Best's company also helps a lot of foreign doctors who findthemselves working in an American hospital. Working in a big citysuch as New York or Los Angeles may mean a little less cultureshock but many doctors work in smaller cities or even ruralsettings. “We're there to help them bridge the gap between, say,Montana and India,” Best says.

Indeed, several factors have converged to bring concierge to itsbig break-out as a benefit. A push by employers for employeeretention combined with open-armed vendors should make brokers andagents see the value of the benefit.

“This is the sexy benefit right now,” Clark says. “This is thebenefit everyone wants to retain talent. Everybody is hanging on toevery employee they have, and concierge can make thedifference.”

Illustrations by Jesse Lefkowitz

Nathan Solheim is a Denver-based freelancer. He can bereached at [email protected].