Employers ask a lot of their insurance brokers — maybe more than they ask of their employees. And a gap exists between employer demands and their perception of how well brokers deliver on most counts.
That's what a survey of more than 1,000 employers by insurance software provider Zywave revealed. Employer requests for services have shifted with the evolving insurance landscape. They want more webinars, more legislative counsel, more plan design direction, more cost containment support. They generally see brokers lagging on many of these issues.
But brokers are doing well on one key area: delivering compliance information and guidance by webinar. Brokers seem to have the hang of this one, with more than 80 percent of surveyed employers reporting that they are satisfied with broker performance on this request.
Recommended For You
Says Zywave's CEO, Dave O'Brien: "Revealed through the numbers and percentages is a clear message: there is a notable gap between what employers are demanding and what brokers are supplying." But, he added, the gap represents opportunities for brokers who create a business strategy that aligns with employer expectations.
Among the survey's highlights that illuminate the employer/broker performance gap:
-
94 percent of employers want their brokers to consistently provide regulatory and legislative updates — 72 percent say their brokers are not doing a satisfactory job;
-
95 percent want their brokers to help them become educated insurance buyers — 67 percent feel their brokers are partially or fully keeping them in the dark;
-
89 percent want their brokers to provide plan design benchmarks during the renewal process — more than half say their brokers are failing to do so;
-
94 percent want their brokers to provide them with a total cost of risk analysis — half say their brokers haven't provided this vital information.
The Zywave survey asked employers to list their top concerns related to broker services. Here's what they said:
Top three risk management challenges:
-
Controlling workers' compensation costs;
-
Keeping up to date on regulatory changes;
-
Managing risk at multiple locations.
Top three employee benefits challenges:
-
Managing health care costs;
-
Keeping in compliance and up to date on changing legislation;
-
Complying with the reporting requirements under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
